Air May 10 - 16, 2006

Wet Soils and problems there of

This is Ag Outlook 2006 on 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte, Geary County, K-State Research and Extension Ag & Natural Resources Agent. It never ceases to amaze me how we can go to one weather extreme to another in such a short period of time in this state. Warm temperatures in April really got the corn cranked up and rolling, and the wheat too. But I'm glad that the temperatures have backed off and the rainfall has been wonderful. But cooling soils can cause some odd conditions on corn, especially with certain herbicide treatments. Cold soils and especially wet soils can be a problem also with developing root systems and nutrient uptake. If you have areas that have been saturated for over a week, you can expect some problems with corn plants, especially plants that were just starting to sprout and emerge. However, if you have been experiencing this, it looks like we're warming up and drying out quick enough that the problems should disappear fairly quickly. Do not be in a hurry to replant. Not being able to get into some of these fields for the period of time that we did may result in some weeds getting bigger than expected before burn down herbicides were applied. Again, stick with your plant and don't panic - the herbicide will still work fine and the last thing you want to be doing is getting out in a slightly too damp soil and tilling. Finally on the wheat - the cooler wetter weather was quite timely for the wheat. It is flowering in earnest now and the cooler weather is great for grain filling. If it stays like this it should help make up for reduced head size from heat and drought stress in many fields. We did have fields that were blooming during some of that rain and that may cause an increase in head scab - keep that in mind if you are keeping seed back. This has been Ag Outlook 2006 on the Talk of JC, 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte.

Soybean Inoculation

This is Ag Outlook 2006 on 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte, Geary County, K-State Research and Extension Ag & Natural Resources Agent. It's time for soybean planting. Historically we often think of soybeans as being a low input crop. But what we are finding out, as we grow more and more acres of this crop, is that like everything else, you get out what you put in. We never used to worry about fertilizing soybeans, because, well, they're a legume and they make their own nitrogen. Well, sure, that's true, BUT let's look at the whole picture. What about phosphorus and potassium and maybe even some manganese especially on roundup ready soybean planted on pH 6.8 or higher soils. As we try to tighten our belts on these crop production costs, we want to make sure that we aren't eliminating items that are going to hurt our production in the end and result with a higher per bushel cost of production. But let's get back to a couple of very important factors with soybean production and they both have to do with the seed. The first one is a fungicide seed treatment and the second one is a legume innoculant. NO matter when you plant and no matter how many soybean crops have been planted in that field, soybean seed should be inoculated every year. Use a fresh innoculant and keep it cool until the minute you put it on the seed. The dash of a pickup can get hot enough to kill the bacteria in that pouch. We often don't think of fungicide seed treatments on soybeans well, because we just haven't ever done that before. But even over the past three years, soybean seed treatments have increased yield an average of 2½ bushels per acre. If you are planting before Memorial Day and especially in no-till fields, use a broad spectrum fungicidal seed treatment. This has been Ag Outlook 2006 on the Talk of JC, 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte.

Brush Control in Pastures

This is Ag Outlook 2006 on 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte, Geary County, K-State Research and Extension Ag & Natural Resources Agent. Because of the warm weather in April, it seems like it should be June already, but we have to remember that we're really just mid May. Since quite a few folks decided not to burn this year, this would be a great year to get some herbicide brush control done. BUT, before you load up the sprayer and head out to treat everything in sight, let's take a little time to determine what your biggest problem species are. Each of our major brush species have a slightly different best time for treatment. If buckbrush is your biggest problem, then you should be treating now. IF dogwood is your problem, then mid May to mid June and if sumac is your issue, then mid June is probably best. If you have all three, then you probably need to split the difference and treat May 20th to June 10th. After about the 1st of July, foliar spraying becomes far less effective and really shouldn't be done. What about "weeds" in your pasture? To be right honest, other than noxious weeds, I'm not a big fan of herbicide spraying to control broadleaf plants. Many of those plants are used by cattle and beneficial to the pasture and the livestock that wide spread treatment actually lowers the forage value of the pasture. So I prefer to spot spray problem brush patches rather than trying to spray the entire pasture with a ground rig or airplane. What product should you use? I'm a big fan of Crossbow and Remedy. Both have triclopyr as the active ingredient and are very effective. Picloram, Grazon or Tordon, is also highly effective especially for troublesome woody plants. As always, mix these at the label rates, NO MORE, and be sure to spray when the wind is less than 15 mph. This has been Ag Outlook 2006 on the Talk of JC, 1420 KJCK, I'm Chuck Otte.

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