Coming Events
April 14, 9:00 a.m. – Little Diggers, Faller Landscape & Nursery, York
April 16, 8:30 p.m. – Extension Board Exec Meeting, Extension Office, York
Nebraska Weather and Planting Season
I hope you had a great weekend even if we experienced more seasonal like Nebraska temperatures, it was still really nice! I’ve been visiting with several area producers as they’ve been preparing for the upcoming season and many indicated that they would be starting the end of this week or the following week. In York the long term historic average last spring 32° F date is April 22nd.
Monday morning I checked on the High Plains Region Centers webpage and as one would expect, it reported that March has been unseasonably warm, with average temperature departures up to 15 F above normal. They reported that over 1,500 daily records have been set over the past two weeks in the High Plains Region alone! This has many people thinking, “Will we have another freeze?” The temperatures the past few days does remind us that that’s still a good possibility!
The High Plains Regional Climate Center has compiled a table that shows the earliest, average, and latest date of the last spring freeze for many locations across the Region. They did not post the information for York, but did post it for Lincoln and Grand Island and we’re located right between the two! The Average last 32° F day for Lincoln was April 22nd like that I have here for York and for Grand Island it was April 28th! The latest Average 32° F day for both Lincoln and Grand Island was May 29th! The Earliest last 32° F day for Lincoln was March 27th and for Grand Island it was April 5th! I guess only time will tell if we’ve had our last 32° F day for this spring?
Monday morning I checked the link to UNL’s Crop Watch website where they post weekly soil temperature maps and a 7 day soil temperature summary for locations across Nebraska and the average soil temperature for York the past week was 58.9° F compared to the long term average of 44.5° F. The soil temperatures at 7:30 a.m. at the 4 inch depth in our turf at the Extension Office was also 58° F, while it was between 46 and 48° F in a corn and soybean residue. If you want to check out the soil temperatures, that CropWatch link is: http://cropwatch.unl.edu/web/cropwatch/cropwatchsoiltemperature.
While at CropWatch, another link to also check out is the one about on-farm research, that link is: http://cropwatch.unl.edu/web/farmresearch. Many of the studies that producers have conducted over the years are posted at this site.
As we begin another planting season, it’s important to think about both planting dates and rates for corn and soybeans. Our climate and weather conditions are changing and many producers are also changing when and the rates that they’re planting various crops! We don’t have a lot of data about planting dates for corn in Nebraska, but do for soybeans. Dr. Jim Specht’s, UNL Agronomist, has conducted considerable research and our on-farm cooperators have also compared soybean planting dates. Two years of Jim Specht’s data has shown that for every day in delayed planting after May 1, yield losses have varied from ¼ to 5/8 of a bushel/day! Between Jim’s data and four years of on-farm research data has yield advantages of 1-10 bu./acre for planting soybeans early-at least by the last week of April-compared to in May.
Just like planting dates, we don’t have a lot of data related to seeding rates for these newer corn hybrids. If you’d be interested in helping us collect some data on this topic, check out this website: http://ardc.unl.edu/onfarmresearch.shtml and contact Keith Glewen, UNL Extension Educator, 1071 County Road G, Ithaca, Nebraska 68033, at 402-624-8030 or by email at kglewen1@unl.edu or me at 402-326-5508 or email at gzoubek1@unl.edu. Keith and I along with many Nebraska grower will be excited about you helping collect some of data on corn planting rates.
It’s a different story when it comes to soybeans, we’ve conducted many on-farm research trials on our silt loams soil in this area. Jenny Rees, Extension Educator in Clay County has summarized six years of on-farm research that shows that “In 30†rows, planting 120,000 seeds/acre and aiming for a final stand of 100,000 plants/acre and you will not lose yield but will save seeding costs!â€Â Check out our on-farm soybeans population studies at: http://cropwatch.unl.edu/web/farmresearch/.
Little Diggers Planting
Just a reminder, hopefully the Little Diggers will get going for another season and will be doing a little planting this Saturday April 14th! The two groups will meet out at Faller Landscape & Nursery at 9:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. For more information about this great program or to register go to: http://www.fallerlandscape.com/ or call them at 402-362-2714.
