Charles County Connection Summer 2021

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In This Issue ~ From the Desk of Shelley King-Curry, Southern Area Extension Director The Warring Family Honored by State Representatives It's Melon Season! Master Gardeners showcase the Demo Garden Southern Maryland Food Bank Garden gets a total makeover Composting workshop coming soon 4-H Livestock Auction is ON! We need YOU on the 4-H Team! Protecting the seedless watermelon production Subscribe to University of Maryland Extension publications Follow us on Facebook! ‌

Summer Greetings Everyone! Thank you for extending your time and support to the University of Maryland Charles County Extension. Our programs and services have returned to full operation and our office has reopened to serve you. We will continue to provide in-person activities, and access to our Bel Alton office per county, state and University guidelines. Please be aware that to access the Extension office, face masks are required at this time. With the summer in full bloom, we hope you have the opportunity to join us and engage in upcoming events and activities in which we are involved. Our faculty and staff are preparing for the Charles County Fair, September 16-19, 2021, the highlight of summer events in the county. We are planning to have a significant presence through the engagement of our 4-H, Master Gardener, and Agricultural programs. While at the Fair, please take the time to see all that we have to offer and participate in our events, which we share about in this issue. This time of community engagement is what we look forward to every year. Our 2020 Annual Report has been released. This report has been provided as a short video of last year’s program highlights and information regarding all our programs. We hope you find this new format more engaging and an improved opportunity to learn about who we are. With the increased use of technology and a year of primarily virtual programming, this was a way to extend what we learned and save resources. We look forward to your feedback on this new format! We continue to be greatly appreciative for all the support we receive from the Charles County Commissioners. Your support of us makes all we do possible.  As everyone continues to navigate through the remainder of the summer, we hope each of you find the time to take that vacation, spend time with family and friends, or enjoy the natural beauty and resources in the county and remain well. In all, we hope something you have learned in an Extension resource, program or event is being applied to make your life better and our existence has provided much value to your being a resident of Charles County. Shelley Shelley T. King-Curry, MS University of Maryland Extension Area Extension Director - Southern Maryland Cluster Calvert, Charles and St. Mary's Counties  9501 Crain Highway, Box 1 Bel Alton, MD 20611 skingcur@umd.edu 301-934-5403, Ext. 300

EXTENSION NEWS

Warring Family Honored by State Representatives

Pictured left to light: Delegate Patterson, Francis Warring, Kevin Warring holding the proclamation, Senator Ellis, and Delegate Susie Proctor. Photo credit: Alan Leslie

On Wed, August 4, 2021, our own nutrient management advisor, Francis Warring, and his family were presented with a Maryland flag by Delegate Edith Patterson (28th District) and an official proclamation by State Senator Arthur Ellis (28th District) for their service in hosting the annual Farm Bureau Legislative Farm Tour. These tours are designed to give local and state representatives a first-hand look at the state of agriculture in the county, and to see and discuss issues that might be resolved by new legislation at different levels of government.

Pictured left to right: Lauren Warring, Delegate Patterson, Kevin Warring, Francis Warring and Joyce Ann Warring. Photo credit: Alan Leslie

This year, the tour decided to also highlight some of the steps that farmers are taking to protect water quality and support wildlife diversity around farm fields. The Warring family showcased different practices that were implemented on their Faulkner farm that help to stabilize streambanks and prevent erosion, as well as shallow water habitats and native plantings that are designed to provide resources to waterfowl, turkeys, and deer. The tour also visited Shlagel Farms in Waldorf, where participants were able to see the grassed waterways and drainage ponds that were installed to prevent runoff from leaving the farm, and instead collect water and nutrients leaving the fields to be used as irrigation. In all, the farm tour was a great success, and everyone on the hay wagon ride got to see firsthand how farmers are managing the land, not only to produce crops, but also to protect the environment.

Francis Warring Nutrient Management Advisor fwarring@umd.edu

MARYLAND SNAP-Ed

Feeling melon-choly? Why not cheer up with some fresh melons! Melons are in full swing at farmers' markets and in grocery stores. Melons provide water for our bodies on these hot days, vitamin C to keep our immune system in tip top shape, vitamin B-6 to help our brain, blood, and mood, and magnesium for our blood, bones, and heart! Looking for a fun way to eat your melons besides digging right in? Try one of these tasty treats.

