Farm Hires New Manager
(Continued from Page A 1)
corn borer, the refuge require
ment or land planted in non-Bt
corn has been standardized at
20 percent. That is still being
worked out for the anti-rootworm
com, Antos said.
The Landisville research farm
is one of the most important
Pennsylvania sites for applied re
search on agronomic and some
horticultural crops.
Del Voight shows a mite-infested blade of timothy to crop
consultants May 1 at the Landisville Research Farm.
Photos by Dave Lefever
Research at the center involves
the departments of agronomy,
entomology, horticulture, and
plant pathology plus the USDA
and some county extension per
sonnel. In addition to providing
specific conditions for research,
the facility increases opportuni
ties for growers, consumers, and
students to observe experiments
and to consult with scientists.
The research involves cultivar
testing of com, soybean, small
grain, forages, annual and peren
nial flowers, flowering cra
bapples, strawberries, tomatoes,
pumpkin, and other horticultural
crops. Other research involves
pest control, cover crops, inocula
nts, fertility and various manage
ment studies.
Last fall, the farm grew in size
from 106 acres to more than 150
acres with the acquisition of some
neighboring farmland.
The research farm offers a
Weed Day each July for farmers
and consultants. This year’s
event will add a new feature by
having commercial company
representatives on hand,
according to Johnson.
Yocum Recalls Changes
Yocum spoke about some
of the changes that occurred
in the four decades he
worked at the research cen
ter.
“Probably the biggest
change was that we went
from zero ornamentals to a
pretty big ornamental pro
gram,” Yocum said of the ad-
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Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 10, 2003-A23
dition of annual and perennial
flowers to the list of plants grown
for research purposes at the sta
tion.
Yocum said that agronomic
crops including corn, soybeans,
and forages were planted and
harvested by hand during his
early years on the research farm.
Now, that’s all done by machin
ery.
Another big change: tobacco, a
major crop in earlier years, has
disappeared from the research
plots just as it has from many
local farms.
Spring Field Walk
Johnson and Yocum joined a
recent field walk for crop consul
tants and extension agents on the
farm.
Del Voight, crop agent from
Lebanon County, and other ex
tension personnel, led about 15
participants on a May 1 tour of
the research farm, including a
stop at the center’s solar-powered
weather station, small grain
plots, alfalfa stands, and a plot of
timothy with heavy infestation of
cereal rust mites.
Voight pointed out the rolled
up, wild garlic-like appearance of
timothy leaves infested with the
costly mites that are barely visible
to the naked eye.
While he believes “in general,
the population is lower” this
spring compared to last year,
Voight and other agents are re
porting sizable infestations in
some areas.
“I’ve seen leaves where they’re
lined up like soldiers in the
grooves,” Voight said.
According to Voight, the mites
can drift in the air at altitudes of
10,000 feet, navigating by means
of tails held upright to catch the
wind. They only settle in fields of
timothy and perhaps a narrow
number of other grass varieties
such as tall fescue.
As far as treating at the recom
mended threshold, when 25 per
cent of the leaves are curled,
Voight advised “hedging on the
early side.”
The group heard preliminary
reports on the possibility of wee
vil infestations in alfalfa this sea-
(Turn to Page A 24)
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