News Stories - Page 235

News from the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences

Blood lily flowers are comprised of large, 6-inch umbels, or softball-sized globes, borne on stalks about 12 to 18 inches tall. Each sphere has dozens of red florets with yellow stamens. This creates one of the showiest floral displays in the plant world. CAES News
Blood Lily
The African blood lily is known botanically as Scadoxus multiflorus. It is in the Amaryllis family and is indeed native to South Africa. A lot of literature suggests it is perennial only for zones 9 to 11, but it is not hard to find long-term trials where it survives in zone 7b with great winter drainage.
Split bark, or vertical cracks along the lower tree stem of young trees, most commonly occurs on thin-barked trees like this plum tree. Large cracks can become long-term open wounds that are more susceptible to wood-boring insects, fungal diseases and wood decay. CAES News
Split Bark
Split bark, or vertical cracks along the lower tree stem of young trees, most commonly occurs on thin-barked trees such as dogwood, elm, maple, cherry, apple, peach and plum trees.
Much of Georgia received 1 to 6 inches more rain than usual during this rainy May. CAES News
May Showers
May’s warm, wet conditions brought relief to the parched areas of the state, and Georgians can expect more of the same in June.
Fusarium wilt is a fungal disease that can considerably damage a watermelon crop. University of Georgia scientists are studying whether fusarium wilt can be managed through fumigation. CAES News
Fusarium Wilt
Fusarium wilt is on the rise in Georgia watermelon fields. University of Georgia scientists are studying whether this fungal disease can be managed through fumigation.
A deer in its second year, a yearling, is caught by the lens of a wildlife camera. His small rack of antlers has grown over the past year. Antlers have the fastest growing tissue known to man. With the right nutrition, a buck can grow an excess of 200 inches of bone on his head in a matter of 120 days. CAES News
Deer Antlers
Deer antlers are not horns, though the two words are often used synonymously. Horns are permanent, keratinized epithelial cells. The protein keratin is required to harden those cells. Antlers, on the other hand, are derived from endothelial cells that are grown and shed annually. These cells are grown from the tip of the sequential antler and are made of osteocytes, or bone cells, that calcify and harden.
Black shank disease badly affected this tobacco field in Coffee County, Georgia. CAES News
Black Shank Disease
University of Georgia Cooperative Extension research trials of new tobacco varieties could help farmers reduce the level of black shank disease in their fields to 15 percent, according to Tony Barnes, Agriculture and Natural Resources Extension agent in Atkinson County, Georgia.
Lyndon Waller, left, a DeKalb Mobile Farmers Market program assistant, and Rickeia Stewart, a UGA Extension administrative assistant in DeKalb County, are part of the team helping to bring fresh vegetables to underserved communities in DeKalb County. CAES News
Mobile Market Season
It’s almost summer, and for the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension staff in DeKalb and Clayton counties, that can only mean one thing — road trip!
The UGA Tifton campus released the 'Cowboy' perennial peanut, which produces robust, yellow blooms. CAES News
'Cowboy' Perennial Peanut
The University of Georgia-bred ‘Cowboy’ perennial peanut plant doesn’t produce edible peanuts, but this new cultivar offers homeowners a colorful addition to ornamental beds and a supplemental source of nitrogen for surrounding grasses.
The lone star tick is the most common tick in Georgia and is active between early spring and late fall. CAES News
Avoiding Ticks
The risk of serious illness from a tick bite is low in Georgia, but there’s no reason to give them a free meal.
David Bertioli, an International Peanut Genome Initiative plant geneticist of the Universidade de Brasília, has joined the faculty of the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. Bertioli first came to UGA in 2013 as a visiting professor. CAES News
GRA Distinguished Investigator
David Bertioli, a world-class expert in the genetics and genomics of peanut species, will join the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences as a professor and the university’s first Georgia Research Alliance Distinguished Investigator.