News

MISSISSIPPI STATE – The Southern Rural Development Center at Mississippi State University will administer a federally funded program that encourages new and innovative research on food and nutrition assistance issues.

We've all seen it happen, and some of us have even committed it. We try not to stare, but we can't look away. It's just so...well, ugly. It is 'crape murder,' and it's no laughing matter.

Crape murder occurs when crape myrtle trees are pruned to the same point for many years, causing unsightly knots on the trunks. This greatly diminishes the plant's aesthetic appeal and its structural integrity.

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, many people start thinking of giving roses to their sweetie, but they often worry that their choice will send the wrong message on this day dedicated to love.

Valentine’s Day has many legends surrounding its origin, but the truth is, no one really knows much about its beginnings. Some say St. Valentine of Rome is the saint associated with this holiday, while others claim it is St. Valentine of Terni. Both died on Feb. 14.

By Patti Drapala MSU
Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Mississippi State University is working to reach underserved communities through a new mentoring program that encourages minority students to pursue veterinary medicine and graduate degrees in the biological sciences. 

By Patti Drapala
MSU Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Newton’s business and civic leaders have always expected a visit from Johnnie Mae Walker on behalf of the annual 4-H bike-a-thon for St. Jude Children’s Hospital, but they grew worried when other people appeared in her place. 

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Mississippi gardeners will have an opportunity to attend an exposition honoring plants and all things related to them at an event the first weekend in March.

The Everything Garden Expo will take place March 6 and 7 at the Mississippi Horse Park, located on Mississippi State University’s South Farm. Doors will be open from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. on Saturday and from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Sunday. Admission is $5, and children 6 and younger are admitted free.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Mississippi Women in Agriculture will hold its annual state conference March 11-12 at Mississippi State University with an agenda that continues the program’s goal to improve business skills of farm owners and managers.

The conference will be at the Bost Extension Center on the MSU campus. Registration is $100 and due by March 4. Topics include legal trends, leadership, groundwater regulations, climate change and alternative energy.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – The South’s already long growing season can be extended by high-tunnel production, a low-cost technique that is new to many Mississippians.

Mississippi State University is offering the High Tunnel Field Day on March 11 from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in Crystal Springs at the MSU Truck Crops Experiment Station. Registration includes lunch and is $15 by March 1 and $25 per person after that.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Greenhouse tomato growers and people with an interest in this business should mark their calendars for the 20th annual greenhouse tomato short course to be held in Raymond March 9-10.

The intensive, one-of-a-kind short course is dedicated to helping producers of greenhouse tomatoes. Mississippi is home to about 100 growers who produce a $6 million greenhouse tomato crop annually.

Rick Snyder, Mississippi State University professor and vegetable specialist in Crystal Springs, is organizing the short course.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Horse owners can look to Mississippi State University for their mares’ reproductive services from quality studs including a new, top-pedigree thoroughbred stallion.

West Coast businessman Neal Jones donated Big Train A’ Comin, a 3-year-old bay stallion. He is the son of Giant’s Causeway, the 1997 European Horse of the Year, and Snowfire, also a past winner in European races. His arrival comes more than a year after MSU lost its top stallion, Minister Slew, to a catastrophic leg injury during a severe thunderstorm.

Late January is a great time to get garden beds ready for spring and summer by adding organic matter to help build a healthy soil.

Peat moss and pine bark mixes are commonly added to garden soil to increase organic content, but other materials, such as yard waste and manures, can also be used. Yard wastes and manures generally give favorable results when used with ornamental plants.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Three truckloads of peanut butter are headed to the hungry survivors of Haiti’s earthquake, and a portion of this donation was made by generous Mississippi peanut growers.

The Peanut Butter for Haiti project was initiated by Early County 2055, a non-profit organization in Georgia, but the program quickly spread to Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. The Mississippi Peanut Growers’ Association is part of efforts that have generated $100,000 in donation pledges as of the end of January.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Those with a desire to learn the latest in a variety of landscape maintenance topics will have a chance to do so in a two-day short course offered through  Mississippi State University and the University of Arkansas.

The 2010 Landscape Short Course will be held Feb. 18-19 at the Desoto County Board of Education Building in Hernando. It is jointly sponsored by the MSU Extension Service and the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Several wildlife groups will assist in a Feb. 13 youth event in an effort to lay the foundation for safe and responsible hunting.

Mississippi State University’s Department of Wildlife and Fisheries in the College of Forest Resources is offering a squirrel hunt for young people. The hunt will take place at the Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge, located southeast of Starkville.

Youth ages 16 years or younger are eligible to hunt. A parent, grandparent or guardian must attend with them. A hunting license is not necessary for this hunt. 

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Young hunters will learn about quail hunting and conservation at two upcoming day-long events in Clarke and Clay counties.

Quail Forever is organizing the Feb. 27 and March 6 events with help from the Mississippi State University Extension Service, the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, and the 2009 Youth Participation Initiative Program. Applications for the limited openings are due by Feb. 10. Participation is free and open to youth ages 12 to 18. Lunch and dinner are provided.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Mississippi State University has launched a Web site to promote its development of high-quality turfgrass cultivars and help consumers find vendors for commercial varieties that result from this research.  

The site, http://www.msuturf.com, highlights several new and improved varieties of bermudagrass and St. Augustine grass researched and developed by the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station.

By Rebekah Ray
Delta Research and Extension Center

STONEVILLE -- Peanuts have become a good commercial crop for Delta farmers, and Mississippi State University researchers are evaluating the effectiveness of a group of insecticides on hard-to-control pests that impact these little jewels.

Even though it’s cold outside, now is a good time to stroll through your yard with pencil and paper in hand, noting what worked and what didn’t in your landscape last year. Viewing it during the bare-bones winter season will help you see where changes should be made.

Now, I know you’re thinking you’re not a designer, but I say you are. This is your garden, so do what looks pleasing and functional to you. There is a tremendous amount of information on landscape design available in books and on the Internet, but you are the judge of what works for you.

By Patti Drapala
MSU Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Hats once were an essential element of a woman’s wardrobe, but some Mississippi State University students have reinvented this accessory as cutting edge fashion for their design class. 

Phyllis Bell Miller, MSU associate professor of apparel, textiles and merchandising, teaches a course every fall called Visual Design in Dress. Students learn basic design and marketing principles of fashion in this class. 

By Patti Drapala
MSU Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE – The Internet may be a great tool for finding wedding gown styles, but it is an unsatisfactory way to buy one because of fashion counterfeiters and fraudulent businesses lurking in cyberspace.

Wanda Cheek, associate professor of apparel, textiles and merchandising in Mississippi State University’s School of Human Sciences, is concerned about the burgeoning counterfeit industry. She is currently researching fashion counterfeit and leads many class discussions on the ramifications of this issue.