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Wheat Scoop: Kansas Wheat CEO breaks down how the wheat world turns on podcast

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Kansas Wheat

Contact: Marsha Boswell, [email protected]

For audio version, visit kswheat.com.

Understanding the price of wheat is not as simple as driving to the local elevator to see the posted prices or checking bids on a website. Understanding the complexity of factors that go into setting that price includes analyzing supply and demand, logistical costs, geopolitical influences and other macro- and micro-economic factors. Kansas Wheat CEO Justin Gilpin sat down with Aaron Harries, Kansas Wheat vice president of research and operations, to break down the 2023 wheat harvest and provide his perspective on domestic demand and global trade issues influencing the wheat world in the latest episode of the organization’s “Wheat’s on your Mind” podcast.

“Every year is a little bit different, but 2023 is probably going to be one of those years that does stand out for a long time on charts, and not just due to the overall challenges this crop faced,” Gilpin said. “Combined with the market volatility and unprecedented geopolitical events — everything that is occurring simultaneously within the wheat market right now is pretty incredible.”

The pair started by walking through the 2023 Kansas wheat harvest, which USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service currently estimates will be the smallest since 1966 at 208 million bushels on 6.5 million acres.

Gilpin referenced how that harvest number has shifted over the last two months, referencing a prior episode of the podcast with Dave Green, executive vice president at the Wheat Quality Council. The podcast followed the organization’s annual Hard Winter Wheat Tour in May 2023, during which participants calculated crop estimates from 652 wheat fields from Manhattan to Colby to Wichita.

The tour’s official yield estimate was 30 bushels per acre — right on target with USDA’s current projections — but the projection for total wheat production was 178 bushels. In comparison, USDA NASS predicted in its May 1 report that the Kansas crop would come in at 191 million bushels with average yields of 29 bushels per acre and abandonment at 18.5 percent.

“That low prediction was a surprise,” Gilpin recalled. “We knew it was a bad crop, but we didn’t know it was that bad.”

In the weeks immediately following the tour, however, rain started coming. Some producers received as much moisture in a four-week period than they had received in the previous 12 to 18 months.

“The rain started to change the tune a little bit,” Gilpin said. “Farmers started feeling a little better when it started replenishing some moisture. Some of that later-planted or later-maturing wheat benefitted from the rains and so the yield prospects from some of those areas started to improve.”

The rains did help fill heads, making a better-than-expected crop for many. USDA NASS currently estimates average yields at 32 bushels per acre compared to 19.5 bushels per acre in 1966, a gain directly attributable to improvement in available wheat genetics, recommended farming practices and decades of on-farm knowledge. Test weights also started strong with heavy heads at 62 pounds per bushel.

“Kansas farmers are proud of the Kansas Wheat Innovation Center that they’ve invested in and the strides that we’ve made in the past decade to address the challenges that farmers are facing — whether it’s through double haploid production or identifying heat and drought tolerance,” Gilpin said. “It’s an important investment that farmers are making. It’s harder to see dividends from those investments in years like this, but I like to think that those strides have kept this from being a bigger disaster than it could have been.”

There’s no question that drought took a heavy toll with higher-than-average abandonment across the state. Rain also brought its own challenges, mainly in the form of increasing weed pressure and continual harvest delays. As a result, test weights dropped from their early highs as harvest progressed and more fields were abandoned, some due to weeds. All that means the final numbers for the 2023 Kansas wheat crop are likely to continue to drop. USDA-NASS will put out an updated estimate on the Kansas wheat crop in August, but the final count for the Kansas wheat crop will not come until the agency’s Small Grains Annual Summary on September 30.

“Whether it’s been the hailstorms or the weed pressure, with all the challenges we’ve had trying to get this crop out of the field for Kansas, it wouldn’t surprise me to see that number come down a bit,” Gilpin said.

The good news is that while the crop did not make the bushels, it did have high protein. Protein and yield are usually inversely proportional — so lower-yielding crops have higher protein and vice versa. The central corridor in Kansas reported proteins averaging 13 or 14 percent, while the western third of the state had more variability from 10 to 14 percent. That’s good news for millers and bakers who utilize hard red winter (HRW) wheat for products like bread or tortillas that require that strength.

“The early comments we’re hearing from industry is that the wheat is performing adequately, similar to last year,” Gilpin said.