4-H Veggies Plants, Seeds & Flowers Â
Speaking of planting, I want to remind area 4-H leaders and parents that most of this year’s Specials Howard and Dorothy May plants and seeds are now in and can be picked up at the Extension Office. 4-H members in the gardening projects are encouraged to stop the Extension Office and pickup the onion and leek plants as well as the cucumber and sunflower seeds. I’ve prepared some materials to help you growing these plants. Hopefully we will also have some tomatillo’s plants in 6 weeks or so! They getting started by Cal Williams and some FFA members.
Hopefully we’ll have some great veggie/flower exhibits at this year’s fair!
Invasive Plant Pests, Diseases and Weeds
The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service or APHIS has announced that it is dedicating the month of April to sharing information about the threat that invasive plant pests, diseases and harmful weeds. Invasive pests are non-native species that feed on America’s agricultural crops, trees and other plants. The goal is to safeguard agriculture and natural resources from the entry, establishment and spread of animal and plant pests and noxious weeds. But federal and state agencies can’t do it alone. It requires everyone’s help to stop the unintended introduction and spread of invasive pests. The number-one action someone can take is to leave hungry pests behind.  USDA urges the public to visit www.HungryPests.com to learn more about invasive pests and what they can do to protect American agricultural resources by preventing the spread of these threats. I checked out the site and Nebraska does not have any quarantine, but a couple of pests to watch for are the European Gypsy Moth and the Emerald Ash Borer. It’s kind of interesting to see the potential pests across the United States!
Here are a few actions that people can take today:
- Buy Local, Burn Local. Invasive pests and larvae can hide and ride long distances in firewood. Don’t give them a free ride to start a new infestation—buy firewood where you burn it.
- Plant Carefully. Buy your plants from a reputable source and avoid using invasive plant species at all costs.
- Do Not Bring or Mail fresh fruits, vegetables, or plants into your state or another state unless agricultural inspectors have cleared them beforehand.
- Cooperate with any agricultural quarantine restrictions and allow authorized agricultural workers access to your property for pest or disease surveys.
- Keep It Clean. Wash outdoor gear and tires between fishing, hunting or camping trips. Clean lawn furniture and other outdoor items when moving from one home to another.
- Learn To Identify. If you see signs of an invasive pest or disease, write down or take a picture of what you see, and then report it at www.HungryPests.com.
- Speak Up. Declare all agricultural items to customs officials when returning from international travel. Call USDA to find out what’s allowed: (301) 851-2046 for questions about plants or (301) 851-3300 for questions about animals.
Garden Planting & Spring Affair
It’s still a little early to be planting unprotected warm season plants like peppers, tomatoes, or vine crops like cucumbers, squash, pumpkins, or melons. Our average last 32° F day is April 22nd with the latest one having been May 29th! If you are an avid gardener, it’s ok to plant some if you plan to protect them if a threat of frost is predicted.
The only warm season crop I’ve planted so far has been one row of snap beans. If you’d like a copy of suggested planting dates for the York area, go to: http://york.unl.edu/water-environment, then click on the planting guide. Another great yard and garden website to check out is: http://environment.unl.edu/. It includes information and links to the Back Yard Farm Program/Videso, Turf Updates, the Master Gardener Program as well as Acreage Insights! It’s a valuable resource that I frequently use.
As I mentioned, the date for this year’s Spring Affair is Saturday April 28th at the Lancaster Event Center (Pavilion I) in Lincoln. Info about this year’s event can be found at: http://springaffair.unl.edu.
Plant talk schedule includes:
10:30 a.m. – “All hands at Sunken Gardensâ€
12:00 a.m. – “All Hands on Pots — Container Combinationsâ€
1:30 p.m. – “Wall Art and Fairy Gardensâ€
“Talk-Aboutsâ€, 20-minute presentation held among the plant tables
10:00 a.m. – Wet Hands – Water pants
10:30 a.m. – Hands on Woodies
11:00 a.m. – Hands on Compost
11:30 a.m. – Pettable Plants
12:30 p.m. – Hands on Herbs – Harvesting and Using
1:00 p.m. – tiny Hands on Tiny Plants
