Announcing the opening of a new, native plants for wildlife website for NC!!!!
The URL is www.ncsu.edu/goingnative/
The website contains multi-layers of information, an interactive native plant database, recommendations for identification and management of select invasive plants, and a 10-minute video. Please forward to other individuals or groups that might find the site interesting or useful.
For more information contact your local Cooperative Extension Center and ask for the Commercial Horticulture Agent.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Henderson County Government Blood Drive
Henderson County Government will hold a Blood Drive
at the Henderson County Cooperative Extension Center
740 Glover St. (Jackson Park), Hendersonville
When: Wednesday, 4/30/2008
8:45 am - 1:15 pm
Sign up online at membersforlife.org/cbsr (code 14145) or call Ivy Olson at 697-4891 to schedule your donation appointment. Donate & Do Disney! Enter drawing for 3 night stay, 4 two-day passes to Disney World & 4 Delta Airline tickets!
In honor of our County & City Employees
Hendersonville Pentecostal Holiness Church will be providing hot dogs
from 10 am until 2 pm for donors at the main shed beside the Cooperative Office!
For more information contact your local Cooperative Extension Center and ask for the Commercial Horticulture Agent.
at the Henderson County Cooperative Extension Center
740 Glover St. (Jackson Park), Hendersonville
When: Wednesday, 4/30/2008
8:45 am - 1:15 pm
Sign up online at membersforlife.org/cbsr (code 14145) or call Ivy Olson at 697-4891 to schedule your donation appointment. Donate & Do Disney! Enter drawing for 3 night stay, 4 two-day passes to Disney World & 4 Delta Airline tickets!
In honor of our County & City Employees
Hendersonville Pentecostal Holiness Church will be providing hot dogs
from 10 am until 2 pm for donors at the main shed beside the Cooperative Office!
For more information contact your local Cooperative Extension Center and ask for the Commercial Horticulture Agent.
Storm Water Management Programs for Landscapers
Please RSVP to join the NCSU Water Quality Group/ French Broad Training Center as they present the following two events:
TRM Swale Installation*: Learn how to install turf-reinforced matting on a slope to control stormwater velocities, minimize erosion, and partially treat runoff AND…
Commercial Scale Rain Garden Planting: Learn about the planting plan and techniques for the highly visible Baker Center rain garden/bioretention cell in the second workshop of a two-part series.
Date and Time: Thursday, May 1st from 12:30-1:00pm
Location: The North Carolina Arboretum in front of the Baker Exhibit Center
TNCA
*The TRM Swale installation event has been rescheduled from April 17th to May 1st in order to coincide with the planting of the Baker Center rain garden.
These workshops are free of charge but require an RSVP by April 30th to: carter_cone@ncsu.edu. For questions, please call 665-2492 x339.
We gratefully acknowledge the support of the NCDENR/EPA 319 Program, NCDENR Water Resources, NC Arboretum, UNCA and Pigeon River Fund.
For more information contact your local Cooperative Extension Center and ask for the Commercial Horticulture Agent.
TRM Swale Installation*: Learn how to install turf-reinforced matting on a slope to control stormwater velocities, minimize erosion, and partially treat runoff AND…
Commercial Scale Rain Garden Planting: Learn about the planting plan and techniques for the highly visible Baker Center rain garden/bioretention cell in the second workshop of a two-part series.
Date and Time: Thursday, May 1st from 12:30-1:00pm
Location: The North Carolina Arboretum in front of the Baker Exhibit Center
TNCA
*The TRM Swale installation event has been rescheduled from April 17th to May 1st in order to coincide with the planting of the Baker Center rain garden.
These workshops are free of charge but require an RSVP by April 30th to: carter_cone@ncsu.edu. For questions, please call 665-2492 x339.
We gratefully acknowledge the support of the NCDENR/EPA 319 Program, NCDENR Water Resources, NC Arboretum, UNCA and Pigeon River Fund.
For more information contact your local Cooperative Extension Center and ask for the Commercial Horticulture Agent.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Cost-share program to help farmers recovering from drought
RALEIGH — North Carolina farmers reeling from drought can obtain help under a program unveiled Tuesday in Raleigh. The program will cover 75 percent of the cost of restoring drought-damaged pastureland and providing additional water supply for livestock and crops.
The N.C. Agricultural Drought Recovery Program will be administered statewide through local Soil and Water Conservation district offices beginning May 1. It was made possible by a $6 million grant from the N.C. Tobacco Trust Fund Commission.
“This grant makes it possible for more than 1,000 farmers and farm operations to restore some of the damage from last summer’s severe drought and to prepare, so the next long, hot and dry summer doesn’t do as much damage,” said Billy Ray Hall, president of the N.C. Rural Economic Development Center.
