brown county extension office
On The Extension Line
K-State horticulture expert gives tips for maximizing growth of Onions and Tomatoes
On the Extension Line: Sericea lespedeza control in rangeland, pasture, and CRP
Sericea lespedeza (Lespedeza cuneata) will soon be in a rapid vegetative growth stage. Sericea lespedeza continues to be a major concern on rangeland, pasture, and some CRP acres in Kansas.
On the Extension Line: Grilling Tips: Safety first will help keep the fun in outdoor eating
Meat thermometer is the best defense in keeping food safe
On The Extension Line: Mulching Tomatoes
Soils are warm enough now that tomatoes can benefit from mulching. Tomatoes prefer even levels of soil moisture and mulches provide such by preventing excessive evaporation. Other benefits of mulching include weed suppression, moderating soil temperatures and preventing the formation of a hard crust on the soil. Crusted soils restrict air movement into and out of the soil and slow the water infiltration rate. Hay and straw mulches are very popular for tomatoes but may contain weed or volunteer grain seeds. Grass clippings can also be used but should be applied as a relatively thin layer – only 2 to 3 inches thick. Clippings should also be dry as wet clipping can mold and become so hard that water can’t pass through. Also, do not use clippings from lawns that have been treated with a weed killer until some time has passed. With most types of weed killers, clippings from the fourth mowing after treatment may be used. If the lawn was treated with a product containing quinclorac (Drive), the clippings should not be used as mulch. If the weed killer used has a crabgrass killer, it likely contains quinclorac.
On the Extension Line: Patience needed to eliminate henbit, chickweed from lawns
If homeowners hoping for a lush green lawn are now starting to see little purple or white flowers in their yard, there’s bad news: there’s not a whole lot you can do about it.
On the Extension Line: Callery Pear Buy-Back – Kansas Forest Service
Once the darling of the nursery industry, the Bradford pear, Pyrus calleryana, was originally heralded as the ideal landscape tree. Although researchers at the USDA worked to develop what they believed was the perfect tree, the Bradford or ornamental pear is now a plague unknowingly released upon unsuspecting homeowners and the environment. It’s time to take a stand and cut down ornamental pears in the landscape.
On the Extension Line: Remove Blossoms on Newly Planted Strawberries
Spring-bearing strawberry plants that were set out this spring should have blossoms pinched off. New plants have a limited amount of energy. If blossoms remain on the plants, energy that should go to runner development is used to mature fruit instead. Plants that are allowed to fruit will eventually produce runners, but those runners will not be strong enough to produce a good crop of berries the following year. For an adequate strawberry plant population and a good crop next year, early runner development is necessary. Early runners will produce far more strawberries than runners that form later in the season.