But while the combines are finally finishing rolling in Kansas, the value of that protein won’t be fully defined until the spring wheat harvest is complete in the northern Great Plains. Hard red spring wheat is generally a high-protein crop, so if the crop in those states is more successful than in Kansas, the market may not reward producers or elevators with premiums for protein. In fact, it’s equally as likely some buyers will seek out lower-protein wheat to offset some of the higher-protein wheat.

In addition, producers further east grew an almost record soft red winter (SRW) wheat crop in the Mississippi and Ohio river valleys. There is currently a $1.50 to $2.00 per bushel difference between HRW and SRW wheat — primarily because soft wheat doesn’t have the bread-making capability of hard wheat. Despite the milling and baking differences, a large supply of SRW wheat is tempting when the HRW crop suffers.

“Buyers are going to be able to buy what they want, but it’s certainly going to be an interesting year,” Gilpin said. “You are going to see some millers and bakers that are trying to offset some of the costs that they’re seeing. That includes trying to blend in some soft wheat when the hard red winter wheat crop is going to be the smallest in years.”

All these supplies factor into the overall stocks-to-use ratio, which is used to estimate how much wheat is available globally to meet the needs of consumers around the world. While overall wheat supplies are tighter than anyone in the supply chain would prefer, stocks-to-use ratios remain above the concerning levels from 2007/2008. Geopolitically, however, the enduring tensions between Russia and Ukraine will continue to have a direct impact on the availability of world wheat stocks as well as from where the world buyers can source those stocks.

“The Black Sea does create some uncertainties that do start to question some of that availability of the stocks-to-use ratio because of an availability issue out of that region,” Gilpin said. “There’s been a strategic intent of Russia attacking grain terminals and then explicitly saying that even without Ukrainian wheat exports, Russia can be that supplier and replace them.”

“One out of every five vessels is going to be delivering food around the world from Russia. When they have that control, they are following it up with their intention of trying to leverage influence in friendly countries and governments. It’s a very unnerving place that world trade is entering right now.”

All these influences on the price of wheat bear watching as producers shift their focus from a frustrating and challenging 2023 wheat harvest to putting the 2024 crop into the ground. Gilpin said Kansas Wheat is continuing to look even further down the road to forecast what the world of wheat will look like and how to position Kansas wheat farmers in that economic landscape.

“We’re going to need prices to stay favorable and we’re going to need Mother Nature to cooperate,” Gilpin said. “And we must start thinking longer term, not just where we’re going to be a year from now. What do we have to be doing to put in place all the things across the whole value chain in the wheat industry to make sure that we’re protecting our national interest in having a productive and successful wheat crop from farmer to baker to consumer.”

Learn more about Gilpin’s perspectives on this year’s harvest, supply-and-demand factors across wheat classes, end-use quality, international market influences and more in the latest episode of the “Wheat’s On Your Mind” podcast at wheatsonyourmind.com.

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Written by Julia Debes for Kansas Wheat

“Drug Prices”

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Guest Columnist
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High costs and shortages of pharmaceuticals are serious, on-going issues. Drug prices in the US are among the highest in the world. A recent survey by the Rand Corporation looked at drug prices in 32 developed countries. US prices were the highest in the group and were more than twice the average of prices in other countries. What is especially troubling is that the products sold in many of these countries are the same drugs produced by the same manufacturers as those sold in the US at much higher prices.

When it comes to drug prices, consumers – and even third-party payers – have little bargaining power. The reality is, drug companies are free to charge “what the market will bear”.

Recently developed, brand name drugs are typically the most costly. New drugs are usually covered by patents which give the developers exclusive rights to market the product without competition. Patents are for 20 years and begin when a new drug application is filed. This usually occurs years before the product actually comes to market. Nonetheless, companies typically enjoy 10 or more years without any direct competition.

When patents are nearing expiration companies have numerous ways to “game” the system. One of the most common is to make minor, often insignificant, changes in the product and apply for a new patent. Sometimes major producers actually buy up smaller potential generic competitors or pay such companies to delay the introduction of competitive products. Regulators have blocked some but not all such practices.

The patent process is defended as a way to give firms some assurance that they can recoup the expenses they incur if they undertake the costly and highly unpredictable process of drug development. The public clearly has an interest in encouraging new drug development. Critics, however, have pointed out that often much of the early development is done in academic centers, usually at public expense.

