AIR APRIL 14, 1999

Thank you Mark, and good morning everyone. An interesting bunch of weather the past 10 days - keeps making me wonder what the summer will bring. I want to call your attention to the Household and Ag hazardous waste collection day, this Saturday, April 17th from 9 a.m. To 3 pm. Geary County residents and farmers can bring hazardous waste, this DOES NOT include tires, but does include things like oil, antizreeze, pesticides of any kind, batteries and about any other kind of chemical. There is no charge and the collection will take place at the Temporary Household Hazardous waste building at 826 North Price. Clean out your garage, storage shed, pesticide storage building between now and Saturday. If the chemical is more than five years old then a) it probably isn’t much good anymore and b) you probably aren’t going to use it anyway. Half used cans of paint, bring em down. If you think that there is a chance for leakage then repackage in a sturdy tight container. If you have any questions then call the Geary County Weed Department at 238-4600.

If you have not been out to look at your alfalfa fields yet, then get with it. There have been a fair number of fields sprayed already and quite a few more that may very well need it. Somebody was asking me last week if they’d need to spray twice for the first cutting. There’s no way to tell just yet, but the odds this year are higher than in past years. It all depends on what kind of weather we have, how fast the alfalfa grows and how many eggs are yet to hatch. One would think that with some of the warm weather we’ve had that all the eggs would have hatched already, but you can never be certain. You may also want to keep an eye on aphids. There have been quite a few reported. Aphids are tricky in that which species you have dictates how soon you need to spray. Most of the weevils insecticides will knock down aphids, but they’ll also get the aphid predators. Aphid populations can rebuild faster than weevil or aphid predators so just because you’ve sprayed doesn’t mean you can stop checking the field. One other option might be an early cut if reinfestation occurs, but it’s way too early to start thinking about that. For right now, get out into your alfalfa fields on a regular basis and keep monitoring!

This is Chuck Otte, Geary county Extension Agent, with Ag Outlook '99.

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