Establishing a new orchard is no small feat, and comes with significant expense in materials, time and labor. Thanks to improvements in rootstock and technology for many aspects of orchard management, growers often opt to establish orchards as high-density or tall spindle systems. Don Seifrit, Penn ...

There’s no better way to avoid potential plant problems than to know when and how they might occur, and to be ready for them so that they do not cause severe problems. One group of vegetables that require special knowledge are the cole crops. The word “cole” comes from the German word “kohl,” which ...

According to the FDA, the Produce Safety Rule is a set of science-based minimum standards for the safe growing, harvesting, packing and holding of fruits and vegetables grown for human consumption. The rule is part of the FDA’s Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). Sarah Everhart, University of Mary...

Many experienced vegetable growers maintain at least a few perennial crops such as asparagus, rhubarb, garlic and horseradish. Bill Davison, Extension educator at the University of Illinois, said there are more choices when it comes to perennials. “One of the main reasons to consider growing perenni...

Soil health happens in a cumulative manner, year after year, when attention is paid to sequestering carbon. Carbon helps to add stability to soil aggregates and to enhance soil water retention and soil nutrient retention. It is part of a healthy ecosystem for soil microbiota. When using no till in c...

Hybrid seeds, the result of crossing two different species in the same genus, or different varieties of the same species, are common in farming. Hybridization provides some distinct advantages, combining desirable traits from each parent plant together, such as disease resistance, early or late harv...

I can’t think of a more important topic for growers to know about than how soil pH affects plant growth and development. What is soil pH? If you remember back to your high school chemistry days, pH stands for parts hydrogen. Hydrogen ions exist in the soil and are there as a result of plant decompos...

Farmers are expected to recognize and moderate causes of plant disease. From plant abiotic stressors such as mineral deficiencies and water availability or poor germination due to soil temperatures to pest and pathogen control, farmers need to monitor and maintain crop health. Plant phytopathogens –...

Employees, family members and partners quizzed about business complications often offer up the same phrase: “We didn’t fully understand what was expected of us!” It is easy enough to point the finger of blame toward an owner, manager or supervisor – “He didn’t tell me it was important” or “I didn’t ...

By the time you read this, winter will be heading toward its end, either by crawling along slowly or by happily retreating so that the sun can finally make its triumphant return. That means it is almost time for another planting season – but for now, we are still often constrained by waiting for the...

When it comes to evaluating your business, are you more of a numbers cruncher or an introspective learner? Can you be both? Should you be both? Business evaluations traditionally begin with the analytics of sales records measured against operating expenses. For business owners who gravitate to numbe...

Intention is often used to describe what a person is thinking or feeling, but it more readily defines a person’s aim or plan. Customers visit your business with a plan – to visit, tour, check out the surroundings and, hopefully, purchase a product or service. You and your employees are responsible f...

If your late summer crops of beets, Swiss chard and spinach aren’t looking their best in the humid and overly wet weather much of the country has experienced recently, the culprit may be Cercospora beticola , a major pathogen of Chenopodium family crops. When you are growing a leafy crop such as Swi...

In this month’s column I will be discussing some apple facts and will share the history of some popular apple varieties. Apples can be grown in almost all the U.S. but temperature is a major limiting factor. Temperatures of less than 40 degrees for 900 to 1,000 hours are required to break dormancy. ...

It’s fall harvest time and your hands are literally full. Growers and orchard workers are climbing those ladders, wearing those buckets and carefully harvesting those apples. Other tree fruits and nuts, as well as grapes and berries, share many of the same harvesting concerns that apples do. Falls f...