Even when patents expire the usual market forces do not always bring about effective cost control. The best example is insulin. There are three major producers of insulin who produce very similar products. Instead of competing on price all three companies progressively raised the retail prices of insulin. Insulin prices in the US climbed to as much as ten times those in Canada. Recent legislation has forced companies to limit out-of-pocket insulin costs for Medicare recipients to no more than $35 per month. Subsequently, public pressure led all three insulin producers to agree to a limit $35 per month for all users. In this situation competition produced real benefits. However, one wonders if the companies can afford to drop the price from over $100 to $35, what was their margin before the reduction?

What about prices that are too low? Some older drugs are still vitally important. In several of these cases the prices – and the profitability – have dropped to the point where producers have left the market leaving us with seriously limited production capacity.

Vincristine is a cancer drug, a key component in the treatment of childhood leukemia. Because of low profitability virtually all vincristine has come from a single manufacturer. When that producer ran into production problems no other source was available. Cancer physicians struggled for months with heart rending decisions of having to ration among seriously ill children the very limited amounts of vincristine they could get.

There are other more recent examples. This past winter there were serious shortages of amoxicillin, a widely used antibiotic and, more recently, we are facing dangerous shortages of albuterol, a key treatment for asthma and COPD. In each of these situations the companies have made what they considered to be sound business decisions but decisions which were clearly not in the public interest.

What to do? Open market principles have often served us well but we need to be smart enough – and tough enough – to recognize when we are benefitting and when we are not. We need regulatory limits that protect creativity and innovation yet prevent price gouging and insure availability of vital medicines. That is a high bar but one we as a society must keep working toward.

Tom Dean, MD is a retired family physician who practiced for over 40 years in Wessington Springs, SD and a past member of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC). Dr. Dean is a recent inductee into the SD Hall of Fame, these articles were previously published in SD Searchlight. Follow The Prairie Doc® at www.prairiedoc.org and on Facebook featuring On Call with the Prairie Doc®, a medical Q&A show providing health information based on science, built on trust, streaming live on Facebook most Thursdays at 7 p.m. central.

Fall Seed Supplies Could Be Tight: “It’s just flat ugly.”

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Guest Columnist
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If you’re looking for seed wheat, rye or triticale to plant this fall, you might want to start looking sooner rather than later.

One of the consequences of having the worst Kansas wheat crop in the past 50 to 60 years is that the supply of seed wheat will be much shorter than normal. The tight seed supply situation also affects triticale and especially rye. Prices will also be higher. And, in cases, much higher.

In addition to reduced new crop yields with the ’23 crop, the amount of carryover certified seed from last year is at extremely low levels, according to Steve Schuler, Kansas Crop Improvement Association.

He notes that normal certified seed wheat carryover runs about 800,000 bushels. “This year it’s only 183,000 bushels.” And that makes new crop production all the more important. But for many Kansas-certified seed wheat producers yields of 20 and 30 bushels per acre were far more common than the normal 40, 50 and 60-bushel per acre yields.

While the supply of certified seed is smaller, likely the demand is higher. For instance, many Kansas wheat growers harvested no wheat whatsoever because of the drought and later hail storms or because they abandoned their crop because of poor stands or because weeds simply took the crop. Too, many hauled their crop to the elevator because of concerns about quality issues like head sprouting, high moisture contents, low test weights and weed contamination. Other farmers need additional supplies of seed wheat because they fallowed the acres they abandoned this spring and will plant back to wheat this fall.

Commercial seed cleaner Rusty Swonger, Minneola, KS says, “It’s just flat ugly”. His seed wheat cleaning jobs are off easily 35 to 50%. Not only that but Swonger is concerned about the quality of seed wheat he is cleaning. For instance, while cleaning for one farmer, he noticed the grain was already hot because it was harvested at too high of a moisture content, then heated in the bin.

“And that heat can destroy the ability for the seed to germinate.”

Swonger says other things to be concerned about with seed that was saved for fall planting include high loads of weed seed, grain that had sprouted in the head or seed that could have low germination because pre-harvest herbicide treatments were applied too early before hard dough.

“All of these things point out the need for having germination and quality tests on your seed especially if it’s home-produced. These tests have already been done on certified seed,” he says.

Co-worker Caleb O’Hanlon says the seed situation is even more critical with triticale and rye. His seed cleaning jobs have easily been cut in half because this year’s rye and triticale production was so poor.

