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General Agriculture & Consumer Horticulture General Agriculture:
Sheep Genes May Aid
Medical Researchers The mutated gene, named callipyge, was found in a flock of sheep in Oklahoma in the early 1980’s. Some of these sheep had large muscling in their loins and legs. Research revealed that the only sheep with the abnormal muscling were those which had inherited a normal copy of a specific gene from their mother, but a mutated copy of the same gene from their father. This inheritance pattern is termed “paternal polar over-dominance,” and the case of the Oklahoma sheep was the first known example of this condition in mammals. Duke University cancer researchers believe the discovery of this mutated gene may help them in their research. The Duke group has been working on identifying “imprinted genes”—that work differently than normal genes because the expression of the gene’s product depends on which parent the gene copy was inherited from. The Duke group is interested in “imprinting” as it relates to human cancer. Duke cancer researcher Randy Jirtle also wants to find out how genes in this region of the sheep genome might be reflected in humans. The approach of aligning the sheep sequence of this specific region to the human genome to possibly identify a previously unknown human gene could aid efforts in other imprinted regions of importance to human medicine. According to ARS geneticist Brad Freking of the Roman L. Hruskas U.S. Meat Animal Research Center (MARC) in Clay Center, Neb., this research shows the value of obtaining genomic sequences of more agricultural species to align with the human genome in the search for novel genes. Alignment of genomic sequences from several species could help identify important genetic regions not previously recognized in the human genome. This is especially true for regions containing mutations in livestock that have a major impact on the animal, such as the
callipyge mutation discovered at MARC. [ Return to Top ] Winterizing The Horse Since feet and legs are among the most critical parts of a horse, early consideration should be given them. Shoes should be pulled unless the horse is to be ridden extensively on very rough and abrasive surfaces. The natural foot can stand a lot of use even on hard frozen ground without undue wear, so unless shoes are absolutely necessary, pull them and leave them off. Trim the feet and rasp them every two to three weeks throughout the winter. A few minutes spent with the rasp will probably save at least one and maybe two visits from a farrier during the winter. The legs should be clean. Mud and snow tend to cake on the long hair (feathers) of the fetlock and cannon. Keep them clipped and remove caked mud, snow and manure. Soreness and ulceration can develop if cleanliness is not maintained. Working with the feet and legs throughout the winter will also give the owner a chance to keep “in touch” with the horse and maintain a continuous check of the health and soundness of the feet. Fall is an excellent time to check teeth for wear and determine if floating is required. Sharp edges which cut the tongue and cheeks or which prevent proper chewing result in wasted feed, poor food utilization and an unhappy horse. This feed loss can also be expensive to the owner thus resulting in a severe pain in the pocketbook. About one month after the first killing frost, sometime prior to thanksgiving, every horse should be treated for internal parasites. In order to do a top job, a veterinarian should be given a manure sample and allowed to make a diagnosis of the extent and kind of parasitism. Under veterinary supervision, treatment should be conducted. Where infestations are severe, it may necessary to treat twice. If this double treatment is required, use two different products. This provides a broad spectrum of control. At least one month between treatments is needed. If the horse is allowed to come and go from a barn at will, he will develop resistance to cold as the seasons change and will also be getting his own exercise. Both are important. The best way to handle horses that are not being used much in the winter is to give them their freedom. Open sheds or open barn doors will allow the horse to seek shelter when it is needed but remain out at other times. Most horses will prefer to stay out if given the choice. This freedom allows them to get exercise. Since the amount of exercise gained through being ridden is drastically reduced in the fall, this is important in maintaining health and condition. Don’t forget to feed the horse. Most pastures are almost worthless during late fall and winter. Most horses will have been overfed during the summer so some reduction in total feed is acceptable; however, the ration must be well balanced to keep the horse from serious problems. Never change the ration suddenly. Just because the horse has been turned out is no reason to just quit feeding. Taper off the rations until you get what you want. Allow a minimum of two weeks for any