Register Now for the 2025 Northern Ohio Vegetable Grower Winter Meeting

OSU Extension is pleased to announce the 2025 Northern Ohio Vegetable Grower Winter Meeting will take place on March 4th, 2025.This program will provide opportunities to learn from and engage with OSU Extension specialists on various topics in vegetable production. The educational sessions include topics on crop protection against vegetable pests (insects, diseases, weeds), high tunnel management, safeguarding water quality, and more. Take part in this educational opportunity to help equip you with the knowledge you need to help improve vegetable production on your farm.

AGENDA:

9:00: Welcome/Weed Control in Sweet Corn & Pumpkins

Chris Galbraith, OSU/MSU Extension

9:35: What’s New in High Tunnel Production and Potato Varieties

Matt Kleinhenz, OSU

10:20: Break

10:30: Soilborne Disease Management in Tomatoes

Andres Sanabria Velazquez, OSU

11:00: Preserving Water Quality in the Western Lake Erie Basin

Jocelyn Ruble, OSU Extension

11:30: Cover Crops for Weed Control in Vegetables

Ram Yadav, OSU

12:00: Lunch

12:45: Pepper Insect Pest Control/IPPM in Cucurbits

Ashley Leach, OSU

1:30: Vegetable Diseases of 2024: Diagnostic Lab Recap

Francesca Rotundo, OSU

2:00: Use of Spray Drones in Vegetable Production: Challenges & Opportunities

Erdal Ozkan, OSU

2:30: Evaluations/Credits

 

The program will run from 9:00am-2:30pm, with check-in beginning at 8:30am. Registering online prior to the event is required to ensure there is room. The event will take place at The Neeley Center at Terra State Community College (2830 Napoleon Rd, Fremont, OH 43420).

This event is free and will include a catered lunch. This event is worth 3 ODA credits for Commercial category 2B (category 3 for Private) and 0.5 credit for Commercial category 1. Vegetable growers won’t want to miss this opportunity to learn from and connect with fellow growers, extension staff, and other individuals working within the vegetable industry.

Visit the link below to register for this event:

Go.osu.edu/nwveg 

Please reach out to Chris Galbraith at galbraith.108@osu.edu or 734-240-3178 with any questions.

 

 

Daylength Effects on Seeding/Transplanting Dates for Fall-to-Spring Harvesting of Annual Specialty Crops

Whether growers are creating, discovering, or connecting with previously untapped markets, much is happening in Ohio annual specialty crop production that affects when crops are established and harvested and how they are managed in between.

For example, growers working with increasingly diverse markets must provide vegetables, flowers, herbs, and other crops meeting specific standards for size, color, weight, and other characteristics. Evolving standards continue to alter the mix of crops consumers/customers seek and/or their form – steadily rising interest in crops enjoyed around the world, micro or baby greens, small potatoes, and personal size melons are four common examples among many others.

Also, some markets are looking for Ohio or regionally grown products over more of the calendar year, challenging historical perspectives on seasonality.

Questions about seeding and transplanting dates naturally follow from these developments, especially since Ohio growers: (a) operate in locations with variable growing conditions and (b) use open field and/or semi-protected systems featuring low, mid, and/or high tunnels, creating additional complexity and opportunity.

Typical basic practice is to circle target harvest dates and confirm expected crop maturity, then count back to ideal seeding or transplanting dates, estimating based on likely near crop environments and other factors. As such, possible crop responses to light-temperature combinations expected to occur from seeding/transplanting onward are key. Selecting proper seeding/transplanting dates when only natural sunlight will be available relies on a few key principles.

For example, “growth” is defined as an increase in the amount of plant biomass whereas “maintenance” refers to the persistence of that biomass. Growth tends to require more light than short-medium term maintenance. This is one reason why established or harvest-ready crops can be maintained for weeks to months in various settings in fall-winter after growth has stopped due to much shortened days. Indeed, getting crops to market-ready status before growth stops due to inadequate light availability then maintaining them in saleable condition for weeks after is a core goal for many who produce and market fall-winter. Others look to get crops to a stage allowing them to overwinter successfully then complete growth and mature in early spring. Still others who also want to be first to the new year’s markets want to know how early seed or transplants can be set in late winter to utilize every available part of the expanding growth period. In all cases fall-to-spring, optimal temperatures help plants utilize whatever light is available but warm temperatures cannot fully replace or make up for low levels of light. In fact, high temperatures when light levels are unable to support growth are usually detrimental. This is one reason why some growers ventilate to cool their crop-filled high tunnels during clear but short days winter and early spring.

