A32-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, September 7, 2002
Penn State Cooperative Extension
Capitol Region Dairy Team
MANAGING STALK ROT
AND CORN
SILAGE QUALITY
Del Voight
Regional Agronomic Agent
Penn State
Driving around the region, I
pass many fields that are severely
drought-stricken, and taller corn
is beginning to lodge.
There are a host of reasons
why corn lodges and, depending
on the reason, may impact not
only the quality but the health of
the crop, and mycotoxins in ra
tions may result.
Many dairy farms experience
the call from the nutritionist that
mycotoxin levels are high. What
you need to do is get around the
infected material in the silo so
you have access to clean silage
elsewhere in the silo. Few track
back the infected crop to where it
originated in the field. In many
cases it can be traced to a se
verely infected stalk or ear rot
section of a field.
This is not enough, however.
The area in the field needs to be
identified and a plan must be put
into place and followed up on.
The first step in successful man
agement of stalk rot is to recog
nize that it is manageable. Sec
ond, growers need to plan in
winter to combat stalk rot. Final
ly, growers need to follow the
plan of attack.
Stalks may lodge because of in
sect damage, genetics of the hy
brid, and more likely disease
brought on by many factors of
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HARRISBURG (Dauphin
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Marketing Board (PMMB) an
nounced the prices to be paid to
Pennsylvania dairy farmers for
August class 1 milk (beverage) as
an average of $14.53 in the west
ern areas of the com
monwealth, and an av
erage of $15.02 in the
central and eastern
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importance, such as soil potassi
um levels. A trained eye will de
termine which is responsible. In
all cases where stalks lodge and
problems occur, a soil test from
the area in question, compared
with an area that shows no signs,
may prove fruitful in diagnosis.
If growers have problems in di
agnosis, coordinate a visit with
an extension agent or one of the
many certified crop advisers.
This is usually done after the fact
and is useless for this year’s crop
but will allow you to change
things for next year. Let’s plan
the attack now.
The first attack will be hybrid
selection. An old extension prov
erb is to never plant the same hy
brid in the same field next year.
Sound simple? Follow it. I have
been in many fields where this
simple message is ignored and
disaster occurred in the field.
Second, choose hybrids that
not only maintain yield but have
high resistance to stalk rot. I am
looking at a seed catalog now
and can pick three for my farm
that have very high resistance to
stalk rot pathogens. At winter
meetings, ask the dealers for their
top picks for stalk rot resistance
(anthracnose is the major one
rated) in mind.
One final note: some coopera
tive research I am involved in
suggests Bt corn can reduce the
incidence of disease invasion
through keeping European com
borer from eating into the stalk.
Be sure that is in the balance of
wealth. These prices include the
over-order premium of $1.65 per
one hundred pounds of milk.
Farmers, whose milk produc
tion is pooled under a federal
order, will receive a marketwide
blend price based upon the value
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your hybrid decision.
With soil test in hand, get to
the plant food dealer and correct
any deficiencies in nutrients, put
ting the highest priority on potas
sium. I have several personal ex
periences where very low
potassium levels caused stalk rot
in the field and this was com
pared to areas of the field with no
stalk rot with adequate potassi
um. It is also well documented in
the literature.
Third, avoid the “sins” of soil
management. If the soil is wet,
stay off it, especially with the
planter! It is easy for me to say
that, and I am aware of the farm
er’s plight. But when soils are
wet, sidewall compaction at
planting can cause deficiencies in
nutrients and eventually stress
the plant and allow it to become
susceptible to stalk rot pathogens
as well as many other problems.
If you do decide to “sin,” be
sure your planter is retrofitted
with finger-type closing wheels to
break up the smearing action of
the double disc openers. It makes
no sense to correct a potassium
deficiency and then not allow the
roots to absorb it because of com
paction. (I could talk more about
compaction at a later date, be
cause we are finding some inter
esting results on dairy farms.)
Plant early to allow the plants
time to generate roots that will
harvest deep water zones. Avoid
drought stress and subsequent in
vasion by stalk rot pathogens.
This year is a great example of
that. In many cases, early plant
ed com is lower yielding this year
but at least will yield. Mid- and
late-planted com are hardest hit
by the drought. In most cases, a
call to the local extension agent
will provide you with research
based parameters of what is early
mid- and late-season for your
area. Then strive to have 90 per
cent of com planted on the early
side of the ideal planting date.
Now that you have properly
selected a hybrid, planted the hy
brid early, corrected potassium
deficiencies (within fields), and
alleviated compaction, it’s time to
begin harvesting disease-free com
silage that will avoid that call
from the nutritionist.
of all classes of milk. How
ever, the blend price re
ceived will vary as the
component composition of
a farmer’s milk differs
from the established
benchmarks.
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Trust Kicks Off
Harvest Appeal
LANCASTER (Lancaster Co.)
Lancaster Farmland Trust offi
cials will celebrate an important
milestone when they officially
kick off their annual funding
campaign, Harvest Appeal 2002,
at a reception to honor J. Free
land Chryst, honorary campaign
chair.
In late August, the Trust
helped Cliff and Grace Stirba of
Paradise Township preserve their
67-acre farm the 150th farm
that Lancaster Farmland Trust
has preserved since 1988.
A reception is scheduled Tues
day, Sept. 10, from 4:30 p.m. to
6:30 p.m. at the historic Lancas
ter Trust Building lobby on
North Market Street.
The Trust preserved a record
number of farms in 2001, and in
terest from farmers remains high.
“The timing of this campaign
couldn’t be better, because it is
essential that we reach our goal
of $200,000 by year’s end so that
we can provide assistance to a
growing number of farm families
who want to preserve their land,”
said Ted Bowers, Trust board
vice chair. Funds raised during
the campaign cover operating
costs for the organization. Bow
Custom Cattle Feeding
Workshop Upcoming
MIDDLETOWN (Dauphin
Co.) The Blueprint for Success
Program will hold its first Cus
tom Feeding workshop of the fall
season Sept. 16. The workshop
will be conducted at the Lancas
ter County Extension office at 7
p.m.
The purpose of this workshop
is to assist cattle feeders who may
be interested in custom feeding.
The workshop will provide in
formation and resources that en
able producers to make decisions
in their own feeding operations.
Topics for the September work
shop include:
ers said, “Jay Chryst’s reputation
in local business and philan
thropic circles will have a tre
mendous impact on our ability to
help more farm families preserve
their land.” -
J. Freeland Chryst is the chair
man and founder of the Jay
Group, a full service marketing
support and sales promotion
company serving Fortune 1000
companies around the world. The
company recently opened their
fifth local plant and employs
more than 300. The Jay Group
will be honored on Sept. 27 at
Central Penn Business Journal’s
Top 50 Fastest Growing Compa
nies awards breakfast and cere
mony in Harrisburg.
Chryst is native to Lancaster
County and has demonstrated a
commitment to the community
through service to numerous
local nonprofit organizations.
From 1993 to 1998, he chaired
Millersville University’s highly
successful $27 million capital
campaign. In a recent interview,
Chryst noted that the “preserva
tion of Lancaster County’s farm
land extends the quality of all our
lives.”
• Making the most of limited
supplies in a drought stressed
year.
• Sample contracts and close
outs.
• Promotion and advertise
ment of your custom feeding op
eration.
Additional workshops will be
conducted in October and No
vember with more details to fol
low. For more information on the
September workshop, or future
workshops, please contact Scott
Wright at the Pennsylvania Beef
Council office at (717) 939-7000.