Extension Horticulturist - Commercial Vegetable Crops
The Texas A&M University System
College Station, Texas 77843-2134
Appearing Within:
Appearing Within:
Texas Produce Convention & Expo 2000
September 6 - 8, 2000
South Padre Island, Texas
Blue skies, palm trees, roaring waves, and fun under the golden sun await you at the Texas Produce Convention and Expo 2000 at South Padre Island September 6 - 8.
Hosted by Texas Citrus Mutual, the Texas Produce Association, and the Texas Vegetable Association, the event will be headquartered at the South Padre Island Convention Centre and Radisson Resort Hotel.
The Convention Centre will house over 100 exhibitors displaying the latest in technological advances and innovative products for the produce industry. Each hosting association will have individual business and educational meetings, with top-notch speakers, and workshops.
Don't miss this opportunity to gather with fellow growers, shippers, packers, brokers, suppliers, retailers, and friends. You will also have the opportunity to socialize and network with industry leaders at the premier social event planned for Thursday night.
Padre Island has a variety of recreational activities available -- deep-sea fishing, horseback riding, golfing -- or, you may want to extend your time there over the weekend, and take advantage of the beautiful beaches and tropical breezes.
Hotel reservations must be made by August 7, 2000. To register, contact the Texas Produce Association registration headquarters at (956) 581-8632.
This article appeared in The Grower, June-July 2000.
The government's pesticide testing of fresh produce in the marketing chain continues to show low but acceptable levels of residues.
According to new figures from the Pesticide Data Program, operated by the USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service, 40 percent of fresh items show no detectable chemical residues. Last year, the agency tested single-serving-size fresh apples for residues, particularly the organophosphate compounds that are under close government scrutiny. "We did not find 'hot apples' with multiple or high residues of organophosphates," says Martha Lamont, chief of AMS' residue branch. She says the data has been turned over to the EPA, where it is being used in pesticide registration.
This year, the agency is testing single peaches, cucumbers, bell peppers, cantaloupe, oranges, lettuce, grapes, and green beans. Domestic and imported items are tested for as many as 160 chemicals and metabolites, including insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, and growth regulators. The program has become increasingly important in applying the new pesticide law, the Food Quality protection Act. The data is important because the sampling accounts for what happens to residues in marketing and selling. Without this data, the regulators fall back on worst-case-assumptions that overstate use and residues.
Full data is now available from the 1998 testing program, when 7,017 samples of fruits and vegetables were tested. About 61 percent of the samples turned up some detectable residue. About 3.7 percent of the samples contained residues for which no tolerance has been set. Only 0.15 percent contained residues exceeding legal tolerances. The most widely detected pesticides on tested produce were permethrin, edosulfan, azinphos methyl, carbaryl, captan, and the fungicide thabendazole.
This article by J. M. White appeared in the
Vegetarian Newsletter,
November 1998, 98-12.
Site selection is the first step when planning to grow a crop. Good growing conditions and good soil will compensate for many poor management decisions. Selecting a 'good' soil may not be an option, but there are practices which will help improve the soil.
Helpful practices include crop rotation and use of cover crops, green manure crops, animal waste compost, plant material compost, and combinations of these. In most southern states, green manure crops should be grown in the winter and summer, and plowed under well in advance of the spring and fall crop planting seasons. Rye, rye grass, wheat, and oats should be considered in the winter, and southern pea, millet, sudax, sesbania, and hairy indigo in the summer. Be sure to mow hairy indigo and sesbania before they go to seed, to reduce the risk of their becoming a weed problem.
Adding compost to the soil has been used over the years to improve water-holding ability, nutrients, cation exchange, and tilth. This practice may not be practical on large acreages. Most home gardeners can incorporate about 440 pounds of compost per 100 square feet, to equal about 5 percent of the volume of the first foot of soil. This translates to around 96.5 tons of compost per acre. Granted that the compost will improve the soil, assuming it is evenly incorporated to a depth of one foot, but the cost and ability to spread and incorporate that amount of compost at one time is a management decision. Using cover crops, green manure crops, and adding compost in lesser amount over time will improve the soil, and could be the practical way to improve soil. The central idea is to improve soil to the target amount of 5 percent organic matter.
The Cooperative Texas A&M/University of Arkansas Cooperative Spinach Program will host the National Spinach Conference, December 14, 15, and 16, 2000 at the OMNI Hotel, San Antonio, Texas. For more specific information, contact Dr. Larry Stein, Conference Program Chairman at (830) 278-9151, Fax: (830) 278-4008, e-mail at larrystein@tamu.edu
Texas Herb Growers and Marketing Association Annual Meeting, September 23, 2000, Hilton Hotel, College Station, Texas. For more information, contact Cindy Meredith at (979) 562-2153 or e-mail at micyn@cvtv.net
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has approved a FIFRA Section 18 Specific Exemption for the use of metolachlor (Dual Magnum Herbicide) on spinach to control weeds. The specific exemption will expire June 28, 2001. IRI-4 has submitted a petition package that is currently under review by EPA demonstrating progress toward federal registration (FIFRA Section 3).
A copy of the EPA approval notice must be in possession of the applicator at the time of application. A copy of the approval notice may be obtained from the TDA web site at:
Remember -- Dual use requires a waiver of liability.
The following rates in the following growing regions will be applied.
Winter Garden (Atascosa, Dimmitt, Frio, Kinney, Sa Salle, Maverick, Medina, Uvalde, and Zavala counties) and Upper Gulf Coast (Brazoria and Fort Bend counties): One pre-emergence application at a rate of 0.64 lbs. a.i. (0.67 pts. of product) per acre under sprinkler irrigation, and 1.27 lbs ai/A (1.33 pts. of product) under furrow irrigation conditions.
High Plains (Andrews, Bailey, Castro, Dawson, Gaines, Garza, Hale, Lamb, Lubbock, Lynn, Parmer, Terry, and Yoakum counties) and Lower Rio Grande Valley (Cameron, Hidalgo, Jim Hogg, Starr, Webb, Willacy, and Zapata counties): One pre-emergence application at a rate of 0.64 lbs. a.i. (0.67 pts. of product) per acre under furrow irrigation conditions.
The TAMU-AREC @ Overton is now in its eleventh year as a cooperating location in the Texas A&M Statewide Watermelon Trial program. Ron Earhart and Marty Baker are currently preparing a report on their findings over the past six years. Tables 1 and 2 (see next two pages) summarize the yield results obtained during this period for the hybrid and seedless entries, respectively. Only the results of the entries that have been included in two or more of the trials are listed in these tables. The in-depth, completed report will be available for distribution toward the end of the year 2000. Copies of these reports can be obtained by contacting the following:
Ron Earhart of Marty Baker
TAMU-AREC
P. O. Box 28
Overton, Texas 75684
(903) 834-6191
or
Frank Dainello
Department of Horticultural Sciences
Room 225 HFSB
Texas A&M University
College Station, Texas 77843
(979) 845-8567