Watermelon and Tomato Salad

Cool Melon Slushie

Watermelon Pops

Always remember to thoroughly rinse and scrub the melon to remove any dirt and debris from the outside!

Jessica Conjour, MPH Project Leader and Nutrition Educator Maryland SNAP-Ed jconjour@umd.edu

Master Gardener News

Work on Extension Office Demonstration Garden Continues

In 2019, we started creating the demonstration garden in front of the extension office. The purpose was to increase the visibility of the Master Gardener program and educate the public on horticultural best practices. Due to the pandemic, all progress stopped last year, but now our volunteers are able to continue their work in moving this project forward.

We are currently in the process of planning and creating two new sections. One will demonstrate Bay-Wise gardening principles, and the other will showcase native pollinator plants. Thanks to Charles County Parks and Recreation’s maintenance crew, the last of the boxwood shrubs were removed and herbicide was applied to quickly kill the grass. Our volunteers then laid down cardboard and tarps to prevent the grass from returning. In the photo above, you can see the mostly finished Historic garden which features colors that represent the Maryland flag. The orange coneflower, which blooms from June to October, has already attracted a host of insects! Below, you can see the progression of the two new garden sections

Southern Maryland Food Bank Unveils New Garden On August 5, the Southern Maryland Food Bank hosted an open house for the Seeds of Hope Community Garden which is maintained by our Master Gardeners. Through the garden, the food bank is able to deliver fresh produce to members of the community and to teach adults and youth the joys of growing and harvesting their own fruits and vegetables. To date, the Food Bank has harvested 120 pounds of produce. Because of COVID restrictions, our volunteers were not able to do any work in the garden last year. At the end of March this year, our volunteers were able to assess the garden, come up with a completely new design, and transform it into a wonderfully productive space! See the before and after photos below . . .

In the garden, visitors can see space-saving gardening techniques that they may have never considered, such as vertical gardening and gardening by the square foot. It shows visitors that they, too, can grow their own vegetables, fruits, and flowers even if they do not have a large space. In addition, visitors can be inspired to upcycle objects for quirky, cost-effective planters and décor. Truck tires and laundry baskets have been used to plant potatoes while wooden pallets have been painted and turned into benches. The garden also features and promotes the use of rain barrels and a composter.

Photo credits: Kaitlyn Baligush, Brent Burdick, and Stephanie Pully

Register for the Composting Workshop

Kaitlyn Baligush Charles County Master Gardener Coordinator kbaligus@umd.edu

Growing with 4-H

Charles County 4-H Livestock Auction is On! Come to the Charles County Fair 4-H Auction and support the youth in this life-changing project! Due to COVID-19, we were not able to have a 2020 Livestock Auction, but we will be back on the auction block on Saturday, September 18, at the Charles County Fair at 6:00 pm. 4-H’ers are looking forward to hearing “SOLD” after working this year to raise high quality beef, goats, sheep and swine for the consumer to purchase for their freezer. Many of the 4-H’ers start raising their beef project as soon as the Fair is over in September. The goat, sheep and swine youth project timeline is from April till September. 4-H has high standards of care for the animals that are exhibited at the shows. 4-H and the Fair give youth a good, solid motivation for practicing the best animal care and to educate themselves on how to raise a high quality animal for the consumer. This is done by youth participating in Quality Assurance classes on care, feeding techniques and animal health. The 4-H livestock project also teaches youth how to properly run a small business. The 4-H’er must keep business records that are audited at the end of the 4-H year. If the records are incorrect or poorly kept, they miss out on the chance to win awards and prizes. It is a simple incentive to encourage proper bookkeeping, financial responsibility, and animal husbandry practices in young producers.

