News Stories - Page 80

When planted in the right container, potted plants can be the gift that keeps on giving all year round. Gift-givers should check the plant for signs of disease and insects to avoid sharing an unhealthy plant. CAES News
Make sure holiday gift plants are disease and pest free
House plants make great holiday gifts, but gift givers should be careful to make sure their gift plant is healthy. Otherwise, that cheery Christmas cactus or festive fern can turn into a pot full of heartache by mid-January.
Sleet encases a branch of a leyland cypress tree in Jackson, Ga. CAES News
Protect landscape plants from winter temperatures
Landscape plants get plenty of attention during the summer, but they need protection during Georgia’s winter months. Rather than trying to keep plants warm, gardeners should help protect plants from wind, snow, ice, drastic soil temperature changes and heat from the sun on cold days.
Lettuce, a high-value cash crop, was among the highest yielding crops in a University of Georgia organic trial incorporating cover crops into a high-intensive crop rotation model at a UGA farm in Watkinsville, GA. The crop yielded a net return of over $9,000 per acre over the three-year study period. CAES News
Cover crops, cool season crops combine for high yields in organic fields
Organic vegetable farmers in the Southeast now have a successful model for planting summer cover crops with high-value, cool-season crops, thanks to a University of Georgia study. The two models use a series of crop rotations to increase yields, control insects and diseases, improve crop quality and build soil biomass.
University of Georgia scientists on the Griffin campus are studying ways to plan fall vegetables directly into turfgrass lawns. The researchers hope to find a way to help suburbanites plant vegetables gardens and enjoy their lawns. CAES News
Planting fall vegetables in lawns opens door to homegrown food in the city
A team of University of Georgia researchers is studying the use of home lawns as garden plots. If successful, suburbanites with warm-season lawns could plant fall vegetables on top of their turfgrass lawns.
Pecans in a tree on the UGA Ponder Farm in Tifton, Ga. CAES News
UGA Extension specialist optimistic about Georgia's pecan crop
Georgia’s dry summer helped save its pecan crop, according to University of Georgia Extension horticulture specialist Lenny Wells.
‘Orange Bulldog’ is an improved pumpkin variety developed by UGA scientists from germplasm collected in the jungles of South America. It has greater levels of resistance to viruses than conventional pumpkins. ‘Orange Bulldog’ made its debut in 2004 and has consistently produced yields of 13,000 to 20,000 pounds per acre in north and south Georgia. CAES News
Orange Bulldog pumpkin makes locally grown pumpkins profitable for Georgia farmers
This time of year, University of Georgia horticulturist George Boyhan’s mind turns to pumpkin carving.