NFREC NEWS

From the Director: Our goal is to provide the faculty with the latest news from the Center research projects and extension activities, and other timely information items. Please feel free to use the contents of the newsletter in your county newsletters and education activities as you wish. If you'd like additional details on newsletter items, contact the faculty member author or our editor, Cheryl Vergot.
Regards, Dr. George Hochmuth, NFREC Director

If you haven't been to the North Florida Fair yet, you are missing out on a good time:
rides, entertainment, animal shows, 4-H and some wonderful county extension office exhibits!
Dr. Ann Blount, NFREC-Marianna, has a fantastic crop display that has been very
popular with folks of all ages. NFREC also has a display board in conjunction with the
crop display. You have until November 12 to stop by and enjoy the fair!

There were many people who enjoyed the 50th Anniversary Celebration at NFREC-Suwannee Valley on October 24. Hundreds of school children visited the Center to pick pumpkins and wander through a corn maze. Growers took part in tours to see greenhouse and outdoor hydroponic production, vegetable and fruit crop field trials, as well as forestry research trials.

Vice-President Mike Martin, University of Florida, IFAS, was the featured speaker during the evening ceremony. Barbeque dinner followed the ceremony and guests were treated to some special demonstrations.

There will be an Artificial Insemination School November 15-17th in Chipley sponsored by Select Sire Power & Washington County Extension.

The Florida Cooperative Extension Service and the Washington-Holmes County Cattlemen's Association will hold a Fall Tour of Florida Foundation Seed Producers & the UF Beef Research facility at Greenwood. Stops will feature cool season grasses & small grain variety trials, planned grazing studies, Bull Test Station, and Dr. Blount's research forage plots and perennial peanut studies. The tour will start at the Washington County Ag Center at 8:30 a.m. Monday, November 20th. Lunch will be served at the Bull Test Sale facility on the station. Buses will be provided compliments of School Superintendent Jerry Tyre.

Please RSVP to help us plan for lunch and transportation.

Please let anyone you know that might be interested in attending this AI school in Chipley. The cost will be $350.00 per student. However, Select will offer $175.00 credit for any student toward the purchase of any semen, tank or supplies purchased from them. For more details, you can contact Scott Yant or the Washington County Extension office (638-6180). There are only 4-5 openings left for the school. The class will run from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. each day.

I would like to encourage potential students to let us know if they are interested ASAP.

Dr. Fred Rhoads has four slide sets that can be viewed from his web page.
Web address - http://qcysoil.ifas.ufl.edu

The seed is ready for the county demonstrations on cool season forages. We
have 1/10 acre amounts of ryegrasses, oats, rye and various clovers (and inoculant) for the counties that requested the seed. Please contact call NFREC-Marianna (Julie/Mary) at 850-482-9904 or Suncom 789-9904 and let us know if several counties can organize a pick up at the Beef Unit. I will
send District II seed to Live Oak for pick-up . The counties involved are:

Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Calhoun, Clay, Columbia, Escambia, Gadsden, Gulf,
Holmes, Jackson, Jefferson, Leon, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Wakulla, Walton, and
Washington. Like last year, it helps if someone can come with a pickup truck
and pick up for several counties. PLEASE DON'T RUSH TO PLANT UNTIL WE GET
STEADY RAINFALL. (Blount, NFREC News 2-22)

Ornamental Grass Evaluation: Top Native Grasses

Jeffrey G. Norcini and James H. Aldrich

Results from the first year of a three-year ornamental grass evaluation showed that the best performing native species were

· Purpletop

Purpletop

Tridens flavus

· Gulf or purple muhly

· Bigtop lovegrass

· Chalky bluestem

· Alamo switchgrass (a selection native to Texas but developed for use throughout the southern U.S.)

The overall quality of these grasses was rated as Good to Excellent.

The on-going study in Leon and Santa Rosa Counties will help to determine long-term performance of these native species (and several nonnative species as well) under low input landscape conditions (see Ornamental Grass Evaluation Gardens in NFREC Newsletter Vol. #2, No. 6, http://nfrec.ifas.ufl.edu/NEWSLETTER_II_8.htm). Most native species in this evaluation were derived from naturally occurring plants in Florida, including the first four grasses listed above.

Three of the grasses – ‘Alamo’ switchgrass, chalky bluestem, and gulf muhly – are commercially available either as seed, liners, or in larger containers. Gulf muhly is the most widely available. It usually can be purchased at local retail nurseries, especially those that sell native plants.

To gain access to the gardens, contact Will Sheftall or David Marshall at the Leon County Cooperative Extension Service, and Mack Thetford at the West Florida REC.

The pictures shown were taken in early October. More photos are below

Gulf or Purple Muhly

Muhlenbergia capillaris

Bigtop Lovegrass

Eragrostis hirsuta

‘Alamo’ Switchgrass

Panicum virgatum ‘Alamo’

Chalky Bluestem

Andropogon virginicus var. glaucus

Thought for the Day: Flattery is comparable to suntan lotion or ski wax. It cannot be
too often or too recklessly applied. (Lewis Lapham)

Cheryl Vergot, Public Relations
NFREC - Quincy, U/F IFAS
E-Mail: cvergot@ifas.ufl.edu
Phone: (850) 875-7112

The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences is an Equal Employment Opportunity Affirmative Action Employer authorized to provide research, educational information and other services only to individuals and institutions that function without regard to race, color, sex, age handicap or national origin.

COOPERATIVE EXTENSION WORK IN AGRICULTURE, FAMILY & CONSUMER SERVICES, STATE OF FLORIDA, IFAS, UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, AND BOARDS OF COUNTY COMMISSIONER COOPERATING