Knox County Soil Temperatures

Wait to plant until the soil temperature is right?

 

 

In general, corn should be planted when soil temperatures are near 50 °F.

  • Seed will absorb about 30 percent of its weight in water, and temperature does not affect water imbibition much.
    • This is different than radicle (root) and coleoptile (shoot) growth; their growth is correlated with soil temperature.
  • In cold soil conditions (below 50 °F), seeds will readily absorb water but not initiate root or shoot growth; this leads to seed rots and poor emergence if poor seedbed conditions are prolonged.
  • Recommendations are to begin planting when soils are near 50 °F or are quickly increasing to 50 °F.
  • Cool soil conditions early in the season is one reason there is more variability in final stands relative to seeding rate.

Plant when able, given good seedbed conditions

  • Yields are reduced more when planted too late rather than too early.
  • Research has shown a small yield loss with very early planting dates and larger yield losses with significantly delayed planting dates.

Throughout the growing season I will provide DAILY soil temperature readings from different locations within Knox County.

* Be sure to check back daily! 

Ohio Noxious Weed Identification – Week 10 Kudzu

Kudzu

FamilyLegume, Fabaceae.

Habitat: Woodland edge, roadsides, rights-of-way, abandoned fields, fencerows.

Life cycle: Herbaceous to semi-woody perennial that dies back to ground each year in its northern range.

Growth Habit: An aggressive, high-climbing or sprawling vine that may grow 30m in a single season.

Leaves: Leaves are trifoliate, with the center leaflet poised on a longer stalk. Leaflets may be lobed or unlobed. Leaves are hairy beneath and along the margins, and are alternately arranged on the stem.

Stems: Young stems are densely hairy and gold in color.

Flower: Clusters of pink pea-like flowers with a grape aroma; produced occasionally in late summer in full sun. Fruit is a brown pod.

Roots: Deep, tuberous roots cluster from a large root crown. First year roots densely hairy.

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What’s New with Sulfur Fertilizer Use?

edited from: Charles Wortmann – Extension Soil and Nutrient Management Specialist, Bijesh Maharjan – Extension Soil and Nutrient Management Specialist, University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Approximately 100 trials have been conducted since 2000 to evaluate sulfur (S) use in corn, sorghum, and soybean. The trial results have validated

  • the UNL recommendations of applying S to sandy soils in consideration of soil test results; and
  • the probability of profit gain due to increased yield from S application to medium and fine textured soil is very low.

The S recommendations are addressed in the Nebraska Extension publication, Nutrient Management for Agronomic Crops of Nebraska (EC155).

Deposition of atmospheric sulfur and sulfur application in fertilizers such as single super phosphate is much less than it was three to four decades ago. This implies that S availability needs to be monitored.

  • The probability of response to S has been determined in recent years to be high enough for some parts of Iowa to justify routine application.
  • Soil test results for sulfur availability continue to be of little or no value and response is best monitored with on-farm trials comparing yield with and without sulfur applied.
  • Applying S often does result in greener crops while not increasing grain yield. This can be important to farmer satisfaction and impressing neighbors and land managers.

Sulfur is abundantly available and fertilizer sulfur use can be of modest cost without much environmental concern. Sulfur applied as sulfate does not affect soil pH, but applied as elemental S, it can contribute to soil acidification. Gypsum is often abundantly available and can be a good sulfur source. Flue gas desulfurization gypsum, a by-product of coal-fired electrical power generation, is a potential sulfur source with a liming effect.

Those of you who attended Our 2018 Central Ohio Agronomy School heard very similar results from Dr. Robert Mullen.

 

Soil Temperatures

The Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) collects weather data at several sites throughout Ohio. The chart provided here summarizes the average daily two inch bare soil temperature from several stations. More complete weather records for the just passed day as well as long term historical observations can be found at http://www.oardc.ohio-state.edu/weather1/ . Observations include temperature, precipitation, different measures of degree day accumulation and other useful weather measures.

Beginning next week we will be collecting soil temperature at several locations throughout Knox County.  Check back here for our daily updates!

