Compiled by Vern Grubinger, University of Vermont Extension
https://www.uvm.edu/extension/horticulture/commercial
(802) 257-7967 ext. 303, vernon.grubinger@uvm.edu
REPORTS FROM THE FIELD
(E. Wallingford) Great blueberry season despite the dry summer. Finished picking Elliot on 9/17. It’s a great late berry. Ordered 200 more blueberry plants for spring 2023. Pumpkins have good size, some still green. Finished marking out peach orchard for 2023 planting of 100 trees, trying 4 cold hardy varieties. Had first frost on 9/29.
(Westminster) We’re having a good fall so far, with a near-record squash crop in good condition, while our biggest customer is buying more squash than usual. Most root crops look good and we’re harvesting beets, carrots, radishes, and parsnips. The warm weather in the last few months has pushed our lettuce so it will be finished sooner than usual. We may send some of the Jamaican workers home earlier than normal.
For the last two years, we’ve rented an Esch seeder for multi-seeding cover crops from Cheshire County Conservation District. It’s doing a very good job covering a large area quickly, seeding vetch/rye, clover/rye and sprinkling in tillage radish.
(Guildhall) Despite several nights in the low 30s we’ve yet to get a frost thanks to ill-timed river fog. So about 30 of our 48 acres of potatoes are very much alive, and in fact looking great. We’d intended to spray vinegar, a little organic herbicide trial, but the never ceasing rain has nixed that idea, and then we winterized the spray-coupes in a rush.
We’ll start harvesting on 10/10 regardless of the crop conditions, but we’re forecasted for lows in the mid 20’s early this week and hopefully it'll be clear. We dug a truck of fresh spuds last week, for an order that couldn’t wait, and it went well enough, but it’s certainly a good reminder how poorly an old grimme handles long green vines.
Pumpkins were slow to color up but we’re shipping heavy now.
ON-LINE TOOL FOR SELECTING COVER CROPS
The Cover Crop Decision Support Tool is an online tool designed to support farm decision-making around cover crops. The tool includes a Cover Crop Explorer that provides in-depth information on more than 35 cover crop species. It also has a Species Selector that assists users in selecting individual cover crops based on plant hardiness zones, field soil and growing conditions, and cover cropping goals. The tool is available at no cost at: http://covercrop.tools/
PRODUCE SAFETY AND PACKSHED INFORMATION RESOURCES
Check out the SCRUB (Sanitizing and Cleaning Resources for Your Business) project information – over 50 resources on everything from bubblers, coolers, drains, floors, and handwash stations, to rats and rodents! See https://blog.uvm.edu/cwcallah/scrub-project-resources/. Categories include Produce Safety Planning, Water, Hygienic & Sanitary Design, Standard Operating Procedures, Training, Culture & Case Studies.
NEW ENGLAND FRUIT AND VEGETABLE CONFERENCE
The NEFVC returns to in-person format on December 13-15, 2022, in Manchester, NH. Registration information coming soon at https://newenglandvfc.org/
VVBGA ANNUAL MEETING JANUARY 24 IN MONTPELIER
Our first in-person gathering in several years will be at the Capital Plaza Hotel. Commercial VVBGA members can reserve exhibit tables, and/or become a meeting sponsor, visit https://vvbga.org/commercial-membership
EXHIBIT AT THE VERMONT FLOWER SHOW
The Vermont Flower Show will take place March 3-5, 2023, at the Champlain Valley Expo in Essex Junction. There will be over 35 educational seminars offered, and 100 vendors will have exhibits related to horticultural/gardening, including landscape designers and architects, nurseries, florists, greenhouses, growers, garden centers, garden/home accessories and other floral/green industry/allied trade related businesses. Learn more at https://vnlavt.org/vermont-flower-show/exhibitors/
VERMONT NURSERY AND LANDSCAPE ASSOCIATION WINTER MEETING
February 16, 2023, at the UVM Davis Center in Burlington, VT. Details forthcoming.