Teff seen as potential annual hay option

December 3, 2014 - Livestock producers looking for an annual hay crop would do well to consider Teff, a warm season annual thats native to North Africa and often grown as a cereal crop. Michigan State University extension specialist Jerry Lindquist says Teff grass grows in frost-free environments and prefers temperatures from 60 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit. It is also moisture and drought tolerant. Teff regrows rapidly after harvest and can provide two to three cuttings in a summer even though it is commonly not planted until June, he says. It is being grown by a number of Midwest hay producers because animals, including cattle and horses, really like it, and because it works well in hay crop rotations, he adds. Since alfalfa after alfalfa is not recommended, rotation to another crop is preferred for at least for one year. Teff a grass and not in the alfalfa legume family can fit that bill, Lindquist says. With Teff the same planting equipment as well as the same hay mowing and baling equipment that you use for other hay crops can be used, he says. It also means the farms rotation acres never have to be out of hay production if thats the plan. The feed quality of Teff is moderate, not as high as pure alfalfa hay, but if cut at the pre-boot stage, higher than most cool season grasses, he says. You can attain crude protein levels of 12 to 16 per cent depending on maturity at harvest and if the crop was fertilized with nitrogen. It meets the nutritional needs of the light working horse, the dry cow and, if supplemented with grain, the growing replacement heifer, he says. Horse owners feel their horses stay healthier and maintain the proper stage of body condition when fed Teff grass hay. Research trials at Michigan State and other universities reveal that Teff varieties can yield three to five tons of dry matter hay per acre. Northern zones may only get two cuttings and yields will be closer to three tons per acre, but southern parts of Michigan and beyond can attain three cuttings and over five tons in good years, he says. The seed is small, 1.25 million seeds per pound, so planting into level, firm seed beds is strongly advised. Planting approximately eight to 10 lbs. of seed per acre is the recommended rate and it should not be sown until the risk of spring frost is gone. If wet, cool spring conditions prevail, waiting for soil warm up is advised as planting in mid-June in trials yielded the best at the MSU Campus. Like all new hay seedings, weeds can be a problem in the first cutting, he warns. If a grass herbicide was used to eliminate the previous sod hay crop, the only weed issue that will normally appear in the first cutting will be broadleaves and they can be easily controlled with timely applications of inexpensive broadleaf weed herbicides. Soil testing and fertilizing to meet the nutritional needs of Teff grass is important, especially making sure it has adequate nitrogen. If a previous hay crop had at least 30 per cent legumes, there may be enough residual nitrogen to grow Teff, he says. If not, it is advised to apply 60 to 80 lbs. per acre of actual nitrogen at planting time. Teff has a finer stem than most cool season grasses, even finer than many alfalfa varieties. Because of this it will lay more tightly in a windrow and not dry as rapidly as some other hays, Lindquist says. With good drying conditions it is not a problem, but at the end of the summer season, or in periods without much sunshine or wind, it can be a challenging crop to dry. Laying a wide swath at mowing time, conditioning the stem and even using a tedder may be necessary to get it to dry properly for baling.

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Teff seen as potential annual hay option

Time Lapse Grass from Darby #39;s window
More Time lapse video of 7 hour s of grass sod placement in under 4 minutes. This time I filmed my backyard from my daughters window. Lots of folks wandering...

By: Lance Heppler

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Time Lapse Grass from Darby's window - Video

BOSTON (CBS) Welcome to Green Bay on a game-day morning. Our radio crew arrived in Wisconsin on Saturday and dined at Lombardis, where for us steak wasnt a sometimes thing; it was the only thing. But not until this morning did we get the true flavor of the area.

A local television newscast led its report with a story about roughly 400 people showing up to shovel snow out of the Lambeau Field stands and followed-up with todays forecast. Before the Packers-Patriots conclude their encounter, temperatures are expected to dip into the teens. The wind chill should be in single digits by early evening, before plummeting well below zero overnight.

Thankfully, by then well be on our way to SoCal. And so with San Diego to look forward to, here are a couple of thoughts related to todays game in Green Bay.

HIS BARK MAKES HIS BITE WORSE

As convincing as Aaron Rodgers appears on TV, being humiliated by Hans and Franz or humbled by practitioners of the discount double check, his most memorable performances in a lead role occur when Green Bays Lambeau Field is his stage.

Thats where Rodgers shines at his animated best in living color gold helmet, green jersey, gold pants executing well-rehearsed plays and improvising in the most critical, unscripted moments that confront every NFL quarterback.

He does it with show-stopping athleticism, an arm to strike short and deep and legs to escape any predicament. And when he really wants to steal a play, if not a scene, Rodgers uses his voice.

In fact, hes so adept at fooling defenders by varying the cadence of his snap counts, The New York Times devoted a story solely to the subject last Sunday. Five days later, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick indicated that Rodgers deception by inflection was more than fit to print in this weeks scouting report,

Great at it, Belichick said Friday morning. Hes great at it.

Though other quarterbacks, including the one he coaches in New England, are good at inducing defenders to jump offsides in short-yardage situations, none in Belichicks mind manipulate opponents like Rodgers.

