LONDON, Ohio — Lee Beers said he saw low-impact logging, lots of it, when living in Maine during graduate school.
He says it can work in Ohio, too.
“I was surprised at the lack of awareness about this practice in Ohio,” said Beers, who moved here in January to start his job as an educator with Ohio State University Extension in Trumbull County. “This is a common logging practice in New England, and it would have value with Ohio forests.”
Compared with full-scale logging, low-impact logging uses smaller and more specialized equipment, he said. The practice has several goals: less erosion and compaction of the soil, less damage to surrounding trees and land, and a smooth start toward healthy regeneration of the forest.
“Low-impact logging can be...
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Two national experts on green labels and keeping them trustable are the featured speakers for September’s breakfast by the Environmental Professionals Network.
Laura Koss of the Federal Trade Commission and Tim Bartley of The Ohio State University will present “Eco-Labels, Certifications, Green Advertising: How Trustworthy Are Green Claims?” from 7:15 to 9:30 a.m. Sept. 15 in Ohio State’s Nationwide and Ohio Farm Bureau 4-H Center, 2201 Fred Taylor Drive in Columbus.
Registration, which includes breakfast, is $10 for members of the network and the public and free for Ohio State students. The deadline to register is noon Sept. 9.
Speakers from FTC, Ohio State
Koss is an attorney and assistant director of the FTC’s Division of...
LONDON, Ohio — Millions of ash trees have died in Ohio, meaning millions of chances exist for Ohioans to cut them down with chainsaws.
A series of talks at Farm Science Review will show how to do it safely.
The Review is a Sept. 20-22 trade show at the Molly Caren Agricultural Center in London, Ohio, about 25 miles west of Columbus.
The series, called “Chainsaw Safety and Maintenance,” will be given three times in the Review’s Gwynne Conservation Area: on Sept. 20 and Sept. 21 from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m.; and on Sept. 22 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Got a dead ash tree? Safety first
“With all the dead and dying ash trees out there” — no thanks to the emerald ash borer pest — “I really wanted to see an opportunity for landowners...
LONDON, Ohio — Get a good grip on manure using cover crops, says an expert with Ohio State University Extension.
“Cover crops are an excellent practice to utilize nutrients from manure for growing grain crops,” said Alan Sundermeier, an educator in OSU Extension’s Wood County office. “Capturing the manure nutrients with a growing plant will keep the nutrients on the field and out of waterways.”
Sundermeier, who’s also the director of that office, will give tips on getting cover crops off the ground — and then eventually back into it — as part of Wednesday and Thursday’s North American Manure Expo. The event is in London, about 25 miles west of Columbus.
His talk, called “Establishing Cover Crops,” is one of four...
LONDON, Ohio — Good manure management — practices that enrich the soil, keep water clean and save people money — is for more than cows, more than pigs, more than chickens, but for horses too.
So says Les Ober, who will speak on the topic at the Aug. 3-4 North American Manure Expo. The event is in London, about 25 miles west of Columbus.
“Over the years, more and more backyard horse owners have been stabling their animals in larger boarding stables,” said Ober, who’s an agriculture and natural resources program coordinator with Ohio State University Extension. “This concentrates a large number of animals on a small area of land.
“This can lead to water quality issues if the manure isn’t handled properly.”
Ober, who’s...
KINGSVILLE, Ohio — A new disease could put the squeeze on some of Ohio’s grapevines.
Called red blotch, it’s a featured topic — one of a bunch — at the Aug. 11 educational field day at the Ashtabula Agricultural Research Station in northeast Ohio.
The station, which is run by The Ohio State University, does research on growing grapes, especially grapes used to make wine. It’s at 2625 South Ridge East in Kingsville, about 65 miles east of Cleveland.
Andy Kirk, the station’s manager, said the free event, which goes from 2 to 4:30 p.m., is for anyone interested in Ohio’s $786 million grape and wine industry, including grape growers, wine industry workers, horticulture students, and food and wine journalists.
Red blotch new but an ‘...
MANSFIELD, Ohio — Learn the ABCs of using QGIS — in this case, to map tree cover, land use, water quality and similar data — in an Aug. 17 workshop in Mansfield.