 

Ag issues in the federal spending bill

by: Peggy Kirk Hall, Asst. Professor, Agricultural & Resource Law

Amidst a great deal of controversy, President Trump signed the “Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018” on March 23. The omnibus $1.3 trillion spending package includes a number of provisions that affect agriculture, not all spending related. One glaring omission from the bill that agriculture wanted, however, was language allowing the EPA to withdraw the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule. Otherwise, the new law contains fixes and clarifications for several key legal issues agriculture has faced in the past year and funding for important agricultural programs.

Section 199A tax deduction revised

Sellers of grain who were hoping to capitalize on the IRC § 199A 20% gross sales deduction when selling grain to their cooperative will be disappointed that the spending bill has removed the deduction and that the removal is retroactive to January 1, 2018. Congress enacted new provisions that will address sales to cooperatives. According to my colleague and tax expert Kristine Tidgren at Iowa State, “the cooperative patron is subject to a new bifurcated calculation and a hybrid 199A deduction. Essentially, the fix gives the cooperative patron a deduction that blends the new 199A deduction with the old 199 DPAD deduction (all within the new 199A). Depending upon their individual situations, cooperative patrons may be advantaged, disadvantaged, or essentially treated the same by selling to a cooperative rather than selling to a non-cooperative.” Read more of Kristine’s analysis here.

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Pattern Favors Only Slow Improvement – Challenging Weather to linger throughout April!

OK I really hope we are done seeing scenes like this for this year!!!

However, we may not be “out of the woods” yet.  The following information is from Jim Noel, National Weather Service, Wilmington, Ohio.

The expected cold and wet weather pattern for spring that has been forecast since December continues. There will be some relief this week after a cold start to the week with temperatures 10 degrees below normal we will switch and see temperatures by the end of the week a good 10+ degrees above normal but when average out through Sunday April 15, we will return to about average temperatures for the week. Drying is expected as well through Friday with only minor precipitation events but another rain event is expected this weekend. There is a lot of uncertainty on amounts and placement so confidence is low but there is potential for some heavy rain in parts of Ohio.

The week of April 16-22 will return to a colder than normal pattern with temperatures several degrees below normal. Precipitation will be lighter next week after the weekend rain event. Though April 25, rainfall is forecast to average 2-3 inches with isolated 4+ inches across the state of Ohio. This is still above average. See the associated graphic from the NWS Ohio River Forecast Center.

Soil temperatures will also continue to be below normal with the risk of some late freezes in late April so early planting risk will remain elevated. Improvement will likely not fully come until May when temperatures may actually be slightly above normal. However, rainfall may continue to be at or above normal so challenges will likely linger this year into May for planting season. The summer growing season still looks to see a switch toward warmer and drier weather but it is not clear whether this will happen in later May, June or early July. We will keep you posted. In summary, thanks in part to La Nina, expect a challenging planting season in Ohio into May. Summer may also offer its own challenges as the pattern switches from the cold and wet period to a warmer and drier period but it is uncertain exactly when that will occur.

Knox County Consignment Auction

When: Saturday , APRIL 14, 2018

10 AM

INTAKE APRIL 13, 2018    7:30AM TO 7:30PM

OPEN HOUSE  4-13-18    3PM TO 7:30PM

TREES AND  SHRUBS:  LILAC, WHITE PINE, NORWAY PINE, BLUE  SPRUCE,  ARBORVITAE, BLUE HOLLY, BOX WOOD, MORE SPECIES AND ABOUT 100 IN QUANTITY.

The Ruckman Group

740-398-6522

Mud Control is Grazing Management

By: Rory Lewandowski, OSU Extension Educator, Wayne County (originally published in Farm and Dairy)

An unseasonably warm February led to mud management issues for many pasture-based livestock operations. Spring typically leads to our April showers and the “traditional” time of managing around mud. We just arrived in mud season a little earlier.

All this mud is an undesirable condition, from an animal performance, resource management and environmental perspective.

Graziers need to have a mud control plan as part of a comprehensive grazing management system.

Within a grazing system, mud does not just happen. Wet soils combined with livestock create mud.

How quickly mud is created depends upon the number of livestock in a given area, the weight of those livestock, the saturation level of the soil, the time of year, and the strength of the surface to support those livestock.

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