Kentucky commercial vegetable growers produce a wide range of crops, which as of 2019 contributed $40.9 million to the state’s economy (Balazs & Davis, “The Importance of Agriculture for Kentucky”, March 2022). In order to extend the growing season, provide local produce earlier in the year, and receive the highest price for these crops, growers will often produce some vegetable crops in high tunnels. Tomatoes are the most commonly produced high tunnel crop. However, high tunnel production requires some special production practices and does not exempt the crop from disease and insect issues. Thus, Extension specialists in Horticulture, Plant Pathology, and Entomology collaborated to provide a two hour webinar focused on educating growers on high tunnel tomato production and pest management.

A total of 26 individuals participated in the webinar. Surveys conducted during the program found that 50% of participants were commercial growers and that 77% of attendees had one or more high tunnels. Sixty-two percent of participants have been growing tomatoes in high tunnels for a few years. Attendees indicated that plant fertility/nutrition and disease pressure (43% of respondents each) presented the greatest challenge for their high tunnel tomato production. A post-presentation survey found that growers were likely to implement the following disease management practices; more accurate diagnosis, scouting (46%), manage environment/moisture/humidity (46%), utilize fungicides/preventative sprays (38%), utilize more fungicides (31%), rotate to other crops (23%), and utilize resistant cultivars (15%). In addition, 80% of participants indicated that they would either use or possibly would use biological controls for insect management. In order to extend the reach of this webinar session, and to provide a resource for attendees, all presentations were recorded, formatted, and posted to YouTube. To date, these three videos have been viewed a combined total of 299 times.