Southern Ohio Specialty Crop Conference

Registration is now open for the 2019 Southern Ohio Specialty Crop Conference. It will be held on February 5, 2019 at the Oasis Conference Center in Loveland, Ohio. The deadline to register for this conference is February 1, 2019 at 12:00 Noon. No walk-ins are permitted. Registration is limited to 75 people, so register early to avoid being shut out.

This is the conference to attend for Southern Ohio specialty crop growers. Fifteen different class options on fruit and vegetable production are available at this conference. Your registration includes a continental breakfast and a buffet lunch. All attendees will receive a USB memory stick with copies of every available presentation to take home, so even if you don’t attend the session, you’ll still get the information. Private pesticide and fertilizer re-certification credits will be available for categories 3, 5, core and fertilizer. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from industry experts and share information with other growers.

The Oasis Conference Center is conveniently located about 5 miles off of I-275 on the northeast corner of Cincinnati.
For more information about the schedule and to register for the conference, go to the conference website.

Registration brochure. 

 

Managing Spotted Wing Drosophila – Exclusion Netting Video

Medina County grower talking about his exclusion netting project to manage SWD.

Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD) has become a well-known pest for any grower producing small fruit such as raspberry, blueberry,

blackberry, strawberry, grapes or peaches. Ohio State University Extension educators and Department of Entomology faculty have been conducting workshops around the state since 2012 to help growers identify and manage this pest.

Over the past few years a new management technique has emerged that involves no pesticides but may only be economically feasible for smaller or organic growers.  The use of insect proof exclusion netting such as ExcludeNet (80g) or similar netting has been tried in several states (MI, NY, MN, VT, MO) with generally good results (http://u.osu.edu/pestmanagement/pests/swd/).

One of the potential downfalls of wide adoption is the cost of the netting may run as high as $840 for a roll measuring 13’ x 328’ (this includes shipping). A rough estimate for the netting alone would place the cost per acre close to $8,600, not including the cost of the supporting structure. Based on the footprint of the area to protect, the netting may need to be cut and stitched by a tarp shop or similar business to create the appropriate size, which would be an additional cost. Another issue to consider would be pollination and when to put the netting in place in relation to flowering and the use or addition of pollinators.

If you have been considering using netting to reduce SWD infestation on a particular crop, take a look at this video for some great information on how to get started including some of the other advantages and disadvantages.

The SWD netting video is posted to the OSU IPM YouTube channel along with other videos on how to monitor and manage this pest. https://youtu.be/_eAODdcYnXk

Additional information about SWD management can be found here http://u.osu.edu/pestmanagement/pests/swd/

Celeste Welty (Entomology) and Ashley Kulhanek (Extension) were also involved in this project.