Serious Grower

Field Report for June 24, 2026

I will be including brief field reports in the feed through the growing season, featuring real-time reports from extension specialists in New England, New York, and the mid-Atlantic states. Pay close attention to where some of these reports are coming from because we’ll be covering a wide region and please reach out if you need help connecting with your local extension specialist wherever you are. We’ll get you hooked up with the right expert in your area! Webinar from the Vermont Vegetable & Berry Grower's Associate on what's new with Colorado potato beetle control https://youtu.be/wcHqrf8M4Z8?si=-D_892Psawd60l-i Check out breaking news on corn earworm research! https://www.cewipm.org/ More about precocious yellows in squash https://extension.unh.edu/blog/2020/06/whats-making-my-squash-or-pumpkin-leaves-bright-yellow

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Kasi gets experimental: tarping for no-till squash and a scientist's existential crisis

Kasi is a non-commercial farmer in Montana's Bitterroot Valley. We celebrate Birdhouse Day, discuss the ins and outs of cover cropping for a squash crop and for weed management, and the difference between "doing science" and "doing a science." Anna has an existential crisis over some very charismatic tomato plants. Tarping in the Northeast: A Guide for Small Farms Music: With the Homies, Sarah the Illstrumentalist; Patina, Ryan James Carr; I Don't Wanna Be You, Park Lane; Trouble Deep, River Sam; Creepin' Up, Got Happy; Funky Market, Ritchie Everett

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Field Report for June 17, 2026

I will be including brief field reports in the feed through the growing season, featuring real-time reports from extension specialists in New England, New York, and the mid-Atlantic states. Pay close attention to where some of these reports are coming from because we’ll be covering a wide region and please reach out if you need help connecting with your local extension specialist wherever you are. We’ll get you hooked up with the right expert in your area! Check out breaking news on corn earworm research! https://www.cewipm.org/ More on tomato grey leaf spot from Caleb Goossen https://www.mofga.org/resources/pest-disease/stemphylium-gray-leaf-spot/

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Elisabeth is serious about onions: experts get into the weeds about thrips

Fellow entomologist, Elisabeth Hodgdon, joins us for a deep dive into onion thrips management as she has been troubleshooting an unusual situation that is becoming more common among small-scale farming in across the northeast. We are joined by Ethan Grunberg to compare and contrast pest complexes in small- and large-scale onion production. The full interview with Elisabeth & Ethan, Cornell Cooperative Extension More on variety selection for overwintering onion crops More on successful application of entomopathogenic nematodes Music: With the Homies - Sarah, The Illstrumentalist; Tell 'Em No - Flux Vortex; Dress Up - Walking Hearts; Arzoo - Kanika; Fantasize - I'MIN; Feel Alive - Glass House

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Field Report for June 10, 2026

I will be including brief field reports in the feed through the growing season, featuring real-time reports from extension specialists in New England, New York, and the mid-Atlantic states. Pay close attention to where some of these reports are coming from because we’ll be covering a wide region and please reach out if you need help connecting with your local extension specialist wherever you are. We’ll get you hooked up with the right expert in your area! Check out breaking news on corn earworm research! https://www.cewipm.org/ More information about onion & garlic diseases https://www.apsnet.org/edcenter/pdlessons/Pages/Stemphylium-leaf-blight-Onion.aspx https://rvpadmin.cce.cornell.edu/uploads/doc_480.pdf https://www.umass.edu/agriculture-food-environment/vegetable/fact-sheets/alliums-botrytis-neck-rot Biocontrol suppliers for beneficial nematodes https://ipmlabs.com/ https://www.griffins.com/category/HGPROD.PROTECT.INSECTS https://www.biolineagrosciencesna.com/ https://www.persistentbiocontrol.com/about How to grow your own beneficial nematodes https://nnyagdev.org/index.php/persistent-biocontrol-nematodes-instructional-manuals-and-videos/

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Jason is unfazed by his climate: west coast climate zones, raised bed construction, and extending the season in home gardens

Jason wants to turn his lawn into an edible landscape and an amazing place for his family in Oregon. We’ll drop in throughout the year to hear how things are progressing, including an update on their luffa project, more construction plans and a discussion of new and repurposed building materials. Check out this example of the Sunset Climate Zones put to use, this pictographic on Trigger (Willie Nelson's guitar), as well as extension resources on using pressure treated wood in raised bed construction, using heat tape/cables in tunnel production, and plasticulture for extended season sweetcorn. Music: With the Homies - Sarah, The Illstrumentalist; Joyride - Roy Edwin Williams; Sneaky Breezy, Dinner at Chez Paul - Martin Landstrom; Birds of Paradise - Ennio Mano

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Field Report for June 3, 2026

I will be including brief field reports in the feed through the growing season, featuring real-time reports from extension specialists in New England, New York, and the mid-Atlantic states. Pay close attention to where some of these reports are coming from because we’ll be covering a wide region and please reach out if you need help connecting with your local extension specialist wherever you are. We’ll get you hooked up with the right expert in your area! More information on swede midge https://blogs.cornell.edu/swedemidge/ More information on brassica downy mildew https://blogs.cornell.edu/livegpath/gallery/crucifers-cole-crops/downy-mildew-on-cabbage/ More information on scouting onions for thrips https://youtu.be/VdoXseBqo5o?si=2kC0tr7IqW6GQfll https://rvpadmin.cce.cornell.edu/uploads/doc_1168.pdf More information about purple blotch and other diseases of alliums https://www.mofga.org/resources/fact-sheets/foliar-diseases-of-alliums/ More information about RNAi for Colorado potato beetle https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2025/10/sprayable-rna-pesticide-works-best-when-potato-beetles-are-small More information about URI's Laser Scarecrow Project https://sites.google.com/view/urilaserscarecrow/home

