With more than 328 entries in this year’s Southeastern Hay Contest (SEHC), competition was fierce among farms that pride themselves on fine hay. 

The Georgia Exotic Pest Plant Council will examine the control and management of invasive insects and plants at the council’s annual conference on Monday, Oct. 30, at the University of Georgia Griffin campus. The conference runs from 8:30 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.

Trees can be valuable tools for reducing energy costs. Planting strategically placed trees in your landscape can reduce your energy costs over time and improve your landscape. It is not difficult to make a plan that can lead to savings by planting trees. 

Soap aloe is one of those plants that stirs up a passion in gardeners and plant aficionados across the country. Known as Aloe maculate, you would swear it is from Mexico at first glance, but it’s actually from South Africa, more than 9,000 miles away.

Aspergillus crown rot disease is on the rise in Georgia peanut fields and University of Georgia researchers are working to pinpoint why. At present, university scientists recommend that farmers encountering this problem in their fields stop saving seed from year to year in an effort to reduce the disease while better control methods are found. The first line of defense has been fungicide application either in furrow or directly to the seed.

Nematode control is one of the costliest hurdles to blueberry production on replanted sites. Through research trials in Appling County, Georgia, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Agriculture and Natural Resources Agent Shane Curry found that adding pine bark mulch when replanting blueberry fields helps to combat the pests.

Summer’s end often means that spring’s colorful annuals have started to fade, but the end of Georgia’s growing season also means it’s time to debut the University of Georgia Trial Gardens’ annual Classic City Award winners. These awards represent plants that thrived during the punishing conditions of a Georgia summer.

As part of an irrigation efficiency study by University of Georgia Cooperative Extension, a 29-person team of social scientists, agricultural economists, climatologists, agricultural engineers and UGA Extension agents from the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences is studying agricultural irrigation in order to increase the water-use efficiency in row crops common to southern Georgia.

School gardens are gaining momentum because they help teachers meet science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM) education requirements, according to Becky Griffin, community and school garden coordinator for University of Georgia Cooperative Extension.