El6—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 23,1980 Crops day (Continued from Page El 4) Fanners tend to put lime on corn and the soil may be quite acid by the tune the small gram is planted. Any pH below 6.0 will increase winterkill, Yocum added. Corn yields in test plots across the state last year were off by 14 percent, he told growers. At the Landisville Station they were off by 20 percent, dropping from an average 161 bushels per acre to 128 bushels. Yocum put the blame on wet weather, too much water, shallow roots, Helmmthesporium problems which killed plants. That sorry scene was followed by stalk rots which lodged plants. Yocum said researchers averaged only 66 percent erect plants m commercial plots. Plots at Landisville had 75 percent downed plants. Yocum noted a good bit of herbicide damage due to the cool, wet, cloudy weather. Banvel and post applications of Bladex were among the worst culprits. He advised against ap plying such materials during peak cloudy penods. He also said farmers should be alert for rootworm damage. He advised walking fields m July to look for goosenecked com. In August farmers should check for rootworm beetles. Farmers who see three or more adults per ear tip should consider spraying. Yocum also said farmers should limit manure ap plications to 30 tons per acre cattle manure and six tons per acre fresh poultry manure. Beyond those levels there is too much chance of mtrogen and potassium becommmg excessive and getting out of balance with magnesium. The need to keep manure and fertilizers in balance was re-emphasized in a movie showed farmers. The film presented several reasons for keeping fertility levels balanced, the best of which may be both crop and animal health. The movie emphasized the need for timely application of fertilizer, for instance, applying P and K after the first and after the final cutting of alfalfa. It praised the use of manure injection and said storage was one of the better ways to avoid nutrient loss. For farmers on daily haul, the film suggested applying manure only on level fields away from streams especially if the fields are snow-covered. Lebanon County Agent Newton Bair told farmers how to combat a problem which came in after Hurricane Agnes m 1972: burcucumber. Burcucumber, or wild cucumber as it is known, is a vme resembling cucumber or wild sweet potato. It has a lot of curly ten tides and many seed pods along the vine. It is vicious m com, Bair told farmers, climbing up and over plants and actually pulling plants over. As fanners with bur cucumber know, it is vir tually impossible to combine a field so infested. Bair said it is a difficult weed to control because it has a tough, hardy seed which can germinate from as deep as four to six inches m the ground. Several herbicides will do a decent job of controlling burcucumber, he said. In conventional com, a maximum dosage of two pounds atrazme and three quarts of Lasso will give excellent control. The addition of a pint of Banvel appears to have an additive effect, especially early in the season. In no-till plots, a dose of one pound atrazme, 2.5 pounds Bladex and Paraquat did a good job. Bair said in both con ventional and no-till com , combinations of the longer lasting tnazme herbicides gave the best control when used at the higher rates. He cautioned far ’ - mat he was not it> an ‘ending heav\ aophcations of the materials except where there is a known problem. David Thomposon, of the Pennsylvania Department of Aguv uiime, was on hand to help farmers update their pesticide certification as private applicators. He said the certification process was an exercise in things farmers already know and a program to stimulate interest in things they didn’t know. He said the basic reason for the program was to show now to follow instructions. He recommended farmers read their chemical labels and follow directions. He also said it might be a good idea to let suburban neighbors what you are domg and why so they don’t get bent out of shape when they see lime drifting across fields. “In 99 percent of the cases, REVERSE CAGE LAYER SYSTEM ★ MINIMIZES FEED WASTE ★ LET US SHOW YOU A REVERSE CAGE SYSTEM IN OPERATION Agri- cattle - HOG - POULTRY EQUIPMENT R.D.4, EPHRATA, PA. 17522 PHONE: 717-354-4271 STORE HOURS: Mon.-Fri. 7:30 to 5:30; Sat. 7:30 to 12 00 it you let people know wnat you are domg you will solve the problem,” fhomposn said. Penn State Ag Engineer Jim Garthe told farmers they were better off to consider gasohol or farm produced methane as a source of heat rahter than as a fuel for mobile equipment. He said there were too many problems with con versions to make it profitable for the average or smaller farmer to look at the possibility of using gasohol for his farm machinery. David Mathews, director of crops research for Agway, gave a presentation on reducing nutrient losses in growing and storing forage crops by timely harvesting and proper storage. Wendell Ditmer, of the Department of Agriculture’s seed laboratory division, said farmers should read the seed label to be certain of getting the best quality seed. He said they should look for seed treatment tags, certification tags, and other label information. I? ★ LESS BIRD STRESS EQUIPMENT, .no. He said farmers should look for seed with a high percentage of pure seed, high germination, low, or free in weed and crop seed, and with a recent test date. He said seed certainly should have a test date within the past nine months. Ditmer also advised farmers to be gentle with their handling of seed. He pointed out that dropping a bag of soybean seed five or six feet from a loft to a truck bed could kill five or six percent of the seed in the bag through cracking. Mh] r aaß lliil U lIA AGRICULTURE Wf’RE GROWING BETTER The system has been design ed for bird comfort! Each bird has her place at the feed trough. Each has easy access to water. Obstruction to light and the flow of air have been greatly reduced, providing more uniform ventilation and lighting for every bird. Com bined with Chore-Time’s auto matically controlled air mlettmg system, you get a layer house environment designed for bird comfort and the resulting better production Not only the physical shape of the feed trough, but the operation of the feeder has been engineered to reduce feed waste The trough shape cuts down on feed loss from “raking” and “billing,” while the feeder has been specifically designed - for Chore-Time’s programmed and performance feeding concept AGRI-EQUIPMENT INC., OFFERS COMPLETE • SALES • INSTALLATION • SERVICE Ditmer also explained how the seed testing program works. In addition to the speakers, several com mercial firms had displays and exhibits at the Crops and Soils day program. The lunch was partially sponsored by Hamilton Bank. About 200 people attended the session, many of them taking advantage of the opportunity to update their pesticide applicators license.
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