Author: Rachel Rudolph
Planning Unit: Horticulture
Major Program: Commercial Horticulture
Outcome: Intermediate Outcome
A producer contacted me from Clay county. He said that he wanted to plant about 3 acres of cucumbers this spring and wanted my advice on planting and installation practices. We spoke on the phone for about an hour where I provided detailed information on timing of direct seeding and transplanting cucumber. We spoke about laying black plastic for the raised beds and whether or not he should trellis the plants once they begin to grow. We also spoke about his plans to market and sell the cucumbers as I wanted to make sure he already a plan. After our conversation, I sent him a follow-up email giving him more information and links where he could find certain products and what those products were called (such as the trellis material). I then emailed the agent of Clay county, Jeff Casada, to inform him that the grower had contacted me directly. I gave him a brief summary of our conversation and told him that if he thought a site visit would be appropriate, that he just needed to let me know. A few weeks later, the agent contacted me and we set up a time for a site visit. We met with the producer, walked through his newly established cucumber field, and talked about next steps for management of the crop. The producer had a copy of ID-36 and we referenced several pieces of information from it and showed him how to interpret certain tables. I also took back a couple of non-cucumber crop samples to the Plant Disease Diagnostic Lab in Lexington for diagnosis. After the visit, I followed up with an email to both the producer and the agent with more information. I believe this was a positive experience for all involved. The producer was satisfied with the production information he received; he was also open and receptive to trying new strategies. The agent, who is an ANR agent with less horticulture experience, became more comfortable with a crop he had less experience with. As I am still fairly new to UK, I was able to familiarize myself with another county, another producer, and another agent and form positive relationships with new people. Since these interactions with this producer, he has gone on to tell other producers of his positive experience with me as the Vegetable Specialist. His brother has contacted me for recommendations and a neighbor in another county has also contacted me looking for guidance.
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