QGIS is a free and open-source geographic information system, or GIS. It works on operating systems including Mac OS X, Linux, Unix and Microsoft Windows.
The workshop is for anyone who studies or works with natural resources, including forests, farmland, watersheds and wildlife, said Kathy Smith, coordinator of the event’s sponsor, the Ohio Woodland Stewards Program.
The stewards program is part of The Ohio State University and its College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences.
Taught by Ohio State expert
The instructor for the workshop will be Alexis Londo, a lecturer in the college...
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Susan Weber of Columbus-based Integrity Sustainable Planning and Design will headline the next breakfast of the Environmental Professionals Network on Aug. 9 at The Ohio State University.
Weber, an expert on sustainable landscape design, will present “Transforming Our Yards: Doing More for Family and Community” as part of the 7:15 to 10:20 a.m. event in Ohio State’s Nationwide and Ohio Farm Bureau 4-H Center at 2201 Fred Taylor Drive in Columbus.
She’ll look at alternatives to growing just lawns, including using the space for trees, wildlife habitat, bee and butterfly gardens, and fruit and vegetable plantings. Benefits can include fresh food for the home, “discovery” spaces for children, less time spent mowing and...
MANSFIELD, Ohio — Call it learning triage for trees.
The Ohio Woodland Stewards Program is holding a workshop on diagnosing tree problems — from holes in leaves to galls on twigs, thinning crowns to dying branches — on Aug. 5 in Mansfield.
Kathy Smith, coordinator of the program, said participants will learn how to tell if a tree needs immediate attention or not. Benefits can include faster treatment and better recovery on one hand and less urgency and expense on the other.
The workshop is mainly for tree and landscape professionals, she said. It offers continuing education credits under the Society of American Foresters’ Continuing Forestry Education program and the International Society of Arboriculture’s Certified Arborist program.
The Ohio Woodland...
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The North American Manure Expo is about to land in Ohio.
The big event, covering the serious business of using farm animal manure to help grow crops, while doing it safely and greenly, is Aug. 3-4 at the Molly Caren Agricultural Center in London, about 25 miles west of Columbus.
“Manure is an excellent source of nutrients for the crops we grow in Ohio and is probably one of the oldest forms of recycling we have,” said a co-chair of the event’s planning committee, Amanda Douridas. She’s an agriculture and natural resources educator in the Champaign County office of Ohio State University Extension.
Expo attendees will dig into a trade show, three tours, field demonstrations and about 40 educational sessions on 13 main topics. Some of those...
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Mike Hogan is stoked, really stoked, about urban farming in Columbus.
He hopes to share that excitement in the second annual Columbus Urban Farm Tour Series, which starts at the end of July.
“We’re seeing amazing community support for urban farmers,” said Hogan, who’s a co-organizer of the series and an agriculture and natural resources educator in the Franklin County office of Ohio State University Extension.
“When consumers find out what these farmers are doing, they’re all-in,” he said. “And these urban farmers are some of the coolest, most out-of-the-box thinkers and innovators I’ve worked with in 29 years.”
Hogan’s employer, OSU Extension, is part of The Ohio State University and its College...
WOOSTER, Ohio — To paraphrase an old U2 song, two plant parts can beat as one.
It’s called grafting, and you can learn how to do it at an upcoming event in Wooster’s Secrest Arboretum.
“You can use the skill to graft heirloom varieties of apples, for example, that might not be available commercially,” said the arboretum’s program assistant, Paul Snyder.
“It’s a helpful skill to learn because it makes you a better gardener if you understand the mechanics behind plant production.”
The arboretum’s Summer Grafting Workshop goes from 8 a.m. to noon July 20. Snyder will teach it. Registration is $40 and is limited to 10 people, Bono not included.
The arboretum is at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center. The center...
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Field days on the best ways to use nutrients on farms are set for late July in northwest and western Ohio.
Both events aim to help farmers maximize yields of their crops while minimizing nutrient runoff from their fields, said co-organizer Greg LaBarge, an agronomic field specialist with Ohio State University Extension.
