Miles, C.

Workshops: Tomato Grafting Techniques for Soil-Borne Disease Resistance

Tomato and watermelon can be significantly impacted by Verticillium wilt, a soil-borne disease common throughout Washington. Symptoms impact plants later in development after most production costs have been incurred, resulting in a 25-100% crop loss in some years. Grafting vegetable crops onto resistant rootstock is a cultural control method that provides an organic and sustainable […]

Evaluating Apple Varieties for Hard Cider Production

This project addresses the BIOAg priority of innovation and diversification by supporting the formation of a hard cider industry in the Pacific Northwest. The project includes a comparison of juice of more than 50 hard cider apple varieties grown in the region, a comparison of select varieties grown in five regional orchards to better understand […]

Effects of High Tunnels and Biodegradable Mulch Use on Fruit Quality and Yield in High-value Crops

High tunnels enhance and extend crop production by increasing air temperature and protecting the crop from rainfall. In high tunnel production systems, weeds are often controlled with plastic mulch. There is a desire to reduce non-recyclable waste by using biodegradable mulches (BDMs) that completely biodegrade in situ without detrimentally affecting yield, fruit quality, or the […]

Vegetable grafting for Verticillium dahliae resistance

Tomato, eggplant, and watermelon can be significantly impacted by Verticillium wilt, a soil-borne disease common throughout Washington. Verticillium microsclerotia are known to persist in soil for over 13 years. Symptoms impact plants later in development after most production costs have been incurred, resulting in a 25-100% crop loss in some years even when ground has […]

Weed management in establishing an organic wine grape vineyard

Weed management in new wine grape vineyards was identified as the primary constraint to organic production in the region. This project investigates weed management options for establishing an organic wine grape vineyard and includes 5 treatments: standard weed control of rototilling and mowing, the Wonder Weeder, and three grain/legume cover crop treatments. Local growers and […]

Evaluating vegetable varieties for organic systems

Farmers in Washington are looking to diversify crops to meet demand for organic, local and direct market production. Two crops that can meet these needs are icebox watermelons and winter-grown greens. Icebox watermelons tend to be earlier maturing than picnic watermelon varieties, and thus offer farmers throughout Washington a means of producing high quality watermelons […]