News

Winter is right around the corner, and many Mississippians are starting to put their gardens to bed, waiting for the warm days of early spring. But just because it is getting colder doesn’t mean we must have drab landscapes. Now is the perfect time to put some winter color in gardens, and I’m not talking about ornamental cabbage and kale.

I am sure you have seen brightly colored pansies while visiting your favorite garden center, and those pansies are a great way to add color to your winter garden. They are tough, cold tolerant, and flower almost nonstop.

By Patti Drapala
MSU Ag Communications

VERONA -- With less than a month to go, Mississippi’s Christmas tree growers are counting down the days to what may shape up as a great year.

The trees mature enough for sale have good color and have filled out nicely, despite periods of dry weather statewide and too much rain in some areas of the state.  Most species of Christmas trees grown in Mississippi take five years to mature, which makes one-fifth of a grower’s crop marketable each year if new seedlings are planted after the holiday season.

By Justin Ammon
Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station

MISSISSIPPI STATE – W. Harris of Starkville takes his time when searching for steaks to feed his family. He carefully inspects the meat at the grocery store and often ends up with a pack of thin-cut New York strips.

“The strips make my family happy,” Harris said. “You can see the juice in that cut before it’s even cooked.”

By Patti Drapala
MSU Ag Communications

PITTSBORO – Sewing is no longer passé for Calhoun County youth after Extension 4-H agent Trent Barnett discovered both boys and girls were intrigued by the craft.

Several 4-H members had seen sewing items displayed at the county fair and wanted to explore the lost art further. Livestock exhibitors, frustrated by the lack of blankets available for show goats, wanted to learn how to make the blankets themselves.

By Cheree Franco
MSU Ag Communications

POPLARVILLE - Dan Batson and Mississippi State University have been collaborating on horticulture projects for more than 30 years, beginning in the late 1970s when Batson entered the university as an undergraduate horticulture student.

Gardening is consistently listed as one of this country’s most popular hobbies and can give joy and satisfaction to the gardener in return for the work involved. But gardening can be frustrating for gardeners who have physical limitations.

Today, gardeners with mobility issues have more alternatives and tools than ever before, and their options increase every day. The Fall Flower and Garden Fest at the Mississippi State University Truck Crops Branch Station in Crystal Springs this past weekend featured an exhibit that highlighted ways to make the garden more accessible.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Agricultural consultants, certified crop advisers and others working in the field of agronomy can take part in an upcoming free educational meeting led by Mississippi State University researchers, faculty and Extension personnel.

Continuing education credits will be available at the Mississippi meeting of the American Society of Agronomy on Nov. 17 in the Grenada County Extension Office. Registration is due by Nov. 12.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Young hunters will learn about quail hunting and conservation at an upcoming daylong event in Lowndes County.

Quail Forever is organizing the Nov. 13 event with help from the Mississippi State University Extension Service and the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks. Applications for the limited openings are due by Nov. 1.

Participation is free and open to youth ages 12 to 18. Lunch will be provided.

POPLARVILLE – The Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station will host a field day Nov. 9 to provide information to help beef producers improve their business opportunities.

The White Sand Beef Cattle Field Day will be held from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the White Sand Experiment Station. There is no cost to attend, and anyone involved with the beef cattle industry is invited to attend. Lunch will be provided.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – The headline speaker for the Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine’s Human-Animal Bond Lecture Series will help participants envision a world where humans and wildlife can better coexist.

Dr. Michael Hutchins, director and CEO of The Wildlife Society, will give his keynote address, “Adventures at the Human-Wildlife Interface,” at 7 p.m. on Oct. 28 in the CVM auditorium on MSU’s main campus.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Homecoming activities at Mississippi State University Oct. 23 included a dedication ceremony for a recently renovated campus landmark, which now has both a new look and a new name.

The event celebrated the addition of the name of retired MSU administrator Vance H. Watson to the campus' home of agricultural programs since 1929.

By Patti Drapala
MSU Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Although Mississippi pecan growers’ hopes for high yields were dashed by lack of rain, they still anticipate having a good crop to sell.

Pecans fill out between late August and the end of September. Timely rains are necessary for nutmeat to fully develop, but Mississippi did not get those rains this year, said David Ingram, plant pathologist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Darren Miller was 13 when he experienced the heart-thumping, adrenaline-flowing excitement of his first squirrel hunt.

Miller, manager of Southern Environmental Research for Weyerhaeuser Co., has good memories of the first time his father took him squirrel hunting. Now a father himself, Miller enjoys taking his daughters hunting.

The 2010 Mississippi Medallion Award Winners are Fireworks Gomphrena, Electric Lime Coleus, Purple Flash pepper and Gulf Coast muhly grass. Mississippi Medallion Award Winners are selected each year based on their ability to thrive in Mississippi’s hot, humid summers and cool winters.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Mississippi State University researchers found it takes a special kind of turf to keep a cemetery looking nice without frequent maintenance.

Wayne Philley, an agronomist with the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station, was the lead researcher on a three-year study that examined turf’s performance and maintenance requirements in a cemetery setting.

By Karen Templeton
MSU Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Mississippi’s specialty businesses are finding a quick and easy virtual connection to consumers through a newly expanded computer mapping tool.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- An administrator with more than 25 years experience in agricultural education has been named director of the Mississippi State University Extension Service.

Gary Brown Jackson will assume his duties as head of the statewide educational outreach system Jan.1, 2011, pending formal approval of the Board of Trustees, State Institutions of Higher Learning.

PICAYUNE – The arts, history and music of the past will come to life at the eighth annual Piney Woods Heritage Festival at Mississippi State University’s Crosby Arboretum Nov. 12-13 in Picayune.

Preregistered school groups will visit from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. Nov. 12. The cost is $2 per child, and the admission is waived for teachers, chaperones and bus drivers. The general public is invited to attend Nov. 13 from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. The general public admission is $2 for children and $5 for adults.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Weighty woods, trained termites and oak bubbling bazookas will be among the many highlights at Mississippi State University’s Wood Magic Science Fair.

The Oct. 18-22 event will introduce students to the benefits of forestry, forest products and wildlife. The Wood Magic Science Fair is sponsored by MSU’s Department of Forest Products, College of Forest Resources and wood product industries. It will be held at MSU’s forest products complex at 100 Blackjack Road in Starkville.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Halloween is surrounded by mystery, and one of the greatest mysteries to Mississippi farmers is why anyone would want to grow pumpkins.

David Nagel, vegetable specialist with Mississippi State University’s Extension Service, said pumpkins are hard to grow in Mississippi because of the late-summer weather, but farmers are eternal optimists.