adjustment. Get the hay supply bought now. Prices go up later; selection is better now. Check the hay carefully. Make sure of its quality and don’t settle for poor hay. Grains or concentrates could be picked up now if storage space is available. The small amount of nutrient loss in storage will be more than offset by relatively low harvest time prices. Pregnant mares should be separated from weanlings, open mares and geldings. Mares that are to foal early should be carefully watched. Don’t start overfeeding them though. The mare’s real feed requirement increase comes during lactation, not pregnancy. Weaning time is also a good time to start basic training. If not already trained to lead, every weanling should be halter trained to stand tied and started to lead. Keep feeding them; in fact, feed them more. There is no milk now and they are in a fast growing stage. It will take a lot of feed to make fat, sleek yearlings next fall. Yearlings and untrained two-year-olds should be started. Long lining, bitting and general gentling should be started before the weather gets too cold. The bigger ones can even be started under saddle but take it easy. This is also a good time to get those books and bulletins for home study. Long winter evenings are ideal for knowledge improvement. An outstanding authority on horses has observed that there are three distinct phases in becoming a true horseman. The first phase is one of timidity and wonder, eagerness to learn and acceptance of advice and council. The second phase is one in which the individual “knows all”, is an authority, defies correction and refuses to listen or learn. This is the most dangerous phase. The final phase is one where there is a realization of the tremendous amount of knowledge to be learned and a deep respect for the value of increasing knowledge. Let’s all hope we’re in phase three and on the way to becoming a true horseman. [ Return to Top ] How Safe Are Genetically Engineered
Crops? So, what’s the problem? With this relatively new technology of genetic engineering, naturally there are questions the public has never considered before, and people want some answers before they accept it. Some questions are obvious and have been thoroughly researched. For example, are these crops safe to humans and other species that inhabit Earth? Scientists measure the degree of safety by posing the question, “What is the risk?” Hence the origin of the science of risk assessment. Risk is never perfectly controlled. Every activity in life carries some degree of risk. For example, we know that there wee 42,815 highway fatalities in the United States in 2002, but we still get into our cars because we are familiar with that risk and we accept it for the benefits that our cars bring us. Similarly, crops bred conventionally may carry risks, such as allergic reactions, but again we accept the risks. We also accept that some foods are riskier than others, and while we may handle them with more care, we still eat them. Risk assessment basically consist of providing the answers to three questions: What can go wrong? How likely is it? How bad would it be? Risk analysis examines the answers and compares them to various alternatives so that the least risky pathway can be followed (risk management). Risk assessment is science. Risk management is art. It depends on the values and experiences of society, which then decides which types and degrees of risks are acceptable and which are not. This is where the Agriculture Research Service (ARS) comes in. Research provides answers to the risk assessment questions. The answers may differ greatly depending on circumstances. For example, if genetic engineering simply moves a gene for a common food ingredient from one safe food crop to another, this does not expose consumers to new components in their food supply. The added risk to food safety is very small. But if a genetically engineered plant contains a pharmaceutical or other new compound that must be kept out of the food supply, the answers could be very different. This is why ARS committed $24 million in fiscal year 2004 to biotechnology risk assessment and risk mitigation research, an increase of more than $8 million compared to fiscal year 2002. The research covers many topics, from assessing allergenicity of GE foods to blocking the movement of genes from GE crops to non-GE crops in the field. Part of the reason for ARS to carry out risk assessment research is to provide data on the trans-genic products of its own research projects. But there is more to it than that. ARS is supported by public tax dollars, and it takes on issues important to the public good that can’t be done elsewhere. For example, ARS is monitoring insect resistance to Bt on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency. (Some crops have been genetically engineered to contain Bt, a bacterium that controls certain insect pests.) It’s a long-term, continuous effort that’s national in scope and best done by a single organization. Data will be drawn from the Bt crop varieties of multiple seed