Recently, we hosted a Willamette Valley Vegetable Education Day at NWREC. The link includes slides from our presenters on a variety of topics including pest management, irrigation, and cover crop selection.
For more field days and workshops, check out the NWREC Events calendar and the College of Agricultural Sciences Field Days calendar.
In 2023, the Blossom-End Rot Toolkit project was initiated. The goal is to develop methods that farmers can use to profitably produce dry-farmed tomatoes while reducing the incidence of blossom-end rot (BER) and other physiological disorders like yellow shoulders, sunscalding, splitting, cracking, and internal whitening. The tools in the toolkit are as follows:
On February 1st, 2022, a tomato grafting workshop was held at the Oak Creek Center for Urban Horticulture. The name of the workshop was The Principles of Tomato Grafting. The workshop was led by Cassandra Waterman and Matt Davis and featured a panel discussion with four Oregon farmers and tomato grafters.
Below are links to the presentations from the 2024 Willamette Valley Vegetable Educational Program, held February 7 at the North Willamette Research and Education Center with sponsorship from Wilbur-Ellis. Check out what's new in vegetable production!
Delivered at the 2024 Willamette Valley Vegetable Educational Program. Victoria Triolo and Hunter Walker from Wilbur Ellis presented on uses of insect biocontrols in integrated pest management and their research on applying them using a small UAS (drone).
Triolo and Walker - Incorporation of Beneficial Insect Releases in You IPM program.
Delivered at the 2024 Willamette Valley Vegetable Educational Program. Dr. María I. Zamora Re presented on using the WSU Irrigation Scheduler app to manage irrigation for each particular field and crop.
Zamora Re - Irrigation and Water Management in Vegetable Crops
Delivered at the 2024 Willamette Valley Vegetable Educational Program. Dr. Steve Fennimore from the University of California, Davis presented on innovations in precision weeding tools and their ability to reduce hand weeding costs.
Delivered at the 2024 Willamette Valley Vegetable Educational Program. Dr. Kristie Buckland presented on managing seedcorn maggot (Delia platura) by adjusting planting dates. Seedcorn maggot can cause stand loss in corn, beans, parsnips, and other crops.
Delivered at the 2024 Willamette Valley Vegetable Educational Program. Hannah Baker, a graduate student in Dr. Inga Zasada's USDA-ARS lab, presented on plant pathogenic nematodes and strategies for testing for and controlling them.
Baker - Those that Lurk Below the Surface: Nematodes and Their Control
Delivered at the 2024 Willamette Valley Vegetable Educational Program. Dr. Navneet Kaur presented on symphylan control, including identifying them, sampling for them, and choosing crop rotations to reduce their populations.
Delivered at the 2024 Willamette Valley Vegetable Educational Program. Nick Andrews presented on factors to consider in choosing cover crops and the work of the Western Cover Crops Council to develop an online tool to assist farmers in cover crop selection. See the presentation for opportunities to get involved!
Delivered at the 2024 Willamette Valley Vegetable Educational Program. Dr. Ocamb discussed similarities and differences of Fusarium and Rhizoctonia, the high Fusarium pressure in the valley, and promising work with biocontrols to manage Fusarium.
Agenda and presenter slides from Spring 2023 Vegetable Grower Seminar (pdf files)
In 2022, the Oregon State University Dry Farming Project launched the Dry Farm Melon Production in Oregon project, funded by WSARE. Project activities included two years of variety trials, two years of grafting trials, one year of on-farm trials, a planting density trial (2023), and succession planting (2023).
There are two common types of looper worms that infest crops in the Willamette Valley, the cabbage and the alfalfa loopers.This page provides some basic information about the pest and discusses management and controls methods. Detailed scouting and monitoring techniques are provided as well as a risk assessment for spray decisions.
Cabbage maggot is a root-boring pest affecting brassica crops. It can cause wilting and increased risk for plant pathogens.
Last revised January 12, 2010
Broccoli plant at Gathering Together Farm, Philomath, Oregon. Photo credit: Alex Stone, Oregon State University
Broccoli, also known as Calabrese in England and much of Europe, is closely related to cauliflower, cabbage, brussels sprouts, and kohlrabi. There is considerable confusion in the scientific and lay literature regarding exact nomenclature. All these Brassicas will intercross readily and are classified in the same genus and species.
In July 2021, we welcomed growers and vegetable breeders to tour our quinoa variety trial including low-saponin varieties. This handout summarizes results from our 2019 quinoa variety trial and the layout of this year's trial.
It is difficult to find information on winter squash production and storage. This page aggregates resources relevant to Oregon winter squash growers.
Alex Stone is fixing broken links and adding new content in January 2021 - come back soon!
Slides from a presentation on insect pests and diseases observed on hemp by Scott Lukas of OSU's Hermiston Agricultural Reserach and Extension Center.
Slides from a presentation on how and why to use drip irrigation by Scott Lukas, of OSU's Hermiston Research and Extension Center. Presented January 29, 2020 at the Northwestern Vegetable & Berry Farmers Conference. Includes a case study on onions.
