LEXINGTON – In-person meetings may not be allowed in today’s COVID-19 world, but a Clemson University Cooperative Extension Service agent continues to work to provide valuable information for South Carolina strawberry growers.
Justin Ballew, a Clemson commercial horticulture agent for Lexington and Saluda counties, said this year’s South Carolina Strawberry Grower Meeting will be held via the web-based conferencing platform Zoom.
“We have several items of interest to talk about including costs, economics, deer and emerging thrips issues,” Ballew said. “Regional updates also will be given.”
The meeting will be held at 6 p.m., Sept. 16, online. There is no cost to attend and pesticide credits will be offered. To register, go to
https://clemson.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJMqcuuprjIrG9JfXJRZB2FRGsT-rY-jVyXe
A meeting link will be e-mailed to registrants.
Additional meetings are also scheduled for later this year and in early 2021 via Zoom. Registration for each meeting will be available closer to each event. Pesticide credits will be offered for these meetings as well.
Meetings and dates are:
- Dec. 8 – Organic/ Sustainable Grower Meeting. Topics will be determined later.
- Jan. 28, 2021– Peach #1. Topics to be covered include genetics, varieties and virology.
- Feb. 11, 2021 – Peach #2. Topics to be covered include weed control, diseases and insects of peaches.
- Feb. 25, 2021 – Apple. Topics to be covered include disease, insects and weed control of apples.
For more information about these events, contact Ballew at ballew3@clemson.edu
In addition to meetings, other resources Clemson researchers are providing to help South Carolina producers grow more productive crops include web-based applications such as a drip fertigation calculator. The Clemson Drip Fertigation Calculator is a resource for producers to use to calculate the amount of liquid fertilizer needed to fertigate through a drip irrigation system.
To use this calculator, producers select the formulation of fertilizer to be used, pounds per acre of nitrogen required per day and the acreage to be fertigated. The calculator will determine how many gallons of fertilizer are required to supply the needed nutrients through the irrigation system. To determine required nitrogen rates by crop and growth stage, producers can consult the Southeastern U.S. Vegetable Crop Handbook.
Other calculators and web-based applications created for South Carolina growers can be found at https://www.clemson.edu/extension/agronomy/PrecisionAgriculture/calculators/
-END-
Get in touch and we will connect you with the author or another expert.
Or email us at news@clemson.edu