COOPERATIVE
EXTENSION
WORK
IN AGRICULTURE
STATE
AND
HOME
ECONOMICS
OF FL O RIDA
CO LLEG E O f' AG R I C ULTU R E ,
AGRtC Ul.T UR A L EXT ENS IO N 9 E.RV 1C~
UNIVERSI
COU NTY A G£NT
UNITt
T Y O F F L ORIDA
, AND
D s ·TA TES DE .PARTM£
O Jf AGRJCUL
T·URE,
AN D
HO ME. DEM O NS TR AT ION
NT
W ORK
C O OPl!:RAT I NG
/ra.3-=3
AGENT:
-MR. COUNTY
It's about the time
of year when· folks begin to ask., 11When1 s the field
Thought we might menti on a couple of dates already sel ected :
April 3: POTATOINVESTIGA
TI ONS LABORATORY.,
HA
_STINGS
; 9:30 AM
.
!eill
PLANTATION
FIELD LABO
RATORY,
. FT, IAUDERDALE;
1:30 PM.
day?11
2:
And use s ome~
y~ar(s dates as reminders that this year ' s dates may be around
arch 24; Ft . Pi erce, Hay 5; .Belle Glade., Hay 6;
the same time: Homestead tomatoes)., 1-'i
Bradenton , May 11; Sanford , May 12; Leesburg, June 2. More details will be passed on
to you as they are made available to us . No vegetable field day was held at the Hain
Station last year, however, enter one about May 22- 24 for this year , We 'll be weY:-coming you to the new farm,
P<Yl'
ATOFIELD DAY, HOME
STEAD
: held February 17th.
Always feei'""hesitan--r-io summarize informati on presented at field days ; hope you ']..
accept th e foll owing as a few of the comments., and ask for compl ete details where in terest ed. Copies of the program can be s upplied ,
Dr . George Ruehle explain ed fun gicide and seed tre atment trials . Fungic i de combinations incl ude4 checks on re ports fr9~ Maine indicating stimulation fr om zin eb- agobservati on .that where copper was used th ere se emed to
r imycin, and f ollow-up on
be less sc l erotinia; all in all, no immediate changes in r ecommendations indic ated.
an
In the seed treat ment trial,
seed piece~ were conta minate d wita decay ed ti ssu e at
cutting; seed piece decay was. not a se r ious factor in r educing stand , Was a nice try
with such treatments as semesan bel, captan, agrimycin, formaldehyde , and several
methods .
· ·
·
·
·
t1r. John c. Noonan showed numbered lines from USDAplots in North Dakota;~
had
genes for resistance to late bli ght and scab; most had late blight lesi ons , Best ec- ·
inch spacing using l ! ounce seed
onomic yields in weight-spacing tests pointed~!
piec es .
Source of seed plots checking performance from North Dakota, Nebraska and Colorado
l ast year N.D. was best . Particul ar i nt erest sho1-m ·1n seed which had been grOl-m-out
at Homestead for sev~ral seasons; nq virus . showing., _yet , Also displayed some unhappy
winter - grovm soybeans., fava beans that wouldn 1 t set, and variety tria l s wit h a number
of crops .
. · ·
Dr , D. o. Wolfenbarger re ported small scale tests wher e DDT was effective in conbeetle , Appearin g within last year, a beetle of th e famtro l of the banded cucu~
on name) prompted furt her work to evaluate injury and pos ily Pt ilodactylidae--rnc; comm
sible control.
Control of l eaf miner s , aphi ds , young larvae and many ot her insects
feeding on foliage reported satisfactory
with E!!:~at~ . High vs. low concentr ation
sprays and wet vs . dry foliage in clud ed· in pnra t hi on to xi ci ty st udi es on s quash .
~
SAMPLES
ANDNEMA
TODES:
predictin g incid ence on crop?
.Dr. J . R. Christie., Nematologist , gave us benefit of his wide experience 1ri.th some
comments forwarded the ot her day:
So far as the~
knot nematodes are concer ned, an exarninatio~ of s oil samples
does not provide inf ormation that is of much val ue . The females , which cause mo~t of
' -the damage, ar e sedentar y parasi t es and once they become esta blished they never leave
t he root or ot herwise move about . The only st ages that cnn be found fr ee in the soil
are the newly hatched larvae and occasionally -~dult males , \:1he
ther or not :µirvae are
present in the soi l depends on the extent to which eggs are ~chin g. Uurini so11e
-2times of the year , especial ly during cool weather , eggs do not hatch to any appreciable extent, even in Florida.
~"le have frequently
examined soil samples taken from
land known to be root knot infested without finding larvae.
"For most of the other plant nematodes an examination of soil samples is more
informative.
Such kinds as the meadow nero.atodes and lance nematodes are internal
r oot parasites
but they ·are vagrant nematodes that move about, g6i!1g into and out of
crop is gro~;Tingon the land many
r oots and from plant to plant • . When a susceptible
of the nematodes of th is type are within roots and at such times ,it is best to include
When no sus ceptib le c:;.•opis growing on
in a sample both roots and surrounding soil.
the land most of these nematodes are in the soil and an examination of soil sample s
gives a fairly good indication of their prevalence.
11
-V
,Tith regard to the externa l feeders such as the sting nematode , they are always
in the soil and soil samples are all that is needed at any time . However, when suitable host plants ar ·e growing on the land, nematodes of this type tend to concentra t e
close to the roots and soil samples should be taken from tnis section.
"The extent to which a given number of nematodes or a given degree of infestation
will injure a crop and reduce yields is a complicated matter and depends on many difwould be
ferent factors,
some of which are !22.iwell understood . At best, predictions
unreliable
and they might be misleading, especially with regard to root knot."
NEWUSDAPUBLIC
ATIONS : examine them for usefulness .
,
USDApublica-- Thought you might ' appreciate reminders that several rathez\recent
tions may be of use to you. We'd suggest you have a file copy on hand at least.
pumpkins and squashes
Farmer's Bulle tin 2086 •••••••••••••••
Technical Bulle tin 1134••••••••••••••• rabbit repellents
seuage sludge for soi l
Circular Wo. 972••••••••••••••••••••••
improvement .. ·
.
greenhouse tow4to production
Farmer's Bulletin 2082 ••••••••••••••••
Chinese waterchestnut
Circular No. 956••••••••••••••••••••••
Farmer 's Bulletin 1875••••••••••••••••
mushroom groir.Lng
AIR POLLUTION
: not necessarily
hot .
Believe you'd be interested
in a talk by K. s. Quisenberry, Assistant Director of
Crops Research, USD
A, before a 1955 Symposium on Air Pollution and Its Control up in
New York. · It's relatively
short, yet will give you quite a wide revie-tv of the
question.
·
Goes all the way back to 1306 td a proclamation by Edward I, traces work in the
Soyears ago, and projects opinions on the problem ahead .
United States starting
Copi es can be made available for~
study.
Sincere ly,
~J~
Vegetable Crop Specialist
FEM:ml
275 copies