June 2020 - 1

Study shows heart
health benefits for
strawberries
Food industry, cold
storage shift with
online demand
8
14
20
Strong people come
to the forefront in
troubled times
June 2020 | Volume 54 |
Issue 6
More carrots,
not more tons
Raised beds on fine-textured soils
impact marketability
Growing carrots in raised beds on fine-textured soils makes a difference in carrot size and culls, but the choice of variety is even more important to maximizing marketable tons per
acre, said Charlie Rohwer, researcher in horticultural science at the University of Minnesota. Photos: Dean Peterson
By Dean Peterson
VGN Correspondent
Young growers without a lot of land
may not have many choices on where
to grow vegetables and may even try
to grow carrots on fine-textured soils.
Can growing the carrots in raised beds
improve production on those soils?
Research underway at the University
of Minnesota's Southern Research and
Outreach Center at Waseca, Minnesota,
is trying to find out.
" The impetus to look at raised beds
came from talking to beginning vegetable
growers, " said Charlie Rohwer, a researcher
in horticultural science at the University
of Minnesota. " Raised beds have more
loose soil, should have better carrot
growth and a lower cull percentage. "
The study began in 2018 and the first
year evaluated varieties for suitability
in the study. Many were eliminated
because they were too long season for
southern Minnesota. " We used 2018 to
narrow the field, " Rohwer said.
The beds in the study are about 2.5
feet wide, 5 feet apart and 4-6 inches
tall. The soils at Waseca are very
fine-textured.
See CARROTS, page 5
Ralstonia threat includes vegetable crops
By Stephen Kloosterman
Associate Editor
Federal officials this spring worked
with greenhouses in 39 states to destroy
infected pink geraniums and prevent
an invasive bacterium from infecting
vegetable crops, including potatoes.
USDA's Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service (APHIS) confirmed
a Ralstonia solanacearum race 3 biovar
2 (RSr3b2), a known threat to several
vegetable crops, reached a Michigan
greenhouse and its customers around
the country.
" The current outbreak of (RSr3b2) is
confined to commercial greenhouses that
received a specific variety of geranium
cuttings from an offshore geranium
production facility, " APHIS National
Policy Manager Erin Otto said in a May 5
written statement to Vegetable Growers
News. " APHIS has taken immediate
action to contain and eradicate the
disease and safeguard potato and other
vegetable growing industries. "
Previous outbreaks of this pathogen in
1981, 2003 and 2004 were successfully
confined to geraniums in commercial
greenhouses.
" USDA APHIS successfully eradicated
the disease each time, " according to
Otto's statement. " It did not cross over to
field crops. "
See RALSTONIA, page 6
Ralstonia solanacearum race 3 biovar 2
causes southern wilt of geranium. Photo:
Dave Norman/University of Florida

June 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of June 2020