Blog Archives
JenREES 7/9/23
It was sad to see several get hit with devastating hail for a second year in a row from the July 4th storm. It was also such a blessing to get the unexpected gift of a fairly widespread 1”+ rain last Friday morning!
For those dealing with hail, I don’t have any great new ideas for planting into totaled crops beyond soybeans or some type of forage crop at this point. For replanting with soybeans, we suggest 0.5-1.0 maturity less than you normally plant, make sure you have a fungicide seed treatment (wouldn’t have to have anything for SDS, just for seedling diseases), increase your seeding rate, and consider narrower rows to close canopy quicker. Phytophthora root rot is something I tend to see fairly often with replant soybeans, thus the rec for the fungicide seed treatment. For acres damaged on fringes, I recommend leaving existing soybean stands of 50K, which is trickier now that we’re at R2-R3 in many fields. In corn fields with less damage, we will have to watch what happens on timing of silks/tassels.
For those interested in planting annual forages in July or August after hail/drought/wheat harvest, the following contains more info. on seeding rates, tonnage, species, etc.: https://go.unl.edu/ypgc.
Annual Forage Insurance is an opportunity for obtaining crop insurance (in Nebraska, Kansas, South Dakota) to protect against the primary production risk of low precipitation. This is for annual forage crops used for grazing, haying, grazing/haying, green chop, grain/grazing, grazing/green chop, or silage. The current sign up period ends July 15 for coverage on annual forage planted from July 16, 2023-July 15, 2024. This insurance uses the two-month rainfall index intervals with coverage up to 90% of normal precipitation (similar to perennial forage insurance). Recorded webinar with info: https://go.unl.edu/3d57.
Japanese beetles: Adults emerge from grassy areas (lawns, pastures, road-side ditches for at least 4-6 weeks (last year was around 10). So, even if you treat, they can come back. Threshold is 30% defoliation on vegetative corn. Upon silking, the threshold is 3 or more beetles/ear with silks clipped to less than ½ inch and pollination is less than 50% complete. For soybeans the threshold upon reaching flowering is 20% defoliation (watch for pod clipping too). More info. on chemical options for crops at: https://go.unl.edu/osyi. The following are chemical options for landscapes/fruits/gardens: https://go.unl.edu/bke4. The hardest thing has been to tell people they can’t eat produce or fruit from using products that weren’t labeled for the plants they applied to. Crazy how many livestock and crop products were used in landscapes last year….please follow pesticide labels.
We know how uneven these corn fields are-even irrigated ones. Many labels specify no NIS between V8/V10 till Tassel. Even if applying ‘at tassel’, realize that not all plants in the field will be at tassel, so you run the risk of abnormal ear development with the wrong adjuvants/surfactants present. If disease/insect pressure doesn’t warrant an app, I prefer delaying till at least brown silk to apply products to help alleviate any potential risk. I tend to be called out to many field problems. Since I started talking about this, the number of calls with messed up ears due to wrong timing of application the past three years has dwindled significantly. So, just a consideration as we begin to see more tassels shooting.
Western Bean Cutworm: It’s recommended to start scouting when 25% of moth flight occurs based on a GDD model. Lincoln hit 25% on July 2nd, Grand Island July 6, Columbus July 7, York July 8th, Clay Center July 10th. Threshold is 5-8% egg masses/live larvae. You can learn more about the GDD prediction tool and predictions for your area at: https://go.unl.edu/438o.
JenREES 2-4-18
Dicamba Updates: For those of you who farm in both Nebraska and Kansas, or have customers that do, the following is what is needed for RUP-dicamba training. Nebraska and Kansas have a reciprocal agreement regarding private, commercial, and non-commercial applicator training. Those who have a KS applicator license who wish to apply RUP dicamba in Nebraska don’t need to take additional pesticide training in Nebraska. They do need to apply for a reciprocal license in Nebraska through the NDA and pay the $25 fee (private) or $90 fee (commercial/non-commercial) for a Nebraska pesticide applicator license. There is no additional fee for dicamba training in Nebraska. Kansas Dept. of Ag accepts Nebraska’s dicamba training with no further requirements. Nebraska will accept Kansas dicamba training IF you can also prove you watched the NDA Nebraska specific requirements video. Otherwise, it’s perhaps simpler to take the RUP online dicamba training from Nebraska or attend a Nebraska face to face session.
If you missed the UNL face to face sessions for your area, you can also attend Industry trainings which are upcoming and listed on the NDA website at: http://www.nda.nebraska.gov/pesticide/dicamba.html (please refresh your browser). And, you may wish to attend an industry training anyway depending on the product which you plan to apply to hear more about specific buffer requirements and ask specific questions.
Also, to be clear, anyone who has attended UNL trainings will not receive certificates. Your proof of training will be to download the excel spreadsheet at the NDA website listed above and ensure your name is on that spreadsheet. I’ve been asking that you give NDA 7-10 days before checking it with all the paperwork coming in right now. If you attend a training and don’t see your name, please contact the trainer whose session you attended. It may take longer for those of you who became new pesticide applicators.
The York UNL dicamba training has been rescheduled to February 16 from 10:00-11:30 a.m. at the 4-H Building at the Fairgrounds in York. Updated FAQs can be found at this site (https://pested.unl.edu/documents/RUP_Dicamba_FAQ_2018.pdf) as we receive questions and verify answers with NDA and EPA (please refresh your browser for the updated info.)
Converting ground to annual/perennial forage systems: For the past few years, some of you have spoken with me about converting a pivot to an annual forage system if you owned the land and had cattle. We’ve worked through some economics and a handful of you have tried various options. With current corn and soybean prices, I’ve received an increasing number of questions regarding this topic from farmers and ag lenders. A team of Extension specialists including Dr.’s Jay Parsons, Mary Drewnoski, and Daren Redfearn are seeking your input into what they’ve put together for economics of example systems this coming year. A webinar is scheduled for Tuesday, February 13th beginning at 6:00 p.m. CST. To participate, you can click on the following url: https://unl.zoom.us/j/827594794. Audio can be through your computer speakers or you can also call in. Full details regarding phone number options and additional information can be viewed at: https://cropwatch.unl.edu/2018/economics-annual-and-perennial-forages-webinar. The goal of this webinar is to explain economic examples for both annual and perennial forage systems using different classes of cattle and allow you to provide input into those numbers and ask questions. For those of you interested in this topic and/or are already using annual forages/converted pivots to perennial grass systems, we’d greatly appreciate your input and please do consider sharing your insight!
York County Corn Grower Tour: Gary Zoubek, Extension Educator Emeritus, has planned a great Corn Grower tour for those interested in attending on February 13th! Please call the York County Extension Office at (402) 362-5508 if you plan to attend. Attendees will meet at the York County Extension Office at 8 a.m. with travel to Lincoln at 8:30 a.m. Tours in Lincoln will include Nebraska Innovation Campus (including Nebraska Innovation Studio (the makerspace), the Food Innovation Center, and the Greenhouse Innovation Center, home of the LemnaTec High Throughput Plant Phenotyping system). Attendees will then tour Quantified Ag that developed cattle ear tags equipped with sensors to monitor the health of the individual as well as the herd. Lunch at Valentinos will be followed by Campus visits including learning about biobased textiles, the Ag Econ Marketing Lab/Commodity Trading Room, and the UNL Dairy Store. The final stop will be at Neogen labs that develops, manufacturers, and markets a diverse line of products dedicated to food and animal safety before traveling back to York around 5:15 p.m. You can view more details and the full itinerary at: https://jenreesources.com/2018/01/29/york-co-corn-grower-tour-feb-13/.
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