Good evening,
Another week has come and gone and we are one week closer to spring! Next week area farmers will be participating in the Hardin County Pesticide and Fertilizer Recertification on Tuesday, March 13 at the Plaza Inn Restaurant in Mt. Victory. We will begin at 9:00 am with pesticides, break for lunch at noon, and then start fertilizer at 1:00 pm. Check your Ohio Pesticide or Fertilizer Applicator card to see when yours expires. According to the attached maps, Hardin County has 44 private pesticide applicators and 63 fertilizer certificates expiring this year. Registration starts at 8:30 am at the door if you need to attend but have not yet registered. If you don’t want to wait in line, contact the Extension office at 419-674-2297 on Monday to provide your information over the phone. If you still need to get your fertilizer certification, see the attached flyer for two 3-hour fertilizer certification classes being offered March 26 in Botkins with a meal included for $30. You can also now have the option to study on your own and take a test for fertilizer certification, just like you can for pesticide certification.
Our Master Gardener Volunteers are offering a Native Plants seminar. ‘Go Native’ will be held March 22 at the Mid-Ohio Energy Cooperative Community Room, 1210 W Lima Street in Kenton. The cost is $40 which includes a continental breakfast, lunch, handouts, and door prizes. For Active OSU Master Gardener Volunteers the fee is $35. Registration opens at 8:00 a.m. and the program starts at 9:00. Registration Deadline is March 15, class size is limited. For more information call: 937-935-3970. See the attached news article and brochure for more details and a registration form. The 2nd Annual Hardin County Poultry Banquet will be held at 6:00 pm, Saturday, March 17, 2018 at the Family Center of the Kenton Christian Missionary Alliance Church located at 15436 State Route 309 in Kenton. Each family is asked to bring a side dish and dessert, as there will be no additional charge for the evening. The meat and table service will be provided. See the attached news release and flyer for more information on this year’s Poultry Banquet.
- GO Native 2018 Brochure
- Native Plants Seminar News Release
- Poultry Banquet News Release
- Poultry Banquet Flyer
Other upcoming events that you may be interested include The OSU Hops Conference, Bus Tour, and Trade Show in Piketon on March 23-24; Ohio & West Virginia Food Hub Network Meeting: Growing Growers in Columbus on March 14; and Ohio SMART Agriculture: Solutions From The Land in Bowling Green on March 14. I included flyers for these events in case you want more information. Local events of agricultural interest include the Hardin County Agricultural Society Consignment Sale Saturday (3/10) starting at 9:00 am at the fairgrounds, Men’s Garden Club Monday (3/12) starting at 6:30 pm at the home of Ken Carlson near Kenton; Soil and Water Conservation District meeting Thursday (3/15) starting at 7:30 am at the SWCD office; and theHardin County Pork Banquet Saturday (3/17) starting at 6:30 pm at St. John’s Evangelical Church in Kenton. Don’t forget that the Ohio Beef Expo is next weekend (3/16-3/18) at the Ohio Expo Center in Columbus. If that’s not enough to keep you busy, I’ve included some agronomy articles below.
- Hops Conference Attendees Flyer
- Ohio and WV Food Hub Meeting Flyer
- Ohio Smart Agriculture Solutions Flyer
Mark
Eliminating marestail as a determiner for postemergence soybean herbicide selection – Mark Loux
Soybean herbicide systems have evolved back to a fairly high level of complexity to deal with the herbicide resistance we have in various broadleaf weeds. By the time we use a comprehensive mix of burndown and residual herbicides, we tend to be coming back with postemergence herbicides primarily for marestail, ragweeds, and waterhemp (and grasses). Postemergence tools available for control of these broadleaf weeds vary with the type of soybean trait being used, but can include glyphosate, PPO inhibitors (fomesafen, Cobra), glufosinate, dicamba, and soon 2,4-D choline. ALS inhibitors have become somewhat irrelevant on these weeds due to widespread ALS resistance, although they may have activity on some ragweed populations still sensitive to ALS inhibitors. Resistance to various sites of action can further limit the number of options. Go to https://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/2018-04/eliminating-marestail-determiner-postemergence-soybean-herbicide to finish reading this article.
Soil Infiltration – Alan Sundermeier
Infiltration is the downward entry of water into the soil. Infiltration rate is expressed in inches per hour. Rainwater must first enter the soil for it to be of value. Water moves more quickly through the large pores of a sandy soil compared to slower movement through a clay soil with small pores. Infiltration is an indicator of the soil’s ability to allow water movement into and through the soil profile. Soil temporarily stores water, making it available for root uptake, plant growth and habitat for soil organisms. Read more about soil infiltration at https://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/2018-03/soil-infiltration.
Bin run seed – some lessons from the past – Anne Dorrance
With lower prices and higher input costs in today’s soybean farming operations, some farmers are looking where to shave a few dollars off their costs of farming. Based on the calls directly from farmers on which seed treatments to use – it is not too hard to figure out where some of those savings might be coming from. This used to be general practice but there are ways to do this to be sure it really is saving farmer’s money. To find out more about precautions of using bin run seed in the planter or drill, go to https://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/2018-04/bin-run-seed-%E2%80%93-some-lessons-past.
Topdressing Wheat with Liquid Swine Manure – Glen Arnold
Despite the rainfall expected across Ohio this week, wheat fields will eventually firm up and the topdressing of nitrogen fertilizer will commence. There is usually a window of time, typically around the last week of March or the first week of April, when wheat fields are firm enough to support manure application equipment. By this date, wheat fields have broken dormancy and are actively pulling moisture and nutrients from the soil. The key to applying the correct amount of manure to fertilize wheat is to know the manure’s nitrogen content. Most manure tests reveal total nitrogen, ammonia nitrogen and organic nitrogen amounts. The ammonia nitrogen portion is readily available for plant growth. The organic nitrogen portion takes considerably longer to mineralize and generally will not be available when wheat uptakes the majority of its nitrogen in the months of April and May. Read more at https://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/2018-04/topdressing-wheat-liquid-swine-manure.
Malt Barley Workshop – March 15th – Mary Griffith, Wayne Dellinger
OSU Extension Union County is hosting a half day workshop for growers interested in learning about malting barley. Malting barley acres have increased in Ohio with a growing craft brewery industry. While new markets exist for Ohio grown barley, malting barley markets have different quality and protein standards than feed-grade barley traditionally grown in Ohio making it a very different crop to manage. This workshop offers an opportunity to learn more about managing malting barley. Go to https://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/2018-5/malt-barley-workshop-march-15th to find out more information about this upcoming event in Marysville.
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
