Air April 26, 2000

Thank you Mark, and good morning everyone. Soil temperature update for this week shows a big improvement at Manhattan. The average is up three degrees to 56 with a weekly high of 59.9 and a low of 53. This is the kind of week to week increases that I would expect to see. Corn producers will want to hurry up and finish up corn planting and soybean planting could start before long at this rate. I would like to see soil temperatures of 60 for soybean planting, but 58 to 60 and good soil moisture would be a green light to me. Home gardeners, it’s still too early for tomatoes and peppers, but beans can go in and sweet corn probably by the weekend.

Spent some more time in alfalfa fields pastures in the past seven days. I am starting to see some alfalfa fields that need to be sprayed for weevils, but a lot of the fields are still holding on. While I am still finding a lot of aphids in most fields, I am also finding a lot of ladybugs and other aphid predators. I think that in many fields the aphids will be taken out by the parasitic insects before we need to spray. Weevil larvae are still a concern in many fields, let’s keep monitoring those fields. Somebody asked me the other day, already, if we could cut alfalfa too early. Without a doubt, the answer is yes. Especially on that first cutting, but anytime for that matter, we need to let the plant rebuild those plant food reserves. For the first few weeks of growth, that plant is growing on stored food reserves. If we cut before those have gotten rebuilt, we simply weaken the plant, slow down the time frame until the next cutting and ultimately reduce yield. A less vigorous stand of alfalfa will be more subject to disease problems, insect problems and weed invasion thus shortening the life and productivity of the stand. The best monitor of when it’s time to cut is new growth at the crown of the plant. This may be even more reliable than 1/10th bloom.

I’ve also had a couple of inquiries from folks wanting to know when it’s too late to burn. Chuck’s rule of thumb is that as long as you can still carry a fire, AND it’s before May 10th you can go ahead and burn. Be sure to call in those burns to the Sheriff’s office before you start though!

This is Chuck Otte, Geary County Extension Agent, with Ag Outlook 2000.

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