Originally posted here:
Soccis Notebook: Patriots Prepared For The Sounds And Sod At Lambeau Field

EL CERRITO -- A community meeting held Nov. 21 by BART about its plans to spray herbicide to control weeds along the Ohlone Greenway appeared to raise more concerns among residents than it resolved.

The transit agency is planting grass along some portions of the Greenway between the El Cerrito Del Norte BART station on the north to Cerrito Creek below the El Cerrito Plaza shopping center on the south.

The lawn areas are being installed following a seismic retrofit to the overhead BART tracks that concluded in December.

BART plans to seed about 50 percent of the area that was disrupted by the retrofit and install native plants and shrubbery before turning the property back to the city in April.

A bicyclist rides on the Ohlone Greenway between Potrero Avenue and the Del Norte BART Station in El Cerrito on Jan. 8, 2010. (Giovanna Borgna/Staff archives)

BART retrofit project director Tom Horton told about the 25 to 30 residents who turned out for the meeting that the agency chose seeding as the method to install the grass rather than laying down sod as a money-saving measure.

However, the seeding requires at least one and perhaps two applications of the iron-based herbicide Fiesta to suppress weeds and insure that the roots become firmly established.

BART's spraying contractor will steer clear of buffer zones around locations where creeks run beneath the tracks and around the community garden and frog habitat in Fairmont Park, Horton said.

Horton and city Environmental Programs Manager Stephen Pree told residents that Fiesta is the most benign weed control product on the market and that any weeds that crop up after the spraying will be pulled by hand.

However, assurances by Horton and Pree didn't please some residents, who requested that BART post better warning signs in multiple languages before the spraying is done and mark the boundaries of the spray area clearly to make sure the contractor honors the buffer zones.

Originally posted here:
El Cerrito residents still skeptical of herbicide plans

If your lawn is looking brown or yellow, it could be because of a rare plant disease that disappeared nearly four decades ago called sugar-cane mosaic virus.

Bill Schall, who works with the University of Florida's Horticulture extension office in Palm Beach County, said the disease can't be treated by pesticides.

"The biggest problem with it is the grass gets pretty unhealthy looking and it'll turn off-color. You'll get dead grass in there and the grass can actually die too," said Schall.

Schall said the virus gets its name from the mosaic design it leaves on the grass blades. He said it first showed up back in the 60s in sugar-cane growing near cane fields in western Palm Beach County.

It virtually disappeared but was tracked by University of Florida scientists when it showed up again just a few years ago in the St. Petersburg area, and it is now back in Palm Beach County.

"And the first ones down here that we became aware of were confirmed by lab test about three weeks ago in West Boynton Beach but we think its a lot more widespread than just West Boynton Beach," said Schall.

Experts suggest those who are concerned should wash their lawn equipment with disinfectant so the virus doesn't spread, remove or replace your sod with a more resilient variety and keep your grass healthy.

If anyone suspects their grass is infected they should take a sample to the Palm Beach County extension facility at 531 N. Military Trail in West Palm Beach.

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Rare plant disease back in South Florida

MIAMI A plant disease linked to sugarcane that had largely vanished 40 years ago has suddenly reappeared, becoming the first virus in the state to attack South Florida's manicured lawns.

Scientists don't know why the disease suddenly morphed and began spreading in Palm Beach and Pinellas counties.

And so far they have no tools to stop it, other than cleaning lawn equipment or replacing sod with more resilient varieties, said Phil Harmon, a plant pathologist with the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.

"At this point we don't know what the outcome will be, so we're being proactive and trying to get the word out," Harmon said.

Called Sugarcane Mosaic Virus, the disease first appeared in sugarcane and sod growing near cane fields in the 1960s, Harmon said.

To control the disease, growers developed resistant sugarcane. The virus virtually disappeared, only appearing sporadically in grass near cane fields and only causing yellowing.

But in 2013 something changed, he said. Lawns with the popular Floratam St. Augustine grass, the most widely used in landscaping, started dying.

"The virus adapted somewhere to kill this variety of turf grass," Harmon said.

When the grass started dying at a Boynton Beach subdivision last fall, Greg Russell, a field supervisor with Hometown Pest Control, assumed a fungus was making it sick and applied a fungicide. The treatment didn't work.

Over the spring and summer, the grass bounced back on its own, Russell said.

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Sugarcane Mosaic virus returns as threat to lawns

Fulton Grass Co. is a family-run farm on the banks of the Red River in Southwest Arkansas. We have been in the sod grass business since 1985, starting with just 40 acres of Centipede sod. In the past 20 years, we have grown to just over 1,000 acres, split about equally between Centipede, Certified Tif 419 Bermuda and Certified Crowne Zoysia, which we have exclusive rights to grow for the states of Arkansas and Louisiana.In addition, our new Certified Celebration Bermuda will be ready for harvest in 2009. We pride ourselves in producing top quality, sandy-backed sod, ideally suited for our climate conditions.

Fulton Grass Co. is a member of Turfgrass Producers International, a professional organization committed to improving practices of sod production, encouraging research and the exchange of information for sod production and enhancing the environment through these improved practices and research results. We are also a member of the Texarkana Home Builders Association, the Texas Home Builders Association and the National Home Builders Association. We strive to reach and exceed the expectations of building contractors, golf course superintendents, landscapers, sport park managers, and of course, the homeowner with our sod quality and customer service.

