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Extension council election
By Richard C. Snell Barton County Extension Agent--Agriculture Are you a good citizen? Mark your calendar now for Tuesday, Oct. 30. That is the date for the election of the Barton County Extension Council. It will be held at the Barton County Extension Office, 1800 12th Street in Great Bend. You can cast your ballot and vote anytime from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. Nominations will be taken from the floor at 7 a.m. when the Extension Council Executive Board opens the meeting. I would like to encourage you, as a taxpayer and citizen, to get out and vote. Your vote really does count and it's your responsibility to get out and vote for the people whom you want to represent you. Three people will be elected to each of the four program development committees as required in the Kansas Extension Law. Those committees are 4-H and youth, agriculture, family and consumer science, and economic development. All persons that reside in Barton County and are 18 years of age are eligible to vote. I will have more information in the upcoming weeks on who the candidates will be and more about how the Extension Council operates. Make plans to stop by and vote that day. Alfalfa weeds Do you regularly have an abundance of yellow or white flowered weeds in first-cut alfalfa? Like mustard and pennycress? Maybe you have downy brome or cheatgrass problems? These weeds are tiny right now, so you might need to look close to see them. But they are there in your alfalfa, and early next spring they could grow rapidly, reducing alfalfa yield, thinning stands, and lowering forage quality. Even if in most years, your alfalfa is pretty clean, this was a tough year for alfalfa stands. I saw a lot more fields destroyed and rotated out this year. First, we had the late spring freeze that froze the first cutting and weakened plants. Then, we had flooding rains in May that drowned some areas of the field and encouraged an abundance of weed growth. Fortunately, help is readily available from several herbicides. To control winter annual weeds in stands over one year old, use the following herbicides--Karmex, Sinbar, Sencor, and Velpar. Soon, we should get some cold temperatures that will turn your alfalfa practically dormant but soils won't have frozen solid for quite awhile. This is perfect timing for using these herbicides. All these herbicides do a good job of controlling broadleaves like pennycress and mustard. They also do a pretty good job of controlling downy brome, except for Karmex. While Karmex is not good for downy brome, it still may be the best choice for broadleaf control on lighter soils. If you seeded alfalfa this year, you need to use other herbicides. Pursuit and Raptor are best for both broadleaf and grassy weeds. For just grasses like volunteer wheat, though, use Poast or Select. For just broadleaves, use Buctril or Butyrac, as long as temperatures remain well above freezing for a couple days. Take advantage of some opportunities now to control weeds in your alfalfa. That way you won't be plagued by them next spring. Fall can be a good time for bindweed control While we are on the subject of weeds, let's talk about our nastiest, most common noxious weed in Kansas. That would be field bindweed. More field crop yields are reduced by this perennial weed than any other. The last half of October through the first half of November is a good time to use chemical weed control (herbicides) for suppressing bindweed. Field bindweed is not native to Kansas but came along with wheat seed from Europe in the late 1800s. It was the first noxious weed in Kansas and the reason we have the Kansas Noxious Weed Law. Field bindweed is a perennial species that can grow from seed or established roots. Cotyledons (embryotic first leaves) of field bindweed are kidney-shaped and the true leaves are arrowhead shaped. Field bindweed has a vining growth habit and alternating leaves. It produces white or pink flowers about one inch in diameter. Field bindweed seeds have a roughed appearance with two flattened sides and one rounded side. Why am I telling you all of this? Well, you need to identify it so that you can give the best control measures. There are several weeds that get mistaken for bindweed. First there are two bindweeds, one is hedge bindweed that has larger leaves. Wild buckwheat is commonly mistaken for bindweed. Climbing milkweed and annual morning glory are also mistaken for it at times. The best time to control field bindweed is between crops or in fallow. During the fall is a good time because plants are sending roots downward for the winter to store carbohydrate reserves. At this time, the weeds will take up the herbicides better and move them down as well. The bindweed needs to have adequate soil moisture and be actively growing in order to take up the herbicide. Ideally, you want 12 to 18 inches of new growth when herbicide application is made. The best herbicides to use are those that can be translocated to the roots through the plant. These would include: glyphosate (Roundup), 2,4-D, dicamba (Banvel), picloram (Tordon) and quinclorac (Paramount). More information is available in the K-State Chemical Weed Control Guide and the bulletin, Field Bindweed Control in Field Crops and Fallow. I will cover bindweed control more next week. Date: 10/25/07
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