Crops differ widely in the amount of light (intensity x duration) required for them to grow. One rule-of-thumb is that most crops produced with sunlight only require at least ten hours of daylight to grow. Daylengths in Ohio are ten hours or longer between January 27 and November 14, on average. (You can see year-round daylengths at your location at https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/usa). Therefore, it is reasonable: (a) to target November 14 (on average) as the date by which most fall established crops should reach saleable condition and (b) to expect crops seeded or transplanted around January 27 (on average) to grow at rates tracking the increasing daylengths; i.e., very slowly at first and increasing as light levels increase. However, there are two important exceptions to these rules-of-thumb. First, some crops can grow when using sunlight alone when daylengths are less than ten hours but need to be identified carefully. Second, as mentioned earlier and shown in https://u.osu.edu/vegnetnews/2024/02/03/a-minimalist-approach-to-ensuring-fall-through-spring-vegetable-harvests/, https://u.osu.edu/vegnetnews/2024/02/17/high-tunnel-crop-and-market-period-diversity/, and grower experience, mid-late fall can be an excellent time to establish crops able to over-winter and mature early the following spring (e.g., garlic, carrot, some Brassicas), before or while new crops are being seeded/transplanted. Crops with this ability can further expand harvest and marketing periods.

Seeding/transplanting windows for many annual specialty crops expected to be harvested in 2024 or early in 2025 from naturally lit open field, or low, mid, and/or high tunnel plantings remain open but informed steps should be taken soon to utilize the time that remains.

Using Each Season and Crop as Preparation for the Next in High Tunnel Production

Tomato production dominates main season, summertime high tunnel use but presents challenges. Like an increasing number of growers, we experiment with ways to maintain high tunnel soil productivity and profit potential for the long-term. Our operating principle is that crop and market diversity are useful and while some crops offer less income potential, their contribution to the success of the farm may not rest entirely in their specific balance sheet. Our posts on 10/28/23, 2/17/24, and 7/27/24 provide additional information and highlight some of our recent and ongoing work focused on ensuring year-round success in high tunnel production. Recent activities involving butternut squash, a mixed-species summer cover crop, and various vegetable and flower crops are summarized below.

Three panels focused on a mixed-species summer cover crop (cowpea, Italian ryegrass, pearl millet, and sorghum-sudangrass) seeded on 6/5/24 and terminated on 8/20/24.

As before, other HTs at our location are also being used to test and illustrate additional year-round production options involving crop selection and HT environmental management. Pictured is a small subset of the crops harvested or soon to be harvested since March-2024 (see https://u.osu.edu/vegnetnews/2024/02/03/a-minimalist-approach-to-ensuring-fall-through-spring-vegetable-harvests/) for a summary of crops harvested 11/23-3/24.

 

A Better High Tunnel Poly Covering?

High tunnel growers have long used standard 6 mil poly film to cover their structures. Standard 6 mil poly film is the “covering” workhorse of the high tunnel industry. However, as most high tunnel growers know, standard 6 mil poly film can be punctured easily, will continue to tear if cut, eventually becomes brittle and less transparent, retains very little heat energy, and allows sunlight to escape the high tunnel without contributing to photosynthesis, which hampers growers wanting to maximize growth fall-to-spring. Regardless, standard 6 mil poly film needs to be replaced every three to five years in many locations. While many growers may not give the film that covers their high tunnels much thought, it is usually the only thing that separates their crops from the outside and it influences their success in many obvious and not so obvious ways. Therefore, it is reasonable for growers to seek and expect improved high tunnel coverings just as they expect better versions of all other materials used on the farm.

We are pleased to be cooperating with the Seaman Corporation of Wooster, Ohio (https://www.seamancorp.com/), long known as an industry leader in high performance industrial fabrics. Together, we are evaluating the company’s exciting new experimental reinforced poly film which is far stronger and more puncture and tear resistant than standard 6 mil poly film and has other interesting properties that may, for example, allow it to supplement or replace hard polycarbonate in some applications.

As depicted below, HT 103 on the CFAES-Wooster campus currently contains a crop of butternut squash and was covered with the new film on 8/12/24. HT 204 is about 100 ft east of HT 103, identical in shape and age, covered with standard 6 mil poly film, and holding butternut squash. Going forward, cropping, ventilation, and other practices will be the same and environmental conditions will be monitored in both high tunnels. Therefore, overall, differences in environmental conditions and/or crop status in the two high tunnels are likely to result from their different coverings. Monitor temperature and relative humidity in high tunnels 103 and 204 and six other structures at the same location at https://u.osu.edu/vegprolab/resource-1/ and stay tuned for updates on this important evaluation.