Resources from the Food and Drug Administration and Oregon Department of Agriculture to help growers comply with the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Produce Safety Rules. Presented January 29, 2020 at the Northwestern Vegetable & Berry Farmers Conference
Last revised February 3, 2010
Note: This file contains only information specific to production of sweet corn for fresh market. For more information on sweet corn genetic types and isolation classes, cultural practices, and fertilizer needs, see the file Sweet Corn for Processing.
Last revised February 2, 2010
NOTE: This file contains only information specific to the production of baby corn. For a complete guide to sweet corn cultural practices, see Sweet Corn for Processing. For information on growing baby corn, see Baby Corn Production (produced by Washington State University).
Last revised February 11, 2010
Lettuce is produced on both mineral and muck (organic) soils. Production practices and varieties are quite different for each soil type. This guide is directed to mineral soil production unless indicated otherwise.
Four morphological types of lettuce dominate U.S. production, these are crisphead, cos (or romaine), leaf, and butterhead. Two others, stem and Latin are rarely found, although stem lettuce may be found in Oriental food stores.
Last revised February 10, 2010
(See also file on Radicchio)
The terms "chicory" and "endive" are frequently interchanged because the "forced" product of Witloof chicory has been erroneously named French or Belgian endive. This information deals with the production of the forced Witloof chicory for chicons (4-6 inch, spindle-shaped heads or buds). Other synonyms are White Endive and Dutch chicory.
Last revised February 15, 2010
Spinach. Photo credit: Alex Stone, Oregon State University
Last revised February 5, 2010
Boquet, Dukat (highly aromatic), Fernleaf, Mammoth. For trial: Long Island.
Last revised February 11, 2010
Last revised February 11, 2010
Many new varieties of watermelons have been developed in recent years. Yellow and seedless types are finding an increasing share of the specialty watermelon market. It is estimated that seedless red and yellow varieties that were virtually unknown ten years ago, and represent about 5% of the market today will increase their market share substantially in the near future. Small excellent quality "icebox" melons are also becoming increasingly popular.
Last revised February 15, 2010
Shallots are normally propagated from bulb divisions. In addition, true seed of shallots is now available in both red and yellow types.
Shallots propagated from bulb divisions:
French Red Shallot - red type is the most common dry shallot grown. Other yellow or white varieties include Griselle, Chicken Leg Shallot, and Dutch Yellow, but only the red shallot is important in the market.
Last revised February 12, 2010
The Oriental edible-pod pea or Chinese Pod Pea is also known as Snow Pea and Sugar Pea. These are all flat-podded peas that are hand picked and are available fresh or as a frozen vegetable and used in Oriental dishes.
Last revised February 1, 2010
Photo credit: Alex Stone, Oregon State University
Early: Utah 52-70-R Improved.
Late: Florida 683. For trial: Clean Cut, Tall Green Light, Ventura.
Processing: Processor specifies varieties. Tall varieties are preferred. Some that have been used include: Tall Utah 52-75, Tall Utah 52-70R Improved, T.U. 52-70HK, Matador, Picador.
Last revised February 2, 2010
A number of genes affect sweetness in corn. These are recessive mutants of the starchy gene found in field corn (Su) and their modifiers, and other genes. Normal sweet corn has the recessive mutant of field corn (su). Modifiers and other genes include the sugary-extender gene (se) and the supersweet or shrunken gene (sh2). These make up three major genetic classes of importance in commercial production :
Last revised February 5, 2010
See the Vegetable Variety Selection Resources page to find varieties that have been shown to perform well in the Pacific NW.
Eggplant. Photo credit: John McQueen, Oregon State University
Last revised February 10, 2010
This guide contains information on mustard grown for greens and on condiment mustard. General information on condiment mustard types and varieties is at the end of this guide while specific comments on condiment mustard production are identified seperately in the sections below.
Last revised February 10, 2010
Shogoin (roots edible), Seven Top (root inedible); For trial: Topper, All Top.
Other greens:
Mustard: Florida Broadleaf (most popular), Southern Giant Curled. For trial: Tendergreen II (a hybrid), Tendergreen, Southern Giant Curled.
Collards: Blue Max, Georgia Southern, Heavi-Crop, Top Bunch, Vates. For trial: Morris Heading, Champion, Carolina, and hybrid: Hi Crop.
Last revised February 15, 2010
Last revised January 12, 2010
See the Vegetable Variety Selection Resources page to find varieties that have been shown to perform well in the Pacific NW.
IMPORTANT
Before planting this Crucifer crop, consider the following important factors:
Last revised February 3, 2010
Note: This file contains information specific to production of popcorn and ornamental corn. For more general information on the production of sweet corn, see the file Sweet Corn for Processing.
Last revised February 4, 2010
Slicing cucumber. Photo credit: Bill Mansour, Oregon State University
Last revised February 10, 2010
Curled-leaf endive. Photo credit: Alex Stone, Oregon State University
Endive (curled, deeply cut, leaf types): Green-curled: Lorca, Ruffec (resists cold and wet conditions), Salad King. For trial: Large Green-curled White-ribbed, White Curled, Frisan, Wallonne Frisan (resistant to low temperatures), De Meaux, Crispy Green (heat resistant).
"Baby" endive: Tosca. For trial: Galia.
Last revised February 15, 2010
Turnips with high Potassium (left) and low Potassium (right). Photo credit: Bill Mansour, Oregon State University
Rutabaga