Airing October 4 - 7, 2005
Weed control and milo stubble
This is Ag Outlook 2005 on 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte, Geary County, K-State Research and Extension Ag & Natural Resources Agent. Here we are into October and wheat harvest is getting under way as is harvest. IF you have some milo that you are getting ready to harvest or have harvested and you are thinking about planting wheat back into that stubble, there's a couple of things that it would probably be good for you to do. For reasons that we really don't know for sure yet, double cropping wheat into milo stubble causes a reduction in yield. There are ways to overcome this. If you HAVE to stay in no-till, get out there right after milo harvest and spray the stubble with glyphosate. If you don't have to leave it in no-till, disc it up or chisel it up. We think that the milo plants are keeping the nutrients or water locked up OR are releasing chemicals that actually inhibit wheat plant germination and growth. Whatever it is, we know that killing the plants helps a lot and glyphosate is probably the way to go. Then go ahead and boost planting rate about 10 to 15% and boost nitrogen rate about the same. Crop rotation is a good thing, we just don't want to shoot ourselves in the foot with a poor wheat crop, and we don't have too. Another fall project, as if you don't have enough to do, is field bindweed control. Field Bindweed will continue to grow until we have had temperatures down to about 22 degrees for several hours. Up until that time, you can spray and control field bindweed. Our best control is going to come from fall treatments - consider 2,4-D and dicamba and if possible, even a little tordon 22K. Fall is generally a good time to control this troublesome weed, and this looks like a good fall to get this done! This has been Ag Outlook 2005 on the Talk of JC, 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte.
Bromegrass fertilization
This is Ag Outlook 2005 on 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte, Geary County, K-State Research and Extension Ag & Natural Resources Agent. Bromegrass has been hit hard the past few years because of the dry summers. Now, just about the time we have some good moisture, the darn grub problem crops up and hammers us. We really need to try to get these brome fields back in shape. First of all, the timing of your fertilization may need to be adjusted. We have over 20 years of really good bromegrass fertilization data from K-State Agronomy farm at Manhattan. What we have found is that fertilizing in November and December will give us the best overall yield. I think we have been fertilizing many of our brome fields when we've been topdressing wheat and that is probably a little bit on the late side. We can expect some good growth from our brome this fall, so let's get on that stuff and get the nutrients out there so the plants can start building up good root systems. I spent a little bit of time reviewing the long term research and the results were pretty interesting. Naturally the biggest jump in production came from the first 40 pounds of nitrogen. And the highest production came with 120 pounds of nitrogen. But even figuring nitrogen at 40 cents a pound (which I hope is just a little on the high side) the gain from jumping from 80 to 120 pounds of nitrogen was still just 1.5 cents per pound of bromegrass or $30 a ton. Last time I checked, bromegrass was worth more than $30 a ton. I would recommend 100 to 120 pounds of nitrogen, 40 pounds of phosphorus AND 20 pounds of sulfur. I would also try to get that applied in November or no later than December. This has been Ag Outlook 2005 on the Talk of JC, 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte.
This is Ag Outlook 2005 on 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte, Geary County, K-State Research and Extension Ag & Natural Resources Agent.
This has been Ag Outlook 2005 on the Talk of JC, 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte.
This is Ag Outlook 2005 on 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte, Geary County, K-State Research and Extension Ag & Natural Resources Agent.
This has been Ag Outlook 2005 on the Talk of JC, 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte.
This is Ag Outlook 2005 on 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte, Geary County, K-State Research and Extension Ag & Natural Resources Agent.
This has been Ag Outlook 2005 on the Talk of JC, 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte.
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