Sumter County Clemson Extension

05/30/2026

05/29/2026

Many of you may have been seeing dieback in your callery (think Bradford) pears this spring as shown in the photos. In fact, it has been so widespread in the Midlands that you can pretty reliably identify callery pears at highways speeds. This is fire blight, one of the most destructive bacterial infections of apple, pear and other species in the rose family. The fact sheet below gives an extensive look at this disease.

https://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheet/fire-blight-of-fruit-trees/

If that weren't enough, you may also be seeing orange tentacles growing on the small developing callery pear fruit. This is likely quince rust, but testing would be needed to confirm. It is destructive in apple and pear as well. However, in callery pear it is doing us a favor by destroying fruit and reducing seed set. If you needed one more reason to get rid of the callery pear trees on your property, well, that's two.

Remember to mark your calendar for dates for spring pear bounty events to get yourself a free, new tree in exchange for cutting down your callery pear.

https://www.clemson.edu/extension/bradford-pear/

05/26/2026

On Friday, we will officially be a drop-off depot for Mother's Milk Bank! Join us as we celebrate a new resource for families in Sumter County and help provide life-saving donor milk to babies in need.

05/13/2026

This is an example although a rather sad one of why it is important to read herbicide labels and to know the difference between a brand name and the active ingredient. I was called to a pecan orchard where most of the 100+ year old trees trees had died over the winter. It is common for pecan orchards to apply glyphosate around trees to reduce w**d competition, and this is low risk when done properly. The owner of this orchard was doing the same for years using a very popular brand of glyphosate. Unfortunately this brand changed its active ingredient from glyphosate to a combination of triclopyr, fluazifop, and diquat. Triclopyr is a brush killer which outright killed most of the pecan trees and left a few damaged. The trees nearest the farm fields faired the best because of fertilizer applications that strengthened them.

05/11/2026

Here's an update on how the sweet potato slips are developing. There are three pics to show the progression. The April 22nd planting date and pics from May 4th and today, May 11th are shown. As you can see there was really quite a jump in the last week. I stuck them outside today to give them some direct sun and start the hardening process. You can see the diversity in leaf shape and color now between the 12 varieties. You can also see that a couple varieties have not even started sprouting yet. These are all from my garden so they have not been treated to prevent sprouting. Some varieties just sprout a lot faster than others. Some already had sprouts at planting; their leaves just had to expand in the light. The biggest ones are actually ready to plant. I will probably plant in two stages to accommodate the slow sprouting varieties.

04/22/2026

I'll be planting my sweet potato collection in a bed at the Sumter community garden this spring. That means getting my slips going, and I thought I'd show everyone how I do it. It's very easy. Clemson has a fact sheet on sweet potatoes through HGIC that I suggest checking out especially if you are new to growing this crop. The fact sheet also describes a different way of starting slips you may prefer. I'll add more pics as things grow.

https://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheet/sweet-potato/

See the attached pics for everything I use. I use flats with drainage holes and bottom trays since this will be in the office rather than a greenhouse. The front of each tray is marked with a number which refers to a listing in my notes of what three varieties are in each tray and in what order. I also try to make sure the varieties next to each other are different enough to help keep them separate (leaf shape and leaf color). I just use ordinary potting mix and don't worry about fertilizer. There's no need to cover the roots completely.

I maintain 12 varieties with diverse characteristics (root skin color, root flesh color, leaf color, leaf shape, and vine length). Some may not realize the diversity out there. If you don't have much space, there are varieties with vines only three feet long. Flesh colors are shades of orange, yellow, white, and purple. Skin color can be white, yellow, tan, red, orange, and purple. They also store for six months or longer at room temperature. I store mine in a closet.

04/16/2026

04/16/2026

House invading insect advisory! We had a client bring in some bugs for identification the other day. I thought I would share in case you come across them. They are white margined burrower bugs. They are true bugs and a type of stinkbug. They are around 1/4 inch long. These are nymphs, but the adults are black with a white margin.

The client described them as being everywhere outside, and some were coming in the house. Thankfully, there is only one generation per year and will stop invading your home shortly. Also, these instances are pretty isolated, and their population usually only gets to this size once every few years. Otherwise they are not considered a pest in farm fields or gardens.

They are interesting in that the females with guard their eggs and then feed the hatched young seeds. This is why they're also called the Mother Bug. Check out the pics and the fact sheet from OSU for more info.

03/16/2026

Join us on Saturday, March 21st at Swan Lake's Heath Pavilion to celebrate World Water Day! Sign up now for the Walk for Water or just stop by on Saturday to cheer for walkers and learn about the importance of water!

Cassie Castleberry, Clemson Extension Water Resources Agent in Sumter, SC, joins host Amanda McNulty on "Making It Grow" to talk about an important upcoming ...

03/07/2026