News From 2019

The seasons are playing tricks on us with cold temperatures following warm. While we go through this latest cold snap, which I have high hopes will be the last, I want to address a landscape issue that’s generating quite a few questions.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- A year after chronic wasting disease was found in Mississippi, my deer season was very different than those in the past.

While I still considered management and hunting strategies, I could not escape the disappointment I would feel if the disease we call CWD had progressed to my cherished hunting spots. Luckily, it was not detected where I hunt, but other places in Mississippi did not fare so well.

The tornado in Lowndes County and widespread flooding in north Mississippi have triggered a variety of helpful “boots on the ground” to provide needed care and guidance.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- The Dicamba Applicator Training required for individuals who plan to apply dicamba herbicide products in Xtend cropping systems has been opened online and scheduled at several sites in the Delta and north Mississippi.

I join the gardening world in waiting for the Southern indica azaleas to officially kick off the spring season with their gaudy show of beautiful color. But there’s one landscape shrub that tends to get lost when the azaleas start showing off, and it is actually one of my spring-flowering favorites.

This week, I want to tell you about the Indian hawthorn.

Agricultural commodity groups meet annually with research and Extension personnel to convey needs and hear updates.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Under constant, ideal conditions, Bradford pear trees could provide a quarter century of beauty. Unfortunately, the weather will never cooperate to protect these vulnerable ornamental trees for an extended time.

 A new research center in the Mississippi Delta is tasked with studying agricultural water management to protect this critical natural resource.

This week, I want to spend our time considering the last of the 2019 Mississippi Medallion selections, Sweetie Pie blackberry.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- In past decades, researchers have revealed many connections between water bodies and adjacent landscapes. Much attention has been given to how soil, water, nutrients, pollutants -- and energy, in general -- move from land to nearby water bodies in runoff.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Movies depict many scenarios where a person has to leave home quickly, and those scenes show how important it is to grab the right items.

Susan Cosgrove, family resource management Extension associate with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said cash and financial records should be high on the list of items to take in an emergency.

This week, we continue our look at the 2019 Mississippi Medallion plants with a fantastic Mississippi tree, the tupelo. Tupelo is known botanically as Nyssa sylvatica and is commonly called black tupelo or black gum.

Commercial pecan growers can learn about orchard establishment and management during the 2019 Pecan Education Workshop March 20 in Raymond.

Each spring, wild turkeys -- the largest gamebirds in the state -- begin their annual mating rituals and behaviors. The season attracts thousands of hunters into Mississippi woods for hunting opportunities every year.

 The Dixie National Sale of Junior Champions began in 1969 as a conversation between two Mississippi State University livestock specialists dedicated to building better youth through livestock programs.

Almost 10 percent of Mississippi’s $11 billion in annual exports are agricultural products, and Mississippi State University Extension Service experts are working to see that amount increase.

We survived the latest polar vortex, and I join other Mississippi gardeners in being thankful that we didn’t get the really extreme cold our friends up North experienced. But still, it was cold enough for me and my garden. 

Weather in late-winter Mississippi is always a rollercoaster, with cold snaps followed by spring-like reprieves followed by more cold snaps.

Occasionally, the temperature dips low enough to freeze pond surfaces, but a week later, the bass are shallow and biting. Every few years, we get a deep freeze in the single digits for several days, and most tranquil water bodies freeze over. The ice can be an inch deep or thicker and persist for several weeks. Many of us ill-prepared Southerners worry about the impact on our fish

A summer program application process is underway for high school juniors looking for a jump-start on college and exposure to careers in medicine and science.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- The Mississippi State University Extension Service invites private landowners to a workshop to learn about the benefits prescribed burns provide for wildlife habitat.

The prescribed burning workshop will be held at the Black Prairie Wildlife Management Area in Crawford, Mississippi, on Feb. 15 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.