Welcome to Small Farm Update, a bi-weekly digest of timely, local growing information for market gardeners and small-scale landowners. If you are just joining us, you can catch-up at our website, where these are archived: www.oces.tulsacounty.org Email us if you want to receive this every week, through the month of October.
Field Notes and Horticulture Tips: Here’s edition number 26 of “Small Farm Update”. Time has flown by. This will be our final edition for 2011, but we have several major announcements: As always, all previous editions are archived at our website: www.oces.tulsacounty.org In the field pecan crops are not up to par, but fall leafy greens are growing fantastically. We had a local greens producer with a bumper crop of turnip greens. Squash, okra, cucumbers, broccoli, peppers and many fall crops continue to bear fruit in non-frost pocket areas of the county.
This has also been good weather for growing cilantro. Beginning market gardeners may be disappointed that they cannot grow and harvest this vital component of salsa at the same time peppers, tomatoes and garlic are available. Why? Cilantro bolts when soil temperatures exceed 75 degrees F. After that point it flowers and makes the seed that we know as coriander. It’s strictly a spring or fall crop in Oklahoma. OSU researchers did a great job of finding the best ways to grow cilantro a few years ago. Here’s a link to three field studies that were done in Oklahoma, for Oklahoma growers: http://croptrials.okstate.edu/vegetables/09vegreport.pdf See pages 3-5 for the three reports on growing cilantro.
Our Tulsa County Agriculture Advisory committee just met this morning. These are farmers and market managers giving us guidance on future programming. This newsletter and our farmers' market recipe sheets were ideas generated last year. This year, our committee members would like us to expand our efforts to let people know all of the services provided by our Extension office.
Here is a brief list of just some of the work done statewide by Cooperative Extension workers: soil testing; forage testing; pressure canner testing; canning classes; meat goat and horse care classes; cow/calf boot camp; master gardener training; free spring gardening classes; insect and plant disease identification; field visits to local farms to help diagnose crop problems and to locate/plan future crops; water testing for household, irrigation or livestock use; fact sheets on everything from soup to nuts; Master Gardener volunteers to provide programs for schools and community organizations; “Oklahoma Gardening” TV show, airing weekly on OETA, channel 11 in Tulsa on Saturday mornings and Sunday afternoons; “SunUp” agricultural TV show airing on OETA Saturdays at 7:30 a.m., featuring weekly updates of farm news around the state, including a weekly “Shop Stop” episode to feature proper/efficient tool use. The list goes on and on, including this very important website maintained by the OSU Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture. It features all the horticulture information that is available for commercial growers: http://www.hortla.okstate.edu/hortla/growers.htm We also focus on agriculture literacy with children. See our Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom page for November where you can learn all about pecans. http://www.clover.okstate.edu/fourh/aitc/calendar/november/pecans.html
Our Tulsa County Extension Master Gardeners have a fabulous fall display of pansies along with a trellised gourd “ranch”. Stop by our building and notice how different color mulches can be used to stretch a plant budget, yet add winter-time interest to our home landscapes. And, the mulch is a by-product of the agricultural crops of cotton and chocolate and pecans. Last, but certainly not least, notice the flowers that attract pollinators: asters and lantana would be an asset to any food garden in need of pollinating honeybees, wasps and other beneficial insects.
Two very important events are coming up that should be a help to growers: font-size:1.2em;
This is a FREE field day to showcase all the great leafy greens that a high tunnel will produce for us in the fall. It is part of an OSU greens production test being done at four locations in Oklahoma. No pre-registration required, “come and go” format, light refreshments will be served. For more details contact: Sue Gray, Tulsa County OSU Extension: sgray@tulsacounty.org Phone: 918-746-3717.
font-size: 1.2em;
Don’t miss it! Two days of grower speeches, trade show and plenty of informal time to visit with other growers. Diane Ott Whealy of the Seed Savers Exchange and Mark Andrews of Greenleaf Nursery will teach us about the seed and nursery industry.
