Gary Shafer, ISP Research In grower meetings during the past couple of months, an often-asked question concerns the terms “salt”; ”sodium”; and “soluble salts”. It appears there is quite a lot of misunderstanding surrounding these terms. The most common salt of which most of us are familiar is sodium chloride, or common table salt. But … Read more
Gary Shafer, ISP Research As with the greenhouse tomato variety data given in the Autumn issue of this newsletter, the owner of the farm where the trail was located grows “pesticide free” produce, so we were limited as to the materials we could use to offset disease and insect pressures. Diseases identified included; early blight, … Read more
Although we did not have an onion variety trial this past season, we did have one small onion project where we took a grower’s onions and applied three foliar applications. Each foliar consisted of 5 pounds/acre 4-18-38. The onions were planted with four lines per bed, with dual drip lines per bed. These foliar applications … Read more
Last year we were involved with a small blueberry trial in Michigan, and saw good results. We had the largest yield increase of all the companies in the trail, plus a noticeable increase in berry firmness. This year, additional growers successfully used CalStore to achieve firmer berries. The comments we heard were quite encouraging. This … Read more
Gary Shafer, Research Director Two years ago, we attended the National Potato Expo in Orlando, Florida and was a little surprised by the vast numbers of potato varieties, there was a range of flesh and skin colors, white, red, gold, blue, purple and all of the same varied possibilities of shape and size. About the … Read more
Gary Shafer, ISP Research Whenever possible, if the situation presents itself, we will establish some form of comparative study. When planting the tomato variety project in the high tunnel, there were three areas that allowed a comparison between foliar and non-foliar in side by side rows. There was the main planting area, and the ends … Read more
Gary Shafer, ISP Research We performed several tomato variety trials this year, in both greenhouse and tunnel conditions. The greenhouse data is shown below. Some of the challenges were described on the front page, and it was not an easy year. Diseases identified included; early blight, septoria leaf spot, botrytis (leaf mold), random scerotinia (timber … Read more
One of the hardest working tools for vegetable and small fruit growers are our backpack sprayers. Using them to their fullest will undoubtedly make for better produce through less weed pressure and greater insect, mite and disease management. Here are some tips for using these workhorses to their fullest and avoiding potential problems. Have separate … Read more
With what I experienced this past season, we want to discuss controlling insects and disease. Outstanding control is the culmination of several management decisions. Obviously, the chemistry choice for control (pesticides and/or biocontrol materials) is of the utmost importance, but your decisions do not end there. You should also consider how your control product works; … Read more
As many of you may have noticed, we missed the Summer issue of this publication. The only excuse we have is that we probably initiated too many projects. Trying to deal with a fairly wide array of stress factors, working with new clientele, and participating in our normal field walks … well … the summer … Read more