Want to know the details of the flying tractor at the corner of the Fairgrounds? Listen into the 88.9FM Interview with Doug Shaw, President of the Antique Tractor Club to learn more about the Upcoming Tractor Show!
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Ever wonder what it is like to exhibit the Grand Champion Turkey at the Ohio State Fair?
If you have watched coverage of the awarding of Championship Banners at the Ohio State Fair..and wondered how would that feel to be awarded a Championship Banner..then take a minute and listen in to the 88.9FM Saturday Farm Page with Isabelle Newman, the Exhibitor of the Grand Champion Turkey at the 2024 Ohio State Fair. Isabelle is currently busy at the Muskingum County Fair exhibiting several 4-H Projects this week.
Click on the link to listen to the interview!
Don’t Miss the Fairfield County Antique Tractor Show!!
Got weekend plans? Make you you make time to take in the Fairfield County Antique Tractor show slated for this weekend at the Fairfield County Fairgrounds. For all the details, be sure to listen into Doug Shaw, President of the Fairfield County Tractor Club for dates, times and a brief rundown of the all the activities…(Click on the link below to hear the recording)
Don’t miss Fairfield County Ag Update slated for August 15!
Fairfield County Ag Update scheduled
The Lancaster Fairfield County Chamber of Commerce is partnering with Fairfield Growing to bring you the Fairfield County Ag Update on Thursday, August 15, 2024.
The Fairfield County Ag Update includes presentations from State Senator Tim Schaffer on behalf of the Ag & Natural Resource Committee; Milo Petruziello, Policy Director at the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association; and Jennifer Noland, Food Safety Specialist for the Ohio Department of Agriculture.
The Ag Update takes place at the Fairfield County Ag Center, 831 College Ave. in Lancaster starting at 7:30 a.m. Registrations are $15 and include breakfast.
Great Interview with Melinda Wesley of Utica FFA
What to learn more about the creativity of FFA youth to engage young students in learning more about FFA…take a minute and list into this interview with Melinda Wesley of the Utican FFA Chapter about the Ag League. Always celebrating “Good Kids Doing Good Things” on the Saturday Morning Farm Page!!
State Fair 4-H Competitions are great opportunities!
One more day left for the 2024 Ohio State Fair …be sure to listen into this 88.9 WLRY Interview about the importance of skillathons, judging contests and more with 4-H educator Leslie Cooksey! It is not all about the pickle pizza!!
Time to learn more about Food Preservation!
With many vegetable gardens in full production, often times we find ourselves with more of our garden bounty than we can use…this is a great time to learn more about preserving your the fruits of your labor!!
Food Preservation Safety.. Have those Dial Gauge Canners tested!!
With many vegetable gardens in full production now is this time many folks begin to think about food preservation. Did you know you can have your dial gauge canners tested at OSU Extension in Fairfield County? It is very easy to simply call for an appointment at 740-653-5419 and drop off your canner lid. It could be tested while you wait or you can return later and pick up at your convenience. It is important to check dial gauges for accuracy before use each year. Gauges that read high cause under-processing and may result in unsafe food. Low readings cause over-processing. Pressure adjustments can be made if the gauge reads up to 2 pounds high or low. Replace gauges that differ by more than 2 pounds.
LET’S PRESERVE SERIES – at Keller Market House, 134 S. Columbus Street, Lancaster. Are you planning to preserve summer produce? Join Shannon Carter, Family and Consumer Sciences Educator and Sandy Bohl, Instructor, with Ohio State University Extension Fairfield County to learn more. Call 740-653-5419 to register
Dehydrating: Tuesday, August 6, 2024, 6:00 – 7:00 pm
Canning Basics: Tuesday, August 20, 2024, 6:00 – 7:30 pm
LET’S PRESERVE SERIES at Wagnalls Memorial Library
Dehydrating Thurs., August 8th, 6:00-7:00 p.m.
Canning Basics (water bath/pressure) Thurs., August 22nd, 6:00-7:30 p.m
Registration: Call Wagnall’s Memorial Library to register 614-837-4765
Questions: contact Shannon Carter, carter.413@osu.edu or 740-653-5419
Decapitated Coneflower Heads
This is the handiwork of the sunflower headclipping weevil (Haplorhynchites aeneus) is just getting underway this season on purple coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea). The damage includes dangling seed heads and stems that looked like soda straws.
The weevil is a well-documented insect pest of cultivated and wild sunflowers (Helianthus spp.) in the Great Plains and will infest other members of the aster family. 
