Local Interest

Spring is really here and one of my favorite spring activities is planting and improving my flower beds, obviously. If these flower beds are not planted or cared for correctly, they will not survive. One of the most disappointing things to any gardener is when their plants die!

As the planting season approaches, producers are gearing up to apply pesticides. However, before starting your pesticide application there are two important things to keep in mind: pesticide efficacy and spray drift management.

The weather is finally warming up more and we can get out into our landscapes again. As we get outside more, we will find one plant that is having a great year, Henbit. This purple blooming weed shows its ugly face very early in the spring. This is the weed that will cover fields with large expanses of purple blossoms. It is also quite prevalent in our lawns and gardens.
Federal law prohibits children under 16 years of age from using certain equipment on a farm unless their parents or legal guardians own the farm.

As temperatures begin to warm up, I notice many fields covered with purple henbit flowers in Southeast Nebraska. Henbit is one of the most common winter annual weeds in the region, along with weeds like downy brome, field pennycress, marestail, tansy mustard, and prickly lettuce.

In the past year, Nebraska Extension has hired seven Water & Cropping Systems Extension Educators across the state. One of the most impactful roles for a Water & Cropping Systems Educator is to work with growers in their areas to conduct on-farm research. As a result of these new hires, there are great opportunities for farmers to engage with new Educators and grow the on-farm research base in many areas across the state where Educator positions have been vacant for several years. We are part of this new group of Educators, and we are very eager to develop on-farm research studies in our accountability regions in southeast Nebraska. Ritika covers Nemaha, Johnson, Pawnee, and Richardson counties, and John covers Lancaster, Cass, and Otoe.

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