In This Issue:
Calendar
Ohio Fruit Growers Society Congress
Deer Fencing
Preliminary November Climatological Report
January 8-9, 2001: Kentucky State Horticultural Meeting, for more information contact John Strang, University of Kentucky (606) 257-5685.
January 9-10, 2001: Great Lakes Vegetable Growers Convention, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. For information and registration for the program contact Dave Smith, Michigan Vegetable Growers Association and program coordinator, at (734) 848-8899. As part of the convention, a "Plasticulture School" will follow the regular meeting and will be offered on January 11. Dr. Ron Goldy, Extension Vegetable Specialist, will be coordinator and contact for the program. Ron can be reached at (616) 944-1477. Please note that pre-registration for the plasticulture meeting will be required.
January 29-31, 2001: Indiana Horticultural Congress, at the Adams Mark Hotel in Indianapolis. The Congress is for participants; let them know what issues you would like them to address. Check the website often for updates: http://www.hort.purdue.edu and follow the link for Indiana Horticultural Congress.
February 7-9, 2001: Ohio Fruit Growers Society Congress, in conjunction with the Ohio Vegetable and Potato Growers Association, Ohio Direct Marketing Association, and The Ohio State University will be held in Toledo at the Seagate Centre and Radisson Hotel.
Over 100 exhibitors will be part of the trade show that allows growers and marketers to learn more about the latest products and services for their businesses. General sessions will include a Managing Farm Labor presentation in which farm employers will share recruiting, hiring, and employee supervision practices. Crop Protection Products - Availability, Politics, and Economics will have a panel featuring Gregory Storey, Product Stewardship Manager with the Bayer Corporation. Elizabeth Pivonka, President of the Produce for Better Health Foundation, a representative of the US Apple Association and Gary Stoner with the Ohio State James Cancer Hospital will share how Fruit + Vegetables = Health and how growers and marketers can better share that message with customers and the public.
Ron Pelger, produce consultant, columnist for Produce News, and former director of produce merchandising and procurement for A&P/Foodmart, will share consumer and wholesale trends that growers and marketers need to know. OFGS and OVPGA are conducting an information technology survey of growers that will result in a presentation by Stan Ernst, Communication Specialist with OSU's Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Developmental Economics. The Ohio Department of Agriculture will explain the new retail food establishment licensing and inspection program that is likely to affect all direct marketers who sell processed foods in addition to fresh fruits and vegetables.
Karen and Chris Watt, owners and managers of 100-acre Watt's Orchard in Albion, New York, will be keynote speakers for direct marketers on February 8. Specifically they will share some of their marketing strategies and how they made the transition from wholesaling to direct marketing and retailing. Their market is located between Rochester and Buffalo, New York. Karen serves as President of the North American Farmers Direct Marketing Association.
Pam and Dave Bosserd of Marshall, Michigan will be the direct marketing featured speakers on February 9, speaking on their transition from a conventional grain and livestock farm to an innovative farm market. Their farm operation includes retail sales of a wide variety of vegetables, a petting zoo, school tours, greenhouse, and corn maze.
The Vegetable Truck Crops program will cover technology, minor vegetables, peppers, sweet corn and pumpkins. Parts of the sweet corn and pumpkin sessions will be combined with direct marketers.
The Processing Vegetable and Truck Crops programs will kick-off with a vegetable seed quality workshop. Growers, processors, seed company representatives and Ohio State researchers will share insights on how to define, measure, and manage seed quality. Speakers in the Processing Vegetable program will address many current issues in crop production and protection. The tomato-pepper session on Thursday features Andy Clock of Terra/Land-O-Lakes and grower-processor Dan Noble speaking on site-specific management. Richard Derksen with the USDA-Agricultural Research Service will cover new pesticide application technology.
The Cabbage-Cucumber session on Friday features Walter Stevenson, Department of Plant Pathology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison covering Phytopthora management in cucumbers. Also, Jim Gorny of the International Fresh-Cut Produce Association and Bill Schene of Primus Labs, Inc. will provide up-to-date information on how growers and processors can meet rising concerns about food safety, including the use of third party audits.
