The North Carolina Strawberry Association named Joan and Kenneth Rudd as its 2009 growers of the year. The announcement was made during the group’s annual meeting, held in conjunction with its Southeastern Strawberry Expo in Durham, N.C. Association board member Bernice Kenan, owner of Bernie’s Berries in Greensboro, N.C., cited Rudd Farm’s innovations in strawberry … Read more
It’s a battle of the fittest. Cucumber and weed plants emerge from the soil at about the same time. Who will win out in this growth cycle? Will the cucumber plants grow faster, or will the weed plants sprout up to the sky like the beanstalk in the Jack and the Beanstalk fairy tale? More … Read more
ARMING GROWERS WITH USEFUL INFORMATION ON MAGGOTS AND THRIPS Onions may cause your eyes to water when peeling them, but most of you apparently don’t mind, if statistics are any indication. The average American eats nearly 18.8 pounds of fresh and storage-type onions every year, according to Vee’s Marketing, a Wisconsin produce brokerage that specializes … Read more
The application of nitrogen fertilizer, whether as a synthetic input, manure or organic leguminous cover crop, is so common in agriculture that many growers believe it is an absolute necessity. But not everyone agrees. Jack Kittredge, past policy director of the Massachusetts chapter of the Northeast Organic Farming Association, said bacteria fix nitrogen from the … Read more
One of the sweetest fruits you may ever taste is grown in a desert valley about 100 miles east of Los Angeles, Calif. The Coachella Valley, located in the desert at the northern end of the enormous Salton Sink, has the best climate of any place in the United States for growing dates. In this … Read more