Cropping Update
It has been nice getting a little rain the past couple of weeks! Hopefully we’ll continue to get some this fall so that we can fill our profile again. The ETgages that I’ve been monitoring this season dropped by an average of a little under an inch the past couple of weeks. The corn near these gages are at 75% milk line and the other is just at black layer, so I picked up the ETgages for the winter. You don’t want them filled with water when it freezes (frozen water and ceramic is not a good thing) or you’ll be replacing the ceramic top when it freezes. I pull the stopper and drain it and put it away in a safe place till next spring. In the spring I’ll replace the green canvas cover and wafer.
With the irrigation season now over, it’s also a good time to pull your Watermark Sensor. I pulled a couple of sets today and hope to pull most of them the next few days since we’ve received some moisture to help make it a little easier. They’ve been easier removing than last year, but the 3’ depth one has still been a little difficult. If you haven’t purchased a Watermark Sensor puller yet, I’d suggest that you do so. It makes the job a lot easier on you and your back and you don’t damage the pvc pipe that your sensors are attached to.
Bill Collett of Collett Enterprises, has been an active participant of our NAWMN the past several years and has been using the Watermark sensors. In 2010 he made a crude jack and used pliers to clamp onto the sensors. In 2011 he used the locking pliers with the extended jaws which helped to hold on better with no damage to the sensor. He realized that other producers also had a difficult time removing their sensors were asking if there was a puller available, so he started manufacturing them. You can check them out at: http://www.colledun.com/wdc_puller/. Be sure to check out his you tube video on how to use the puller.
Once you get the sensors pulled, simply wash them off and store until next season.
Speaking of harvest, have you calibrated your yield monitor yet? To get good data, you need to have it calibrated accurately. Check out our latest issue of CropWatch to get this done before you get into full swing. That link is: http://cropwatch.unl.edu/.
Even though harvest is really just getting started, now is a good time to determine how well you did managing your nitrogen this past season by doing a corn stalk nitrate test. You remove an 8-inch segment from 6 to 14 inches above the soil from 15 representative stalks, remove the sheaths and place in a paper bag, keep them cool and send to the laboratory for analysis. Have them tested for nitrates.
If they test:
Low                0-250 ppm        increase your N
Marginal          250-750 ppm    increase your N
Optimal 700-2000 ppm  yields are not limited by N stress
Excess             2000+ ppm       plan N greater than needed.
Check out Charles Shapiro’s’ article on CropWatch at: http://cropwatch.unl.edu. Finally, if you have not done so yet, you need to get those grain bins cleaned and ready for the new crop. CropWatch has a new article on this topic you may also want to check out.
I see that several dryland soybean fields have been harvested along with a few early season irrigated fields. I want to remind area soybean producers of the importance to harvest your soybeans in a timely basis so that you don’t let them dry down too much. Even though the stems may be green, the soybeans may be dry. I think harvesting soybeans can be a combination of are, luck and skill. It’s probably more common for soybeans to be harvested at 10% moisture than the desired “13%â€. The difference between the actual and desired moisture is paid for by the producer.
Beans testing over 13% are assigned a penalty that shows up on the scale ticket, however soybeans that test under 13% are also penalized, but not on the scale ticket, it shows up as less bushels to sell. A standard bushel of soybeans weighs 60 pounds and is 13% moisture. That’s 52.2 pounds of dry matter and 7.8 pounds of water. If you harvest soybeans at 12% moisture you have 52.2 pounds of dry matter, but the bushel of beans weighs 59.318 pounds instead of 60 pounds. The lost water is .682 pounds or a 1.137% loss in yield. If you are harvesting 60 bushel soybeans at 13% moisture at $12.00/bushel, letting them dry down 3 pints to 10% moisture will result a loss of about $24.00/acre or nearly $40.00/acre if you harvest them at 8%.
I know that it’s difficult to get them harvested at exactly 13%, but that should be your goal. Try to adjust harvest practices:
1)Â Â Â Â Â Â When harvesting tough or green stems, make combine adjustments and operate at slower speeds.
2)Â Â Â Â Â Begin harvesting at 14% moisture. What appears to be wet from the road may be dry enough to harvest. Try harvesting when some of the leaves are still dry on the plant; the beans may be drier than you think. Soybeans are fully mature when 95% of the pods are at their mature tan color.
3)     It’s too late now, but plan your planting and variety selection to spread out plant maturity and harvest.
4)Â Â Â Â Â Harvest under optimum conditions. Moisture content can increase by several points with an overnight dew or it can decrease by several points in low humidity, windy conditions. Avoid harvesting when beans are the driest, such as on hot afternoons, to maintain moisture and reduce shattering losses.
5)Â Â Â Â Â Avoid harvest losses from shattering. Four to five beans on the ground per square foot can add up to one bushel per acre loss. If you are putting beans in a bin equipped for drying grain, start harvesting at 16% moisture and aerate down to 13%. Harvest at a slow pace and make adjustments to the combine to match conditions several times a day as conditions change.
Good luck with your soybean, corn and grain sorghum harvest.
Lawn and Garden
With the cooler temperature, it’s now time to be thinking about fertilizing your cool season turf. Fall is the most important time to fertilize cool season turfgrass. Of the total annual N applied, 60 to 75% of it should be applied between Labor Day and the last mowing. September fertilization is crucial on all turf areas regardless if it is a lawn, athletic field, or golf course green, tee or fairway. It encourages the production of new tillers and/or rhizomes and stolons that increase turf density. It also encourages rooting and production of storage products that will help the plant survive the stresses of winter and next year’s growing season. This is especially true for areas thinned by the late summer heat and drought.
Almost all turf areas should be fertilized with 1 lb. N/1000 sq. ft. using a fertilizer with 25-50% slow release nitrogen (sulfur or polymer-coated urea, urea formaldehyde, or natural organics). Some recent research suggests higher N rates can be used with fertilizers containing even more slow release nitrogen, which may minimize the need for typical late October or very early November applications (this slow release N in this September application may release over 6-8 weeks or more). This would be very useful on low maintenance areas where labor is limiting. The next most important fertilization is near the last mowing of the season.
For the complete story on fertilizing your turf, check out Turf iNfo at: http://turf.unl.edu/. Now is also a good time to control many weeds in turf as well as aerate it. Stories about these two practices are also posted at TurfiNfo.
