Pontotoc Ridge-Flatwoods Branch Experiment Station

05/15/2026

It was an honor to have USDA undersecretary for marketing and regulatory programs Dudley Hoskins stop by to visit the station this week! We enjoyed giving him a tour of our facilities and showcasing some of our research and resources that allow us to provide the necessary tools and resources to better serve the sweetpotato industry and Mississippi agriculture!

04/24/2026

We did something today on the station that none of us can recall ever being done before on station....transplanting sweetpotatoes in the field in April! Yep thats right, we cut and planted several rows of our G1 Beauregard sweetpoato slips from our virus free plant stock out of the greenhouse! If all goes well, these rows should be ready for harvest close to our sweetpotato field day this year. Stay tuned to see how these early planted sweetpotatoes adapt to some wet conditions and cooler temperatures in the week ahead!

03/30/2026

We can't complain about the beautiful weather on this Monday morning spent under an old oak shade tree along Highway 15 in North MS, especially for the end of March, as we planted our MSU dryland corn hybrid trial along with a Becks Seed corn variety trial on the station.

03/16/2026

Spring time will be here before we know it and it will be time to get those seeds and plants in the ground for your home gardens soon! Being a Clean Plant Center for sweetpotato through the National Clean Plant Network, we have had a busy spring supplying orders of virus free sweetpotato slips to our certified sweetpotato seed producers.

We are now ready to offer sweetpotato slips to any home gardeners that are interested in growing their on small crop of sweetpotatoes in their gardens!

Starting April 15th, we will have sweetpotato slips available for purchase at $1 per slip. Minimum orders of 10 slips for purchase required. Cash or check only.

The 🍠 varieties we will have available:

Orange Skin & Orange Flesh:
Orleans, Beauregard/B14 &
Evangeline

Purple Skin & White Flesh:
Murasaki

Purple Skin & Purple Flesh:
Morado

Please call the office at 662-489-4621 or send an email to [email protected] to place an order.

10/27/2025

The Pontotoc Station is seeking to hire a Laboratory Coordinator to provide support to our tissue culture and virus testing laboratory.
A bachelors degree is required, and an ideal candidate has qPCR and molecular diagnostics experience.

Link to apply is below:

Apply now Job no: 509878 Position type: Full-Time 12-Month Department: 014600 - Pontotoc Ridge-Flatwoods Branch Exp Location: Pontotoc County Categories: Professional Position Open Date: Oct 27 2025

10/15/2025

Every once in a while you find a Big’un!
This sweetpotato weighed 9.2 pounds and was bigger than Dr. Harvey’s head!
What’s the biggest sweetpotato you’ve ever seen?

09/17/2025

Digging research plots is dirty work, but someone’s gotta do it!

08/13/2025

After 4-weeks without a drop of rain, our crops and research plots are finally getting a much needed drink!

08/01/2025

Any guesses which plots didn't get irrigation?

This is the first year of a sweetpotato irrigation project. We waited till the hottest days of planing season and are maintaining plots at different moisture levels to help farmers make decisions on how to best utilize irrigation in their production. Looks like some promising results so far!

Funding was provided by the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program.

07/23/2025

Callie Morris is on a roll this year! She was honored today with the James Allan Rovig, Jr., Outstanding Graduate Student Award for the great work and research she does to support the sweetpotato industry. Congratulations Callie!