Cooperative Extension Service
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
The University of Georgia
George
Boyhan, Extension Horticulturist-Vegetables
East Georgia Extension Center
Nessmith-Lane Building, 2nd Floor
PO Box 8112
Georgia Southern University
Statesboro, GA 30460
912-681-5639 | 912-681-0376, Fax | 912-682-3481,
mobile
The Vidalia Onion Committee (VOC) is undergoing some fundamental changes. Last month, the Executive Director Tina Wheeler was dismissed from her position and an interim executive director was brought in to run the Committee. Susan Hillard with the USDA in Oregon will run the VOC for the next two months. The VOC has named a subcommittee to handle the search for a new executive director. John Shuman, Ralph Cavender and Mike McDonald were named to this subcommittee.
In a cost cutting move, those on the VOC mailing list will be asked if they wish to continue to receive VOC announcements. In addition, monthly mailings will be handled only once a month rather than twice a month as is currently being done. These changes and others are expected to get the VOC on a better financial footing.
by Relinda Walker
Georgia Organics is sponsoring a field day at the farm of Bob Rawlins near Ashford, Ga., to demonstrate the use of cover crops and conservation tillage in a commercial watermelon production system. Bob has modified equipment to lay plastic mulch directlyl onto a heavy stand of rye, and then planted watermelon seedlings into the pastic-covered beds within the rye cover. In the heart of Georgia's watermelon growing area, this field has been in conservation tillage for three years. Bob's system has significantly reduced the application of chemicals required to grow watermelons, and the rye cover has protected transplants from sand-blast damage during this very windy spring.
Attendees will also see, in the same field, several alternative cover crop systems from an experiment carried out in cooperation with Scott Utley, Turner County extension agent, and Harry Schomberg of the USDA Agricultural Research Service in Watkinsville, Ga. Rick Reed, GO coordinator for on-farm research, is leading the field day, which will be held from 9 a.m. until 11 a.m. on Tuesday, April 27. The event is part of a Georgia Organics program to reduce pesticide use in Georgia fruit and vegetable crops and is funded through the EPA's Strategic Agriculture Initiative. There is no charge for attendance. For more information or for directions to the site, call Rick at 912-393-4164 or contact the Turner County Extension Service at 912-567-3448.
Georgia Organics will sponsor a field day on May 20 at the Crisp County Extension Service research farm to observe the results of six experimental plots of watermelons demonstrating reduced tillage and reduced chemical use in production of this important Georgia commodity. Cover crops of cereal rye will be rolled at different stages or tilled for green manure, and ryegrass will be used for weed suppression between rows. Herbicides will be used in some of the plots. Crisp County Extension Agent Ken Lewis has designed and supervised the experiment.
Attendees at the field day will also hear about organic no-till watermelon production at Cimiono Farms, a certified organic farm in Reynolds, Ga. There will be photos of that operation and discussion of the opportunities and challenges in organic production.
Rick Reed, GO coordinator for on-farm research, is supporting both efforts and will lead the field day, which will be held from 10 a.m. until 12 noon on Thursday May 20. There is no charge for attendance. For more information, call Rick at 912-393-4164 or contact the Crisp County Extension Service at 912-276-2612.
The onion season is underway, and we have been harvesting onions at the Vidalia Farm for the past couple of weeks. I am also having cucurbit transplants grown, which should be ready for transplanting in a couple of weeks.
Great news! Senator Jack Hill was at the VOC meeting on Tuesday night this week to announce that the Vidalia Onion and Vegetable Research Center will remain open.
If you have the opportunity to attend the watermelon field days, they should be very informative. Check out the picture below.
Talk to you next month.