companies, so it isn’t research that a single company could carry out. What happens when research detects a significant risk? If the product is important and there is no other way of producing it, then research to reduce risk is appropriate. ARS is developing several tools to decrease or eliminate some of the risks that might be associated with trangenics. For example, if a plant needs protection against a leaf-feeding pest, the protective agent need not also be present in the grain (that’s harvested for food). The first defense against risk is to choose safe genes well and carefully and prove their suitability. A second line of defense is a risk mitigation strategy, in this case blocking accumulation of the new material in the grain. The technology to direct synthesis of these agents, such as Bt, to specific tissues is known and under development but not yet perfected. ARS is not alone in carrying out risk assessment research. Companies that produce genetically engineered seeds or genes collect a lot of specific information about their products to prove safety. The public sector (USDA and state universities), however, generally takes a broader approach, attempting to bring out principles and issues beyond specific products. In addition to ARS’s in-house research, USDA funds a competitively awarded grants program for research on biotechnology risk assessment. That program focuses on environmental risk and is supported by a 2 percent levy on all biotechnology research funded by USDA. The aim of all this research is to provide useful and important agricultural products to feed and clothe the world—now and well into the future. If genetic engineering is to fulfill its potential, it must be the safest way to meet that lofty goal. Moreover, it must be accepted as such by the public that eats the food. Until both those goals are reached, our work is not done. [ Return to Top ] The Science of Fly Control The following is an article originally printed in Volume 4 number 6 of “Town and Country” but is still pertinent at this time. Sometimes there is science to be learned in the most unexpected places. Youth can take scientific experiments and utilize them to solve problems in their every day lives. One excellent example of this is the science behind fly management in and around dairy and livestock barns. There are many pests that can be found in and around dairy and livestock barns, however one of the most common is the house fly. In addition to being a nuisance to the animals, house flies can affect the relationship between a farm and it’s non-farm neighbors due to both their nuisance factor as well as the fact that they have considerable potential for transmitting diseases and parasites. For this reason, this article will focus on the management of the house fly and how youth can study flies and make decisions that will help reduce fly populations. House flies (Musca domestica) are nonbiting insects that breed in animal droppings, manure piles, decaying silage, spilled feed, bedding, and other organic matter. They can complete their life cycle from egg to adult (egg, larva, and pupa) in 10 days under ideal conditions in summer months. Each female lives 10-21 days and can produce 150 to 200 eggs, which she lays in batches at 3-4 day intervals. One activity that youth can do to get a real feel for how flies breed and multiply is by actually “growning” flies in a controlled environment. Another one would be to go looking for fly eggs, larvae, and pupa on their farm. Common fly breeding sites on livestock operations include locations in and around calf hutches especially inside corners; silo leak and spill areas; animal stalls and pens, feed preparation, storage, and manger areas; near water sources; calf, hospital, and maternity areas; water tanks; feed troughs; inside and outside manure handling areas. Another experiment would be to monitor house flies using either baited traps or spot cards. Baited traps are gallon plastic milk jugs in which four 2-inch holes have been cut in the upper part of the sides to allow flies attracted to bait placed on the inside bottom of the jug to enter. The traps are suspended from rafters or other building supports with 18-24 inch long wires. Spot cards are 3/5 inch white file cards that are attached to obvious fly resting surfaces (areas with large numbers of fly fecal and regurgitation spots). The number of baited traps or spot cards required will vary according to the size of the barn, but there should be a minimum of five at equidistant locations throughout each animal housing unit. These monitoring devices are left for 7 days. Then the number of flies collected in the traps or the number of fecal and vomit spots on the spot cards are counted. Baited trap catches in excess of 250 flies per week or spot card counts of over 100 spots per card per week are considered high levels of fly activity. House flies in the Northeast are active from May through October; populations peak from mid-July through mid-September. There are several methods to control flies.
