September 13, 2015

Good afternoon,

I’m sending this week’s Hardin County Agriculture and Natural Resources Update from the Hardin County Fair.  If you haven’t yet visited our fair, make sure you get out here today as it is the final day of the event.  I am currently helping out with the Master Gardener Volunteer booth located in the Arts & Crafts Building.  Stop by to see the awards won at this year’s State Master Gardener Conference.  I have attached an article about the Hardin County OSU Extension MGV’s success, including three state winners to this email.  In addition, I have attached a flyer about an upcoming pollinator program in Auglaize County.  If you were at the fair and attended any of the livestock shows, you might be interested to see how the champion and reserve champion steers, barrows, gilts, lambs, and goats do on the rail.  The Hardin County Carcass Show of Champions will be held September 15 at Mt. Victory Meats starting at 6:00 pm.  See the attached flyer for more information about this event.

Pollinator Flyer

2015 Carcass Show Flyer

Have you called the Soil and Water Conservation District office yet to register for the Hardin County Field Day?  Make sure you call the Hardin SWCD at 419-673-0456 extension 3 as soon as possible to attend this free event.  They need to know how many people plan to attend so we can have enough lunches for everyone.  ‘Agricultural Conservation, Protecting Water: Keeping Soil and Nutrients in the Field’ will be the theme of the Hardin County Field Day on September 18. The event will start out at the Jerry McBride Farm, 11312 County Road 60, Dola, Ohio at 8:30 am and will end at 1:30.  We have been planning this field day since May so make sure you attend to see the different presentations and field demonstrations.  Two Certified Crop Adviser (CCA) and two Certified Livestock Manager (CLM) credits will be available.  For more information, see the attached flyer and article below.

Hardin Field Day

The Farm Science Review will be held September 22-24 at the Molly Caren Agricultural Center in London.  Our Extension office has pre-sale tickets available for this event at the cost $7.00 per person.  I have also made tickets available for sale around the county at Crop Production Services in Dunkirk, The Plaza Inn in Mt. Victory, and Heritage Grain in Ada.  Make sure you stop by and get your pre-sale tickets before the event and save $3.00 per person over the gate admission of $10.00.  Check out http://fsr.osu.edu/sites/fsr/files/imce/OSU%20Schedule.pdf for this year’s Farm Science Review Schedule of Events.  This year’s theme is ‘Sharp Ideas, Sharp Equipment and Sharp Results.’

 

Upcoming local events this week include Tuesday’s (9/15) Carcass Show of Champions, starting at 6:00 pm at Mt. Victory Meats, a combined Allen County/Hardin County Master Gardener meeting at the Friendship Gardens on Wednesday (9/16) starting at 6:30 pm, a Soil and Water Conservation District board meeting Thursday (9/17) starting at 7:30 am at the SWCD office, a Conservation Tillage Conference planning meeting the same day (9/17) starting at 10:00 am at the Extension office, and the Hardin County Field Day at Jerry McBride’s farm Friday (9/18) starting at 8:30 am.  The Ada Harvest and Herb Festival is Saturday, September 19.  See the agronomy articles below if you would like some more reading.

 

Mark

 

 

 

 

Agricultural Conservation, Protecting Water: Keeping Soil and Nutrients in the Field – Mark Badertscher

Agricultural Conservation, Protecting Water: Keeping Soil and Nutrients in the Field will be the theme of the Hardin County Field Day on September 18.  The event will start out at the Jerry McBride Farm, 11312 County Road 60, Dola, Ohio at 8:30 am and will end at 1:30 pm with complimentary lunch.  The field day is being presented by the Hardin SWCD, USDA-NRCS, The Nature Conservancy, Findlay Implement Company, John Deere, and OSU Extension.  Go to http://corn.osu.edu/newsletters/2015/2015-28/agricultural-conservation-protecting-water-keeping-soil-and-nutrients-in-the-field to finish reading this article.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Planting Scabby Wheat Q and A – Pierce Paul

Q: What if I plant scabby wheat for grain or use it as a cover crop? A: You can certainly plant scabby wheat, but doing so will more than likely result in poor stand establishment because affected seeds may not germinate or germinate producing seedlings of poor quality. Before planting, make sure you clean the seed to remove the scabby, light weight kernels, and used a seed treatment fungicide. Click here for more information: http://agcrops.osu.edu/corn/newsletters/2015/2015-21/#4

Q: Will planting scabby seed lead to vomitoxin problems in wheat next year? A: No. After the seeds germinate, the emerging seedling and heads will not automatically become contaminated with vomitoxin. Whether or not next year’s crop becomes contaminated will depend on the weather conditions between heading and harvest.

Q: Will spreading scabby wheat across a field affect scab and ear rot development next year?

