Central Florida Cut Foliage Greens Field Day

208 East 2nd Avenue,Pierson FL 32180

08 April, 2021

Description

This field day is for Commercial growers and producers of Cut Green Foliage to learn about foot health & Soil Moisture Probes in the fernery Agenda 9:00 am – 9:50 am 2021 The Year to Improve Your Foot Health. Dr. Antony Merendino, DPM, Clinical Assistant Professor, Foot & Ankle, UF Health (University of Florida Health), speaks about selecting the proper footwear and socks for worker safety and pesticide applicators that is aimed at the Florida growers. Florida has unique considerations in this semi-tropical climate. Have foot or shoe issues? He will offer clinical diagnosis of each attendee, assess their footwear, foot/toe issues and provide recommendations for corrective measures. 9:50 am – 10:40 am Updates on Cut Foliage Diseases- Dr. David Norman, Associate Professor, UF/IFAS MREC, Apopka, FL. What is new in the commercial industry to control fungal and bacterial diseases? Best Management Practices against diseases in the fernery. Products, trends and changes in product alternatives and rates in the foliage industry. 10:40 am – 10:50 am Break 10:50 am -11:40 am Soil Moisture Probes – Dr. Charles Barrett, RSA, Water Resources, UF/IFAS NFREC, Live Oak, FL. Barrett explains the basis of soil moisture probes and their use in Agriculture. He discusses their use in vegetable production and their potential use in the cut foliage industry. Charles will address their value in the industry and the cost saving features as it relates to pest management and water savings. He also will demonstrate how to read the instrumentation and forecast future applications of water, fertilizer and pesticide applications. This will also correlate weather conditions with current crop needs. 11:40 am -12:00 pm Soil Moisture Probes in Ferneries, Doug Crawford, Co-owner BMP Logic, Spring/Summer readings of soil moisture sensors in a Pierson fernery. Doug will present the future in technology in the cut foliage industry as it pertains to soil moisture probes. He will discuss wireless monitoring and weather access available through aps, and interactive web sites in order to treat and monitor fern/cut foliage applications of water or nutrient needs. The presentation will compare field crops readouts with that of ferneries under saran. He will also discuss cost analysis of the diversity of probes and placement of instrumentation for best results. 12:00 pm – 12:45 pm Lunch, sponsored by Farm Credit of Central Florida, ACA – David McDonald (Regional Market Manager) and Erin Vermillion (Farm Loan Manager), Farm Credit of Central Florida, Apopka, FL. Farm Credit opportunities during COVID and updates. 12:45 pm – 1:00 pm - Program Evaluations, hand out CEUs This is a free program open to Central Florida Nursery, fern and cut foliage growers in Putnam, Lake and Volusia Counties. Register to attend by calling DONNA the UF/IFAS Extension Volusia County office at 386-822-5778 or email [email protected]. Please indicate number attending, a contact email and telephone number. CEUS AVAILABLE: 2 CORE-482/487 and 2 PVT/D&R/O&T/LLM/LUF/CLO/LCLM/LLO/AG Tree crop/Ag Row Crop Foundation for The Gator Nation. An Equal Opportunity Institution.