Air July 17, 2002

Thank you Gary, and good morning everyone. I want to get around to some drought related items in a minute, but first a few comments about the Geary County Free Fair. The fair is next week - in particular I will be out at the fair grounds Monday through Thursday. If you have critical drought related crop production questions please do not hesitate to contact me at the fair grounds. For those of you coming out to the fair grounds you need to be aware that McFarland Road is closed west of Hiway 77. You will need to get to Spring Valley Road via Hiway K-18, Lacy Drive or Old Hiway 40. Remember, Springvalley Road has a 30 mph speed limit - watch your speed, because if you aren’t, someone else very well may be.

With the exception of a small track through the middle of the county that received some rain a week ago, we are only getting drier. If you are going to put up prairie hay, you need to be getting it cut as soon as possible. Early reports are 50% of normal yield. Remember that under drought stress conditions it becomes very important to leave at least a 4 to 6 inch stubble to protect soil and the crowns of the plants. Waiting 'til later in the season isn’t a good idea either. Later cutting simply stresses the plants worse and your quality simply continues to go downhill as the season goes on. And this year you aren’t going to be increasing quantity very much at all. If you are grazing, evaluate range condition right now and if problems are developing you may need to explore possible options. I’m still waiting to get the lab reports back on the corn samples I sent in for nitrate testing. I have been doing quite a few quick tests for nitrates on both corn and sudangrass. The quick test is a simple procedure whereby a solution is dropped onto the split stalk. A rapid deep color change indicates higher nitrate levels. It’s not very exact, but it allows to see in a hurry if there are potential problems. Most all of the corn that I have been testing so far is showing some elevated nitrates in the bottom part of the stalk, which is exactly what we’d expect. But as you work your way up the stalk we find the nitrate levels dropping very quickly. So we’ll stand by the old rule that if you are cutting drought stressed crops, try to cut 6 to 8 inches above the ground. Leave that high nitrate stub in the field. If you have some corn, sudan or sorghum you want tested just cut a few plants off at ground level and bring them to the office.

This is Chuck Otte, Geary County Extension Agent, with Ag Outlook 2002.

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