Pests and diseases make summer squash one of the most challenging vegetables to grow in Georgia home gardens, according to University of Georgia plant pathologist Elizabeth Little, who studies plant diseases and control methods at the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

By determining the varieties best suited for the area, University of Georgia graduate student Zach Matteen is on a mission to convince more backyard gardeners and farmers to grow winter squash. He has found that Seminole, tropical and tan cheese pumpkins, as well as Choctaw and 'Thelma Sanders' sweet potato squashes, hold up best against squash pests and diseases.

Not many animals elicit the extreme emotional response that snakes do, but the truth is they’re an ordinary part of the landscape in Georgia.

The annual University of Georgia Insect Scouting Schools are open to farmers, consultants and those interested in learning how to diagnose insect damage on high-value agricultural crops like cotton, peanuts and soybeans.

If you have been fascinated by the idea of finding a gold doubloon, I’ve got one for you, and it is of a stunning gardenia variety. The ‘Gold Doubloon’ — or “double” as the word suggests — gardenia gives you dazzling color with gold and green foliage and large, tantalizingly aromatic flowers.

There is an ‘Inferno’ of color this spring coming from a coleus that racked up quite a number of perfect scorecards. ‘Inferno’ hasn’t been out long, but already it has heads turning, especially when you consider that it was total perfection in University of Georgia, University of Tennessee and Michigan State University trials.

Last year many lawns across the state didn’t receive enough rainfall for the grass to grow, photosynthesize and make carbohydrate reserves. Turfgrass that experienced this lack of rainfall will likely be slow to green up this spring. If rainfall totals return to normal this spring, lawns will recover, but they may do so at a slower rate because the production of reserves was compromised last fall. For example, a lawn that would typically be fully green and growing in mid-May might take until late May or June to green up. A two- to four-week delay in green-up of warm-season grasses may be common this spring.

Seven University of Georgia students studying in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences have embarked on the opportunity of a lifetime — serving as Congressional Agricultural Fellows in Washington, D.C.

Decreasing irrigation for cotton crops during the early season may not affect yields and could save growers more than 54,000 gallons of water per acre, according to University of Georgia researchers.