North Florida Research
and Education Center
Quincy, Marianna, Monticello, Live Oak
Research and Extension Updates
Vol. 3 No.
18 August 27, 2001
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
Dates of Interest:
September 6: Pecan Field Day, Monticello
September 6: HAYDAY/Row Crop Field Day, Northwest
Florida Research & Education
Center
September 10-13: FAEP Conference, Palm
Beach Gardens, Florida
November 8-9: Annual Tomato Disease Workshop, West
Palm Beach, Florida
NFREC HISTORY:
In
1922, the first year of operation for North Florida Research and Education Center, salaries for
the
foreman and assistant pathologist totaled $1525. Tools were purchased in the amount of $53.09.
A minute book, records, gasoline, oil, photographic material,
freight and telegrams cost $57.65.
(1922 Annual Report)
Personnel:
Gary Knox, professor
of environmental horticulture at the North Florida
Research and Education Center in Monticello, was a co-recipient (with Melvin Garber at the University of Georgia) of the Commercial Horticulture Working Group's Distinguished
Achievement Award from the American Society for Horticultural Sciences. The award, presented at the ASHS meeting in Sacramento, recognizes Knox in
developing and delivering the North Florida/South Georgia Green Industry Update
Series. Congratulations, Gary!!
Employees at North Florida Research and Education Center were recently honored with
service pins at a ceremony in Quincy. Receiving
a pin for thirty years of service was LeRoy
Marshall. Twenty year pins were presented to Acye
Chason and Hank Dankers. Don
Berger and Jackie Snell received fifteen year pins. Those receiving five year service pins were Tom Bizzle,
A.D. Walker, Xiuping Sun and Julie Stavisky.
Center Director Dr. George
Hochmuth was assisted in making presentations to recipients
by John Allen Smith, (Coordinator of Research Programs) and Dr. Pete Andersen (Professor of Horticultural
Sciences). NFREC
is proud to recognize its employees for their dedicated service to the University of Florida.
Welcome to the world, Savannah Marie Kinch! Savannah is the daughter of Charlene Cupp, secretary at NFREC-Quincy and
Cliff Kinch. Savannah arrived on June 19.
She came home recently when she reached 4 lbs. in weight and joins big
brother Aaron. Congratulations to the
proud parents!! Charlene
is currently on leave.
PROGRAM UPDATES
ENVIRONMENTAL
HORTICULTURE
New, More and
Better Deciduous Flowering Magnolias
Gary W. Knox
Magnolia Society
Webpage:
http://www.tallahassee.net/~magnolia/
Callaway,
Dorothy J. 1994. The World of Magnolias. Timber Press, Inc., Portland, Oregon 97204 USA.
Gardiner,
Jim. 1989, revised 2000. Magnolias, A Gardener’s Guide. Timber Press, Inc., Portland, Oregon 97204 USA.
(Knox, NFREC
News 3-18)
ENVIRONMENTAL HORTICULTURE
Harvesting
Method Affects Seed Yield of Lanceleaf Coreopsis and Blanketflower
Jeff Norcini
and Jim Aldrich, NFREC
Frank Martin, Dept. of Statistics
There
is an increasing demand for sources of regionally adapted native wildflower
seed for use in roadside stabilization and beautification projects,
restoration, reclamation, and enhancement of natural areas. Most production of
regionally adapted native wildflower seed is in the West and Midwest.
Production in the Southeast is extremely limited, with two of the major
impediments being the lack of technical information for potential growers in
this section of the country and the sparse amounts of regionally adapted seed.
Because of the limited quantities of available seed, growers must begin with
small plots and increase their seed.
Seed production plots were
prepared by killing existing vegetation with Roundup™ (glyphosate), mowing the
dead vegetation, and then lightly harrowing the plots. In February 1998, seed of north Florida ecotypes of lanceleaf
coreopsis (Coreopsis lanceolata) and blanketflower (Gaillardia
pulchella) were sown into the plots as follows: lanceleaf coreopsis –
920-ft2 plot, 2.5 lb Pure Live Seed (PLS)*/acre; blanketflower –
1600-ft2 plot, 4.6 lb PLS/acre. No supplemental fertilizer was
applied but plots were irrigated as necessary during extended dry periods.
Grassy weeds were controlled with grass herbicides; other weeds were removed by
hand. No other pesticides were used.
Seeds
in small subplots were harvested either manually or with a portable seed
stripper twice during the 1998 growing season – June 30 and August 24 for
lanceleaf coreopsis; July 17 and October 5 for blanketflower. Hand harvesting
was less efficient than using a seed stripper in terms of time spent relative
to the yield of clean seed but seed yields were much greater with hand
harvesting. Our results also indicate that lanceleaf coreopsis and
blanketflower seed can be harvested twice during the same season that the seed
is sown, although there was a reduction in yield and quality of blanketflower
seed harvested in early October. The estimated per acre hand harvest yields
(total of both harvests) for lanceleaf coreopsis and blanketflower were 22 lb
PLS and 66 lb PLS, respectively.
Hand harvesting should be
considered for seed increase plots, small plots of specialty species, or for
high value seed.