Successfully doing that, he said, can lower input costs, raise profits and limit water quality threats such as harmful algal blooms.
OSU Extension is the outreach arm of the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences at The Ohio State University.
Learn all about the ‘4 Rs’
Participants at both events, which will have similar agendas, will learn “how the ‘4R’ principles of the right rate, timing...
PIKETON, Ohio — The July 28 Soil, Water and Bioenergy Field Night at the Ohio State University South Centers in Piketon will feature new and innovative ways to grow soybeans, corn and wheat in a changing climate.
Growing cover crops, practicing long-term no-till and spreading gypsum on the soil — all of which offer the triple benefit of better soil health, crop yields and water quality — also are on the agenda.
The topics at the event will “help farmers make knowledgeable decisions about best management practices that provide long-term economic and environmental benefits,” said Rafiq Islam, soil and bioenergy program leader at the centers.
The centers are part of the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences at The Ohio State...
Editor: June 20-26 is National Pollinator Week.
WOOSTER, Ohio — Ohio’s bees are more than honey bees. They’re bumble bees, carpenter bees, cuckoo bees and others, and you can identify more than a dozen of them — types you’re likely to see in your garden — using a new pocket card from The Ohio State University.
It’s just in time for National Pollinator Week, June 20-26, which is meant to raise awareness of pollinators — bees and their buddies — and the good they do for your yard, your food and in nature.
“Bees are essential pollinators,” said the card’s developer, Denise Ellsworth, who’s the program director of the Honey Bee and Native Pollinator Education Program in Ohio State’s College of Food,...
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Organizers say it’s about innovation.
Starting in August, the Sustainable Agriculture Team at The Ohio State University will present 10 tours of Ohio farms to spotlight new crops and methods.
“It’s an opportunity for participants to kick the tires on other farm operations and see how other folks are addressing sustainability issues,” said Mike Hogan, who’s a co-organizer of the series and a member of the team.
The free tours will feature topics including hops, grapes, high tunnels, organic farming, direct selling to consumers and farm to school programs. Urban farming will be a special focus. The lineup is part of the wider Ohio Sustainable Farm Tour and Workshop Series, which the team is co-presenting with five other...
MANSFIELD, Ohio — Take time this summer to get to know the woods in your own backyard.
So says Kathy Smith, forestry program director in the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences at The Ohio State University, who’s helping teach a workshop that will help you do just that.
“The Woods in Your Backyard” is from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. July 15 in 025 Ovalwood Hall on Ohio State’s Mansfield campus, 1760 University Drive. The campus is about 70 miles north of Columbus and 80 miles south of Cleveland.
The workshop is “for landowners who have a small section of woods out back that they want to learn more about,” said Smith, who leads the college’s Ohio Woodland Stewards Program. The program is the event’s sponsor.
Indoor,...
WOOSTER, OHIO — Ohio’s corn and soybean growers could soon be spraying a lot more of two powerful herbicides on their fields.
That’s why agricultural experts from The Ohio State University are offering tips on how to keep those herbicides from getting onto other crops, especially valuable specialty crops such as grapes.
Doug Doohan and Roger Downer, both of Ohio State’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences, are the authors of “Reducing 2,4-D and Dicamba Drift Risk to Fruits, Vegetables and Landscape Plants,” a new fact sheet that explains how herbicide sprays can drift onto nontarget fields, possible concerns about the herbicides 2,4-D and dicamba, and how to prevent unwanted damage to crops.
Doohan said the...
LANCASTER, Ohio — Farmers Josh and Lynne Schultz put more than eggs in their basket.
They put greens, sweet corn, cabbages, carrots, eggplants, tomatoes and potatoes in it, too — to name just a few.
Then they sell them straight to consumers through farmers markets and their own community supported agriculture program, or CSA.
The Schultzes run Schultz Valley Farms in Lancaster in southeast Ohio, a 200-acre family farm that yields a virtual smorgasbord. Not just fresh vegetables but beef, oats, herbs, baked goods and maple syrup are some of its wares.
