October, 2012
New Year Issue
Extension News
Agriculture and Natural Resources
By Chuck Jones—County Extension Agent
The New Year
Special points of
interest:
Spring to Do List
Now is the Time to Start
This newsletter will cover a lot of different areas and ideas. It will be written in a
manner to start your thought process and 2014 planning. Ideas are abbreviated and
you are reminded that our office has an immense library of information to help you. If
you start now, you will be ahead of the game.
Lawn Renovation and Management
Programming Updates
Begin with a soil test. This can be done right now. Find out how many nutrients
are in your soil and also learn about the soil’s pH. Once you get your results
you can customize your fertilizer program to produce a wonderful lawn. I visited a lady’s lawn two years ago that was having issues. A recommended soil
report showed she had extreme high levels of phosphorous. She had applied
10-20-10 two to three times a year for 20 years. Now she applies a phosphorous free fertilizer and waters correctly. “Poof” - her turf is now doing great.
Forms can be downloaded from http://soiltesting.tamu.edu/webpages/
forms.html Note: there are two soil forms one for pastures titled- Soil Submittal Form and the other is for lawns, gardens, orchards, flower beds, etc titled Urban Soil Submittal Form.
Words of
Wisdom
Faith is taking the
first step even when
you don’t see the
whole staircase.
Martin Luther King,
Jr.
Control those broadleaf weeds. Apply a preemergent in mid February. Read the
label for rate and how to activate. This will kill many common early germinating lawn weeds. Those having problems with Field Sandburs (grassburs)
should put out preemergent by April 1. This will be the time those “stickers”
will try to germinate. Many people also had a problem with Slender Aster. It
produced the carpet looking prostrate growing foliage (because you mowed it
all summer) and when it bloomed was a ray flower having white petals and
yellow to pinkish centers. Put down a preemergent in March. The active ingredient to look for in the preemergent is Isoxaben. If you don’t use a
preemergent, then apply a postemergent herbicide while it is young and actively growing. One such product is titled, Tough Weed Control, and the active ingredient is Penoxasulam.
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Fertilize appropriately. Depending on your turf type we have publications here in the office that will tell
you how and when to fertilize. Come get one or go online to the AgriLife Bookstore http://
www.agrilifebookstore.org/category-s/1817.htm for your free copy. Title search for Maintaining St.
Augustine Lawns or Maintaining Bermudagrass Lawns.
Water appropriately. Train your turf to grow deep roots. Water deep and infrequently. Let the grass tell
you when it needs a drink by looking at color changes and judging springiness. When a lawn goes
from bright green to a lighter shade of green to blue then water. Also when the grass stops springing
back up after you step on it, water it. Water until the soil become moist down to four to six inches.
This may take several small watering cycles in clay soils were water runoff can occur after only 15 to
30 minutes of sprinkler use. Percolation rates are low in many clay soils. Go to Aggie Horticulture
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/ click on Earth Kind Landscaping http://aggiehorticulture.tamu.edu/earthkind/ then click on Landscape Water Conservation http://aggiehorticulture.tamu.edu/earthkind/publications/ This is where you can thoroughly educated yourself on
water conservation in the landscape.
Irrigation Audit/Check. Now is the time to check that
sprinkler system. You should look and fix any problems you find before the irrigation season. Turn on
all the zones and look at the sprinkler heads. Look
for pressure problems, broken heads, crooked heads,
misdirected heads, skipped /dry spots, covered heads,
heads blocked by growing vegetation, etc. We can
also help you in this area. Just contact me, 903-8134202.
Plant grass seed or lay sod. Some of you may have lost a lot of turf due to the drought or other problems.
A few pointers – If planting seed, control weeds first because they will grow faster and out compete
any young grass seedlings. Make sure seedbed is firm and clear of dirt clods and debris. When you
sow the seeds make sure to press them into the soil surface (use a sod roller or your feet, etc.). Don’t
cover. Don’t drag cyclone fence over the top of it. Keep seeds and seedling moist, not soaking wet!
Use common sense on watering. Yellowing foliage means too much water. Stick your finger in the
soil to gauge moisture. If it gets muddy, it is to wet and reduce watering. If moderately moist, then it
is good and you still don’t need to water. Barely moist – then water. If laying sod, then I have a few
suggestions. Make sure it is going in an area getting at minimum five to six hours of sunlight. Make
sure the bed is clear of debris, smooth, and vegetation free. Press in every single piece of sod after you
laid it out. Often the roots on the bottom of sod rot or don’t grow when they don’t touch the soil’s surface. Water in really good and follow good old common sense water management. Over watering kills
more new sod than anything else because it increases the chance for rot caused by fungal diseases.