O’Hanlon cites one example of a rye grower who normally produces 40,000 to 50,000 bushels but this year he binned just 15,000 bushels because of the drought. Other low-yielding fields were abandoned this spring because of severe weed infestations.

A major north central Kansas seed dealer says supplies of rye are almost non-existent. And prices reflect that with asking prices on some rye running $20/bushel and more.

And while seed wheat prices are also higher because of the shortage, on the upper end some wheat prices are running between $25 and $30/bushel. However, other certified seed wheat growers like Orville Williams from Montezuma, Kansas feels a strong obligation to long-term customers to hold the line as much as possible on prices. But neither can you overlook the supply realities with production of many popular varieties cut by 50 to 75% in cases. “Many of us just don’t have a lot to sell.”

Yet another western Kansas certified seed wheat grower says he’s almost afraid to put out ads on his seed. “We were already getting calls two to six months ago from farmers looking for seed knowing they were going to need it because of the drought. Several of these farmers produced no wheat whatsoever and will have to buy everything they plant.”

On the optimistic side, Tyler Benninghoven with Plains Gold says seed wheat growers in northeastern Colorado had very good crops. “Thus, many of the Colorado State University varieties could find their way into Kansas fields this fall. A lot of the dryland wheat in this region yielded 50 to 70 bushels per acre with some irrigated running as high as 105 to 115 bushels per acre,” he says.

Benninghoven cautions, though, about farmers selling wheat to their neighbors for planting. “Most of the current wheat varieties are PVP protected so farmer-to-farmer sales are illegal though in most cases the farmer is allowed to plant back on his own land,” he concludes.

As reported in The Hutchinson News. Vance Ehmke is a farmer in Lane and Scott counties in Kansas. He runs a seed business and is a former editor for Progressive Farmer. Ehmke also is a past president of the Kansas Association of Wheat Growers.

KU News: Paper offers glimpse of 500-million-year-old sea worm named after ‘Dune’ monster

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Guest Columnist
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From the Office of Public Affairs | http://www.news.ku.edu

Headlines

Paper offers glimpse of 500-million-year-old sea worm named after ‘Dune’ monster
LAWRENCE — Excavations by a University of Kansas paleontologist working in a treasure trove of fossils called the “Spence Shale Lagerstätte” have revealed an ancient sea worm unknown to science until now. The fieldwork took place in the High Creek area of the Spence Shale, a geologic formation straddling northern Utah and southern Idaho. The findings recently were published in the peer-reviewed journal Historical Biology.

Researchers to identify key brain, behavioral changes in aging women with premutations of the Fragile X gene
LAWRENCE — Only in the past 20 years have scientists recognized a condition known as Fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome (FXTAS). First documented in a small group of men who had grandchildren with Fragile X syndrome, it has more recently been identified in women. Researchers at the University of Kansas Life Span Institute and partners are currently recruiting women ages 60-75 with known FMR1 premutations and those without to participate in tests examining changes in cognition, grip strength and posture, and brain function in aging.

Full stories below.

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Contact: Brendan Lynch, KU News Service, 785-864-8855, [email protected], @BrendanMLynch
Paper offers glimpse of 500-million-year-old sea worm named after ‘Dune’ monster
LAWRENCE — Excavations by a University of Kansas paleontologist working in a treasure trove of fossils called the “Spence Shale Lagerstätte” have revealed an ancient sea worm unknown to science until now.
When she found the fossil, Rhiannon LaVine, a research associate with the KU Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum, was part of a team camping and carrying out fieldwork in the High Creek area of the Spence Shale, a geologic formation straddling northern Utah and southern Idaho. The area has been famed since the 1900s for its abundance in some 90 species of Cambrian trilobites and soft-bodied fossils.