The Potato program will be held Wednesday evening and Thursday with Walter Stevenson handling the topic, Disease Management for Potatoes. Robin Taylor in Ohio State's Department of Entomology will speak about the role of spray quality on effectiveness of pesticides and Steven Slack, Director and Associate Dean of the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center will address the importance of using quality seed potatoes.
James Hancock, with the Department of Horticulture at Michigan State University, will focus on strawberries in the areas of physiology, plasticulture, and producing high yields. Gary Stoner, mentioned earlier, will review new cancer research results and the cancer preventive effects of berries. Brambles is another area to be addressed in the small fruit session.
Rich Marini from Virginia Tech University will be a Tree Fruit program featured speaker, discussing his research on factors influencing chemical thinning of apples. Marini will also speak on the topic of peach orchard systems and pruning to reduce thinning and increase fruit size and profit. A representative of the US Apple Association will address apple marketing and apple industry issues from a national perspective. Tree fruit growers will have a half-day combined session with direct marketers. A special Wednesday evening cider workshop will feature Randy Worobo, Department of Food Science and Technology, Cornell University. He has worked with the New York apple industry on apple cider safety. He will share his experiences with the New York cider industry and his research on pasteurization and several alternatives to pasteurization, including UV light. A special feature of this workshop will be a tasting of the same cider treated by three different processing methods. Winners of the OFGS Cider Contest will be announced at the conference.
All fruit and vegetable growers and direct marketers who can travel to Toledo, Ohio February 7 to 9 are welcome to attend. Since numerous sessions are held concurrently, people are encouraged to bring other members of their families and businesses to get the greatest advantage of this conference. Full details of the conference will appear in the December and January issues of Today's Grower, the official publication of OFGS and OVPGA. Anyone wanting more information should contact the Ohio Fruit and Vegetable Growers office at (614) 249-2424 or growohio@ofbf.org.
(Thanks to Candace Pollock, Associate Editor, OARDC Research Services for this summary)
It's the time of year when deer depredation becomes a serious problem for many perennial fruit crop growers. Numerous methods of protecting crops are employed by Illinois growers, including frightening, taste and/or smell repellants, population control through hunting, and exclusion. Each method has both good and bad aspects, and often successful programs involve a combination of methods. The problem with frightening is that the devices may lose effectiveness in a short period of time. For example, if scarecrows are to be effectively employed, it requires that they are frequently repositioned in the field. Other scare devices such as propane cannons and shell crackers are very effective when they are first put into use, but deer frequently become accustomed to them, and although the deer may leave the area during the discharge, they soon decrease the distance that they travel from the field and return more quickly to the field as usage of such devices continues. Taste and smell repellants vary from highly to poorly effective and often require frequent re-application to maintain their effectiveness. In many cases these treatments can also be quite expensive. For many growers trying to protect small acreages (5 - 20), perhaps exclusion is the best method of control. Exclusion typically involves the use of a high tensile electrified fence. Fence heights may range from 6.5 feet to over 10 feet. Be confident that even at 10 feet, some deer will still be able to jump over the fence, but seldom do they continue to cause damage as was the case prior to fencing. For animals that do develop the habit of jumping these fences and continue to cause crop damage, removal permits may be available through your local Ohio Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Biologist or they may be controlled during the regular hunting seasons. The cost to fence an acre varies, depending on height of the fence and the total number of strands that will be used. Material costs for fencing a 10 acre field with high tensile fence are given in the table on the following page.
