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Organic Vegetable Production

Providing organic nutrient management guidance to processed vegetable growers (2016)

The market for organic vegetables is increasing. As conventional farmers transition fields to organics to meet this demand, there is a need for better organic nutrient management guidance, especially for nitrogen (N). Organic N management is more challenging than conventional N management due to a higher level of uncertainty surrounding the N supplying capacity of an organically managed soil as well as the constraints of organic fertilizers (supply, application timing and placement, and uncertainty of release rate and amount). As a result, conventional nutrient management strategies may not be appropriate for organically managed systems. With organic N management there is often a higher risk of excessive nitrate-N loss and higher risk of not achieving economic yield targets.

Winter Squash Storage Rots and Their Management

Farmers in western Oregon can lose a significant portion of their winter squash in storage to storage rots. In winters 2012-2015 we collected samples of stored squash with rot symptoms from farmers in western Oregon and the OSU Plant Clinic identified the pathogens causing those rots. This article includes photos of the rot symptoms, descriptions of the diseases, and information on how to control storage rots.

Liming and clubroot control in brassicas- handout for 2013 Veg Field Day

Clubroot is becoming an increasing problem on Willamette Valley vegetable farms. Most cultivated brassica crops (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, etc.) are highly susceptible to the disease, which is caused by the soilborne fungus Plasmodiophora brassicae. In severe cases it can cause significant crop losses, and heavily infested fields may be taken out of production. Once a field is infected, eliminating the pathogen is difficult if not impossible because its thick walled resting spores have been shown to remain viable in soil for up to 18 years. As a result, once pathogen populations have developed to economically damaging levels, the goal of the farmer is to manage rather than eradicate the disease. One effective control strategy is to raise the soil pH to ≥7.2 through liming.