Water News Archive

Caring for a lawn and landscape is a lot of work! Mowing, fertilization, seeding and weed control in a lawn, along with planting, pruning and pest management in trees and landscape areas requires more time than many homeowners have available or the equipment to accomplish. Plus, the identification of weeds and pests often needs a professional’s knowledge. If you would rather not perform any or all of these tasks, you have the option to hire a professional to do the work for you. How can you evaluate services offered by professionals or hire a good professional to work in your landscape? Below are two important aspects of professionalism to be aware of when hiring a landscape professional.

The first Nebraska Soil Health School of 2024 will feature presentations on the impact of tillage, biochar and cover crops, soil health measurement and carbon markets, and more.

Just over a year ago, I joined Dr. Amy Schmidt, the Manure Lady’s, team as a content developer to help spread the word about manure (and her other area of interest, antimicrobial resistance). Luckily, UNL’s Manure team is full of friendly, inviting people who are really good at teaching about manure. Feeling more confident in my manure knowledge, and with my interest peaked for all things manure, I attended my first manure Land Application Training (LAT). LAT events, led by members of UNL’s Manure Team, are offered each spring at venues all across the state. Participants can attend for a full day if they are newbies like me, or a half day if they just need a refresher.

Student researcher Saskia Lanwermann reflects on what she's learned about the benefits of manure use both back home in Germany and here in the US while studying agricultural and environmental sciences communications and working with the UNL Manure team.

Fungi can be very problematic for our plants, and there are a lot of different fungi. In plants, there is a disease triangle that leads to plant diseases. For disease to develop, you must first have a pathogen, a susceptible host, and a favorable environment. Pathogens are common in the environment and just waiting for the right weather to occur and a susceptible host to infect. The environment can sometimes be altered by our plant management practices, such as overwatering or underwatering and improper irrigation practices can lead to more disease problems. That’s why it's so important, whenever possible, to choose disease resistant plants for our landscapes – both turf, fruits, vegetables and ornamentals.

Fields with diverse soil types can pose distinct challenges in water management, especially under pivot irrigation. In this article, UNL experts review factors that contribute to waterlogged soil and several practices that can improve drainage issues.

Although Nebraska is best known for the commodities of cattle and corn, soybeans land in the third-place spot among the top commodity rankings in the state, according to the Nebraska Department of Agriculture. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) is adding soybean to the lineup of Testing Ag Performance Solutions (TAPS) farm management competitions for 2024. The new soybean competition will be facilitated at UNL’s Eastern Nebraska Research, Extension and Education Center (ENREEC) near Mead, Nebraska. The soybean competition will be supported by the Nebraska Soybean Board.

See the results of the 2023 UNL-TAPS Competition for sorghum, SDI corn, sprinkler corn and the newest category for the contest — irrigated popcorn.

Producers who need to acquire or renew a private pesticide applicator license this year can choose between several options, including in-person training, online self-study programs, and an NDA-administered exam.

Chemigation training for Nebraskans will be offered at nearly 50 in-person sessions from now through April, as well as online.

With ongoing drought, conserving water in home, business and public landscapes is important. One way to conserve water is selecting drought tolerant plants. As a rule, a drought tolerant plant is one that can survive on average rainfall with little or no supplemental water once established.

It’s that time of year again and I’m here to help you stay on track for that New Year’s resolution to “Manure Better”. That wasn’t your resolution? I’m sorry, but it would be a great resolution and an achievable one at that, so add it to your list. My New Year’s resolution is to help crop farmers “Manure Better”. The annual land application (manure) training events are coming up soon and may be just the ticket to “help me, help you”.

As we are ending 2023, the temperature high and/or low could be consistently at or less than 32°F with a possible chance of snow precipitation. For turfgrass areas in December, the process of dormancy for both warm and cool-season grasses has already occurred. In regards to water use in dormant lawns in cooler temperatures, December is not the time to use irrigation in grass areas. The Photo above is from Pioneer Underground Lawn Sprinklers. https://pioneerunderground.net/sprinkler-winterization-omaha/

Available now on CropWatch, the web-based tool allows users to input data for individual fields to help fine-tune their nitrogen applications, and maximize yield and profitability.

Manure application on frozen or snow-covered soil poses a higher risk of nutrient loss through runoff.

Manure is like a slow-release fertilizer for our crops, sort of like the gift that keeps on giving. Kristen Sindelar with the Midwest Messenger shares what she learned by attending the "Saving Money by Using Manure on Crops" workshop.

The Importance of Maintaining High Uniformity of Water Application of Center Pivot

The Soil Health Exchange team shares insights and potential solutions for a southwest Nebraska farmer who has observed a significant yield decline in a field after terraces were built in 2010.