Annalisa Hultberg, Extension Educator, food safety Can you safely use apples and other crops that might fall to the ground before or during harvest? Is it safe to just wash off and then sell these crops? While it might be tempting to want to use the products so that they do not go to waste, produce that is dropped prior to or during harvest should not be distributed to the public for fresh eating, baking or in juice cider production due to the potential for the presence of patulin (in apples), and the risk of damage and internalized contamination in other produce. What happens when produce is dropped? When produce falls to the ground, damage such as cracks, bruises and other sometimes undetectable breaks in the surface of the produce skin or rind can occur. These cracks can cause the produce to be much more susceptible to infiltration during the washing step, such as with this cantaloupe pictured below. Dye was put into the water that the melon was submerged into. You can see where th
Have you struggled with soilborne diseases in your high tunnel? Our colleagues in Ohio are offering free soilborne disease testing to high tunnel vegetable growers in the Midwest. This is a collaborative project between USDA-ARS, Ohio State, Penn State and Virginia Tech funded by a grant from NIFA-CPPM. Some examples of common soilborne pathogens in tunnels in MN include: white mold (can affect lettuce, tomatoes, and a wide range of other vegetables), Pythium and Rhizoctonia root rot of various vegetables, and Fusarium and Verticillium wilt in tomatoes. Sometimes these diseases are hard to distinguish from one another, so if you've never tested diseased plants in your soil, assessing which pathogens are in your soil can help you make decisions about resistant varieties and preventative management. Verticillium wilt in tomato. Gerald Holmes, Strawberry Center, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Bugwood.org If you would like to submit a sample for analysis, reach out to Natalie Hoidal at hoi