What's Killing My Kale?

In episode 21 of our fruit and vegetable podcast What's Killing My Kale? we talked to Courtney Tchida, farm manager at Cornercopia student organic farm. Courtney has been trying various weed management methods over the years, and has recently been experimenting with solarization using standard plastic as well as used billboards (as in billboards from roadside advertising!). Courtney shared her insight on how well these methods work, labor and equipment costs, convenience, and more. 

Click here to listen to the episode. You can listen to it now, or download it to listen later. 

You can find all previous episodes on FruitEdge.

What's Killing My Kale? is a podcast production of the University of Minnesota Extension, sponsored in part by the University of Minnesota Integrated Pest Management program. Co-hosted by Extension Educators Annie Klodd and Natalie Hoidal, the podcast focuses on innovative and timely pest management topics in fruits and vegetables, and sometimes ventures into other timely issues as well. 

In Season 2, Episode 2 of our fruit and vegetable podcast What's Killing My Kale? we're talking all about transplants with Alissa Jacobsen, a farmer who currently works at Open Hands Farm in Northfield. Alissa has worked on many farms at different scales and with different types of markets and goals. We covered a wide range of topics including: 

Transplanted cucumber with sun scald.

Photo: Natalie Hoidal

Click here to listen to the episode. You can listen to it now, or download it to listen later. 

You can find all previous (2018) episodes on FruitEdge.

What's Killing My Kale? is a podcast production of the University of Minnesota Extension, sponsored in part by the University of Minnesota Integrated Pest Management program. Co-hosted by Extension Educators Annie Klodd and Natalie Hoidal, the podcast focuses on innovative and timely pest management topics in fruits and vegetables, and sometimes ventures into other timely issues as well. 

In Season 2, Episode 1 of our fruit and vegetable podcast What's Killing My Kale? we take a deep dive into fruit bud injury with Dr. Amaya Atucha of University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Atucha has a wealth of knowledge on this topic, so it made for a fascinating and useful conversation that we think fruit growers will find very helpful!

Topics covered include:

Click here to listen to the episode. You can listen to it now, or download it to listen later. 

You can find all previous (2018) episodes on FruitEdge.

What's Killing My Kale? is a podcast production of the University of Minnesota Extension, sponsored in part by the University of Minnesota Integrated Pest Management program. Co-hosted by Extension Educators Annie Klodd and Natalie Hoidal, the podcast focuses on innovative and timely pest management topics in fruits and vegetables, and sometimes ventures into other timely issues as well. 

In episode 18 of our fruit and vegetable podcast What's Killing My Kale? we talked to Linda Chalker-Scott, a horticulturalist with Washington State University. The internet lays many claims about the benefits of numerous "alternative" or "natural" remedies for pest management and plant health. How do we know which methods are backed up by science, and which are not? In this episode, Linda lays out ways growers can determine if claims about natural products are accurate and effective. We use epsom salts and compost tea as two examples.

Click here to listen to the episode. You can listen to it now, or download it to listen later. 

You can find all previous (2018) episodes on FruitEdge.

What's Killing My Kale? is a podcast production of the University of Minnesota Extension, sponsored in part by the University of Minnesota Integrated Pest Management program. Co-hosted by Extension Educators Annie Klodd and Natalie Hoidal, the podcast focuses on innovative and timely pest management topics in fruits and vegetables, and sometimes ventures into other timely issues as well. 

In episode 17 of our fruit and vegetable podcast What's Killing My Kale? Annie and Natalie discuss pesticides labeled for use in organic systems. In this episode, Natalie discusses the importance of thinking about pesticide safety on all fruit and vegetable farms, including organic farms with organic pesticide products. She also lays out the results of the fruit and vegetable pesticide use survey that was distributed by UMN Extension to fruit and vegetable growers throughout 2018.

Click here to listen to the episode. You can listen to it now, or download it to listen later. 

You can find all previous (2018) episodes on FruitEdge.

What's Killing My Kale? is a podcast production of the University of Minnesota Extension, sponsored in part by the University of Minnesota Integrated Pest Management program. Co-hosted by Extension Educators Annie Klodd and Natalie Hoidal, the podcast focuses on innovative and timely pest management topics in fruits and vegetables, and sometimes ventures into other timely issues as well. 

Author: Annie Klodd. Any farmers applying compost, manure, or straw should keep in mind that while these inputs have many benefits for vegetable production, they can also be modes of spread for weed seeds. Fortunately, there are ways to minimize the amount of weed seeds that appear in compost and manure and then end up on the field.

Episode 16: Manure, Compost, and Weeds.

This month on "What's Killing My Kale?" (our fruit & vegetable pest management podcast) we had a fascinating discussion about this with Chryseis Modderman, UMN Extension Educator for manure management. Among other things, we talked about best practices for applying compost and manure on vegetable fields, and how it is that weed seeds and diseases can travel all the way from the pasture, through the animal, and onto the vegetable field. We then discussed practices that growers can adopt to minimize the risk of bringing in new weed infestations via manure and compost.

Click here to listen to the podcast, Episode 16: Manure, Compost, and Weeds. The episode will also be available on iTunes.

For our September series of "What's Killing My Kale?", we caught up with some of our Extension IPM experts to discuss the main 2018 growing season pest pressures and how to prepare for 2019. 

In this episode, we discuss weeds with Annie Klodd.

You can listen to the podcast here or on iTunes.

For our September series of "What's Killing My Kale?", we caught up with some of our Extension IPM experts to discuss the main 2018 growing season pest pressures and how to prepare for 2019.  In this episode, we discuss weeds with Annie Klodd. You can listen to the podcast here or on iTunes.

For our September series of "What's Killing My Kale?", we caught up with some of our Extension IPM experts to discuss the main 2018 growing season pest pressures and how to prepare for 2019.  In this episode, we discuss diseases with Michelle Grabowski. You can listen to the episode here or on iTunes.

For our September series of "What's Killing My Kale?", we caught up with some of our Extension IPM experts to discuss the main 2018 growing season pest pressures and how to prepare for 2019.  In this episode, we discussed insects with Bill Hutchison.  You can listen to the episode here, or on iTunes.