Extension Update by Gary L. Zoubek - Extension Educator
Coming Events
August 26-September 5th, Nebraska State Fair in Grand Island
4-H Results At the State Fair
If you’d like to see the results of our young people at the Nebraska State Fair, you can visit this website: http://www.nebraska4hresults.com/ to see the results.
In addition, the 4-H department has developed and iPad application that includes the schedule, results, maps as well as news, images and videos. So if you have an iPad, you’ll want to download this free app and check it out!
York County has been well represented so far at the state fair and I’m sure that will continue next week!
Cropping Update
You can tell that the crops have slowed down the past couple of weeks by observing what the ETgage has done. The ETgages have only dropped about an inch each of the past two weeks, so the crop water use or ET has only been .16 inches/day for the last two weeks. These more moderate temperatures are good for the crop; hopefully it will improve test weights and our yields! The corn fields I’m monitoring are all from one third to 50 per cent or more milk line, so the crop will not be needing much more water. In most cases, we’ve finished irrigating the corn.
Soybean may be a different situation depending upon the stage of growth of your crop. If they’re nearing the end of seed fill (R6) they got about 18 days to maturity and will use about 3.5 inches of water, however if the leaves are just starting to yellow, they will mature in about 10 days and will use about 1.9 inches of water. The water can come from rainfall, irrigation or soil reserves! The goal is to use up as much as possible the soil reserves so that mother nature will refill the profile during the off season. Check out our NebGuide on Last Irrigation of the season at: http://www.ianrpubs.unl.edu/epublic/live/g1871/build/g1871.pdf.  It will help you estimate how much water your crop needs to finish out the growing season based on your crops growth stage. Each Monday I prepare podcast on irrigation management for a few fields in the York area as well as at the ARDC near Mead. You can get to them by going to our CropWatch website http://cropwatch.unl.edu and then clicking on the irrigation link.
While I’m visiting about soybeans, we’ve seen the numbers of soybean aphid numbers increasing in some of the fields in the York area. The threshold for treatment depends upon your crops stage of growth so that’s why it’s important to know those stages. The fields I’m monitoring are nearing the end of seed fill or R6, so the threshold is 400-500 per plant. If your field was a later planted field and is in the beginning seed fill or R5 stage, the threshold is 250 aphids per plant. For more information about recommendations check out the CropWatch Article at: http://cropwatch.unl.edu/web/cropwatch/archive?articleID=4593797.
York County Corn Growers Variety Plot Field Day
I want to thank the seed representatives and producers that attended our corn grower variety plot tour and roundup ready soybean plot tour last Thursday! Thanks also to Ray & Ron Makovicka and Jerry Stahr for all the work they do to make the plots possible. It won’t be long and we’ll be harvesting these plots and when we do, we’ll post the information so that you’ll be able to see the results!
Autumn Leaves: Lunch & Learn Begins September 7th
A series of lunch & learn webinars focusing on fall gardening topics will be offered in September. Each Wednesday from 12:05-12:55 p.m., right from your desk at work or home, you can learn about fall planting, overwintering summer bulbs, bulb planting and preparing the garden for winter.
The topics are as follows:
September 7- Fall Planting and Overseeding
September 14- Overwintering Summer Blooming Bulbs
September 21- Fall Bulb Planting
September 28- Putting The Garden To Bed
You must pre-register for each program, and will need a computer with internet access and sound to participate. During each program, you can view, listen and interact with the speakers. Once you have registered, you will receive the program handout and login information via email.
Register Online: Â Â Â Â http://marketplace.unl.edu/extension
Program Fee: Â Â Â Â Â Â $10.00 per program or $30.00 for the entire program series
Program Times: Â Â Â Â 12:05 p.m.- 12:55 p.m. CDT
For more information, contact:
Sarah Browning, (402) 441-7180, sbrowning2@unl.edu
Natalia Bjorklund, (402) 727-2775, nbjorklund3@unl.edu
Nicole Haxton, (402) 223-1384, nhaxton2@unl.edu
Lawn & Garden
This past week I’ve received several emails from the turf group about lawn issues that they’re seeing. The first problem is rust. Rust is a disease of slow-growing turf, caused usually by drought and/or low fertility. Therefore, increased irrigation and the typical fall fertilization of 1.0 lb N/1000 sq ft applied in the first week of September will likely limit any further damage from rust. If you have chronic problems with rust, consider slightly increasing your annual amount of nitrogen applied. A number of fungicides are labeled for control of rust in established turf, but should be applied only as a last resort when fertilization fails to limit damage.
Another reminder from our turf specialist is that we are fast approaching the most important time to fertilize all cool-season grasses in our part of the country! Of the total annual N applied to a cool-season turf, 60 to 75% (or more) of it should be applied between Labor Day and the last mowing.
The September fertilization is crucial on all turf areas regardless if it is a lawn, athletic field, or golf course green, tee or fairway. Fertilization in mid-September encourages the production of new tillers and/or rhizomes and stolons that will increase turf density. Fertilization in September also encourages rooting and production of storage products that will help the plant survive the stresses of winter and next year’s growing season. This is especially true for areas thinned by this summer’s weather.
They indicate that almost all turf areas should be fertilized with 1 lb N/1000 sq ft using a fertilizer with 25-50% of the nitrogen as slow release (sulfur or polymer-coated urea, urea formaldehyde, or natural organics). Some recent research suggests higher N rates can be used with fertilizers containing even more slow release nitrogen, which may minimize the need for typical late October or November applications (the N in this September application may release over 6-8 weeks or more). This would be very useful on low maintenance areas where labor is limiting. The next most important fertilization is near the last mowing.
I aerated my lawn over the weekend, did a little overseeding in a couple spots and will fertilize it in a few days! Check out all our turf updates at: http://turf.unl.edu.
