AlB—Lancaster Faming, Saturday, August 25,1984
Lancaster’s no-till program gives
LANCASTER This year was a
real challenge to anyone doing
custom com planting in Lancaster
County. Looking at the fine com
crop, one tends to forget that a lot
of com went in under wet con
ditions.
In spite of these wet conditions,
96 farmers used one of the
District’s planters this year. Three
different dealers participated in
the District’s program: Landis
Brothers provided a John Deere
7000; N.G. Hershey provided a
White 5100; and A.L. Hen
provided a New Idea 904 double
frame planter. The District owns
the fourth planter which is a John
Deere 7000. At the completion of
the planting season, the planter is
returned to the dealer who
reconditions the planter so it can
be sold as a good used planter.
Over 1200 acres were planted
this season with the District’s
planters. Why rent a planter? Most
farmers have a planter on their
farm already, but it is a fact that
half of the pu-ticipants this year
used the District’s no-till planter
for the first time. It gives the
farmer a chance to try or ex
periment with no-till before he
invests in a conservation planter.
Some farmers who are already
convinced of the merits of no-till
still rent the planter because it is to
their favor economically. This is
especially true with farms that
have small acreage. Since it takes
more time to prepare a field
conventionally, some rented the
planter when they figured there
was not enough time to plow.
Finally, farmers in the Rural
Clean Water Project area were
given the planter under special
conditions to help promote the
practice in that area.
Gerald Heistand, the District’s
Conservation Tillage Specialist,
says that problems for those using
the practice for the first time
usually fall into one of three
categories: that of planting,
spraying or scouting.
Beef Feeders Who Attended
Our Free Seminars Know
More Than You Do
There is a simple way to get up to date information about running a beef
feeder operation. Just attend one of our beef feeder meetings and you will
leam about bunk feed management, and you will learn how to feed high
quality, low cost balanced rations. We will teach you ways to maximize your
profits by lowering your financial risk. If you
attend the meeting most convenient for you, /
you will leam all of those things. \
Our beef feeder meetings are Free, )
but space is limited. So call now to y b
reserve a place. Why let the other fellow / I U
know more than you do.
SCHEDULE OF MEETINGS: "/
AUGUST 30,1984 IPM BLUE BALL FIRE HALL - BLUE BALL, PA
AUGUST 30,1984 7PM LEOLA FAMILY RESTAURANT - LEOLA, PA
SEPT. 4,1984 7PM BONANZA RESTAURANT - HANOVER, PA
SEPT. 6,1984 NOON GRILL & GALLERY REST. - SHIPPENSBURG, PA
SEPT. 6,1984 7PM RISSERS RESTAURANT - MYERSTOWN, PA
FOR RESERVATIONS AND INFORMATION CALL
Blue Ball Meeting RAY BRECHBILL
Leola Meeting CURT UMBLE
EARLUMBLE
JOHN FORRY
JAY BEIDEL
BOBBAKER
TONYEBERLY
Hanover Meeting
Shippensburg Meeting
Myerstown Meeting
(g) young’s Livestock Nutritional Services
The conventional planter works
from year to year with minor
adjustments not so under no-till
conditions. When a no-till planter is
brought to a new farm, the far
mer’s idea that the planter worked
fine at the previous place so no
further adjustments are
necessary, underlines that this is
still a common misconception. All
planters used in the District’s
program did the job when properly
adjusted.
The most challenging type of
cover to work with, is tall grasses.
Following the established rule of
running the no-till coulter slightly
above or below the double disk
opener will cause problems under
these conditions. Sinking the
coulter deeper usually improved
the situation. If the coulter does not
give a clean cut, the grass is
pushed into the slot and there is
virtually no soil to seed contact.
Sometimes seeds will bounce
right out of the slot, which can then
be seen laying on top of the grass.
Heistand claims there were
several plots planted this season
with lower populations due to
planting in tall grass. The rule of
p< ..cipaung . ity .
program pulls a John Deere 7000 conservation planter
through his fields.
thumb is to bum down the rye
when it reaches a height of 18-24”.
A second problem is poor kills on
hay fields. Spraying before the hay
gets a chance to regrow a bit loses
some of the herbicide’s ef
fectiveness. Using Paraquat on
standing hay gives the same
results as cutting it off it will
regrow to give a second crop. To
effectively control “weeds” when
planting no-till com into a hay field
a combination of the following
herbicides is necessary: Atrazine,
Blades, Banvel, 2, 4-D and a
surfactant (Roundup is needed for
control of orchardgrass). Effective
control of hay regrowth is
necessary for getting a good com
crop.
The third most common problem
this year was insect damage after
the com had germinated. Farmers
who used an insecticide when
spraying their herbicides did not
report any problems to the District
office. In some of the fields that
had armyworm attacks, a
correlation was seen between the
density of the cover and the
severity of the attack.
In one field, black cutworms
(717)626-5266
(717) 898-0884
(717) 393-3208
(717) 632-4022
(717)243-7441
(717)272-8985
(215) 267-2789
interesting results
destroyed half of the corn
population where insecticides were
no used; which underlines the
importance of regular scouting by
any farmer using no-till. Stalk
bores were responsible for a slight
decrease in population but it was
not considered serious.
The most important short term
factor of interest to the farmer is
the soil he lost due to erosion this
year. The importance to others is
that no-till farming will help clean
up streams. The fertilizer element
phosphorus attaches itself to soil
particles, so keeping the soil on the
land will help control pollution due
to phosphorous. This is just one
step to helping clean up the
Chesapeake Bay.
Anyone interested in seeing a
Lane. Farm Credit holds meetings
LANCASTER The Lancaster
Farm Credit Associations held two
sectional Agri-Business meetings
to inform the area Agri-Business
persons of programs offered by
Lancaster Farm Credit The New
Holland and Quarryville Branch
Offices held a joint meeting at the
Bird-in-Hand Restaurant, Bird-in-
Hand, on Aug. 14, and the Lan
caster Branch Office held a
meeting at the Kreider’s
Restaurant, Manheim, on Aug. 16.
—WELDER CLINIC ■=
Wed., Sept. 5 and Thurs., Sept. 6
Evenings 6-8 PM
1 PAUL B.>
Box 128, R.D. 4, Wood Comer Rd. Lititz, PA 17543
1 Mile West of Ephrata
(717) 738-1121
Coming
500 n...
(»
THRIFTY
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Bring In Your Welder Problems
Details In Next Meek's Issue
SOiiilMlFMai
Garden Supply Center
NEW HOLLAND. PA
tillage comparison plot should
contact Heistand at the Lancaster
County Conservation District at
299-5361. A formal tour is being
planned for the eastern Lancaster
County area on Friday, Aug. 24,
from 9 a.m. to 12 noon, starting
from the Summit Valley School
just south of New Holland.
Anyone planning to go on the
tour should contact the District
Office at (717) 2955361 or the
Alternative School at (215) 445-5041
(ask for Robert Anderson or
Donald Robinson), so tran
sportation can be provided. This
tour is being planned by the
Lancaster County Conservation
District in cooperation with the
Agricultural Department of the
Eastern Lancaster County School
District.
The branch personnel presented
valuable information concerning
the following topics: General
Credit Outlook, Future Financial
Services and Farm Programs
After the branch personnel
presentations, the Lancaster Farm
Credit Associations new General
Manager, James S. Owens, served
as moderator for a question and
answer period relating Farm
Credit policies and procedures
Both meetings were well attended