DB-Lancaster Farming Saturday, July 27,1991
Watch
Robert E. Leiby
David L. Dunbar
Lehigh Co. Extension
Some weeds, if not controlled,
can cause public health problems
and can interfere with agriculture
in significant ways.
Because many of these weeds
spread easily, grow quickly and
compete heavily, they reduce crop
yields and interfere with harvest.
Others create traffic safety prob
lems by covering signs and block
ing driver visibility, especially at
intersections.
In Pennsylvania, some of those
weeds are called “noxious” and
they include the following: mari
juana, chicory, Canadian thisde,
multiflora rose, Johnsongrass,
musk thistle, bull thistle, Jimsen
weed, mile-a-minute weed, kudzu,
and shattercane. Noxious weeds
may not be planted, propagated, or
sold in Pennsylvania.
In 1982, the state legislature
passed the Noxious Weed Control
Act to establish specific proce
dures for controlling noxious
weeds and handling complaints
about them. The law, in addition to
defining and naming noxious
weeds, created the Noxious Weed
Control Committee which may
designate “noxious weed control
areas” where certain weeds are
causing problems.
When a weed control area is
declared and properly advertised,
all landowners within its bounda
ries have 60 days to eradicate the
offending weed(s) from their prop
erties. Landowners who fail to
comply may be required to reim
burse all township expenses in eli
minating the weed and may be
fined up to $3OO or sentenced up to
90 days in prison.
Landowners who interfere with
township efforts to eradicate the
weed(s) may be subject to a maxi
mum fine of $2,500 or a prison
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For Noxious
sentence of one year.
Landowners and municipalities
with noxious weed problems may
submit written complaints to the
Bureau of Plant Industry, Pennsyl
vania Department of Agriculture,
2301 N. Cameron Street, Harris
burg, PA 17110, (717) 787-4843).
Such complaints should include a
description of the problem, the
names, addresses and phone num
bers of the complaining and violat
ing parties, and directions to the
problem site. When possible, a
weed sample should accompany
the complaint.
Townships have the authority to
adopt their own weed control ordi
nances, and they may petition the
state secretary of agriculture to
establish a noxious weed control
area.
If a problem occurs along a state
road, the township should notify
the state Department of Agricul
ture, not the state Department of
Transportation.
Weed control recommendations
may be obtained from county
extension offices.
Tom Yetter will host the next
meeting of the Lehigh Valley
Horse Council at his T.N.T. Farms,
Inc., in the Fogelsville/New
Smithville area at 7:30 p.m., Mon
day, July 29.
Yetter will present a program on
the topic “Starting the Horse and
Rider Over Fences.’’From I-78/Rt.
22 at the New Smithville exit 13,
drive 1-1/2 miles north on Rt. 863.
The farm’s slate-blue buildings are
on the left.
Ag Progress Days
A wide range of programs
from equine education to food
safety to alternative agricultural
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Weeds
practices will be featured at the
23rd annual Ag Progress Days
sponsored by Penn State’s College
of Agriculture, August 13-15.
Held at the University’s 1,500-
acre Russell E. Larson Agricultur
al Research Center at Rock
Springs near State College, the
three-day event will include exhi
bits, farm machinery demonstra
tions, and tours of Penn State’s
research areas.
Ag Progress Days will run from
9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday and
Thursday, August 13 and 15, and
from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Wednes
day, August 14.
This year’s theme, “Ag Science
Touches Your Life,” will highlight
many of the ways that agriculture
directly or indirectly affects our
daily lives.
Ag Progress Days is one of the
largest outdoor showcases of agri
cultural research and technology in
the East More than 250 commer
cial exhibitors will show and
demonstrate approximately $2O
million worth of agricultural
equipment
The event also features tours of
research farms and conservation
education areas; exhibits and pre
sentations by Penn State faculty on
topics such as sustainable agricul
ture, international agriculture, food
safety, mushroom production and
composting, nutrient manage
ment forest management and the
conversion of forage to food and
fiber products; a working compu
ter classroom; a museum fuil of
antique home and farm imple
ments; landscape, lawn and garden
advice; information on how to start
a small business; and more.
New this year is an equine edu
cational program. The program
includes breed exhibitions, hand
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ling and training clinics, riding
demonstrations, and horse shoeing
and tack displays.
Generally, hay with a moisture
content of 20 percent or less will
not spoil during storage. Large
round bales should contain hay
that is slightly drier (approximate
ly 18 percent).
If hay is baled with more than
22-25 percent moisture, often it
will become moldy and much of
the feeding value will be lost. Hay
with a moisture content of about 25
percent provides an excellent envi
ronment for growth of aerobic
microorganisms.
Marvin Hall, Penn State forage
specialist, said hay preservatives
work by inhibiting or reducing the
growth of aerobic microbes in
moist hay. Microbial growth
causes heating and a subsequent
depression in digestibility. Most
hay preservatives do not improve
forage nutritional quality. They
merely prevent a quality reduction.
Hay preservatives can be
grouped into three categories: or
ganic acids and their salts,
ammonia-based materials, and
microbial additives. Hall said
propionic acid is the most effective
and most tested preservative pre
sently available. Since it is a liquid,
tanks(s) and a spray application
system must be added to your
baler.
Spray nozzles must be spaced to
distribute the chemical evenly over
all forage as it enters the baling
chamber. The amount of active
ingredient that must be applied
depends on the moisture content of
die hay. Small bales with 20-25
percent moisture should be treated
with about 0.5 percent propionic
acid (as baled basis). Application
rate should be increased to one per
cent for hay with 25-30 percent
moisture.
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Hay Preservatives
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No consistent response to any
preservative has been observed
with hay containing more than
about 30 percent moisture. For
more uniform coverage, it is best
to use a SO percent solution and
apply twice as much of the diluted
acid. The main disadvantages of
propionic acid is its corrosiveness
and the cost of application
equipment
To overcome these problems,
buffered acids and salts of acids
have been developed. These pro
ducts have not been tested as
extensively as propionic acid. Buf
fered acid applied at about 1 per
cent (as baled basis) was as effec
tive as one percent propionic when
applied to alfalfa hay baled with 30
percent moisture. If buffered acids
continue to be as effective as prop
ionic acid, producers will have to
balance the added cost of buffered
acids with the reduced wear they
cause on equipment.
Ammonia is toxic to many
microbes and can be a very effec
tive preservative for moist hay
when applied to good quality for
ages at only one percent of forage
weight (as baled). Caution: Do not
exceed one percent level since
further ammoniation of high
quality forge can cause hypersen
sitivity and, ultimately, death of
livestock. Ammoniation to one
percent provides an additional
benefit by increasing the crude
protein content of the forage by
two to four percentage units.
Anhydrous ammonia applied at
a one percent (as baled) rale has
consistently preserved hay with up
to 30 percent moisture content In
some trails it has preserved hay
with up to 35 percent moisture.
The major disadvantage of
using anhydrous ammonia as a
preservative is the difficulty of
accurate application, according to
Hall. Devices have been made to
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