A: If scabby wheat is only broadcasted and not incorporated into the soil, it could contribute to increasing the level of Fusarium inoculum next year, particularly if the seeds are too damaged to germinate. So while broadcasting is a recommended practice for handling scabby wheat, it would help to incorporate in; broadcast it uniformly and then work it into the upper few inches of the soil. Unlike wheat straw, scabby wheat grains tend to breakdown much faster, and plowing or disking can speed-up the process of decomposition. This will help to reduce inoculum build-up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yield Monitor Tips for 2015 Harvest – John Fulton, Andrew Klopfenstein, Kaylee Port, Scott Shearer

Wet spring and persistent rain in many areas of Ohio have generated highly variable harvesting conditions for 2015 in both soybeans and corn.  There are maturity, height, and expected yield differences within many fields that will bring about the importance of combine adjustments but also yield monitoring management, in particular calibration.  The image presented was captured late August and illustrates the variability of both soybeans and corn going into dry down and harvest.  Drowned out areas exist along with high yield potential areas but also everything in between.  To continue reading Yield Monitor Tips for 2015 Harvest, go to http://corn.osu.edu/newsletters/2015/2015-29/sample-article-with-rory.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Troubleshooting Corn Ear Abnormalities – Peter Thomison, Allen Geyer

When checking corn fields prior to and during harvest, it’s not uncommon to encounter abnormal corn ears such as those shown above, especially when the crop has experienced stress conditions. Some of these abnormalities affect yield and grain quality adversely. We recently updated “Troubleshooting Abnormal Corn Ears” (available online at http://u.osu.edu/mastercorn/) to help corn growers and agricultural professionals diagnose and manage various ear and kernel anomalies and disorders. Also available is a poster revised in 2015 highlighting fourteen abnormal corn ears with distinct symptoms and causes. The purpose of the poster is to help troubleshoot various ear disorders.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Free Pigweed Herbicide Resistance Screening – Mark Loux

OSU weed scientists will again screen populations of any pigweed species this coming winter for their herbicide resistance characteristics, at no charge.  This includes populations of redroot pigweed, waterhemp, and Palmer amaranth, among others.  Samples should generally be collected from fields where resistance to one or more types of herbicide is suspected.  The sample submission form with directions for collecting seed can be found at the “Herbicide resistance screening” link on the right side of our website, u.osu.edu/osuweeds/.  Guidelines for collections are as follows: 1. Samples should be collected when seed is mature. Fully developed seed will be hard not soft. 2. Collect entire seedheads.
  Depending on species 10 to 30 seedheads are needed to have enough seed for a proper screening. 3. Sample should be fresh.  Mail immediately or let air dry under cool dry conditions in an open PAPER bag for 2 to 4 weeks.  Do NOT collect or store in PLASTIC 5. Samples should be carefully packaged and shipped early in the week to avoid weekend layovers during which the sample will deteriorate. 6. Be sure to include sample documentation and background information.

 

 

 

Mark A. Badertscher

Agriculture and Natural Resources Educator

OSU Extension Hardin County

1021 W. Lima Street, Suite 103, Kenton, OH 43326

419-674-2297 Office

hardin.osu.edu

 

September 5, 2015

Good evening,

Have you heard about the Hardin County Field Day yet?  ‘Agricultural Conservation, Protecting Water: Keeping Soil and Nutrients in the Field’ will be the theme of the Hardin County Field Day on September 18. The event will start out at the Jerry McBride Farm, 11312 County Road 60, Dola, Ohio at 8:30 am and will end at 1:30 pm with complimentary lunch. The field day is being presented by the Hardin SWCD, USDA-NRCS, The Nature Conservancy, Findlay Implement Company, John Deere, and OSU Extension. The field day addresses several ag conservation and water quality issues with speakers, field demonstrations, and lunch.  Make sure you contact the Hardin SWCD at 419-673-0456 extension 3 by September 10 to attend this free event.  For more details, read the attached news article.

Hardin Field Day Feature Article

Crops are starting to mature in fields around the county.  Soybeans should be quick to turn this year because of the type of growing season we have had.  See Anne Dorrance’s attached document on late season soybean conditions and symptoms.  I am planning to do one more round of scouting for our statewide soybean yield-limiting factor research before harvest to find out what problems may be in the four fields that are a part of this study.  Last Friday I pulled the Western Bean Cutworm traps from around the county.  Once again there were no adult WBC moths in the traps.  See the article below for information about WBC larvae.

Late season SB conditions and Disease Symptom

Are you looking forward to the Hardin County Fair September 8-13?  The Extension Office will be closed during this year’s fair.  If you need to contact any of our staff, call the fair office at (419) 675-2396 and they will put you in contact with us.  Don’t forget to make plans to attend the Hardin County Carcass Show of Champions which will be held September 15 at Mt. Victory Meats.  This carcass show will put the grand and reserve champion steers, barrows, gilts, lambs, and goats on the rail for an evaluation of their meat value.  See the attached article for more information about this event.

Carcass Show News Release

The Farm Science Review will be held September 22-24 at the Molly Caren Agricultural Center in London.  Our office has pre-sale tickets available for this event at the cost $7.00 per person.  I have also made tickets available for sale around the county at Crop Production Services in Dunkirk, The Plaza Inn in Mt. Victory, and Heritage Grain in Ada.  Make sure you stop by and get your pre-sale tickets before the event and save $3.00 per person over the gate admission of $10.00.  There are a variety of interesting programs planned at the FSR, including the Small Farm Center programs.  I have attached a document to this email that lists the Small Farm Center schedule.

