Polk County Center March 2018
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Director's Feature
For such a cold winter it sure warmed up quickly! Plants are blooming, grass is looking great in many lawns and the pastures have started recovering. Don't let this early warmth fool you into planting your summer crops early! We can still have frost up into April and the soil temperature is still too low for those tomatoes. Here at the extension office we have planted our spring crops. Those include cabbage, lettuces, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, beets, and radishes. All of these crops thrive in cool weather and will not be harmed by frost. We will judge these spring crops and have data available by mid summer so you will know which one to grow in your own garden this fall or next spring. In addition to this our Extension office has been very busy. Between classes, meetings and home/farm visits it's been a bit of a whirlwind and I'm very thankful for it. This office is here to serve you and we are always happy to answer your questions.
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Horticulture
 Fescue
This is the month that cool season grasses really start to grow. If you haven't already, go ahead and apply your fertilizer. A soil test is the preferred method of determining how much to apply but if you haven't or will not do a soil test, apply 10 pounds of 10-10-10 fertilizer per 1000 square feet of lawn space. This will get your lawn off to a good start. Remember if you apply a fertilizer with phosphorus you will need to plug your yard to get the nutrient in the ground.
Warm season
grasses such as Bermuda and Zoysia need to be fertilized during the warm months of the year. Now is the time to conduct weed control for broadleaf weeds in your warm season grasses.
DON'T bag grass clippings. Leave them on the lawn and save 25% on your fertilizer needs for the year. Clippings take up unnecessary landfill space and can be best disposed of in a home compost bin. (Compost clippings only if you have NOT applied broadleaf weed killer!)
Shrubs
Your shrubbery should be pruned this time of the year. Pruning prior to bud break is the safest pruning method for most shrubs. If you have shrubs that bloom on one-year-old wood such as Azaleas and Hydrangeas, prune them after they bloom if you want to enjoy the flowers. Now is also a good time to clean up any fallen leaves and debris in your shrub beds to prevent diseases from last year from reappearing.
Fruit Trees
Fruit trees should be pruned prior to bud break. If you are just getting around to it, then you are late! It is still ok to prune but you must do it asap! As your trees finish blooming, begin spraying with an all purpose orchard spray according the the product label to prevent insects and diseases.
Trees
Remove any dead, diseased or crossing branches from your trees prior to bud break.
In the garden
It's time for that spring garden again! In reality it is best in our area to plant your spring crops as early as March 1st. If you have yet to get around to planting, there is still time to plant early cabbage, broccoli, lettuce, carrots, beets, onions and basically any crop that can take a frost and that will be harvested within 60 days or so.
It is also time to begin turning in your cover crops to prepare for your summer planting. In our area we plant around May 1, and you will need the month and a half until then for the cover crops to decompose properly in the soil prior to planting. Now is also a good time to conduct a soil test, as you still have time to get it back prior to summer planting.
Crabgrass
Crabgrass and summer broadleaf weed preventers should be applied while the forsythia is in bloom, but before the dogwoods bloom. This is usually around March 1. A second pre-emergence treatment should be applied eight weeks after the first to maintain season long control of crabgrass. Pre-emergent herbicides can only be used on established lawns. If you seeded your Tall Fescue lawn this spring you will need to wait until at least the second mowing before applying a pre-emergent herbicide.
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Up Coming Classes:
Vegetable Class Thursday, April 12, 2 to 4pm.
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Polk County 4-H
4-H Sewing Program
4-H Shooting Sports
Archery classes started this week, and youth learned about archery equipment and safety on the archery range. They are looking forward to start shooting next week.
4-H Camp
We still have 2 or 3 spots left for 4-H Camp at Betsy Jeff Penn this summer. For more information call 828-894-8218
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Family Consumer Science
National Nutrition Month 2018
March is National Nutrition Month. This year's theme is "Go Further with Food" and its importance is timely for many reasons. Whether it's starting the day off right with a healthy breakfast or fueling before an athletic event, the foods you choose can make a real difference. Preparing your foods to go further, by planning meals and snacks in advance can also help to reduce food loss and waste.
