August Home, Yard, and Garden Calendar

HOME (Indoor plants and activities)

Take cuttings from plants such as impatiens, coleus, geraniums and wax begonias to overwinter indoors. Root the cuttings in media such as moist vermiculite, perlite, peat moss or potting soil, rather than water.

Order spring-flowering bulbs for fall planting.

YARD (Lawns, woody ornamentals and fruits)

Newly established plants are particularly vulnerable to extreme heat and drought. If possible, apply 1 to 1.5 inches of water every 7 to 10 days as a gentle, thorough soaking.

Even well-established trees, shrubs and perennials will suffer from extreme heat coupled with drought. Symptoms may include wilting, leaf scorch, branch dieback, blossom drop, early "fall" color and leaf drop, and in some cases, plant death of specimens that were already ailing.

GARDEN (Vegetables, small fruits and flowers)

Temperatures above 90 F often leads to poor fruit set in most vegetable crops; upper 90s will stop fruit set in nearly all crops. Fruits that were already set may show uneven ripening, blossom-end rot, skin cracking, sunburn where foliage cover is poor, poor ear fill in corn and bitter flavor in cucumbers and other vegetables.

Keep the garden well watered during dry weather and free of weeds, insects and disease. Early morning is the best time to water, but areas under watering restrictions may need to adjust accordingly. While normally we discourage overhead sprinkling due to its inefficiency and potential for promoting plant disease, it can be very effective at decreasing temperature in the plant tissue.  <Read More> 

Early Weaning as a Drought Strategy

In addition to utilizing alternative forages and feedstuffs, early weaning and other herd management techniques can be effective drought management strategies for livestock producers.  The Purdue Animal Sciences Department recently created a video featuring Dr. Ron Lemenager discussing early weaning in times of drought and short forage supplies.  The video is available here.

Vilsack Opens Emergency Haying and Grazing of CRP Acres for Entire State

Indiana Farm Service Agency (FSA) State Executive Director Julia A. Wickard today announced additional drought relief for Indiana’s livestock producers. USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack authorized the release of emergency haying and grazing for all Indiana counties for certain practices and acres enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) outside the primary nesting season for wildlife. This decision was based upon the U.S. Drought Monitor.  <Read More>

Weekly Outlook - Are Soybean Prices High Enough?

Much of the recent attention in commodity markets, at least in the popular press, has focused on the U.S. corn crop and the potential impact of drought conditions on production and prices. The focus has been warranted since corn is the largest U.S. crop; corn is used in a wide variety of food, feed, and industrial products; and corn yields are most susceptible to drought conditions.

As the growing season progresses and adverse weather conditions persist over large areas, more attention is being focused on the U.S. soybean crop. The importance of the size of the U.S. crop is magnified by the small South American harvest earlier this year. The USDA estimates that crop at 4.2 billion bushels, 16 percent smaller than the record crop of 2011. The USDA expects South America to maintain a large export presence, however, by sharply reducing inventories over the next year. Even so, the pace of exports of U.S. soybeans remains stronger than normal for this time of year. The USDA now projects 2011-12 marketing year exports at 1.34 billion bushels, 65 million more than projected in March. With only six weeks left in the marketing year, exports need to total 81 million bushels, 13.2 million per week, to reach the USDA projection. Export inspections for the four weeks ended July 17 averaged 16.1 million. As of July 12, the USDA reported unshipped export sales for the current year at 171.5 million bushels. It appears that exports may marginally exceed the USDA projection.  <Read More>