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AgAlerts 2009 From Griggs County
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Issue # 8, July 2, 2009
Project Safe Send was started in 1992 to help farmers safely and legally get rid of unusable pesticides. Since then, more than 6,400 people have brought in over 2.3 million pounds of pesticides. They can accept any pesticides (herbicides, insecticides, rodenticides, and fungicides) that are old, unusable, or banned - like DDT, arsenic, dieldrin, chlordane or mercury seed treatments.
Collections will be held at the following locations and dates. Please note that all locations unless otherwise indicated are at the North Dakota Department of Transportation Facilities. The times are 9:00 am to 3:00 pm. Pre-registration is not required. If you need more information or want to arrange for large quantity deliveries, call the North Dakota Dept. of Agriculture toll-free at 1-800-242-7535.
In the meantime, keep pesticides safely locked up. If you have deteriorating or leaking containers, over pack them in larger containers and add absorbent materials. Free heavy duty plastic bags are available from the North Dakota Department of Agriculture.
JULY 7, CASSELTON – 15482 37th St SE; take I-94 Exit 331, go north on ND 18, take frontage road west about ¾ mile.
JULY 8, HILLSBORO – 590 6th St. NW, take I-29 exit 104 at Hillsboro, east ½ block, 1/3 mile north on 6th St. NW
JULY 9, GRAND FORKS – 1951 N. Washington St, from I-29 take Gateway exit, go east to Hwy 81(Washington St.), go North 1 mile.
JULY 14, VALLEY CITY – 1524 8th Ave SW, South of I-94 at Exit 292.
Barley thrips have been found in central ND
in Foster, Eddy, Wells, Sheridan and Kidder counties. Hot dry weather
favor barley thrips development and may lead to crop losses. Barley thrips
are small dark brown to black insects about 1 to 1.8 mm long. Females have
feathery wings while males are wingless. Immature larvae are wingless, pale
yellow, white or green with red eyespots. Larvae are difficult to see due to
their light, almost transparent color and extremely small size. Adult and
immature thrips have a long, narrow body shape.
Adult and immature thrips cause damage by feeding on
succulent plant tissues (puncturing plant cells and sucking out the contents).
Feeding injury symptoms are a whitened or bleached appearance with
gooseneck-shaped stem and heads under severe pressures. Intensive feeding at the
beginning of head formation produces small, shriveled grains. Often there is no
seed development at the top and bottom of the head and intermediate grains are
shriveled. When thrips feeding is severe on the flag leaf, kernels do not fill
properly and seed weight is reduced. Scout
for barley thrips from flag leaf to heading. Barley thrips can be found by
unrolling the flag leaf away from the stem. Remember, populations will probably
be higher at the field edges.
One thrip per stem results in a 1.25 bushel per acre loss!
Once the barley heads the insect damage is done and NO insecticide treatment is
advised. The only registered insecticide for barley thrips control in North
Dakota is methyl parathion 4 EC at 4-6 fl oz per acre (do not enter treated
fields within 48 hours after application). Other insecticides approved for use
on barley but do NOT have barley thrips listed on the label include: Warrior II
(lambda- cyhalothrin), malathion, Lannate (methomyl), and Penncap-M (methyl
parathion). It is legal to apply an insecticide if it is labeled for use in the
crop; however, if the target pest is not listed for that crop, efficacy is not
implied by the manufacturer and growers who choose to use the product assume
their own liability for any unsatisfactory performance.
(information for this article is summarized from an e-mail
by Janet Knodell, NDSU Extension Entomologist)
Spotted knapweed continues to
be a concern in the southeastern part of Griggs county and Northeastern Barnes
county on the west side of Lake Ashtabula. At this time the Barnes county
weed board has been spraying the areas in question but each year they find new
stands. The reason for concern is its capibility for rapid spread.
North Dakota is like an island. The states surrounding us all have spotted
knapweed problems. At this point, only isolated areas have problems.
Spotted knapweed is very competitive. It can even out compete leafy
spurge. In states that spotted knapweed is a problem, they do not worry
about leafy spurge and have turned all efforts are towards spotted knapweed
control.
The Griggs County Weed Board is asking everyone to be on the
lookout for this weed. If you find any spotted knapweeds or have a
question whether it is spotted knapweed, contact the Griggs County Extension
Office at 797-3312. Our main concern if this weed gets established in CRP.
Spotted knapweed can be confused with Canadian thistle at blossom time due to
the color of their flowers. So help us keep this weed in check. For
more information on identification, consult Extension bulletin, W-1146,
Know Your Knapweeds.
Grass plants are 75 - 80% water, by weight.
Up to 90% of the weight of a grass plant is in its roots.
Grass clippings are approximately 90% water, by weight.
1,000 sq. ft. of lawn will generate 200 lbs. of clippings annually.
Fertilizer content of typical grass clippings (by % of
weight)
- Nitrogen (N) = 4%
- Phosphorus (P) = 2%
- Potassium (K) = 0.5%
A dense lawn is 6 times more effective that a wheat field and 4 times better then a hayfield at absorbing rainfall.
A 50 by 50 foot lawn (2,500 sq. ft.) releases enough oxygen for a family of four, while absorbing carbon dioxide, hydrogen floride, perosyacetyle nitrate.
In a well maintained, thick 10,000 square foot lawn there
will be:
- 6 turf plants per sq. in.
- 387 miles of roots per grass plant
- 850 turf plants per sq. ft.
- 3 billion miles of roots per avg. lawn
- 8.5 million turf plants per avg. home (which
equals 15 round trips between the sun and earth)
(Information source: Turfgrass Resource Center, 1855-A Hicks Road, Rolling Meadows IL, 60008)
NDSU is an equal opportunity institution
Please Contact Our Office For Additional Information
E-mail: john.swenson@ndsu.edu
Go to the 2008 AgAlert Index Page