Today I welcome the Fayette Co. Extension Director, Jeff Via as a guest blogger.  Jeff works with rowcrop farmers and livestock producers.  He has recently been working on perennial foxtail in pastures. 

Perennial Foxtail Confirmed in Hayfields  -Jeff Via

For some time, Extension Agents have preached that properly managed pastures and hayfields can provide much of the feed needed for livestock (horses and cattle). We taught that when well-managed, theses forages can provide an inexpensive, high quality feed. Poorly managed pastures and hayfields on the other hand, are unattractive and could potentially be the cause of some health/nutritional problems.

While controlling grasses in a grass hayfield has been an issue for many, it wasn’t until a couple of years ago, a few agents started receiving calls on hard to control foxtails. At this time a fairly new product had surfaced called Pastora (Nicosulfuron+metsulfuron). Pastora is a premix of the active ingredients in Accent and Escort herbicides.

Using rates of 1 oz./acre gave good control when applied overtop to control johnsongrass, broadleaf signalgrass, barnyardgrass, fall panicum, foxtails and many broadleaf weeds.

Now, producers in many cases, were doing what we at UT recommended but these well-managed hayfields were looking poorly managed. This had producers, Extension Agents and chemical representatives scratching their heads, making many trips to producer’s fields and causing apprehension about using some of the products we recommended.

Foxtail was one of the biggest concerns for hay producers and buyers due to the ulcers that some horses got if they consumed hay containing it (look at picture).

 

In many fields, Pastora and Pastora/Glyphosate gave limited control of foxtail. It was not until about a month ago that knotroot foxtail, Setaria parviflora a perennial foxtail was found in abundance in hayfields in Fayette and Shelby counties. Easy to identify, this perennial has fibrous roots with short, knotty rhizomes (look at picture). 

Many producers have applied a dormant spray of paraquat or glyphosate or a combination of one of those with pendimethalin at varying rates. The fields that had the higher rates showed better suppression of the seedling perennial and annual foxtail to date. Other fields had both perennial and seedling foxtail coming up after a glyphosate/pendimethalin treatment. Not sure the reason why the seedlings came up but probably due to too much rain. Rain is needed to activate the pendimethalin. One thing to note, the pendimethlin will do nothing to the perennial foxtail already in the field.

To date, the perennial foxtail is 8-10 inches in height in many fields with seedlings coming up as well. In a normal year, our recommendation would be to apply a dormant spray then apply Pastora at 1.5 oz./acre with 8 oz./acre Glyphosate 4 lb. product with a non-ionic surfactant at 1 qt./100 gal. 3-5 days after cutting. This would then be followed by 1 oz./acre Pastora 10-14 days later and depending on the problem, add more glyphosate.

With the warmer than normal temperatures, our recommendation today is the same as above but earlier. We are recommending folks apply Pastora at 1.5 oz./acre with 8 oz./acre Glyphosate 4 lb. product with a non-ionic surfactant at 1 qt./100 gal. when the foxtail is about one foot tall, which in some places will be about one week. Follow this with 1 oz./acre Pastora 10-14 days later and depending on the problem, add more glyphosate. Remember according to the Pastora label we cannot apply more than 2.5 oz./acre per season.

In Praise of Daffodils

Daffodils...they are so common that they are often taken for granted, yet they give and give while expecting very little in return. 

I have decided that what my yard needs is more daffodils.  I currently have a small clump that was given to me by my friend Jennifer, and the blooms are petite, yellow and lovely.  I just need more of them.  I love the way some people have them planted in drifts on hills or near the road at the entrance to their driveways.  They are quintessentially spring.

There is so much variety in the world of daffodils!  According to the American Daffodil Society's website, there are thirteen different descriptive divisions of daffodils, and over 25,000 named hybrids.  Today I visited Vivian England's yard and was delighted to find the flower in the photo- white with a peachy trumpet.  Vivian is quite the daffodil collector with at least 50 different varieties growing on her hillside.  She told me that the cardinal rule of daffodil growing is to never cut the foliage off the plant until it yellows.  After flowering, the plant absorbs the nutrients in the leaves and stores it in the bulbs for food for the next spring's blooms.  Cut off the foliage too early, and you limit your flower potential for next year. 