Certain practices should be followed no matter what the fly density is and
some may be based on the fly density. The first and most important
practice involves cultural control practices. Sanitation is the most
important practice in effective fly control. The fly life cycle requires
that immature flies live in manure, moist hay, spilled silage, wet grain,
or a similar environment for 10-21 days depending on temperature. Weekly
removal and spreading of materials in which flies breed helps to break the
fly’s life cycle. Waste management is therefore the first line of defense
in developing an effective fly management program. It is much easier and
less costly to prevent a heavy fly buildup than to attempt to control
large fly populations once they have become established. Another way to minimize the amount of favorable outdoor fly breeding sites includes spreading manure and bedding as thinly as possible to ensure it dries out quickly. It should also be disked under to help kill fly larvae and pupae that may be present, especially under cool or over cast weather conditions, which slow the manure drying process. Drainage problems that allow manure to mix with mud and accumulate along fence lines in exercise yards should be eliminated. Finally, gaps under feed bunks where moist feed can accumulate should be sealed. The use of sticky tapes, paper and ribbons are very effective for managing small to moderate fly populations. In the case of more substantial populations, one can use either Biological or Chemical Controls. In the past, management of flies in dairy and livestock barns often relied solely on insecticide use. But this single-tactic approach can aggravate fly populations’ resistance to insecticides and inadvertently destroy natural enemies of flies. Today successful farmers are combining careful use of pesticides with other integrated pest management (IPM) practices. An excellent scientific experiment kids can do on the farm is to take flies and put them in two or more jars. One jar they use as a control. Then in each of the other jars they spray different pesticides that are commonly used on flies. This will give them an idea of what the effectiveness is of each and whether there is any resistance…..did the chemical effectively kill the flies? Flies have natural enemies that are commonly present in dairy and livestock barns. Beetles and mites devour fly eggs and larvae. Ply pupae are attacked by small parasitoids. Unnoticed and unaided by us, these natural bio-control agents can take a heavy toll on the fly population. The species that is best adapted to farms in the northeast is Muscidifurax raptor (looks kind of like a miniature wasp), which attacks fly pupae inside barns as well as outside and is the main naturally occurring parasitoid on our farms. Some farms are purchasing these and releasing them on their farms. A great experiment would be to purchase some of the parasitoids and “feed them” fly pupa and watch them work!!! Note: releasing parasitoids is only effective if certain conditions are met. 1) Waste management is a must, they can’t replace manure management. 2) Make sure any insecticides you use are compatible with parasitoids- you don’t want to buy them then kill them! 3) Make sure you are purchasing the right ones for your farm, not all are the right species for the northeast….. 4) Start to release them early (May is good) and continue weekly until the middle of August (follow directions for proper release). 5) Release enough! Weekly releases of either 200 per milking cow or 1,000 per calf have proven effective in research trials. But every farm is different, and release rates and schedules may require adjustments to achieve a level that is both effective and affordable for an individual farm. Note: in research trials, the cost of releasing parasitoids has been more than offset by reductions in insecticide treatments. On average, dairy farmers who use biocontrol in fly IPM programs make 80% fewer insecticide treatments than farmers who rely solely on insecticides for fly control. In addition, fly populations on IPM farms are about 50% lower than on conventionally managed farms. It is important to understand, however, that no single fly management strategy alone will provide long-term control. By studying flies, their breeding habits and environmental needs, youth can learn practices that will help them control one of the most abundant pest on a farm. Hands on experiments make the information gained “real” and memorable. The above article was excerpted from Dairy
Management Fact Sheet “Integrated Management of Flies [ Return to Top ] Getting Started With Meat Goats What do I expect from my meat goat operation? Many people start a meat goat operation with little financial planning. Goats are enjoyable animals. It's fun to go on expeditions to buy a few, and they multiply. When the realization hits that you are spending substantial time caring for a few goats and selling surplus kids, it's tempting to justify it by expanding into a commercial operation. Before you do, try to determine what you expect from this enterprise, and research the feasibility of these expectations. How much money do you hope to make? Enough to contribute to your land taxes? Or, enough to quit your day job and support yourself on the farm? How do you feel about your own labor? Do you need to justify your labor by paying yourself a wage similar to what you would earn off farm? Or can you justify the labor as being valuable not for money but as a substitute for a workout at a health spa or as an aid to your mental well-being? If you expect to raise goats as a means to quit your outside job, be sure to evaluate what other options you have. The great thing about goats is they are relatively easy to