This year's theme for National Nutrition Month® encourages us to achieve the numerous benefits healthy eating habits offer, but it also urges us to find ways to cut back on food waste. Learning how to manage food resources at home will help you "Go Further with Food", while saving both nutrients and money.
After you choose a day to prepare meals, decide which recipes you want to use and create a grocery list. When possible, choose meals made with ingredients you already have at home to get the most out of your food.
Preparing several meals on the weekends can provide balanced meals that can easily be reheated throughout the week. It's also a great way to eat healthfully, save time during the week and reduce food waste.
Here are a few suggestions to help to make your food budget go further:
Create a meal prep plan that includes a variety of your favorite, healthful foods. By planning ahead, you can make some of the dinner tasks easier. Spend a few extra minutes planning complementary menus where you "cook once and eat twice".
Plan meals based around key foods prepared in larger amounts for use in one recipe the first night and an entirely different recipe within the next night or two. This is different from making large batches and eating leftovers. I never know what to do with extra rice. Well, here's an idea. Save leftover rice from one night and chicken/turkey from another night and put them together in any number of dishes for night three. Possibilities include: rice-based casseroles, chicken or turkey rice soup and fried rice.
Cooking in bulk saves money and allows you to portion and freeze meals for later. Instead of reheating an entire dish, only reheat a single meal. After reheating food in the microwave or the oven, use a thermometer to ensure leftovers reach a safe internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
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Livestock
Importance of Minerals
All I can say is that I am ready for spring! The warm weather the last couple of weeks has certainty gotten me excited for some warmer weather and ready to spend more time outside. While I am ready mentally, I know that physically there is still much work to do.
Last month I challenged each of you to begin thinking of different styles of grazing management practices. There are many different routes to go with this, and I hope each of you are practicing some, but one of the main areas we need to make sure we focus on is minerals for our cattle during this time. It has been said by many intelligent livestock producers that minerals and water are the most important part of any operation.
The main mineral that needs to be focused on right now is Magnesium. I have had a couple different calls of people experiencing problems with grass tetany. This seems to be an unusual time of the year for this problem, but the last couple of years in our area have certainly not been usual.
Grass tetany occurs when high levels of nitrogen and potassium are present in forages for livestock. If you think back to 2016 when we had a drought in this area, grass pastures and hay fields became very thin. Our reaction to this problem was to fertilize heavily in 2017 to make up for the lost ground. This was certainly a great response, until 2017 was one of our more wet years that we have experienced in past. This created the perfect storm. Lots of fertilizer plus lots of rain created very lush hayfields that offered very high yields. However, with these high yields, we had an abundance of nitrogen and potassium in our hay crop to feed through the winter of 2018. Our livestock are now eating that hay with high levels in it. That along with the fact that grass is coming early this year is creating a problem that needs to be addressed from a management standpoint. Excess potassium in a diet will inhibit magnesium from absorbing in livestock's GI tracts, causing grass tetany. Mature cows in peak lactation are the most susceptible to grass tetany, and without enough magnesium in an animal's diet, the animals can become weak very quickly and very easily die. Not having enough magnesium can be detrimental to livestock.
This can usually be prevented by feeding a high magnesium mineral ranging from 10-14 percent consumed at 4 ounces a day per head on a mature cow. It is also important to keep loose salt out for cattle as well during this time period. Try to refrain from using hard blocks during this time to insure that your livestock are getting all the minerals and salt that they need.
Let's hope and pray that we get back to a "normal" growing season, and I wish you all the best as we begin the spring season.
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Tell a Friend
Please feel free to forward the newsletter to your friends. If they would like to receive the letter, ask them to contact the Cooperative Extension Center in Columbus at (828) 894-8218/894-8219, or email [email protected].
Recommendations for the use of chemicals are included in this publication as a convenience to the reader. The use of brand names and any mention or listing of commercial products or services in this publication does not imply endorsement by the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service nor discrimination against similar products or services not mentioned. Individuals who use chemicals are responsible for insuring that the extended use complies with current regulations and conforms to the product label, Be sure to obtain current information about usage and examine a current product label before applying any chemical. For assistance, contact an agent of the North Carolina Extension Service in your county.
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