Bay area vegetable regional report – April 29, 2015

Ben Phillips<benp@msu.edu>, Michigan State University Extension -

Sweet corn, onions, carrots and lettuce are in. Field transplants are still in the greenhouse while early greenhouse tomatoes are well underway.

Lettuce transplanted before a snow in early April.
Lettuce transplanted before a snow in early April.

Weather

Rainfall and growing degree day (GDD) accumulations are currently below the five-year average, and lots of soil is being pushed around while the conditions permit. The table below shows the rainfall and GDD base 50 degrees Fahrenheit accumulations to date from Michigan State University Enviro-weather stations.

Rainfall and GDD base 50 F accumulations to date, according to MSU Enviro-weather

Location

GDD (50F, March 1)

Rainfall (inches, April 1)

Linwood

138

2.41

Frankenmuth

171

1.97

Lapeer

213

1.98

Romeo

201

1.24

Crops

Tomato transplants are about 1 foot tall. Early tomatoes for greenhouse and hoophouse production are setting their first fruit, pollinated by commercial bumble bees. It is safe to start removing lower leaves from under the first set of flowers to get some airflow under the plants.

Sweet corn planting of early varieties has already taken place in Michigan’s Bay area. Some are under plastic to stagger emergence and picking.

Onions are being planted as time and conditions allow. Some growers experienced some delays getting their transplants out of Texas due to wet weather down there.

Carrot planting is underway.

Lettuce started transplanting two weeks ago, with snow on the ground.

Other notes

Michigan State University Extension reminds conventional growers to talk to chemical representatives regarding alternatives to Bravo fungicide and Prowl herbicide. Both are experiencing production issues this year.

MSU organic vegetable outreach specialist Vicki Morrone is interested in starting a weekly statewide organic grower report with a similar format to this, but drawing specifically from organic systems. If you would like to have input on this, please contact Vicki directly at sorrone@msu.edu.

Please contact me at phill406@msu.edu or 989-758-2500 ext. 202 to pick up any suspected disease samples, or send the diseased plant parts to MSU Diagnostic Services.

This article was published by Michigan State University Extension. For more information, visit https://extension.msu.edu. To have a digest of information delivered straight to your email inbox, visit https://extension.msu.edu/newsletters. To contact an expert in your area, visit https://extension.msu.edu/experts, or call 888-MSUE4MI (888-678-3464).

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