This week’s weather has been crazy;
we have been getting tropical storm fronts. We have had some sunny days, but
then in the afternoon and evening, we would get some wicked thunderstorms. Had
a good bit of rain, and a lot of the fields were muddy walking in, and it has
been hot.
Monday, I helped Kurt at the Wye
Farm. First thing in the morning, we collected weed biomass to see if there is
a difference between cover crop and no cover crop for weed suppression. After
that, we flagged the snap beans and lima beans trial since they are coming out
of the ground; they were planted last week. Then, we mixed 1 can of herbicide
for spraying a few soybean plots. Before lunch, we plugged in data for the weed
count biomass and data from spraying the soybean field into the ARM website.
Interns had a weekly Zoom connection meeting in the afternoon.
Tuesday, I
helped Veronica and Todd at the insect zoo in Laurel, MD there was a group of
kids of different ages who came to learn all about insects, and they got to
hold some. I was helping with holding the insects and going around the circle
to each kid to tell a little bit about the insects. Then, we went to College
Park to take a part of a tomato plant and the fruit to the plant diagnostic lab
to hopefully find out what is causing the twisting of the plants and the fruit
to be brown on top. After that, we headed back over the Bay Bridge, and I
worked on computer work from home, the rest of the afternoon.
Wednesday, I
helped Kurt at the Wye Farm, we rated a soybean trial for weeds, to see what is
coming up, and see how the herbicide is taking down the weeds. Then, sprayed a
few plots in that soybean trial with herbicide. After spraying, we cleaned and triple
rinsed the bottles and put all the spray equipment away. We plugged in data on
the ARM website, getting the data entered in from the corn and soybean trials. In
the afternoon, Kurt's pepper trial is to see how effective the leaf pinching is
compared to the spot spraying. We sprayed Roundup on the pigweeds to get rid of
them. When doing leaf pinching, you do the top, middle, and bottom leaves
through some of the plots that get it, and in some plots, spot spraying was
done. Leaf pinching is safer and less expensive, but just seeing if it is more
effective than spot spraying. Read some of Veronica's articles that she does
for the University of Delaware Extension, and proofread two articles; one was
on wild bees and the other one was on pollinator protection strategies for commercial vegetable growers.
Thursday, I
helped Veronica with her tomato trial at Beltsville. I helped her fertilize the tomato plants through the drip tape. I took shade
cloth off some foliar plots to spray those tomato plants, and then put the
shade cloths back on. We took some samples of the tomato plants to the College
Park plant diagnostic lab, a good sample and a bad sample. Some of the tomato
plants at Beltsville have spotted wilt virus that gets transmitted from thrips;
there is no cure for it once it is there, and it can spread to more plants and
go to the fruit. We think it came from when they were in the greenhouses and
just had it when they went out into the field. With this tomato trial, we are
noticing that the tomatoes with stake shade cloth in close contact with the
tomato plants are getting fungus problems now. Not enough air movement to keep
the fungus down. That is the downside of the stake shade cloth; the t-post shade cloth might be a better way to go, as more air can go through to help keep the fungus down. Another thing we
are noticing is that plum variety tomatoes seem more prone to blossom end rot
than the Mountain Fresh Plus variety.
Friday, I
went with Veronica to the Montgomery Research Center. We met up with Kelly, the
Montgomery County Agent, and we went to Lewis Orchard in Montgomery County and
took a tour around their farm. They grow Cantaloupe, watermelon, squash,
zucchini, peppers, tomatoes, onions, herbs, okra, and sweet corn. With the
onion plants, they grow them in both black and silver plastic. The silver
plastic helps keep them cooler and reduces thrips. They also use reflective
mulch under their plastic. They are doing a great job growing their crops. I did
not see a lot of issues, which is good for them. I saw a few pests, but not
anything seriously terrible, and herbicide damage. We do think some of the
peppers and a few of the tomatoes might be getting a little bit
of the spotted wilt virus. Overall, they are doing a great job of growing all
their crops and keeping up with them.
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| Here is me at the insect zoo in Laurel, MD with a group of kids of different ages who came to learn all about insects. |
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| Leaf pinching pigweed with roundup. The pigweed leaf goes in the opening and you pinch it and roundup goes onto the leaf and suppose to kill the weed. |
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| Visited Montgomery County Research Center and went on a tour at Lewis Orchard to see what all their growing. |
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