By Dave Case
On Fertile Ground
Welcome to November in Champaign County! Beautiful time of year! Leaves changing, crops getting harvested and still a few nice days here and there for outside activities!
This month I thought I’d do more questions and answers:
Why should I control weeds in the fall? Several reasons. Winter annuals like chickweed, henbit and dandelion are young and easy to control. Your ornamentals are not as susceptible to herbicide drift since they are fully mature and lastly, perennial broadleaf weeds like white clover, plantain and ground ivy are preparing for winter and sending photosynthate to the roots and a systemic herbicide application moves to the roots as well.
What weeds aren’t controlled in the fall? Summer annuals like knotweed, oxalis and nutsedge. These require spring and summer applications.
What should I use for fall weed control? Look for something with 2 to 4 of these ingredients: 2,4-D, dicamba, MCPP or MCPA, triclopyr, fluroxpyr or other products that have pyr at the end of the name. It’s important to include multiple active ingredients like those above.
How can/should I reduce lawn inputs next year? First, what are the benefits of a healthy lawn? When properly maintained, a lawn provides numerous benefits! Healthy green space, stormwater retention, mitigating urban heat island effect, reduction of weeds by covering bare soil, recreation opportunities, and more. So, before we think of our lawns as a “pain,” and I’d rather not have to mow etc., remember the many benefits! But there are a few things we can do to minimize inputs.
First, make sure you have a well adaptive grass. The “right plant for the right place.” This goes for landscape plants too!
Second, mowing. Mow high or higher than you do now. You’ve heard me say this before and you’ll keep hearing it! Mow as needed, not every Friday because that’s when you always do it! And mow as high as you can stand it!
Next to mowing, fertility management is an essential component of lawn care.
Older lawns require less fertilizer than a newer lawn. Don’t guess what you need, soil test. Early fall is a great time to fertilize.
Takeaways! The “right plant in the right place!”
Mow high! At least 3 inches and preferably 4 inches.
Be mindful of inputs. Reduce on more established lawns; 2 pounds per 1,000 square feet twice a year.
Only use pesticides as needed.
What else are good things to do this fall? Plant garlic. Rake or blow leaves. Clean up the
vegetable garden.
Plant trees. Dig a wide hole, don’t plant too deep and mulch. Water deeply and infrequently.
Plant winter vegetable garden (spinach, radishes, cold hardy lettuce, kale turnips). Pest proof your home!
Champaign County Ag Sector
We expect to harvest a considerably larger corn and soybean crop in Champaign County this year. That’s the good news. But this will put pressure on storage bins and alternative structures will likely be needed. Make sure to keep a watchful eye on stored grain if you’re storing it in an equipment storage building, grain bag or covered outdoor pile. Aim for 14% moisture for corn and 12% for beans that will be stored into the new year. Make sure aeration systems are working properly and be on the lookout for storage pests including wildlife, rodents, birds, and insects.
Fall tillage is expensive in time, fuel and equipment wear and tear. A soil penetrometer can be used to assess compaction and help determine what fields might be best to focus on. Don’t have one? A soil probe, shovel or spade can make do. Fall tillage when the soil is dry is the most effective time to break up compacted soil. But fall tillage is not a substitute for avoiding soil compaction in the first place.
Spring burndown vs. fall burndown
Fall burndown means smaller weeds to manage in the spring. Waiting until spring could mean stronger, harder to control weeds. Consider this on problem fields or fields farther away from your home base.
Corn seems to be drying slower than normal. Why? Remember the smoky hazy days this summer from the wildfires up north? We did have a cooler than normal summer and that’s more than likely the cause; did the fires contribute to that? Planting date seemed pretty well in line, but we didn’t tassel by July 4 like we need to do, it was a couple weeks later. Lots of things to ponder and most we can’t change. Near as I can calculate, we are at 3025 GDU to the end of October. In 2022 we accumulated 3,435. Down 12%!
We are at 30% corn harvested in 2023, last year we were at 53%, and the 5-year average is 49%. Soybeans harvested, 80%, last year 85%; and 5-year average of 76%.
Wishing you a good remainder of harvest.
Till next month!
Question or comments? Email me at [email protected].
A graduate of the University of Kentucky, Dave Case majored in Agronomy and Ag Econ with an emphasis in Weed Science. Dave’s career spanned Champaign Landmark, Crow’s Hybrid Corn Company and 30 years with Bayer CropScience. In 2018, Case formed Case Ag Consulting LLC. He is a member of Alpha Gamma Rho Agricultural Fraternity. He is on the Board of Directors of the Agribusiness Association of Kentucky, Chairman of the Ohio AgriBusiness Association Educational Trust Foundation and Secretary of the Alpha Gamma Rho Alumni Board. He is on the Board of Directors of the Champaign Family YMCA, Champaign County Historical Society Agricultural Capital Campaign Committee and is a Trustee for the Champaign County Farm Bureau. Dave and his wife Dorothy live on a small farm south of Urbana where they raise goats, cattle, chickens and various crops and they donate all profits to Pancreatic Cancer Research. Dave can be reached at [email protected].
