The PYO strawberry growers in our area are open and fruit is at its peak. If you are interested in growing strawberries on your farm there are many options on how to incorporate these red berries of delight.
June bearing varieties work great for the Pick-Your-Own operation, whereas the day-neutral varieties produce less at one time but continue to produce over a longer period of time. Knowing what berry type fits into your operation takes some thought and planning. Here are some resources to assist you in variety and fruiting habit.
Are you interested in learning more about Soil Health? We are hosting a seminar series on soil health featuring different topics presented by soil health researchers each month.
Next Tuesday, May 18 @ 6PM, Dr. Deanna Osmond presents: Soil Health: What is it? Can it help?Register Here.
June 15, Dr. Alan Franzluebbers presents on the importance of soil biota to soil health. Register Here.
Earlier this week I received an email with the photo at the left attached. The sender were worried that this might be a virus which could possibly spread to the tomato crop.
My first thought was that is likely was not a virus, as I have seen this even in my own garden in recent years. So I had to dig deeper, (soil scientists love to dig) and asked if they had applied compost or manure from an outside source. And in fact this farmer had used composted horse manure from a nearby farm as an amendment in the trench when planting the seed potatoes. Amending with compost sounds like a good plan, right?!
Unfortunately this is not always the case. Some herbicides applied to pastures for the control of broadleaf weeds take a long time to break down, are able to pass through the animal grazing on the forage, and emerge on the other side to cause harm to broadleaf plants the animal manure comes in contact with, even after composting. Plants in the Solanaceae family are particularly susceptible.
NC State University and N.C. A&T State University work in tandem, along with federal, state and local governments, to form a strategic partnership called N.C. Cooperative Extension.