Vegetable Garden
Soil test - Vegetables are heavy feeders and need nutrients. See what is going on in the soil. Many people
dump leaves in the garden year after year and this practice can also elevate phosphorous levels.
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Garden tilling – Many of you last year got behind on your garden prep due to a wet late winter and early
spring. You kept waiting for the soil to dry out so you could till. Tilling wet soil actually compacts it.
I recommend tilling the garden the next time soil conditions get right. If you planted a green manure
crop on it, till it under so it can begin to decompose. If you are adding 4 to 6 inches of compost across
the surface this year, then till it in now. Others can go ahead and till in any of needed nutrients
(synthetic fertilizers) as shown by the soil report. They’ll remain for the vegetables’ use.
Garden planning – Are you in the habit of planting the same vegetables in the same locations year after
year? This will become problematic. You need to rotate locations. If you don’t you could have soil
fertility, disease, pest, or nematode issues. There are all kinds of fancy rotation systems but simply
don’t plant vegetables belonging to the same family back to back in the same location. For example:
potatoes, tomatoes, peppers and eggplants are in the same family, Solanaceae, so don’t plant potatoes
where tomatoes were planted last year, etc. Plant this family group where another family group was
previously planted. You could plant them where your beans or peas were. Beans and peas are in the
Fabaceae family. Contact me if you need a good list of family
groups.
Seed choices and planting dates – We have fall and spring planting
dates. We also can provide you with a publication titled, Recommended Vegetable Cultivars for North Central Texas. For example
this publication list out the best choices known to grow good here.
For the best pole lima beans it recommends Florida Speckled and
King of the Garden. The recommended slicing cucumbers are
Sweet Success, Sweet Slice, County Fair 87, Burpless, Dasher II,
and Slicemaster.
Tree Planting and Care
Stress Reduction - Many of our trees took a hit due to the drought. There are things you can do now to
help take the stress off of them this growing season. First, the dormant season is a good time to do
some remedial pruning; cut out dead, diseased, or damaged limbs. You can also cut out limbs with
poor limb angles (<45 degrees). You can cut branches that rub or cross each other. You can also prune
to open up the canopy. Just use proper arboriculture pruning methods. If you need this information,
our office can provide it.
Secondly, add mulch underneath your trees especially newly planted ones or those ten years or younger.
Three to four inches of hardwood mulch makes a huge difference by helping with soil water retention,
soil temperature cooling, weed control, and soil fertility.
Thirdly, Many people have trees that are annually attacked by insects (borers, gall making wasp, and leaf
sucking and chewing insects). There are products you can apply to the soil now (though usually done
in the fall) that will provide 12 month control against many insects. These soil drenches have the ac-
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New Year Issue
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tive ingredient Imidacloprid. This is a systemic insecticide taken into the trees’ tissues. You can contact this office for a list of trade names.
Watering is also critical for tree survival during drought times. A lawn can be replaced in a week a 30 year
old tree takes 30 years to replace. During those late July and August times deeply water your tree.
You should be applying water where the shallow feeder roots are which is a third of the way from the
trunk and out past the canopy. Soaker hoses circled in concentric rings around the tree works great, but
so does a single hose running slowly that can be moved around. Small sprinklers also work very well.
The Texas forest says to moisten your soil 6 to 8 inches deep every week for trees. This video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciEjYvwwQZs explains how to water and check soil moisture. It is
just 3 minutes and 52 seconds long and is very good.
Tree Selection
Many people lost trees these last two summers. Are you needing ideas on what are good replacement options? We can provide that by discussing with you options and giving you a publication titled, Recommended Landscape Plant Materials for
North Central Texas. Some great examples
from this publication are – need a small deciduous full sun tree? Choices are Crape
Myrtle, Desert Willow, Flowering Crabapple, and Oklahoma Redbud. There are also
other tree options and we will try to match
the tree to what you want. We will also recommend trees based upon the soil’s pH.
Tree Planting
Now through early spring is a great time to plant a tree. I won’t spend time here telling you how to properly plant a tree, but I will over the phone, by email, or in person. Our office will teach you how to dig
the planting hole, stake or not stake, when to fertilize, how to water, planting depth, etc.