The headclipping weevil has reared its ugly snout in recent years in Ohio to become a serious pest of coneflowers in landscapes and naturalized areas. The Shiny weevils range in color from black to copper-brown. They measure a little over 1/4″ in length which includes an exceptionally long, curved snout. As with all weevils, this beetle’s mouthparts are located at the end of their snout (rostrum). The females insert their snouts into the flower stems to chew a ring of holes around the stem about 1″ below the flower head. The flower stem is not completely cut; the damaged stem just breaks-over causing the flower head to hang from the stem on a thin strand of tissue.
Females then lay eggs on the dangling head. Eventually, the flower head breaks from the stem and drops to the ground. Heavily de-flowered coneflower plantings look like a collection of soda straws.
The eggs hatch after the flower heads drop to the ground and the weevil’s grub-like larvae feed on the decaying flower head tissue. It is speculated that the weevil’s odd head-clipping behavior reduces larval exposure to plant defense chemicals and also prevents other insects from competing for the seed head prize.
Mature weevil larvae leave the flower heads and crawl into the soil to spend the winter. Pupation occurs the following spring to early summer and adults appear sometime in late-June to early July. There is one generation per year.
Damage is mainly aesthetic, but the reduction in seed production could potentially cause a significant decline in natural re-seeding. The best method for controlling this weevil is to remove and destroy the dangling flower heads as well as heads that have dropped to the ground. This will prevent weevil larvae from completing their development thus reducing the weevil population for next season.
Insecticides are not a viable suppression option. Insecticide labels will not support making an application to plants in full flower because of the substantial risk of killing plant pollinators. Remember: the label is the law!
The Japanese Beetles are Here!!
Reports are coming in Japanese Beetles have been sighted throughout Fairfield County. What can you do? 
Regularly inspect your garden and yard plants for beetles and feeding injury. While numbers might be very low right now, it will not take too long for more beetles to arrive.
Remember that damaged leaves give off a volatile that it turn attracts more Japanese beetles. That makes it important to start management as soon as you see feeding on your plants to minimize injury. Japanese beetles feed for six to eight weeks so it is important to continue management until their numbers decrease. Once they are present in large numbers, managing them becomes more difficult. Most feeding is finished by mid to late August.
Physically removing adults can be a good non-chemical option. Physically removing beetles can be a practical and effective management practice for smaller landscapes or a few plants, especially when only small numbers of Japanese beetles are present. Handpick or knock the beetles into a bucket of soapy water to kill them.
The best time to remove Japanese beetles is in the evening or in the morning when beetles on the plants are still cool and sluggish. However anytime that it can be done is still useful.
In some cases, it is possible to protect plants with fine netting to prevent beetle damage. However, do not cover plants in bloom that require pollination (i.e. fruits) as this will prevent pollinators from reaching them. Instead, handpick beetles until the plant is done blooming and starting to set fruit, then cover it.
Don’t use Japanese beetle traps. Hanging a trap in a home garden is not an effective way to protect plants. And they may attract more insects to your yard. The traps attract beetles using synthetic female sex pheromone and a blend of chemicals with a strong floral odor. They were developed by researchers to monitor for the presence of Japanese beetles so that management strategies could be implemented. While these traps can collect an impressive number of beetles, research at the University of Kentucky has demonstrated that more beetles fly toward the traps than are caught. This usually results in more damage to nearby gardens and landscape plants than would have happened if no traps were present.
Watering the Garden Just Right….
Most garden plants will need 1-1.5 inches of water per week to maintain healthy leaves, flowers and fruit. When Mother Nature does not provide enough, it’s up to the gardener to supply the rest. Not too little, not too much, but just right!
When you do need to water, it’s best to do a thorough deep application, and then put the hose away for the rest of the week. The worst thing you can do to your garden is to sprinkle lightly every day. Frequent, shallow watering only moistens the upper layer of soil, which encourages plant roots to stay shallow. In turn, that top layer of soil dries out quickly, making shallow-rooted plants more susceptible to drying. This holds true for lawns as well as garden and landscape plants.
It is also possible to kill your plants with kindness. Overwatering occurs when soil is kept too wet for too long, forcing valuable oxygen out of the soil. Oxygen is just as crucial to plant health as water. When heavy rains fall, or thorough irrigation is applied, don’t water again until the soil begins to dry. While you don’t want the soil to become so dry that plants begin to wilt, it is important to allow air to occupy some of the pore spaces in the soil between watering.
Any newly set plants will need to be watered more frequently until they have a chance to establish new roots. Young vegetable or flower transplants may need to be watered every day or two, especially if the weather is sunny, hot and/or windy. Newly planted trees and shrubs may also need to be watered more frequently. But as the new plants become established, try to cut back on the frequency of watering.
Many plant fungal diseases are spread by splashing water during rain or irrigation. Drip or trickle irrigation will deposit the water low to the ground, keeping foliage dry; this is the most efficient way to deliver water only where needed. If watering must be overhead, try to water in the morning to promote quick drying and reduce loss due to evaporation.