Cucurbit Downy Mildew Reports Intensifying

Following initial detection in Medina County the first week of July, additional confirmations of this pathogen have been made from fields in Wayne, Seneca, and Huron counties, as well as the OSU Extension seminal plot in Wooster. Laboratory diagnosis was conducted by the C. Wayne Ellett Plant and Pest Diagnostic Clinic at the OSU CFAES Wooster Campus. Monitoring continues at OSU sentinel plots in Fremont, Celeryville, and Piketon, with no confirmed detections at the time of writing. Additionally, symptoms consistent with bacterial spot, yellow-vine decline, and bacterial wilt have been observed in the sentinel and nearby plots at OSU research stations across the state, so diligence in insect and disease scouting and management remains imperative.

 

 

 

 

Heavy sporulation on the underside of a cucumber leaf in Wayne county Sentinel plot F. Rotondo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Visual foliar symptoms on the upper surface of cucumber leaves from Huron (left) and Wayne (right) counties, F. Rotondo

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Microscope view of Cucurbit Downy Mildew, where the individual, lemon-shaped, sporangia can be observed along with sporangiophores, F. Rotondo.

The following information appeared in this newsletter on July 2nd but remains relevant and is reposted for reader convenience.

Growers who have cucumbers and cantaloupe in their fields should take quick action to protect their crop. Cucurbit Downy Mildew is best managed with preventative applications before infection takes place. Once visual symptoms appear, control becomes increasingly difficult and yield reductions may occur. In conditions favorable for disease development, and without effective and timely management, Cucurbit Downy Mildew can cause rapid decline of the plant, severe defoliation and ultimately plant death in just the matter of days. Disease development is favored by rainy, humid conditions (relative humidity greater than 85%) and cooler temperatures ( 60°F to 70°F)

According to research trials completed in Ohio, Michigan, and other states and provinces around the Great Lakes region, the best fungicide options are as follows: Orondis Opti (FRAC 49+M05), Ranman (FRAC 21), Omega (FRAC 29), Previcur Flex (FRAC 28), and Elumin (FRAC 22). These should be tank mixed with chlorothalanil (Bravo, Equus, etc.) or mancozeb (Dithane, Manzate, etc.). Orondis Opti is a premix already containing chlorothalanil, but at a reduced rate.  Fungicides have restrictions on how much product can be applied and how often, so follow the label, the label is the law. The more effective fungicides should be rotated to avoid resistance development in the pathogen.

Growers in Ohio should also intensify scouting of cucumbers and melons. Look for yellow or tan angular lesions delimited by veins on the top surface of leaves, and fuzzy grey/brown growth on the undersides of the lesions. With a good hand lens or a smartphone camera with high magnification you may be able to see small dark brown/purple spots within the fuzzy growth. These are the spores of the downy mildew pathogen. You can also utilize the Cucurbit Downy Mildew IPM Pipeline website, where you can sign up for alerts notifying you of nearby confirmed Cucurbit Downy Mildew observations.

If you suspect downy mildew in cucumber or melon please submit samples to the C. Wayne Ellett Plant and Pest Diagnostic Clinic (CWE-PPDC) for confirmation. Instructions for sample submission are here. Please contact Dr. Francesca Rotondo at 330-263-3721 or rotondo.11@osu.edu with any questions. You can also work with your county extension educator to get samples submitted to the lab. A major ‘thank you’ to Dr. Rotondo and her staff in the Plant and Pest Diagnostic Clinic for their critically important work! Also, thanks to financial support from the Ohio Produce Growers and Marketers Association’s Ohio Vegetable and Small Fruit Research and Development Program, there is no fee for this service for Ohio vegetable growers. Please find additional information on Cucurbit Downy Mildew here from OSU and Michigan State

