The Maryland Department of Agriculture in partnership with the University of Maryland Extension (UME) Agriculture and Food Systems (AgFS) and the Maryland State Department of Education will be conducting an USDA Farm to School Producer Training for Maryland producers interested in selling local food to Maryland’s school districts and eligible providers.
The intent of the workshop is to give agricultural producers training and tools to build their capacity to launch or grow efforts to market to schools, therefore increasing sales to schools for farmers while expanding farm to school activities for students in schools and communities across the nation.
American Farmland Trust is proud to announce the national launch of the 2021 Brighter Future Fund. This year, grants of up to $5,000 are available to help farmers 1) Improve farm viability; 2) Access, transfer, or permanently protect farmland; or 3) Adopt regenerative agricultural practices.
In recognition of the need for greater equity and inclusion for all groups who have been, and still are, marginalized, the Brighter Future Fund will focus on providing resources to farmers who identify as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), women, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA+) during this grant round.
To learn more about the eligibility of applicants and projects, please closely review the grant guidelines. Applications will be reviewed and awarded in the order the applications are received based on eligibility. AFT will continue to receive applications and make awards until available funds are expended.
The University of Maryland will be conducting drinking well water educational programming for Maryland farms in 2022. We request farmer input by completing a short survey to provide Extension Educators more information about drinking water wells on farms in Maryland, and to develop education programming to assist farmers in ensuring safe, good quality drinking water. In addition, the project will be providing reduced cost well water testing for up to 75 farms that have wells of varied type and are located in varied regions of the state. We appreciate your time and feedback by completing this survey: https://ume.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0uFvsZKANHrpVH0. Your personal identifiable information is strictly confidential.
The Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA) will host the Maryland’s Best Expo on Wednesday, January 19 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis. Returning for its 18th year, after being cancelled in 2021 due to the COVID-10 pandemic, the Maryland’s Best Expo provides an opportunity for Maryland farmers, seafood producers, and processors to connect with buyers from grocery retailers, restaurants, schools, food distributors, and other venues.
The 2020 Maryland’s Best Expo attracted more than 300 attendees. Participants included farmers, producers, watermen, aquaculturists, processors, grocery store retailers, restaurants, schools, chefs and more.
This year’s event will be held in the “N Room” at the Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, 550 Taylor Avenue, Annapolis. Registration is required. The deadline to sign up is January 5, 2022. There is a $25 fee for a table display space. There is no fee for buyers, but they must register. For more information on the expo or to register, visit the Maryland’s Best website.
You should attend this event if you are:
A Maryland grower, watermen, seafood company, or processor interested in finding new markets for your products;
A buyer from a grocery store, restaurant, hospital, school, or other venue looking to purchase Maryland grown or produced products; or
A service provider in agriculture or local food (such as a UME county extension agent, food writer, etc.).
The types of local products that buyers will typically find are:
Fruits and vegetables
Meats (such as poultry, beef, and bison)
Dairy products (cow, sheep and goats milk/cheese, ice cream, yogurt, and butter)
Seafood (such as crabmeat, oysters, blue catfish and rockfish)
Written by Neith Little, Urban Agriculture Extension Agent Reviewed by Dr. Gerald Brust, IPM Vegetable Specialist and Andrew Kness, Agriculture Extension Agent
Phytophthora blight plagues peppers and melons
The hot wet weather this summer has been the perfect conditions for Phytophthora blight of vegetables. I know of at least one urban farm where this vegetable disease has been confirmed by the University of Maryland Plant Diagnostic Lab.
Vegetables in the squash family and the tomato/pepper/eggplant family are particularly prone to infection with Phytophthora blight. This disease is particularly destructive and difficult to manage.
What symptoms to watch for: Watch for suddenly wilting plants in wet fields or beds, with brown plant stems at the soil surface and soft, rotting fruit.
Image above: Phytophthora symptoms on pepper plant. Note wilted leaves and brown stem near base of plant. Photo by Don Ferrin, Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, Bugwood.orgImage above: Phytophthora symptoms on watermelon. Note soft “water-soaked” circular lesions on fruit, with white fungal-like growth. Photo by Jason Brock, University of Georgia, Bugwood.org
How to manage the disease
Confirm your diagnosis: If you suspect you have Phytophthora blight, seek help confirming the diagnosis.
Remove infected plants. Put them in the trash or bury them far from your growing area. Do not put in compost that will go back onto the farm.
Rotate crops. In a bed where you have had Phytophthora, avoid cucurbit crops and solanaceous crops for the next three years.
Chemical management can be used in conjunction with the above practices. Several fungicides are labeled for Phytophthora blight on vegetable crops. Consult the Mid-Atlantic Commercial Vegetable Recommendation Guidefor a list of products and application methods. Always read and follow the label prior to any pesticide applications.
