Win Prize - Grower Irrigation Survey

The University of Maryland is involved in a USDA‐funded project to determine how new sensor‐based irrigation networks can benefit the ornamental plant production industry. They would like your help to
better understand current practices in the industry, and have developed a survey that asks questions about water, nutrient, and runoff practices in the industry, and about how the industry can take advantage of recent and anticipated advances in sensor‐based irrigation networks.  The goal of this research is to use your answers, along with those provided by other growers across the country, to create baseline information, and to determine the potential of these systems to improve specific greenhouse, container nursery, and field nursery practices. This information will help us to document current irrigation and nutrient use practices, and help measure the impacts of changing practices in the future. It will also help us as researchers and as an industry to define our research goals at the local, regional, and national levels, to help growers address current and future needs.  They know your time is valuable and worked hard to minimize the amount of your time it will take to complete the survey. However, the survey still requests a lot of information.  They estimate that the survey should take approximately 20‐40 minutes to complete depending on how your operation is set up. Your participation is the key to the success of this project.

All information you provide will be kept STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL, and only summary information about the industry and aggregated estimates of economic and environmental impacts will be presented. Your
individual responses will not be shared with any state or federal regulatory agency, and will be protected as required by Federal law, as part of the University of Maryland human subjects agreement that you will be asked to agree to before you begin the survey.

Access the survey by clicking the link below (or typing the address into your internet browser):

https://www.research.net/s/ornamental

Any questions or comments can be directed to John Majsztrik:

jcmajsz@umd.edu (preferred) or by phone (301) 405‐2778
All growers who complete the National nursery and greenhouse water management survey fully will be entered in a drawing for one (1) Decagon Devices wireless sensor network system* (including installation and support) as a grand prize. To be eligible for this random drawing, you will need to COMPLETE the irrigation survey found at https://www.research.net/s/ornamental by November 30th, 2012.
Only fully completed surveys with all requested information and contact details will be eligible for the grand-prize drawing.
If you have already completed a survey, or are not sure if your entry was eligible to enter the drawing, please contact jcmajsz@umd.edu

The retail value of this starter sensor network is over $5,000, which can be used to monitor weather and soil / substrate moisture in your operation. Additional nodes and sensors can be added as and where needed. More information about these networks can be found at the website below.
http://www.decagon.com/products/environmental-monitoring-systems/irrigation-monitoring-system or
http://tinyurl.com/9yhz6ou

* The sensor network consists of 3 EM50R radio datalogger nodes, 10 soil moisture sensors, a weather station sensor package, base radio station, and a 1-user license for DataTrac software (computer not included).

Mosquito Vectored Diseases

With all the rains that have happened in the last few months mosquitoes are becoming a nuisance.  Not only do they harass you with bites but they may also vector viruses.  Most of the mosquitoes that will be populating the twilight hours are "flood mosquitoes."  These are mosquitoes that lay eggs that stay dormant for months or years and when flooding occurs they hatch out and emerge to complete the cycle.  Even though the area may be thick with mosquitoes, floodwater mosquitoes are generally not involved in transmission of West Nile virus. For a fact sheet that explains floodwater mosquito behavior, see: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/in535

The U. S. is currently experiencing the worst West Nile outbreak since it was first detected in the U. S. in 1999.  This outbreak is currently worst in Texas.  Thankfully Florida has so far been spared from such an extensive epidemic.  The immediate threat to Floridians will be the prodigious numbers of pest mosquitoes resulting from Issac’s rainfall that will make outdoor life in Florida far less enjoyable over the next few weeks.



Your State of Florida and local County Health Department provides advisories and alerts related to mosquito-borne illness.  As part of the general public and possible employers we should pay attention to all mosquito-borne illness advisories and that it is always prudent in Florida to wear repellents when they are outdoors but particularly so when there are advisories of increased risk.  Here is a map of Florida and the warnings from the Department of Health of mosquito vectored viruses.

http://www.doh.state.fl.us/Environment/medicine/arboviral/surveillance.htm

Remember that IFAS Extension has several fact sheets on mosquitoes and mosquito-borne diseases.  Here is a list of them if you are interested.
Dengue: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/in699; Spanish version at: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/in719
Eastern Equine Encephalitis: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/in179 ; Spanish version at: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/in180
Mosquito Repellents: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/in419 ; Spanish Version at: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/in476
St. Louis Encephalitis: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/mg337
West Nile: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/in117; Spanish version at: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/in185

For more information on the mosquito-borne encephalitis viruses of concern in Florida, visit the FMEL’s Encephalitis Information System at http://eis.ifas.ufl.edu/ This can be viewed in English or Spanish.

Information provided by:C. Roxanne Connelly, PhD, Associate Professor,
Extension Specialist, Medical Entomology
Past President, Florida Mosquito Control Association
President-Elect, American Mosquito Control Association