Urban Crop Production

Accurate testing is essential for successful urban crop production. This section provides resources for soil, water, and plant tissue testing to help you assess and improve the growing conditions and diagnose issues during production. Explore testing services offered by The Ohio State University and other laboratories near you.

• Soil Testing 
  • OSU STAR Lab
  • Additional Soil Testing Labs
• Water Testing
  • OSU STAR Lab
  • Additional Water Testing Labs
• Tissue Analysis 
  • OSU STAR Lab

Soil-based production systems are foundational in Ohio’s urban agriculture. This section offers guidance on vegetable and fruit production practices, including soil balancing, the use of microbial biostimulants, grafting techniques, attracting pollinators, weed management, and crop-specific information to support sustainable, productive soil-based growing.

• Soil Balancing
• Microbial Biostimulants
• Grafting
• Pollinators
  • Attracting Pollinators to the Garden
  • Protecting Pollinators While Using Pesticides
  • Pollinator Quick Guide: What You Can Do to Help Pollinators
  • Bumble Bees and Solitary Bees & Wasps in Urban Landscapes
• Weed Management
  • How Much Chemical Product Do I Need to Add to My Sprayer Tank?
  • Reducing 2,4-D and Dicamba Drift Risk to Fruits, Vegetables and Landscape Plants
  • Cover Crops in the Garden
• Crop Specific Information
  • Growing Peppers in the Home Garden
  • Growing Strawberries in the Home Garden
  • Blackberry Production Systems in Ohio
  • Pruning Erect Blackberries in the Home Garden
  • Pruning Blueberry Bushes in the Home Garden

Soilless/hydroponic production systems allow growers to reduce plant diseases, optimize root zone environment, maximize growing space, and improve water and nutrient management. This section provides resources for hydroponic production of leafy greens, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and strawberries, as well as guidance on nutrient solution management and pollination practices.

• Leafy Greens
  • Hydroponic Leafy Green Production
• Tomato
  • Hydroponic Tomato Production
  • Hydroponic Nutrient Solution for Optimized Greenhouse Tomato Production
  • Bumble Bee Pollination in Tomato Greenhouses
• Peppers
  • Hydroponic Pepper Production
• Cucumber
  • Hydroponic Cucumber Production
• Strawberry
  • Hydroponic Strawberry Production
• Hydroponic Nutrient Management
  • Designing Nutrient Solutions

Controlled environment agriculture (CEA) enables season extension, year-round production, high crop productivity and quality, and reduced pest pressure. This section features resources from the Ohio Controlled Environment Agriculture Center to help you optimize crop growing conditions like light, temperature, humidity, and CO₂ in high tunnels, greenhouses, and indoor vertical farms.

• Ohio Controlled Environment Agriculture Center
• High/Mid Tunnel Systems

Effective pest and disease control is essential for maintaining healthy crops and maximizing yields. This section provides general resources, including diagnostic tools and pesticide safety information, as well as specific guidance on managing common urban agriculture pests and diseases.

• General resources
  • Plant Disease and Pest Diagnostic Clinic
  • Pesticide Safety Education Program
  • Do I Need a Commercial Pesticide License?
• Pests
  • Urban Agriculture Common Pests
  • Brown Marmorated Stink Bug
  • Fungus Gnats
• Diseases
  • Leafy Greens
    • Powdery Mildew of Greenhouse-grown Lettuce
  • Tomato
    • Soilborne Diseases
    • Anaerobic Soil Disinfestation
  • Strawberry
    • Strawberry Leaf Diseases
    • Phomopsis Leaf Blight
    • Angular Leaf Spot
    • Anthracnose
    • Verticillium Wilt
    • Botrytis Fruit Rot
    • Red Stele Root Rot
    • Black Root Rot
    • Leather Rot
    • Disease Management in Home Strawberry Plantings
  • Brambles (Raspberry and Blackberry)
    • Downy Mildew
    • Botrytis Fruit Rot
    • Orange Rust
    • Late Leaf Rust
    • Spur Blight
    • Anthracnose
    • Verticillium Wilt
    • Cane Blight
    • Phytophthora Root Rot
  • Blueberry
    • Leaf Rust
    • Fruit Rots
    • Mummy Berry
    • Phomopsis Twig Blight

Explore alternative and innovative food production systems that complement urban agriculture. This section covers mushroom production, aquaponics, and poultry production for sustainable, integrated food systems.

• Mushroom Production
  • Shiitake Mushroom 
    • Inoculating Logs with Spawn
    • Logs and Laying Yards
    • Fruiting, Harvesting, and Storage
    • Troubleshooting
    • Steps to Cultivation and Considerations for Production

• Aquaponics
  • Overview and Cost of a Small-Scale Aquaponic Build at The Ohio State University

• Poultry at Urban Farms
  • Backyard Poultry Certificate Course

Ensuring food safety is crucial for protecting public health and maintaining the success of urban agriculture operations. This section provides resources on Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) trainings for improving produce safety in both soil-based and soilless/hydroponic production systems. Learn about USDA and ODA certification resources to help you meet industry standards and keep your produce safe for consumers.

• Produce Safety Training Programs
• Food Safety in Gardens
• Food Safety and Garden Flooding
• Food Safety for Fruits and Vegetables
• Farm Stand and UPick Produce Operations Safety Best Practices
• USDA and ODA resources
  • USDA Food Safety Certification for Specialty Crops Program
  • FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA)

Stay informed by following newsletters for the most up-to-date crop production resources. This section also aims to provide location-specific resources.

• Newsletters
  • Fruit, Vegetable, & Specialty Crop News
  • Buckeye Yard & Garden Online
  • e-GRO (Electronic Grower Resources Online)
• Location specific resources (coming soon):
  • Cuyahoga County (Cleveland) resources
  • Franklin County (Columbus) resources
  • Hamilton County (Cincinnati) resources