Gordon County Extension reminders
This week I would like to shift gears. Most of my columns are topic specific, but this week I would like to give more of a general up-date on things I am seeing in the area agriculturally or reminders. I would also like to make clients aware once again of some of the resources that we provide at the local UGA County Extension Office.
In j ust a f ew months, I will hit my 25th anniversary of working for UGA Extension. I have worked in two counties.
I drove back and forth from Calhoun to Bartow County for nearly 17 years, working in the areas of 4-H and agricultural and natural resources. The rest of my time, I have been able to serve Gordon County as the extension coordinator plus work in agriculture based areas with our homeowners and farmers.
For starters, I would like to start with some friendly reminders.
This spring I have seen what we are calling burweed in the area.
Clients have brought in many samples and I have seen it in the field.
Most client phone calls or sample examples are all the same.
The concern is the barbs or burs that will stick to the bottom of your feet, flip flops or to the paws of your pet. The problem is that it is really too late in the season to do anything about it now with herbicide.
The burs are part of the end of the maturity of this weed.
If you are having a problem, the better time for control would be later in the fall with some possible followup in early spring. Another key is to make sure the lawn grass you have is performing well in dealing with burweed and other weed issues.
Make sure you are irrigating your home gardens correctly. I preach this often, but in theory, the foliage of your vegetable plants do not need to get wet. Drip irrigation or soaker hoses are a better way to water your gardens. You lose less from evaporation, plus you are getting the water closer to the roots where the water is actually needed. If you do use a sprinkler in your gardening efforts, the time you irrigate is important.
If you must use a sprinkler, I would encourage early morning irrigation efforts. Completing an irrigation effort early in the morning will then take advantage of the sunshine to dry the foliage off quickly. If you use a
sprinkler in the early afternoon for example, the plant foliage can stay wet until the next day. That extended time of wet foliage can be the last key ingredient to get disease started in the garden.
One resource that many client do take advantage of in our office is soil testing. I can easily say that we have more soil samples brought to the office than water and hay sample combined. I have said it before and I will say it again that soil sampling is a way to take out the guesswork. True, you normally can find a general liming and fertilization plan for what is being grown on that spot, but why do you want to hope you are doing things correctly?
The goal of a soil test is to help you have a more productive soil. A properly taken soil sample should eliminate guesswork in the area of liming and fertilization. Soil sampling is very economical with the cost being $9 per sample submitted. We can provide direction on how to take samples, and then you can check out a soil probe from us to make the sampling easier.
I previously mentioned hay sampling and water sampling. To be more specific, we do feed and forage sampling and also routine or bacterial water testing. The testing is not actually done here but at one of the UGA labs in Athens. Forage and water testing is a little more expensive that soil sampling, but still normally economical for most folks. We can help suggest the type of testing you need depending on the situation.
Our office is also a local resource in identification of insect and disease issues in the area of landscapes, homes and field crops. As a young agent, I remember we traditionally had to box and ship samples. We still have to do this from time to time depending on the situation but mainly can do this in-house by use of digital diagnostics.
The goal is to hopefully get an answer to clients quicker. Finally, agriculture agents are still available for site visits.
Due to population growth it may be easier for clients to send in images via email, but we are still available to come out and take a look at the problem you are having on a one-on-one basis. Just give us a call.