Their findings recently were published in the peer-reviewed journal Historical Biology.
“One of the last times we were out there, I split open one of these pieces of rock and instantly knew it was something that wasn’t typical,” LaVine said. “The first thing we see are these radial blades that look like stars or flowers. Immediately, I showed it to (lead author) Julian Kimmig. He was perplexed. He’s said, ‘I’ve never seen anything like that.’ We were out with Paul Jamison, a local who’s been working the site for years — and if there’s something in there that somebody’s seen, he’s seen it. But he hadn’t seen it.”
After transporting the fossil specimen back to the KU Biodiversity Institute — where today it’s part of the permeant paleontological collection — LaVine consulted with colleagues about the mysterious fossil.
“I was showing it to everybody, asking, ‘What do you think this is?,’” LaVine said. “Nobody had an idea. We thought maybe it’s a wiwaxia, a very peculiar animal from about that time — but we don’t have too many representatives of it from the Spence area. Or maybe it’s a scale worm, but there’s no real scale worms known from that time. Maybe it was a juvenile jellyfish, but it’s so bladed and the lines are so straight on those things, it would be kind of odd. So, I couldn’t get a solid answer.”
Next, LaVine teamed with colleagues at the University of Missouri to conduct scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry on the fossil.
“We mainly wanted to make sure that this was a biological thing, because it’s possible it could have just been some weird mineral growth with the way it looked,” said the KU researcher. “So that was primarily why we brought it to them. It’s about 7 or 8 centimeters long, maybe a little shorter than the length of a smartphone. It’s sizable for a fossil of that sort. We did the scanning to rule out that it wasn’t just a mineral growth, and we were able to do that.”
Finally, LaVine and her co-authors were able to determine the fossil to be a previously unknown species of annelid, a diverse phylum of some 21,000 “segmented worm” species found in terrestrial, freshwater and marine environments all over the world.
As the discoverer of the new fossil worm and a co-author on the paper describing it, LaVine bestowed the species with its scientific name: Shaihuludia shurikeni. Shai-Hulud is the indigenous name for the worms on the planet Arrakis in the “Dune” novels by Frank Herbert, while “shuriken” is the Japanese word for throwing star, representing the shape of the blade-like chaetae (chaetae are the stiff bristles that characterize many annelids).
“I’ve been involved in describing species before, but this is the first one I’ve named,” LaVine said. “Actually, I was able to name its genus — so I can put that feather in my cap. It was the first thing that came to mind, because I’m a big ol’ nerd and at the time I was getting really excited for the ‘Dune’ movies.”
Like worm’s sci-fi namesake, Shaihuludia shurikeni is a big deal: Describing a new species of Cambrian annelid doesn’t happen every day.
“Annelids are very rare in the Cambrian of North America, and so far we only knew of a single specimen from the Spence Shale,” said lead author Julien Kimmig, a paleontologist with the State Museum of Natural History in Karlsruhe, Germany. “The new annelid Shaihuludia shurikeni is especially interesting, as it had some very impressive chaetae, which makes it unique among the Cambrian annelids. The way that the fossil is preserved is also of particular interest, because most of the soft tissue is preserved as an iron oxide ‘blob,’ suggesting the animal died and was decomposing for a while before it was fossilized. However, with the analytical methods used in the paper, we show that even with limited preservation you can identify fossils.”
In the process, the team reexamined a fossilized annelid previously found in the Spence Shale and reclassified it as Burgessochaeta — a surprise because until then, Burgessochaeta have only been found in another famed fossil deposit in British Columbia, Canada.
“Burgessochaeta is really only known from the Burgess Shale,” LaVine said. “A similar worm was collected in our Spence Shale decades ago, and it was named Canadia, which is kind of a wastebasket genus for a lot of the annelids that come out of these types of deposits.
“Nobody really looked into it for a long time, but when we got this one, we took a little closer look at the other annelid found there. Maybe this was another version of it, or it was related in some way,” LaVine said. “We determined the other annelid from the Spence Shale is actually closer to Burgessochaeta — this is the first time it’s been described outside of the Burgess Shale.”
Both worm species would have inhabited a marine ecosystem ruled by invertebrate organisms, like trilobites, brachiopods, mollusks and early forms of arthropods. The mid-Cambrian is noted for the intense biodiversity of its marine life.
“This discovery gets us to think about deep time,” LaVine said. “When we look outside, we see all the animals that we know. Now we can walk past a duck, go to the beach and see a starfish and all the critters that exist in the ocean. We kind of know what to expect. But then we can let our imaginations go a little bit to imagine what happened a million years ago or, in this case, over 500 million years ago. What does the ocean look like then? You’re going to see a lot of the similar players, but they’re a little bit alien because evolution has taken place. It’s very cool to think about our planet as a record of history and all of the different environments that have happened over billions of years, all on the same ground we stand on. We’ve had alien worlds beneath our feet.”
LaVine and Kimmig’s co-authors were James Schiffbauer, Sven Egenhoff, Kevin Shelton and Wade Leibach.
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Contact: Christina Knott, Life Span Institute, [email protected], @kulifespan
Researchers to identify key brain, behavioral changes in aging women with premutations of the Fragile X gene
LAWRENCE — Only in the past 20 years have scientists recognized a condition known as Fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome (FXTAS). First documented in a small group of men who had grandchildren with Fragile X syndrome, it has more recently been identified in women. Researchers at the University of Kansas Life Span Institute now are working to learn more about its effects in women.
At one time, the genetic markers, or premutation alleles, of the Fragile X gene FMR1 were thought to be relatively benign in an individual carrying them in their genetic code; researchers only knew that the premutation alleles contributed to the risk for having a child with Fragile X syndrome, which causes a range of developmental problems in young children. Scientists now know that premutation alleles can contribute to severe changes in cognition and movement as carriers age. Those changes include tremor, balance issues and memory loss, and it can lead to a loss of independence.
“We know very little about which premutation carriers will develop FXTAS,” said Matt Mosconi, associate director and senior scientist at KU’s Life Span Institute and professor of clinical child psychology. “We know males are at greater risk than females. Otherwise, we don’t know a whole lot about which premutation carriers are going to get it. And we don’t know what changes are happening in the brain, as those seem to be different in men and women.”
Mosconi’s team, in collaboration with colleagues at Kansas State University and the University of California-Davis, are leading new studies of motor, cognitive and brain changes in female FMR1 premutation carriers to identify key symptoms to track during aging. They hope to better understand the causes of FXTAS in females.
Approximately 1 in 450 men carries the premutation that can lead to FXTAS, compared to about 1 in 200 women. Of those, about 40% of men and 16-20% of women will develop FXTAS symptoms. While usually more severe in men, FXTAS can still be debilitating in women.
FXTAS symptoms typically present when individuals reach their 50s or 60s but often are missed during early stages or misdiagnosed as Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s disease. Greater knowledge of the key brain and behavioral changes associated with FXTAS in women is essential for identifying initial disease stages when treatments may be most effective.
Mosconi’s team is currently recruiting women ages 60-75 with known FMR1 premutations and those without to participate in tests examining changes in cognition, grip strength and posture, and brain function in aging.
The long-term goal of this study is to clarify neurodegenerative mechanisms of FXTAS in women so that more sensitive methods can be established to track disease progression and development, as well as to advance targeted therapeutic interventions.
For more information about participating in FMR1 research, visit the KU FMR1 research website or contact the KU BRAIN Lab at [email protected].