Pest Outlook: Based on OSU Entomology Dept “Activity Calendar of Vegetable Pests in Oklahoma.” Our pest list grows shorter as fall progresses. This month’s OSU Entomology Pest –E –Lerts lists plant vampires that can suck the life out of winter small grains: http://entoplp.okstate.edu/pddl/2011/PA10-21.pdf In high tunnels remember to hang bright yellow sticky traps to capture any overwintering winged forms of fungus gnats, aphids, etc. Cole Crops: : Imported cabbage worm and diamond back moth are found, but not as active. Watch for cabbage looper, however. Leafy Greens: Aphids Tomato: Tomato fruitworm, hornworm, pinworm. Beans and Cowpeas: Bean leaf beetle. Cucurbits: Striped and spotted cucumber beetles, aphids. Winter cover crops: Aphids and leafhoppers.
To view each of these pests go to the Digital Diagnostics webpage. It lists crop insects and diseases commonly found in Oklahoma with great photos to help with identification and life cycles. http://entoplp.okstate.edu/ddd/
Mesonet Soil Temperature Update: 2 inches under bare soil: 72 degrees F., and 4 inches under native sod: 64 degrees F. http://agweather.mesonet.org/index.php/data/section/soil_water
OSU Fact Sheet Highlight: “Use of Plastic Mulch and Row Covers in Vegetable Production” http://pods.dasnr.okstate.edu/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document-1099/HLA-6034web.pdf This power-house of a fact sheet explains why and how plastic mulch and row-covers can help you achieve greater success in growing vegetables in our changeable temperature regimes. We can’t help our continental climate. It will always be subject to high and low extremes. But, plastics used judiciously can warm up soil earlier, prevent weeds, guard against frost and hail and wind and many other vagaries of our location in the middle of the U.S. of A.
Featured Website: Many folks dream of a having a homestead. This website has very helpful articles written by people who are practicing their craft of living off of the land. This article is a good summary of what to consider in planting a home orchard. The outcome of decisions made now may take ten years to realize. http://www.homestead.org/Orchard/PlanningTheHomesteadOrchard/PlanningTheHomesteadOrchard.htm
Featured Tulsa Library Book: “Barns, Sheds and Outbuildings….Placement, Design and Construction”. Edited by Byron Halsted, originally published in 1881, republished in 1994. Commonsense dictates location of many small outbuildings on farms. But, this is like having an old farmer walk around your land to help point out potential sites. It is not easy to move a building, once built. Many farmers, use portable buildings for this reason and to avoid tax issues with permanent structures. www.tulsalibrary.org
Fun Farm Fact of the Week: To store winter squash…so named because it keeps all winter, not because it grows during winter, store in a dry building where the temperature is between 50 and 55°F. This includes pumpkins. They’re not just for carving!
Horticulture Quote:: This one can apply to the decades of field experience and research conducted by O.S.U. and all of our land grant colleges and the farmers who cooperate in those endeavors: “Our knowledge is the amassed thought and experience of innumerable minds.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
Parting Thoughts from Sue Gray: After the Horticulture Industries Show, January 6 & 7, I will be entering a new phase in life as I retire from the world’s greatest job. It’s been a fun 31 years in a career in horticulture, but I’m ready to have more time for family and my garden hobbies. OSU needs horticulturists, and they are anxious to fill this job. The position is not yet announced, but very likely will be. Folks who have a BS or MS degree in horticulture have to pre-apply to Oklahoma Cooperative Extension to become an approved applicant. When this position is announced, a person can then be ready to enter the pool to be considered. Here is the link to our OCES Human Resources page: http://hr.dasnr.okstate.edu/OCES-careers/become-an-approved-applicant
I’ll certainly be working right up to the January 9 end date of my career. I’ll be sending email reminders of upcoming events and will be available to growers for consultations. Thanks to everyone who has made my job a delight over the years. I’ve learned a lot, made lifetime friendships and have been honored to serve Oklahomans to the best of my ability.
Oklahoma State University, in compliance with Title VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Executive Order 11246 as amended, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and other federal laws and regulations, does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, age, religion, disability, or status as a veteran in any of its policies, practices or procedures. This includes but is not limited to admissions, employment, financial aid, and educational services. Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work, acts of May 8 and June 30, 1914, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Robert E. Whitson, Director of Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma. This publication is issued by Oklahoma State University as authorized by the Vice President, Dean, and Director of the Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources.