PARP and Breeders and Feeders Banquet Information

Greetings Boone County!

There's some decent content on this blog which I hate to lose so rather than start an entirely new blog now that I've moved to Boone County I decided to just change the title even though the web address still has Clinton County in it. If, after a while, I find this doesn't work, particularly with searches, I may have to start from scratch but I'll go with this for the time being.

There are two upcoming events you may be interested in:

Ag Outlook and Pesticide Applicator Training Program

On Monday, February 24 we'll be having an Ag Outlook and Pesticide Applicator Recertification Program at the Farm Bureau Community Building at the Boone County Fairgrounds in Lebanon. The schedule for the day is as follows:

10:00 a.m. - 12:00 Noon - Ag Outlook with Purdue Ag Economist Chris Hurt
Noon - 12:45 p.m. - Lunch
12:45 p.m. - 1:45 p.m. - Palmer Amaranth Strategies with Purdue Weed Scientist Bill Johnson
1:45 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. - Insect Control Update with Purdue Entomologist Chriatian Krupke
2:30 - 3:00 p.m. - Reducing Pesticide Drift with Curt Emanuel, Boone County Extension


As usual, there will be a $10 fee for those receiving Pesticide credit. CCH's have been approved for Commercial Applicators.

I'll be sending out a letter with more details, including registration information, to all Boone County Private Applicators. Call the Boone County Extension Service at 765-482-0750 by Friday, February 14 if you plan on having lunch.



Breeders and Feeders Fish Fry and Awards Banquet

The Boone County Breeders and Feeders annual Fish Fry and Awards banquet will be held on Thursday, March 6 at the Witham Health Services Pavilion at the Boone County Fairgrounds. Tickets are available at the Extension Office or from Breeders and Feeders Directors. The cost is $7.50 for adults and $4 for children.

The Purdueettes will be the entertainment for the evening.

I'll have additional information on the banquet as we get closer.

Looking for Palmer Amaranth

I'm sure most of you have heard of Palmer amaranth (Amaranthus palmeri). If not, it's an extremely aggressive, invasive broadleaf weed, native to the desert southwest, that is usually very glyphosate- and ALS-resistant. To date it's been found in northwest and southwest Indiana.

I'm not aware that any has been found in Clinton County and I've been keeping an eye out as I've been driving around this summer. However as you'll soon be getting into your fields for harvest, I have a request; if you come across any Palmer amaranth when you get in the field, please let me know. I'll send that information on to Bill Johnson at Purdue's Botany and Plant Pathology Department. Purdue has a longstanding policy regarding pest reporting; when they identify where a pest is located to inform the public, they say what county it's located in, not where in the county.



Palmer Amaranth: Photo from Purdue Extension Publication WS-51, Palmer Amaranth Biology, Identification, and Management

At the bottom of this post I'll include a link to the Purdue publication on Palmer amaranth but for ID purposes, here's what to look for. The main distiguishing characteristic at this point in the plant's life will be an extremely long seed head, up to three feet long. Its leaf is wide and ovate and is not lobed like giant ragweed.

If you come across this weed, please let me know, either by calling the extension office or by e-mailing me at cemanuel@purdue.edu. Feel free to send me some pictures if you're not sure if this is what you're seeing, or yank out the plant and let me know and I'll come take a look at it.

Purdue Extension Publication on Palmer amaranth

Source: Purdue Extension Publication WS-51, Palmer Amaranth Biology, Identification, and Management by Travis Legleiter and Bill Johnson, April 2013.