CRP, pasture burning beneficial

By Richard C. Snell

Barton County Extension Agent, agriculture

I am not going to get into a big debate about carbon storage and its benefits, but I still strongly believe in some of the benefits of burning Conservation Reserve Program acres and native rangeland.

Burning in April, just prior to the grazing season is the time you will want to do this. Specifically, when bluestem grass is one inch tall, it's time to burn. Not all grasses need to be burned. Buffalograss, bermuda and brome do not respond as favorably as the taller warm season grasses.

You need plenty of moisture in the soil profile to keep from damaging the good grass and we have had that in our area lately. With all the moisture we have had in the past year, this should be a good year to burn. If you look at it strictly from a production standpoint on cow-calf management, I doubt you can measure a difference, but there are other benefits. As a cow-calf operator, you still need to improve grazing distribution and control weeds and brush in your pastures. You need to look at the long term benefits of burning, rather than the year to year advantage it gives on stocker and yearling operations.

On CRP, the biggest benefit is to get rid of some of the mulch that builds up, because on native grass it tends to subdue the grass more than the weeds. Controlling brush, unwanted trees and weeds are probably the biggest benefits. On pastures, improving the grazing distribution and controlling the weeds will enable you as a cowman to get more out of your grass. You may be surprised that burning every other year a couple of times is all that is needed--at least for a few years--to get that pasture in good condition and not flat as a table top with no grass. You may even see an increase of some better grass species that are more productive.

Even the wildlife people will tell you it's good for wildlife population and habitat as a whole even though we do burn up a few critters in the process. For wildlife purposes, they like to see March burning instead of April.

When you plan your burn, which you need to do in advance, stop by the county Extension office. We have an entire series of free publications on controlled burning that will help you.

Irish potatoes

We have a good reminder on when to plant potatoes with St. Patrick's Day, but this year the weather was lousy on St. Patrick's Day. Not only that but we have cold, wet soils. A lot of cooler days plus adequate moisture have caused the soil temperature to be about a week behind at the start of the spring season. When this happens think Easter for potato planting.

As soil temperatures start to increase, potatoes planted around Easter or just after should start to develop fairly soon.

Select firm seed potatoes and cut them into seed pieces about 1 to 2 oz in size. You should get eight to 10 seed pieces per pound of seed potatoes. It is a good idea to cut the seed two to three days before you plant it and hold the cut seed in a warm place (room temperatures) to allow the freshly cut surface to 'heal over.' Actually, a protective chemical material called suberin is produced at this cut surface to prevent the seed piece from rotting. You will notice that the cut surface dries out and a slight powdery appearance starts to develop when they are properly healed. Plant seed pieces about 3/4- to 1-inch deep to encourage early growth.

Then, gradually pull soil along the row forming a 'hill' to cover the lower stem with soil as a bearing area for the potatoes to develop later in the season. As the potatoes grow 3 to 4 inches, pull another 3 to 4 inches of soil to the hill. Potatoes are fairly heavy 'feeders' or require quite a bit of fertilizer to produce abundantly. However, it is a good idea not to put down all the fertilizer at once (at planting time). They respond to several 'sidedressings' of fertilizer by sprinkling fertilizer along the row as the crop is growing.

Scab disease on potatoes

As you are planting or preparing to plant potatoes, be aware of a disease that is prominent in our area, due to the high pH of most of our soils. Our soils tend to be alkaline (higher than 7.0 pH), especially north of the Arkansas River and anything west of the Cheyenne Bottoms.

I'll talk more about this disease next week. But for now, since planting time is here. How can you prevent it?

Several practices can limit the severity of scab.

1. Planting resistant varieties is the most feasible and practical control. Varieties showing some level of scab tolerance include: Norchip, Norgold Russet, Reliance, Russet Burbank, Shurchip, Norland, Hi-Plains, Pungo, Redskin, Russet Sebago, Shoshoni, and Superior.

2. Avoid planting seed exhibiting scab lesions.

3. Crop rotation in which potatoes will be planted in the same area only once every 3 or 4 years. Avoid rotating with root crops; instead plant grains, grasses, or legumes.

4. Maintain good moisture levels in the soil while tubers are developing.

5. Avoid the use of fresh manure just preceding the potato crop. The addition of barnyard manure, ashes, and lime generally increases scab severity. The scab organism can persist for many years in soils.

6. Chemically treating seed pieces before planting with the fungicide Captan or another fungicide will help reduce seed-borne scab inoculum.

3/31/08
1 Star WK\9-B

Date: 4/10/08

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