Fulton Grass Co. has installed turf for many area golf courses and ball fields (football, baseball, softballand soccer). We have the ability to harvest and install grass from sprigs to big rolls. We will work with you to determine the best and most economical grass applications for whatever your needs may be.

Directions We are located in Fulton, Arkansas just 3.5 miles from I-30, only 18 miles from Texarkana and 12 miles from Hope.

From I-30, take the Fulton Exit #18. Turn south and follow the gravel road 3.5 miles to Fulton Grass Farm.

791 Hempstead 1 Fulton, AR 71838

Phone: 870-896-2407 Fax: 870-896-2497

If you cannot reach us on the phone, please Email Us:

jill@fultongrass.com kenny@fultongrass.com henry@fultongrass.com

Visit link:
Grass Company | Sod Installation | Fulton Grass Co.

Editor's Note: This is part of a monthly series of stories by the Community History Writers, a group of area individuals committed to documenting and writing about local history and the people, places and happenings that created the various communities within Morgan County. This volunteer group first came together to create, "Morgan County: A Land of Immigrants," a booklet detailing the area's immigration history; copies are available at Fort Morgan Library & Museum, among other places.

A unique two-story sod house once stood on the Eastern Plains of Colorado southwest of Orchard, not far from the Union Pacific Railroad tracks. And as long as it stood there, it served as a monument to the early pioneers' imagination, their industriousness and their ability to adjust and to innovate.

This two-story sod house used to stand near Orchard in Morgan County. It is shown in 1983. (Thelma Downing / Special to the Times)

The utility of, or the need for, the early sod houses is closely linked to the Homestead Era, as it played out to open and settle the American West.

Beginning in 1862 by virtue of a series of Homestead Acts, a citizen could become the owner of a tract of federal land by obtaining and "proving up" on a Homestead Application.

One of the several legal requisites of "proving up" and obtaining title was the requirement that a habitable house be built on the land.

Persons interested in Homesteading had to first file their intentions at the nearest Land Office. A brief check for previous ownership claims was made for the plot of land to be claimed, usually described by its survey coordinates.

The prospective homesteader paid a filing fee of $10 to claim the land temporarily, as well as a $2 commission to the land agent.

With the application and receipt in hand, the homesteader returned to the land to begin the process of building a home and working the land, as requirements for "proving up" at the end of five years.

When the time had passed and all requirements had been completed, the homesteader was ready, finally, to take legal possession.

Original post:
Morgan County had Colorado's only 2-story sod house

STOCKTON (CBS13) A Delta sod farmer knew the predictions were bad for California. Hes seen less rain each year. Ed Zuckerman, who comes from a family of farmers, wanted to stay in business, so for the last two years, Zuckerman watched grass grow.

These are truly drought-resistant turfs weve been developing.

Zuckermans Delta Bluegrass Company has researched a variety of native California grasses and experimenting with a blend of seeds to create new sod. Zuckerman said the company has come up with several lawn options that can remain emerald green year-round and require a lot less water.

So basically half of the water rate thats normally called for turf grass, said Zuckerman.

The grass isnt traditional grass currently covering many San Joaquin Valley home properties. It requires less mowing, but needs to grow long.

Let them [grass blades] grow up to about 18 inches and it lays over in a meadow look, said Zuckerman.So, its definitely slowly changing the look of the home lawn and the home landscape as time goes on.

The Delta Bluegrass Company does have a short grass. It requires just 30 percent of an average lawns water, but it has a catch in the spring season.

The only draw back on it is it produces a lot of beautiful white flowers which the bees love, said Zuckerman.

Zuckerman said drought-resistant grass will cost the property owner three times more than traditional lawn grass, but that the water savings could be a better investment. Zuckerman also said drought-resistant grass is an alternative to other drought tolerant lawns with lava rocks and cacti.

Your kids can still play on this stuff, Zuckerman said the blades may be longer, but the grass is still soft to the touch.

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Delta Sod Farmer Brings Drought-Resistant Turf That Requires Less Water To Stay Green

By U-T San Diego7:20 p.m.Nov. 6, 2014

Yarrow is a low-water, blooming alternative to turf grass.

Newer lawns that were installed as sod probably rely on a cool-season grass a high-water-use variety that needs 48 inches of water per year. In San Diego County, Mother Nature only provides about 10 inches of rain per year; most of the regions water is imported from the Colorado River or Northern California.

If youre looking for an alternative, experiment with ground covers such as a warm-season grass seeded with clover. Clover offers the additional benefit of adding nitrogen to the soil. Or, try yarrow as a ground cover to create a lush, green setting with multicolored flowers in the spring. For walkable ground covers, try dymondia margaretae, also known as silver carpet.

Several local nurseries sell California-friendly and native plants. Also, check out the California Native Plant Society, the Water Conservation Garden and the San Diego Botanic Garden.

Go to WaterSmartSD.org for more gardening resources, including turf removal rebates.

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Alternatives for thirsty turf grasses