Serious Grower

Kasi is a non-commercial farmer in Montana's Bitterroot Valley. In this wide ranging discussion, we discuss Kasi's prize winning mullein and her aspirations for squash breeding.

Learn more about UNH's cucurbit breeding program!

Gourds and squashes (Cucurbita spp.) adapted to megafaunal extinction and ecological anachronism through domestication

Music: With the Homies - Sarah, the Illstrumentalist; Heartbreaker - Gloria Tells; Suffocation - Sven Karlsson

Dr. Chris Hernandez is a geneticist and crop breeder at the University of New Hampshire. Steve Geddes is record-breaking giant pumpkin grower living and growing in New Hampshire. As far as Serious Growers go...you can't get much more serious than this! Elite level growing and fierce competition, overseen across the globe by the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth.

Join Anna (an entomologist) as she embeds within a giant pumpkin growing project with the boys over at Brookdale Retirement community in Durham, NH.

In part two of a multi-part series, we touch on just a few of the pests and diseases that are kind of unique to giants. Check out this article to see photos of precocious yellow "B" gene expressing itself in pumpkins and squash. Read about squash vine borer and the emerging cucurbit yellow vine disease.

Check out the One Ton Genome Project to learn more about the genetics of these giant pumpkins. You can also find information about how to contribute and make sure this project is fully funded!

Music: With the Homies - Sarah, The Illstumentalist; Little Sandy - Daniel Binkley; Harvest Sun - Briar Edwards

Kasi is a non-commercial farmer in Montana's Bitterroot Valley. In this wide ranging discussion, we discuss how magnesium supplements have been helping Kasi avoid migraine headaches, get nostalgic about rhododendrons, and get a little twisted up making analogies between nutritional supplementation for human health and plant health.

Content warning! Talk to your doctor about supplementing your diet before taking any advice from two middle aged women without medical degrees. Also, we talk about our periods and other bodily functions a whole lot.

Music: With the Homies - Sarah, the Illstrumentalist; Papa Funk - Spring Gang; Funk Wife Punk Life - L.M. Styles

Kira is a regular lady from the Seacoast of New Hampshire who loves fresh, local produce and wants to get into varsity level growing, backyard tomatoes. We discuss low light levels in the home that are great for house plants but not quite enough for starting vegetable transplants, we try a de-goatified goat cheese, and develop a sensory panel activity to determine if farmers' market attendeescan tell the difference between tomatoes that were picked green and allowed to ripen on the counter versus picked red and allowed to ripen on the vine.

Music: With the Homies - Sarah the Illstrumentalist; Patinia - Ryan James Carr

A summary of what vegetable pest experts are talking about this week (the last field report for the season)...including risk of late blight infections in tomato, first report of spotted lanternfly in New Hampshire, emerging diseases, and reports of early maturing pumpkins.

More information about late blight

https://blogs.cornell.edu/livegpath/gallery/tomato/tomato-late-blight/

https://extension.psu.edu/2026-late-blight-updates

https://extension.psu.edu/tomato-potato-late-blight-in-the-home-garden

More information about spotted lanternfly

https://www.aphis.usda.gov/plant-pests-diseases/slf

Dr. Chris Hernandez is a geneticist and crop breeder at the University of New Hampshire. Steve Geddes is record-breaking giant pumpkin grower living and growing in New Hampshire. As far as Serious Growers go...you can't get much more serious than this! Elite level growing and fierce competition, overseen across the globe by the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth.

Join Anna (an entomologist) as she embeds within a giant pumpkin growing project with the boys over at Brookdale Retirement community in Durham, NH. In part one of a multi-part series, Chris walks us through the nitty gritty of how to get started and we get some sage words of wisdom from Steve.

Check out the One Ton Genome Project to learn more about the genetics of these giant pumpkins. You can also find information about how to contribute and make sure this project is fully funded!

Music: With the Homies - Sarah, The Illstumentalist; Jetski - Kiddo Keys; Fantasize, Bonafide - I'MIN; A Woman's Design is Devine - Blood Red Sun

A summary of what vegetable pest experts are talking about this week…its mostly diseases impacting cucumbers, pumpkins and squashes!