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Caleb discusses (phyto)toxic gases: experts get in the weeds on heating greenhouses with manure

Caleb Goossen (MOFGA) provides some practical guidance on understanding the good and bad byproducts of microbial activity, while we traverse current and historical approaches for capturing heat for indoor lettuce production. Listen to the full interview with Dr. Md Sazan Rahman about UNH's Manure Heating Project. Music: With the Homies, Sarah the Illstrumentalist; Mt. Fiji, Ryan James Carr; Una Noche en Lagos, El Flaco Collective

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Field Report for May 27, 2026

I will be including brief field reports in the feed through the growing season, featuring real-time reports from extension specialists in New England, New York, and the mid-Atlantic states. Pay close attention to where some of these reports are coming from because we’ll be covering a wide region and please reach out if you need help connecting with your local extension specialist wherever you are. We’ll get you hooked up with the right expert in your area! More information on scouting onions for thrips https://youtu.be/VdoXseBqo5o?si=2kC0tr7IqW6GQfll https://rvpadmin.cce.cornell.edu/uploads/doc_1168.pdf More information about garden springtails https://www.mofga.org/resources/fact-sheets/garden-springtails/ More information on epinasty https://u.osu.edu/greenhouse/tag/epinasty/ https://vegcropshotline.org/article/ethylene-damage-on-tomato-2/ More information on herbicide injury and persistent herbicides https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/synthetic-auxins https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/herbicide-carryover

Tomato IPM Study Group: Pre Season Topics

Do you want to know more about where your tomatoes come from and the experts who are supporting our vegetable farmers to grow us the freshest, tastiest tomatoes possible, using the most economically & environmentally sustainable practices? Watch this video of large-scale processing tomato harvest. So neat! This discussion includes many pre-season topics including the economics of reflective mulch for management of pests & disease (including thrips that vector tomato spotted wilt virus) as well as an emerging pest impacting high tunnel tomato production, potato aphid, Macrosiphum euphorbiae. For the stone cold nerds, here's how to identify this aphid. Special thanks to Amanda Quadrel & Maria Cramer at Rutgers Cooperative Extension and Samantha Willden at Cornell AgriTech. Learn more about how federal and state funding provide expert support to our farmers to make pest management as environmentally and economically sustainable as possible by using Integrated Pest Management (IPM) tools & tactics. Music: With the Homies, Its a Good Day - Sarah the Illstrumentalist; Karmalot - Janset; Machete Dream - Speedy the Spider

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Kasi is very interested in figs (feat. Caleb!)

Kasi is a non-commercial farmer in Montana's Bitterroot Valley. We discuss the potential for growing figs in northern climates and are joined by organic crop specialist, Caleb Goossen, who holds us by the hand and gently explains soil chemistry as we "Monday morning quarterback" a hugelkulture venture that went wrong. Dr. Becky Sideman's Research Report on Figs for Northern Climates Music: With the Homies, Sarah the Illstrumentalist; Mt. Fiji, Ryan James Carr; I Don't Wanna Be You, Park Lane; In a Minute, John Runefelt

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Susan is a fiber artist

Susan is a professor of agriculture at the University of New Hampshire... but just like the rest of us she has many interests, including knitting! In this wide-ranging conversation, we discuss how to avoid bringing pests into our home when we are repurposing second hand items, as well as an instagram reel from @rachelisknitting. Please reach out to your local extension office if you think you have a bed bug infestation! Sometimes its something else but - if it is bed bugs - you want to act sooner than later and knowledge is power! Check out this Review Paper, as well as some interesting papers about remediation and IPM programs for public housing. Music: With the Homies, Sarah the Illstrumentalist; Beginning to Dream, Ryan James Carr; Overture, Dozeoff; Summertime Madness; Matt Large; Whiskey Saved My Soil, Daniel Fridell

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Kasi has a system

Kasi is a non-commercial farmer in Montana's Bitterroot Valley. In this wide ranging conversation we discuss what it takes to live on the cutting edge of art and science, how we adopt new ideas, and how we develop our own systems for doing things. This one is mostly heart and very little science. Music: With the Homies, Sarah the Illstrumentalist; AAH!, TAGE; Lock Stock, The Big Let Down

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Seth has a new plan for cabbage aphid

Seth is a commercial grower in mid-coast Maine and he is getting serious about managing cabbage aphid infesting his organic Brussels sprouts. We discuss the challenges and opportunities of chemigating with overhead irrigation to apply insectical soaps with the frequency required for good control, as well as the potential non-target effects on biocontrol agents living on the farm. Check out all the great stuff from The Brassica Pest Collaborative for more on managing brassica pests in the northeast. Music: With the Homies, Sarah the Illstrumentalist; Libertailia, Arc De Soleil; Brighter, Stonekeepers

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Kasi is a pillar of the community

Kasi is a non-commercial farmer in Montana's Bitterroot Valley and a Granger! In this conversation we discuss what it takes to build community, what happens when winters get less wintery, and some insider information about the winter Olympics. Learn more about the Grange! Find my conversation with UNH Extension's Jeremy Delisle about what could go wrong when starting and maintaining a home orchard. Music: With the Homes, Sarah the Illstrumentalist; Patina, Ryan James Carr

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