By Richard C. Snell

Barton County Extension Agent, Agriculture

I don't consider myself a prophet so I'm not necessarily saying we are in the "end times." However, with the rapid pace of wild things happening, it makes you stop and think, doesn't it?

Several thoughts occurred to me as I stopped and pondered. Most of my thoughts aren't that original so I'm sure some of you also had these go through your mind.

First, your heart has to go out to the people in the southeast Gulf Coast area that was hit by the hurricane and flood damage. Their lives will never be the same and re-building will take a long time. Many have been permanently displaced.

As one local person said to me--How can we ever complain about anything again, in light of what they are going through? Great Bend truly was blessed when the tornado just clipped the top of town! Except for a few missing trees and some roof damage, only a few people suffered permanent loss and we suffer with them but realize how bad it could have been. There's a lot to be said for life and health.

My other thoughts have to do with the farmer and the higher fuel prices. Each of us as consumers have been hit by the increase in fuel costs. Gasoline is nearly twice the price of a couple of years ago. This can easily amount to a couple of thousand dollars per year. It is also increasing the costs of other goods due to transportation costs.

Now, think about the farmer. He not only has the increase in his or her personal consumer vehicles like you but in all of his business vehicles. This includes swathers, combines, tractors, sprayers and trucks for hauling. This will also affect the costs of custom work.

The other place the farmer gets hit is on fertilizer. Fertilizer is made as a by-product from natural gas and so it is on the rise as well. So, his input costs have doubled on two fronts.

Some businesses can pass this on in terms of higher prices for their product but most farmers have their price set by the grain complex or packing plants. Already they are saying that Wheat is over-priced here relative to some of the European countries for export.

I'm not sure where I am going with this other than it is going to take a bumper crop for farmers to break even with their fall crops and with the Wheat that is soon to be planted as well. Marketing, as well as production is going to be critical in this scenario.

There may have to be more equipment sharing and buying together if farmers are going to survive down the road. Each farmer may also have to look for one speciality niche market.

I hope we don't get to the point where we lose a lot of our farmers in this country. I hate to see only a few mega-farms controlling everything.

Give cool season grasses a boost

September is here and that means it is prime-time to fertilize your tall fescue or Kentucky bluegrass lawns. These grasses are entering their fall-growth cycle as days shorten and temperatures moderate (especially at night).

Cool-season grasses naturally thicken up in the fall by tillering (forming new shoots at the base of existing plants) and, for bluegrass, spreading by underground stems called rhizomes. Consequently, September is the most important time to fertilize these grasses. Apply 1 pound of actual nitrogen per 1000 square feet. In my opinion, it is best if some of the nitrogen comes from a quick-release source at this time. Most fertilizers sold in garden centers and department stores contain either quick-release nitrogen or a mixture of quick- and slow-release. However, even these "mixed" products are most often predominantly quick-release. In any case, they can be used effectively for your fall applications.

Cool-season grass cultivation practices

September is the optimum time to power-rake or core-aerate tall fescue and Kentucky bluegrass lawns. These grasses should be coming out of their summer doldrums and beginning to grow more vigorously. This is a good time to reconsider what we are trying to accomplish with these practices.

Power-raking is primarily a thatch-control operation. It can be excessively damaging to the turf if not done carefully. For lawns with 1/2 inch of thatch or less, I don't recommend power-raking. For those who are unsure what thatch is, it is a springy layer of light-brown organic matter that looks something like peat moss and is located above the soil but below the grass foliage.

Core-aeration is a much better practice for most lawns. By removing cores of soil, core-aeration relieves compaction, hastens thatch decomposition, and improves water, nutrient, and oxygen movement into the soil profile. This operation should be performed when the soil is neither too wet or too dry, but rather, just moist enough so that it crumbles easily when worked between the fingers. Enough passes should be made so that the holes are spaced about 2 inches apart. Ideally, the holes should penetrate 2.5 to 3 inches deep. The cores can be left on the lawn to decompose naturally (a process that usually takes two or three weeks, depending on soil-type), or they can be broken up with a vertical mower set just low enough to nick the cores, and then dragged with a section of chain-link fence or a steel door mat. The intermingling of soil and thatch that results is beneficial to the lawn.

Date: 9/22/05

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