2015 Small Farm schedule FSR

If you are an agronomist, Certified Crop Adviser (CCA) or custom applicator, you won’t want to miss the FSR Agronomy College being held September 15 at the site.  Participants will spend the morning in the agronomy plots with OSU Extension staff. Afternoon sessions include spray nozzle selection, tillage and nutrient application, UAV and remote sensing, and precision ag.  See the attached flyer for more information about this educational program and how to register.  Ag Council had the opportunity to learn about drones and aerial imagery from Austin Heil, Homestead Precision Farming at its monthly breakfast meeting yesterday.  His presentation included images from our OSU Extension Corn Response to Nitrogen test plots.

OABA FSR Agronomy Flyer

Tonight the Fairboard made final plans for this year’s Hardin County Fair.  We hope that you will attend this county agricultural event and support the many youth and adults who participate in the shows in both Jr. and Sr. Fair.  If you do, you’ll be sure to see some of the best of what Hardin County has to offer.  While you are there, don’t forget to support the different livestock commodity group food stands  as you make your way around the fairgrounds.  Enjoy your Labor Day weekend and I have attached some agronomy related articles to read in between the college football games that will be on television.

 

GO BUCKS!

Mark

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Symptoms of Early Maturity in Some Fields in Ohio – Anne Dorrance

Across the state some soybeans have hit the later growth stages and we have a range of tall, beautiful soybeans loaded with pods to short, scraggly, can still see the rows with few pods soybeans and everything in between.  Variability rules for the summer of 2015.  Over the next couple of weeks watch your fields and take some notes – you can learn a lot at the end of the summer to help make better decisions for 2016.  To continue reading about early maturity symptoms in soybeans, go to http://corn.osu.edu/newsletters/2015/2015-27/symptoms-of-early-maturity-in-some-fields-in-ohio.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Does your field have Western Bean Cutworm larva? – Andy Michel

Over the past few weeks, we have been receiving calls, emails and texts about finding large caterpillars feeding on corn ears (see photo).  In most cases, these are turning out to be Western bean cutworms.  Although our numbers have been about the same as previous years, we may have seen slightly more survival. This may be due to the drier and milder July, as well as delayed and patchy corn maturity which provided a lot oviposition sources. To be clear, none of this damage appears to be economic, but yet it would be important to note for future years if you have found these larvae in your field. While it is too late to control for WBC (once they enter the ear, they are protected against insecticide), knowing where larvae have been found would be good information as we continue to monitor this emerging corn pest in Ohio.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Considering Growing Wheat in Wide Rows? – Laura Lindsey, Eric Richer, Pierce Paul

Growers are interested in wide-row wheat production due to reductions in equipment inventory (i.e., lack of grain drill) and to allow intercropping of soybean into wheat. With funding from the Ohio Small Grains Marketing Program and the Michigan Wheat Program, we’ve conducted row width trials to examine variety selection and seeding rate. To read about some considerations if you plan on growing wheat in wide rows this fall, go to http://corn.osu.edu/newsletters/2015/2015-27/considering-growing-wheat-in-wide-rows.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last Alfalfa Cutting and The Fall Rest Period – Mark Sulc

The next two weeks are the best time to take the last alfalfa cutting of the year while maintaining stand productivity. We recommend the last harvest to be taken by September 7 in northern Ohio and September 15 in southern Ohio. This will allow a fall rest period for alfalfa, which is probably more important than usual this year due to the stressful growing conditions we’ve had. Cutting schedules of alfalfa have been greatly disrupted in Ohio this year to the extended wet weather the first half of the summer followed by dry conditions in many areas. Go to http://corn.osu.edu/newsletters/2015/2015-28/last-alfalfa-cutting-and-the-fall-rest-period to read more about cutting alfalfa this time of year.

 

 

 

 

 

Cover Crops After Corn Silage Harvest – Rory Lewandowski

A lot of corn was chopped for corn silage last week and harvest continues this week.  We are about a month ahead of last year’s corn silage harvest and this year’s earlier harvest provides an opportunity to get cover crops established on those acres.  Earlier planting of cover crops is good.  The touted benefits of cover crops are dependent upon the crop producing forage mass above ground and developing a root system below ground.  More growth is generally equal to more benefits.  In addition to protecting the soil against erosion, cover crops can improve soil quality, provide supplemental forage for grazing or mechanical harvest, can use excess nutrients in the soil, and can provide an option for manure application during late fall and winter periods.  To finish reading this article, go to http://corn.osu.edu/newsletters/2015/2015-28/cover-crops-after-corn-silage-harvest.
 

 

 

Mark A. Badertscher

Agriculture and Natural Resources Educator

OSU Extension Hardin County

1021 W. Lima Street, Suite 103, Kenton, OH 43326

419-674-2297 Office

hardin.osu.edu