Good evening,
Winter meeting season has begun and I believe the weather is on its way to match it. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, there will be several opportunities to attend OSU Extension programs this winter and so I will attempt to bring you up to speed on what is going on in our area and beyond. If you were unable to attend our first Conservation Tillage Club breakfast meeting, you missed a presentation put on by county auditors and NRCS personnel from Hardin, Logan, and Union Counties. I have attached an article about the past meeting on CAUV Property Tax Changes and want to remind you that the next one will be on grain marketing January 23 at the Plaza Inn Restaurant. The next big meeting is the West Central Ohio Weed Science Day being held January 19 in Botkins. This meeting includes presentations by both OSU Weed Scientist Mark Loux and University of Illinois Weed Scientist Aaron Hager. They will be discussing the importance of controlling Waterhemp, Palmer amaranth, giant ragweed, and marestail. It is time that we stop the spread of these resistant weeds before they take over our fields and already tight margins. Doing the same weed control program year after year is no longer sufficient. See the attached article and flyer for more information about how to register by January 15 so that plans can be made for the free lunch.
- Tillage Club CAUV News Release Article
- West Central Weed Science Day Flyer
- West Central Ohio Weed Science Day Article
I have had several calls requesting a class for new pesticide applicators. Therefore, there will be a New Pesticide Applicator Training on January 31 at the Hardin County Extension office from 12:30-4:30 pm. This class is to help prepare new applicators to take the ODA test for an Ohio Pesticide Applicator License. See the attached article and flyer for details about how to register by January 16 so we have time to order the books. Ohio State, Michigan State, and the University of Nebraska Extension are combining to offer a webinar series on‘Agricultural Solar Investment Analysis’ starting on January 18. See the attached flyer in case you are interested in participating. There are six sessions and you register for as many of these sessions that you plan to watch. Ohio Maple Days also begin on January 18 and offer three days to attend. There are events in Morrow, Wayne/Holmes, and Geauga Counties that you can attend. See the attached brochure for registration. Contact Ashley Gerber—330-674-3015 if interested.
- New Pesticide Applicator Class News Release Article
- New PAT Flyer Hardin Flyer
- MSU Solar Webinar Flyer
- Ohio Maple Days Brochure 2018
There is a western Ohio Annie’s Project Retreat planned for women in agriculture. It will be held February 2-4 in Houston, Ohio. Contact Amanda Douridas, OSU Extension-Champaign County at 937-484-1526 or douridas.9@osu.edu if you or someone you know may be interested in attending. This program was designed to provide women with tools to improve their risk management skills in the complex, dynamic world of agriculture. The attached brochure will provide you with more information along with registration guidelines. Finally, I mailed out the Northwest Ohio Agriculture and Natural Resources Winter Newsletter earlier this month. This contained a listing of the winter Extension programs being offered in Northwest Ohio. There are also several winter programs being offered in the counties southwest of Hardin County that make up our Top of Ohio region. See the attached Top of Ohio Agriculture and Natural Resources Winter Newsletter for listing of these events. Locally, there is a Hardin County Fair Sale Committee meeting Wednesday, January 17 starting at 7:00 pm in the fair office. The Soil and Water Conservation District has a meeting Thursday, January 18 starting at 7:30 am in the SWCD office. See the agronomy articles below if you are looking for some more reading for this weekend.
- Annie’s Project Retreat Brochure
- Agriculture and National Recources Winter Newsletter 2018
- Private Applicator License Brochure
Mark
The difficulty in legally applying dicamba – weather factors – Mark Loux
Labels for the dicamba products approved for use on Xtend soybeans, Engenia, FeXapan, and XtendiMax, were recently revised, and are now generally more restrictive in an effort to prevent some of the problems with off target injury that occurred in 2017. Whether these additional restrictions do much to prevent volatility is doubtful, but this aside, one of the problems with labels this restrictive is the difficulty in even finding enough time to make legal applications. It can be an interesting exercise to review past weather conditions with the goal of determining legal windows of application, taking these restrictions into account. Go to https://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/2017-41/difficulty-legally-applying-dicamba-%E2%80%93-weather-factors to finish reading this article.
Updated Handy Bt Trait Table Helps with Corn Hybrid Selection – Kelley Tilmon, Andy Michel
Corn producers have many hybrids to choose from including those with transgenic traits for insect management. However, the array of trait packages and what they are best suited for can be hard to keep track of. The “Handy Bt Trait Table” for U.S. corn production provides a helpful list of trade names and details of their trait packages, including which Bt proteins and herbicide traits they contain, what insects they are marketed to control, refuge requirements, and which insects have developed resistance to them in at least some regions. Go to https://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/2017-41/updated-handy-bt-trait-table-helps-corn-hybrid-selection to read more.
Winterize Precision Ag Technology and Backup Data – Elizabeth Hawkins, John Fulton
After this season, you may be tempted to park your equipment in the shed and take a much needed winter break. You probably remembered to winterize your machinery, but you may have overlooked the need to winterize your precision ag technology. Here are some tips to ensure your monitors and sensors continue to function next season: Bring technology indoors. Although precision ag technology is ruggedized to protect against harsh field conditions, the temperatures that we often experience during a Midwest winter are low enough to potentially damage the electronic components of in-cab displays and sensors such as the GPS receiver. Remove them and store indoors to protect them from the winter weather. Even if your equipment is parked in a protected area, it may be wise to remove sensors and store them to protect against rodent damage. To finish reading this article, go to https://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/2017-41/winterize-precision-ag-technology-and-backup-data.
All-Ohio Chapter Soil & Water Conservation Society Annual Conference January 19, 2018 – Alan Sundermeier
“Addressing Water Quality Concerns in Drainage Improvement Projects” will be the theme of the SWCS conference on Friday, January 19, 2018 from 9:00 am – 4:00 pm at the Der Dutchmen Restaurant in Plain City, Ohio. Topics include: Ditch Improvement projects panel, Using Bio-Indicators to Assess Stream Water Quality, Two-stage Ditches, Woodchip bioreactors, Phosphorus filters. The public is invited. Register by January 15. Questions call Kevin King at 567-224-9217. The registration flyer can be found at https://agcrops.osu.edu/sites/agcrops/files/imce/pictures/All%20Ohio%20Chapter%20SWCS%20Jan%2019%202018%20conference.pdf.
Northwest Ohio Corn & Soybean Day to be held in Archbold – January 19th – Eric Richer
The annual Northwest Ohio Corn & Soybean Day is scheduled for Friday, January 19th in Founders Hall at Sauder Village in Archbold from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The program has a variety of speakers, a farmer/retailer re-certification credits and nearly 30 exhibitors sharing information on management practices for the 2018 crop production season. This year’s Corn/Soybean Day offers the three-hour Pesticide applicator re-certification (CORE, 1, 2, 6) plus one hour of re-certification for fertilizer applicators (15) as well as 4 hours of Certified Crop Advisor (CCA) credits. To find out more, go to https://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/2017-40/northwest-ohio-corn-soybean-day-be-held-archbold-%E2%80%93-january-19th.
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
