Good afternoon,
During the month of July, Extension rainfall reporters recorded an average of 3.76 inches of rain in Hardin County. Last year, the average rainfall for July was 8.23 inches. Although less rain has been received this year during July, adequate amounts have fallen in most areas of the county for crop production. About a third of the townships in the county were fairly dry in July while three other townships received substantially above average rainfall. See the attached July Rainfall Summary for a listing of township rainfall amounts and their effect on crop production. According to the attached August 13 Crop and Weather Report, corn kernels are developing faster than average and soybeans pods are filling faster than normal due to timely rains and warm temperatures. If you look back to the attached August 6 Crop and Weather Report, most of the corn and soybeans have been in good condition. If you take a look at the attached USDA Ohio August 1 Crop Forecast, Ohio corn is expected to average 180 bushels per acre, while soybeans are estimated to average 56 bushels per acre in Ohio this year. If realized, both would be new record average yields for the state.
Ohio Crop Weather Report August 13
Ohio Crop Weather Report August 6
Are you utilizing variable rate seeding with soybeans? There will be a soybean Variable Rate Seeding Focus Group meeting in Columbus at the Nationwide & Ohio Farm Bureau 4-H Center August 21. Topics include Creating seeding rate zones and ideal seeding rate within each zone- Dr. Laura Lindsey (Ohio State) and Dr. Maninder Singh (Michigan State). There will be an expert panel featuring farmers and Dr. Elizabeth Hawkins. Participants will be asked to fill out a survey and be paid $80. See the attached flyer for details to register to Laura Lindsey- lindsey.233@osu.edu (614-292-9080). Another interesting opportunity is the Tile Drainage and Soil Health Field Day taking place August 22 near Bucyrus. Before doing any tiling or field work, make sure you call 811 to locate pipelines, telecommunications, and other buried hazards at least 2-3 days before digging. I have attached a news release dealing with this topic. If you are looking for Ohio Farm Custom Rates, I have attached the newly finished document published every two years by OSU Extension.
Variable Rate Focus Group Flyer
Tile Drainage and Soil Health Field Day
This year’s Ohio Summer No-Till Field Day is being held in Wooster on August 29. Local Hardin County farmer Jan Layman is president of the Ohio No-Till Council this year. Make sure you read about this event in the August edition of the Ohio No-Till News which I have attached. Another area field day coming up on the same day is the Precision Ag Day, focusing on Data Management near Milford Center. Check out the attached flyer for an agenda of the day as well as registration information. Other upcoming local events include a Pork Producers meeting tonight (8/14) starting at 6:30 pm at Ag Credit; Soil and Water Conservation District board meeting Thursday (8/16) starting at 1:00 pm, followed by voting and meal at 5:00, and annual meeting at 6:30 pm. This event is being held at the fairgrounds shelter house. The OSU Extension Master Gardener Volunteers are having a Monarch Butterflies program Saturday (8/18) starting at 9:00 am in the Friendship Gardens of Hardin County located at 960 W Kohler Street in Kenton. See the attached flyer for more information.
2018 Precision Ag Field Day Flyer
OSU Extension Master Gardener Volunteers Summer Garden Programs Flyer
Ohio State University Extension is conducting a needs assessment of the Hardin County Community so that we can better serve you! As a supporter and patron of our office, you may receive the needs assessment survey via email from our Extension Director, Dr. Roger Rennekamp just after Labor Day. Please watch your inbox for this survey, which will only take 10-15 minutes of your time to complete. By providing information on the programs you use and the topic areas that you feel we need to address, you will be helping our office develop a plan of work that can have a greater impact on the Hardin County Community. As always, I have provided some agronomy articles below that I thought you might be interested in reading.
Mark
Estimating Corn Yields at Early Stages of Kernel Development – Peter Thomison
Corn growers often want to estimate grain yields prior to harvest in order to help with marketing and harvest plans. Two procedures that are widely used for estimating corn grain yields prior to harvest are the YIELD COMPONENT METHOD (also referred to as the “slide rule” or corn yield calculator) and the EAR WEIGHT METHOD. Each method will often produce yield estimates that are within 20 bu/ac of actual yield. Such estimates can be helpful for general planning purposes. For information about estimating corn yield, go to https://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/2018-24/estimating-corn-yields-early-stages-kernel-development.
Estimating Soybean Yield – Laura Lindsey
To estimate soybean yield, four yield components need to be considered: plants per acre, pods per plant, seeds per pod, and seeds per pound (seed size). A printable worksheet to estimate soybean yield can be found by clicking on https://agcrops.osu.edu/sites/agcrops/files/imce/Soybean%20Yield%20Estimate%20Worksheet_1.pdf. Proceed with caution when estimating soybean yield. It is difficult to accurately predict soybean yield because of plant-to-plant variability and fall weather conditions can influence seed size. Estimates are more accurate later in the growing season and on uniform stands. Go to https://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/2018-24/estimating-soybean-yield for more information.
2018 Ohio Wheat Performance Test – Laura Lindsey
Results of the 2018 Ohio Wheat Performance Test are available online at: https://www.oardc.ohio-state.edu/wheattrials/. The purpose of the Ohio Wheat Performance Test is to evaluate wheat varieties, blends, brands, and breeding lines for yield, grain quality, and other important performance characteristics. This information gives wheat producers comparative information for selecting the varieties best suited for their production system and market. Varieties differ in yield potential, winter hardiness, maturity, standability, disease and insect resistance, and other agronomic characteristics. Selection should be based on performance from multiple test sites and years. Go to https://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/2018-24/2018-ohio-wheat-performance-test to read the complete article.
Late Summer Establishment of Perennial Forages – Rory Lewandowski, Mark Sulc
Ohio growers experienced another wet spring and compressed 2018 spring planting season. On some farms, this caused postponement of plans for spring seeding of alfalfa and other perennial forages. In some areas, the prolonged wet weather affected forage harvest schedules, resulting in harvest equipment running on wet forage fields leaving ruts, compacted soils and damage to alfalfa crowns. Some of these forage acres need to be re-seeded. Read more at https://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/2018-24/late-summer-establishment-perennial-forages.
Western Bean Cutworm: Adult Moth Update – Amy Raudenbush, John Schoenhals, Mark Badertscher, Lee Beers, Amanda Bennett, JD Bethel, Bruce Clevenger, Sam Custer, Tom Dehass, Jason Hartschuh, Ed Lentz, Rory Lewandowski, Cecilia Lokai-Minnich, David Marrison, Sarah Noggle, Les Ober, Eric Richer, Garth Ruff, Jeff Stachler, Alan Sundermeier, Curtis Young, Megan Zerrer, Andy Michel, Kelley Tilmon
The number of Western bean cutworm (WBC) adult moth catches are decreasing across Ohio. For week ending August 11, 24 counties monitored 74 traps (Figure 1). Overall, there was a statewide average of 3.0 moths per trap (221 total captured). This is a decrease from an average of 5.6 moths per trap (406 total captured) the previous week. Figure 1. Average WBC adult per trap in Ohio counties, followed in parentheses by total number of traps monitored in each county for the week ending August 11, 2018. Legend (bottom right) describes the color coding on map for the average WBC per county.
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