Wilson County Master Gardener Association

Coffee rust regains foothold : Nature News & Comment.

Posted on 30 January 2013 by Greg | Comments Off

Jan. 23, 2013 — Until now it has not been clear how salt, a scourge to agriculture, halts the growth of the plant-root system. A team of researchers, led by the Carnegie Institution’s José Dinneny and Lina Duan, found that not all types of roots are equally inhibited. They discovered that an inner layer of tissue in the branching roots that anchor the plant is sensitive to salt and activates a stress hormone, which stops root growth. The study, published in the current issue of The Plant Cell, is a boon for understanding the stress response and for developing salt-resistant crops. [ … continue ]

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/01/130123133709.htm

Posted on 24 January 2013 by Greg | Comments Off

Jan. 18, 2013 — Baited black traps in a pyramid shape attract significantly more brown marmorated stink bugs than other traps, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists. Evaluating stink bug responses to different visual stimuli may help manufacturers design better traps for monitoring the bugs.

Entomologist Tracy Leskey at the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Appalachian Fruit Research Station in Kearneysville, W.V., focused on visual stimuli that can attract the stink bugs to traps that will help farmers monitor the level of infestation in their fields and orchards.

In field trials in 2009 and 2010, Leskey and her colleagues found that significantly more stink bug adults and juvenile bugs, called nymphs, were captured in the baited black pyramid traps than in other traps. The researchers also found that more adults and nymphs were captured in a trap placed on the ground than in a commercially available trap hung from a tree limb. [ … continue ]

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/01/130118112635.htm

Posted on 24 January 2013 by Greg | Comments Off

Drained: Urban Stormwater Pollution

Posted on 18 January 2013 by Greg

Carol sent in this video clip and it was a real eye opener. We would be horrified if we knew what all seeps and gushes into our wells, streams, rivers and oceans. And it is not just a big city problem. Consider all the old buckets of paint, bottles of pesticide and almost empty bags of Seven that get tossed into the garbage and ultimately end up in the Cumberland or Stones River. Eventually, it all makes its way into our water.

Posted in Get Green(er), Information | Comments Off

Fact Sheet on the FSMA Proposed Rule for Produce: Standards for the Growing, Harvesting, Packing, and Holding of Produce for Human Consumption

Summary

On January 4, 2013, FDA released for public comment its proposed rule to establish science-based standards for growing, harvesting, packing and holding produce on domestic and foreign farms. The proposed rule is one of five proposed rulemakings that would lay the cornerstone of the prevention-based, modern food safety system we need.

Section 105 of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) directs FDA to set science-based standards for the safe production and harvesting of fruits and vegetables that the Agency determines minimize the risk of serious adverse health consequences or death. FDA proposes to set standards associated with identified routes of microbial contamination of produce, including: (1) agricultural water; (2) biological soil amendments of animal origin (3) health and hygiene (4) animals in the growing area and (5) equipment, tools and buildings. The proposed rule includes additional provisions related to sprouts.

Fact Sheet: http://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodSafety/FSMA/ucm334114.htm

Proposed Rules: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2013-01-16/html/2013-00123.htm

Source: http://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodSafety/FSMA/ucm334114.htm

Posted on 16 January 2013 by Greg | Comments Off