Nebraska Weather
Well, we’ve continued to have typical, not-so-typical Nebraska weather. We’ve finally had a week of warmer temperatures with the average high temperature of 70.1°F and a high of 84° F one day. The average low temperature was 38° F for the week!
I’ve visited with a few producers and not a lot of corn was planted prior to this weekend. I did see a little going on Saturday, but most will wait until after our snow melts away. I checked my rain gauge at the office and we had .44†of moisture for this storm. The moisture was sure welcome, but I’d of rather had rain than snow, but it was sure welcome.
It looks like it’s going to be cold on Thursday again, but then warm up again. Hopefully we’ll have some good weather as we get into the full swing of planting. For the latest cropping updates go to CropWatch at: http://cropwatch.unl.edu/.
Cooperative Extension is 100 Years Old This Year
I’ve been trying to read our Annual Extension Reports dating back to 1926 and have found many interesting and unusual topics that have been conducted over the years. How things have changed, but how they have also remain the same. I’m summarizing some of the information, and I’m planning to put some kind of summary together, not sure exactly what.
What would really add to it would be some early pictures of Extension Educational activities. If you have some that I could copy and share, I’d appreciate you dropping them off with me. If they’re in digital form, you can email them to me at gary.zoubek@unl.edu. We hope to share this info at the 2014 York County Fair.
I look forward to hearing from you.
UNL On-Farm Research
I’m sure most, if not all, area producers are ready to get going with the planting season. We’ve had a little setback with the cold/snow, but I’m sure things will get back to normal soon. With this delay, I hope you’ll consider planning and conducting at least one On-Farm Research study. Give me a call and we can visit about potential on-farm research comparison during the 2014 growing season.
In 2013, we had 36 growers representing 50 on-farm comparisons. These studies represented in-furrow fungicide treatments at planting, corn plant populations, nitrogen rates, starter fertilizer use, and the list goes on and on. To learn more about using your own farm equipment in your fields to answer production related questions, go to: http://cropwatch.unl.edu/farmresearch
Last season I had five producers in the York/Seward area conduct On-Farm Studies. I’d really like to double or triple that number this year!
Feel free to drop me an email gary.zoubek@unl.edu or call me at 402-326-8185. It’s really not hard, and I’m sure every producer has at least one thing they’d like to compare.
If you’d like an easy one to try, how about comparing soybean or corn populations or comparing a new product to nothing. What you need to do is plant at least two combine harvest width of population one or product A and then two harvest widths of population two or nothing and then repeat several more times so that we have at least seven pairs to compare! We then harvest the 14 strips and keep track of the loads with your monitor or we can use a weigh wagon. So, how about comparing your current soybean population to 120,000 or your current corn population to one slightly more or less? Or product A vs. nothing? An example plot diagram follows:
Pop 1
Pop 1 Pair 1
Pop 2 Pair 1
Pop 2 Pair 2
Pop 1 Pair 2
Pop 1 Pair 3
Pop 2 Pair 3
Pop 2 Pair 4
Pop 1 Pair 4
Pop 1 Pair 5
Pop 2 Pair 6
Pop 2 Pair 7
Pop 1 Pair 7
Pop 1
Information and several protocols can be found at: http://cropwatch.unl.edu/farmresearch. So while you’re waiting to get going planting, give me a call, I’ll be glad to help you design a study!
Spring Affair Planned
The annual Spring Affair event will be held Saturday, April 26, at the Lancaster Event Center from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. It will include over 500 varieties of plants for sale along with many educational talks, all under the same roof.
This year’s theme is “Plants are the Bee’s Knees,” referring to the importance of gardens as far more than just places of beauty. Gardens are becoming increasingly important for diversity, pollination, wildlife habitat, and other broad environmental issues.
Some of the presentation topics will include: The Buzz on Bees, Great Plants for Great Gardens, and The Difference a Garden Makes. Throughout Saturday, more informal presentations on trees, shrubs, vines, shade, and dry sites will be given around the plant tables.
Admission to this event is free on Saturday but ticketed for the preview event Friday evening. The Lancaster Event Center located on the Northeast part of town and has plenty of parking.
This event is sponsored by Nebraska Statewide Arboretum in partnership with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Department of Agronomy & Horticulture, UNL Extension and Extension Master Gardeners. This annual event serves as both an educational tool and a fundraising event for the ongoing growth of the arboretum and the department.
For more information, visit: http://springaffair.unl.edu/.
HELP — Irrigation Cooperators Needed
As a result of my column last week, I’ve received calls from a couple of producers that had irrigation systems they were willing to let us evaluate. THANKS! So I decided to try and run it again!
We’re looking for potential irrigators to help with an Energy Star Guide project for irrigation pumping plants. The idea is that you match Pump Impeller A with Diesel Engine X and based upon the published values you should be able to pump and acre-inch of water using an AX volume of diesel fuel. So the Energy Star Guide would be a range in gallons of diesel fuel needed for pumping an acre-inch of water (example for 125 feet of lift and 50 psi the system should use 2.19 gallons of diesel fuel per acre-inch pumped). In this example, the system would be operating at 100% of the NPPPC.
What we’re looking for are producers that have systems where the center pivot includes a corner arm or where the pivot irrigates in rolling terrain. Ideally, we are looking for systems that are 5 years old or less. UNL would run a pumping test on your system and share that info with you. If you be interested, give me a call at 402-362-5508 or email me at gary.zoubek@unl.edu. I hope to hear from several producers in our area. I’ll be glad to visit with you if you have any questions.
Crop Scout Training Planned
The training for entry level scouts who will be working for crop consultants, industry agronomists or farm service centers will be held May 6, 2014, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the University’s Agricultural Research and Development Center near Mead.
Topics include: how corn and soybean plants grow and develop, soybean and corn insect management, identifying weeds – plant morphology, using a key to identify weed seedlings, crop diseases and quiz, and nutrient deficiencies.
The cost is $135. Fees include lunch, refreshment breaks, workshop materials, and instruction manual. Registrants should preregister one week in advance to reserve their seat and to ensure workshop materials are available the day of the training session. Updated reference materials are included in this year’s take home instruction manual.
A total of 5.5 Certified Crop Advisor Continuing Education Units is anticipated in the integrated pest management (4.0), crop management (1.0), and fertility/nutrient management (.5) categories.
For more information or to register, contact the ARDC, CMDC Programs, 1071 County Road G, Ithaca, Neb., 68033, call 402-624-8000, fax 402-624-8010, email cdunbar2@unl.edu, or visit http://ardc.unl.edu/cmdc.shtml.
Yard & Garden
I saw in this week’s Wonder Line that someone new to the area was looking for planting date information for this area. A link to that information that I’ve prepared can be found at: http://go.unl.edu/nosz. The publication has information about the earliest, suggested, and latest planting dates for many of are typical vegetable grown in this area.
I have not checked the cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli plants that I planted to see how they’re doing with the snow, ice, and cold temperatures. I have them under plastic milk jugs, so they are somewhat protected. I’ll report back next week!
Check out our latest horticulture information at: http://environment.unl.edu/.