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Horticulture 2023 Newsletter No. 30

By
Ward Upham
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https://hnr.k-state.edu/extension/info-center/newsletters/index.html

Blog Post: http://www.ksuhortnewsletter.org

Video of the Week: Spider Mites on Tomatoes
https://kansashealthyyards.org/all-videos/video/spider-mites-on-tomatoes

REMINDERS
• Seed beets, carrots and beans
• Never fertilize warm-season grasses such as zoysia, bermuda and buffalo after August 15
• Remove sucker growth and watersprouts from fruit trees, especially apples

Prioritizing Water in the Landscape
During periods of drought, it may be necessary to prioritize which plants will be first in line to receive supplemental water due to time and water restrictions. As with many decisions, cost plays a major role in determining where to begin watering.
Start with the large, established trees. These are the most difficult and expensive to replace if they don’t survive. They also take the longest to become established. While they may not require supplemental water during a short drought period, if it becomes prolonged established trees can still suffer. Next, care for the young trees which are still developing their root systems.
Take care of shrubs next, followed by perennials, lawn and finally, annuals. This order will direct your attention to the plants that have had the most invested in them saving you time and money if you must replace plants that don’t survive. (Cynthia Domenghini)

Watering Newly Planted Trees and Shrubs
Young trees and shrubs have not established the root system necessary to survive extreme heat and dry spells without supplemental water. After planting, it is essential to keep the root ball area moist for several weeks, but even a couple years later it may be necessary to periodically apply water to the area.
Give newly planted trees 10 gallons of water weekly. Apply the water slowly so it can sink deep into the root zone and promote new growth. Build a reservoir, about three to four-inches tall around the tree to keep the water in the desired area. Alternatively, drill a 1/8-inch hole in a plastic 5-gallon bucket. Place the bucket beneath the tree and fill with water. After it has drained fill it a second time. When it has emptied, the tree will have received ten gallons. There are also bags available commercially that serve a similar purpose. They can be secured to the tree and filled with water which then slowly enters the soil. Mulch is recommended to help retain moisture, moderate soil temperature and prevent damage to the trunk from lawn mowers and other tools. (Cynthia Domenghini)

