News

One of my favorite spring flowering trees is our native redbud.

This small tree flowers early in the spring before most other trees have started to leaf out after their winter naps. It’s good that redbuds blooms so early because they are usually found as understory trees. While driving around the state, it’s common to see a redbud framed or silhouetted by leafless hardwoods.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- How much water do we use each day? This may sound like a simple question until we consider the direct and indirect ways we use water.

Direct water use includes the indoor and outdoor water that we physically use when we turn on a faucet in our bathrooms, kitchens or gardens. It is what most of us think of when we are asked how much water we use, but the truth is that we consume a lot of water indirectly too.

Horticulture students will host their spring plant sale at the Mississippi Horse Park during the Everything Garden Expo on March 24 and 25.

Teachers who want to provide hands-on learning about nature can bring students to a March 29 field day at the Mississippi State University Crosby Arboretum in Picayune.

POPLARVILLE, Miss. -- Designing an app that helps fruit growers know how many chill hours their crops have accumulated earned one Mississippi State University Extension Service specialist a regional award.

ELLISVILLE, Miss. -- Mississippi State University representatives met with agricultural clients in Ellisville recently to discuss research and education needs for 2018. More than 115 individuals attended this year's event.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Two highly anticipated online training modules are now available for those who plan to purchase or apply dicamba and similar herbicides.

The Mississippi State University Extension Service, in cooperation with the Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce Bureau of Plant Industry, developed these new online training courses related to herbicides labeled for use with dicamba-tolerant cotton and soybeans in response to label changes from the Environmental Protection Agency.

We're finally emerging from the "freezemageddon" we experienced earlier this year, and the garden and landscape are emerging with a vengeance.

Valentine's Day may be over but not the romance. Spring is just around the corner, and that means the start of the breeding season for wildlife. The chirps and trills of spring peepers and chorus frogs now rise into the night. Bird song greets the morning. A new season of growth and life has begun.

March is a good time for landowners to take steps to prevent wildfires, not only because it is Wildfire Prevention Month, but also because more fires occur this month.

Heather Alexander, an assistant professor in the Mississippi State University Forest and Wildlife Research Center, said March sees more wildfires than summer months because it is a time of transition between winter and spring.

Agricultural clients met with Mississippi State University personnel to discuss research and education needs during the annual Producer Advisory Council Meeting for the southwest region February 20.

Spring has sprung, at least in my Ocean Springs landscape, and gardeners once again are venturing out and taking an inventory of plant damage from this winter’s cold. Performing this yearly garden task is easier when many plants haven’t started their new growth yet.

Mississippi temperatures got into the single digits this winter, which many people think of as bug-killing weather, but experts say that is not always the case.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- From February through April, calls begin coming in about sick and dying fish in backyard ponds.

Mississippi farmers are gearing up for the 2018 growing season, which means everyone needs to be prepared to share the road with tractors and other equipment.

Patrick Poindexter, Alcorn County coordinator with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said being aware and patient can keep everyone safe.

HOUSTON, Miss. -- Sweet potato growers in Mississippi have been part of a growing industry in recent years, but they can do even better if they capitalize on export options.

That was the prevailing message at a recent meeting hosted by the Mississippi State University Extension Service at the Houston Civic Center Feb. 20.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- The Everything Garden Expo, presented by the Oktibbeha County Master Gardeners, will return to the Mississippi Horse Park on March 24 and 25.

I came to a conclusion after a series of events reminded me that spring is really close.

STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Shock. Disbelief. Denial. Anger. Acceptance. Get busy. This pretty much sums up my range of emotions after the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks released a statement that a 4-year-old buck tested positive for chronic wasting disease, or CWD, in Issaquena County last week.

VERONA, Miss. -- Producers provided a wide range of agricultural research, programming and staffing requests to Mississippi State University officials at the annual North Mississippi Producer Advisory Council meeting Feb. 15.

Held at the MSU Agri-Center in Verona, the meeting provided producers in 22 of the state’s northern counties from 16 commodity groups an opportunity to meet with representatives from the MSU Extension Service and Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station.