Coming Events
Sept. 23, 2013 – York Extension Board Meeting, 8:00 p.m., Extension Office
Raising Our H2O IQ
For all of you planning to attend Husker Harvest Days near Grand Island this week, I hope you’ll take time to visit the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources display and take time to visit with the many research and extension professionals staffing the booths.
“Raising Our H2O IQ” is the theme of this year’s display which UNL has changed annually the past few years. The goal is to showcase to the public the latest IANR research and extension programming.
This is the sixth year IANR’s teaching, research, and extension exhibits are focused on a specific area of importance that is relevant to all Nebraskans and visitors to the red Husker exhibit building on the south side of the showground at Lot 321.
Key exhibit areas focus on hydrology; how tillage and residue removal affect water balance in crop fields; variable rate irrigation as the next evolution in precision agriculture technology for center pivot irrigation systems; transpiration as the key to maximizing yield per gallon on water applied to crops; water efficient residential landscapes; the Nebraska Agricultural Water Management Network that works hand-in-hand with hundreds of Nebraska irrigators; UNL’s respected and often-referenced drought planning experts from the National Drought Mitigation Center; and helping to meet global food security needs via the Robert B. Daugherty Water for Food Institute.
I’m planning to help staff the Nebraska Agricultural Water Management Network and the Nebraska On-Farm Research booths, so stop by and visit our display.
Corn Stalk Nitrate Test
As the season winds down, now is the time to collect corn stalk samples to evaluate your nitrogen program. Todd Whitney, Extension Educator in Aurora shared the following column so rather than me preparing one, I’m sharing his: “Now is the time to take corn stalk samples (up to three weeks after the corn black layer kernel growth stage) for nitrate evaluation. Charles Shapiro, UNL Extension Soils specialist, published “The Corn Stalk Nitrate Test,†NF01-491 NebFact, and this guide allows producers to “grade†themselves on how well they managed their corn nitrogen program.
Due to groundwater nitrate level concerns, our Upper Big Blue NRD watershed producers are encouraged to not over-fertilize crops. On the flip-side, producers should not under-fertilize corn resulting in less yield and reduced returns. This stalk nitrate test can determine if the corn was under, adequately, or over fertilized with nitrogen.
To conduct the stalk nitrate test, sample fields similar to how you would soil sample.
Harvest stalks from representative areas removing the sheaths. Avoid sampling diseased stalks; hail or insect damaged stalks; or stalks with no ear or extremely small ears.
Cut 8-inch stalk samples using a hand pruner with the lower stalk cut at 6 inches above the soil surface and the upper cut at 14 inches above ground. Suggest taking 15 stalks per sample; keeping them cool and clean as you work. Wrap the samples in paper (rather than plastic) to avoid mold growth; and send samples to the soil testing lab as soon as possible for nitrate analysis.
If the stalk samples test low (< 250 ppm) or marginal (250-700 ppm) in nitrate content, conduct a thorough evaluation of your nitrogen fertility program and determine where improvements could be made. Was your chlorophyll meter reading correctly when mid-season nitrogen application decisions were made? How much nitrogen was lost in pre-season nitrogen applications? Or, were target potential yields set too low? Every year is different, and weather conditions such as solar radiation can affect even the best programs.
End-of-season stalk tests which record excess nitrate levels (> 2,000 ppm) may also indicate a “red†flag warning. When more nitrogen is applied than the crop actually uses, a potential result is nitrate leaching past roots in soil profile eventually into groundwater. Fields that tend to have high stalk nitrate tests are those where corn fields followed alfalfa and manure or excess nitrogen was applied. Hybrid corn fields with male row destruction may also need nitrogen application rates reduced. For example, if normal target irrigated yields are lowered from 250 bushels per acre to 80 bushels per acre, then fertility should also be adjusted. Based on corn grain nutrient content of 1.12 to 1.35 pounds of nitrogen removed per bushel of grain production and a 50% fertilizer efficiency, nitrogen application rates could likely be reduced up to 100 pounds of nitrogen per acre when corn fields move into hybrid corn production.
Give me a call at 402-362-5508 or stop by our office if you have questions about our stalk nitrate test. Additional information can also be found at our CropWatch website: http://cropwatch.unl.edu.
Cropping Update
We’ve continued to have warmer (hot) weather the past week, but hopefully it will be coming to an end this week and maybe we’ll get some of that needed rain. I’m sure the past few weeks have taken some of the potential yield off of our dryland crops. The ETgages I’ve been monitoring dropped 1.3†for the week, a little lower than I had expected, however the humidity has really been up! So the crop water uses has been around .22â€/day for corn and soybeans.
A couple of the irrigated corn fields that I’ve been monitoring are in the dent stage and are at ½ to ¾ milk line. These fields will have and estimated water use of between 1 to 2.25â€. One field has sensor readings of 62, 64, and 40, so it has about 2.00†of available moisture, and we’re probably finished irrigating for the season. If you have not checked out our article on scheduling that last irrigation of the season, check it out at: http://cropwatch.unl.edu/web/cropwatch/archive?articleID=5381796.
Hunter & Archery Education Classes Planned
Just a reminder, if you have not signed up for the Archery or Hunter Education that Dan Barrett is conducting, now is the time to do so. He will be conducting these classes in the 4-H Building here in York. Archery classes will be held from 7:00 – 9:30 p.m. on September 13, 16, 17 and 19, and the Hunter Education Classes will be held the same time on September 23, 24, 26, and 27.
To register, go to huntsafenebraska.org and click on the appropriate link.
Lawn and Garden
How’s your lawn and garden doing? It’s been a long hot few weeks. I’ve been receiving a few calls about lawns that have spots showing up as a result of the stress we’ve been experiencing because of the high temperatures and dry conditions. This condition is known as summer patch or frog eye. If you have considerable damage as a result of this disease, now would be a good time to aerate and over seed with new improved turf cultivars. Information about this disease can be found on our turf website: http://turf.unl.edu/ and in the following publication: http://www.ianrpubs.unl.edu/live/g1913/build/g1913.pdf. Check out all the resources at our turf webpage.
