Good afternoon,
It feels like fall is finally here with the cool temperatures and harvest going on around the county. Soybean harvest is about 80% completed with corn harvest progressing daily. There have been agriculture and horticulture events happening that have involved people from Hardin County since the last Hardin County Agriculture and Natural Resources update was sent out. The Hardin County OSU Extension Master Gardener Volunteers (MGV) brought back two state awards from the Ohio MGV Conference held at The Ohio State University in Columbus. ‘Invasive Species Media Series’ was recognized as state winner for the Invasive Species Outstanding MGV Project award category for medium sized groups at this annual conference. Also, the Hardin County group was recognized as a platinum ‘Standards of Excellence’ award winner. If you are interested in reading more about the accomplishments of this group, see the attached article.
State Master Gardener Awards News Release
The Hardin County Sheep Improvement Association toured four Washington County sheep farms as part of the annual Hardin County Sheep Management Tour held October 21-22. A group of active and retired sheep producers traveled to sites in southeastern Ohio near Marietta. This group included 16 producers from Allen, Ashland, Auglaize, Hancock, and Hardin Counties. The local group was joined by additional sheep producers from Noble, Pickaway, and Washington Counties. On the trip, they learned about new and different philosophies of raising and marketing sheep and wool. An emphasis on the trip was innovative and interesting ideas, which help in the management of day-to-day production chores as well as finding improved ways of accomplishing tasks. Some of the individuals participating in this educational trip also attended a similar trip to gain knowledge from western U.S. ranchers by visiting California sheep farms two weeks earlier. For more information about the Hardin County Sheep Management Tour, see the attached news release.
Are you interested in obtaining your Ohio Pesticide Applicators license? Maybe you are interested in having your son or daughter take over the pesticide applicator licensing for your farm. If so, you might be interested in the upcoming Private Pesticide Applicator Exam Preparation program being held in Darke County on November 7. See the attached flyer for more information about how to register for this event by October 31. The objective of this class will be to offer you exam preparation for Core and Category 1 (Grain and Cereal Crops) and to share with you how to prepare for the other category tests. Darke County Extension is also offering a Grain Marketing School in November and December which will cover Marketing, Risk Tolerance and Risk Capacity; Marketing Matrix and Crop Insurance; Marketing Vocabulary, Hedging and Cash Sales; Futures, Options and Basis; Storage and Post-Harvest Marketing; What Not To Do When Building a Market Plan; and the AgYield Simulator Challenge. See the attached flyer for more details about how to register by October 31.
2017 Pesticide Exam Prep Flyer
2017 Grain Marketing School Flyer
As the farm economy becomes tighter and the environmental pressure greater on farmers, understanding your soil fertility and nutrient needs becomes ever so important. The Darke Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) will again be hosting the Soil Fertility & Nutrient Management Workshop Series beginning in November. This is a four-part workshop that begins with the basics and ends with a farm plan for up to 50 acres on your farm. Register early with the attached flyer to guarantee your spot in this workshop geared toward helping farmers better understand soil needs and efficient nutrient use. I have also included a copy of the October Ohio Fruit News put together by OSU Extension. Articles in this issue include stink bugs, blackberry downy mildew, fall clean-up of berry crops, strawberry season recap, spotted wing drosophila, and winterizing hop yards information. Upcoming local events include Ag Council on Friday, November 3 starting at 7:00 am at Henry’s Restaurant, and a Fairboard meeting on Saturday, November 4 starting at 7:30 pm at the fair office. See below for agronomy articles that you may be interested in reading.
Oct 2017 Ohio Fruit News Flyer
Mark
Ear Disorders Appearing in Corn Fields – Peter Thomison
In recent weeks, I have received several reports of abnormal ear development in corn fields which are near or at harvest maturity. Affected plants in these fields exhibit varying degrees of ear development with little or no kernel formation. Some ear shoots carry a barely visible rudimentary ear or only the short remnant of an ear. Other symptoms include “dumbbell-shaped ears” (characterized by kernel formation at the base and tip of the ear but absent from the middle of the ear), “bouquet ears” (formed by small ears trying to develop from the same shank as the main ear), and shorter than normal husks. The ear development problems are evident throughout fields with nearly all plants affected. Prior to maturity, corn plants exhibiting abnormal ears generally appeared healthy with normal plant height and color. To finish reading this article, go to https://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/2017-34/ear-disorders-appearing-corn-fields.
Should we add Diaporthe stem canker and Cercospora leaf blight to our list of disease ratings for Ohio in 2018? – Anne Dorrance
Improving soybean yields in 2018 begins first with the selection of the cultivars that have the best resistance package for Ohio’s notorious pathogens and pests. Any grower that’s slacked off on the Phytophthora package gets a quick reminder of the damage that this pathogen can continually cause in a vast majority of Ohio’s production regions. Same thing with soybean cyst nematode; while the symptoms may not be present, planting a susceptible variety and getting half the yield that the neighbors got leaves some farmers scratching their heads. We finally have resistance to Sclerotinia that is effective for those regions that deal with it on an annual basis. Over the past decade, we’ve added frog eye leaf spot to that list as it can overwinter and if infections get started at flowering it can cause substantial damage. Why put another $30+/Acre for a fungicide to control frogeye or Sclerotinia when the cultivar resistance can hold that disease in check? Read more at https://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/2017-31/should-we-add-diaporthe-stem-canker-and-cercospora-leaf-blight.
Late fall herbicide treatments for cover crops? – Mark Loux
A fairly common question this time of year – where I have planted cover crops, do I still need a fall herbicide treatment to help manage marestail? The underlying premise here is that where a cover crop develops enough biomass to adequately cover the ground by late fall, it can contribute substantial suppression/control of marestail. Grass covers seem to be most effective at suppressing marestail, as long as they are planted early enough in fall to develop this type of biomass. Grass covers can also be treated postemergence in the fall with several broadleaf herbicides, while this is not possible in covers that contain broadleaf crops – legumes, radish, etc. There are no hard and fast rules with regard to this situation but there are some things to think about. To see what things you need to consider when treating cover crops, go to https://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/2017-36/late-fall-herbicide-treatments-cover-crops.
Dangers of Harvesting and Grazing Certain Forages Following a Frost – Mark Sulc
As cold weather approaches, livestock owners who feed forages need to keep in mind certain dangers of feeding forages after frost events. Several forage species can be extremely toxic soon after a frost because they contain compounds called cyanogenic glucosides that are converted quickly to prussic acid (i.e. hydrogen cyanide) in freeze-damaged plant tissues. Some legumes species have an increased risk of causing bloat when grazed after a frost. In this article I discuss each of these risks and precautions we can take to avoid them. Go to https://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/2017-34/dangers-harvesting-and-grazing-certain-forages-following-frost to find out more about the dangers of harvesting and grazing certain forages following a frost.
Fall Manure Application Tips – Glen Arnold, Kevin Elder
With warmer than normal weather forecast for the past couple of weeks, corn and soybean harvest in Ohio were expected to get back on track. Livestock producers and commercial manure applicators will be applying both liquid and solid manure as fields become available. For poultry manure, handlers are reminded to stockpile poultry litter close to the fields actually receiving the manure. Stockpiles need to be 500 feet from a residence, 300 feet from a water source and 1,500 feet from a public water intake. Poultry litter cannot be stockpiled in a floodplain and cannot have offsite water running across the litter stockpile area. The site also cannot have a slope greater than six percent. Read more about fall manure application tips at https://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/2017-35/fall-manure-application-tips.
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