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Vegetable Field Day

Name: Vegetable Field Day
Start: 2016-06-18T08:30:00-05:00
End: 2016-06-18T12:00:00-05:00
Location: Rusty Sikes Farm

June 18, 2016 @ 8:30 am - 12:00 pm

Vegetable Field Day Scheduled

A Vegetable Field Day will be held 1 miles south of Hwy 79 on FM 1940, just south of New Baden. The program will be held on Saturday, June 18th with registration to begin at 8:30am. The program will begin at 9:00am & conclude around 12:00pm.
The topics covered will focus on subjects of interest to small commercial producers and home gardeners. Topics will include preparing the soil for gardening season, weed control, irrigation systems for small producers, feeding nutrients through your irrigation system, keeping herbicide and insecticide use to a minimum yet have a successful garden, view tomato variety plots and other vegetable and melon variety plots, discussion on nematodes in home and commercial gardens and a discussion on varieties of vegetables and melons. We will also have a program on fruit trees for the home fruit orchard and their care. Three CEU’s will also be available for those that have a pesticide license (2 general & 1 IPM).
The speakers will include the owner/operator of the farm, Rusty Sikes. Rusty (an Aggie) started his career as an Extension Vegetable Specialist in Fort Stockton, mainly working in the Pecos area. After a couple of years Rusty got the opportunity to go to Porto Rico and serve as the Farm Director for the government run vegetable production farms. These farms grew most of the vegetables consumed on the island. Rusty is also a plant breeder and has developed numerous varieties of squash, eggplants and pumpkins on the market today. He retired several years ago and has started growing vegetables again after taking off a couple of years. Rusty has a strong desire to pass on much of the knowledge he has gained over the years.
We will also have Dr. Monte Nesbitt, State Extension Fruit & Pecan Specialist, to serve as another speaker at the Field Day. Dr. Nesbitt works closely with commercial producers across the state. He also has responsibility for educational programs for small orchards for the State of Texas. He does all types of home orchard programs such as dealing with varieties, irrigation, weed control, insect control and almost any other issue facing home orchards. The third presenter will be David Williams who is a long time commercial grower in Robertson County. David has done numerous demonstration plots over the years, ranging from variety trials, to nematode trials and irrigation studies. David also deals a good bit with heirloom varieties of many vegetables and melons. He and Rusty have also teamed up on some melon demonstration work.
This is a great opportunity for home gardeners and small commercial operators to sharpen their knowledge and skills about fruit, vegetables, melons, irrigation, insect and weed control. Please call and let us know if you plan to attend so we will have sufficient handouts and refreshments on hand. Please bring a lawn chair for your comfort; some of the program will be held under the shade trees. Call the Robertson County Extension office at (979)828-4270 to sign up for the Vegetable Field Day.