Bertie County Farmline

January 2013

 Richard W. Rhodes

County Extension Director

N.C. OFFICIAL VARIETY TESTING (OVT)

 Results of the 2012 N.C. OVT for field crops are now available at www.ncovt.com along with the previous years results.

Managing Late Planted Wheat

         Late planted wheat fields or any field showing poor vegetative growth in mid to late January need to be checked for the number of tillers per square foot.  A tiller consist of a shorten stem that has three leaves.  For optimum yields wheat should have at least 50 tillers per square foot by late January.

Fields with less than 50 tillers per square foot in late January should receive an additional 20 to 30 pounds of nitrogen per acre promote growth and tillering. Temperatures above 50 in January are needed to promote wheat growth.

 Peanut Yield Contest

            Peanut producers in Bertie County grow 25 acres or more of peanuts are eligible to enter the 2012 yield contest.  Acre verification and production information is required to enter.  Deadline for entries is Friday, January 18, 2013.

County Cotton Yield Contest 

         Bertie County farmers, which produce 50 or more acres of cotton, are eligible to enter the 2012 Bertie County Cotton Yield Contest.  To enter, farmers should bring their yield and acreage verification information to the Bertie County Extension Center by Friday, January 18, 2013.

2013 Bertie Grain Crop Meeting

         Area corn, grain sorghum, soybean, and wheat producers are invited and encouraged to attend the Bertie County Grain Crops meeting scheduled for Tuesday, January 22, 2013 at the Windsor Community Building.  The meeting begins at 8:30 a.m. with registration and refreshments, with the first presentation slated for 9:00 a.m.   A wide range of topics concerning the production and management corn, soybeans, wheat and grain sorghum will be discussed, along with information on Crop Insurance.  The meeting will conclude at noon.  Pesticide recertification and CCA credits will be requested for this meeting.  If you have questions concerning the conference please give me a call at 794-5317.

2012 Soybean On-Farm Variety Tests Results

         Yield results from seven-soybean variety tests that were conducted in Bertie County during 2012 are enclosed.   The generally excellent weather conditions experienced in 2012 along with improvements in variety traits resulted in the best soybeans yields I have ever obtained in my many years of doing on-farm variety testing.

         I would like to express my appreciation to Joey and David Baker, Blount Knowles, Bobby Leggett, Alton Parker, Danny and Mike Perry, Neil Taylor, and Tommy Corbett and Joel Alston at the Peanut Belt Research Station for taking time from their busy schedules to participate in the 2012 Soybean Variety On-Farm Testing Program conducted by the Bertie County Extension Center.

2012 Cotton On-Farm Variety Test Results

         Cotton variety yields were exceptional this year with most varieties yielding well above two bales to the acre when calculated at 42% turnout in all three tests. A big thanks goes to Henry Alston, Jesse Pierce, Tommy Corbett and Joel Alston for their assistances in making this work possible.