Good afternoon,
The story of the week is that Hardin County is still in need of rain. If you look at the latest U.S. Drought Monitor website at http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/Home/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?OH, you will see that most of the county is now considered in ‘Moderate Drought’ as of August 2. Checking crops around the county, more and more corn fields are showing stress during this critical time of kernel development. Although the northern part of the county seems drier, parts of southern Hardin County are very dry as well. The interesting part about the corn stress, is that some fields are showing it more than others, even on the same road where rainfall was the same. This could be the result of drought resistant hybrids, soil type, drainage, tillage, planting date, root development or a combination of more than one factor. Soybeans are beginning to show evidence of the dry weather as well with some fields having spider mites. Soybean plants are shorter than usual and some have fewer and smaller pods at the nodes.
If you are a fruit and vegetable grower, don’t forget that tomorrow evening, Tuesday, August 9 is the Hardin County Crop Walk program starting at 6:00 pm at Levi Yoder’s farm (15460 County Road 209) southeast of Kenton. See the attached article for more information about this event that will feature OSU Extension Horticulturist Jim Jasinski and OSU-OARDC Plant Pathologist Dr. Sally Miller. I have also included a flyer and news article about this year’s Hardin Field Day, ‘Agricultural Conservation, Protecting Water: Keeping Soil and Nutrients in the Field.’ This is the second year for this field day, cooperatively sponsored by the following partners: The Nature Conservancy, John Deere, Findlay Implement, Chris Kurt, Randy Boose, OSU Extension, Hardin & Putnam Soil and Water Conservation Districts, Ohio Farm Bureau/Blanchard River Demonstration Farms Network, Ohio Department of Agriculture and USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. It will take place on August 26 and requires participants to pre-register to ensure a lunch count for the event. Please call the Hardin Soil and Water Conservation District at 419-673-0456, extension 3 by August 17 to attend this free event.
Hardin Field Day Feature Article
Twilight Tours are scheduled for both August 16th and 23rd. August 16 will focus on inter-seeding soybeans into growing wheat. This event will be held at Ted Griffith’s field near Ada and will feature information about this practice, modified drill, and research data for similar fields. August 23 will focus on nitrogen timing by applying late season nitrogen onto corn when it is needed most by corn. This event will be at Paul Ralston’s field near Foraker and will feature information about this practice, Y-drops attached to a highboy sprayer, and a demonstration of using a portable soil testing system to help manage nitrogen. More information about these two Twilight Tours will be coming later.
Do you have any old pesticides that you want to get rid of? August 22 there will be a Pesticide Clean Sweep Day in Hardin County at the fairgrounds. The pesticide collection and disposal service is free of charge, but only farm chemicals will be accepted. Paint, antifreeze, solvents, and household or non-farm pesticides will not be accepted. See the attached news release from the Ohio Department of Agriculture for more details about the opportunity to dispose of farm chemicals in an environmentally friendly way. Other upcoming local events include Men’s Garden Club tonight (8/8) starting at 6:30 pm at Roger Knoll’s Wharton farm, Pork Producers meeting Tuesday (8/9), starting at 7:00 pm at Ag Credit, and Hardin County Sheep Tour meeting Wednesday (8/10) starting at 8:00 am at Oh My Grill in Dunkirk. This week is also Ohio Local Foods Week, so make sure you visit our local produce auction and farmers markets to support our local producers. Also, take time to look at the agronomy articles below that I’ve included for your reading.
Pesticide Collection Hardin County
Mark
Insect Pests we’re Watching Now – Kelley Tilmon, Andy Michel
With continued dry weather, spider mites are one of the main pests to remain vigilant about in field crops. They will often show up in field borders first as they move in from other habitats, for example if nearby ditches have been mowed. Spider mites are difficult to see. Look for injury signs — yellow spotting or stippling on the upper side of leaves. In soybean this damage usually begins in the lower canopy and progresses upward as the mite population increases. Heavily infested leaves may also have light webbing similar to spider webs. Go to http://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/insect-pests-we%E2%80%99re-watching-now to read more about Spider Mites, Western Bean Cutworm, Grasshoppers, Japanese Beetles, and other Soybean Defoliators.
Developing a Plan to Keep Nutrients in the Field – Greg LaBarge
Nutrient Management Plans provide both fertility recommendations for crop production and an environmental site risk for on a field by field basis that help identify resource concerns impacting nutrient and sediment loss. The process helps identify fields with a higher risk profile and appropriate Best Management Practices that can limit losses. For water quality related to agricultural production, the impact of sediment and nutrients primarily phosphorus and nitrogen are the greatest concerns. To learn more about nutrient management plans and how you can get one for your farm, go to http://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/developing-plan-keep-nutrients-field.
Hot, Dry Conditions Stressing Corn – Peter Thomison
Throughout Ohio, especially northern Ohio, there are corn fields exhibiting drought and temperature stress. Leaf rolling is common and uneven, stunted corn growth is widespread. Moreover, most of these stressed corn fields are now beyond the stage of development that is especially susceptible to drought and high temperature injury – pollination. High temperature stress is usually associated with drought. Heat stress and drought intensify damage to corn and soybean but either may cause major crop injury alone. To read more, go to http://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/hot-dry-conditions-stressing-corn.
Got waterhemp? – Find Out the Herbicide Resistance Characteristics Now – Mark Loux
We have spent a lot of time educating and warning about Palmer amaranth, but while we were doing this, waterhemp has become a more widespread problem. Waterhemp is only a little less fun to deal with than Palmer amaranth, and has a tendency to fairly rapidly develop resistance to any new sites of action used repeatedly against it in POST treatments. Submitted questions and photos to confirm identification of this weed increased substantially this summer over previous years. Waterhemp infestations can be found around the state, with a concentration in west central Ohio. To finish reading this article about waterhemp, go to http://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/got-waterhemp-%E2%80%93-find-out-herbicide-resistance-characteristics-now.
Data Retention and Availability –The Big Data Confusion: Part 11 – John Fulton, Kaylee Port
Data retention policies represent a set of guidelines that outlines data will be archived, how long it will be kept, how it will be removed, and either destructed or returned to the farmer. The American Farm Bureau Federation’s “Privacy and Security Principles for Farm Data” includes the principle of Data Retention and Availability stating that “Each ATP (Ag Technology Provider) should provide for the removal, secure destruction and return of original farm data from the farmer’s account upon the request of the farmer or after a pre-agreed period of time. To read more on this series, go to http://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/data-retention-and-availability-%E2%80%93-big-data-confusion-part-11.
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