PAULDING – The John Paulding Historical Society will hold its annual wine & cheese tasting fundraiser Saturday, Feb. 25.

The following article was adapted from an article entitled “More than 50 billion tons of topsoil have eroded in the Midwest” (Elizabeth Gamillo). The estimate of annual soil loss is double the rate of erosion USDA considers sustainable.

Colder temperatures and gusty winds have done their job of ridding the trees and shrubs of their leaves. Most of them, anyway. Some oaks and beeches like to hang onto their leaves long after the others have begun their process of decomposition to enrich the soil below.

As harvest progresses, farmers are finding vomitoxin in their corn. Gibberella (GIB) ear rot is caused by Fusarium graminearum, a fungus that is also called Gibberella zeae. This pathogen infects corn and wheat causing ear rot, stalk rot, and head scab. Corn symptoms include a reddish or pinkish-white mold on the ear tips. This pathogen infects the pollen tubes at pollination and then produces vomitoxin and other toxins as it grows. The pathogen over-winters on plant residue, usually corn stalks/leaves and wheat residue (straw and chaff).

After crops are harvested, fall is a good time to apply lime. While lime can be applied any time, ideally, the soil should be dry to allow good spreading with out rutting up a field. Here are some tips for fall lime spreading.

Beneficial soil fungus called mycorrhizae fungi (MF) can optimize crop yields. MF use to be abundant be MF must have a live root as a host. Plowing soil, fallow periods, and annual crops caused many beneficial MF to died off. Long fallow periods, 14-16 weeks; greatly reduce (85-98%) MF population levels while shorter fallow periods, 3-6 weeks; reduce MF populations 30-70%. Some hardy MF species survive in tilled crop land but using cover crops with a live root, can gradually increase MF populations over time (maybe 5-10 years). Inoculating a crop with MF spores speeds up the process and crops respond quickly.