Coming Events
- August 19, 8:45 a.m., Switchgrass Bioenergy Feedstock Field Day, near Beaver Crossing http://ardc.unl.edu/2014CenUSAFieldDaysBrochure.pdf
- August 25, 8:00 p.m., Extension Board Exec. Meeting, Extension Office, 2345 Nebraska Av.,York
- August 28, 5:30 p.m., York County Corn Grower Plot tour located on the Ray & Ron Makovicka farm located East of York ¼ mile East of the intersection of Road 14 & O.
Soybean Management Field Days Update
We had a great series of Soybean Management Field Days this past week with sessions near Auburn, Shickley, Fullerton, and Snyder. We had about half of the 450 producers attending the field day attend our session on irrigating soybeans. We really had some great discussion about irrigation system capacity and what’s need to be able to provide adequate water most years. We also visited about estimating crop ET or Evapotranspiration and how it does vary greatly from year to year. This season has been one of relatively low ET rates thus far, but I’m sure it can change rapidly with temperatures predicted to be in the lower 90’s this week!
We also visited about using Watermark Sensors and estimating the last irrigation of the season for both corn and soybeans. The soybeans in our plots are at the pod fill stage (R5) so we’re estimating that we’ll need about 6.50†of water from the soil, irrigation and or rainfall to get our soybeans to maturity. It’s about the same for water requirement for corn in the dough stage and about 5.0†for corn at the beginning dent stage.
If the temperatures get hot, the corn will mature a little faster while soybeans will may take a little extra water then we’ve predicted. You’ll want to be sure and monitor that soil water status so that you don’t get you don’t run short of water, but you also don’t want to have a full profile either.
We also share a little data from the Learning Center near Gothenburg that showed some soybean varieties actually have lower yields if over irrigated. Typically August rains and irrigation during pod fill results in great soybean yields.
2014 Switchgrass Bioenergy Feedstock Field Days (TODAY)
I wanted to remind area producers of the Switchgrass Bioenergy Field Day planned for today at 9:15 a.m. Registration at 8:45 a.m., and program at 9:15 a.m. More details at: http://ardc.unl.edu/2014CenUSAFieldDaysBrochure.pdf.
Topics will include:
1) Genetics/Establishment/Management/Economics
2) Harvesting/Marketing – Commercialization/Biomass Biofuel Conversion Process
3) Switchgrass – Insect & Disease
4) Alternative Uses and Environmental Benefits – Soil/Water/Wildlife
5) Equipment Demonstration and Discussion – Drill and Harvest Swather
6) Comments from CenUSA
To get to the field day, at the I-80/Goehner exit (exit 373), go 6.5 miles south on County Road 364. Take a left on Yankee Hill Road and go east ½ mile. Field site is on the north side of road.
Cropping Update
This past week the ETgages that I monitor dropped 1.1 inches for the week. The factor for most of our crops is now 1.1, so that’s a total of 1.21 inches for the week or about .17â€/day for our crops. It may go up slightly with the predicted temperatures, but not much. We had a nice little sprinkle (.15â€) Sunday night. Hopefully we’ll get a few more so it will help with scheduling the last irrigation of the season.
York County Corn Grower Plot Tour
I like to invite all area producers and other interested in the corn production to the annual York County Corn Grower Plot Tour planned for Thursday, August 28, at 5:30 p.m. The 2014 plot is located East of York on the Ray and Ron Makovicka farm located ¼ mile East of the Intersection of Road 14 and O. I hope you’ll mark your calendar and plan to attend. We hope to cover several timely topics and hear from the seed Reps, the NRD as well as discuss a few of our new irrigation Apps!
Plan to attend and bring a neighbor or two along.
Lawn and Garden
I just received the following Turf iNfo update so I thought I’d share it:
“With the seeding season closing in on us for cool season grasses, we are being inundated by calls and emails on preferred grass types. Tall fescue or Kentucky bluegrass are the best cool-season grasses for Nebraska lawns, whereas buffalograss is the best warm-season grass for Nebraska lawns. More information is available in a March 2013 Turf iNfo at http://turf.unl.edu/pdfctarticles/march_grassesforlawns.pdf, and in summary:
• Buffalograss: Extremely low maintenance after established, but dormant from October through May. Buffalograss is well-adapted throughout most of the state.
• Kentucky bluegrass: Dark green, excellent winter tolerance and spreads aggressively by rhizomes. Best grass to use for lawns in the western 2/3rd to 1/2 of the state, because we think it has better winter tolerance than tall fescue. Can also be used in eastern NE.
• Turf type tall fescue (also known as tall fescue or rhizomatus tall fescue [RTF]): Deep-rooted and limited problems with white grubs. Actually uses more water than Kentucky bluegrass, but a deeper root system allows it stay greener and longer than Kentucky bluegrass during infrequent rainfall. Tall fescue generally has been thought to have poor winter tolerance, but fared well this last winter so we’re reevaluating its fit throughout the state. It is the best lawn grass in eastern 1/3 of Nebraska and particularly in the southeastern corner of NE stretching well past Kansas City.
• Fine fescue (creeping red, red, slender, sheeps, etc), perennial ryegrass: Avoid these species for a lawn, but they do have fits in no-mow roughs, sports fields, and other niches.”
For the latest turf info check out: http://turf.unl.edu/. They also just shared a story about yellowing blue grass the last couple of weeks.
