Farm and Home

Ag Line: Soybean rust, centipede problems

By Wade Parker

County Extension Coordinator

Growing soybeans used to be one of the easiest crops to grow; all you had to do was plant, clean the weeds, kill stinkbugs, and then harvest them. Now, soybean growing has gotten a lot more complicated. It appears that the threat of soybean rust may be getting a little worse. As I write this article, Asiatic soybean rust has been confirmed in a commercial field in Baldwin County, Alabama. This find was near a sentinel plot that had been used to monitor rust activity. To date, soybean rust has been reported in Baldwin County Alabama, Marion County Florida, and Seminole County Georgia. The Georgia find was on volunteer soybeans, which have since been destroyed. As soybeans mature, growers should be scouting their fields intensely. When scouting fields, check for any rust lesions or any spores, including the undersides of leaves. The spores will be a brown/tan color and will quickly spread. Until soybean rust is found in any of the sentinel plots in Georgia, the Extension Service remains firm in not calling for an automatic fungicide for our soybeans, even those at or approaching the bloom stage. We will revise the fungicide recommendations should the disease be confirmed in Georgia. If you want to take preventative type action, an application of chlorothalonil (Bravo) at bloom stage will be appropriate.

If you suspect you have soybean rust symptoms, please do not hesitate to call the Extension Office. We will pull a sample and have it diagnosed.

Common Centipede

Centipede Problems

I think that this is the year for centipedes to invade the houses of Jenkins County. I have had a handful of calls this past month regarding centipede problems. The first call I got was to the effect of "worms invading my house!" I responded to the call to find these creatures in large numbers crawling across the garage and on their way inside the house. If you don’t know what a centipede looks like, they are usually yellowish to dark brown and sometimes have dark stripes or marks. They are 1/8 to 3 inches long and each segment has one pair of legs. "Centi" actually means 100 and "pede" refers to legs, but centipedes may actually have 15-177 legs, with the first pair possibly having poison fangs. This summer has been a very wet and damp year, which is a centipede’s paradise. They mostly live outdoors, but will come inside if they desire. They live in damp places, such as rotting logs, under stones, in trash, mulch and clippings. If inside, they may find their way to the basement or closets. Centipedes are really not bad creatures, but who wants these worms crawling around their homes?

Controlling centipedes involves cleaning all leaves off porches and storing all firewood off the ground. Transporting any unused firewood to another location is not a bad idea. If you cannot control centipedes by destroying their habitat, any labeled homeowner insecticide will do the job. The one that we have been recommending is permethrin. This insecticide does an excellent job and is not very expensive. Make sure you spray very well around the house and any cracks that may be suspected as entry points, and always follow label directions.

4-H News

Cloverleaf Camp

As the summer progresses, so does the passing of our 4-H camping season. This past week Jenkins County had 36 4-H’ers and two volunteer leaders chaperone our kids at Rock Eagle 4-H Center. Mr. Harold Brantley always referred to 4-H Camp as a vacation!

While it is no vacation for adults, we along with the 4-H’ers enjoyed ourselves. While at camp, 4-H’ers had the opportunity to canoe, hike up a mountain, swim, go sailing, play volleyball, basketball, go down the zip-line, and enjoy a talent show put on by the counselors.

Each morning the cabins are judged for tidiness, with the judges always being very tough. The cabins are judged in the morning and assigned a particular star color. A green star is excellent, followed by a silver and then red, with the cleanest cabin in the area earning the "Thunderbird Award." The boys’ cabin earned a green star the first day, but the second day was a much lower grade. I made a deal with the boys that if they got a green star the last day, they could push me in the lake. Well, the boys got a green star the last day, and I got pushed into the lake! The girls’ cabin won the "Thunderbird" the first day, and they had green stars all week.

I hope all of our 4-H’ers enjoyed their week of camp and are looking forward to next year. 4-H’ers attending camp: Madison Allen, Bailey Alsobrooks, Carneisha Bell, Cassie Bragg, Sara Burke, Callie Dailey, Margaret Dickens, Sharanta Dixon, Emily Edenfield, Emily English, Johnna Forehand, Ariel Glover, Jessie Herrmann, Tonya Lane, Ali Richards, Morgan Royal, Ashton Sherrod, Chelsea Taylor, Tabitha Trent, Chassity Wilkerson, Krysten Yager, Trey Black, Kevin Brock, Mason Davis, Paul Dieteman, Tiller Gay, C.J. Green, Dustin Hendley, Sydney Hooks, Thomas Joyner, Jacob Lindsey, LaVonte Lovette, Brian Oglesby, Rhesa Reeves, Colton Wilkerson, and Jerome Young.

Special thanks to volunteer leaders Angie Trent and Laurie Sherrod, and 4-H Program Assistant Elaine Lanier.

The University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Service offers educational programs, assistance and materials to all people without regard to race, color, national origin, age, sex or disability.