Aug. 20: Crop Science Investigation (CSI): Estimating Yields, 5-6 p.m., RSVP jrees2@unl.edu
Aug. 22: Midwest Soybean Production Clinic, ENREC near Mead, Reg: 8 a.m., Program 8:30-5 p.m.
Aug. 23: Midwest Corn Production Clinic, ENREC near Mead, Reg: 8 a.m., Program 8:30-5 p.m.
Aug. 23: West Central Water & Crops Field Day, West Central Research & Extension Center North Platte, 8 a.m.
Aug. 23: York Co. Corn Grower Plot Tailgate, 5-7 p.m.
Aug. 24-Sept. 3: Nebraska State Fair, Grand Island
Aug. 28: Irrigation Scheduling Equipment Demonstration and Field Day, Noon-?, Bruce Hudson Farm Southeast of Polk, RSVP steve.melvin@unl.edu
Aug. 29: South Central Ag Lab (SCAL) Field Day near Clay Center
Crop Update: I’m so sorry to all affected by Monday night’s hail/wind storms! For those reading this before Monday, a reminder of hail damage meetings we’re having Monday Morning, 10 a.m. at the Utica Auditorium and Monday Afternoon, 1:30 p.m. at the Fairgrounds in Central City. I will post key points of what’s discussed at http://jenreesources.com after the meetings. Please also check out our Hail Know Website at https://cropwatch.unl.edu/hailknow and take the survey on the page to help us better know how to serve you with that resource.
This week’s CropWatch at http://cropwatch.unl.edu shares two different dicamba-related articles. One is a case study to walk through the forensic analysis for off-target dicamba movement showing how it originated from a corn field. The other goes into more detail regarding soybean still producing a new node every 3.7 days upon off-target dicamba movement (as long as the apical meristem has not been killed). It’s truly a significant piece of information, because without it, the assumptions within the forensic analysis don’t work!
Also, you have an opportunity to share your voice and input. This past week we’ve heard that EPA is planning to make their decision by mid-August on whether or not to extend registrations of XtendiMax®, Engenia®, and FeXapan® in order to help inform the seed and chemical industry for next year’s purchases. Some of you have called or talked with me about this. A few have understandably been pretty upset that these products are getting so much blame when, in this part of the State, much off-target dicamba movement starts from corn applications. That doesn’t get as much press nationally. While I’ve tried hard to share the story here and am grateful to our media partners who have helped me, I’m one very small voice. I have no idea what will happen; my concern is the bigger picture-potentially losing dicamba period as a tool in our toolbox.
So you have an opportunity to share your voice in Nebraska Extension’s survey that will be shared with the EPA: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/JWDCY3C. Share your opinion on Xtend technology. Share your opinion on where you’ve discovered off-target movement from in 2017 and 2018. Share your opinion on dicamba. The results will also be compiled and shared on CropWatch and winter meetings. Thank you for considering this!
Aphids and Frogeye: I’ve also received a handful of questions regarding corn leaf aphids in corn and frogeye leaf spot in soybean. Both have rapidly increased in some corn and soybean fields. At beginning dent and various stages of starch-fill corn, I just have a hard time putting anything else into this crop. So I haven’t been recommending insecticides and there’s no thresholds this late to support it. In fields I checked from last week to this week with corn leaf and bird cherry oat aphids, I’ve also seen an explosion of beneficial insects and mummification occurring of aphids, which is helpful. Regarding frogeye, it’s one where we recommend a product containing a high amount of strobilurin at R3 or R5. Many beans are at R6 or almost there, so again, I’m having a hard time putting any more money into this. High humidity and leaf wetness for 12 hours or more will rapidly increase frogeye, so the worst situations I’ve seen through the years are in gravity-irrigated fields. Also, seeing a number of soybean defoliators in fields. Please check out this CropWatch article at: https://cropwatch.unl.edu/2018/soybean-defoliators to better help understand how much defoliation can occur in soybean.
Lawn Renovation: For those seeking to improve your lawn or get one established, August is a great time to do so! I really like this resource for this purpose: https://go.unl.edu/rz9z. If you’d prefer to watch videos, Backyard Farmer has a series of Lawn Renovation videos, but this link gets you to the most recent one regarding fall renovation: https://youtu.be/Fxd1NUQ8ScQ.