Worsening Drought Conditions Across Southern Ohio

Author: Aaron Wilson

Summary

As I write this article on Monday afternoon, showers and a few embedded storms are rolling across the Buckeye State. However, for southern and southeastern Ohio, this has largely not been the case for the last several weeks. Precipitation over the past 30-to-60-days is running 25-75% of normal, with some parts of Pickaway, Ross, Noble, Morgan, Washington, Monroe, and Belmont Counties receiving less than 2 inches over this period (Figure 1). As a result, the latest US Drought Monitor depicts about 8% of Ohio in D2-Severe Drought and abnormally dry conditions or worse being felt by

approximately 70% of the state. This has led to notable crop stress on drier ground, deep cracks in the ground from the lack of soil moisture, poor pasture conditions, and short-cuttings of hay. Producers are encouraged to provide observations from their locations by submitting a Condition 

Monitoring Observer Report (go.osu.edu/drought_cm

or). For more information and resources, please visit our Drought Conditions and Resources Knowledge Exchange page or visit the State Climate Office of Ohio.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weather Forecast

Scattered showers and storms are possible on Tuesday through Thursday this week, before high pressure and drier air moves in for the weekend. However, widespread heavy rain is not expected. The Weather Prediction Center is currently forecasting 0.01-0.50” for the state over the next 7 days (Figure 2), though locally heavier amounts are possible. Temperatures will generally rise into the low to mid 80s each day with overnight lows in the 60s, about average for mid to late July.

The 8-14 day outlook from the Climate Prediction Center and the 16-Day Rainfall Outlook from NOAA/NWS/Ohio River Forecast Center show temperatures are likely to be above average with precipitation probability leaning toward wetter than average (Figure 3). Climate averages include a high-temperature range of 83-86°F, a low-temperature range of 60-66°F, and weekly total precipitation of 0.90-1.20”.

 

 

 

 

Blotchy Ripening of Tomato Fruit: Description, Contributing Factors, and Prevention

Marketable yield is more important than total yield. Physiological disorders like ‘blotchy ripening’ typically do not affect total yield but do reduce marketable yield, which reduces income and profit potential.

Description
Blotchy ripening refers to one or more conditions specific to the external and/or internal color of tomato fruit. Ideally, the skin and flesh color of mature tomato fruit are uniform throughout, with red being most common. Fruit exhibiting blotchy ripening have discolored sections. For example, defected fruits are mostly red on the outside but contain areas that are green, yellow, gray, or paler red than the remainder of the fruit, such as shown in the picture. Blemished areas may be more common on the half of the fruit nearest the stem. The flesh, especially vasculature, of fruit exhibiting blotchy ripening may be brown or broken down.

Symptoms associated with blotchy ripening have underlying physiological, or disease or insect feeding causes. Symptoms can be mild and in only a small number of fruit or severe and/or in many fruit. Regardless, it is important to note that fruit are said to exhibit blotchy ripening only when they are also in the mid-late stages of ripening as determined by changes in firmness and other variables and when insect (e.g., whitefly) and disease (e.g., TMV) are ruled out as causal agents. These two criteria separate truly ‘blotchy’ ripened fruit from firm, immature fruit in the early stages of ripening (which can be mottled in color inside and out) and fruit damaged by the action of pathogens and/or insects. Blotchy ripening is a physiological disorder.

Blotchy ripening has been discussed as a potentially significant marketable yield issue in research and extension publications for nearly ninety years. Seaton and Gray of the Michigan Agricultural Research Station reported on their analysis of the anatomy of blotchy-ripened fruit in 1936. Also, after touring commercial and research farms throughout the U.S., Minges and Sadik of Cornell University published a protocol for evaluating blotchy ripening in 1964 (https://journals.flvc.org/fshs/article/view/100632/96587). These landmark works provided much needed insight on blotchy ripening, and they were followed by other steps that helped identify factors that contribute to the disorder.

Contributing Factors and Prevention

1. Genetics
Immature tomato fruit are green and photosynthetic. Later however, the set of pigments found in fruit of most hybrids shifts and red becomes the dominant color.

This shift is pre-programmed but influenced by conditions surrounding the fruit and within the plant and soil. The first and one of the most reliable steps in minimizing blotchy ripening is selecting varieties known to display it very infrequently – i.e., among few crops year to year and among few fruit within a season.

Hybrid tomato varieties are the culmination of huge, coordinated efforts requiring in-depth knowledge of tomato genes. Nearly 100 years ago, these genes were found to include a natural mutation that led individual fruit to ripen uniformly red, today’s most common standard. Decades of development of varieties whose fruit turn red over their entire surface and throughout their flesh at precisely the right time relative to other variables related to market-readiness have followed. However, the natural condition of NON-uniform reddening remains in the tomato genome and it shows itself most readily in certain varieties. As a category, heirloom varieties may display the blotchy ripening disorder most consistently. As an early step in avoiding blotchy ripening, consult reliable reports on variety performance in your area and select varieties that exhibit the problem rarely, if at all.

