IN PARTNERSHIP WITH SOUTHEASTERN U.S. VEGETABLE CROP 2021 HANDBOOK Manage Your Entire Farm and Packing House Facility on Highland Hub Highland FS365 The Future of Food Safety Seamlessly digitize your food safety processes, all while improving productivity, decreasing costs and minimizing risks. Get the operational insights you need, when you need them. • Manage all of your third party, regulatory and customer requirements in one, user-friendly system. • Receive real-time notifications of activities occuring on the farm or packing house including past due alerts. • Login to one platform to manage your entire food safety program. • Complete internal audits and view real-time score for your operation. • Complete internal audits and see real time scores for your operation. Crop IQ Virtual Crop Management Crop IQ allows growers to complete accurate crop protection and fertilizer records from any device. • Record your spray applications from your device. • Receive real-time notifications about active REIs and PHIs. • Access to a chemical database where you can view labels on any device. • Keep accurate record of your farm inventory including amount and cost. To reach new world customers, we can’t rely on old world business. We need new thinking; we need new tools…and we need a trustworthy company to help usher us into this new territory. 863-844-4263 highlandhasit.com Handbook Senior Editor: Top Cover Photos: J.M. Kemble, Corner: Signs and symptoms of southern blight on tomato. Auburn University, Auburn, AL by Rebecca A. Melanson, Associate Editors: MSU Extension, Bugwood.org K.M. Jennings Top Middle: Colorado Potato Beetle, Adult North Carolina State University by Blake Layton, Weed Science MS State University Bottom Middle: Pink purslane I.M. Meadows by K. Jennings, NC State University. North Carolina State University Plant Pathology Bottom: Leaf lettuce growing on black landscape fabric. J.F. Walgenbach by A.L. Wszelaki, University of Tennessee North Carolina State University Entomology A.L. Wszelaki University of Tennessee Horticulture IN PARTNERSHIP WITH SOUTHEASTERN U.S. VEGETABLE CROP 2021 HANDBOOK Bottm Cover Photos: Great American Media Services: Top Middle: Cutleaf evening primrose Gerry Bogdon Vice President & Group Publisher by J. Ballew, 616-520-2177 [email protected] Clemson University Greg Sebel Associate Publisher Bottom Middle: Downy mildew symptoms on 616-520-2146 [email protected] cucumber by Z.R. Hansen, Cindi Olwell Western Account Manager University of Tennessee 616-520-2174 [email protected] Corner: Colorado Potato Beetle, Adult Gary Pullano Editor by Blake Layton, 616-520-2144 [email protected] MS State University Stephen Kloosterman Associate Editor 616-520-2152 [email protected] . SOUTHEASTERN VEGETABLE EXTENSION WORKERS VEGETABLE CROP HANDBOOK 2021 Dear Reader, The Southeastern Vegetable Extension Workers Group (SEVEW) is proud to offer you the 22nd edition of the Southeastern U.S. 2021 Vegetable Crop Handbook. For this edition, we have partnered with Great American Media. We are excited about this new partnership and look forward to working with Great American Media as we provide growers, crop advisers, county educators, Extension agents, and special- ists throughout the southeastern United States with this handbook. This handbook represents a joint effort among Extension specialists and researchers from 12 land-grant universities in the U.S. who work in the area of vegetable production. These specialists and researchers represent a wide array of disciplines: agricultural engineering, entomology, olericulture (vegetable pro- duction), plant pathology, postharvest physiology, soil science, and weed science. This handbook comprises up-to-the-minute information developed from research and Extension projects conducted throughout the southeastern United States. The key idea behind this handbook is to provide you with a practical resource that conveniently fits on your dashboard. It contains the information that you need to manage your vegetable crops, including which varieties to plant, planting dates, fertilizer recommendations, cover crop selection and conservation tillage options, pesticide selection, grafting, fer- tigation, plasticulture, postharvest handling, alternative pest management tools and suggestions, as well as many other topics. An electronic version is available at: www.vegcrophandbook.com In addition to developing this handbook, the SEVEW Group focuses on strengthening and supporting vegetable production programs around the region, identifying emerging issues facing this region, and providing a forum for multistate programming that will benefit growers in the southeastern United States. Vegetable production in this region faces many challenges. Members of the SEVEW Group have com- bined their knowledge