Growing degree days since April 1: 452 GDD at Springfield (Average (11 year average 376) (From the Illinois State Water Survey Degree-Day Calculator)
4 inch soil temp: 71.2°F (10 am 4-inch soil temperature under bare soil) (From the Illinois State Water Survey Illinois Climate Network)
Seed and root maggots in the genus Delia (including seedcorn maggot, cabbage maggot, and onion maggot) are common pests of early-seeded vegetables. They are most common and damaging in cool, wet soils in which germination and seedling growth are slow; they also are most numerous where green manures or animal manure has been incorporated in recent weeks (because flies choose to lay eggs in such fields). Signs of their damage are poor stands where seeds and seedlings are killed before emergence and damping off of seedlings that are killed by soil fungi after being injured by larvae of these species. Click here for more details. (Dr. Rick Weinzierl, U of I)
GAPs (Good Agricultural Practices) webinar is postponed to July, 2014. To register, click here or call 815-933-8337 or email uie-gkw@illinois.edu for more information.
USDA Report Examines Successful Small Acreage Farms. The USDA Economic Research Service has released Working the Land With 10 Acres:Small Acreage Farming in the United States. This report looks at small-acreage farms having gross sales of $10,000 or more in a given year to better understand the product choices and strategies used by profitable small farms.
Source: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign