Radio Programs, June 8

Air June 8, 2005

This is Ag Outlook on 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte, Geary County, K-State Research and Extension Ag & Natural Resources Agent. If anyone can remember the last time we had freeze, hail, drought and flood damage on the same wheat crop in the same year, please let me know. And if anyone else is a little nervous that this is starting to look like 1993 - you're in good company! The wheat crop continues to be ravaged by mother nature - hay value of the crop has pretty well diminished to nothing so you might as well just ride it out and harvest what you can. If we can get the wheat harvested in a timely manner the good news is that we may have good soil moisture to get double crop beans started right on the heals. Give it some thought! What about the other crops out there? What effect did this 36 hours of wacky weather have on them? I've seen corn standing in water and corn that got hailed. Most of the hail damage that I saw looked bad, but the corn stalk and growing point appear to still be okay and history shows us that it can grow out of this kind of hail damage with very little impact on yield. Standing water is another thing. 36 to 48 hours of standing water will pretty well do in a corn plant. And there's not much we can do about it. Many soybean fields were just coming up, same for milo - these are a field by field situation. Get out and see how much soil washing there was, how much silt was deposited on top of beans or how much residue was laid over the top. It may be some time before we can replant, so unless you have large areas lost, don't worry about it. If you had milo or corn, that was briefly submerged and then the water receded, be aware that we will probably see an increase in diseases in these plants. All in all, let's just hang on, bide our time and not make hasty decisions! This has been Ag Outlook 2005 on the Talk of Junction City, 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte.

Air June 9, 2005

This is Ag Outlook on 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte, Geary County, K-State Research and Extension Ag & Natural Resources Agent. As always in agriculture, weather is the dominant focus of the discussion. Weather rules our life and sets the parameters under which our crops and livestock grow, produce and die. A rather intensive study several years ago showed that the farmer can actually only control less than 1/3 of the impacts, or risks if you well, that affect a crop. Mother nature controls the other 2/3. That being the case, instead of feeling helpless, it should point out how important it is that we do a good job of decision making on the 1/3 that we do control. One of those is seed or variety selection. With corn and milo we have little choice, we buy new seed every year. With wheat, and to a lesser extent now soybeans, we have the choice of saving seed back for replanting. I don't know how many farmers have been telling me in recent weeks that they are concerned about seed wheat for this fall. I will agree that many of the fields are looking pretty tough right now - I don't think there's a good looking field of wheat in the area. However, don't be too discouraged - from some of those ugly fields we may still get some decent seed wheat. Don't just assume that it's all going to be useless as seed wheat, go back to the fundamentals. Before harvest, scout for the fields that are looking good and have the fewest weeds. Late season weed infestation may be a real problem this year. Then field by field watch the quality. If you are getting fields that don't have a lot of shrunken and shriveled and if the test weight is 59 pounds or better, than consider saving it back anyway, unless you planted a blen of course. With a little cleaning you should be able to get that test weight back up to 60 pounds or above. And then remember to use a seed treatment when it comes to fall planting!

This has been Ag Outlook 2005 on the Talk of Junction City, 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte.

Air June 10, 2005

This is Ag Outlook on 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte, Geary County, K-State Research and Extension Ag & Natural Resources Agent. A real challenge to everyone in the coming weeks is going to be dealing with the mosquito outbreak that is sure to come following some of the rains that we have had. It is going to be up to everyone to deal with this issue, regardless of if you live in town, in the country, on a farm or a small rural acreage. The key to mosquito control is not massive spraying for adults, but elimination of breeding places. This time of year, we can expect a new generation of mosquitoes about very 7 days. So anything that holds water for 7 days, no matter how small, is a potential 'skeeter nursery! Mosquitoes do not like deep water, water with lots of wave action or moving water. The best places are a few inches of water with submerged or partially submerged vegetation. This can include pet waterers, bird baths, buckets, mud puddles, low areas in lawns or around farmsteads, junk piles, old tires, pool or boat covers, even clogged or saggy gutters. If you look in this water and see lots of little wriggling things there, you've got a mosquito nursery. Empty standing water from any container. Change pet water and bird bath water every few days. Turn buckets over, cut up old tires. In stock tanks or ornamental ponds, stock a few goldfish, they are very effective mosquito larva control. Be careful about overwatering lawns - we just had a bunch of rain, let the soil drain out and dry down a little before turning the sprinklers back on. With larger pools of water, especially around the farm, consider using some of the mosquito larvacide products for water treatment. The handiest to use, if you can find them are the little mosquito dunks. These solid products are handy to carry in the pickup for quick treatment to a small pool of water. This has been Ag Outlook 2005 on the Talk of Junction City, 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte.

Air June 12, 2005

This is Ag Outlook on 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte, Geary County, K-State Research and Extension Ag & Natural Resources Agent. I'm afraid it is too late to plant rice - the growing season is entirely too long now - and cranberries take several years to get established so you're stuck with what you've got. First this morning, an update on Soybean Rust. As of late last week, the only soybean rust was being found in central Florida growing on the weedy vine, kudzu. That's the good news. The bad news is that since that time, we had a tropical storm come sweeping up through the gulf coast and some of those spiraling arms of that low pressure system swept right across the area where the rust was being found and right up across Georgia, Alabama and points northward. That isn't necessarily bad news for us, but for soybean production in general, it isn't good news. We'll be watching this situation daily for the rest of the summer. Closer to home, we're looking at the second wettest June on record, dating back to 1931, and the month isn't over with yet. The record is held by 1965 and we had 11.90 inches that year. We're less than an inch away from that. Let's just skip on past wheat and talk about the impact on beans, milo and corn. Any time that you have flood waters go over the top of a crop, even if it is just for a couple of hours, you can expect an increase in disease problems. I think a lot of the corn, if it didn't flat drown out, is going to be okay, but definitely milo and possibly corn, is at risk for crazy top downy mildew. The name says it all, look for bizarre growth at the top of the plant. In milo you might also see leaf shredding from this same disease. And the problem may not show up for several weeks. I've also been seeing some unusual herbicide damage brought on by days of saturated soils even if there wasn't standing water. Not much we can do about all this, just be aware! This has been Ag Outlook 2005 on the Talk of Junction City, 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte.

Air June 14, 2005

Air June 15, 2005

This is Ag Outlook on 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte, Geary County, K-State Research and Extension Ag & Natural Resources Agent. With all the recent rain, one might think that Chinch Bug problems have all been washed away. Unfortunately, it is never that simple. And right now we have a lot of grain sorghum that is just getting well established and much of it is close enough to maturing wheat that it will be at high risk. Now, I will be the first to admit that compared to even three weeks ago, the chinch bug risk is much lower now than it was. But we can't be lulled into a false sense of security. We need to start checking those milo fields that border on or near wheat fields or even barley and oats for that matter. Start by walking those border areas. If the plants in the outside few rows look no different than those plants 10 to 15 rows in, then all should be good, for the time being. Come back in a week and check. The next 15 days will be the most critical IF chinch bugs are going to migrate out of wheat. After that point in time, infestation will most likely be an air invasion and it can show up anywhere. Back to the border rows. If the plants in those border rows are looking a little funny, you need to start investigating. It'll be easier for your scouting to do this first thing in the morning. Chinch bugs are more likely to be active and visible at that time. As we get into the heat of the afternoon, they tend to hide in the ground or get behind the leaf sheath of those small milo plants. Look for lower leaves, or any leaves, that are turning yellow or red. Keep in mind that there can be other causes for yellow and red leaves including fusarium and herbicide damage. Start digging down around the base of the plant and look for chinch bugs. If the discolored leaves and stunted plants are from chinch bugs then you should be able to find some chinch bugs. Now, if you are seeing this and can't find any bugs the problem could be else where so give me a call. This has been Ag Outlook 2005 on the Talk of Junction City, 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte.

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