Extension Update by Gary Zoubek [June 7, 2012]

Certifying Planted Crops
I received a note from Leann from the FSA Office to remind producers to call their office and schedule an appointment to report your acres as soon as you are finished planting.  You will need planting dates, accurate acres, and correct crop shares to certify.  Wheat and other small grains must be certified by June 30th.  All other crop certifications are due by July 15th.

Cropping Update/Nebraska Weather/Horticulture News
Well, it was sure to get some more rain in the middle of the past week!  The  ETgage that I’ve been monitoring dropped between 1.25 – 1.40″ for the week.  That’s considerably less than the last couple of weeks, but the crops are growing so the crop coefficient is more. The early planted corn field I’m monitoring is in the 6-8 leaf stage, so the crop coefficient is .35for 6 leaf corn and .51for 8 leaf corn, so for the week we used between .47″ to .70″.  To get the crop water use figure, I multiplied the crop coefficient times the ETgage drop.

I did not estimate the crop use for soybeans, since for our area, we typically don’t recommend irrigating them until they reach R3 stage.  We should be in good shape still for a while!  By watering too early we get beans that are taller, use more water, but don’t yield more, so it’s important to hold off and apply it when it is need!

The ETgage in front of our office with a #30 grass cover dropped .85″ this past week!  So for the week, it averaged .12″ per day!  For the week, grass used just a little more than our earliest planted corn did.

As I mentioned last week, since grass has a root zone that’s about a foot to 1.5′ deep, we don’t have as much soil water reserve as we do with a 3′ or 4′ root zone for corn.  The depth of your turf’s root zone depends upon the type of grass as well as your mowing height.  You will have a deeper root system if you mow the grass taller and on a regular basis, following the one third rule of not removing more than 1/3 at any one time.

PQA Plus Webinar Planned
It’s more important today than ever that livestock producers care for their animals and get certified every three years.  We will be hosting this training at our office on June 19th at 7:00 p.m.  I’d like to remind all area pork producers that need this training to get the date down on their calendar and plan to attend!

LEAD Applications Due June 15
It is hard to believe that fellowship applications for Nebraska LEAD (Leadership Education/Action Development) Group 32 are now available for men and women involved in production agriculture or agribusiness and are due on June 15.

Terry Hejny, Nebraska LEAD Program director indicated that the will select up to 30 motivated men and women with demonstrated leadership potential from five geographic districts across Nebraska.

In addition to monthly three-day seminars throughout Nebraska from mid-September through early April each year, Nebraska LEAD Fellows also participate in a 10-day National Study/Travel Seminar and a two week International Study/Travel Seminar.

The leadership training focuses on interpersonal skill development, communications, education, public policy issues, economics, community development, natural resources, and social and cultural understanding and is designed to prepare the spokespersons, problem-solvers and decision makers for Nebraska and its agricultural industry.

Applications are due no later than June 15 and are available via e-mail from the Nebraska LEAD Program.  Please contact Shana at sgerdes2@unl.edu.   You can also request an application by writing Room 318 Biochemistry Hall, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 68583-0763 or by calling (402) 472-6810.

We have some great participants from the area the past few years and I hope you will consider applying!  You’ll make many contacts that will be valuable down the road!

Yard & Garden
As a result of our recent rains and more humid weather, now is the time we should be working to prevent some of the most common disease I see on tomatoes which is early blight.  It is a common fungal disease of tomatoes that causes plants to die from the bottom up. Symptoms begin as tan leaf spots on lower leaves; then the disease works its way up the plant with leaves turning yellow, then brown and dropping off. To reduce early blight, select tomato varieties resistant to blight, however I think most are susceptible to it.  Try and keep the foliage dry by not sprinkler irrigating them.  Also when possible, increase air circulation around plants with proper plant spacing and use caging to keep vines off the soil. I know I often plant mine too close together!  Mulch the soil around tomatoes to reduce fungus splashing onto lower leaves.  Use crop rotation and practice fall sanitation to reduce overwintering fungus, but in small backyards it is difficult to rotate as much as we would like.  I try and and limit the severity of this disease, by making applications with fungicides labeled for tomatoes. I start applications when I set the plants out, but if you don’t do that, you need to begin as soon as symptoms first appear on lower leaves and repeated every 7 to 10 days well into the growing season.    I typically stop when I begin harvesting those ripe tomatoes.  If you have severely infected plants, I would destroy them.

Often, I include a labeled insecticide to control hoppers and other insects.  I then use the combination on my cole crops to control those green worms that come because of those yellow and white butterflies I’ve started seeing this week.  I also spray my cucumbers and other vine crops to prevent the cucumber beetles (corn root worm beetles) from feeding on the plants and spreading bacterial blight which causes the plants wilt and die.

For the latest horticulture updates, check out our Environmental Homepage: http://environment.unl.edu/.  It includes links to Backyard Farmer, Turf iNfo, Acreage Insights and as well as horticulture updates with many timely tips!  I hope you’ll check it out!