News From 2019

As my wife and I traveled around the Southeast last week visiting family and old friends, one stop was especially memorable.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- The stage for 2019 floods was set by heavy snowfall in the upper Midwest, followed by excessive rainfall patterns in the Plains, Midwest and South, resulting in significant flooding all along the Mississippi River.

The spring and early summer of 2019 has been among the wettest on record for many states located along the Mississippi and Ohio rivers.

With so much unpleasantness associated with cockroaches, it may not be surprising that they are one of the most expensive pests to control in the state.

A new floral design course intended to enhance skills and inspire community volunteerism is now easily accessible to floral enthusiasts statewide.

This past week, I’ve had the pleasure of visiting Washington, D.C., while I stayed in Alexandria, Virginia. I was in town because the American Horticultural Society selected me, the Southern Gardener, to receive the Great American Gardener B.Y. Morrison Communication Award.

I grew up horticulturally deficient, so being named a Great American Gardener is extremely humbling. I truly enjoy promoting plants and ways to find gardening success to Mississippi and beyond.

Registration is open through July 31 for enrollment in the second class of Mississippi’s premier agricultural leadership program.

The story goes something like this: In his excitement to kill the rattlesnake that was making its escape across the road, the man used the only thing he had available -- his thermos bottle. The next scene in this drama has the man in the hospital receiving antivenom to treat a snake bite.

Three years ago, participants in the Mississippi State University Seed Technology Short Course familiarized themselves with each step of a seed’s journey from bin to bag. This year, the course will focus on the same process from field to bin.

Some Mississippi watermelon producers lost crops or got a late start because of wet spring weather. But consumers should find the sweet, summer treats on shelves in time for the July 4 holiday.

Although numbers on paper look about right for Mississippi row crops, the reality is actually quite grim in places.

Flood and storm victims must brace themselves for the next threat approaching their neighborhoods: scammers looking for fast, easy money at the expense of others.

In my role as the Southern Gardener, I get to share many great plants all across Mississippi and beyond. Some are new and some are old reliables, but all get to be called my favorite landscape plants from time to time.

One thing is for sure: All of these plants are Southern Gardening Approved.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Although sweetgum is not considered a highly desirable species today, it was once a very favored species. Old-growth sweetgum produces heartwood with a much-appreciated reddish color (also known as red gum), and it is even more desirable if the wood is figured.

STONEVILLE, Miss. -- A former leader of Mississippi State University’s largest agricultural research center will soon return to that role on an interim basis.

Steve Martin will become interim head of the Delta Research and Extension Center July 1. He will also continue in his current role as associate director of the MSU Extension Service. Jeff Johnson, who served since 2013 as head of the Stoneville-based center, has accepted a full-time faculty position on the MSU main campus in Starkville.

LOUISVILLE, Miss. -- The Mississippi State University Extension Service will hold the North Mississippi 4-H Summer Camp Explore July 23-26 in Winston County.

The camp will be at Lake Tiak O’Khata, located at 1290 Smyth Lake Road in Louisville.

Participants will enjoy the outdoors, expressive arts, and STEM and S.A.F.E.T.Y. activities. Archery, canoeing, drama, air rifle, survival skills, first aid, robotics and a service project are among the camp’s offerings. The Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians will conduct a heritage activity with the campers.

RAYMOND, Miss. -- Producers and landowners can learn more about what to consider when leasing land for oil and gas drilling during a July 16 workshop.

Balancing Farm Success with Oil and Gas Growth will be held from 9 a.m. to noon at Southwest Mississippi Community College in the Horace C. Holmes Student Union.

Topics include leasing, new technology, water testing, environmental concerns and farm planning. Speakers will help landowners understand financial impacts, legal obligations and environmental management strategies.

STONEVILLE, Miss. -- The third week of March is usually the beginning of rice planting season in Mississippi, but fields were not dry enough to hold tractors until May in most locations.

Many growers were still scrambling to get rice in the ground by early June due to unusually high rain amounts in the first quarter of 2019. While more than 90 percent of the crop had been planted as of June 3, only 74 percent had emerged, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This is well behind the five-year average of 92 percent emerged by this date.

The fourth and last column in our hibiscus series focuses on a woody species, Hibiscus mutabilis or confederate rose.

Catch and release angling can be an effective conservation tool but only when it’s done correctly.

Bullying is personal to Je'Kylynn Steen, whose experiences as a victim and witness, helped give her insight into a project that can help others who may face the same challenges.

As a community health intern with the Junior Master Wellness Volunteer Program, she served as the primary author of a new bullying module to help young people recognize this pervasive problem and learn strategies to stop it.