WATER LANDSCAPE PLANTS BEFORE WINTER

To protect perennial plants from winter damage, it is important that they go into winter with moist soil. It’s been a warm, dry fall in many areas of Kansas, so consider watering. Although all perennial plants will benefit from watering during a dry fall, it is especially important for evergreens because moisture is easily lost from the foliage and newly planted trees and shrubs due to limited root systems.

A good, deep watering with moisture reaching at least a foot down into the soil is much better than several light sprinklings that just wet the top portions of the soil. This will ensure that the majority of roots have access to water. The roots that actually absorb water are killed when the soil temperature reaches 28 degrees F. Those near the surface do not last long in our Kansas winters. We must rely on roots that are deeper and provide moisture for them to absorb. Depth of watering can be checked with a metal rod or wooden dowel. Either instrument will easily penetrate moist soil but will stop when dry soil is reached.

CUSTOM RATES FOR SOME FARM SERVICES MORE POPULAR THAN OTHERS

From digging posts holes to plowing fields to processing grain, it is possible to custom hire nearly every on-farm task. Finding a fair rate for all involved is the hard part.

In Nemaha County we have received a lot of calls this fall about custom rate for combining corn and soybeans. A summary of those rates from the 2005 Custom Rates Book published by the Kansas Agricultural Statistics Service is listed below:

Custom rates for combining corn in NE Kansas: range: $15.00 to $33.00 per acre with $23.31 per acre as the average.

Custom rates for combining soybeans in NE Kansas: range $16.00 to $32.00 per acre with $22.56 as the average.

I have noticed a trend to charge extra for high yields for corn in the NE Kansas area. Ag Statistics reports an extra charge for yields over 76 bushels per acre of 14.2 cents per bushel.

There is no assurance that the rates reported in this guide will cover your costs for performing the service, or that you will be able to hire a custom operator for the rates shown. Rates for small jobs will be higher, sometimes much higher, than those reported in the report.