VEGETABLES
Green Beans Producing Flowers but not Beans
Though relatively easy to grow, green beans may not produce efficiently when adequate growing conditions are not met.
Temperature is a key factor that affects bean production. High (above 85 degrees F) or low (below 70 degrees F) can cause plants to create flowers but no beans.
Periods of dryness between watering can also inhibit bean development. Hot, dry winds can exacerbate this problem.
The best way to ensure a healthy bean crop is proper crop management. Use mulch to regulate soil temperature and retain moisture. Plant a windbreak crop such as corn to shield green bean plants. Harvest beans regularly to encourage the plants to continue producing. If beans are left on the plant beyond their peak harvest time they will use energy to develop seed rather than create new beans. (Cynthia Domenghini)

FRUIT
Watering Fruit Plants During the Summer
Monitoring soil moisture of fruit crops is important to preserve the quality of the harvest. Allowing fruit crops to be under heat or drought stress during fruit development restricts cell division. This directly affects the size of the mature fruit even if additional water is added later. Drought stress can also lead to wilting and yellowing leaves as well as leaf and fruit drop. Next year’s crop could be affected too as buds may fail to develop.
The takeaway message is to monitor the soil at the rootzone to ensure proper moisture levels. This can be done by pushing a probe into the soil. A wooden dowel, rebar or even a screwdriver can work for this task. Try to insert the probe at least 8 to 12 inches. Dry soil will be very difficult to penetrate indicating water should be applied.
Add water slowly to the rootzone using a sprinkler, soaker hose, drip irrigation or other method. The amount of water necessary will vary depending on plant size, but use the soil probe as your indicator. When the probe can reach 12-inches into the soil, the moisture level should be adequate.
Monitor fruit crops weekly during hot, dry weather. Newly planted fruit crops and strawberries, with shallow root systems, will need to be checked at least twice a week for soil moisture. (Cynthia Domenghini)

TURF
Should I Water My Lawn?
We have been receiving questions recently on whether to water lawns, especially the cool-season lawns tall fescue and Kentucky bluegrass. Tall fescue and Kentucky bluegrass can go drought dormant for 6 to 8 weeks without harm. Therefore, some homeowners allow their lawn to go dormant during summers such as this. However, when the rains return, the grass will be thin and weeds may become a problem. The weeds can be controlled but that adds an additional expense. Also, if we reach that 6-week period, the grass needs to be given 1/4″ of water a week to keep the crown hydrated so the turf doesn’t die.
If your lawn has been dormant for a while and are wondering if the turf is still alive, pull up an individual plant and separate the leaves from the crown. The crown is the area between the leaves and the roots. If it is still hard and not papery and dry, the plant is still alive.
If you want to keep the grass going through the summer, wait until you see spots in the lawn turn a purplish hue and then water well so the soil is moist about 6 inches deep. Continue to do this until the rains return. Of course, watering more won’t hurt except for your water bill. (Ward Upham)
Crabgrass Control
You may have noticed a lighter green, low-growing grass amongst your lawn. Crabgrass tends to make its appearance this time of year, particularly in areas where the lawn is less dense. Identified by the wide, flat blades, crabgrass is a warm-season annual. It dies back either after flowering and setting seed or with the first hard frost. However, it is very efficient at reproduction leaving behind thousands of seeds to invade the lawn next year. Though not particularly harmful, when it dies back in August large sections can leave unsightly bare spots in the lawn. Fortunately, cool-season grasses should also begin to flourish this time of year so if the crabgrass infestation is minimal, treatment is not necessary.
Aside from manually removing plants, crabgrass can be difficult to control once it has germinated. Therefore, prevention is the best approach for controlling crabgrass. Maintaining a thick, healthy lawn will prevent crabgrass seeds from germinating. Mow your lawn no shorter than three-inches which will help prevent sunlight from reaching the seeds on the soil surface. Around mid-April apply a pre-emergent to combat seeds from the previous growing season.
At this point in the season, it is too late for a crabgrass preventer. If manual removal is not an option there are some herbicides that will kill crabgrass plants including: Ortho Weed-B-Gon Max + Crabgrass Control, Fertilome Weed-Out with Crabgrass Control, Monterey Crab-E-Rad and BioAdvanced Lawn Weed & Crabgrass Killer. Each contains quinclorac, which is a crabgrass herbicide, as well as other active ingredients that control broadleaf weeds. Quinclorac is an excellent crabgrass killer that controls not only crabgrass but also has good activity on foxtail and certain broadleaves such as field bindweed, black medic and clover. However, it does little to nothing to goosegrass. If you use crabgrass killer on your lawn bag the clippings. Do not use them as mulch or in compost. (Cynthia Domenghini)

PESTS
Cicada Killer Wasps
Description: At about 1 ½-inches long, cicada killers are an intimidating wasp. They have reddish colored wings and legs and a black abdomen with wide, yellow stripes. Cicada killers live independently though nests may be relatively close to each other. Females have a stinger which is used to paralyze their prey. They rarely sting people unless agitated. Males are smaller and do not have a stinger.
Females are responsible for locating cicadas and paralyzing them with their stinger. She then carries the cicada back to her burrow. Each burrow can house up to 20 cicadas.
Life Cycle: Adult females lay a single egg on each cicada they drag into the ground. Eggs hatch in two to three days into legless, white grubs which feed on the cicada. The larvae then create a protective case in which to overwinter. Adult wasps die in early fall. In spring the larvae pupate in the pupal cases and emerge as adults in June/July. There is one generation per year of cicada killers.
Damage: Cicada killers typically cause very little damage to the landscape. A heavy infestation may become a nuisance as they protect their nests. The burrows may be considered unsightly, especially in a lawn area.
Control: Cicada killers prefer well-drained, light soils in full sun. They may burrow along sidewalks or flowerbeds but do not like areas covered with mulch. Maintaining a thick, healthy lawn is the best control for preventing burrows. Pesticides are not usually necessary since adults are only present for about two months beginning mid to late summer, but Permethrin may be used for control. Treat the burrows at dusk when females have returned. Males are often found perched nearby. Products with permethrin include:
(Dusts) Eight Garden Dust – Bonide, Multipurpose Garden and Pet Dust – Green Thumb Garden, Pet & Livestock Dust – Hi-Yield
(Liquids) 38 Plus Turf, Termite & Ornamental Insect Spray – Hi-Yield, Eight Vegetable, Fruit & Flower Conc. – Bonide, Eight Yard & Garden RTS – Bonide, Garden and Farm Insect Control- Hi-Yield (Cynthia Domenghini)

MISCELLANEOUS
Wood Chips as Mulch
Mulching the landscape is a recommended practice to moderate soil temperature and moisture and prevent weeds. Wood chips created by tree trimming companies can be an inexpensive way to mulch around trees and shrubs in the landscape. Homeowners have some concerns about the effect green wood chips may have on their landscape plants.
Will using fresh wood chips as mulch deplete nitrogen from the soil? Microorganisms found in the soil break down organic matter using nitrogen from the soil. Wood chips are very low in nitrogen so more is pulled from the soil to break down the wood chips making the nitrogen less available for the desired plants. However, when used only on the surface as a mulch, this is not a concern. It is not recommended to incorporate fresh wood chips into the soil. Recognize the difference between mulch and compost.
Will wood chips from a diseased tree spread the disease into my landscape? The short answer is “it could.” However, if handled properly, the wood chips can be safely used in the landscape. If it is known that the wood chips are from a diseased tree, allow them time to dry out completely before spreading in the landscape. To be safe, avoid spreading the mulch around trees of the same species where the wood chips originated.
Will using wood chips near my home encourage termites? This can be a concern if the wood chips are mulched right up to the foundation of the house. Termites are light and heat sensitive and will not bother the chips themselves if they are 3 inches deep or less. Therefore, keep the depth of the mulch less than three-inches near the house and other buildings. Also, leave a bare area several inches wide next to the house so that any termite activity is noticeable. (Cynthia Domenghini)

Contributors:
Cynthia Domenghini, Instructor
Ward Upham, Extension Associate

Division of Horticulture
1712 Claflin, 2021 Throckmorton
Manhattan, KS 66506
(785) 532-6173

For questions or further information, contact: [email protected] OR [email protected]
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K-State Research and Extension is committed to making its services, activities and programs accessible to all participants. If you have special requirements due to a physical, vision or hearing disability, or a dietary restriction please contact Extension Horticulture at (785) 532-6173.

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Cooperating, Ernie Minton, Dean.

 

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