The following is a listing of materials to fence a square or rectangular 10 acre plot. It is figured with 5 corner posts, allowing for 1 gate (gate price not included). The prices are based on 40-foot line post spacing. If the ground is extremely rolling, more posts may be required.
| 6 foot fence | 8 foot fence | |||
| Item | Quantity | Cost | Quantity | Cost |
| T-post | 64 (8') | $189.44 | 64 (10') | $318.08 | Treated 6"x 6" | 5 (10') | $126.00 | 5 (12') | $151.20 | In-line tightener | 17 | $35.70 | 19 | $39.90 | Tightener Handle | 1 | $5.50 | 1 | $5.50 | Pin-Lock Insulator | 11 (bag of 25) | $88.00 | 11(bag of 25) | $88.00 | Corner Insulator | 2 (bag of 10) | $16.60 | 2 (bag of 10) | $16.60 | Earth Anchors | 5 | $23.75 | 5 | $23.75 | 6" round post - 8' | 16 | $192.00 | 16 | $192.00 | Energizer | 1 | $79.00 | 1 | $79.00 | High Tensile Wire (4000') | 4 | $240.00 | 5 | $300.00 | TOTAL | $995.99 | $1214.03 |
The above prices are from three different vendors. The treated 6"x 6" prices are from Robbs Lumber in Simpson, IL 618/695-3330. The t-posts are from Buchheits in Sparta, IL 618/443-2455. All other materials are from Rudy's Farm Center in Kevil, KY 270/460-3156.
| Weather Station Location | Monthly Precip | Normal Monthly Precip | Year-to-Date Precip | Normal Year-to-Date Precip | Average High | Normal High | Average Low | Normal Low | Mean Temp. | Normal Mean |
| Akron-Canton | 1.73 | 3.01 | 42.54 | 33.87 | 44.5 | 49.7 | 32.0 | 34.2 | 38.3 | 42.0 |
| Cincinnati | 2.33 | 3.46 | 42.63 | 38.18 | 49.8 | 53.3 | 33.5 | 35.3 | 41.7 | 44.3 |
| Cleveland | 2.55 | 3.17 | 37.83 | 33.54 | 46.3 | 50.0 | 33.2 | 35.0 | 39.8 | 42.6 |
| Columbus | 2.13 | 3.22 | 39.26 | 35.23 | 48.3 | 51.4 | 33.6 | 34.3 | 41.0 | 42.9 |
| Dayton | 2.32 | 3.07 | 31.92 | 33.71 | 48.2 | 51.3 | 32.5 | 34.4 | 40.4 | 42.9 |
| Mansfield | 2.02 | 3.51 | 37.25 | 36.58 | 44.8 | 49.2 | 31.9 | 33.9 | 38.4 | 41.6 |
| Toledo | 1.42 | 2.81 | 36.15 | 30.04 | 47.0 | 48.5 | 32.7 | 31.8 | 39.9 | 40.0 |
| Wooster | 1.29 | 2.93 | 29.57 | 33.57 | 46.4 | 49.3 | 32.2 | 31.8 | 39.3 | 40.5 |
| Youngstown | 1.76 | 3.11 | 33.60 | 34.39 | 45.5 | 48.4 | 31.6 | 33.6 | 38.6 | 41.2 |
Temperatures in degrees F, Precipitation in inches.
Table Created by Ted W. Gastier, OSU Extension from National Weather Service Data Website http://iwin.nws.noaa.gov/iwin/oh/climate.html
Ted W. Gastier
Extension Agent, Agriculture
Tree Fruit Team Coordinator
Ohio State University Extension Huron County
180 Milan Avenue
Norwalk, OH 44857
Phone: (419)668-8210
FAX: (419)663-4233
E-mail: gastier.1@osu.edu
Information presented above and where trade names are used, they are supplied with the understanding that no discrimination is intended and no endorsement by Ohio State University Extension is implied. Although every attempt is made to produce information that is complete, timely, and accurate, the pesticide user bears responsibility of consulting the pesticide label and adhering to those directions.
All educational programs conducted by Ohio State University Extension are available to clientele on a nondiscriminatory basis without regard to race, color, creed, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, gender, age, disability or Vietnam-era veteran status.
Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work, Acts of May 8 and June 30, 1914, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Keith L. Smith, Director, Ohio State University Extension.
TDD # 1 (800) 589-8292 (Ohio only) or (614) 292-1868