News

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Muhly grasses native to the southern United States offer dazzling performances for the fall landscape. One of the most picturesque is commonly called Lindheimer's muhly, or blue muhly.

The blue-gray-green color and fine leaf texture would make this grass a winner even if it never bloomed. But it does, sending up plumes on 4-foot-tall plants. The blossoms begin as a creamy pink that turns whiter and finishes tan.

By Patti Drapala
MSU Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Pumpkins do not grab the headlines as a significant crop, but they fill a niche for many Mississippi farmers who need to supplement cash flow.

“It's best to spread your effort out with several different enterprises because your farm is a business, after all,” said pumpkin producer Clay Meeks of Tippah County, who also grows soybeans and strawberries, and raises cattle. “It helps to have money coming in at different times of the year.”

By Patti Drapala
MSU Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Mississippi State University professor Ed Martin spent nearly 40 years teaching landscape architecture students to use plants to create great outdoor spaces, and he felt others should understand this principle, too.

Soon after arriving at MSU in 1956, Martin began a partnership with the Garden Clubs of Mississippi to educate people about the function of the landscape. He started a design seminar open to the public.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

The cardoon is a plant the Romans and Greeks ate as a vegetable, but today its popularity is sweeping the South as it is the newest Mississippi Medallion award winner.

Although the ancients ate it, at Mississippi State University's Truck Crops Experiment Station, we use it for its looks. Botanically, cardoon is Cynara cardunculus, and it is related to the globe artichoke.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Daniel Rivera joined the Mississippi State University team that supports the state’s livestock industry when he accepted a position in September with the MSU Extension Service.

Rivera is the Extension livestock specialist for the southwest district and works from the Central Mississippi Research and Extension Center in Raymond. He is a member of MSU’s Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – The North Mississippi Research and Extension Center will have new leadership beginning Nov. 1 from a longtime Mississippi State University agricultural economist.

Melissa Mixon, interim director of MSU’s Extension Service and the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station, announced on Oct. 9 that Cary “Bill” Herndon will assume the post, pending College Board approval.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Mississippi is joining other states in an effort to bring attention to renovation safety concerns during National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week, Oct. 19-25.

Jane Clary, Mississippi State University’s Extension Service health specialist, said the Mississippi State Department of Health reports that hundreds of children are poisoned each year by lead, which can cause a variety of health problems, including brain damage and even death.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Sweet potato yields and quality appear to be favorable despite rains that have harvest season running seven to 10 days behind schedule.

Calhoun County Extension director Charles Fitts said growers in Mississippi's sweet potato heartland are looking for good weather to finish harvest by the first week in November.

“If rainy weather slows growers down too much, potatoes will be at risk of losing quality when the ground freezes,” Fitts said. “So whenever field conditions are good, growers are working as quickly as possible.”

By Patti Drapala
MSU Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Young people who desire a career in animal health but do not want to pursue a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree now have an alternative at Mississippi State University.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Veterinarian and ABC-TV “Good Morning America” contributor Dr. Marty Becker will bring his popular brand of wit and animal wisdom to Mississippi State University as keynote speaker for the College of Veterinary Medicine’s first ever Nestlé-Purina Human-Animal Bond Lecture Series Oct. 20-24.

"We are thrilled to have Dr. Becker as our keynote speaker,” said Dr. Jennifer Burgess, chair of the lecture series. “We have put together a week-long event that has appeal for anyone who has pets or whose life is touched by animals on farms, at zoos or in the wild.”

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

You'll be seeing the stars of next year's gardens and landscapes if you are among the thousands expected to attend the 30th annual Fall Flower and Garden Fest Oct.17-18 at Mississippi State University's Truck Crops Experiment Station in Crystal Springs.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Researchers may have found the secret to controlling a tiny insect that robs Mississippi landowners of an estimated 12 million cubic feet of pine forest each year.

Though only an eighth of an inch long, the Southern pine beetle is a big pest and difficult to contain. Scientists at Mississippi State University's Forest and Wildlife Research Center, along with colleagues at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Harvard and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service, have made a breakthrough with the discovery of an antibiotic-producing bacterium.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Corn farmers are finally completing harvest of what is possibly the state's second-highest average yield, but abundant rainfall caused delays, made harvest more difficult and hurt some grain quality.

Erick Larson, grain crops specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said repeated rains, relatively low temperatures and high humidity prevented corn from drying in the field as quickly as it should have.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Mississippi drivers know to look out year-round for deer trying to cross roads, but fall brings another driving challenge when farm machinery joins the vehicles on the road.

Herb Willcutt, agricultural engineer with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said the state averages 125 collisions a year involving motorists and farm machinery.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- A physically active Greenwood woman is working from a wheelchair today rather than on horseback a year into her battle with West Nile virus that left her with polio-like symptoms and partial paralysis.

Leann Hines contracted the virus in August 2007 and came down with West Nile virus polio syndrome, which caused asymmetrical paralysis.

“I was almost totally paralyzed,” Hines said. “If not for a really good neurologist in Jackson, I probably would not have survived.”

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

The change in gardening seasons has given many gardeners a renewed enthusiasm for getting some dirt on their hands. One reason to celebrate the cool season is that it holds great promise for creating small perfume factories near outdoor areas where visitors gather or family frequents.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Mississippi’s 4-H program will take part in the organization’s first National Youth Science Day on Oct. 11 at the Mississippi Trade Mart during the State Fair in Jackson.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Fox News Channel personality Steve Doocy will be the featured guest Oct. 12 for a department of food science, nutrition and health promotion fundraiser at Mississippi State.

Taking place at the Barnes & Noble at Mississippi State Bookstore, the 11 a.m.-2 p.m. program begins with a reception featuring various creative appetizers by Chef Roland Parny, university coordinator of culinary research and development. The attendance fee is $75.

By Patti Drapala
MSU Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE – The spring freeze, summer drought and fall hurricane season of 2008 may have affected yield potential in many pecan orchards, but the industry watchers remain cautiously optimistic about the crop.

“Some of the trees have come back and are loading up pretty good with pecans,” said David Ingram, plant pathologist with the Mississippi State University Central Research and Extension Center in Raymond.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- The College of Veterinary Medicine's ambulatory service is catching on as a win-win opportunity for Mississippi State University students and owners of large animals in the Starkville area and beyond.

Dr. David Christiansen, assistant professor in the Department of Pathobiology and Population Medicine, is spearheading the mobile service, which got under way in the fall of 2007. A fully equipped truck is available to take veterinarians and students off campus for routine or emergency care of horses, cattle, small ruminants and swine.