Dr. Brian Jenks (far right) explains plots demonstrating herbicide injury or safety on a variety of crops and encourages the crowd to guess which herbicide was applied.
Vegetables and flowers growing in the high-tunnel at Nesson Valley.
Irrigation research agronomist Tyler Tjelde talks about variety trials and other research projects being conducted at the Nesson Valley irrigated site.
Research specialist Kyla Splichal talks about her experiments growing vegetables in the new high-tunnel at the Nesson Valley site.
The Nesson Valley Irrigated Field Day, held July 15th, began with an interactive presentation given by Brian Jenks in which 10 plots each containing sugar beet, soybean, pea, corn, and wheat were sprayed with different herbicides and attendants were invited to walk around and view the effects of each. Participants enjoyed the chance to see herbicide injury symptoms up-close and evaluate the plots.
Tom Scherer emphasized the importance of irrigation maintenance and encouraged people to walk their irrigation systems each spring looking for leaks in general, and also pointed out specific parts of irrigation systems that can be prone to leakage.
The High Tunnel Project was presented by Kyla Splichal and Esther McGinnis; high tunnels can prolong the growing season of garden vegetables and flowers and featured an automated watering system and roll down sides to allow for ventilation.
Bart Stevens discussed crop rotation with growing sugar beets full-tillage vs. no-tillage in rotation with either barley or corn-soybean, and Audrey Kalil gave an overview of her work with sugar beet diseases.
Susie Thompson with NDSU's potato breeding program discussed different varieties of potatoes and the qualities needed for fresh market, frozen, and chips. Dave Sands discussed low-glycemic potatoes that are being developed to open up the potato market to consumers with blood sugar issues. Low-glycemic potatoes would essentially be more comparable to a whole grain than a starch for diabetic consumers.
Tyler Tjelde and Justin Jacobs wrapped up the day with an overview of variety trials and other work being conducted at the site.
The WREC would like to thank all of the lunch sponsors and attendants that made the 2016 Field Days successful.
(Photos submitted by Dr. Clair Keene)
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