Highlights From The Great Lakes Expo
December 10, 2014 Greetings from Grand Rapids, MI! Rows and rows of products and equipment on the trade show floor coupled with extensive educational sessions presented numerous learning opportunities for those attending the expo, which runs through Dec. 11.
Demand For Heirlooms
One session focused on tomatoes and the role heirloom tomatoes can play in filling niche markets. Thanks to the locally grown movement, demand for heirloom tomatoes is increasing. Chefs and consumers are often willing to pay higher prices for them, said Jeanine Davis of the Mountain Horticultural Crops Research & Extension Center at North Carolina State University.
Consumers enjoy the flavor, the texture, and the various shapes and colors of the tomatoes, she said, but the drawback is heirlooms can be difficult to grow. Because they are not uniform in size, they don’t ship well and they have little disease resistance. The upside is they can be very profitable. For example, the variety Red Brandywine produces 9.2 pounds per plant and commands $2.50 per pound.
“Growing heirlooms is risky business,” Davis said, “but what growers are finding is that they can sell all they produce.”
Next year a new variety, Mountain Rouge, will be available, she added. This variety is a large pink indeterminate tomato that has some late blight resistance.
Watch For Stink Bugs
One pest tomato growers are seeing more of in Michigan and the Midwest is the brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB). According to Zsofia Szendrei, an entomologist at Michigan State University, the populations of this pest are rising from year to year and growers need to be able to identify BMSB in their fields.
Before planting, scout and sample seedlings and test suspicious plants, Szendrei said. This invasive pest currently doesn’t have any natural predators in the U.S., so correct identification is important when determining control options.
Learn To Defend Late Blight
On the disease side, late blight on potato reared its ugly head this past season and researchers are saying the disease may no longer be sporadic.
Luke Steere, a doctoral student in the plant pathology department at Michigan State University, told a packed room that the first line of defense against late blight is to implement cultural controls. For example, start with removing cull piles, volunteer potato plants, infected seed tubers, etc.
“Aggressive fungicide programs are a necessity, not an option,” he added. “Use systemic products at canopy closure and any time late blight is reported.”
For more information on late blight and other diseases, go to potatodiseases.org.
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