The Rural Center worked with the General Assembly’s Joint Select Committee on Agriculture Drought Response, the Tobacco Trust Fund Commission, several state agencies and other agricultural interests to design the program and arrange funding. The Division of Soil and Water Conservation, which will administer the program, is part of the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources. Others participating in the program design were the N.C. Department of Agriculture, North Carolina Grange, N.C. Farm Bureau, N.C. State University Agricultural Extension Service, N.C. Foundation of Soil and Water Conservation Districts, U.S. Department of Agriculture, N.C. Soil and Water Conservation Commission and Agricultural Advancement Consortium.
Rep. Ray Rapp, co-chairman of the legislative committee, said a bill seeking an additional $6 million to extend the program to more farmers will be submitted to the General Assembly in May.
“We recognized that any proposal we made to the legislature could not go into effect before July at the earliest, too late to save many of our farmers,” Rapp said. “Fortunately, the friends of agriculture in North Carolina are not limited to members of the General Assembly. Money from the Tobacco Trust Fund lets us put this project into effect immediately.”
The U.S. Department of Agriculture last year designated 85 of North Carolina’s 100 counties as natural disaster areas. As of April 8, 80 counties remained under drought conditions with the other 20 considered abnormally dry.
Farmers affected by the drought may apply to one of the state’s 96 Soil and Water Conservation district offices for help with several types of projects. These include pasture renovation, drilling and redrilling wells, pond construction and renovation, converting closed lagoons to fresh water ponds, and upgrading existing irrigation systems to more efficient models. The program is open to farmers with a total adjusted gross income of less than $250,000 or those who derive 75 percent of their income from farming operations.
“North Carolina farmers lost a half billion dollars in crops last year because of this drought – that’s 17 percent of total crop revenue in a typical year,” said Sen. Charlie Albertson, also a committee co-chair. “The damage wasn’t merely in lost harvest. Pasture land needs to be renovated and reseeded before livestock can graze again, and we’re still in this drought. Farmers really need our help to go forward.”
For more information contact your local Cooperative Extension Center and ask for the Commercial Horticulture Agent.
The N.C. Agricultural Drought Recovery Program will be administered statewide through local Soil and Water Conservation district offices beginning May 1. It was made possible by a $6 million grant from the N.C. Tobacco Trust Fund Commission.
“This grant makes it possible for more than 1,000 farmers and farm operations to restore some of the damage from last summer’s severe drought and to prepare, so the next long, hot and dry summer doesn’t do as much damage,” said Billy Ray Hall, president of the N.C. Rural Economic Development Center.
The Rural Center worked with the General Assembly’s Joint Select Committee on Agriculture Drought Response, the Tobacco Trust Fund Commission, several state agencies and other agricultural interests to design the program and arrange funding. The Division of Soil and Water Conservation, which will administer the program, is part of the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources. Others participating in the program design were the N.C. Department of Agriculture, North Carolina Grange, N.C. Farm Bureau, N.C. State University Agricultural Extension Service, N.C. Foundation of Soil and Water Conservation Districts, U.S. Department of Agriculture, N.C. Soil and Water Conservation Commission and Agricultural Advancement Consortium.
Rep. Ray Rapp, co-chairman of the legislative committee, said a bill seeking an additional $6 million to extend the program to more farmers will be submitted to the General Assembly in May.
“We recognized that any proposal we made to the legislature could not go into effect before July at the earliest, too late to save many of our farmers,” Rapp said. “Fortunately, the friends of agriculture in North Carolina are not limited to members of the General Assembly. Money from the Tobacco Trust Fund lets us put this project into effect immediately.”
The U.S. Department of Agriculture last year designated 85 of North Carolina’s 100 counties as natural disaster areas. As of April 8, 80 counties remained under drought conditions with the other 20 considered abnormally dry.
Farmers affected by the drought may apply to one of the state’s 96 Soil and Water Conservation district offices for help with several types of projects. These include pasture renovation, drilling and redrilling wells, pond construction and renovation, converting closed lagoons to fresh water ponds, and upgrading existing irrigation systems to more efficient models. The program is open to farmers with a total adjusted gross income of less than $250,000 or those who derive 75 percent of their income from farming operations.
“North Carolina farmers lost a half billion dollars in crops last year because of this drought – that’s 17 percent of total crop revenue in a typical year,” said Sen. Charlie Albertson, also a committee co-chair. “The damage wasn’t merely in lost harvest. Pasture land needs to be renovated and reseeded before livestock can graze again, and we’re still in this drought. Farmers really need our help to go forward.”
