Coming Events
April 2, NE Ag Water Management Network (NAWMN) Meeting, 9:00 a.m. Fairgrounds, Hastings
April 4, Household Hazardous Waste Collection Day, 2:00 – 5:00 pm. York Co. Fairgrounds, York
April 20, Extension Board Exec. Meeting, 8:30 p.m., York Extension Office
April 25, Spring Affair, 9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m., Lancaster Event Center, Lincoln
Nebraska Ag Water Management Network Annual Meeting
I know that with the nice weather predicted for Thursday, many of you are thinking getting ready for spring planting, but if at all possible, I hope you’ll consider attending our NAWMN meeting April 2nd in Hastings. Those of you involved in our Nebraska Agricultural Water Management Network should have received an invitation since it was mailed to well over 1,200 participants across the state.
The program will begin with registration at 9:00 a.m. and ending around 2:45 p.m.
Topics will include:
Updates about Capacitance type sensors AquaCheck USA & JD Field Connect
Update about Matric potential type sensors – Profiler
Innovation sharing
NRD Updates
NAWMN expansion to NE Ag Teachers and FFA members
Research Updates
Network sharing and discussion
No cost to attend, but please RSVP to me at gary.zoubek@unl.edu or (402) 362-5508 so that we can have adequate meals prepared. It should be a great meeting for anyone interested in water management.
Household Hazardous Waste Collection Day Planned Â
All residents of York County are invited and encouraged to bring your residential household hazardous waste to the York County Fairgrounds from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. on Saturday April 4th to be properly disposed. Waste you can bring includes: acids, antifreeze, pesticides, yard chemical/fertilizer, small quantities of gasoline/oil, lead batteries, mercury, paint, and fluorescent bulbs.
DO NOT bring dried paint, it can go directly into trash. NO tires or large quantities of farm chemicals.
Now’s the time to gather these products up so you can have them properly disposed of.
Forestry and Emerald Ash Borer Update Part 2
Last week I visited about the Emerald Ash Borer and the fact that it’s getting closer and closer. It’s not a question of will this pest get here, but how soon. Rather than spend unnecessary money now to try and protect your ash trees, we really need to be thinking about tree inventory and how we can begin to diversify the type and size of the our tree inventories.
Amy Seiler, Community Forestry Specialist from the Nebraska Forest Service, shared a power point presentation with our Master Gardner’s and shared some suggestion as to trees to consider.
So, as I mentioned last week, we want to diversify our community forest! We want to plant several different species and create age class diversity. We want no more than 10% of a species; 20% of a genus and no more than 30% of a family. As to age diversity, plant several different sized trees, plant tree in many years and take care of those older trees. When possible, plant native or regionally adapted tree, non-invasive species, high quality plant stock with good root systems and an assortment of fast growing and slow growing species. The fast growing trees will be the pioneer species of the community forestry program following EAB.
So where should we focus our planting? Along our streets, shading homes and patios, parks, and riparian area. Always look around and be careful around utility lines. Look up and around and decide if this is a good location for a tree or not.
Some of the faster growing trees she suggested include:
Freeman Maple, Northern Catalpa, Common Hackberry, Katsuratree, Thornless Honeylocust, Plains Cottonwood, American Elm and lesser known Elms, Green Vase Zelkova, Osage Orange, and American Sycamore. It’s an interesting list of trees, many of which I would not have considered.
Her longer lived, slower growing tree list includes:
Several Acer – Maples: Paperbark Maple, State Street Maple, Rock Mountain Glow, Norway Maples, John Pair Maple, Black Maple, Hot Wings Maple and Norway Maple Hybrids.
Other longer lived slower growing trees include: Pecans, Turkish Filbert, Autumn Gold Ginkgo, Kentucky Coffeetree, Golden Raintree, American Linden and Amur Maackia.
Quercus or oaks are another great group of longer lived, slower growing trees:Â Swamp White Oak, Shingle Oak, Heritage Oak, Bur Oak, Chinkapin Oak, English Oak, Shumard Oak, Black Oak, and Red Oak.
For information and images of some of these trees check out these links:
Trees for Eastern NE (It’s a list of 137 suggested trees) http://arboretum.unl.edu/documents/Trees%20for%20Eastern%20Nebraska.pdf
Oaks for Nebraska http://arboretum.unl.edu/documents/Oaks%20for%20NE.pdf
So as you think about Arbor Day, I hope you’ll consider helping get ready for post Emerald Ash Borer and plant a tree or two or more!
Nebraska Severe Weather Week
Last week was Nebraska Severe Weather Awareness Week! Are you Weather-Ready? NOAA shared some simple things key points that you should know:
KNOW YOUR RISK – Tornadoes, large hail, damaging thunderstorms winds, floods and lightning can be deadly for the unprepared. Knowing the weather-related risks posed to you is the first step in becoming Weather-Ready.
TAKE ACTION – Be prepared for the hazards of spring by knowing you are not powerless. Devise a tornado drill plan for you, your family and your business. Know what to do if lighting becomes a hazard or if flooding becomes threatening. With the hazard potential on the plans, you should know what to do for each situation and be ready to “take action†if needed. This may save your life or those around you.
BE A FORCE OF NATURE – Be an example. Share your preparedness success story by posting on Facebook/Twitter or helping build an online community of the prepared. #newx
Spring Affair—Plant Sale, Talks and All Things Garden
This year, the Spring Affair will be Saturday, April 25, at the Lancaster Event Center in Lincoln from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. More than 500 different perennials, herbs, grasses, trees, shrubs and other plants will be available.
This event is sponsored by the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum as an educational tool, fundraising event and to promote regional plants. The great majority of the plants are perennials that will survive for many years. Many of the plants new to this year’s sale are regional natives that can survive variable temperatures, moisture, heat and exposure to sun. Some examples include:
Queen-of-the-meadow, a “show-stopper†with huge pink flowerheads from summer till fall that grows 3-4 feet high and can take partial shade.
Yellow coneflower, leadplant and fringed sage can also handle the hottest, driest spot in any garden.
Several plant talks will be held throughout the day:
10:30 –ll:30 a.m. Using and Cooking with Herbs with Cindy Brison, NE Extension Educator
11:15 – 11:45 a.m. Prairie Plants in the Landscape with Mark Canney, Lincoln Parks & Rec.
Noon – 12:30 p.m. Swiss Army Landscaping with Multi-purpose Plants†with Graham Herbst, NE Forest Service
12:45 p.m. Trees for the Home Landscape with Justin Evertson, NE Statewide Arboretum
Plant experts will be available throughout the sale to answer plant and landscape questions and help shoppers find the “right plant for the right place.â€Â Admission to the sale is free. The plant sale; plant talks by noted plants people; educational booths; and vendors of garden art, sculptures, furniture and other items are all under one roof in Pavilion I, on the northeast edge of the Lancaster Event Center. For more information: http://plantnebraska.org/spring-affair.
Summer Workshop Presenters/Helper Wanted
With Eileen retiring this spring, we’re not going to have all the same summer workshops we’ve had the past few years. We’ve hired a couple of UNL students to help coordinate Home Ec. 4-H program this summer and help at the fair, but we’re also looking for several volunteers that might like to do a workshop, help at the workshops or volunteer during the fair. If this might interested you, give me a call at 402-362-5508 or email me at gary.zoubek@unl.edu. I’m look forward to hearing from you. I can also use a few people helping in Ag Hall during the fair! Thanks for considering helping our youth out in 2015.
