Coming Events
- June 24-27, Nebraska No-till Bus Tour, Kearney
- June 24, Extension Board Exec Meeting, 8:00 p.m., Extension Office
- July 2, Weed Management Field Day, 8:30 a.m., SCAL, Clay Center
Cropping Update
Finally, the corn and soybeans are really beginning to take off. The corn fields are turning from light yellow to our typical green, and I’m sure the next few weeks we’ll almost be able to see it grow. I, along with several other Extension Educators, interns. and the NRD staff have been out installing Watermark sensors in area fields. The soil moisture in most of the fields has been excellent and that’s a great way to start the season. Hopefully we’ll windup getting the sensors installed this week!
The ETgages I’m monitoring here in town, east of town, and south of town dropped between 1.20 and 1.40†for the week again. The earliest planted corn and soybeans near these sites vary from V4-V6 for the corn and around V1-V2 for the soybeans. So, for corn we would multiply the 1.4†drop by .18 and .35 to estimate the water use for the V4-V6 corn. The crop water use would be between .25†to .49†for the corn and about .30†for the soybeans. Basically about the amount of rainfall we’ve received for the week.
I’d like to remind all area producers using these tools that if you have questions about what these ETgage readings or your Watermark Sensor numbers mean, don’t hesitate to contact me other area Educators or Dan at the NRD office. We’ll all be glad to assist you interpreting the info. Information about these tools and charts and videos can be found at this website: http://water.unl.edu/nawmn.
Last week I mentioned that we’re interested in having area producers that are planning to sidedress corn this spring to contact our office to team up and conduct some on-farm research on the effects of this practice. It would be filed length strips and would not require a lot of work. Well, my phone did not ring off the hook, so if you’d possibly be interested and have not called me, you can contact me at 402-326-8185 or email me at gary.zoubek@unl.edu.
Nebraska No-till Bus Tour Planned for June 24-27, 2013
My final reminder about the No-till bus tour being planned by Paul Jasa and Scott Gonnerman, registration is limited to the first 50 people. The bus will leave the Buffalo County Fairgrounds in Kearney promptly at 1:00 p.m. on Monday, June 24, and return Kearney on Thursday evening, June 27.
Complete details at CropWatch: http://cropwatch.unl.edu/web/cropwatch/archive?articleID=5173245.
Yard & Garden
How are things doing in your garden? It’s been nice not having to worry about watering our gardens and finally they are really starting to takeoff. My tomatoes are just starting to bloom, so hopefully tomatoes will be just around the corner.  Now is the time to be thinking about tomato diseases. Early blight & Septoria leaf spot are the two most common fungal diseases of tomatoes that I see. Symptoms begin as leaf spots on lower leaves, with infections moving up the plant causing foliage to die; often leading to fruit sunscald. These diseases can be reduced with fungicides labeled for use on tomatoes. For best results, applications need to begin prior to or as soon as symptoms first appear on lower leaves, and applications made every 7 to 10 days. I made my first application this week. Other things that can help are to avoid overhead irrigation and increase air circulation around plants with proper spacing and caging. (That is one thing that I tend to do is crowd my plants.) Using black plastic or grass clipping to mulch the soil around tomatoes will reduce soil splash of fungus onto lower leaves. Also, avoid planting tomatoes in the same area year after year, but in small home gardens, that is difficult to do. I typically make applications of fungicides early and then stop when I begin harvesting the fruit.
Now is also the time to be on the watch for pests like cabbage worms, bean leaf beetles, and it won’t be long those pesky cucumber beetles will be out and chewing on your cole crops, beans and vine crops. I use an insecticide labeled for these crops especially the cucumber beetles. Once the beetles chew on your cucumber, they’re probably infected them with wilt disease that will cause the plants to die, so prevention is the key.
Weed Field Day at SCAL
I just received a flier and email for a Weed Management Field Day planned for July 2 at the UNL South Central Ag Lab near Clay Center. It will be held on July 2, 2013, from 8:30 a.m.-2:15 p.m.
Dr. Amit Jhala, UNL Weed Scientist, will be sharing latest research updates regarding weed control in corn, soybean, and glyphosate resistant giant ragweed control. There is no charge and lunch is provided. Please pre-register to (402) 472-1534 or (402) 762-4403.
The soybean information will include:Â Roundup Ready and Liberty Link trials, Dicamba-resistant soybean trials, Warrant application timings and tank mixes, and in-crop applications of residual herbicides for waterhemp control.
The corn information will include: Roundup Ready trials, Instigate, Anthem, Verdict, and Armezon Trials. Control of glyphosate resistant ragweed information includes: Liberty tank mixed with 2, 4-D or dicamba, tillage and herbicides study, UNL systems study, and Anthem/Anthem ATZ trials.  For more details, check out the flier at: http://york.unl.edu/web/york/crops-future and click on the appropriate link.
Weed resistance is becoming an important management decision, I hope you’ll plan to attend.
