Cattlemen?s meeting scheduled for next Monday
Area pasture and hay land owners are invited to come out to the Extension office Monday night, June 5, to hear John Doran of Dow Chemical discuss pasture and hay land weed control options for late spring and fall sprayings.
I was talking with a few producers the past week, and the subject of horse nettles came up. I believe that horse nettles are one of the most difficult to control pasture and hay land weeds that we have in Warren County fields. The stickers or nettles are something the cattle won?t eat in hay or even when they?re fresh. John will discuss horse nettle, buckhorn plantain and other pasture management tips.
We?ll also take a few minutes to discuss the upcoming grant program for farmers being offered by the state this coming July 1. I received a note from the department of agriculture with a list of about twenty farmers here in the county who will receive notification of there approved grants just after the first of July. These folks applied earlier this year but the program ran out of money.
This program proved pretty popular with farmers across TN this past year. The program provide a 35% cost share for farmers to purchased livestock handling equipment and to purchase herd sires. The program next year is very similar so come out Monday night and hear about it. The program starts at 7 p.m.
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Black Spot Hits Roses
The single most damaging, most commmon problem that most rose growers deal with is the fungal disease Black Spot.
Symptoms often appear on roses by early spring and continue into the summer. Antique, shrub and landscape roses are resistant but will be effected during severe problem years.
The best way to combat this problem is to plant the new knockout roses. They look fine in the landscape and black spot won?t bother them. If you must have the large flowered tea type roses, apply recommended fungicide sprays to protect healthy foliage from infection. Daconil 2787 (chlorothalonil) works well if applied early in the season at one to two week intervals. Use a shorter interval under severe disease pressure.
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CONTROL POND WEEDS WITH GRASS CARP
I?ve had a few call over the past few weeks about algae and weeds in farm ponds. This is the best time of the year to do something about these problems.
Copper sulfate is a product that will kill algae but you don?t won?t to use to much and you will have to treat more than once.
If you?re looking for perennial weed and algae control consider stocking Chinese grass carp, sometimes called white amur, in your farm ponds. This is an effective way to control aquatic weeds and filamentous algae. Grass carp are almost exclusively plant eaters, so reliance on herbicides is greatly reduced.
Depending on the amounts and types of aquatic weeds to be controlled, stocking rates of 5 up to 100 per acre are recommended. The lower rate is advisable unless the weed problem is extremely heavy. In smaller ponds where some of the grass carp can be recovered once the weeds are under control, a higher rate of 75 to 100 per acre can be stocked. This would be very expensive. 15 to 20 carp will do a good job in most ponds. In ponds where largemouth bass are already established, grass carp stockers should be 9 to 10 inches long or they will be eaten. Smaller grass carp can be stocked where predator fish are absent.
Once grass carp are very large (30-35 pounds), they are not very efficient at eating aquatic weeds. Take them out and replace with carp 9-10 inches long. Give me a call for more information.