News

JACKSON – Gardeners can keep insects and diseases under control and make spring planting easier with a little bit of cleanup right now.

“Good sanitation is one of the easiest and most economical methods of insect and disease control in the vegetable garden,” said Rebecca Bates, Mississippi State University Extension Service Lincoln County coordinator.

In vegetable gardens, plants should be removed as soon as production stops. Any live plant material will continue to provide food for insect pests and allow them to mature and multiply.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- In a state where tornadoes, hurricanes and floods are regular -- although unwanted -- visitors, Mississippi State University has plans for how to preserve data and ongoing research projects.

Hurricane Katrina’s Aug. 29 anniversary provides reminders of the havoc natural disasters can wreak with lives, homes and businesses. Losses to research are less tangible but can be just as devastating.

Dr. Stephen Pruett, head of basic sciences at MSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine, knows just how high those losses could mount.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Mississippi’s farm and ranch women can learn how to plan for the future of their farming businesses at a workshop series offered by the Mississippi State University and Alcorn State University Extension Services.

by Kaitlyn Byrne
MSU Office of Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- The Mississippi State University Extension Service uses creative technology, including video conferencing and webinars, to cut costs and reach more people with research-based programs.

Connie Templeton, distance learning analyst with the Distance Education team in the Extension Center for Technology Outreach, said a combination of video conferences, webinars and online training modules help Extension agents reduce costs for meetings, workshops and classes.

Even though we’re still in a very warm August, now is the time to start thinking about fall color.

Planting fall-flowering annuals can enhance your landscape’s ability to offer color right through spring. Garden centers will soon be offering some good choices of fall bedding plants, so make plans now for what you want your landscape to look like.

WOODVILLE – Four months ago Elease Sullivan knew very little about Facebook or the potential it held for her business.

But the Mississippi Bricks to Clicks pilot program changed that.

Mississippi State University’s Extension Service partnered with Woodville/Wilkinson County Main Street Association to test a program that helps small businesses understand and use social media to market their products or services.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Mississippi’s cotton growers are hoping weather challenges don’t prevent their late-planted crop from making the good yields it seems capable of producing.

Darrin Dodds, state cotton specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said the bulk of the crop was in pretty decent shape by late August.

“Some folks feel they are sitting on one of the better crops they’ve had,” he said. “All that will boil down to the weather we have in the fall. We need a long, favorable fall, and the heat to stick with us and the rain to stay away.”

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- When Labor Day rolls around each year, friends and family throughout Mississippi head to the fields early in the morning to get the first flights of doves over the fields they planted in the spring.

John Long, 4-H youth development specialist and shooting sports state program leader with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said opening day of dove season is the big kick-off to hunting season and is considered a Southern tradition.

STONEVILLE – When it comes to irrigating crops, farmers are like Goldilocks.

“They don’t want too much water; they don’t want too little water; they want it just right,” said Jason Krutz, irrigation specialist with Mississippi State University’s Delta Research and Extension Center.

Krutz explained that too much irrigation can damage a crop, drive costs up and reduce underground water supplies.

By Kaitlyn Byrne
MSU Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Members of Mississippi State University’s football team traded helmets and shoulder pads for cows and hay bales at the third annual Beefing Up the Bulldogs event at the new Leo Seal Jr. Football Complex.

VERONA – North Mississippi flower and vegetable gardeners will have the opportunity to tour fall horticulture plots at the North Mississippi Research and Extension Center on Sept. 28.

Mississippi State University Extension Service and Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station personnel will host the annual event from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. on that Saturday in Verona.

MSU horticulture experts will lead educational seminars, answer questions and provide tours of the flower and vegetable gardens at the facility located at 5421 Highway 145 South.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- The American College of Theriogenologists recently recognized a veteran Mississippi State University professor’s research and teaching career with an honorary membership.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Mississippians looking for more information about how to better care for themselves and their families have a new resource available online.

Even though we are still in the grip of summer’s heat and humidity, garden centers soon will start stocking gorgeous, flowering fall mums. Start planning now where to use these plants most effectively in the landscape.

Incorporating fall garden mums into your landscape is easy.

One of the most popular ways to display these beautiful plants is to simply place them in a big container on the front porch. The many warm colors available can fit into almost any home color scheme. The plants seem to have hundreds of flowers, so the impact is immediate.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Rains are taking some feed-cost pressure off Mississippi cattle producers as the end of summer approaches.

Jane Parish, beef specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said summer droughts often reduce hay yields, and the resulting sparse grass in pastures can trigger hay feedings before the first frost hits. This year, rains across most of the state have had the opposite effect and kept grass abundant.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Mississippi State University’s Division of Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine recently honored five faculty members with the Regions Bank-DAFVM Superior Faculty Awards in a new program designed to highlight exemplary work in five key areas.

James Warnock, associate professor of biomedical engineering program in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, received the Teaching Award for his innovative teaching methods and commitment to his students. He has been a faculty member at MSU for eight years.

CLARKSDALE -- Mississippi peanut growers can hear the latest research-based recommendations and get close looks at demonstration plots in Coahoma County during a Sept. 6 field day.

The Mississippi State University Extension Service will host the North Mississippi Peanut Field Day beginning at 9 a.m. on the Mattson Flowers Farm, located at the intersection of Highway 322 and Highway 49.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Veterinary students will join a diverse group of public health and veterinary experts in late September to explore successes and challenges in rabies prevention on both local and global scales.

The Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine will host the sixth annual Merial Rabies Symposium on World Rabies Day, Sept. 28.

This year’s symposium is themed “Protecting Animals, People and Our Future.” Activities will take place from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Wise Center in Starkville.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – A new app from the Mississippi State University Extension Service connects the expertise of more than 150 county agents to clients wherever they are.

The Mississippi Extension Service Directory is a free app available for Apple products, including the iPhone, iPad and iPod, through the app store. Users can search the directory by county, region and agent’s name. Clients can launch an in-app phone call or view a map to the county office.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Although robots do dangerous and repetitive tasks and provide automation in industry, it was their role as really good teaching tools that drew trainers to Mississippi State University in early August.

The MSU Extension Service’s Center for Technology Outreach hosted the 4-H Robotics Academy Aug. 11-15. The center partnered with NASA and the University of Mississippi’s Center for Mathematics and Science Education to offer five days of robotics training at basically no charge. MSU’s Bagley College of Engineering was also involved.