News

By Patti Drapala
MSU Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Though cool temperatures and excess rain kept many Mississippi row crops from getting a good start this spring, they actually helped sod production.

Extra water allows many growers to cut back on irrigation. Once the sod establishes, there is not much else for growers to do, other than mow at regular intervals and maintain their market base.

By Patti Drapala
MSU Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Corn-to-ethanol manufacturing has created huge amounts of a byproduct suitable as an ingredient in cattle feed, and Mississippi State University researchers want to know if a more refined version packs the same nutritional punch.

By Rebekah Ray
Delta Research and Extension Center

STONEVILLE — Consumers expect nothing less than the best from Mississippi’s pond-raised catfish industry, and this keeps researchers at Mississippi State University’s Delta Research and Extension Center conducting taste tests on the popular fish.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

We count on tropical plants to be the stalwart landscape performers when August heat rolls in, and one you need to consider is an elephant ear named Elena. In case you haven’t noticed, elephant ears have changed; in addition to their big, coarse or bold-textured foliage, they offer exciting color, too.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Soybean rust was found in Mississippi in two fields near Thornton on Thursday, but experts are not recommending producers spray fungicide for the disease.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Mississippi State University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agriculture Research Service are hosting a Muscadine Field Day Aug. 21 at the McNeil Experiment Station Vineyard which has been set up as a repository of muscadine varieties.

The field day is from 9 a.m. to noon. The vineyard is located at the McNeil Unit of the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station in Pearl River County.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Catfish pond acreage in Mississippi continues to decline, with the high cost of production and poor prices partly to blame.

Jim Steeby, aquaculture specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said the entire U.S. catfish industry is downsizing. As of late July, Mississippi had 70,000 acres of catfish ponds, down from the high of 113,000 acres the state had in 2001.

By Patti Drapala
MSU Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- The Southeast has an opportunity to capitalize on the green movement, according to a Mississippi State University consumer survey.

Richard Harkess, an ornamental horticulture professor in the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, and Robert Brzuszek, a landscape architecture professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Landscape Contracting, wanted to determine if the green movement is influencing the purchase and use of native plants.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Gardeners can rejoice because there are two great new choices for yellow zinnias in the landscape: Zahara is available now, and gardeners can buy Profusion next year.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – The state’s catfish industry is facing some major obstacles as producers are dealing with very high feed prices, declining acreage and fierce competition from imported fish.

John Anderson, Mississippi State University Extension Service agricultural economist, said the most significant influence on catfish prices since the fall of 2008 has been the condition of the overall economy.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – The Mississippi State University Extension Service 4-H program received a $10,000 grant to improve the state’s after-school programming by training 500 of its providers.

The MetLife Foundation and the National 4-H Council provided the grant. Mississippi was one of 11 states to receive the grant aimed at improving after-school programming offered across the state.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- A senior agriculture administrator at the University of Idaho is the new vice president for one of Mississippi State University's oldest academic units.

MSU President Mark Keenum announced Monday [Aug. 3] that Gregory A. Bohach is being named vice president for the Division of Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine. His appointment is pending formal approval by the Board of Trustees, State Institutions of Higher Learning.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Three weeks of cool, rainy weather in July were just what the state’s soybeans needed, breathing new life into the struggling crop.

Trey Koger, soybean specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said weather extremes have affected the crop. Cold, wet spring weather delayed a lot of planting. Most of June was hot and dry and most of July was wet and cooler.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Mississippians with timberland in production are looking at carbon as a new source of income, and they are learning to manage their land for the most profit while participating in efforts to lower greenhouse gas levels.

Carbon dioxide, or CO2, often called simply carbon, is one of several chemical compounds known today as greenhouse gases, or GHG. These gases occur both naturally and as byproducts of fossil fuel use in various transportation and industrial processes.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – The University Florist has operated for most of its history in the heart of Mississippi State University, where it serves as both a full-time business and a design laboratory for students.

The University Florist began 75 years ago and predates the professional program by quite a few years.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

In the South, I hear people referring every now and then to snow in July. Of course we rarely get snow even in the winter, and it sure doesn’t fall in July, but we can have the illusion of snow with a new plant called Snow Princess.

MISSISSIPPI STATE – The 20th annual KIDS COUNT Data Book was released this week and includes information on the needs and conditions of Mississippi’s children and families.

The book presents national and state data to determine the degree to which children and families benefit from and are supported by their local environments. The data helps each state determine how they are doing compared to other states and the nation as a whole. Data for Mississippi reveals that trends in child well-being have improved in some areas and declined in others since 2000.

By Patti Drapala
MSU Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE – While Mother Nature is showing corn producers a little mercy after her relentless drubbing earlier this year, the futures market is not.

Excessive rainfall early in the season caused many problems for the crop, but recent showers and temperatures in the 80s have kept plants healthy, allowing them to fill out ears.

By Patti Drapala
MSU Ag Communications

MISSISSIPPI STATE – Mississippi State University’s 4-H Entomology and Horticulture Camp is one of the few of its kind to offer overnight stay for nocturnal collecting, which attracts participants to the event just like moths to light.

“We introduce campers to the technique of attracting night insects using black lighting, which opens up a new world for them,” said retired MSU Extension Service entomologist Mike Williams. “You could jokingly say we end activities with a last call for the appropriate type of alcohol.”

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

If you love hummingbirds, then let the Royal Purple Queen reign in your garden.

Many people have a renewed passion to create a “backyard wildlife habitat,” and I am regularly asked if certain plants will attract hummingbirds. While natives are naturals in this setting, there are some stalwart performers from other countries that make it fun to garden. One such plant is the Royal Purple Queen.