Extension Update by Gary Zoubeck [April 11, 2013]

Coming Events

• April 11 – Chemigation Training, 1:00 p.m., 4-H Building, York
• April 22 – Extension Board Exec Mtg., 8:30 p.m., Extension Office, York

Chemigation Certification Meeting Planned
Just a reminder, if you are considering applying nitrogen with your pivot, I will be conducting a Chemigation Certification training on Thursday, April 11, at 1:00 p.m. here in York in the 4-H Building.  This certification is needed if you want to apply nitrogen or other pesticides with your irrigation system such as center pivot or subsurface drip.

I will share some videos, a power point, a few example problems, and then participants will take a 50 question quiz related to the information shared.  If you’re interested in becoming certified or recertified, plan to attend this session.  If you are interested in study materials, they can be picked up at our office on or downloaded online at:  http://water.unl.edu/web/cropswater/chemigation.  I’d suggest either, stopping by our office or downloading the study materials prior to attending the April 11 session.  Give me a call at 402-362-5508 or email me at gary.zoubek@unl.edu if you have any questions about chemigation.

It’s a great way to add a little nitrogen during the season rather than applying it all preplant prior to planting.  It’s always important to apply the nitrogen as close to the time it’s needed as possible and chemigation works great for this.

Cropping Update
We had a great weekend with a little rain.  I’m guessing around .20” here in the York area, not much, but better than none.  I check the CropWatch website and the soil temperature averaged 45.8° F for the week ending Sunday.  That’s about 2.1° F below normal, but they were up to 51° F on Sunday!  The link to the UNL’s Crop Watch website is:  http://cropwatch.unl.edu.  Just click on the weather link at the top.

I have not seen much planting yet, but give it a week or ten days and I’m sure things will change.  We’ll have to see what type of storm we’re in for this week.

Nebraska On-Farm Research Cooperators Needed
We had a great meeting last Thursday with producers planning to conduct an On-Farm Research Study this year.  Those attending came up with a pretty good list of studies that they are planning to conduct.

They include:

• Check of Poncho 250 vs. Poncho Votivo
• Stratego YLD vs Sugar vs Check in Soybeans at R3
• Soy Populations of 145,000 seeds/acre vs. 175,000 seeds/acre
• Recommended VRI rate of 11-52-0 vs + VRI rec rate of 11-52-0 + 100 lbs 11-52-0 on soybeans
• Fall applied w/ and w/o stabilizer vs spring applied w/ and w/o stabilizer based on UNL recs with deep samples
• Rec rate 11-52-0 fall applied vs. 11-52-0 + Avail on corn
• No cover crop vs. rye cover crop strips going into soybeans
• No cover crop vs. rye cover crop strips going into corn
• Check vs. 30 lbs S on corn at V5
• Check vs. Torque on corn
• Check vs. Nachurs Fertilizer 6-24-6 +Capture LFR in soybeans
• Torque vs. Ascent vs. nothing in soybeans
• Strip till vs. vertical till vs. no-till in soybeans
• Check vs. 3 oz Headline EC in furrow for corn in no-till or strip till
• Strip till N vs. Reduced strip till N + Sidedress

For most two treatment studies, we are planning to use a paired comparison for the plot plan.  What the producers will do is plant strips of the treatment compared to the check and repeat this process several times in the field.  It’s important to make each strip the width of two harvest strips or more.  That way they will be able to harvest the treatment twice before they harvest the next treatment and repeat the process.  With that method the treatment is the first of half of the pairs, while the check is first on the other half of the pairs.  We take out the chance that the field gets better or worse as we progress across the field.  We’d really like to have at least pairs of each treatment.

So, do you have some product or tillage that you’d like to compare?  I’d sure like to add several new cooperators to our On-Farm research group this season.  Give me a call on my cell at 402-326-8185 or at my office 402-362-5508 or email me at gary.zoubek@unl.edu.  You can also check out our website on CropWatch at: http://cropwatch.unl.edu/web/farmresearch/home.  We have several protocols developed and we’ll be glad to develop plans specifically for your operation.  Corn planting populations would be an easy one to try this season.

Yard & Garden
It was a great weekend to be out and around in our gardens, landscapes, and turf.  It was just nice to be outside in some great weather.  I often get calls about core aeration and power raking. Core aeration is an important practice to use, but a moist soil, from spring rains or turf irrigation, is needed for effective aeration. The removal of plugs and reduction of soil compaction will encourage root growth to aid recovery from heat and drought stress.  Power raking is more damaging to turf, so do not power rake drought stressed turf, and only power rake non-stressed turf when the thatch layer exceeds one-half inch and at least 30 days of good growing conditions will follow the power raking.  We have a great NebGuide called “ Thatch Prevention and Control” which give you the facts on these two practices.  It can be found at: http://www.ianrpubs.unl.edu/epublic/live/g1618/build/g1618.pdf.

The way to know if you have a thatch problem is to take a knife and cut a few pie shaped wedges from your turf and measuring the tightly intermingled layer of dead and decaying turfgrass tissues derived from stems, roots, and leaves just above the soil surface.  Thatch is not the brown leaves on the bottom part of the plants.  Actually a small layer of thatch ½” or less can be beneficial because it increases the turf’s resiliency and improve wear tolerance, and insulated it against soil temperature changes.  If it exceeds a ½” the disadvantage usually outweigh the advantages.

If you’re a gardener, did you have a chance to get out and do a little planting before the rain and expected colder temperatures?  Like producers this time of year I’m always ready to get a little dirty and something planted.  A few years ago, I compiled a list of suggested planting dates for vegetables in our area.  It can be found at: http://york.unl.edu/water-environment.  Another good site for all of our horticulture questions is: http://acreage.unl.edu/.  I hope you’ll check them out!