and experiences to develop approaches and answers that will enable growers in the southeast to optimize their production practices and to increase the sustainability of their operations. We hope you enjoy this handbook! Sincerely, SEVEW Group The 2021 handbook was prepared and reviewed by the following authors at their respective institutions. We also wish to thank all of the past authors and participants that have helped to refine and continually improve this handbook. AUBURN UNIVERSITY Entomology A. Majumdar MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA Horticulture Entomology Plant Pathology Horticulture J.M. Kemble* and K.L. Woods M.B. Layton R.A. Melanson G.E. Boyhan*, T.W. Coolong, and A. da Silva Plant Pathology Weed Science Horticulture E.J. Sikora S. Li R.G. Snyder* Plant Pathology B. Dutta NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY Entomology UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY J.F. Walgenbach Entomology Plant Pathology Horticultural Science R.T. Bessin E. Pfeufer CLEMSON UNIVERSITY R.B. Batts, J.M. Davis*, R.C. Mauney, E.T. Rogers, E.R. Eure, C.C. Gunter, Horticulture Horticulture R. Rudolph R.L. Hassell*, G.A. Miller, and B.K. Ward K.M. Jennings, and J.R. Schultheis Plant Pathology Plant Pathology L.M. Quesada-Ocampo, and A. Keinath I.M. Meadows Weed Science M. Cutulle UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE Entomology Plant Pathology F.A. Hale Z.R. Hansen Horticulture A.L. Wszelaki* OKLAHOMA STATE UNIVERSITY Horticulture/Weed Science LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY L. Brandenberger, J. Shrefler*, AGRICULTURAL CENTER and B. Hu Horticulture K. Fontenot*, and C. Motsenbocker Soil Science H. Zhang Sweet Potato Research Station T. Smith VIRGINA TECH Plant Pathology Entomology R. Singh T.P. Kuhar Plant Pathology S.L. Rideout Nutrient Management/Soils UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS M.S. Reiter* Horticulture M.B. Bertucci, J. Lee , Amanda McWhirt*, and A. Cato *State Coordinators The purpose of this book is to provide the best and most up-to-date information available for commercial vegetable growers in the southeastern US: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas, Tennessee, South Carolina and Virginia. These recommendations are suggested guidelines for production in the above states. Factors such as markets, weather, and location may warrant modifications and/or different practices or planting dates not specifically mentioned in this book. 2021 Vegetable Crop Handbook for Southeastern United States 5 UPCOMING EVENTS FOR 2021 DATE/TIME LOCATION CONTACT/INFO ALABAMA Alabama Fruit & Vegetable Growers Association Annual Conference and Trade Show Annually in Nov. Clanton Performing Arts Center, Clanton, AL Hunter McBrayer at [email protected] http://www.afvga.org Alabama Sustainable Agriculture Network Food and Farm Forum Annually in Dec. Location Varies Alice Evans at 256-743-0742 http://www.asanonline.org Commercial Horticulture Webinar Series Last Monday each month http://www.aces.edu/anr/beginningfarms/webinars.php ARKANSAS Annual Oklahoma & Arkansas Horticulture Industries Show Canceled for 2021 Tulsa Tech Conference Center, https://www.hortindustriesshow.org/ Owasso, OK GEORGIA Georgia Fruit & Vegetable Conference 5 to 7 Jan virtual, online Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association, 877-994-3842 http://www.gfvga.org Georgia Watermelon Associate Conference 24 to 26 Jan St Simons Island, GA http://www.georgiawatermelonassociation.org Georgia Organics Conference & Expo 7 to 8 Feb Athens, GA http://georgiaorganics.org Sunbelt Ag. Expo 20 to 22 Oct Moultrie, GA http://www.sunbeltexpo.com KENTUCKY Kentucky Fruit & Vegetable Conference and Trade Show 5, 6, 12, 19, and 26 Jan This will be a virtual conference with all John Strang at [email protected] or 856-257-5685 presentations delivered online. Rachel Rudolph at [email protected] or 859-257-3374 https://kyhortcouncil.org/2020kyfruitandvegconf Organic Association of Kentucky Annual Conference 26 to 30 Jan from 8AM to 5 PM Virtual conference [email protected] MISSISSIPPI Fall Flower & Garden Fest TBA (Mid-Oct on Friday & Saturday) Truck Crops Experiment Station, Rick Snyder at [email protected] 9 AM to 2 PM (both days) 2024 Experiment Station Road, Crystal Springs, MS http://extension.msstate.edu/fallfest NORTH CAROLINA Winter Vegetable Conference 19 to 20 Feb Crown Plaza Resort Craig Mauney at [email protected] Asheville, NC https://www.ncagr.gov/markets/commodit/horticul/tomatoes/ Business of Farming Conference 22 Feb Business of Farming Conference Molly Nicholie at [email protected] Asheville, NC https://asapconnections.org/events/business-of-farming-conference/ Organic Growers School 7 and 8 Mar Mars Hill University [email protected]