You must be enrolled in the Eastern New York Commercial Horticulture (ENYCH) Program to benefit from the expertise of our Vegetable, Tree Fruit, Grape and Small Fruit Specialists. Annually, enrollment includes 6 issues of the Produce Pages, and weekly seasonal newsletters for vegetables, tree fruit, grapes and small fruit.  Also included are reduced registration fees for ENYCH organized educational meetings, and notification of local, state and regional meetings pertaining to vegetable and small fruit production.

Our program is supported, in part, by 17 county Cornell Cooperative Extensions in the Eastern Region of NY: Albany, Clinton, Columbia, Dutchess, Essex, Fulton, Greene, Montgomery, Orange, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, Schoharie, Ulster, Warren and Washington Counties. Enrollment discounts are given to those that live, farm or conduct agricultural services in those counties (In-Region Enrollment). However, we still welcome those that do not live, farm or conduct ag services in those counties to enroll in our program (Satellite Enrollment). See the Enrollment Information PDF for a list of enrollment benefits covered under each type of enrollment.

ENYCH Enrollment - In Region (PDF; 826KB)

ENYCH Enrollment - Satellite (PDF; 859KB)

Produce Donations will be accepted for Hurricane Relief!

September 14 - October 31, 2017

NYS Fruit & Vegetables growers are getting together some loads of "hard" crops (apples, onions, cabbage, winter squash and anything else you think will last a week at room temperature) to send down to TX and, likely, Florida.  Feeding America is handling transportation.  You will all receive a record of donation.

Dates are weekly to help donations be delivered to where they can be most efficiently used over the next month while emergency feeding continues.

Please see the attached PDF for more details and contact Maire Ulrich ASAP if you are interested in donating! (Maire: 845-742-4342/ e-mail mru2@cornell.edu/ office 845-344-1234 )

Mechanical Cultivation Equipment Demo Day

October 3, 2017
1:00pm- 4:45pm
Goshen, NY

Come see the latest mechanical cultivation technology in action! A range of equipment will be showcased, including the first demonstration of a robotic cultivator in NY!

Demonstrations will include:
Garford Robocrop Camera Guided In-Row Weeder
Terrateck Cultitrack Equipment Carrier/Cultivating Tractor
KULT-Kress Steerable Argus Hoe and Duo
Willsie Hydraweeder

In addition to the demonstrations, Ethan Grundberg, ENYCHP and Dr. Bryan Brown, NYS IPM will review how mechanical cultivation fits into an overall Integrated Weed Management strategy. Brown will also describe some of his research on stacking cultivation tools to increase effectiveness.

This is a FREE event, but please pre-register if you plan to attend. 1.25 DEC Credits will be available.

Cover Crop and Soil Health Field Day

October 12, 2017
9:30am-2:30pm
Schoharie, NY

Join us for a day of cover crop and soil health presentations, field tours, and a farmer panel! This field day is presented by USDA-NRCS, ENYCHP, SARE & SUNY Cobleskill. 

Welcome Jim Meyers: New Viticulture Specialist!

Jim has been working with wine grapes for 10 years, first as a Viticulture Ph.D. student at Cornell then as a Research Associate. Prior to coming to Cornell, Jim studied Chemistry and Biology (B.S. West Chester University of Pennsylvania), Computer Science (M.S. Brown University), and had a successful career as software technology entrepreneur. This background is reflected in his viticultural research which has focused on computational tools for mapping canopy and vineyard variability, quantifying relationships between variability and fruit chemistry, and optimizing efficiency of vineyard operations. As an Extension Associate, Jim will continue some of these research activities while also looking for new projects that provide targeted benefits to appellations in Eastern New York. Jim will kick off his new appointment by visiting growers at their vineyards to gather first hand knowledge of the sites and to discuss vineyard operations, goals, and challenges. Building a complete catalog of vineyards in a territory that runs 300 miles along the Route 9 corridor may take a little while, but Jim feels that the effort will lay a solid foundation for future program activities while also clearly differentiating the needs of each appellation.

White Rot Update

Earlier in June I sent a garlic sample to the diagnostic lab hoping that I was wrong. The sample was covered in small black sclerotia, the size of poppy seeds, and white fungal hyphae crept up the stem. The results, unfortunately, matched the field diagnosis: White Rot. Within a couple days additional calls came from up and down the Hudson Valley as well as one in Western NY with similar suspicions. These samples have also gone to the lab for verification, but it looks like the latest pest to move back into the state is this nasty fungus.