News

BROOKHAVEN – When Hurricane Katrina destroyed his timber stand in 2005, Lincoln County landowner Jason McDonald searched for an alternative crop.

In May 2012, he visited the Charleston Tea Plantation in South Carolina and began to consider growing the crop himself.

“I wanted something that was sustainable and better at resisting storm damage,” McDonald said. “As long as tea plants are managed well, they are low-growing, which makes them able to survive high winds.”

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Gardeners with landscape challenges walked away with wheelbarrows full of ideas after three landscape designers shared tips at the nation’s oldest symposium of its kind.

The 58th Edward C. Martin Jr. Landscape Symposium drew more than 100 garden club members, Master Gardeners, students and design professionals to Mississippi State University Oct. 16.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Master Gardeners know one of the basic principles that university students around the country are discovering: Education is about more than books.

Mississippi’s horticultural educators and volunteers recently returned to campus for the Master Gardener University, hosted by the Mississippi State University Extension Service. Like many college students, Master Gardeners take part in a variety of community service projects. The educational volunteers shared these projects along with their accumulated knowledge at the conference.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Mississippi State University is moving a popular horse sale into cyberspace with a special online auction.

More than 20 horses from the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station’s herd will be sold from Nov. 1 to 21 at http://www.auction.msucares.com. Buyers can also bid on the stud fee for one 2014 breeding to gray American quarter horse stallion UGA King of Aces.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Starkville-area teachers are invited to bring their students Nov. 1 to the Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine to listen to the adventures of National Geographic explorer Helen Thayer.

The college is hosting Thayer as part of its Nestle Purina Human-Animal Bond Series. Thayer will share her adventures as the first woman to travel to the Magnetic North Pole with only the companionship of her dog. She will also discuss her experience living among wolves for a year.

JACKSON – After a 30-year absence, the 4-H poultry livestock show returned with great fanfare to the Mississippi State Fair this year.

Jessica Wells, poultry science specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said the poultry program has been very popular with 4-H’ers since it returned to the program lineup in 2012. She said 150 children participated this year with 64 showing their chickens at the state fair.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Two Mississippi State University units are helping sponsor a conference for people interested in developing outdoor recreation and tourism businesses.

The MSU Extension Service and Stennis Institute of Government and Community Development are promoting the annual Alabama-Mississippi Rural Tourism Conference Oct. 28-30. The event will be in Guntersville, Ala., and the theme is outdoor recreation.

By Mary Grace Eppes
MSU Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE - With the school year well underway, families across Mississippi commonly encounter illnesses, viruses or the contagious and bothersome head lice.

David Shrock, a health education and wellness graduate assistant at Mississippi State University, said the head louse is a parasitic insect that can be found on heads, eyebrows and eyelashes of humans.

BILOXI – Biloxi homeowner Jesse Aguilar got a little help installing a high tunnel in his backyard from two Mississippi State University horticulture scientists and the traveling home improvement show “Ask This Old House.”

You probably have figured out by now that I have a lot of favorite plants. Since it’s autumn, I get to talk about one of my favorite native plants that is in its full glory right now.

The American beautyberry is really putting on quite a show in Mississippi with clusters of bright purple berries.

American beautyberry is commonly found on the edges of woodlands all across the state. It is widely found east of the Mississippi in the mid-Atlantic and Gulf Coast region of North America.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – The cool, damp nights that are making it feel like fall in Mississippi are slowing peanut harvests way down across much of the state.

Mississippi’s peanut crop was 28 percent harvested as of the last U.S. Department of Agriculture Crop Progress and Condition Report released Sept. 30. Because of the federal government shutdown, no new figures have been released in almost two weeks. At the end of September, 48 percent of the crop was listed in good condition, with 13 percent excellent and 39 percent fair.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- About 4,000 fourth-graders, teachers and parents from across the state will be at Mississippi State University Oct. 14-18 for the annual Wood Magic Science Fair.   

Activities and exhibits illustrating everything from papermaking to the strength of a toothpick-sized piece of wood are part of the annual event at the Forest Products Lab complex during the week. 

Sponsored by the university’s College of Forest Resources, the event is designed to illustrate the importance of natural resources throughout the state. 

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Mississippians interested in the state’s latest agricultural news will need to tune in or set their digital video recorders to a different time.

Farmweek, the state’s oldest and only locally produced agricultural television news show, has moved to Saturdays at 6 p.m. and Mondays at 6 a.m. on Mississippi Public Broadcasting. The show also can be seen on the nationwide satellite and cable TV network RFD-TV Fridays at 5 p.m. and on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 3 a.m., or online.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Mississippi 4-H provides a year-round youth development activity in Mississippi, but it gets an extra share of the spotlight with fall activities that include National 4-H Week Oct. 6-12.

The 4-H Youth Development Program is part of the Mississippi State University Extension Service. This year, it has more than 103,500 members ages 8 to 18 in 1,731 clubs across the state. These groups range from specialized clubs for robotics, horses, shooting sports or outdoor activities, to general interest clubs and after-school programs.

I have to admit that I’m ready for this hot and really humid Mississippi summer to be over. Even though we are officially in the fall season, those high temps have been lingering into October.

But it seems we may have turned the corner towards lower temperatures. I even slept with the window open recently for the first time since I don’t know when. This means cool-season annuals will soon be showing up.

STONEVILLE -- Mississippi State University scientists are leading the charge in the fight against glyphosate-resistant Italian ryegrass with a research-based plan of attack.

Jason Bond, a weed scientist at the MSU Delta Research and Extension Center in Stoneville, said Mississippi was the first state to discover Italian ryegrass that cannot be controlled with glyphosate, a common herbicide originally known as Round-up, in a crop situation. The weed has spread quickly since it arrived.

CHOCTAW – Fruit and vegetable growers can learn the latest tips and techniques at an upcoming conference near Philadelphia.

The Mississippi Fruit and Vegetable Growers Conference and Trade Show will be Nov. 13-15 at the Silver Star Conference Center in Choctaw.

The conference is open to new and experienced growers and other interested individuals. Experts from the Mississippi State University Extension Service and Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station will deliver many of the sessions.