handle. And the death of one meat goat is usually easier to handle financially than the death of a larger, more expensive animal. But would you do better with another enterprise? Is your land suitable for vegetables or fruits, something with a higher return per acre than livestock? If so, do you have the capital and experience to get started in these businesses or absorb their risks? How are other livestock projects doing in your area? Have you explored dairy replacement heifers or specialty livestock? Four important figures to have are: 1) the approximate annual costs of rearing a doe and her kids in your region; 2) average market value of slaughter goats; 3) the carrying capacity of your land and facilities; and 4) what sort of productivity you can expect from a doe under your farm conditions. One way to get estimates of these figures is to talk to other goat producers. However, some producers are so busy caring for their animals they have problems reciting these figures off the top of their head, or have a mental block against it. In truth, you will probably have to go to several sources to estimate these figures. Several resources and websites that provide educational materials to Northeast producers are listed in the Resource Spotlight accompanying this article. Some of these resources contain sample budgets and case studies. However, I need to emphasize the value of talking to local contacts to get realistic parameters for your area. Finding out from local producers or agricultural extension agents how much money is being paid for slaughter kids may also serve as a reality check. If you are envisioning an enterprise based on show or breeding stock rather than commercial animals, you need to be realistic about market values, and about the percentage of your kid crop that you can reasonably expect to sell as anything but slaughter animals. If you're thinking about breeding stock, are there shows for meat goats or a particular breed in your region? Are you prepared to put substantial energy into promotion and attending shows? Is there any reason that folks should buy breeding stock from you rather than the person you bought your breeding stock from? Is there a demand for 4-H market wethers in your area? Are you willing to promote 4H meat goat projects in your region to the point of being a 4-H leader? Even if you limit yourself to selling slaughter animals, you can run into problems with accidentally inflating your expected profit. Are you basing the average price received for your large potential kid crop on what you've made selling a few kids yearly to a specialty customer? It is a good idea to first set up your financial plan using past prices from better known regional auctions during times of year when the demand for goat is high and see if you can break even. This exercise educates you about the time of year different types of slaughter goats are in demand, and also helps emphasize the importance of putting energy into making marketing contacts. What goat meat market am I aiming for? You may eventually plan on selling direct to retailers, on-farm to consumers, or marketing a value-added product. The return from these enterprises should be more than selling live animals to meat packers, livestock dealers or marketing pools. However, these direct marketing strategies generally require extra expenditures in labor and/or capital. It is probably best to make the assumption in your first financial plan that you will initially sell through middlemen. Even if selling through middlemen, you need to decide early on whether you will market suckling kids, weaned market kids or both. The demands and economic returns from each of these enterprises are different. Suckling kids are milk fed, plump kids 3 months old or younger, and are especially in demand at Easter, Christmas and New Years. Prices received by producers for these kids range from about $1.35 to $2.10 per lb live weight and vary according to the quality of the kids and the access you have to competitive buyers. Unthrifty kids may sell for less than this, and farms selling directly to consumers or retails may receive more especially when supply is short. Boer cross kids generally grade better than other kids. Buyers will generally have specific weight requirements somewhere between 18 to 55 lbs depending on their customer base and ethnicity. It is easy to have kids for Easter but difficult to produce suckling kids for the winter holidays. This is because goats tend to breed in the fall when the days are getting shorter rather than in late spring when days are lengthening. Despite ease of getting does pregnant for Easter kids, keep in mind that does give birth 5 months after conception. Thus, Easter kids are born during winter. If you are going to produce them you absolutely need to invest in a draft free, comfortable, yet well ventilated barn and excellent winter feed to their dams during late pregnancy and lactation. Frigid temperatures at birth leading to frozen or weak newborns are the main problems with raising these kids. Pneumonia and bacterial diarrhea problems from poorly ventilated barns and over-crowding can also be problems. In contrast, you can opt to produce market kids. These kids are in demand for Muslim Holidays and also at Christmas, New Years and Easter. They are often born in late March through early May and graze out on pastures until slaughter at anywhere from 45-90 lbs in late summer through early spring. Unlike suckling kid enterprises, you do not need a substantial barn. Instead, you need pasture (and a substantial investment in goat proof fencing) or an economic source of good quality roughage to base their diet on. The amount of more expensive supplemental grain needed during late pregnancy and lactation and for weaned kids will depend on the quality of your roughage. These kids generally sell for less per lb than suckling kids, ranging from about $.80 to $1.25 per lb live weight depending on breed, quality and your access to buyers. Again, unhealthy animals may bring less, and direct sales may bring more, especially when the demand is high and supply short. Internal parasites are probably the biggest problem with raising these kids. What's a good herd size to start out with,
