A Renewable Energy Workshop will be held on Wednesday, Nov. 4, from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Carey (northwest of Upper Sandusky). This workshop will be held at Vaughn Industries, a solar installation company with its own 50-kilowatt sun-powered system. A tour of the headquarters building will be part of the day’s activities, as well as a tour of PSEG Solar: an 83-acre, 12-megawatt field that produces enough electricity for over 9,000 homes.
Renewable Energy experts from OSU and industry will be presenting on such topics as growing grasses to make biofuels, producing energy through anaerobic digesters, solar energy, and funding possibilities. This workshop is for anyone interested in renewable energy: farmers, homeowners, small-business owners, financial and insurance companies, researchers and students, and state and local agency personnel.
Registration is $40 by Oct. 27 ($50 after) and includes continental breakfast and lunch. To register, download the registration form available at go.osu.edu/2015REW and return it with payment. For more information, you can contact Mary Wicks at [email protected] or 330-202-3533.
The Northwest Ohio Landowner Conference will be held on Saturday, Nov. 14, at Owens Community College in Perrysburg. At this conference the Ohio Woodland Stewards will present on issues facing private landowners and urban backyard tree owners. This program begins at 9a and runs through 3p.
The opening topic will be “Tree-Scription” – a wellness review for trees. The rest of the program consists of concurrent sessions with topics such as CAUV and Ohio Forest Tax Law, Managing your Woodland, Creating Habitat for Pollinators, Removal of Invasive Plants, Ways to Attract Wildlife, Managing Wildlife Conflict, and Managing Harmful Algal Blooms.
The cost is $40 per individual which includes materials and lunch. Pre-registration is required by November 6th. The brochure and online registration information is available at http://woodlandstewards.osu.edu; click the dropdown menu for payment options. We also have copies of the brochure and registration forms in our office.
Steve Culman, our OSU Extension soil fertility specialist, is looking for farmers to participate in a project to look at nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium in soybeans, corn, and wheat as part of an overall effort to update the Tri-State Fertility Recommendations. The current Tri-State recommendations are over 20 years old and need to be updated to reflect current growing conditions.
Steve would like to work with 30 growers per crop for the duration of the research project, which will involve applying fertilizer to some replicated strip plots and leaving others without fertilizer. You’d get to choose which nutrient you’d like to work with and have a large degree of flexibility in the plot layout and application rates. He especially would like farms with a diversity of soil types and fields that test low in phosphorus and potassium.
Participating farmers will be paid for their time and effort. Crop consultants and co-op agronomists can also be paid for helping to facilitate the trials on their clients’ fields. Another benefit is all the lab analyses done are at no charge and participants will be supplied with a report on what the results are and what that means for their specific farms.
Data that will be collected during the project include Soil Samples before planting, Leaf Tissue Samples for nutrient analysis at early reproductive stage, and Grain Yields and Nutrient Analysis of grain at harvest. Participants will also be asked to complete a short questionnaire about soil management.
If you’re interested in participating, contact Steve Culman at 330-263-3787 or [email protected]. More information can be found at go.osu.edu/fert-trials.
The Fuzzy Babies are growing! They spent last week in the field, without halters. They settled right in and had a great time!
