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AgAlerts 2002 From Griggs County
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Issue # 7, June 12, 2002
It’s not to late to register for the crop management field school, offered on Thursday, June 20 at the North Dakota State University Carrington Research Extension Center. The school will provide hands-on training on crop pest and soil management using field research trials and demonstration plots. Specific field sessions include weed identification, herbicide mode-of-action diagnosis, evaluation of herbicide performance, soybean aphid and sunflower insect updates, fungicide strategies for small grain and canola disease, and nitrogen management in bean and oilseed crops.
The school is organized and conducted by the NDSU Extension Service. For further details and pre-registration information, contact the Carrington Center telephone: 701-652-2951, e-mail:
or website:
http://www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/carringt/events.htm
A completed pre-registration form and $50 fee is requested by
June 14 ($60 after June 14). A total of 60 participants will be accepted on a
first-come/first-serve basis. An application is being submitted to the Certified
Crop Adviser program to provide participants with continuing education units
including six IPM and one nutrient management.
Be sure to clean out the sprayer tank according to label directions when switching herbicides or spraying different crops. Each year we see crop injury due to tank contamination due to using the wrong products when cleaning out sprayer tanks. Also, if you are using the same measuring unit, clean this also. Keeping equipment free of tank contamination will decrease your chance of crop injury. Richard Zollinger, NDSU Extension Weed Specialist included the following to identify what types of solutions should be used with to clean out equipment for specific herbicides. "Sprayer Cleaning Solutions for Herbicides"
The NDSU small grains disease forecasting system is now up and running on the web. The new web page is on-line at:
http://www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/cropdisease/
If an individual does not have access to the internet or is away from their computer, the information can be accessed via telephone at: 1-888-248-7357, or 231-6601 if in the Fargo calling area.
The forecasting system has expanded to additional NDAWN sites, with a total of 47 sites. Fusarium spores will be counted at 21 sites, with Carrington and Kenmare, ND and Sabin, MN being additions sites for 2002.
The forecasting system provides information on whether favorable infection periods occurred within the previous 13 days for the diseases tan spot, Stagonospora (Septoria) blotch, and leaf rust, at the specific NDAWN location chosen. Additional information about the rainfall, RH, temperature and wet periods of the last 13 days also is given. For the 21 sites with spore sampling, spore counts of Fusarium are included, and a spore map will be provided.
To get the above information, a user of this web site clicks on an NDAWN location and clicks on a growth stage for the crop. At the flowering growth stage option, forecasting models for predicting Fusarium head blight severity (scab) also are provided. The scab forecasting models are based on work done in Ohio and have not been completely validated for ND, but will provide some useful information on potential risk of the disease.
Each year I receive questions concerning
pocket gopher control in yards and gardens. Pocket gophers are found only
in the western hemisphere. Their range is from Panama in the south to
Alberta in the north. There are six species found in the great plains and
are variable in their distribution. The two species found in North Dakota
are the "plains pocket gopher" and the "northern pocket
gopher". Only one species of pocket gopher usually is found in each
locality.
Typically there is only one pocket gopher per burrow
system. Exceptions are when mating occurs and when the female is caring
for her young. The burrow system consist of a main burrow, generally 4 to
18 inches below the ground surface, with a variable number of lateral burrows
off the main. Maximum depth of at least some portion of a burrow may be as
great as 5 or 6 feet. The diameter of a burrow is about 3 inches, but
varies with body size. A single burrow system may contain up to 200 yards
of tunnels. The rate of mound building is highly variable. Estimates
include an average of one to three mounds per day and up to 70 mounds per
month. This activity brings a large amount of soil to the surface,
estimated at 2.25 tons per gopher each year. For a population of 50
southern pocket gophers, it is estimated that they can move 47 tons of soil in a
year. The tunnel system is rigorously defended against intruders and
constitutes the home range of the pocket gopher, which may be up to 700 square
yards. This why this little animal is a vary busy and a major nuisance in
crops, gardens and yards.
Control: The most common ways of control is by trapping or by
poisoning. The key to the efficient and effective use of these methods is
locating the burrow system. The main burrow generally is found 12 to 18
inches away from the plug on the fan-shaped mounds. When the main is
located, place the poison bait in each direction of the tunnel. Then block
off the opening with soil or sod. Pocket gophers are attracted to an
opening in their system and may cover the bait with soil as it plugs the
opening. If large acreage is need to be treated it can be accomplished
with a "burrow builder machine". This method works well in areas
of minimal rocks.
Trapping is extremely effective to control pocket gophers in
small areas and to remove remaining animals after poisoning control
program. For more information, link to "Pocket
Gophers and Their Controls" or "Using
Burrow Builders for Pocket Gopher Control".
Please Contact Our Office For Additional Information
E-mail: griggs@ndsuext.nodak.edu
Go to the 2002 AgAlert Index Page