and a good time of year to plan my first kidding season? Starting out small also gives you a chance to make mistakes in selecting your first breeding stock. If you inadvertently put together a poor herd, you don't have to commit to them forever. When selecting stock, take an experienced goat producer with you. Keep in mind that your goal is to select healthy does (or their daughters), free of contagious diseases, that have proven highly productive under herd management systems similar to yours. If you are going to pasture your animals be sure to choose from pastured herds. Another reason to start with a smaller herd is that your first kidding season can be quite a learning experience. It is depressing and financially devastating to lose a lot of kids all at once. Starting out with a smaller herd gives you a chance to find out whether you really have your act together for kidding. However, I must qualify this by saying that kidding itself is usually not the problem. Most does on a healthy diet kid fine without intervention. The devastating losses generally occur after kidding, due to internal parasites and the various diseases goat kids are susceptible too. Better to test out how well your facilities and management strategies hold up to these threats while your herd is still small, and your risk is manageable. It's also better to find out that you are not allowing enough space per doe or have overestimated the productivity of your pastures before you have a large herd. Plan on reaching your target herd size after your learning curve is starting to level out. Even if you have plenty of livestock experience, remember that you are trying out new facilities and/or locations. Coping with a wind chill of -15 F while kidding in a new location may not be in your plans, but it can happen. If you must start out initially with a large herd (for example, your bank loan was contingent on getting maximum production from year one) then I want to emphasize that you need to commit to three things. First, start out with the smallest sized herd you can rationalize. Secondly, make arrangements with an experienced lamb or goat producer to garnish all the hands-on experience you can before your own does start to kid. Thirdly, avoid kidding in the winter during your first year. Instead, try to kid in the milder months. The Northeast US can be quite cruel to newborn goat kids and new owners during the winter. New owners often have trouble identifying the signs of imminent kidding. Newborn kids in frigid weather often need fast intervention by experienced producers to get them off to a good start. If you're thinking about getting started with meat goats, I strongly advise that you put time into addressing the questions included here and preparing a solid financial plan. If at all possible, start small, avoid winter kidding your first year, get all the hands-on experience you can prior to owning your own stock, and plan on continuing your education during your first years by networking with other producers and attending educational workshops. For more information on meat goats visit www.smallfarms.cornell.edu. Click on Production, then click on Livestock. Tatiana Stanton is an Extension Associate in the Department of Animal Science at Cornell University. Her farm in Trumansburg, NY is home to a small herd of 30 meat does. This article first appeared in the Spring, 2004 issue of Small Farm Quarterly. Reprinted by permission of Cornell Small Farms Program. [ Return to Top ] Watering Christmas Poinsettias Too much water can be as bad as too little.
A healthy poinsettia tree (above) and an over- Poinsettia is perhaps the most common plant gift of the Christmas season. It is colorful, traditional and looks like it should be tough to withstand any conditions in the home. Many recipients assume that it will last for months in the home environment. Cared-for properly and the poinsettia will give weeks of color and pleasure to its owner. But, it can be challenging to grow poinsettias in the home under normal house conditions. Many homes are kept too hot, causing the air to dry out and leaves to drop. Occasionally the plant was fertilized in the greenhouse only minimally. Or the plant may have gotten a draft in the store where it was sold. If the plant already had leaves with a yellowish cast to them when you received it, then they will not last long into the winter. Often the red, white or pink bracts (often thought of as the flower itself) will stay on the plant longer than the green leaves. Perhaps the most important thing you need to care about is proper watering. The plant was often grown in a greenhouse in its pot, with a sophisticated watering system or trained greenhouse workers who watered it properly. Then it was sent off to the retail market for sale. If it stayed at the retail market more than a few days, it probably got watered a little less than perfectly. It was the holiday sales season, with busy shopkeeper, afterall. Then it was sold and the first thing they probably did was wrap colorful foil around the pot to make it more attractive as a gift. Then the problem really began. Every time after that when it was watered, the excess water was trapped inside that colorful foil around the pot. So the first thing you need to do to care for your holiday