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Last chance to come to the fair
By Richard C. Snell Barton County Extension Agent--Agriculture If you haven't been out to the Barton County Fair yet, you still have time to make it to Sunday's Grand Finale. We like to think we have one of the better fairs around, so come check it out. On July 15 the Fair winds up a week's worth of activities. Sunday is the climax of the Fair with the largest chicken barbecue in Kansas, where close to 2,000 people are served. This is the 50th year for the barbecue, which involves a lot of volunteers from throughout the area. The barbecue is served from 5 to 7 p.m. and you can eat it there or go through the drive-thru. We still have tickets available at last check. Prior to the barbecue and following is an array of activities. At 8 a.m., there will be a non-denominational sunrise worship service at the Wal-Mart Free Stage in Expo II. Breakfast will be provided to those attending. At 9:30 a.m., the 4-H small animal Round Robin Livestock Fitting and Showing Contest starts. The large animal Round Robin begins at 10:30 that morning. Then at 11:30 a.m., there will be a launch of the 4-H and open class rockets that were constructed. Registration for the Antique tractor Pull starts at noon. The tractor pull actually begins at 1:30 p.m. At 1 p.m., will be the 1st Annual Car, Truck and Motorcycle Show on the dragstrip. The 4-H showcase of awards begins in Expo III at 2 p.m. Immediately following this will be the 4-H Sale of Champions. This is when the 4-Hers will have their livestock and foods bid for premiums paid by individuals and businesses who wish to support the 4-H program. I hope you will come out and put in your bid. An old-fashioned root beer float social will start at 2 p.m., to get your taste buds primed for the barbecue. All buildings will close for checkout preparation at 7 p.m. All exhibits will be checked out at 7:30 p.m. You can come and claim your open class ribbons and premiums then. On Monday, volunteers will clean-up the grounds at 5 p.m. If you would like to help out, show up at the Expo Complex at that time. 4-H premiums will be paid after the Cleanup Helpers Picnic. Bring your family out and enjoy the Fair where there is something for everyone. Count your blessings Weather is almost always a two edged sword where gardening and agriculture are practiced. As I write this column just prior to our county fair, we have experienced extremely mild temperatures for most of the summer. We have been a good 10 degrees or more lower than normal for this time of year. So, how has this played out for farmers and horticulturists? Many of the fall crops were planted later than we would like for top yields because of excessively wet weather in May. This delayed field preparation into June. We needed some heat units to catch up. We had a lot of cloudy days but it seems the corn has caught up in terms of maturity and is pollinating at about the normal time. I am not sure this will be the case for grain sorghum. All of those cloudy, foggy mornings and misty, humid days prevented much wheat harvesting. It wasn't that it was muddy here locally, it was just that the grain moisture content was high and the straw was tough. Farmers and custom cutters couldn't begin until 5 p.m., some days and had to quit at 10 p.m. This made for a long and drawn out harvest. The mild temperatures and plentiful rains have made pastures as well as gardens and lawns look good. However, roots are shallow on plants because they have not had to follow any moisture down, it has been there right on top and roots are lazy. That's fine until we move into hot or dry weather. Then we will have to pour the water on. Until now, I have not watered my lawn at all and the garden only sparingly. So we should have saved a lot on water bills. Do not water unless you need to or you will do more harm than good. Really the only downside has been less heat units for the crops and more fungus disease pressure. We have seen a lot of gray leaf spot on the corn and certainly a lot of blight and viruses on garden crops. A lot of the pine trees are showing symptoms of needle diseases such as tip blight and needle blight. Hopefully we are not seeing pine wilt in these cases. Though some crops were planted late, we have been blessed with a lot of mild weather and reduced water needs. Blossom end rot on tomatoes With the time of year it is and with the weather we've had, blossom-end-rot will start showing up on tomatoes. BER is a brown leathery patch that develops on the bottom (lower end) of tomatoes. It is a physiological disorder--not a disease condition. It results from a deficiency of calcium in the developing fruit; however, a shortage of calcium in the soil is not the problem. When mild, wet conditions prevail, tomato plants produce more top than root growth. With the sudden onset of hot, dry conditions the plant must increase root growth dramatically. The best thing you can do is to mulch your tomatoes to balance moisture conditions. Mulch can be straw, hay or dried grass clippings. Mulch should be from lawns or fields that were not treated this spring with a herbicide. Also, get your tomatoes off the ground by staking or caging. Date: 7/11/07
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