The showring aspect helps 4-H'ers to build self-esteem and confidence, by working together with their animal to place at the top of the class. The confidence gained by the youth is not built through the “everyone’s a winner” mentality - it is built through hard work, earned achievements, and long hours of caring for these animals. It teaches youth to handle the difficult, daunting, and sometimes unpleasant task, of producing agricultural goods for our country (and the rest of the world). 4-H allows children to learn about these necessities and processes; it does not desensitize them to it all. If anything, it fosters a deeper understanding and appreciation for the hard work, care, and attention to detail that it takes to raise animals for sustenance. We invite you come and observe for yourself the youth and their animals in action! Charles County 4-H Livestock Youth need your help to hear the word……SOLD!            DATE – Saturday, September 18, 2021            TIME – 6:00 pm            PLACE – Main Showring, 8440 Fairgrounds Road, La Plata, MD For more information, contact Bonnie at bboyden@umd.edu

Bonnie Boyden Program Management Specialist bboyden@umd.edu

Charles County Youth Need You… Help us in our mission to “make the best better” Maryland youth are fantastic, but they need positive adult mentors to guide and support their development. Youth today struggle with stress and anxiety, with 7 in 10 reporting that they’ve experienced struggles with mental health. They struggle with dietary choices, with 85% reporting that junk food is more accessible and cost effective than healthy foods, leading to unhealthy food choices.  In Charles County, over 25% of our youth report experiencing symptoms of depression severe enough that they seriously consider suicide. Nearly 30% of youth in our county are overweight or obese (defined as a body mass index at or above the 95th percentile of the CDC BMI age growth charts). Together, you and 4-H can make a difference The Maryland 4-H Program strives to grow competent, caring, compassionate, and contributing citizens through high quality, positive youth development programming. We are only able to accomplish this with the help of fantastic volunteers across the state, who help us serve over 75,000 youth annually.  4‑H offers research-based programs developed by a network of 100 public universities in our national Cooperative Extension System. Our programs in Science, Civic Engagement and Healthy Living are facilitated by a robust community of 4‑H volunteers and professionals. Through hands-on learning, youth build not only confidence, creativity and curiosity, but also life skills such as leadership and resiliency to help them thrive today and tomorrow.  In Charles County, we are working to support our youth with supportive adults in a wide array of programs: sewing, robotics, animal science, gardening, outdoor discovery, cooking, and the arts, to name a few. We know this model works, and would love to reach more youth with your help. Volunteer Benefits Guidance, support and mentoring from 4-H Positive Youth Development Professionals Ability to share knowledge and expertise with the next generation, supporting the positive development of youth in your community Contact Amy Lang at amlang@umd.edu or 301-934-5404, to learn more and start the volunteer application process!

Amy Lang 4-H Youth Development Educator amlang@umd.edu

AGRICULTURE

Grafting Watermelon for Managing Fusarium Wilt in Southern Maryland Ben Beale-Extension Agent, St. Mary’s County Alan Leslie-Extension Agent, Charles County   Introduction: Fusarium Wilt, caused by the soil borne pathogen Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. niveum, is becoming more problematic in seedless watermelon production in Southern Maryland. Unfortunately, there are few effective management options for this soil borne disease. New races of Fusarium Wilt are now present in the area that can overcome traditional cultivar resistance. Effective fungicides are limited and do not provide season- long control at labeled rates. In many cases, once a field is infested with Fusarium Wilt, watermelon production is no longer a viable option. One option that has been effective in other areas is grafting of susceptible cultivars onto Fusarium-resistant rootstocks of interspecific hybrid squash or citron species. Watermelon grafting is more difficult than tomato grafting and is normally done by outside companies who specialize in the technique.   Study Overview: During the 2020 growing season, a field research and demonstration trial was conducted at three farms with a history of Fusarium Wilt to evaluate the efficacy of grafting for Fusarium management. Grafted plants of the seeded cultivar Jubilee were used as the pollinizer cultivar and seedless cultivar Fascination were used as the seedless cultivar. Tri-Hishtil (25 School House Rd, Mills River, NC 28759 (P) 828-620-5020), a commercial firm in North Carolina specializing in grafting, donated the plants for the trial. Both Jubilee and Fascination were grafted to either an interspecific squash rootstock or “Carolina Strongback” Citron rootstock. At each location, three non-grafted Jubilee and three non-grafted Fascination plants were planted at four or five replications (locations) throughout the field and flagged. Each farm used conventional management practices, including black plastic mulch, drip irrigation, and fertigation. Each site used different in-row and between row spacing.

