November 7, 2017

Good afternoon,

The weather is turning into a foe with regards to the completion of harvest in Hardin County.  Progress on soybean harvest has been slow over the past couple of weeks with the onset of rain, causing the need for dryer weather to finish the fields that are still out there.  Some were double cropped beans that needed the extra time anyway to be ready.  Corn harvest has continued until the latest significant rain that has caused fields to become soft.  We’ll need some dryer days before harvest resumes.  Much of the corn that was harvested so far has come off around 17% moisture with yields anywhere between 120-170 bushels per acre based on what I have been told.  Soybean averages have been near the mid-forties.  Proper drying and cool down is important to maintain grain quality as mentioned in the attached article on Corn Storage written by Jeff Stachler, Auglaize County Extension Agriculture and Natural Resources Educator.

Earlier in the fall I discussed the Hardin County Weed Survey that was completed in September.  Harold Watters, Extension agronomist has summarized weed survey information across the state in an article titled “Weed Management in Ohio” that you might find interesting.  He discusses weed resistance and the impact of Waterhemp in the western part of the state.  I, too have seen the spread of Waterhemp around the county this year so this is a weed that farmers will need to keep an eye out for and begin aggressive weed control programs to manage if it appears in their fields.  See Harold’s article in the “November 2018 CORN to go” that I have attached to this email.  We will provide more information about these hard to control weeds in our winter pesticide recertification programs, or you can stop by the Extension office to pick up more informatiion.

Upcoming programs in the area include a Grain Marketing 101 in Darke County on November 14.  It will cover Cash Contract Tools, Basis, Market Outlook: What’s Going On, and What Drives the Market.  There is also an Advanced Grain Marketing workshop in Greenville on November 15.  Topics of this workshop include Tools to Utilize to Maximize Profits and Options Trading.  Registration for both of these grain marketing workshops are due now so be sure to call Darke County Extension at 937-548-5215 for openings if you are interested.  There is also a series of West Central Ohio Dairy Luncheons planned for the third Wednesday of the month, starting November 15 in New Bremen.  If you are interested in learning more about berry production, there is Fruit Grower – Blueberry program being offered in Vermillion.  I have attached flyers for all of these events.

Local events coming up include a Farm Bureau meeting tonight (11/7) at Ag Credit, starting at 6:30 pm; Men’s Garden Club meeting Monday, November 13 starting at 6:30 pm at the home of Jim Candler near Ridgeway, and a Sheep Improvement Association meeting Tuesday, November 14 starting at 7:30 pm at the Extension office.  This past week we were able to work on two Anaerobic Soil Disinfection trials in the county with local produce growers in an effort to learn how to control diseases of tomatoes grown in greenhouses.  We also were able to harvest our Alger Nitrogen Rate fertilizer trial which is being done as part of the research the past three years to update the Tri-State Fertilizer Recommendations.  Both of these research projects are being done in Hardin County with the assistance of the Ohio Agriculture and Research Development Center (OARDC).  As usual, I have included some agronomy articles below that you may be interested in reading during these cool, wet days.

Mark

Yet More Rain during Delayed 2017 Harvest: Managing the Risk of Soil Compaction – Elizabeth Hawkins, Kaylee Port, John Fulton

Waiting for optimal field conditions may no longer be an option with harvest lagging behind the trending pace due to delayed planting and recent wet weather. Observation data from the CoCoRaHS network indicated weekend storms brought nearly 3 inches of rain to some areas bringing harvest to a halt in Ohio. Before rushing to resume harvest in marginal soil conditions, it is important to consider the consequences, namely; soil compaction.  Go to https://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/2017-38/yet-more-rain-during-delayed-2017-harvest-managing-risk-soil to finish reading this article.

2017 Ohio Soybean Performance Trials- Yield Data Available – Laura Lindsey, Wayde Looker

Yield results for the 2017 Ohio Soybean Performance Trials are available online at: https://stepupsoy.osu.edu/soybean-production/variety-selection/ohio-soybean-performance-trial Seed quality information will be available within two weeks. The purpose of the Ohio Soybean Performance Trials is to evaluate soybean varieties for yield and other agronomic characteristics. This evaluation gives soybean producers comparative information for selecting the best varieties for their unique production systems. New for 2017- Varieties were grouped, tested, and analyzed by maturity (early and late trials). Conventional, Liberty Link, Roundup Ready, and Xtend varieties were tested in the same block to allow for head-to-head comparisons. A double asterisk (**) is used to denote the variety with the highest yield within a yield and maturity grouping. A single asterisk (*) is used to denote varieties with yield not statistically different than the highest yielding variety.

Cover Crop Field Day – Dean Kreager

A Cover Crop Field Day will be held in Licking County on Thursday November 16th, 2017 from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. Producers can learn potential benefits of cover crops, including soil quality improvement, erosion control, fertility improvement, and weed suppression.  Management issues such as termination of cover crops will be addressed.  We will have plots displaying seeding utilizing different methods and examples of a few types of cover crops such as cereal rye, oats, turnips, radish, and clover. The cost will be $10 per person.  Preregister by November 9th by calling 740-670-5315 or emailing kreager.5@osu.edu. For more information, including a detailed agenda, click here: https://agcrops.osu.edu/sites/agcrops/files/imce/Cover%20Crop%20Field%20Day%2011.16.17.pdf.

 

Updating the Tri-State Fertilizer Recommendations – Steve Culman, Anthony Fulford

In 2014, the OSU Soil Fertility Lab (soilfertility.osu.edu) started work to update the Tri-State Fertilizer Recommendations. These recommendations form the basis of our corn, soybean, wheat and alfalfa nutrient recommendations, but were last updated in 1995. We have partnered with many OSU extension county educators, private crop consultants and individual farmers to run extensive strip trials across the state over the past 4 years. To date, we have over 100 P trials, and nearly 100 K trials that have been conducted in 33 Ohio counties (Figure 1). We have also conducted extensive N rate trials, N timing trials and some trials looking at sulfur needs. For more information about updating the Tri-State Fertilizer Recommendations, go to https://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/2017-37/updating-tri-state-fertilizer-recommendations.

 

Malting Barley in Ohio – Pierce Paul, Laura Lindsey, Mark Loux

The number of acres planted to malting barley in Ohio this fall is at an all-time high and will likely continue to increase over the next few years. Although barley is not new to Ohio, raising it for malt is new to us and considerably different from raising it for feed or raising wheat for grain. In particular, the grain quality requirements for malting barley are different from the requirements for feed or grain, and as such there are a few differences in terms of how the crop is managed during the growing season. However, in spite of these differences, there are several key fall management guidelines for wheat and feed barley that would apply equally well to malting barley. For instance, variety selection, planting date, weed, disease, and pest control are just as important for malting barley as they are for wheat. See the links below from Ohio State and Cornell Universities for helpful tips on how to manage barley for malt in Ohio and the eastern US in general:

https://u.osu.edu/osuweeds/files/2017/10/barley-guide-2n9akle.pdf

https://fieldcrops.cals.cornell.edu/small-grains/malting-barley

 

 

 

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

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *