Fruit and Vegetable Production Resources
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2020 plant disease losses in Georgia, including control costs, amounted to an estimated $806 million. The value of the crops used in this estimate was approximately $6.712 billion, resulting in a 12.01% relative disease loss across all crops included in this summary. The estimated values for most crops used to compute these disease losses are summarized in the 2020 Georgia Farm Gate Value Report (AR-22-01) by the UGA Center for Agribusiness & Economic Development. Some estimates for fruits, ornamentals, and turf rely on specialists’ knowledge of the industry and industry sources for information. Losses covered include: apple, blackberry, blueberry, bunch grape, corn, cotton, muscadine grape, ornamentals, peach, peanut, pecan, soybean, strawberry, turfgrass, vegetables, and wheat.
Elizabeth L. Little
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This report provides research and extension results for trials conducted by the University of Georgia Vegetable Team and its collaborators in 2022. Contributing authors include county and regional faculty as well as specialists from UGA’s horticulture, plant pathology, crop and soil sciences, and entomology departments. All research has been supported by the Georgia Commodity Commission for Vegetables.
Timothy Coolong and Ted McAvoy
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Frost protection systems tremendously benefit commercial blueberry production in Georgia. These systems are expensive and usually configured as overhead irrigation systems. For the system to provide protection, it must operate as soon as it’s needed. The best practice for maintaining a frost protection system is to perform preventative maintenance service every late fall or early winter. This publication offers blueberry growers suggestions on how to prepare their frost protection systems for future operation. Recommendations include a check-off list for maintenance and inspection of overhead irrigation systems, important considerations when preparing for freeze events.
James L. Jacobs, Wesley Porter, Jason Mallard, and David Hall
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Conservation tillage with agronomic crops (i.e., cotton, corn, soybeans, etc.) has been successful in Georgia production. Such production practices have several benefits, the most notable being the elimination of soil erosion. Other benefits include but aren’t limited to increases in soil organic matter, maintaining a healthy rhizosphere (root-zone soil), reduction of riparian and waterway pollution, and water conservation.
Some examples of conservation tillage practices include no till, ridge till, and strip till. No–till production involves no tillage of field soils and leaves all of the previous crop residue on the soil surface. Ridge–till production involves building a ridge during cultivation, then scalping the ridge and sowing seed. The scalping process moves most of the previous–crop residue to the row middles, leaving a clean row for sowing. Strip–till production is when a narrow strip is tilled for each row that will be planted, leaving the row middles intact with the previous–crop residue. Strip–tillage may reduce yields if weeds in the untilled area are not killed, as these weeds will compete with the crop for water and nutrients. Although the planted row is free of previous crop residue, it may be advantageous to kill the cover crop to prevent it from competing for nutrients and water with the vegetable crop.
George E. Boyhan and Timothy Coolong
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C 883
Home Garden Strawberries
Learn how to grow your own strawberries at home with this helpful guide. Strawberry beds need a small area that receives full sun most or all day to get started, and they will grow well in many types of soil.
Bob Westerfield and Phillip M. Brannen
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Plants develop seeds through a process called pollination. Pollination is the transfer of pollen from the stamen (male flower part) to the pistil (female flower part).
Bob Westerfield
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C 1035
Home Garden Watermelon
Learn all about growing watermelon in the home garden, including transplanting, starting seeds, soil preparation, culture and fertilization, harvesting, storage and use, and problems. It also includes a list of recommended varieties for Georgia.
Bob Westerfield and Malgorzata Florkowska
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C 1039
Home Garden Swiss Chard
Learn how to grow Swiss chard in the home garden, including soil preparation, planting, culture and fertilization, harvesting, storing, and using Swiss chard, plus problems you might encounter and a list of suggested varieties.
Bob Westerfield and Malgorzata Florkowska
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The purpose of this publication is to introduce the problem of blossom-end rot and provide a guide to effectively diagnose and treat this problem.
Bob Westerfield, Joshua Mayfield, and W. Terry Kelley
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