Pests, Weeds, Variety Trials Focus Of Horticulture Field Day In Hope

JOHN LOVETT

HOPE, ARKANSAS

More than 130 people braved the heat Wednesday at the 2023 Horticulture Field Day to hear from experts with the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture on issues facing Arkansas specialty crop growers.

The Southwest Research and Extension Center hosted the annual event with information on growing blackberries, watermelons, peaches, pumpkins and ornamental trees. People from 27 counties in Arkansas and two counties in Texas attended.

Management tactics to combat pests were a dominant theme across the field trials, including research that seeks pumpkin varieties with natural tolerance or resistance to the dreaded melonworm that damaged a significant portion of the state’s pumpkin crop in 2020-2021. Melonworm, Diaphania hyalinata, is a tropical moth species that migrates to Arkansas each year from coastal regions from August to October.

Aaron Cato, extension horticulture integrated pest management specialist, said the pumpkin trial includes nine varieties from four different cucurbit species planted in mid-June and again after July 1. The experiment, supported by a Specialty Block Grant administered by the Arkansas Department of Agriculture, will also help establish an action threshold for the pest and investigate other sustainable management tactics.

Matt Bertucci, assistant professor of horticulture, is testing more than a dozen varieties of seedless watermelons from five seed companies to determine growth quality in Arkansas. The study, also supported by a Specialty Block Grant, includes varieties like Exceed, Onza, El Capitan, Crackerjack and Blackjack. Bertucci included several varieties of seeded cantaloupe in the study to help determine the number of days to ripen in Arkansas.

Bertucci said he hopes his study can provide Arkansas growers with growth and management information more specific to Arkansas. He added that most major seed companies evaluate their varieties in states with larger horticultural industries, like Florida. “But what if some of these varieties that do well in Florida come up short in Arkansas?”

Bertucci's melon study seeks information like fruit count, fruit size, sweetness level and ripening date.

To help manage annual grass and small-seeded broadleaf weeds in watermelon fields, Bertucci said Dual Magnum, a trade name for S-metolachlor, now has a five-year, 24(c) pre-emergent herbicide registration with the Arkansas State Plant Board for use in watermelon fields. He also remarked on the new registration of Optogen (bicyclopyrone)as a “clean-up” material in the row middles. Bertucci said that Optogen was federally registered for use in watermelons late last year.

Bertucci recommended specialty crop growers inspect the Division of Agriculture’s MP44 publication for more information on herbicides registered in Arkansas.

Theresa Mitzler, a Miller County Master Gardener, said she has attended the Horticulture Field Day since 2017 to learn from researchers and extension specialists. 

Roderick Greene of Camden also attended to support his operations at Titan Farm, where he grows sweet potatoes and cut flowers.

“It was worth the heat,” Greene said. Temperatures swelled into the high 90s with high humidity by noon.

Other Division of Agriculture faculty who presented sessions at the field day included:

•  Anthony Bowden, assistant professor of horticulture and ornamental extension specialist, gave a presentation on grafting Japanese maples and Eastern Redbuds.
•  Wendell Hutchens, assistant professor of turfgrass science, provided guidance for dealing with Large Patch, Spring Dead Spot and Gray Leaf Spot.
•  Amanda McWhirt, horticulture extension specialist, described how to use a rotating cross-arm trellis system to grow blackberries.
•  Hannah Wright-Smith, extension weed specialist, provided steps to take when reestablishing an abandoned peach orchard, and updates on turfgrass herbicide trials.

Daniel Rivera, director of the Southwest Research and Extension Center, thanked the guests for their attendance and commended his staff for their diligence in preparing the grounds for the researchers’ studies. ∆

JOHN LOVETT: University of Arkansas