“Josh and Lynne Shultz are amazing young producers,” said Jerry Iles, agriculture and natural resources educator with Ohio State University Extension’s Fairfield County office, also in Lancaster. “...
WOOSTER, Ohio — Paul Snyder, program assistant at Wooster’s Secrest Arboretum, will show you how to start new plants from your own cuttings on June 25.
He’ll give a public Cutting Propagation Workshop from 9 a.m. to noon in the arboretum’s field headquarters building, 2320 Selby Road, on the campus of the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center. OARDC’s main entrance is at 1680 Madison Ave.
OARDC and the arboretum are part of The Ohio State University and its College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences.
“Most of the workshop will be hands-on,” Snyder said. “We’ll go out and collect cuttings, then will prepare them and stick them in rooting media. Participants will get to take their cuttings home.”
How...
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The next breakfast program by the Environmental Professionals Network, a statewide professional group based at The Ohio State University, will look at improving America’s roads, bridges, water systems and more while also making them greener.
Aparna Dial, deputy administrator of the city of Columbus’s Department of Public Service, will present “Leadership for Sustainable Infrastructure” from 7:15 to 9:20 a.m. June 7 in Ohio State’s Nationwide and Ohio Farm Bureau 4-H Center, 2201 Fred Taylor Drive, in Columbus.
Dial previously was Ohio State’s director of energy services and sustainability.
‘Great experience and insights’
“She has great experience and insights on how to provide leadership to maintain, improve...
WOOSTER, Ohio — You find and buy a tree you love. You take it home from the garden center. You plant it exactly as the experts suggest. There’s one more thing to do: Learn how to prune it.
“Apart from proper plant selection and planting, pruning is perhaps the most important thing someone can do for overall plant health,” said Paul Snyder, program assistant at Wooster’s Secrest Arboretum.
“Too many people, including some so-called professionals, don’t know how to prune properly. They top trees, for example, and end up doing damage.”
Snyder will show how to avoid that damage — and help trees and shrubs look their best — in a June 8 workshop in the arboretum. The annual Summer Pruning Workshop goes from 8 a.m. to noon at the...
MANSFIELD, Ohio — You’re in luck — and being helpful — if your land has a wetland, says Marne Titchenell, a wildlife specialist in the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences at The Ohio State University.
“Wetlands are rare habitats that many plants and animals depend on,” she said. “Landowners who are willing to dedicate a portion of their land to a wetland are providing some much-needed homes for wildlife.”
She’ll co-teach a workshop on the topic June 3. Wetlands for Wildlife is from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Ohio State’s Mansfield campus, 1760 University Drive. The sponsor is the college’s Ohio Woodland Stewards Program.
The event is for “landowners wanting to learn more about the wetlands on their...
WOOSTER, Ohio — Paul Snyder has a new favorite redbud. And you can buy it very soon. And also many of its friends.
Snyder is a program assistant at Wooster’s Secrest Arboretum, which is holding its annual Plant Discovery Day fundraising event this Saturday, May 14.
The event features a sale and auctions of more than 400 kinds of trees, shrubs, herbs, annuals and perennials. Admission is free and open to the public. There’s also a pre-sale for members of the Friends of Secrest Arboretum on Friday, May 13.
Proceeds from the pre-sale, sale and auctions will help maintain the arboretum’s 115 acres of public plant collections, green space and gardens.
Features uncommon, hard-to-find plants
“Our plant sale is different from other plant sales in that we have...
MANSFIELD, Ohio — It pays to learn your trees, says a forestry specialist with The Ohio State University. And the school’s Mansfield campus in north-central Ohio is a great place to do it.
“Knowing how to identify your trees helps with diagnosing insect and disease issues,” said Kathy Smith, coordinator of Ohio State’s Ohio Woodland Stewards Program. “It also allows a landowner to better manage the tree. How much sunlight does it need to survive and thrive? Is it good for wildlife?”
On June 3, Smith and her colleague Jim Chatfield, a horticulture specialist with the university, will give a workshop on tree identification called Name That Tree. The stewards program is the sponsor.
The event is from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. starting in 100 Ovalwood Hall...
