To Learn About Improving Soil Health With Cover Crops And Planting Green.
On June 03, 2017
To Learn About Improving Soil Health With Cover Crops And Planting Green.
Plan to attend a Soil Health field day on June 22nd at the Joel and Don Myers farm. Joel Myers is retired NRCS state agronomist, who farms with his brother Don on the family’s farm near Spring Mills, Centre County. The Myers are passionate about building and maintaining the productivity of the soils on their farm. They are strong proponents of no-till cropping systems, diverse crop rotations, and inclusion of cover crops whenever they can be included into their rotations.
At the event you will also hear from a team of Penn State research and extension personnel with an update on several promising technologies that can improve soil quality and crop productivity. Heidi Myer, a graduate student beginning her third year of field research will share some of what she is learning about relatively new concept known as “planting green”. Instead of chemically controlling the cover crop weeks ahead of planting, why not let it grow to provide more organic matter to the soil, help provide habitat for predators of some insect pests of grains, and control the cover crop soon after planting? Numerous farmers have been planting this way for several years, and many are encouraged with their results. Joel and neighboring farmers will share some of their on-farm planting green experiences. Kristy Borrelli will share some insights for how one might characterize and measure soil quality. Ron Hoover will have one of the PSU Interseeders on hand and will share some of the recent results from numerous on-farm interseeder trials. William Curran will make suggestions regarding weed control programs in corn where interseeding is planned, and for controlling a heavy planting green cover crop after the corn has been planted.
Registration is at 9:30, the program runs from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM on Thursday June 22, 2017. The event will be held at the Myers Farm, 3790 Spring Mills Road, Spring Mills, PA 16875
The cost is $10.00. One can register online at CVENT: http://extension.psu.edu/soil-health or by calling 877-489-1398 between 8:00 AM and 5:00 PM. Questions can be directed to Ron Hoover at rjh7@psu.edu or at 814-777-4785.
To Save the Dates for the Agronomic Pesticide Applicator Schools
Are you looking to obtain the majority of your pesticide credits in a one day session? If so, mark your calendars for the Agronomic Pesticide Applicators Schools. The Agronomic Pesticide Applicators Schools (formerly Commercial Applicators School) will be held at two locations this year, Wednesday August 30th at the Ag. Progress Days site outside of State College and Thursday September 21st at the Southeast Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Landisville. The schools, open to commercial and private applicators, will offer at least 6 PA core Pesticide credits as well as PA PC and cat. 01 credits. The Landisville location will offer Maryland and Delaware pesticide credits as well. Pennsylvania equipment dealers will be at both locations with equipment on hand to allow attendees to ‘kick the tires’ on the latest in spray technologies and classroom sessions will offer practical information for pesticide applicators. Look for registration information and additional details to be posted soon. If you have questions right now, feel free to contact Zach Larson at zmlarson@psu.edu for questions regarding the Ag Progress Days location and Liz Bosak at ejb246@psu.edu for questions regarding the Landisville location.
To Learn To Certify Forage and Straw as Weed Free
Forage and straw used for mulch, can contain seeds or the reproductive parts of noxious and invasive weeds. When these troublesome plants introduced, they can cause headaches, economic loss, and negative ecological impacts. Many certified noxious weed free forage and straw programs are based on the minimum standards set by the North American Invasive Species Management Association (NAISMA) where fields are inspected within 10 days prior to cutting or harvesting, storage areas are inspected, in addition to other requirements. Extension Agonomist Rachel Milliron explains these certification programs grew out of the demand to limit the spread of invasive species in federally managed lands, and are more common in Western states (WA, OR, CA, ID, NV, AZ, UT, NM, CO, WY, MT) where federal lands make up 46% of the region. In some federally managed lands there are regulations that restrict mulches used in restoration and revegetation projects to those that are certified as weed free. Additionally, forage for animals stored or used on some public lands must also be certified as weed free. Here in Pennsylvania, regulations are not as strict. For example, in state forests and park lands, “certified seed and weed free soil, dirt, and mulch” is used whenever feasible.
With the development of gas and pipelines in Ohio and Pennsylvania and the revegetation projects that follow we’ve been getting questions about how to get forage and straw weed free certified.
Currently there is no weed free forage and straw certifying agency or program in Pennsylvania. However, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA) can offer quality assurance through the Seed Program of the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture. In order to attain quality assurance of forage and straw, you must apply to the program an application and fee of $30.00. After joining the program, there is a field inspection fee of $3.00 per acre for grasses and legumes; and small grains. Contact John Zook, the Seed Program Supervisor for more information at: (717) 787-4894 or jzook@pa.gov.
To Control Weeds In New Grass And Legume Seedings
Herbicide selection for new forage grass and/or legume seedings are limited. Most herbicide labels for grasses like orchardgrass, timothy, etc. state that the grasses should be well established with at least 4-5 inches of growth. Extension Agronomist Dwight Ligenfelter explains some labels are more restrictive than this. The metsulfuron label states that grasses should be established for at least 6 months prior to an application. This ensures that they are developing a solid root system that could tolerate potential stress from the herbicide. Herbicide selection, formulation (ester vs. amine) rate, and environmental conditions at application will all impact the potential for injury. Herbicide use in new legume seedings has similar concerns. In general, legumes should have several trifoliate leaves and be 2 to 3 inches tall before making an application. The Pursuit and Raptor labels state that alfalfa should have 2 trifoliates or larger at application; two of the most lenient products for new alfalfa seedings. Also, keep in mind that at the same time that we want our crop to have sufficient growth, our targets are generally “small” annual weeds which are easier to kill – a bit of a paradox. Finally, products are even more limited with mixed seedings. Pursuit is labeled for established alfalfa-grass mixtures as is metribuzin (Dimetric, Glory, TriCor, etc.); MCPA and Maestro (Buctril) are labeled on legume/small grain companion seedings, and several other products have labels for CREP mixtures http://pubs.cas.psu.edu/FreePubs/pdfs/uc198.pdf.
Quote Of The Week: ““This operation is not being planned with any alternatives. This operation is planned as a victory, and that’s the way it’s going to be. We’re going down there, and we’re throwing everything we have into it, and we’re going to make it a success.” — General Dwight D. Eisenhower on the D-Day invasion. This week on June 6 was the 73rd anniversary of D-Day