Farm Focus Hosts 2008 Field Day on July 29

A variety of speakers will address issues on the minds of local and regional farmers at the Farm Focus Field Day being held on Tuesday, July 29 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Van Wert, Ohio. Local agri-businesses and equipment dealers will be on hand with demonstrations of their newest products and equipment pertaining to today’s farming needs. The Farm Focus committee invites all area farmers and agri-business persons to attend the field day which is free and open to the public. For more details visit...http://farmfocus.osu.edu/

Soybean Defoliators

With soybeans beginning to enter their flowering stages, we need to remind growers of the various defoliators that are starting to make their presence known. These defoliators include Japanese beetle adults, first generation bean leaf beetle adults, Mexican bean beetle adults, green cloverworm larvae, and grasshoppers, and all are now being found throughout the state. In terms of defoliation, it would be unusual for any of the above mentioned insects alone to cause significant defoliation throughout a field. However, a complex of two or more might cause defoliation levels to rise above threshold levels. Remember you need to sample from numerous locations in the field to get a good idea of what is happening across the entire field. For fields with large populations of Japanese beetles, remember that these beetles will congregate; finding one Japanese beetle means you will usually find a lot of them in the same area. Thus, at least for this insect, you need to make an extra effort to sample from numerous locations in the field to get a better idea of what is happening across the entire field. Growers are advised to initiate scouting procedures over the next few weeks to prevent defoliation from reaching the 15-20% defoliation threshold during the reproductive growth stages, R1-R5, which then rises to 20-25% during growth stage R6 late in the summer. When sampling, check numerous places within the field, avoiding the field edges which often tend to have higher levels than the rest of the field. A list of labeled insecticides for control of all these soybean defoliators is available at http://entomology.osu.edu/ag/545/soy545.pdf .

Corn Pollination Underway in Many Ohio Corn Fields

During the past week, tassels began appearing in corn fields that were planted in late April and early May. However the pollination period is going to vary widely across the state this year.

According to the National Agricultural Statistics Service ( http://www.nass.usda.gov/oh/ ), about a third of our corn acreage was planted on or before May 4, then due to persistent rainy conditions, another third of our corn was planted over the next three weeks, and the remaining third of our acreage was planted (or replanted) in late May and early June. The late planted corn will not be tasselling until early to mid August. The pollination period, the flowering stage in corn, is the most critical period in the development of a corn plant from the standpoint of grain yield determination. Stress conditions such as drought or hail damage have the greatest impact on yield potential during the reproductive stage. The following are some key steps in the corn pollination process. For more on corn pollination click ...http://corn.osu.edu/#C

Another good source of information is the following: http://www.agry.purdue.edu/ext/corn/news/timeless/Tassels.html