The 2020 season was not favorable for main season watermelon production. The season began normal enough, though late season frost in May resulted in damage to early planted fields. All trial fields were planted after any frost and established well. Unfortunately, rains began in July and continued with the remnants of Hurricane Isaias dropping up to 12 inches of rain over the region in early August. Rains continued through the harvest period. Rain totals for the season were recorded at 80.26 inches, a record for the year and far beyond the normal of 45 inches per year. As a result of the extremely wet season, Phytophthora fruit and root rot was wide spread, particularly on two of the farms with heavier Beltsville silt loam soil. The third location was located on sandy loam soil and did not exhibit heavy phytophthora losses through most of the field.   Grafted and non-grafted plants were examined throughout the season. Data on root viability, root knot nematode presence and vine condition was able to be recorded.. At harvest, 3 plants of cultivar/rootstock combination from each replication was evaluated for viable root count, vine condition, root knot nematode presence and other comments. Due to phytophthora presence, yield data was only collected from one farm. Yield data from plants grafted to Citron and plants grafted to interspecific squash was collected from sections representing a 175 square foot area (25 feet long by 7 feet wide). The section harvested included one Jubilee plant and 4 Fascination plants. All fruit was picked and weighed. Yield was collected from four representative areas throughout the field. Misshapen or non-marketable immature small fruit were not tallied in total yield. Yield data was not collected from non-grafted plants as those plants had diminished root systems and did not yield marketable fruit. Fruit quality data was also collected at this site from a representative subsample of fruit harvested during yield evaluation. These fruit were quartered and data including fruit weight, rind thickness, fruit length and width, pH, Brix and comments on taste and other fruit features such as hollow heart or pips was recorded.   Summary of Results: Plants of either cultivar grafted to either interspecific squash or citron rootstock performed better than non-grafted plants in terms of viable roots present at harvest and vine condition. Fusarium Wilt was confirmed in non-grafted plants after vine run. Grafted plants did not exhibit any symptoms of Fusarium Wilt throughout the season at any location. However, grafted plants were susceptible to phytophthora root and fruit rot. Foliar disease including powdery mildew and gummy stem blight were also present on grafted and non-grafted plants. On average across all three sites, the Fascination plants grafted to either the citron or hybrid squash rootstocks exhibited 96.7% healthy viable roots at harvest compared to only 6.7% healthy viable roots for Fascination own-rooted plants. On average across all three sites, the Jubilee plants grafted to citron had 69.2% healthy roots and plants on hybrid squash rootstocks exhibited 74.4% healthy viable roots compared to only 7.7% healthy viable roots for Jubilee own-rooted plants.   Root Knot Nematodes (RKN): Plants were evaluated at harvest for root galling with a value of 0 being no galling present and 100 being severe infestation with all root stems affected. Root knot nematode was only present on one farm with sandy loam soil. The plants from either rootstock on the farms without nematodes present did not show RKN symptoms. However, on the infected farm, the interspecific squash rootstock exhibited severe root galling, with an average rating of 100 for Fascination and 75 for Jubilee. The Citron rootstock did not exhibit any root galling with an average rating of 0. In terms of yields, both rootstocks performed well. One explanation may be the high level of attention and management for this field with fertigation and irrigation conducted as needed on a daily basis. Even with severe galling, interspecific squash were able to take up needed water and nutrients to achieve high yields.   Yield: Average yield of the citron rootstock was 78.3 tons per acre whereas the average yield of the interspecific squash rootstock was 73.8 tons per acre. These yield differences are not significantly different. Non-grafted plants did not maintain viable root systems and thus yield data was not collected. The other consequence of poor root systems is the vines from grafted plants eventually “overran” the non-grafted plants in the fields.

Dr. Alan Leslie Extension Educator Agriculture and Food Systems aleslie@umd.edu

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