Purpose: These sessions will focus on production that falls between backyard gardening and farm-market vendors. Our goal is to strengthen statewide coverage by equipping EMGs to better handle non-commercial inquiries (like those that come to your helpdesk or plant clinics), while also supporting VCE agents in addressing questions from smaller-scale producers.
2025 Webinar Schedule
October 30th, 2:00- 3:15 pm | VCE Small-Scale Fruit Webinar: Grapes with Dr Drew Harner
This session is your A–Z on backyard grape production. Please watch the Fruit Science webinar and/or read Chapter 11 of the VCE Gardener Manual so you’re caught up for this webinar. Featuring Dr. Drew Harner, viticulture specialist with Virginia Cooperative Extension, this session will be a deep dive into growing grapes at home. With a focus on muscadines, hybrids, and table grapes, Dr. Harner will discuss which varieties are best suited for different regions of Virginia—from the humid Tidewater to the cooler mountain valleys. While pest management will not be the primary focus, the session will include a brief overview of common challenges in the home vineyard. Expect practical guidance on site selection, trellising systems, pruning, and cultivar selection to help you grow grapes successfully in your backyard or small-scale setting.
About the Speaker: Dr. Drew Harner holds a joint appointment in the School of Plant and Environmental Sciences, with responsibilities divided equally between research and extension. His research program broadly investigates the interactions among vineyard environmental conditions, biotic stressors, and viticultural management practices, and how these factors influence grapevine biology and fruit chemical composition. By integrating a range of field- and laboratory-based approaches—from whole-plant ecophysiology to fruit and wine metabolomics—his work aims to deepen understanding of how grapevines and their fruit respond to the dynamic conditions of the vineyard ecosystem. Through his extension efforts, Dr. Harner supports grape and wine producers in achieving their production goals and provides educational resources tailored to both new and experienced growers.
Register for the October 30th Webinar Here
Webinar Archive
Apples A to Z with Dr Sherif Sherif
This session is your A-Z on apple production. Please watch the Fruit Science webinar and/or read Chapter 10 of the VCE Gardener Manual so you’re caught up for this webinar. Featuring Sherif Sherif, tree fruit extension specialist with Virginia Cooperative Extension, this session will be a deep dive into growing apples. With a focus on home, backyard and small-scale production, Dr. Sherif will note what varieties are possible to grow in the eastern part of the state versus the more common commercial production regions along the Blue Ridge Mountain and the Shenandoah Valley. Though the focus will not be pest management, an overview of common pests (arthropods, diseases, vertebrates, etc.) will be discussed in addition to production practices, varieties, and rootstocks of this favorite Virginia tree fruit.
Economic Thresholds and IPM with Doug Pfeiffer of Virginia Tech
Doug Pfeiffer of Virginia Tech discusses economic thresholds and IPM for the home gardener.
VCE Fruit Webinar Series Introduction: Fruit Science
This webinar explores the fundamentals of fruit production, from understanding fruit types and cultivar selection to essential growing considerations and pollination dynamics.
Blueberries with Bill Cline
This session is your A-Z on blueberry production. Please watch the Fruit Science webinar and/or read Chapter 10 of the VCE Gardener Manual so you’re caught up for this webinar. Featuring Bill Cline, extension specialist at North Carolina State University and the blueberry extension horticulturist for North Carolina, this session will be a deep dive on growing blueberries.
Peach Resources
Growing Peaches at Home with Andy Rollins
In this session, Andy Rollins of South Carolina Extension covers peach growing basics for home gardeners. Peaches are a great choice for Virginia gardeners interested in fruit production–Andy will give us all tips for a successful peach crop!
About the Speaker: Andy Rollins is the Horticultural Agent for the upstate of SC. He is specialized in commercial fruit and vegetable production and assists new growers with problem diagnosis and multiple decisions including soil testing/preparation, location/size of the planting, spray choices, calibration, and variety selection. Andy is actively involved in research projects with Clemson University as well as USDA-ARS specialists, and also does some new product testing.