Extension Update by Gary Zoubeck [June 20, 2013]

Coming Events

• June 24-27, Nebraska No-till Bus Tour, Kearney
• June 24, Extension Board Exec Meeting, 8:00 p.m., Extension Office
• June 27, Southeast Nebraska Wheat Tour, 7:00 p.m., West of Wilber (Go seven miles west of Wilber on Highway 41, then go one mile south on County Road 1500, turn right (or west) on County Road Q, proceed 0.2 mile.)
• July 2, Weed Management Field Day, 8:30 a.m., SCAL, Clay Center.

Help Avoid Drift to Sensitive Crops
With all the crops being spray at this time, I’d like to encourage all area producers, commercial applicators as well as yard and garden applicators to really think about drift especially if apply volatile herbicides like 2,4-D and dicamba to name a few and be mindful of the increasing number of commercially-grown sensitive crops in our agricultural landscape as well as our yards and gardens.  It is important that all applicators read and follow the label directions, including any timing, temperature, and wind speed restrictions.

Check to see if you have sensitive crops in the area by visiting the DriftWatch™  website:  www.driftwatch.org to locate commercially-grown sensitive crops in your spray area, and adjust your applications accordingly.  Sensitive crops include orchards, vineyards, fruits and vegetables, organic crops, nurseries, and tree crops.

Cropping Update
The corn and soybeans are really starting to take off; you can almost see them grow.  The corn fields are turning from light yellow to our typical dark green.  We received a little rain and considerable wind over the weekend.  Could have used less wind and more rain, but we’ll have to take what we get.  Typically once we get past Father’s Day we’re past the worst severe weather, but I guess only time will tell.

The ETgages I’m monitoring here in town, east of town, and south of town dropped between 1.80 and 1.90” for the week.  The earliest planted corn and soybeans near these sites vary from V5-V7 for the corn and around V2-V3 for the soybeans.  So for corn we would multiply the 1.9” ETgage drop by coefficient of .35 for V6 corn to estimate the water use.  That would make crop water use for the earliest planted corn of around .67” and about the same for soybeans, but typically we don’t recommended irrigating soybeans until we get to the R3 stage.  It looks like for the week, since we received .35” of rain, we used about .3 or .4” of water.

I’ve installed Watermark sensors in several corn and soybean fields and the sensor readings are all between 0” and 20 so were in good shape in most of the fields I’m monitoring.  If the sensors at 1’, 2’ and 3’ would all average 60, we’d have used about 1.5” from the three foot profile.  Information about these ETgages and Watermark sensors along with charts and videos can be found at this website:  http://water.unl.edu/nawmn.  If you have sensors installed in your field and have any questions about the readings, give me a call at 402-362-5508 at 402-326-8185 or email me at gary.zoubek@unl.edu.  I’d be glad to visit with you about them.

Area producers are invited to a couple of tours in our area.  One is a wheat tour June 27 located west of Wilber, and the other is a weeds tour on July 2 near Clay Center.

I know that we don’t have a lot of wheat production in York County, but a few producers are interested, so I thought I’d share details about the Southeast Nebraska Wheat Tour planned for June 27^ at 7:00 p.m.

The tour will feature 15 varieties and 19 experimental wheat varieties as well as presentations by UNL wheat experts and a panel of growers.  Presenters will include Teshome Regassa, UNL extension educator and wheat trial manager; Stephen Baenziger, UNL professor and wheat breeder: Stephen Wegulo, UNL plant pathologist along with a grower panel that will share their tips for nutrient management and high yielding wheat.  Directions to the plot location: Go seven miles west of Wilber on Highway 41, then go one mile south on County Road 1500, turn right (or west) on County Road Q, proceed 0.2 mile. The field is on the south side of the road.  Rain Date: In the case of a storm or rain, the meeting will start at the Saline County Extension office meeting room in Wilber at 306 West 3rd St.

Kolaches and refreshments will be served, thanks to support from area agribusinesses.  For more Information, contact Pryor at the UNL Extension Office in Saline County at 402-821-2151 or e-mail rpryor1@unl.edu.

The Weed Management Field Day is 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.

The soybean information will include:  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 management is becoming an important management decision, I hope you’ll plan to attend .  There is no charge and lunch is provided.  Please pre-register to (402) 472-1534 or (402) 762-4403.

Yard & Garden
I’ve received questions on several different yard and garden topics this past week, so I’ll try and share a few of them.

What’s causing mushrooms to grow in my lawn? The cooler temperatures and rains we’ve received has encouraged mushrooms to grow.  Typically we do not worry about them because they are simply growing on the organic matter such thatch or dead tree roots.  They will disappear with drier conditions or once the organic matter has decomposed.  We do not have fungicides that will control mushrooms.  Mushrooms come in all types of sizes, colors and shapes, for information about some of the common turf mushrooms, check out our NebGuide G1914 Mushrooms, Fairy Rings, and Other Nuisance Fungi in the Landscape at: http://www.ianrpubs.unl.edu/pages/publicationD.jsp?publicationId=1409.

What’s wrong with my tree?
I’ve received several questions about trees this spring.  We’ve seen some disease problems, but the majority of the problems we are seeing are related to environmental stress from last season’s drought.  I had one of our Extension Foresters out last week and we looked at some established burr oaks, ash trees, and spruce that we suspect have issues related to the severe drought we had last year.  He suggested giving them a little extra water around the drip line of the trees.  Simply water the turf will not provide the water that large trees need.  In some of the spruce, it shows up as individual branches dying or the entire tree in some cases.

We’re also seeing several of our Scotch pines dye as a result of pine wilt which is spread by pinewood nematodes.  The most important management practice to prevent the spread (at least slow the spread) is sanitation.  So, to reduce the spread to healthy trees, diseased trees and trees that die should be removed and destroyed before pine sawyer beetles emerge from these trees.  So trees that die between May 1 and October 1 should be cut down promptly and burned, buried or chipped.  Trees that die after October 1, need to be removed prior to next the end of April the following year.

If you are replacing lost pines, spruce, firs, red cedar, junipers and white and ponderosa pines face little threat from pine wilt.  For more info about this disease goto: http://www.ianrpubs.unl.edu/live/g1899/build/g1899.pdf.

Last week I mentioned that we’d soon be seeing white or yellow butterflies flying around your cabbage and other cole crops.  These butter flies will lay egg on the cole crops and soon “cabbage worms” will be chewing many holes on the leaves.  Last Sunday when I was out in the garden, that’s exactly what I saw; the butter flies were flying around laying eggs.  So, if you don’t want a little extra protein in your coleslaw, use an insecticide like BT or Sevin and labeled rates and be sure of follow preharvest recommendations.

I’m sure a couple more of our other insect pests will soon be showing up….bean leaf beetles on snap beans and cucumber beetles on vine crops.  I use an insecticide labeled for these crops especially the cucumber beetles because 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.

As I mentioned last week, now is the time to be thinking about tomato diseases like early blight & Septoria leaf spot.  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 typically make applications of fungicides early and then stop when I begin harvesting the fruit.

For the latest horticultural updates check out our websites at: http://environment.unl.edu/.