New spray technologies, disease trials set at Ohio State’s Pumpkin Field Day

SOUTH CHARLESTON, Ohio — There’s a lot in store for pumpkin growers at this year’s Pumpkin Field Day, to be held Sept. 5 from 6-8 p.m. at Ohio State University’s Western Agricultural Research Station in South Charleston.

The event will cover four main topics that are key to growers, said Jim Jasinski, an Ohio State University Extension educator and integrated pest management specialist.

Topics

They include an eight-treatment powdery mildew demonstration trial featuring conventional fungicides (Quintec, Procure, Pristine, Rally, Sulfur), experimental fungicides (Merivon and Luna Experience), and a newly labeled fungicide (Torino).

Field day participants will also walk through the station’s bacterial leaf spot trial, an emerging disease in Ohio and around the Midwest, to see how the foliage and fruit compare among six hybrids treated with Actigard.

“The highlight of this year’s tour will be a spray technology research trial that explores which combination of spray tips and air-assist best deposits fungicides and insecticides on the foliage and fruit within the complex pumpkin canopy,” Jasinski said.

“The four-treatment trial will compare coverage differences between flat-fan nozzles, twinjet nozzles, hollow-cone nozzles, and air-assisted flat-fan nozzles. There will be a live demonstration of the air-assist sprayer, which will show the capabilities of such a sprayer.”

Pumpkin plots

Finally, the field day will include a stop at the hybrid evaluations plots, where growers will be able to browse through more than 15 experimental and newly released pumpkin varieties to compare fruit size, shape, color, yield potential and disease resistance.

Ohio State experts who will be available at the event to discuss various topics with growers include Jasinski, vegetable pathologist Sally Miller, agricultural engineer Erdal Ozkan and vegetable specialist Bob Precheur.

Additionally, entomologist Celeste Welty will review useful strategies for controlling insects and update participants on her melon-crop trap experiments.

Participants will be transported around the research station via covered tour wagons and will be encouraged to walk around the plots at each stop and ask questions from the specialists. Refreshments will be served.

Fee

Cost is $5 per person. Pre-registration will begin at 5:30 p.m. Both certified crop adviser and pesticide applicator training credits will be available.

Part of the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, the Western Agricultural Research Station is located at 7721 South Charleston Pike, South Charleston, three miles south of I-70 on state Route 41 or 3.5 miles northwest of South Charleston on state Route 41. For directions, go to http://go.osu.edu/Nea.

The Pumpkin Field Day is sponsored by the OSU Extension Vegetable Team, OARDC and industry partners. For more details, contact Jasinski at jasinski.4@osu.edu, 937-484-1526 or 937-462-8016.