Know
VERNON ACHENBACH JR.
Lancaster Faming Staff
LANCASTER (Lancaster
Co.) About 120 people
attended the annual Lancaster
County crops day program Tues
day, held at the Lancaster Farm
and Home Center.
The program featured four
speakers, with Dr. Elwood Hatley,
a Penn State University professor
of agronomy, discussing four dif
ferent topics; Dr. Steve Ford, on
intensive management of pastures,
and Dr. Jayson Harper giving pre
sentations on alternative field
crops and variations in setting the
price for rental properties.
Also speaking was Kathy Bax
ter, director of the Lancaster Coun
ty of the USDA Consolidated
Farm Service Agency, who
updated attendees on crop insur
ance requirements and options,
and milk assessment refunds.
The program was organized by
Bob Anderson, county extension
agent, who saved as program
moderator. In addition, Anderson
also talked about worker protec
tion standard requirements for pes
ticide users.
In all of his presentations. Hat
ley seemed to stress that producers
must become familiar with the
plants they intend to raise to the
extent of (mowing how to catagor
ize them according to growth
stages.
It is important that this is done
because the use of herbicides, etc.,
can be useless, detrimental to the
crop, or successful on eliminating
competitive pests, depending on
the stage of plant growth when the
treatment was applied.
Hatley talked about the selec
tion of small grain plant varieties,
management of small grain crops,
possible uses of raising soybeans
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Your Soils, Crops, Varieties, Plant Enemies
to ensile for forage, and small
grain silages.
Also shown during the program
was a video tape from a Penn State
University satellite craps confer
ence held earlier that demonstrated
aspects of weed control in forages
and grain craps.
The meeting was also worth two
credits for pesticide applicator
certification.
According to Hatley, although
he said he’s never seen a Hessian
fly in Pennsylvania, it’s wise to
observe the Hessian fly-firee date
for fall planting overwintering
grains.
He explained that while Hessian
fly is not a problem now, it could
well become a problem if growers
flaunt the observed dates and begin
to provide good habitat areas for
the pest.
Hatley discussed a myriad of
different aspects of what to look
for and what to do in managing dif
ferent species.
For winter wheat, he said the
stages 2 to 3 are desirable going
into the winter dormancy. He said,
that the stage 3 winter wheat plant
has from four to five tillers, while
stage 2 growth is when tillers are
visible. Stage 3 gives the best sur
vival for the plant because even if a
tiller or two do not survive until
spring, there is still other potential
grain-bearing shoots to the plant.
Stage 5 of winter wheat is when
the main stem shows erect growth.
Stage 6 is when elongation of the
main stem is realy seen. During
stage 6, the plant can be vunerable
to gowth inhibitors.
The plant continues in leafing
out add growing until it reaches
stage 8, when the last leaf emerges.
He said that in order to determine
when the plant has reached stage 8,
the tip of the main stem can be
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peeled back to reveal the develop
ing head which will soon burst out
form the tip.
He said to be sure to examine the
main stems of the plants, not the
tillers, because the tillers are
delayed by a few days in develop
ment compared to the main stem,
but the heads will be forming in the
tillers also.
After Stage 10, when the head
has begun to form seeds (grain), it
is too late to use fungicides or any
other treatment effectively and
efficiently.
According to Hatley, producers
should concentrate on estimating
yield before they plant a crop.
Hatley used a formula for esti
mating yield: Yield = (heads/
acre) (grains/head) (weight/
grain)
This formula will express yield
as weight per acre. In order to cal
culate this, it is necessary to know
the average number of kernels per
head, and the average weight per
kernel.
“If we got 3 million heads,
. we’re going to need 28 to 30 ker
nels per head,” he said.
He said that in cereal grains,
once the yield has been deter
mined, the estimate is not reduced
for harvesting losses, but can be
reduced due to environmental
aspects, such as wide varieties in
soils and soil fertility, and weather
conditions.
According to Hatley, mid-April
is the time of importance. “What
we do from mid-April on is what is
goig to determine (yield),” Hatley
said.
But management of grains has
to also be specie specific. For
example, when the head of barley
matures, during that time, 80 to 8S
percent of the photosynthesis of
the plant comes from the develop-
Lancaster Farmlnfl, Saturday, February 11, IMS-A37
ing head, not the leaf and stem.
Flowering time for all plants is a
critical time in determining yield.
If the plants aren’t protected and
cared for properly during flower
ing, it doesn’t matter how much
work went on previously or
afterward.
Proper seeding depth should be
about I.S inches, and not as a
median depth for a wide variety of
depths, he said, adding that plan
.-ters have to be set properly not
oily fra rate, but for depth.
He said that at I.S inches, the
plant has a better chance of keep
ing good soil to seed contact dur
ing periods of thawing and
freezing.
The seeding rate for winter
wheat should be from 1.2 to 1.5
million plants per acre for a goal of
three million heads per acre, in
order to achieve a good yield.
Christmas
Meeting
WILLIAMSPORT (Lycoming
Co.) The Ninth Annual North
east Regional Christmas Tree
Growers Meeting and Trade Show
will be held Saturday, Feb. 25 at
The Mountain Laurel Resort in
White Haven from 8 a.m. to 3:30
p.m.
The topics to be discussed in
clude introduction to soil fertility,
199 S worker protection regula
tions, Christmas tree diseases,
spray adjuvants (spreader/stick
ers, etc.), and putting fertilizers to
work fcr you.
Additionally, there will be a
commercial trade show. All exhi
bitors deal in Christmas tree relat
ed equipment and supplies.
The purpose of this meeting is
The 1.5 million plants only need
an average of one main stem and
one tiller in order to achieve that
three million head population.
Other plants that don’t grow till
ers need to be seeded at higher
densities.
Winter wheat and other over
wintering grains need the cold per
iod in order to form a head, he said.
While a map of seeding dates has
been set for the state, according to
regional temperatures and cli
mates, the later the crop is planted
past optimum seeding time, the
higher the seeding rate. He said the
seeding rate can be substantially
increased for late plantings.
During much of the discussion,
Hatley referenced the new version
cf the Penn State Agronomic
Guide, which is available from
local cooperative extension offices
for a nominal fee.
lo educate new and established
growers on the most up-to-date
cultural and marketing practices
available.
Attendance at this meeting
qualifies liscensed pesticide appli
cators to receive credits towaid re
certification. Update training
credits will be assigned by the
Pennsylvania Department of Agri
culture. Changes in the meeting
agenda may result in adjustments
in the assigned credits.
Meeting enrollment will be lim
ited to the first 300 people who
preregister. All registrations must
be postmarked by Feb. 17. For ad
ditional information and registra
tion form, please contact the coun
ty cooperative extension office at
(717) 327-2350.
aste
rw
Quality!
Tree
Set