Purdue Extension is coordinating two field days for vegetable and fruit growers in August. The Pinney Purdue Vegetable Field Day will be held at the Pinney Purdue Ag Center, 11402 S. County Line Road, Wanatah, IN. It will begin at 6:00 pm EST on August 10. The Michiana Fruit and Vegetable Growers Farm Tour will hold its August event at Titus Oberholtzer Farm, 20235 Michigan Road, Agros IN. It will start at 6:00 pm EST on August 12.
The Pinney Purdue Vegetable Field Day will last 3 hours, if you stay of the optional dinner at the end of the presentations. If you plan to enjoy the meal, you need to register by August 6 by emailing your contact details and number attending to ryoder@purdue.edu or calling the extension office (574) 935-8545. The field day will have two tracks one for commercial growers and one for home gardeners.
Commercial grower presentations will be utilizing cover crops for weed control, managing weeds in pumpkins, no-till planting of sweet corn and pumpkin seeds in to cereal rye, utilizing compost and amendments to build soil health, and managing spider mites in cucumber production in high tunnels. Home gardener presentations will address utilizing cover crops in home gardens, soil testing and fertility management, vegetable storage, cooking winter squash, and utilizing compost.
Following the field presentations, the presenters will have a panel discussion on managing vegetables. This is when the dinner will be served. The commercial grower presentation is approved as a private applicator recertification program and has continuing educational hours for commercial applicators and CCAs.
For the Michiana farm tour, Titus Overholtzer will share his diversified produce production systems. He utilizes greenhouses and high tunnels to extend the growing season and has produce field production during the growing season. Titus has some newer cropping systems like growing strawberries in plastic culture and peach trees in a high tunnel. His family is involved in his diversified agriculture systems, which makes for a strong family team to accomplish the seasonal tasks of growing produce crops.
The tour is designed to be a discussion format about his varies enterprises, so please come with questions and share your personal knowledge as well.
There is a cost to participate in this evening event of $15. You can preregister at https://cvent.me/5xMvaa or call the LaGrange County Extension Office at (260) 499-6334. You can register at the event as well.
The goal of these events is to provide options on growing vegetables, fruit and pest management. If you have questions about either event, you can contact the Marshall County Extension Office call (574) 935-8545 or e-mail ryoder@purdue.edu.
