Dennis Van Dyk interviewed Steve Johnson, from the University of Maine, about potato seed piece handling from spud to bud. How do seed age, size, and storage conditions affect your final stand, and what disease prevention options work best? Steve is a true master of his material, and was a pleasure to interview.

You can see more of Steve's work on potatoes through the University of Maine pesticide credit system. This is website is technically for pesticide applicators in Maine, but don't have to pay for anything to watch his videos and read his accompanying resources. 

The song, Spud to Bud, is a topical re-write of Stompin' Tom's Bud the Spud. Words and performance by Ben Phillips.

Natalie Hoidal will be interviewing Steve Poppe and Nate Dalman of the University of Minnesota. Is plastic mulch a key part of your farm that you wish you could ditch? Natalie will get the scoop on possible alternatives to plastic mulch, including non-living mulches and cover crops. 

Here is a synopsis of Steve Poppe's research on biodegradable plastics in strawberries: https://blog-fruit-vegetable-ipm.extension.umn.edu/2019/02/developing-annual-day-neutral.html

Here is an article about Nate Dalman's living mulch work in strawberries:
https://fruit.umn.edu/living-mulch-strawberries-what-we-learned

At 35:00, Black Plastic Mulch is a cover of Fake Plastic Trees by Radiohead, with lyrics reworked for the topic of alternative mulches. Lyrics by Ben Werling and Ben Phillips. Performed by Ben Phillips.

A black plastic mulch raised bed
For a fast-growing summer plant
It’s non recyclable

That she brought from a sales man
In a winter of best laid plans
But it left a big mess       

Living or dead, we need a mulch
Living or dead, we need...

A novel non-plastic mulch 
Or a short-growing legume mulch
That won’t crumble or compete

But I can’t go another day
There’s a price to pay either way
If I just turn my head 

Living or dead, we need a mulch
Living or dead, we need a mulch

And if I could yield the same as ever
With mulch that blocks weeds, then leaves forever
By spring time, by spring time

Ben Werling interviewed Cheryl Trueman, who works with Ontario tomato growers at the University of Guelph. Flex your epidemiology muscles-on a non-Covid subject-as we chat about bacterial diseases of tomatoes-how they spread, and what you can do to slow them down. Do tomato plants need to mask up?

Cheryl has an article that summarizes much of what we talked about today. https://onvegetables.com/2019/06/06/managing-bacterial-spot-in-ontario-tomatoes-updated-best-management-practices-for-field-production/

Ben Phillips interviewed Steve Bogash, of Marrone Bio Innovations, and Dan Egel, vegetable pathologist at Purdue. They discussed a special group of fungicides that work inside of the plant to "turn on" their own natural chemical defenses against pathogens. They go by many names, including Plant Activators, Plant Defense Regulators, and Defense Activators.

Theme music for this episode, Go Plant Activators!, was a topical parody of Go Go Power Rangers by Ron Wasserman. Parody lyrics and performance by Ben Phillips.

Ben Werling interviewed Jason Deveau (@spray_guy), from the Ontario Ministry of Farms and Rural Affairs, about ways to avoid frustration when starting up your sprayer for the first time. Jason is also one of the hot shot founders and content producers for sprayers101.com, a great place to learn about all things sprayed! 

This week Katie King interviewed Mohammad Babadoost, from the University of Illinois, and Fracensca Rotondo, from The Ohio State University, about seed treatments for vegetables.

Here is the OSU guide to hot water seed treatment.

Law and Order: Seed Unit written by Ben Phillips. Performed by Ben Phillips and Mike Reinke.

Matt Kleinhenz interviewed Jud Reid about spring time transitional hoophouse production decisions. Both Matt and Jud have a ton of experience with this, and tackled lots of great questions!

Boys' Hood Greenhouses bit by Ben Phillips.

This week Ben Phillips interviewed Liz Maynard, Wenjing Guan, and Lori Hoagland about their work on organic transplant media for starting vegetable seeds. Here are a few things they left us with.

Growing Media for Productive Transplants - Indiana Small Farms Conference 2021 

Organic Growing Media – How Can it Affect the Health of My Transplants - eOrganic webinar December 2020 

Organic Potting Mix Basics, M. Wander, U of I - eOrganic resource node.

Jumping worms, Bradley Herrick, Ecologist/Research Program Manager, Univ. of Wisc.-Madison Arboretum - Emerald Ash Borer University

"My Germination" lyrics by Ben Phillips, based on The Who's "My Generation". Performed by Ben Phillips and Liz Maynard (flute).

Natalie Hoidal rejoined Annalisa Hultberg, from the University of Minnesota, and Amanda Byler, from Great Lakes Bay Health Centers, to  catch up on COVID-related lessons learned on farms through 2020. 

Get vaccinated if you get a chance.
Communicate openly and respectfully with your employees.
Hopes without a plan are just a wish.

New episodes March 3!
glveg.net/listen