Extension Update by Gary Zoubeck [October 2, 2014]

Coming Events

10/26/2014 – 5:00 p.m., 4-H Achievement Party, York County Fairgrounds, York

10/27/2014 – 8:30 p.m., Extension Board Meeting, Extension Office, York 

Cropping Update

It’s been great seeing the corn and soybeans being harvested the past few days.  I’ve seen many seed corn fields harvested as well as several rainfed soybeans fields having been harvested and I’m sure we’ll see many more this week!  I’ve received several reports of soybean stem borer feeding again this year.  You can see the holes in stems of harvest beans.  So if you have not done so yet, now’s a good time to scout your fields and be ready to harvest those fields with a high per cent of stem borers first.  You don’t want the stems to get extremely dry and then have very windy conditions.  For more about this pest, check out our NebGuide:  http://www.ianrpubs.unl.edu/epublic/live/g2082/build/g2082.pdf.

As harvest progresses and gets completed, producers will have many things to consider with today’s current commodity prices.  Will you continue with the past few year’s cropping mix or will you change crops and plant more soybeans?  What will your fertilizer program be?  With today’s commodity prices it will be more important than ever to collect good soil sample and fertilize accordingly.  We’ve conducted On-Farm Research studies comparing the use of starter fertilizers compared to none.  Current UNL research indicates that starter fertilizers are not needed in situations with a medium or higher Bray-1 phosphorous test.  

In 2005, we tested starter vs no starter on six fields with Bray-1 phosphorous levels of 22-70.  The six fields with starter yielded 215.9 bu./acre while the six fields with no starter yielded 215.6 bu./acre.  The yields were not significant at the 5% level.

So as harvest get completed, be sure and get those fields soil tested.   Check out our soil management information at: http://cropwatch.unl.edu/soils.

Farm Bill Information   

I attending the farm bill training session at the ARDC last week and we’ll be planning some informational meeting following harvest.  I’m hoping to learn more about a couple of the computer models that are being developed to help producers determine how to enroll in various programs.  

As I mentioned last week, Randy Pryor, UNL Extension Educator in Saline County has been active in   gathering information about various farm bills and has put together an excellent webpage with many farm bill resources on it.  It’s located at:  http://saline.unl.edu/salinecountyaglinks.  

Stay tuned for more information.

Understanding Climate Change

Last Thursday I attended the first Heuermann Lecture of the season on Innovation Campus.  What a great facility, much different from the old state fairgrounds arena.  This lecture was presented by Donald Wilhite, professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s School of Natural Resources and a panel discussion other UNL faculty.  The title of their presentation was “Understanding and Assessing Climate Change: Implications for Nebraska”.

The auditorium was full and I know several people also watch it live.  I know that most producers don’t have time now with harvest going on to watch the seminar, but maybe on a rainy day or when harvest is complete, so I’ll share the link:  http://heuermannlectures.unl.edu/.  If you’d like a copy of the full report along with a copy of the slides used during the lecture, they’re available at: http://go.unl.edu/climatechange.

 I’ll be interested in your thoughts about the report and or the lecture.

Yard and Garden

This past week, Bill Kreuser, Assistant Professor and Turfgrass Extension Specialist, shared a Turf iNfo update related to fertilizing our turf that indicates the earlier you apply your fall fertilization the better.

Fall nitrogen applications are essential to promote plant regrowth, summer stress recovery, and maximize carbohydrate storage prior to winter. Previous recommendations were to apply nitrogen during early to mid-September and then make a heavy application of nitrogen fertilization at the end of the growing season (early to mid-November). The rational was the cool weather stunted shoot growth while the nitrogen fertilizer was still taken into the plant because the soils are still relatively warm. 

Their research found that nitrogen uptake was lower during the end of fall compared to earlier in the season.  Nitrogen in the soil solution is transported to the roots via plant transpiration through a process called mass flow. The higher the transpiration rate, the more nitrogen gets to the roots. Low evapotranspiration during late fall limits mass flow and reduces access to nitrogen. As a result, nitrogen from late fall fertilization either sits in the soil until the grass resumes growth in the spring or it is lost through processes such as leaching.  This work was also replicated and confirmed by researchers at the University of Minnesota and Penn State University.   

Our current recommendations for fall fertilization for our heavy soils are: Apply slow release granular products in mid-September at 1.0 lbs/1000 ft2. Aim for a product with 50% slow release nitrogen or less. If additional nitrogen fertilization is required later in the fall, use products with more quick release nitrogen and don’t apply nitrogen after mid to late-October depending on your location within Nebraska. Later applications will linger in the soil and promote excessive spring growth. This increases mowing requirements in spring and depletes carbohydrates prior to summer. It’s essential the same as applying nitrogen fertilizer in early spring. Apply potassium based on soil test recommendations.

Recommendations for sandy soils are: 

Continue to spoon-field soluble nitrogen sources into the fall. Gradually reduce nitrogen rate as evapotranspiration rate declines. Final application should be made from early to late October depending on your location within Nebraska. Otherwise, apply 0.5 to 1.0 lbs of nitrogen from a slow release fertilizer in mid-September while uptake efficiency is still high. Aim for a product with at most 50% slow release nitrogen and use a product with a low SGN to reduce the potential of mower pick-up. This strategy supplies the plant with the nitrogen it needs to recover from summer stress and produce storage carbohydrates from winter. Apply potassium if it’s required by soil test or if annual nitrogen is much greater than annual potassium rate. The most efficient time to apply potassium is actually in the spring because it minimizes the risk of leaching during winter when uptake is minimal.

Looks like we need to be getting our last fertilizer application on our turf now.  Check out the complete Turf iNfo update at: http://turf.unl.edu/.

Mid‐September through early November is also a great time to control weeds like dandelion, clover, and chickweed.  Why, because broadleaf weed herbicides are systemic and move through the plant in the phloem, which also transports photosynthate.  The effectiveness of control increases when the herbicide reaches as much of the plant as possible. In the fall, perennial plants are “preparing” for winter, translocating photosynthate and storage products to the crowns and roots. Herbicide applied in the fall will translocate with the photosythate throughout the plant, thus usually causing a complete kill. 

In early spring the weeds tends to be moving storage products from its roots and crowns to initiate leaves and flowers. Thus herbicide applied in the early spring tends to remain in the leaves, not translocating throughout the plant, and not providing nearly as effective long‐term control as a fall application. 

Also, fall applications have less drift risk because most of the non‐target susceptible plants have either lost their leaves, are dead or soon will be dead, or mature enough to withstand some limited drift.  

By making fall applications to control weeds this will allow turf to fill in this fall before crabgrass or other weeds germinate next spring.  Always be sure to read and follow the label when applying fertilizer or pesticides.

Finally, I’ve received several calls about ash and other trees like losing their leaves or having spots on many of the leaves.  If it was late spring or early summer I’d be more worried, but at this time of year the leaves could have been frozen and dropped off, so I’m not too worried at this time.  

We’ve had a lot of moisture this season which has resulted in more leaf spot showing up.