For more information contact your local Cooperative Extension Center and ask for the Commercial Horticulture Agent.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Pest News
This information comes in weekly from the NCSU Plant Disease and Insect Clinic from mid April until October. The following is an alert from Steve Bambara:
European Red Mites
We haven't seen this mite often in the landscape the last few years, but it has shown up twice in the Plant Disease and Insect Clinic at North Carolina State University over the last two weeks. European red mites usually overwinter in the egg stage. The tiny orange-red colored eggs hatch at about the time when apple trees bloom. The European red mite is an introduced pest that in North Carolina primarily infests apple trees. Although it is reported to infest various shade trees and ornamental plants in the landscape, cherry laurels seem to be the major ornamental plants that European red mites infest. The European red mite causes typical pale stipples on the leaves of their host plants, but this spider mite spins very little webbing. This mite is slightly different from the southern red mite. With your hand lens you should be able to see that the hairs on the back of the mites each arise from a small, white bump whereas the hairs of southern red mites arise from red bumps. I believe any horticultural oil spray should give adequate control. Oils will not significantly harm beneficial predator mite populations are often preferable for this reason. For professionals, most of the favorite miticides will also work.
For more information contact your local Cooperative Extension Center and ask for the Commercial Horticulture Agent.
European Red Mites
We haven't seen this mite often in the landscape the last few years, but it has shown up twice in the Plant Disease and Insect Clinic at North Carolina State University over the last two weeks. European red mites usually overwinter in the egg stage. The tiny orange-red colored eggs hatch at about the time when apple trees bloom. The European red mite is an introduced pest that in North Carolina primarily infests apple trees. Although it is reported to infest various shade trees and ornamental plants in the landscape, cherry laurels seem to be the major ornamental plants that European red mites infest. The European red mite causes typical pale stipples on the leaves of their host plants, but this spider mite spins very little webbing. This mite is slightly different from the southern red mite. With your hand lens you should be able to see that the hairs on the back of the mites each arise from a small, white bump whereas the hairs of southern red mites arise from red bumps. I believe any horticultural oil spray should give adequate control. Oils will not significantly harm beneficial predator mite populations are often preferable for this reason. For professionals, most of the favorite miticides will also work.
For more information contact your local Cooperative Extension Center and ask for the Commercial Horticulture Agent.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
AGR-Lite Online Training
AGR-Lite
This link will take nursery growers and farmers to an on-line course to help them in making good decisions in regard to the AGR-Lite Risk Management Tools/Insurance. The course can be taken at your own pace in the comfort of your home or office. As other on-line courses become available we will attempt to post links to them as well.
For more information contact your local Cooperative Extension Center and ask for the Commercial Horticulture Agent.
This link will take nursery growers and farmers to an on-line course to help them in making good decisions in regard to the AGR-Lite Risk Management Tools/Insurance. The course can be taken at your own pace in the comfort of your home or office. As other on-line courses become available we will attempt to post links to them as well.
For more information contact your local Cooperative Extension Center and ask for the Commercial Horticulture Agent.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Irrigation Workshop
There will be an irrigation and sprayer workshop on April 16th at the MHCREC in Fletcher. This event will be from 12:00 noon to 3:00 p.m. Call Denny Thompson at 684-7197 by 9:00 on Tuesday, April 15th to pre-register. Topics to be discussed included Frost Protection, Greenhouse Propagation Equipment, Drip Irrigation, and various sprayers. Several irrigation companies are sponsoring the lunch and workshop.
For more information contact your local Cooperative Extension Center and ask for the Commercial Horticulture Agent.
For more information contact your local Cooperative Extension Center and ask for the Commercial Horticulture Agent.
Weather Alert
The attached weather alert update shows temperatures expected below those originally predicted. Growers should use all precautions necessary to protect their crops. See the attached predictions at: Weather Alert
For more information contact your local Cooperative Extension Center and ask for the Commercial Horticulture Agent.
For more information contact your local Cooperative Extension Center and ask for the Commercial Horticulture Agent.
Friday, April 11, 2008
Green Tips for April
The green industry newsletter for April has now been posted at GreenTips
Enjoy!
For more information contact your local Cooperative Extension Center and ask for the Commercial Horticulture Agent.
Enjoy!
For more information contact your local Cooperative Extension Center and ask for the Commercial Horticulture Agent.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Dr. Tom Ranney Wins Award
Dr. Tom Ranney, NCSU Researcher base at the Mountain Horticulture Crops Research and Extension Center has won the H Marc Cathey Horticulture Award. Dr. Ranney has been very instrumental in conducting research on new and improved ornamental plants. The link above will provide you with more information about this award.
For more information contact your local Cooperative Extension Center and ask for the Commercial Horticulture Agent.
For more information contact your local Cooperative Extension Center and ask for the Commercial Horticulture Agent.
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