During cold winter weather, one doesn’t often think about spraying fruit trees and ornamental shrubs for spring insects and diseases. It’s just not on the radar, but it turns out that January and February are the best time ... READ MORE
Category: Fruits & Vegetables, HOME LANDSCAPESLast summer the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported 611 people from 45 states got Salmonella infections from contact with their poultry. This year, through the end of May 2017, 372 people from 47 states have gotten sick from Salmonella ... READ MORE
Category: AgricultureAlthough the Zika virus is circulating in Central and South America and the Caribbean, currently, there is no evidence that local populations ... READ MORE
Category: HOME LANDSCAPES, Pests & DiseaseThere are currently four multi-state outbreaks of human Salmonella infections associated with contacting live poultry being investigated by the United States Department of Agriculture – Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA-APHIS) ... READ MORE
Category: AgricultureThe high humidity experienced in the Florida Panhandle during July and August has provided perfect conditions for fungal disease development on the leaves of a variety of ornamental species. One particularly noticeable pathogen is Phyllosticta. ... READ MORE
Category: HorticultureIt’s mid-summer, rain fall has been adequate, and hay barns are starting to fill up across the Panhandle. Recently, I had the opportunity to visit several Bermudagrass hayfields that were not producing up to their potential for both yield ... READ MORE
Category: Agriculture
This is the season for fruit harvesting, particularly for those fruits in the rose family such as plum, quince, peach, pear and apple. Many avid home horticulturists have been enjoying the fruits of their labor, but some have been thwarted ... READ MORE
Category: HorticultureThis spring powdery mildew has been prevalent on many non-resistant cultivars of ornamental plants, particularly rose and crapemyrtle. Ideal conditions for powdery mildew development, warm days and cool nights followed by rain, ... READ MORE
Category: HorticultureMarch may seem a little early to worry about fungal diseases, but recent prolonged wet weather and warmer temperatures have made the climate just right for a variety of leaf diseases in the Florida Panhandle. One in particular, Blackspot (Diplocarpon ... READ MORE
Category: HorticultureThis summer's rainy and humid weather has created a perfect environment for the proliferation of a variety of fungal diseases. Of particular interest is Cercospora, which is a genus of fungus containing over 1,200 different species. Because ... READ MORE
Category: Agriculture