Month: July 2018

Because we’re hoppy

CFAES is offering three Hops Field Nights in August. They’re for new and experienced growers; will feature talks and demonstrations on a variety of topics, including drying, fertigation, drip irrigation, mechanical harvesting, a galvanized trellis system, and pest and disease management; will offer tours of the hop fields at each location; and will provide you with helpful handouts, including the Ohio Hop Disease Management Guide.

Hops are a new and growing crop in Ohio and a key ingredient in craft beer.

CFAES’s Brad Bergefurd, who studies and shares know-how on growing hops in our state, will serve as the host for all three events.

Registration for each event is $15, includes dinner, and you need to register in advance by contacting Charissa Gardner, gardner.1148@osu.edu, or 740-289-2071, ext. 132. (Photo: CFAES.)

Endangered Species Act works, is wanted

About 4 out of 5 Americans support the Endangered Species Act, according to a new study led by Jeremy Bruskotter of CFAES’s School of Environment and Natural Resources. The act, approved by Congress in 1973, protects plant, animal, insect and fish species threatened by extinction, along with the habitats they need.

“Every time the ESA is in the news, you hear about how controversial it is,” Bruskotter said in a July 19 Ohio State press release about the study. “But the three most recent studies show that, on average, approximately 83 percent of the public supports it, and that’s sort of the opposite of controversial.”

Shown here is a bald eagle, America’s national bird, whose recovery is considered one of the act’s greatest success stories.

Read more about the study. (Photo: Getty Images.)

Register for composting tour by July 30

Composting in Ohio: A Tour of the Industry, an annual event co-sponsored by CFAES’s Ohio Composting and Manure Management program and the Organics Recycling Association of Ohio, starts at 9 a.m. Aug. 9 in Lima. General registration is $40. Student registration is $25. Both include lunch. Act fast: The deadline to register is Monday, July 30.

Continue reading Register for composting tour by July 30 →

4 ways to visit Stone Lab

CFAES’s Stone Lab, located at Put-in-Bay on Lake Erie, is offering public tours of its Gibraltar Island, Aquatic Visitors Center and South Bass Island Lighthouse at various times and days this summer and fall. Find details and the schedules.

You also can visit Sept. 8, when the lab hosts its 20th annual Friends of Stone Lab Open House.

Especially in summer, Stone Lab is home to teachers, students and scientists exploring Lake Erie, its water, and what lives in and around it. (Photo: Stone Lab open house, 2016, Frank Lichtkoppler, Ohio Sea Grant, via Flickr.)

Tonight: Water quality talks at Stone Lab

Stone Lab’s summer lecture series continues at 7 p.m. tonight, Thursday, July 26. Justin Chaffin (pictured), senior researcher and research coordinator at the lab, will present a research brief called “Development of a Lake Erie Cyanobacterial Bloom Toxicity Forecast.” Craig Butler, director of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, will give a guest lecture titled “Emerging Drinking Water Contaminants. Find out more. You also can watch online.

The lab, part of CFAES, is at Put-in-Bay on Lake Erie. (Photo: Ken Chamberlain, CFAES.)

No more guessing at nitrogen levels?

Scientists from CFAES and Cornell University are developing a fast way for farmers to test the nitrogen levels in their soils. Nitrogen is a nutrient, provided in fertilizer, that’s key to the growth of crops. Not enough of it, and crops don’t produce as much food as they should. But too much, and the excess can be washed away from a crop field by rain and get into lakes and streams, possibly causing algal blooms and “dead zones” or, in its nitrate form, making drinking water unsafe for pregnant women and babies.

Read more.

See what’s new in growing crops in muck

CFAES’s 2018 Muck Crops Field Day, featuring the latest research on growing veggies in muck soil, is Thursday, July 26, at the college’s Muck Crops Agricultural Research Station near Willard.

The muck soil located at the station, left behind after a large swamp was drained more than a century ago, is much higher in organic matter than typical Ohio soil. As a result, high-value crops such as lettuce grow fast and well there. (Photo: Field day at the station, 2013, CFAES.)

The world’s first ‘intelligent’ pesticide sprayer is good for both growers and the environment

It’s not often that a grower comes across a piece of new equipment that can give a full return on investment in one year and can reduce their farm’s impact on the environment.

But a device made by researchers from CFAES and from the U.S. Department of Agriculture is promising just that.

The team’s “intelligent” pesticide sprayer is the first automatic spraying system of its kind in the world.

Read more in the latest story on our CFAES Stories website.