Composting
Take advantage of a little down time before everything gets growing and build some compost bins. At the Aggie Horticulture website under Vegetable resources you will find a publication titled, Composting http://aggiehorticulture.tamu.edu/vegetable/files/2010/10/E-278_composting.pdf Composting is great way to keeping
recyclable materials from going to the landfill, to retain all the nutrients on your property, and to have access
to great organic fertilizer and soil conditioners. So keep the leaves, grass clipping, cow manure, vegetable
scraps, spent tea bags, spent coffee grounds, etc. This publication will teach you how to layer and care for you
compost pile.
Fire Ant Control
Oh they are still there! Just because they aren’t very active doesn’t mean they are gone. Early spring is the
best time to start AgriLife’s Two-Step Method. Step 1- In the spring broadcast a bait over the lawn. Step 2 Spot treat any nuisant mounds or colonies that move into the baited area. You do this again in the fall. The
publication titled, Fire Ant Control, The Two-Step Method and Other Approaches is here at the office and it
will discuss all the different fire ant control products and teach you their mode of action and kill rate. The
publication also talks about organic options for control and mentions home remedies.
Rain Water Harvesting
A one inch rain produces half a gallon of water for every
square foot of roof. So a 2,000 sq’ home’s roof/gutter system could capture 1,000 gallons of water during a one inch
rain. Our area receives about 38” of rain in a year. So the
same house could potentially capture and store 38,000 gallons of water in a year. May is our wettest month so you
have time to consider rainwater harvesting. Many people
start with a 50 gallon rain barrel and use the water for landscape or garden needs. Everything you need to know concerning rainwater harvesting can be found at
http://rainwaterharvesting.tamu.edu/
Pond Maintenance
Stocking There are two good times of the year to stock fish, March to early July and October thru December. Concerning new ponds - Ideally Bluegills were stocked last fall at a rate of 500, 2-3” bluegills per
surface acre. That means that this spring you can add the 1-3” bass at a stocking rate of 50 per surface
acre. The Extension office has a great publication titled, Texas Farm Pond Management Calendar.
Come in for your copy.
Fertilizing Some people intensively manage their fisheries. Inorganic fertilizers can be utilized to increase
fish production 2-6 fold by increasing food supply. Apply 10-20-5 at 100 pounds/surface acre followed by one or two reduced rate applications of 35 pounds/surface acre as needed to maintain the
bloom. If you start a fertility program, don’t stop, continue on an annual basis. Start in early April and
end in September.
Aquatic Plants Begin in April. Consider biological control, such as Triploid Grass Carp or Tilapia for
containing/controlling some aquatic plants. There are also many aquatic label herbicides available.
The Extension office can help you with aquatic plant identification and possible control options. A
good resource for you is also http://aquaplant.tamu.edu/ Let us help you with your pond management
issues.
Catch Records This would be a great year to keep up
with what you catch and keep from your pond.
This data can be interpreted to determine fish
population health and predator to prey balance.
The Extension office can provide you with the resources for collecting and analyzing your data so
that you can make biologically sound harvest decisions.
Early Programming Efforts
Private Applicator Update - New for 2014 -Texas Department of Agriculture will soon no longer be sending
inspectors to administer test following private applicator training. Grayson County is now training individuals
on a case by case basis. Just make an appointment. Following training you are given information on the
closes testing site.
Rebuilding the Beef Herd - January 31 in McKinney. Contact Rick Maxwell for more information—972-5484233. 1 ceu
February 20 - Tenative TriCounty Farmer and Rancher Symposium. They say it is going to happen but not yet
confirmed. Tentatively hold February 20. I’ll send out more information as I get it. 5 ceus
March 4 - Master Gardener evening program. 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM. Grayson County Courthouse, 2nd Floor
Assembly Room. More information to come but will cover turf care (selection, fertilizing, watering, planting, pest and diseases, etc.) and Earth Kind landscaping (best water conserving and good growing perennials, shrubs, and trees). Still planning details. More information to come. Call 903-813-4204 to RSVP
and ask more questions. 1 ceu
Pasture Establishment—a program dedicated to the How Tos of evaluating pastures, choosing the correct forages, planting, and maintenance. Should be scheduled in late February or early March but not yet planned.
More information to come. 1 ceu
Pecan Grafting Workshop—confirmed. April 24. More information coming
And many, many more programs developing: such as property rights and easement negotiations, Understanding 1-d-1 Open Space Agriculture Use Appraisal and potential management options for property owners, 4-H
and FFA animal clinics, crop reports and turn row meetings, wildlife management conference, etc.
Educational programs of the Texas AgriLIFE Extension Service are open to all people without regard to race,
color, sex, disability, religion, age, or national origin.