-----------------
*Pure Live Seed (PLS) = (pounds
of bulk seed X % purity of seed X %
germination rate)/10,000; for example, 10.8 lb PLS = 20 lb bulk seed X 90%
purity X 60% germination rate)/10,000 = (20 X 90 X 60)/10,000 = 10.8
(Norcini-Aldrich, NFREC News, 3-18)
LIVESTOCK
NUTRITION
Forage
type and cultivation method can make for a big difference in available forage
for winter grazing for beef cattle. Last year’s
dry, cool fall and winter, and dry spring made for interesting results of a
winter forage grazing trial conducted here at the NFREC Marianna beef
unit. The objective of this trial was to
compare cereals (rye, oats) with and without ryegrass planted either in a
prepared seeded or overseeded into bahiagrass pastures. The rye and oats were planted in early
October into prepared seedbed pasture paddocks.
Due to dry conditions, the ryegrass blend paddocks and the overseeded
paddocks were not planted until we received sufficient moisture, which was not
until mid November. The rye, oat, and ryegrass varieties used were,
respectively, Wrens 96, Horizon, and Big Daddy.
The prepared seedbed paddocks were prepared by mold board plowing
followed by disc harrowing. Overseeding
was done with a no-till seed drill. For
all paddocks, pre plant fertilization was done based on results of soil testing,
and were top dressed twice with 75 lbs N per acre per application. When ready,
the 3.2-acre paddocks were rotationally grazed by groups of growing beef
heifers and steers that were 600 to 800 lbs body weight.
Figure 1. Average number of animal
grazing days per acre of pasture (2000-01 NFREC BU winter forage trial).
Pasture type
PS = prepared seedbed pasture, OS = overseeded into
bahiagrass pasture; RO = rye and oats, ROR = rye, oats, and ryegrass.
The results, presented in
figure 1, indicated big differences among the pasture type treatments in the
average number of animal grazing days per acre of pasture. One obvious reason for the good showing of
the cereal treatment paddocks was that we were able to graze them sooner
(starting mid December). The other
paddocks were not ready for grazing until mid to late February. Cereals are more tolerant of dry conditions
than ryegrass hence we were able to plant the cereal paddocks in October. We wanted to plant the other paddocks at the
same time, but moisture conditions were just too dry and, thus we had to wait
(and wait) for the rains to finally come.
It is interesting to note the poor performance of the overseeded
treatments. One reason was of course the
dry conditions, but another is the fact that bahiagrass, even when dormant, is
known to inhibit the growth of other grasses.
We plan to repeat this study this upcoming year and hopefully it will be
a typical year.
(Myer,
NFREC News, 3-18)
ENTOMOLOGY
Pecan:
The
annual Pecan Field Day will be held at the Monticello Country Club, Monticello, Fl on Sept 6, 2001. From 8:30 -12:30. Lunch will be provided.
August-September
is the time for pecan weevil emergence and management in north Florida. Pecan weevils are already
emerging and attacking nuts. Pecan weevils can be monitored in pecan orchards
using either the Tedders or the Circle traps. These traps capture the adults as
they emerge from the ground. Remember pecan weevils have a two and partial
three year life cycle so the nut crop and weevil infestation levels present two
years ago will in large part determine the weevil populations emerging this
year. Weevils can be devastating where
they occur. The only really effective control measure is carbaryl. Pecan
weevils usually aggregate on certain trees over time and most growers know
which trees are most often attacked. It is strongly suggested that growers
scout for weevils first before spraying because pecan aphid and mite outbreaks
often are induced following use of carbaryl.
Under most situations pecan aphids are now being controlled by the
multicolored Asian ladybeetle, Harmonia axyridis. Note this is the same
ladybeetle that causes so much consternation when it enters dwellings in the
fall.
Peach:
August-September
is also the time for application of San Jose scale, white peach scale,
peachtree and lesser peach tree borers in peaches/nectarines. Borers will be
found attacking the scaffold limbs and trunk around the root collars. White
peach scale will be evident from the white fuzzy armor of the male scales. San
Jose scale will be very small and silvery in appearance. San Jose scale is
often responsible for serious dieback of limbs in peach. We now have a regional
peach tree guide that covers all pests. The link will be available on the EDIS
menu soon. In the meantime you can search for peach2001 on the UGA website to
find the guide.
Nursery:
By
now most folks in north Florida in the nursery industry or
those who are grape enthusiast or wine afficionados have heard about the
glassywinged sharpshooter (GWSS). The GWSS is a vector of Pierce’s disease and
other diseases caused by the bacterium, Xylella fastidiosa. GWSS has
been introduced into California as an exotic invader and
now threatens the wine and table grape industries as well as other susceptible
crops such as peach, plum and almond. The nursery industry is affected because
GWSS uses 100's of host plant species many of which are found in the nursery
trade. GWSS is native to the southeast and several University of Florida faculty have been working
on various aspects of the plant/disease/vector interactions. Pete Andersen and
I have been working on GWSS feeding behavior and nutrition for about 18 years.
Our completed work with our colleague Brent Brodbeck is published in about 10
papers in international journals. We also have ongoing work aimed at developing
management tools for the vector and the bacterium.
(Mizell,
NFREC News, 3-18)
Thought for the Day: If… we would cast the gift of a lovely thought into
the heart
of a
friend, that would be giving as the angels give. George Macdonald
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
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