2. Environmental Conditions, including Air Temperature, Soil Status, and Nutrient Levels

A variety’s genes may predispose it to physiological disorders like blotchy ripening but this weakness can be minimized or masked with luck and proper management. Factors contributing to the development of physiological disorders like blotchy ripening can be difficult or take a long time to determine because they are difficult to induce experimentally. That said, research and experience have shown that blotchy ripening is most prevalent when air temperatures during mid-late stages of fruit ripening are extreme (e.g., below 60 deg F and/or above 90 deg F) or highly variable, when humidity levels remain high, and/or when these conditions are common and light levels are low. Low soil quality and high salinity are also associated with the occurrence of blotchy ripening.

Most also agree that severe cases of blotchy ripening are most often associated with factors that limit the supply of potassium (especially) and to a lesser extent, magnesium, to maturing fruit. These factors include: waterlogged and/or compacted soils, below-optimal potassium or magnesium application rates, above-optimal nitrogen application rates, excessive application of potassium and magnesium competitors, excessively large or dense canopies, and the environmental conditions mentioned previously.

Potassium supplies may be restricted for different reasons. So, do not over-compensate when evaluating and adjusting irrigation and nutrient management practices. Articles written by Gordon Johnson (University of Delaware), Jerry Brust (University of Maryland), and others are excellent overviews of blotchy ripening and its management. All point to limiting blotchy ripening and similar disorders through careful nutrient and water management, considering soil, plant, and fruit factors in the process.

Limiting the Occurrence and Severity of Blotchy Ripening in Tomato
A. Select resistant varieties.

B. Minimize large temperature swings and extreme high temperatures during fruit development and ripening.

C. Ensure adequate and balanced nutrient levels, paying special attention to potassium and magnesium and their competitors or factors that limit their availability.

D. Maintain consistent and appropriate soil moisture levels.

E. Maintain or improve biological, chemical, and physical characteristics of soils allowing them to support maximum root and plant health.

First Report of Cucurbit Downy Mildew in Ohio in 2024

Sporulation evident on the underside of the cucumber leaf, F. Becker.

Cucurbit Downy Mildew has been confirmed today (July 2nd, 2024) in Ohio, specifically in Medina County. The observation was made by area growers and the Wayne County IPM Program, and was confirmed by the C. Wayne Ellett Plant and Pest Diagnostic Clinic at the OSU CFAES Wooster Campus. This is almost an entire month earlier than when it was first found in 2023. Western New York had several confirmed cases during the last week of June and southern Michigan has a confirmed observation that was reported today, July 2nd, 2024. The 2 farms outside of Homerville, OH, where samples were taken from, ranged in severity and incidence, with one farm having a severe, mature infestation, and the other in the very early stages of disease development and progression.

Heavy sporulation on the underside of a cucumber leaf, F. Becker.

Growers who have cucumbers and cantaloupe in their fields should take quick action to protect their crop. Cucurbit Downy Mildew is best managed with preventative applications before infection takes place. Once visual symptoms appear, control becomes increasingly difficult and yield reductions may occur. In conditions favorable for disease development, and without effective and timely management, Cucurbit Downy Mildew can cause rapid decline of the plant, severe defoliation and ultimately plant death in just the matter of days. Disease development is favored by rainy, humid conditions (relative humidity greater than 85%) and cooler temperatures ( 60°F to 70°F)

Visual foliar symptoms on the upper surface of cucumber leaves, F. Becker.

According to research trials completed in Ohio, Michigan, and other states and provinces around the Great Lakes region, the best fungicide options are as follows: Orondis Opti (FRAC 49+M05), Ranman (FRAC 21), Omega (FRAC 29), Previcur Flex (FRAC 28), and Elumin (FRAC 22). These should be tank mixed with chlorothalanil (Bravo, Equus, etc.) or mancozeb (Dithane, Manzate, etc.). Orondis Opti is a premix already containing chlorothalanil, but at a reduced rate.  Fungicides have restrictions on how much product can be applied and how often, so follow the label, the label is the law. The more effective fungicides should be rotated to avoid resistance development in the pathogen.

