Caldwell County Agline

Calling all wheat growers in Caldwell County . . . time to scout your fields.  Thin wheat stands will benefit from a split application of Nitrogen.  Adding additional N will help thin and late planted stands to grow additional tillers.  If your stands are thin, 20 - 30 tillers per row foot, then apply 50 - 70 pounds of N in late January or early February will help.  Most importantly, if your wheat looks good, 50 tillers per row foot, DO NOT apply any N!  You will hurt your yields!  Fields with 50 tillers per row foot only need N when they reach growth stage 30, usually in March.

Besides tiller counts the other thing I'm scouting for are hessian flies.  Normally we do not have to worry about the hessian fly.  This year may be different.  The warm weather this fall may not have broken the hessian fly life cycle.  To familiarize yourself with the hessian fly read (www.ces.ncsu.edu/plymouth/pubs/ent/HFLYupdate03.html).

If you need any help scouting your small grain fields please give me a call (757 1290) or e-mail me (seth_nagy@ncsu.edu).  For more about N application read this month's Smart Grains Newsletter (www.smallgrains.ncsu.edu/SmartGrains/No15SpringN.pdf).

NC State / NC Cooperative Extension and NC Department of Agriculture (NCDA) studied crop fields with high levels of Phosphorus (P).  They did this because when P gets into surface water (lakes, ponds, & streams) it produces algae blooms.  Algae does more than just look bad.  It causes problems with municipal water intakes, produces foul odors in drinking water, and can reduce the Oxygen levels in water.  Besides algae, physteria also bloom in waters containing elevated nutrients.  Physteria can produce toxins that kill fish . . . and greatly affect people!  This is the organism responsible for the red-tide that occurs from time to time in the ocean.

One source of P is from row crop farming.  Of course, agriculture is not the only source of P.  There is a long list of potential sources which include municipal waste treatment and erosion from land disturbing activities.

To reduce agriculture's P contribution to surface waters, NC State researchers asked for help from County Extension Agents.  They wanted to study P-levels on farms in the state and look at ways to limit P from escaping farm fields.  We - Caldwell County - participated in a two-year on-farm trial with 13 other counties.  We looked at plant growth on fields that contained moderate to high levels of P.

The study concluded fields with elevated P levels do not need any additional P.  This means farmers do not need to have P in their starter fertilizer.  This is good news for row crop farmers.  They can now save money on fertilizer and improve their world.

Caldwell County's participation in this project was possible because of John Looper providing the field and tractor work and Lynn Howard, our local NCDA Regional Agronomist, helping with sampling during the growing season.

More on this project is available at the Watershed Education Networks' website www.wen.ncsu.edu/stories/p-fertilizer.html  

This year was not a great year to have a soybean test.  However, it will still yield useful results.  The plot was planted late, July 2, 2007.  It was planted behind barley and after a rain.  The test examined varying plant populations (25,000 seeds/ac to 200,000 seeds/ac) in both 15 & 30 inch rows.  This is the third year we've examined soybean populations in the county.

The results have not been calculated from this year's trial.  I will post that information when it is calculated.  I did take some video of the combine harvesting the test plots.  The combine is a Massey Ferguson 8.  I've been told it is built in Europe to Massey's specifications.  It is powered by a Perkins 70 hp soy-biodiesel engine.  I hope you enjoy the video.

Soybean Links

• NCSU Crop Sci  - www.soybean.ncsu.edu
• Caldwell Extension Center  - caldwell.ces.ncsu.edu soybean links
  

We just finished up our on-farm soybean population trial with local farmer John Looper.  I've run this experiment for three years with cooperation from Dr. Jim Dunphy and Michael Buffaloe.  These on-farm population trials have truly made an impact with local growers in the county.  However, it is not all serious work.  I had my video camera on harvest day and caught Michael trying to move the grain truck across the road so he could dump the beans from the combine . . . enjoy what happened.

Most have finished planting their small grains and the stands look good.   Now, we need to think about weed control.   Scouting for weeds such as Italian Ryegrass, wild garlic, curly dock and other winter weeds should not be overlooked.  Scouting for weeds will help with the selection of herbicides and application timinig.

Our State Extension Weed Specialist, Dr. Alan York states "farmers get poor weed control, especially  annual ryegrass when applying herbicides late".  So, scout for winter weeds over the next few weeks. Be ready to apply herbicides at the right time.  

The 59th Annual Crop Protection School & Annual Meeting of Crop Protection Association of NC will be December 11, 2007 at the McKimmon Conference and Training Center on the NC State Campus in Raleigh.  This program provides a close look at research data, recommendations, and problems in the area of pests, pest management, pesticides, fertilizers, and application equipment.  Learn from and interact with Manufacturers, Formulators, Dealers, Salesmen, Professional Agricultural Workers, and Farm Managers.  Have the opportunity to earn Pesticide Applicator and Certified Crop Advisor credits.

For full color brochure, please click here.

Agenda

8:00 am Check-in Begins

8:00 - 11:45 am Graduate Student Poster Competition - Dr. David Jordan, Moderator

9:00 am Welcome and Introductory Remarks - Dr. Ed Jones, Associate Director and State Program Leader, ANR/CRD

Certification and Credit Instructions and Meeting Logistics - Dr. Wayne Buhler, Pesticide Education Specialist, Horticulture, NC State University

9:15 am Morning Session - GMOs: Strategies for the Future - Wyatt Richardson, CPANC President, Moderator

GM Crops in Production Agriculture - Dr. Arthur Weissinger, Professor, Crop Science, NC State University

Herbicide Resistance Management: Today and Tomorrow - Dr. Stewart Sherrick, Monsanto

Insect Resistance Management for Bt Crops - Dr. Ryan Kurtz, Syngenta Biotechnology

10:45 - 11:00 am Break

11:00 am CPANC President's Report and Business Meeting - Wyatt Richardson, CPANC President

11:45 am CPANC Awards Luncheon and Legislative Remarks - Glenn Jernigan, Glenn Jernigan & Associates

1:00 - 2:30 pm Session I: Pesticide Stewardship - Steve Toth, Moderator

WPS Training Tools: Revising the Pesticides and Human Health Crop Sheets - Dr. Julia Storm, Agromedicine Information Specialist, Toxicology, NC State University, and Catherine LePrevost, graduate student

Nuts and Bolts of Calibration - Dr. Gary Roberson, Extension Specialist, Biological and Agricultural Engineering, NC State University

Pesticides and Endangered Species - Dr. Steven Wall, Syngenta Crop Protection

2:30 - 3:00 pm Break

3:00 - 4:30 pm Session II: Crop Updates - Dr. Steve Koenning, Moderator

Weed Management Update for Cotton, Corn, Soybeans, and Small Grains - Dr. Alan York, William Neal Reynolds Professor, Crop Science, NC State University

Corn Fungicide and Plant Nutrition Update - Dr. Ron Heiniger, Professor, Crop Science, NC State University

Soybean Fungicide Update

Fees

$89.00 - Per person if paid by December 1, 2007
$109.00 - Per person if paid aft er December 1, 2007

Register

Phone - 919 515 2261
Online - http://www.dcs.ncsu.edu/opd/course.cfm?cid=276&sid=2797