Wyenandt, A., Vuuren, M. van, Kuhar, T., Hamilton, G., Hastings, P., VanGessel, M., & Johnson, G. (2020). Mid-Atlantic Commercial Vegetable Production Recommendations. https://njaes.rutgers.edu/pubs/publication.php?pid=e001
General Tips: Check > 50 plants throughout the whole field when making treatment decisions. Localized infestations can be spot treated to save time and money. For up-to-date chemical recommendations, check the Mid-Atlantic Commercial Vegetable Production Guide. Read all labels carefully for rates and restrictions.
Cucurbits: Continue to scout for aphids, cucumber beetles and spider mites. Early detection is critical since these pest populations can quickly explode during hot, dry weather. Watch for rind feeding pests such as beet armyworm, yellow-striped armyworm, cabbage loppers, and cucumber beetle adults in melon fields.
Sweet Corn: Sample pre-tassel stage for whorl feeders (corn borer, corn earworm, and fall armyworm). Treatment should be applied when 15% of plants are infested with larvae and should be directed into the whorls.
Lima Beans and Snap Beans: Scout fields for aphids, leafhoppers, and spider mites. The leafhopper threshold is an average of 5 per sweep. As soon as pin pods are present, check for plant bugs and stink bug adults and nymphs. As a general guideline, treatment should be considered if you find 15 adults and/or nymphs leafhopper per 50 sweeps. Continue to scout for bean leaf beetles and Mexican bean beetles—Control when there is an average of 20% defoliation or 1 beetle per plant.
Potatoes: Scout fields for Colorado potato beetle, leafhoppers, and aphids. Controls will be needed for green peach aphids if you find 2 aphids per leaf during bloom and 4 aphids per leaf post-bloom. This threshold increases to 10 per leaf at 2 weeks from vine death/kill. If melon aphids are found, the threshold should be reduced by half.
High tunnels (or hoop houses) extend the growing season for specialty crops. This summer, UMD Extension will teach workshops on urban farms in Baltimore, MD to help urban growers learn about pest, disease, and soil management to get the most out of their high tunnels.
For more information, and to register to attend (free), please follow the link below for the date and location that works best for you.
Sat., July 24, 10:00 am at Plantation Park Heights Urban Farm building “AgriHoodBaltimore”: https://go.umd.edu/uffs3
These classes are supported by Cooperative Agreement #NR203B19XXXXC003 funded by the USDA-NRCS MD (United States Department of Agriculture –Natural Resources Conservation Service, Maryland).
UMD Extension is an equal opportunity provider.
Esta institución ofrece igualdad de oportunidades.
Please contact Neith Little, Urban Agriculture Extension Educator, with any questions. nglittle@umd.edu 410-856-1850 x122
By Haley Sater Agriculture Agent, Wicomico County University of Maryland Extension HSater@umd.edu
Everyone with a garden knows how exciting it is when you first get going in the spring. Whether you started your vegetables from seed or as transplants the first week or two all your little plants look promising. Until, inevitably, something goes wrong. This year for me, it was chlorosis or leaf yellowing in my garden. I first noticed it because it was very prominent on the leaves of my zucchini. Once discovered, my plant sleuth diagnostician training kicked in. Immediately, I started looking around and trying to gather several key informative clues from the garden to help determine what the problem could be and how to fix it.
Zucchini plant with yellowing leaves. Photos by H. Sater
First you must define the problem: I saw leaf yellowing in my zucchini, but wait, it appeared to only be affecting the new leaves, not the old leaves. The leaf yellowing seemed to be affecting all four zucchini I have planted equally. There didn’t appear to be any insect damage or lesions or spots on the leaf, just a lack of green pigment in the new leaves and flower buds of the zucchini plants.
Next I looked around the rest of the garden trying to see if I could find any similar issues in my other vegetables and berries. Sure enough similar but less pronounced leaf chlorosis appeared on a couple of my raspberry plants and tomatoes.
Next step: Now it’s time to think like a doctor, which means asking the right questions. First, we break down all the things that can kill plants into two categories: abiotic and biotic. Abiotic means environmental conditions, and biotic being any kind of living organism that can act as a pathogen. In general if you have a biotic problem like a fungal disease or insect herbivory there will be specific symptoms like insect holes or trails on the leaf. A fungus might cause spots which will eventually make powdery spores on the surface of the leaf. These signs of pathogens are often not symmetrical. However, the leaf yellowing present on all of these plants appeared to be mostly symmetrical and lacked any tell-tale signs of insect or disease, pointing me in the abiotic direction. Additionally, the same symptoms were visible in multiple plant species across the garden. Generally, different species of plants that are not closely related will not all suffer from the same types of biotic pests, but if there is an abiotic problem like drought or nutrient deficiency, it is more likely that it will be found across the garden in multiple species.
Form a hypothesis: I began to suspect that I had a nutrient deficiency. Nutrient deficiency shows themselves in different ways depending on which nutrient is missing. However, chlorosis or leaf yellowing is a very common symptom of several nutrient deficiencies. Additionally, I had neglected to get a soil sample taken of my garden in the spring and so I knew there was a possibility that I could be lacking some unknown nutrients.