Christmas poinsettia is remove the foil. Set it on a plastic tray or ceramic dish to protect your furniture or sill. Keep the soil damp but not sopping wet. The dampness should feel cool to the touch. Lift up the pot after you have watered it. Take note of the weight of the pot with freshly watered soil. The weight will get lighter as the water is absorbed by the plant roots, but there reaches a point when it gets so light weight that is noticeable. It almost feels like a feather when it is dry. At that point, too, the soil actually has changed color from the dark (almost) black color of wet soil to a medium brown color of dry soil. You never want the soil to get to that light weight, medium brown colored soil. That would be under-watering it. And you never want the soil to always be that heavy weight, dark (almost) black colored soil. That would be over-watering it. Somewhere in between is best. Of course, that comes with experience to know what that "in-between" feel and color is like. How do you get that experience? Get in the habit of feeling the soil every day. Once you have removed that colored foil around the pot, it will be easier to get your finger down there to feel the top of the soil. It's takes 5 seconds of your time. That damp feel (I call it towel-damp) should be as uniform as possible each day. Catch it before it starts going dry, but if you always have that cold, wet feel then the plant roots are so stressed with all that extra water surrounding them that they begin to go into a kind of shock. That may be when you start seeing lower leaves drop off from over-watering. They may or may not turn yellow before they drop off. You may even see the flowers and leaves drooping, looking like they are wilted. Interestingly enough, lower leaves also drop off if you let the soil get too dry. Flowers and leaves can droop when they are under-watered, too. In fact, that's when they really are wilted. What you see (yellow leaves, dropped leaves, drooping or wilting) all looks the same to the untrained eye, but the cause could be as different as too much water or too little water. Only you will know which it is. Whenever you do water the plant, water it thoroughly until the water drips out of the holes at the bottom of the pot. That's what the holes are there for. Most people take the poinsettia to the kitchen sink to water it properly. Anyone who gingerly tries to water the plant with the pot sitting in its tray or dish on the living room end table will know that it is almost impossible to give the plant a thorough watering when you are more worried about spilling onto the furniture or getting the water into the pot evenly. Now how often should you water? It would be simple to give you a formula or routine here, but I will resist. In a greenhouse, where the temperature and air movement is more controllable, the commercial grower may have a predicable schedule. But in the home, there is inconsistency. Some homes are kept warmer than others. Sometimes you move the plant to a warmer or cooler spot for display. Displaying it in a window might be different from displaying it in a dark corner of the room. Sometimes the door opens more often over the holidays putting the poinsettia in a draft. You will just have to monitor the plant for yourself and figure out how often it needs water -- by touching the soil, color observation and how heavy the pot feels. You are probably saying right about now that you can't win. But you can. The majority of poinsettia caretakers at home do get it right. They do win the game of proper watering. Not too wet, not too dry, just right in-between. Enjoy. by Charlie Mazza, Senior Extension
Associate, Cornell Cooperative Extension [ Return to Top ] Cornell Website Aims to Please Small-Scale Farmers Did you know that, according to the USDA, 92 percent of the 32,000 farms in New York State are considered small farms? Small-scale farmers care for 50% of our 7.25 million acres of farmland. They account for 40% of New York farm product sales. Small farms support local businesses and communities, maintain our beautiful working landscapes, protect watersheds, and produce a mouth-watering array of delicious, farm-fresh products. But, small-scale producers sometimes have a difficult time finding information that's really suited to their needs. Cornell's Small Farms Program aims to solve this problem by making available research educational programs and information targeted to the needs of New York's small farms. As part of this effort, the Small Farms Web Site was launched in 2000 and has been growing ever since. The site is geared for small farm operators, as well as educators and service providers for the small-farm audience. The web site: www.smallfarms.cornell.edu, offers a wealth of information about all aspects of small-scale farming, including production issues, business management, marketing, beginning farmer issues, organic production, and support organizations. An annotated bibliography links you directly to hundreds of online articles, fact sheets, bulletins, and other resources. Sections of the web site include:
Overseeing the Small Farms Web Site is the Small Farms Task Group. This group includes farmers, Extension Educators, and Cornell faculty. There are also representatives from the NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets, NY Senate and Assembly, and non-governmental organizations. The Task Group's mission is "to support and encourage the sustainability for healthy, thriving small farms that contribute to food security, healthy rural communities, and the environment, by encouraging small farms focused research and extension programs, and fostering collaboration in support of small farms. |
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