Good Morning! This is Debbie Brown, Ag and Natural Resources Educator for OSU Extension, Shelby County. Well, it’s been an “interesting” weather week! We were lucky this time around and didn’t get hit with too much stuff. However, I’ve heard rain amounts of up to 3-plus inches Monday evening and even more on Thursday morning. Of course, there was also the hail in northwest Mercer county … I hate to say it, but it’s not shaping up to be the best year for farming … It’s one of those that we just muddle (or should we say, “muddie”?) through and hope for better next year.
Well, Field Day Season continues!
The Western Agronomy Field Day will be held next Wednesday, July 19, at the Western Ag Research Station near South Charleston. Registration is at 8:30 a.m. and the program runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Some of the speakers and topics include John Fulton with late season nitrogen management and application methods, Mark Loux with how to manage new herbicide resistant soybean, Steve Culman and Harold Watters with fertilizer management, Laura Lindsey with soybean scouting, and Andy Michel with a stink bug demonstration.
This Field Day is Free for any interested crop producers and advisers. Lunch will be provided, but pre-registration is required by July 17 – that’s today! To RSVP, please email to Joe Davlin, [email protected] or Harold Watters, [email protected]. CCA CEUs will be available. The Western Ag Research Station is located on SR 41 south of Springfield.
On Thursday, July 27, a Field Day for corn and soybean growers will be held at the Northwest Ag Research Station in Wood County. This program will be from 9a to 11:30 a.m. and is free.
Participants will get a wagon tour of the station and hear presentations by CFAES experts on the topics of Optimizing Soybean Relative Maturity, Fertility Management and Tri-State Recommendations, Xtend and Enlist Herbicide Technologies, and Soybean Insect Management and Update.
This Research Station is located at 4240 Range Line Road, Custar: 2.5 miles northeast of Hoytville at the corner of Oil Center and Range Line Roads in Wood County. The station focuses on row crop research and the challenges facing growers in northwest Ohio. For more information, contact Matt Davis at [email protected] or 419-257-2060.
As mentioned last week, Mercer County will be holding a Hops Field Day on Thursday, July 20. This Hops Field Day will offer attendees guidelines on hops production, including how to market the crop to breweries, control pests, irrigate, and fertilize the soil. This Field Day will include a chance to see a hops trellis system and a hops harvester machine, and to learn the basics of selecting hop plants, pest management, determining production costs, and constructing a hop yard. The program will start at 10a in the Fort Recovery High School Ag Room at 400 Butler St. in Fort Recovery. After a short presentation by Brad Bergefurd, participants will travel to the hop yard of Andy Pax to view and discuss his hops production practices.
Hops grow on bines and their flowers/seed cones are used to make beer, adding bitterness, aroma, and antibacterial qualities. While getting into hops production can be costly, the income potential is great if you do everything right, according to Brad Bergefurd, who coordinates the Hops Research at the OSU South Centers in Piketon. This field day is intended to help attendees learn how to do just that!
Pre-registration is required. Lunch will be provided to those who pre-register. To register, contact Mercer County OSU Extension at 419-586-2179 or email Denny Riethman at [email protected]. The deadline to register is July 17, with is next Monday!
The 2017 Ohio State University Manure Science Review is scheduled for Wednesday, August 2nd at the Stoller Brothers & Sons farm in Paulding County. I’ll have more information next week.
Those of you who still need to get your fertilizer certification have until September 30th of this year to get your training in. In order to get the Ohio Fertilizer Applicator Certification, you need to attend a Fertilizer Applicator Certification Training program and complete the necessary ODA forms. At this point, these trainings are free of charge. After September 30th, there will be a cost for the training.
According to the nutrients law, fertilizer is defined as any substance containing nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, or other plant nutrient in a dry or liquid form. Use of manure (unless it has a nutrient analysis), start-up fertilizer applied through the planter, and non-crop uses of fertilizer such as for lawn and landscape maintenance are exempt from the fertilizer certification regulations. However, Side-dressing of corn *does* require the certification.
We have five training opportunities in this west-central area of the state over the next couple of months. Please get your calendars out and get scheduled to attend one of these, as needed: Aug. 17, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Urbana; Aug. 23, 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. (lunch included) in Forest; two sessions in Botkins on Aug. 28, 2 to 5 p.m. and 6 to 9 p.m.; and Sept. 7, 6 to 9 p.m. in Troy. You can find details of these and others in the state at nutrienteducation.osu.edu/ under “training opportunities.”
Applicators who are a Certified Crop Adviser (CCA) or Ohio Certified Livestock Manager (CLM) are not required to attend training, but you must contact the ODA to complete the exemption paperwork and pay for the fertilizer certification if you do not have a pesticide applicator license.
Well, I think I’ve probably run over again, this week! Catch ya next! ‘Bye!
