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Tri-County Cattle Gathering

Texas Agrilife Extension Erath, Comanche, and Hamilton Counties will be offering an Online Tri-County Cattle Gathering beef cattle program October 20, 2020. Registration will begin at 12:30 – 1 p.m. The program will start at 1:00 pm.

Topics will include: Beef Cattle Nutrition, Beef Cattle Economic Outlook, and Weather & La Nina Outlook, Producer Question and Answer.

Top industry speakers will be Jason Smith – Extension Animal Science, Amarillo, Jason Johnson – Extension Economist, John Neilsen-Gammon-Texas State Climatologist

If you have not received the flier for the online program please contact the Texas AgriLife Extension Office Erath County to get the link emailed. Our office number is 254-965-1460.

Pre-emergence Herbicides on Lawns

Fall is here and time to treat your lawns. If you want to control some of your winter annuals, (annual bluegrass, rescue grass, henbit, and chickweed) early September is the time. Annual weeds germinate from seed each year and live for one growing season. The winter annuals germinate in the late summer or early fall and die the following spring or summer.

Now is the time to control some of your unwanted winter weeds.

Make sure to read the label before applying the herbicides, to understand application.

It is very important to get a uniform coverage so that there are not any stray weeds. To keep from losing some of your flowerbeds and shrubbery, make sure to apply herbicides only in the lawn area.

According to Dr. Hennen Cummings,” Be careful putting herbicides on St. Augustine grass. The fewer herbicides placed on St. Augustine grass the better. Even if St. Augustine grass is on the label, it may still be stunted for a month or more.

Fall pre-emergence herbicide applications for winter annual weed control (henbit, chickweed, annual bluegrass) are safer on St. Augustine grass than spring applications, but they control different weed spectrums. “

Don’t worry about adding high nitrogen fertilizers to your lawns this late in the year.

If you feel the need to put out a fertilizer use one that is high in potassium and iron with a little nitrogen. Something similar to (5-0- 31). Make sure and use slow release fertilizers and more is not always better.

The key to a weed free lawn is a dense turf. (Mow, fertilize & irrigate properly). Less sunlight on the soil surface will result in fewer weeds.

A good publication for reference is “Herbicides for Weed Control in Turfgrass,” available through the Texas AgriLife Extension Bookstore at http://agrilifebookstore.org.