Coming Events
- Aug. 1-4, 2013 – York County Fair http://www.yorkcountyfair.com/
It’s Fair Time
It’s hard to believe, but another fair is a little more than a week away! I hope you’ll plan to attend the many events and check out all the open class, 4-H, and FFA exhibits. If you’d have a little free time and would like to help volunteer, give me a call at 402-326-8185 or email me at gary.zoubek@unl.edu, and I’m sure we could find something for you to do.
Do you have some sewing, baked goods or garden produce you’d like to brag about? How about entering an item or two on Tuesday evening July 30 or Wednesday morning July 31. Copies of the fair book are available at our office or online at:  http://www.yorkcountyfair.com/
It’s Cruise Nights at the fair, we’ll see you there!
Cropping Update
Well, it’s been a little disappointing not receiving much measurable rain the past few weeks. Here in town I measured .15†for the front that passed thru on Friday. Could have used more, but hopefully we’ll receive some when we least expect it? Crops have continued to make good progress with much of the corn now tasseling and the soybeans beginning to reach R3.
The ETgages I monitor in York, east of town as well as south of town dropped about 1.60†for the week. The one I have in town by the office dropped a little more, but it’s the concrete effect. The grass covered ETgage dropped 1.40†so that’s what our turf used this past week. The humidity has helped keep the ETgage drops down a little and we could really feel the humidity on several days.
With much of the early planted corn now tasseling the crop coefficient is 1.10, so to estimate the crop water use for we multiply 1.6 x 1.10 so our crop water use was 1.76†for the week or .25â€/day.
The York County Corn Grower Plot readings are 60, 54 and 19, so they’re in good shape. The sensors in the York County RoundUp Ready soybean plot are reading 126, 97, 40, and 29, so we’ve depleted 1.97†and have 1.33†remaining in the top three feet before we get to 50% depleted.
I’ve also received calls call asking if the sensor readings of 199 are correct or not. At first I thought that they may not be correct, but went out and probed the field and it was pretty dry. Readings of 199 indicate that you are about 55% depleted is all three were reading that. This field had been irrigated 3 or 4â€, but when I probed it we only found a few inches of soil containing moisture as did the third foot that was reading in the 80’s.
Last week I mentioned that I’ve received questions as to what the sensor reading should I have to decide when to irrigate. The answer is it depends; you need to know your well capacity and soil type. The better the soil and well the easier it is to manage your irrigation. If you’ve got good wells and systems that work well, you can let the sensors get dry, but if you have low capacity wells, that’s a different story.
The first thing you need to do is calculate your gross system capacity. You do that by dividing your pump capacity by the acres you irrigate. So if you have a well that pumps 750 gpm on 125 acres that’s a gross capacity of 6 gpm/acre. We have charts for Eastern and Western Nebraska, and since Western Nebraska receives less rain and is more aired, they have large capacity needs. With our good Hastings Silt Loams soils our needed capacity is 3.9 gpm/acre to get by 9 of 10 years and to meet peak need, we need a capacity of at least 5.71 gpm/acre.
So in our area if you have a well that’s pumping 871 gpm you can meet the peak needs of 5.7 gpm/acre on 130 acre field.
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 and what the numbers mean. You could also download our Crop Water App for iPads/iPhones at: http://go.unl.edu/aiz or for Androids at: http://go.unl.edu/hkg.
Soybean Management Field Days
As I mentioned last week, I hope you’ll mark your calendars and plan to attend the Soybean Management Field Days! They are August 13, in Minden at the Olsen Cattle Co. Farm; August 14, in York at the Jerry Stahr Farm; August 15, in Pierce at the Mike Krueger Farm; and August 16, in Waterloo at the Walvoord and Sons Farm. Registration begins at 9:00 a.m. with the program from 9:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.
Topics include: adjuvants and water quality; fungicide and insecticide inputs-yield results and risks; row spacing; soybean nutrients including micronutrient study; irrigation management; the golden triangle-Nebraska’s livestock production past, present, and future.
There is no charge thanks to the Nebraska Soybean Board but please pre-register at 800-529-8030. For more information: http://ardc.unl.edu/soydays.
Herbicide Resistant Field Days
Two herbicide resistant field days are planned for early August. One is August 6 at David City and the other is August 7 at Fremont.
Field day topics include: Glyphosate Dose Response and Liberty Link Soybean; Management Systems: Study various herbicide programs and their effectiveness in controlling glyphosate-resistant weed populations. Dicamba-Resistant Soybean (Fremont only): View demonstrations of how dicamba-resistant soybean can provide another post-emergence tool for weed management. Carrier Rate: See how carrier rate impacts herbicides.
In addition to these topics, there will be a presentation on glyphosate-resistant giant ragweed at David City and glyphosate-resistant waterhemp at Fremont. Each field day will begin at 9 a.m. and end at 1:30 p.m. following lunch.
The events are free but preregistration is required by Friday, August 2. David City: From Hwy 15 in David City, turn west on East A St., then continue west for 2 blocks and look for the UNL field sign. Fremont: Parking is not available at the site. Please park in the Fremont Tractor Supply parking lot (next to Walmart), and shuttle buses will transport you the 1.5 miles to the field day site.
Yard and Garden
I have not received many lawn and garden questions, but would encourage you to check out all our resources at http://environment.unl.edu/. You can get to all our publications, Acreage Insights, Backyard Farmer, and to our Horticulture Update section with all our timely horticulture tips.
Also check out the Turf Section for the latest timely tips. Hopefully you are mowing on a regular basis, using a sharp blade. Now is the time to keep the mowing height high and never remove more than 1/3 at any one time. If you keep the height high, you don’t need to mow as often as if you mow at a shorter height. Mowing higher, helps keep the turf cool which most of our grasses are cool season types and they don’t like hot temperatures.
I hope you’ll check it out.
