NDSU Extension Service and the Pierce County Agriculture Improvement Association will be hosting a small grain and field pea plot tour Monday, August 12th beginning at 9:00 a.m. at the plot site located three miles west of Rugby from the junction of Highway 2 and 3 along Highway 2 northwest of the NDAWN station. The plot features 20 hard red spring wheat varieties, 10 barley varieties, and 6 field pea varieties. Topics include:

Overview of small grain varieties

Crop and disease issues

Winter wheat production considerations

Soil health management

Soil Health

Garden Tour

All gardeners are invited to attend a Soil Health Garden Tour at the Menoken Farm near Bismarck on Wednesday, August 14th beginning at 6:00 p.m., with an evening meal to follow at 8:00 p.m. The garden is a cooperative effort supporting The Hunger Free North Dakota Garden Project and USDA’s People’s Garden Initiative. The Soil Health Garden Tour is sponsored by the Burleigh County Soil Conservation District and the Natural Resources Conservation Service Bismarck, ND.

Topics include:

SOIL

DEMONSTRATION

Slake test

Infiltration- rainfall simulator

COMPOST

Making compost

Applying compost tea

PLANT DIVERSITY

Cover crops for your garden

Mulch planted potatoes

Combination Plants

Pollinators

Netting insects- children’s activity

Participants are asked to notify the Bismarck Natural Resources Conservation Service office at 701-250-4518 ext. 3 by August 9th with the number attending so appropriate plans can be made.

Radishes all tops?

There are several reasons that can cause radishes to grow all tops and have little or no bulb. The most common cause for no radish bulb production is nitrogen levels in the soil being too high. According to retired NDSU Extension Service Horticulturalist, Ron Smith, fertilizers for vegetable gardens should be higher in phosphorus than nitrogen. He suggests incorporating a 5-10-5 fertilizer formulation at the rate of 10-15 lbs. per 1,000 square feet of garden.

However several other factors can also contribute to lack of bulb production. These are:

Too much shade radishes, just as all other vegetables, require at least six hours of direct sunlight

Seeding too thick or not thinning seedlings- seedlings should be thinned to 1-2 inches between plants in the row with rows 10-12 inches apart.

Planting seeds too deeply- seeds should be planted no more than to 1- inch deep

Soil temperature- Radishes can be sown after soils reach 40F. Seeds germinate best at 55-75F and require 5-10 days to emerge.

Planting too late- radishes grow best when temperatures do not exceed 80F.

Seed batch may have inadvertently come from poor genetic stock quality.