December News
Medora Beef Day Scheduled
The 34th
annual Medora Beef Day has been set for Monday, January 14th
at 10am. Speakers for this year’s Beef Day include Dr. Kirschten with the
American Simmental Association, Dr Greg Lardy, NDSU Beef Cattle Specialist, and
Eric Berg, NDSU Meat Scientist. More information on Beef Day will be available
shortly.
Pesticide Trainings 2008
With the coming of the new year, its time again to think about renewing your pesticide certifications. For those of you whose certification expires in 2008, you will be receiving a letter in the mail shortly after the first of the year. If you have a fumigation license that expires you can also expect a letter just after the first of the year. The pesticide training schedule for Golden Valley County looks like this.
Date Place Category
1/30/08 Beach High School Fumigation
2/20/08 Medora Comm. Center Private General
3/5/08 Golva TBA Private General
When I get a complete
listing of trainings in the surrounding area I will get those out to you as
well.
Carrington Crops Day
The annual Carrington Crops Day will be held on December 4th, beginning at 9am CST. Featured presentations of this year’s crops day will include winter wheat, information on corn and the economics of converting CRP back into cropland. For more information on the Carrington Crops Day, call the Carrington REC at 701) 652-2951.
Bovine Connection to be Held in Watford City
The Bovine Connection will be held December 4th and 5th at Outlaws Bar and Grill in Watford City. The “Bovine Connection to Profit” is a two day symposium with a goal of bringing research results, state of the art practices and thought-provoking ideas to cattlemen. Since 1990 over 2200 beef cattle producers and agribusiness men and women have attended Bovine Connection. This year’s program targets reproduction systems, cattle health, financial/ marketing systems and innovative ranch practices. Speakers include: Dr. David Buchanan, NDSU Animal Science department head, Dr. Robert Mortimer, Colorado State University, Dr. Greg Lardy, NDSU, Dr. Kevin Dhuyvetter, Kansas State University, Dr. Charlie Stoltenow, NDSU, as well as many others. Registration cost is $40 per person or $60 per couple. Lodging is available at the Roosevelt Inn and Suites, McKenzie Inn, and The Four Eyes Motel. For more information contact the Extension office for a brochure, or Dale Naze, Mckenzie County Extension Agent, at 701-444-3451, for more information.
District Crop Improvement Meeting
The SW district crop improvement meeting will be held at the Days Inn Grand Dakota Lodge on December 4th @ 1pm. All crop improvement members and interested persons are encouraged to attend. One highlight of the meeting will be a presentation along with question and answer period on the newly formed Dakota Select Seed (formerly NDCISA seed promotion committee). Other topics included in the program are a small grain variety update by Roger Ashley, a state seed department update by Steve Sebesta, and a Foundation Seed Stocks update by Dr. Dale Williams. For more information on the meeting please feel free to contact the office.
Effects of Salts on Landscape Plants
The following article is an NDSU news release that I thought would be of interest to you.
The salt situation in water and soil is not going to get better with time.
Salts in natural water systems vary from traces to toxic levels. While some 16 nutrients (salts) are found to be essential for plant growth, some soils have been found to contain salts in too high an abundance to support normal plant life. Salts containing sodium or chloride especially are injurious to landscape plants.
The double process of transpiration and evaporation (evapotranspiration) pulls the water through the soil along with some of the salts, but most salts are left behind in the soil.
“The combination of light, frequent watering and poor drainage results in salt accumulations that can cause what homeowners see as leaf burn and stunted growth,” says Ron Smith, North Dakota State University Extension Service horticulturist. “Other contributing factors to salt accumulation in the root zone come from applying too much fertilizer and a rise in the water table.”
As a sweeping generalization, states east of the Mississippi River, where rainfall is greater than 20 inches annually, seldom have salt problems in most landscape situations.
Going west of the Mississippi, higher soil and water salts are common. This creates problems to such an extent that special, expensive water treatments are needed to bring the salts down to a tolerable level for the economical growth of healthy plant material. If that is not feasible financially, then plants that have a high salt tolerance need to be selected for use in the landscape.
“In looking at what nature provides, we see that lilacs, ash, Russian olive, Juneberry, Black Hills spruce and several pine species, such as ponderosa, limber and mugo, are considered relatively salt tolerant,” Smith says. “What this means is that we can expect these plants to look halfway decent to the casual observer within a range of 6 to 12 deciSiemens per metre (dS/m), with the best looking ones being at the lower number.”
If the term deciSiemens per metre doesn’t translate, you’re not alone. One dS/m is equal to 1,000 electrical conductivity units, which equals 640 milligrams per litre or 640 parts per million (ppm). Envision the Fargodome as one brick equaling 1 ppm.
“Keep in mind that each ppm can be converted to pounds per acre in 6 inches of soil by multiplying by two,” Smith says. “When we say that a plant can look good at 6 dS/m, it is really in a pool of salt water with 3,840 ppm or about 1/2 ounce of salts per gallon.
“The salt situation in water and soil is not going to get better with time,” he says. “It is as good as it will ever be right now, so the answer is to try to select plants that are more tolerant of salty soils and water sources.”
Save the Date
Along with this being a busy time of year with family obligations and holidays, it is also a busy time of year for meetings. Here is a brief listing of a few meetings that I know about and other important dates.
December
4-5- Bovine Connection- Watford City
4- SW District Crop Improvement Meeting- 1pm Dickinson
5- Commercial Pesticide Recertification-Dickinson 8am
20- Western Crops Day- Hettinger
24-25 Christmas - Office closed
31- New Year’s Eve - office closed
January
1 - New Year’s Day - office closed
14- Medora Beef Day
16- Part 2 of Trees, Trees, Trees… the series, 7pm Bijou Theater
21- Martin Luther King, Jr. Day - office closed
23-Part 3 of Trees, Trees, Trees… the series, 7pm Bijou Theater
24-Commercial Pesticide Recertification- Williston- 8am CST
30- Private Fumigation Recert- Beach High School- 9:30-1:30
February
6-7 State Crop Improvement Meeting- Minot
11-15 Ashley out of office
18- Washington’s Birthday- office closed
20- Private Pesticide Recertification, Medora
Also included in this month's newsletter was the winter survival article and the Co-Prices.