Extension Update by Gary Zoubeck [April 4, 2013]

Coming Events

• April 4 — Nebraska On-Farm Research Meeting, 1:30 p.m., 4-H Building, York
• April 11 – Chemigation Training, 1:00 p.m., 4-H Building, York

Nebraska On-Farm Research Meeting Planned
We’ve continued to see our typical, not-so-typical Nebraska weather!  Hopefully we’ll get some additional need rainfall before the spring planting season officially gets going. We will be hosting an On-Farm Research Meeting this Thursday at 1:30 p.m. here in York in our 4-H Building.  If you’re involved with crop production, hopefully you’ll be interested in conducting On-Farm Research to help evaluate production practices on your farm.  This meeting is to help you learn more about our On-Farm Research efforts!

We have several protocols developed, and we’ll be glad to develop plans specifically for your operation, so plan to attend or give me a call if you cannot make the meeting.

Family WeatherFest is April 6
Last week I received some information about the UNL’s Family Weatherfest and Severe Weather Symposium which will be held on Saturday, April 6, between 9:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. at University Nebraska-Lincoln’s Hardin Hall, located at 3310 Holdrege St. in Lincoln, NE (the corner of Holdrege and 33rd St.).  This free, family event explores the wonder of weather and teaches techniques for surviving—and thriving—through severe weather events.

Activities will include a screening of the tornado-filled film 2012’s Extreme Weather as Captured by Storm Chasers, a book sale and signing with meteorologist and author Mike Mogil, a weather balloon discussion and launch, face painting booths, and an up-close and personal exploration of a real-life tornado vehicle, the Doppler on Wheels—Weatherfest makes storm preparedness fun for the whole family.

Other highlights this year include a keynote talk about the 100th anniversary of the deadliest tornado to hit Nebraska; tips for capturing the best photographs of meteorological events; interactive weather presentations such as “Be Weather Wise with Weather Whys,” “The Megadrought Walk,” and “Tornado Generator”; and exhibits from the National Weather Service, Lancaster County Emergency Management, and Midland Radio. Local weathercasters will be on site between 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. to meet and chat with families.

For more information about this event, go to: http://snr.unl.edu/cpsws/ or on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/cpsws.

Chemigation Certification Meeting Planned
I will be conducting the final Chemigation Certification of the season for this area 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.

What we will do is share some videos, and power point presentations and then participants will take a 50 question quiz related to the information shared.  So 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.

Boxelder Bug Contorl
I’ve received a few calls about a familiar insect, the boxelder bug.  This insect is about one-half inch long as an adult, black in color with three red lines behind the head, a red line along each side and a diagonal line on each wing. This bug become a nuisance in and around homes from fall through early spring.  They feed on a variety of plants, but their favorite food is boxelder seed pods, which are found only on the female boxelder tree.

They overwinter as adults in protected places such as houses and other buildings, cracks or crevices in walls, doors, under windows, and around foundations–particularly on south and west exposures. In the spring, small red eggs are laid on leaves and stones, and in cracks and crevices in the bark of female boxelder trees. The eggs later hatch into young nymphs that are wingless and bright red in color wtih some black markings. These young bugs usually are found on low vegetation near boxelder trees until seeds are formed on the tree that they then start to feed on.

They are a nuisance pest by crawling on exteriors and inside dwellings on warm fall and winter days. They also could stain draperies and other light-colored surfaces and produce an unpleasant odor when crushed. They do not bite people, nor will they damage houseplants.  Since boxelder bugs usually overwinter near the trees they feed on, the removal of one or two problem trees may be of benefit to the homeowner.  Infested trees may be sprayed with an insecticide listed for this use while the bugs are still concentrated on the trees, before they move into the house.

When the bugs begin to congregate on dwelling exteriors, these areas may be treated with a residual insecticide listed for this type of control.  Screening or sealing cracks or other entrances into the home (in the fall BEFORE it gets cold) is important because once boxelder bugs have entered the home, control becomes more difficult.

A vacuum cleaner is useful for controlling bugs that have entered the house. This is temporary relief because the boxelder bugs may continue to enter the move about on warmer days throughout the fall, winter and early spring. Why not check out here some Advice on repairing a vacuum cleaner!

So on these spring sunny days, most of the boxelder bugs are just trying to get out of the spaces they’ve overwintered at.  Hopefully they’ll all be out soon.

For more information about these pests and suggested control measures, check out the BackYard Farmer info at:   http://byf.unl.edu/boxelder-bug.\

Cropping Update
This weekend I saw a little field work as I did a little traveling.  I just checked the CropWatch website on Monday morning for soil temperatures and they’ve averaged 40.5° F for the past week here in York compared to a normal of 45.1° F.  Last year the soil temperatures were warmer, however we’re probably much more like normal this season.  The link to the UNL’s Crop Watch website is:  http://cropwatch.unl.edu.  Just click on the weather link at the top.  For the month, we’ve received 1.84” of precipitation here in York compared to our average of 1.66”; finally a month where we are slightly above average for precipitation.

Please check out all the articles on CropWatch this week, they includes some tips on planting no-till as well as many other timely tips!

Now’s also a good time to get out your ETgages and  replace the green canvas covers and wafers to make sure you’re ready to set them out the end of April or early May.  The Upper Big Blue NRD has these supplies on hand, so stop by when you are in York and pick them up.

Ten Ways to Maximize Preemergence Control of Crabgrass
I just received my latest Turf iNfo this week and even though crabgrass germination is likely a month or more off with the cold temperatures, it will be here before we know it.

The following is a quick summary on maximizing crabgrass control with preemergence (PRE) herbicides that they shared:

1. Mow as high as practical all year to maintain turf competitive with crabgrass, 3” at a minimum for most homelawns and other turf according to their use. Mow often enough not to remove more than a third of the leaf blade on any single mowing. For homelawns, this will likely by every 5 days during the aggressive spring growth and less frequent during the rest of the season.

2. Irrigate deep and infrequently, wetting to the depth of rooting only after the grass shows signs of drought stress.

3. For those not using sequential applications of PRE herbicides, your application should be made late April to early May in eastern Nebraska assuming “typical” spring weather.

4. When using only a single application of PRE herbicide, the highest label rate will provide the maximum control.

5. For the most reliable crabgrass control, sequential applications of PRE herbicides are needed. The first application can be applied almost anytime from November to April and the second application should be early to mid-June.

6. For sequential applications of PRE herbicides, the highest label rate can be divided by two and then two equal applications applied.

7. For sequential applications of PRE herbicides, it doesn’t matter if active ingredients are switched between the first or second application as long as one half the high label rate of the respective active ingredient is used in each app.

8. To maximize control from PRE herbicides, water within 24 hours or try to schedule before a rainfall to move the active ingredient off the leaf blades.

9. Try to minimize N fertilizer applied with the PRE herbicide since cool-season grasses are naturally growing quickly in the spring. This can be done by using fertilizer/herbicide combination products either low in nitrogen and/or with most of the nitrogen in slow release forms that will release after the early spring growth flush.

10. As always, avoid applications to impervious surfaces and sweep or blow product off these surfaces back into the turf.

It’s ok to buy the fertilizer and crabgrass control products now, but wait a while before you apply them.  Check out the latest turf info at: http://turf.unl.edu/.