Growers in Ohio should also intensify scouting of cucumbers and melons. Look for yellow or tan angular lesions delimited by veins on the top surface of leaves, and fuzzy grey/brown growth on the undersides of the lesions. With a good hand lens or a smartphone camera with high magnification you may be able to see small dark brown/purple spots within the fuzzy growth. These are the spores of the downy mildew pathogen. You can also utilize the Cucurbit Downy Mildew IPM Pipeline website, where you can sign up for alerts notifying you of nearby confirmed Cucurbit Downy Mildew observations.

Microscope view of Cucurbit Downy Mildew, where the individual, lemon-shaped, sporangia can be observed, F. Rotondo.

If you suspect downy mildew in cucumber or melon please submit samples to the C. Wayne Ellett Plant and Pest Diagnostic Clinic (CWE-PPDC) for confirmation. Instructions for sample submission are here. Please contact Dr. Francesca Rotondo at 330-263-3721 or rotondo.11@osu.edu with any questions. You can also work with your county extension educator to get samples submitted to the lab. A major ‘thank you’ to Dr. Rotondo and her staff in the Plant and Pest Diagnostic Clinic for their critically important work! Also, thanks to financial support from the Ohio Produce Growers and Marketers Association’s Ohio Vegetable and Small Fruit Research and Development Program, there is no fee for this service for Ohio vegetable growers. Please find additional information on Cucurbit Downy Mildew here from OSU and Michigan State.

A Minimalist Approach to Ensuring Fall through Spring Vegetable Harvests

Interest in marketing locally-grown, freshly-harvested vegetables fall through spring is strong and increasing among high tunnel growers in the Midwest, Great Lakes, Mid-Atlantic, Mid-South, and Northeast. Scanning the agendas of industry meetings and listening to growers and others in these areas makes clear that fall through spring harvest and marketing of high tunnel-grown crops is an established and increasingly common practice. Importantly, some growers have transitioned to cash cropping their high tunnels only fall through spring and leaving summer to grow cover crops and focus on other priorities, including field-based production. Conversations with and public presentations by these growers and other experts make clear that fall through spring income from high tunnel production can be significant if the correct crops and varieties are chosen and suitable practices are used.

We have long wondered which crops, varieties, and practices may be ideal for Ohio high tunnel growers looking to harvest fall through spring. Much of our previous research focused on a relatively small number of crops and the use of various tools and practices (e.g., films, fabrics, and/or soil heating). Our goal was to describe potential production outcomes when high tunnel growers invested in the process to various levels. Results from those experiments suggest that yields are likely to be greatest when investments are also highest, for example, when soil heating, plastic films, and row covers and the effort to maximize their utility are used. Those studies were summarized previously in this blog.

We are asking a different question in Winter 2023-2024. As the three panels below describe, seven crops were seeded in two high tunnels in October-2023 and grown without any supplemental heating, films, or row covers. This “minimalist” approach explores the worst-case scenario, the minimum that can be expected from these crops under the conditions they have experienced since seeding. This approach may appeal to growers unfamiliar with fall through spring production and/or those who are unwilling or unable to invest much time, money, or effort in it, at least at this time. The test outlined below is one example of what can be expected but many others exist. Of course, different outcomes may be possible when other varieties, planting dates, and growing practices are used. Upcoming evaluations will push the “minimalist” approach further as all crops capable of being grown and harvested fall through spring do not require a high tunnel. Please contact me (Matt Kleinhenz, 330.263.3810, kleinhenz.1@osu.edu) if you would like more information.

 

Pawpaw Day at the 2023 Farm Science Review

Authors: Carrie Brown

Pawpaw Day at the 2023 Farm Science Review on September 19!

On Tuesday, September 19, The Gwynne Conservation area is teaming up with the North American Pawpaw Growers Association to bring you a fun-filled day packed with pawpaw talks, walks, demos, and tastings! Events run throughout the day, 10:30am-3:00pm, and will be located at the Gwynne Conservation Area at Farm Science Review.

Are you familiar with Farm Science Review and the Gwynne Conservation Area? The Gwynne is a 67-acre conservation area where conservation demos, talks, displays, and tours are held during Farm Science Review, September 19-21, in London, Ohio. Featuring a pond, wetland, tallgrass prairie, stream, pawpaw orchard, and forage plots, the Gwynne offers a little something for everyone.

Though September 19th is dedicated to Pawpaws, talks on a variety of natural resource topics will be held throughout each of the three days of Farm Science Review. And new to the Gwynne this year, the “Ask a Master Gardener” table will be on site to answer all of your horticultural questions!