Seasonal reporting on CDM

https://extension.psu.edu/2026-cucurbit-downy-mildew-updates

more information on fungicide selection for major cucurbit diseases, including cucurbit downy mildew

https://www.vegetables.cornell.edu/pest-management/disease-factsheets/downy-mildew-of-cucurbits/mobile-fungicides-for-managing-downy-mildew-and-other-major-cucurbit-diseases/

https://www.vegetables.cornell.edu/pest-management/disease-factsheets/downy-mildew-of-cucurbits/list-of-biopesticides-for-organic-production/

Plectosporium

https://plant-pest-advisory.rutgers.edu/vegetable-disease-of-the-week-3-2-2-2-2-2/

Basil downy mildew

https://www.vegetables.cornell.edu/pest-management/disease-factsheets/basil-downy-mildew/

https://www.growingproduce.com/crop-protection/disease-control/research-finding-better-ways-to-deal-with-basil-downy-mildew/

https://usbasilconsortium.rutgers.edu/basil-advanced-studies-and-innovation-lab/

Verticillium wilt eggplant

https://blogs.cornell.edu/livegpath/gallery/eggplant/verticilium-wilt-on-eggplant/

A quick summary of what the experts are talking about when it comes to managing late summer pests, diseases, and other vegetable crop maladies.

More about clubroot management in brassicas

https://extension.oregonstate.edu/sites/extd8/files/documents/em9148.pdf

More about bottom rot in lettuce

https://sites.udel.edu/weeklycropupdate/?p=18469

More about boron deficiencies and toxicities

https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/boron_in_vegetables_not_too_little_not_too_much

More about cornsilk flies

https://ask.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/IN381

Kasi is a non-commercial farmer in Montana's Bitterroot Valley. In this wide ranging discussion, we discuss garlic irrigation strategies, right to repair laws, and all the technologies that are showing up on the farm thanks to space exploration, including UV-C for water purification and disease management.

Music: With the Homies - Sarah the Illstrumentalist; All the Freedom You Need - Terin Ector; Mechakucha - Sugoi; Snakes and Fire - Par Hagstrom; The Big Aisle - John Runefelt

More information about alternaria leaf spot of brassicas

https://www.vegetables.cornell.edu/pest-management/disease-factsheets/alternaria-leaf-spot-of-brassicas/

More information about pepper maggot:

https://youtu.be/4NuJSPBeZyM

More information about tomato pith necrosis

https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/tomato-pith-necrosis

More information about tomato timber rot

https://plant-pest-advisory.rutgers.edu/white-mold-in-greenhouse-and-high-tunnel-tomato-2-2-2/

The 2026 Cornell IPM Organic Production and IPM Guide for Vegetables is out and available online now!

More information about southern blight in tomatoes

https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/southern-blight-of-vegetable-crops

More information about managing leek moth in storage onions

https://www.uvm.edu/d10-files/documents/2025-02/2020-Leek-Moth-Research-Brief-FINAL.pdf

https://youtu.be/OVaMkw6UmIU?si=qQ4_PL2NXJ4iD1DQ

More information about deploying biofumigation using mustard cover crops

Biofumigation

https://projects.sare.org/project-reports/fne15-817/

https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/f82d6e90-0e81-4652-9dfc-f7a16cb624b5/content

Chuck is a commercial farmer in New Hampshire and an expert in Integrated Pest Management (IPM) for fruit and vegetable crops.

This episode touches on how the scientific community is seeking alternatives tools & tactics to replace neonicotinoid pesticides in vegetable pest management and how science and policy influence the nitty gritty business of growing food.

From New Hampshire's House Spring 2026 legislative session HB-1086-FN and HB-1431-FN

Full Interview with Dr. Brian Nault (Cornell University)

Music: With the Homies - Sarah, The Illstrumentalist; Silvia, Acid Streets of Brazzaville - El Flaco Collective; Feelings - Ryan James Carr; Morning Reggae - Sir Gigalot

I will be including brief field reports in the feed through the growing season, featuring real-time reports from extension specialists in New England, New York, and the mid-Atlantic states.

Pay close attention to where some of these reports are coming from because we’ll be covering a wide region and please reach out if you need help connecting with your local extension specialist wherever you are. We’ll get you hooked up with the right expert in your area!

