Cooperative
Extension Service
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
The University of Georgia
George
Boyhan, Extension Horticulturist-Vegetables
East Georgia Extension Center
Rosenwald Building, Third Floor
PO Box 8112
Georgia Southern University
Statesboro, GA 30460
912-681-5639 | 912-681-0376, Fax | 912-682-3481,
mobile
The 3rd International Symposium on Edible Alliaceae will be held at the University of Georgia in Athens. Dr. Bill Randle is coordinating this event, which will be held at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education from Sunday October 29 to Friday November 3, 2000. There will be four days of meetings and a one-day excursion.
This should be an excellent opportunity for agents in Georgia to visit with researchers and others from around the world who are interested in alliums. I attended this meeting two years ago when it was held in California, and it was a great opportunity. I still use the proceedings from that meeting at as resource.
The deadline for sending in abstracts is March 15, 2000. If you need any further information, I do have a copy of the brochure for the meeting. For more detailed information, you may wish to contact Dr. Bill Randle directly. He can be reached at Department of Horticulture, 1111 Plant Sciences Building, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602-7273; 706-542-0624; wrandle@arches.uga.edu
In addition, Dr. Randle maintains a web page that has information about this upcoming meeting as well as other information related to onions. The web page can be reached at http://www.uga.edu/onion
A field day has been scheduled for the Vidalia Onion and Vegetable Research Farm just outside Reidsville. The field day will be held May 2 starting at 10 a.m. A number of experiments are currently underway with both onions and carrots at the farm. Work is underway with trickle irrigation and mulch types on onions. This experimen is headed by Dr. Diaz-Perez. Dr. David Langston has several trials on controlling fungi and bacterial pathogens in onions. Dr. Stanley Culpepper is working on herbicide research on both onions and carrots at this location. Thrips research is being conducted by Dr. David Riley. Dr. Al Purvis is growing onions for storage research. We are also running Vidalia onion variety trials. These are just a few of the projects currently underway.
I hope you will put this day on your calendars and make an effort to come to the Vidalia Farm. This is not only an opportunity for research and extension faculty to disseminiate information but an opportunity for agents to give feedback on the kind of vegetable research they would like to see occur.
Last year in this newsletter, I reported on some work in Florida that found the orientation of the seed in the media could affect seed coat adhesion and, thus, the number of viable seedlings. Orienting the radicle (pointed end) upward reduced this problem.
As you know, triploid watermelon seed is very expensive, and the germination rates are generally poor. Bob Maloney, a plant breeder with American Sunmelon in Knox City, TX, gave an interesting talk concerning this problem in the Watermelon Research and Development Group meeting held at the Southern Region American Society for Horticultural Science in Lexington, KY.
Bob indicated they routinely grow triploids for testing and consistently get 90 percent usable seedlings. Although his talk was not based on scientific experimentation, his high percentages should have growers and researchers taking nte. He begins with 35 pounds of peat-based media and adds 15 pounds of water. He squeezes any excess water from the material. This is then placed in flats and the seed are planted 1 inch deep. He says the deep planting helps keep the environment moist around the seed. These flats are then placed in a germinating room at 27-30 degrees C (81-86 degrees F) for 48 to 72 hours with high humidity. The surface of the media can be covered with vermiculite and lightly watered to maintain the moisture in the soil. Do not apply excess water; the media must be moist around the seed but should not be excessive. Triploid watermelons ae alos notorious for uneven germination, according to Mr. Maloney, but as many of the seedlings that are going to germinate will have germinated in 14 days.
To recap, the media must be pre-moistened but not wet. Plant the seed deep (1 inch); use high heat and humidity; and, finally, avoid excessive moisture. Bob's recommendations are not based on scientific experiments, as I mentioned above, but rather on personal experience -- so take that into account.
Dr. Gary Wade hosted his commodity group meeting at Winter School. Those agents and specialists in the meeting broke up into groups based on area of interest. The vegetable and fruit specialists along with agents interested in this area formed a group to discuss upcoming meetings and areas of need for training.
One area we discussed where there may be a need for additional training included marketing. The aspects of marketing of particular interest included roadside, organic products and reduction of turn-down for wholesale growers. This last area would include improving quality as well as using best management practices. Some buyers are requiring growers be certified in best management practices to reduce liability concerns. Unfortunately, at this time -- with the retirement of George Westberry and Bill Mizelle -- we are short in these areas. According to Georgie Shumaker in Ag and Applied Economics, it probably won't be until summer or beyond before these positions are filled.
Another area of discussion concerns plasticulture and methyl bromide alternatives. As I understand it, training in plasticulure has occurred in the past, but it may be time for additional training. I will be meeting with the Vegetable Team at the end of February and will bring these up for discussion.
From My DeskWell, the New Year has started and I'm already behind schedule. It must be a Y2K thing. How about that Y2K problem -- turned out to be pretty much a dud. I had the opportunity to drive to Lexington, KY, last week in the rain, freezing rain and snow. I attended the Southern Region American Society for Horticultural Science meeting. Unfortunately, the weather scared a lot of people away. Attendance was down by half, and at least half the presenters and posters were not there either.