Home > Lawn & Garden > Commercial Horticulture > Vegetables > Producing Shiitake: The Fancy Forest Mushroom [Image: Producing Shiitake: The Fancy Forest Mushroom] Farming of exotic mushrooms offers another opportunity to add to farm cash flow or supplemental income. It is also popular among home gardeners and organic farmers. Shiitake (pronounced she ta key) is the most popular of the exotics. This publication includes information on the fruiting, harvesting, pest problems, and cost and returns for shiitake mushrooms. Tune Up Your Produce Marketing [Image: Produce Marketing] Good marketing is the process of fulfilling the objectives of both the buyer and the seller. The factors you have some control over are the 4 Ps of product, price, placement and promotion. Here are some tips to help you tune up your produce marketing plan. Selling Your Greenhouse Tomatoes [Image: Selling Your Greenhouse Tomatoes] Greenhouse tomatoes are about a $2.2 million business in Louisiana, assuming growers can sell what they produce for a profit. Learn the secrets of turning a profit from your tomatoes. Plant Disease Management Guide [Image: disease guide] This guide for 2009 contains suggestions for management of the most important or more prevalent diseases of Louisiana plants. It includes information on fungicides, bactericides and nematicides, as well as safety precautions for using them.  more articles... Commercial Vegetable Production Recommendations [Image: Commercial Vegetable Production] Number of seed/pound, seeding rate/acre, spacing, planting dates, optimum soil temperature range for germination, depth to plant seed, days to germinate, days from planting to harvest begins, approximate time from pollination to market and recommended varieties included. Louisiana Greenhouse Vegetables in 2008 [Image: tomato] 2008 farm value of greenhouse vegetables in Louisiana. Ounces Equal Gallons: Sprayer Calibration [Image: spray] A simple but accurate way of checking the output of your sprayer is the H 128 method of sprayer calibration. Acid Soil Problems [Image: pepper] Acidic soils (low pH) cause more gardening problems in Louisiana than any other soil factor. They affect so many other soil factors in both pest management and soil fertility. Commercial Growing of Greenhouse Tomatoes [Image: Commercial Growing of Greenhouse Tomatoes ] This publication includes information on soil preparation, fertilization, training, pruning, nutrient solutions, pollination, harvesting, marketing, and insect and disease control for greenhouse tomatoes. Research May Reduce Cost Of Growing Tomatoes In Greenhouses BOSSIER CITY – Growing tomatoes in a greenhouse may be less costly in the future.Dr. H.Y. Hanna, an LSU AgCenter scientist working at the Red River Research Station in Bossier City, is studying how spacing between bags that hold the plants affects the amount of heat required to produce tomatoes in greenhouses. Greenhouse Tomato Production Manual [Image: Tomatoes] This manual is intended to help small greenhouse tomato growers in Louisiana and elsewhere grow a successful crop using perlite or pine bark medium. Small growers can produce vine-ripened, high-quality fruit that can be delivered to the local market on the same day of harvest. CSAs: Alternative Marketing for Growers [Image: Peas at a CSA near Shreveport] Community Supported Agriculture is an alternative marketing method for commercial vegetable growers. Growers sell a share of their anticipated harvest directly to consumers and deliver an agreed-upon portion of their crops to subscribers throughout the season. Louisiana Plant Pathology: Downy Mildew on Cucurbits [Image: downy mildew on cucurbits] Downy mildew is a potentially devastating disease of all cucurbits. Disease symptoms, development, control measures and color photographs of symptoms on pumpkin, cucumber and watermelon are included. Herbicide Evaluations for Use in Sweet Potatoes Before Command herbicide was labeled for sweet potato production, Louisiana sweet potato growers faced numerous weeds such as annual grasses, cocklebur, morningglory and prickly sida. Click for more information...