More information about foliar diseases of cucurbits:

https://www.vegetables.cornell.edu/pest-management/disease-factsheets/cucurbit-powdery-mildew/

https://www.vegetables.cornell.edu/crops/cucurbits/downy-mildew/

https://cdm.ipmpipe.org/

More information about sap beetle in sweet corn

https://extension.psu.edu/sap-beetle-management-in-sweet-corn

For more information about fall armyworm

https://extension.psu.edu/fall-armyworm-as-a-pest-of-field-corn

For more information about corn rusts

https://www.vegetables.cornell.edu/pest-management/disease-factsheets/common-rust-of-sweet-corn/

For more information about yellow vine decline

https://plantpathology.mgcafe.uky.edu/yellow-vine-decline-cucurbits-ppfs-vg-12

Kasi is a non-commercial farmer in Montana's Bitterroot Valley. In this wide ranging discussion, we touch on microbes, nitrogen amendments for growing flowers, invasive species, comfrey tea, "chop and drop" mulching, using compost tea as a liquid fertilizer and as a pesticide... and why Anna needs to get off r/permaculture.

More information about how to interpret your soil tests from Vermont and Montana's extension services and The Compost Tea Brewing Manual.

Music: With the Homies - Sarah the Illstrumentalist; Zigaboos Walk, Paper Cloth - El Flaco Collective; Happy Accident - Daniel Fridell

I will be including brief field reports in the feed through the growing season, featuring real-time reports from extension specialists in New England, New York, and the mid-Atlantic states.

Pay close attention to where some of these reports are coming from because we’ll be covering a wide region and please reach out if you need help connecting with your local extension specialist wherever you are. We’ll get you hooked up with the right expert in your area!

More information on managing cercospora leafspot in table beets, including a list of varieties with resistance to key beet diseases, a tool that helps predict infections, and two resources on a fungicide resistance program and efficacy of fungicides approved for use in organic systems that informed some of this episodes conclusions.

I will be including brief field reports in the feed through the growing season, featuring real-time reports from extension specialists in New England, New York, and the mid-Atlantic states.

Pay close attention to where some of these reports are coming from because we’ll be covering a wide region and please reach out if you need help connecting with your local extension specialist wherever you are. We’ll get you hooked up with the right expert in your area!

More on Western bean cutworm

https://cals.cornell.edu/integrated-pest-management/outreach-education/fact-sheets/western-bean-cutworm-vegetable-fact-sheet

More on identifying early blight on tomato

https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/early-blight-of-tomato

Bulb mite in garlic

https://www.umass.edu/agriculture-food-environment/sites/ag.umass.edu/files/fact-sheets/pdf/bulb_mites_garlic.pdf

UMaine’s Garlic Disease Testing Services

https://extension.umaine.edu/ipm/how-to-send-a-plant-sample/

Jason wants to turn his lawn into an edible landscape and an amazing place for his family in Oregon. We’ll drop in throughout the year to hear how things are progressing.

This conversation includes fitting tree fruit into small spaces, how to trap earwigs and why they are both good and bad, and why mail order pollinators could be causing more problems than its solving.

Listen to the full interview with Tracy Zarrillo about her work with wild bees in CT.

I will be including brief field reports in the feed through the growing season, featuring real-time reports from extension specialists in New England, New York, and the mid-Atlantic states.

Pay close attention to where some of these reports are coming from because we’ll be covering a wide region and please reach out if you need help connecting with your local extension specialist wherever you are. We’ll get you hooked up with the right expert in your area!

More information about purple carrot seed moth, Depressaria depressana.

https://insectlab.russell.wisc.edu/2018/07/23/purple-carrot-seed-moth/

Do you want to know more about where your tomatoes come from and the experts who are supporting our vegetable farmers to grow us the freshest, tastiest tomatoes possible, using the most economically & environmentally sustainable practices?

This discussion includes discussions of how growing tomato crops under cover can solve one problem (fungal diseases) but might create new problems in need of solutions.

More on pest management in high tunnels, distinguishing cosmetic injury caused by thrips versus abiotic conditions, and an emerging pest of tomatoes in the east, tomato pin worm.

Special thanks to Patricia Prade at PennState Extension, Samantha Willden at Cornell AgriTech and Kathy Kamminga at Kentucky State University.

Learn more about how federal and state funding provide expert support to our farmers to make pest management as environmentally and economically sustainable as possible by using Integrated Pest Management (IPM) tools & tactics.

Music: With the Homies - Sarah the Illstrumentalist; Summertime Madness, Just a Friend - Matt Large; Overture - Dozeoff; Libertalia - Arc DeSoleil; Beginning to Dream, Talk 2 Me - Ryan James Carr