Happily, daffodils are very easy to grow and can take full sun or part shade-like under a deciduous tree.  They don't mind being mulched and don't have to be divided every year.  They should be planted in late fall to early winter, which gives me plenty of time to decide which ones I want to add to my yard for next year.  Did I mention they make excellent cut flowers as well?  I may have to move some iris to make more room for daffodils!

Don't Bury the Burlap

Last week I went out on a home visit to look at some evergreen trees that were planted last spring.  The home owner was a bit concerned because they looked very orange and had shed a lot of needles.  I have to admit, if they were my trees, I would have been worried too. Here is what they looked like:

The funny thing is that the plants were greener on the South facing side.  Also, on the North side, which this picture shows, the undersides of the needles were greener than the topsides of the needles.  I asked her about her water regimen.  She watered with a soaker hose during the summer.  She also told me that the landscaper planted them with the burlap still on. 

So, I had a pretty good idea at that point what was wrong. 

There were 2 common misconceptions at play here. 

1. The first is that it is ok to leave burlap on at planting because burlap will decompose.  Well, yeah, eventually.  But in the meantime that burlap is a barrier to water getting to the root system, and a barrier for the roots to be able to spread out and anchor the plant.  
2. The other misconception is that you don't have to water plants in the winter.  While it is true that plants typically need less water in the winter, that is not the case with newly transplanted material.  Additionally, TN has received less than average rainfall this winter.  We are in a water deficit. 

Ok, but how did I explain one side looking better than the other, and one side of the needles looking worse than the other?  I asked the plant pathologists in Nashville for their opinion as well.  They confirmed what I had suspected.  Winter burn from the wind was obviously going to be worse on the North side, and the orange side of the two-colored foliage was facing the direction of the prevailing winds.    So, their recommendation was to check the soil for moisture a foot deep, and water thoroughly if dry.  As for the orange color, that should green up as the plant recovers from moisture loss and the air temperature rises in the spring.  In fact, I drove over there again yesterday and the trees were starting to look better already! 



Put Away the Power Tools

 Today on my way back from 4-H clubs in Rossville, I was delighted to see forsythia blooming all over the place.  What a beautiful shrub with such a graceful growth habit!  How lovely a few limbs would look in a vase in my living room!  Forsythia is such a cheerful plant, one of the first assurances of the coming spring.  Reminds me of my Grandmother's yard every time I see them. 

Then, I saw this... 



I am sure that whomever wielded the weapon had no idea what type of shrub he (or she) was encountering.  I am certain that he was simply sent on a mission:  go prune stuff at the school.  We can only hope that the perpetrator will return soon so that he/she can see the forsythia blooming in a box, and be rehabilitated. 

While I am on the subject, there are other plants that should never be touched with a power tool.  This would include azaleas and crepemyrtles.  Friends, we have to stay diligent and choose our landscape service providers with care.  

Fruit Tree Demo

Today we hosted a pruning demonstration for fruit trees.  It was held in Jeff Windom's backyard.  Jeff is a Master Gardener in our county who has first hand knowledge about pruning fruit trees.  You would be absolutely amazed at what he has done with a small suburban backyard.  His lot has no topsoil, as it was scraped off when the house was built.  Today he told me that he once did a percolation test by filling a hole with water to see how long it took to drain.  He said the hole still had water two weeks later! To make up for this, he grows his veggies in either raised beds or containers, but the fruit trees are planted directly in that soil without anything added to the planting hole.  He has well over 35 fruit trees back there plus a small veggie garden.  Did I mention it is all on a slope?  If I were to have bought a house on a lot like that, I would have been tempted to despair.  What could you possibly do with a sloping backyard with terrible soil?  Well, as it turns out, a lot!

 Mainly he is interested in peaches and apples and he grows over 30 different varieties of fruit trees. 
All of his fruit trees are pruned to stay short enough so that he can work them without climbing up and down a ladder.  They are also pruned using either the central leader system for apples, or the open vase shape for peaches.  He even has a small spray rig which he hooks up to his riding lawn mower so that he can control insect and disease problems.  His boxer, Gracie, is his orchard manager.  She oversees the work and does quality control testing on any fruit on low-hanging branches.  Today she followed Jeff all around the grove, standing by his side as he explained all about their trees and the care that is involved with them. 

Jeff is very knowledgeable and did a great job.  There was a good turnout as well as you can see from the photos. 

Gracie takes a break