Nutrient deficiency key adapted from image from Heidi Wollaeger, Michigan State University Extension
Next, I used a deficiency key to decide which nutrient might be missing or unavailable to my plants in the soil.
Q1.) Are older or younger or all leaves affected? A1: Youngest
Q2.) What’s wrong with them? A2: Chlorosis/ yellowing.
Q3.) Is the chlorosis everywhere except the leaf veins? Or does it have tan specking? A3: No tan specking, no chlorosis on the leaf veins.
So the nutrient that is missing is iron (Fe).
Deficiency chart from University of Arizona Cooperative Extension
Healthy zucchini plant. Photos by H. Sater UME.
One month later
After the application of a micronutrient fertilizer which included iron my zucchini are looking so much better. I can’t be sure that the missing nutrient was iron because the fertilizer I used was a blend of different micronutrients, but it sure made a difference. The yellowed leaves have regained their normal green color; which just goes to show that nutrient availability in your soil can make a big difference in the health of your garden.
Most blueberry cultivars here in Maryland bloomed and green fruit are developing. Now is the time when a variety of pathogens and pest will begin to take up residence in your field which can harm your developing crop. It is important to perform routine scouting throughout your farm and make sure that you’re not seeing symptoms of some of
the common pests and pathogens. Below is a description of several of the most common diseases and pests you may find at this time in your blueberries.
Pathogens to be on the lookout for:
During the cool, wet days where temperatures do not reach above 70 degrees you may begin to see symptoms of several fungal pathogens including botryosphaeria canker or stem blight, botrytis, anthracnose and powdery mildew. These conditions make for an ideal environment for some of these fungal pathogens to grow or spread.
A.) Botryosphaeria stem blight, Bill Cline NCSU. B.) Botrytis, Caleb Slemmons, National Ecological Observatory Network. C.) Anthracnose, Bruce Watt, University of Maine D.) Powdery Mildew, Florida Dept. of Agriculture. Bugwood.org
Botryosphaeria stem blight (A) will exhibit dieback symptoms. It is initially detectable as yellowing and reddening of leaves which will move down then stem as vascular tissue becomes blocked by the pathogen. Whereas, botryosphaeria canker will develop as stem lesions which will sometime become swollen resulting in the formation of a canker. If botryosphaeria stem blight or canker is observed the best method to prevent the spread is pruning the infected tissue and fruit clusters six inches below any infected stems. Then, remove pruned branches from the field.
Botrytis (B) also known as gray mold, affectsboth fruit and the plant. It infects the fruit from bloom. Aswith botryosphaeria, the best tactic to reduce the spread of this disease is by pruning out infected fruit clusters and wood, then removing clippings from the field.
Anthracnose (C) will appear as stem, bud and leaf lesions and may have orange spore masses. Infections will cause leaf browning and will move from top of the leaf to the bottom. If untreated, anthracnose will also cause fruit rot. Fungicides may be used to prevent further development of anthracnose during the green fruit
development stage.
Powdery mildew (D) will start as chlorotic discoloration spots and develop into powdery masses on leaves. The infection usually begins in the spring with young leaves and may become more severe throughout the season eventually causing defoliation. However, while unsightly, powdery mildew will not significantly damage the developing fruit crop and therefore no action is required.
According to USA organic standards, farmers can apply a certified allowable insecticide when all non-chemical practices fail to control pests. However, there exists a lack of control efficacy information to enable decision-making about which organic product works best for a given target pest.
This paper summarize the results of 153 field trials on the control efficacy of common active ingredients in organic insecticides against groups of the most difficult to control insect pests. The performance of organic products Entrust (spinosad), Azera (pyrethrin and azadirachtin), PyGanic (pyrethrin) and Neemix (azadirachtin) varied widely among pest groups, as well as among pest species within a group, providing an overall reduction in pest infestations by 73.9%, 61.7%, 48.6% and 46.1%, respectively.
Entrust was the most effective control option for many insect pests, particularly providing >75% control of flea beetles, Colorado potato beetle, cabbage worms, and alfalfa weevil. However, Entrust was relatively ineffective against sucking insects, particularly true bugs and aphids. Resistance to spinosad has occurred in several insect pests, especially diamondback moths, several thrips species, and Colorado potato beetles, so farmers should consider using other classes of insecticides in rotation with Entrust to reduce the risk of resistance development.
Azera provided >75% control of green peach aphid, flea beetles, Japanese beetle, Mexican bean beetle, potato leafhopper, and cabbage worms. PyGanic was less effective than Entrust and Azera but still provided >75% control of green peach aphid, flea beetles, and potato leafhopper. The growth inhibition effects of azadirachtin in Neemix were particularly effective against larvae of Mexican bean beetle and Colorado potato beetle, but were generally less effective in trials with insect infestations consisting mainly of adult stages.
Those insect pests that were particularly difficult to control included thrips, stink bugs, cucumber beetles, and fruit worms.
