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Ellis County K-State Research & Extension News
Winter Edition 2017
Ellis County Extension Office 601 Main Street, Suite A Hays, KS 67601 Phone: 785-628-9430 Fax: 785-621-2002 [email protected]
Stacy Campbell Agriculture
Susan Schlichting 4-H Youth Development
Holly Dickman Horticulture Linda Beech Family & Consumer Science
Theresa Meis Office Professional
www.ellis.ksu.edu
Click on the Facebook link to become a Fan of
Ellis County Extension
K-State Research and Extension is an equal opportunity provider and employer.
Emotional Appetite: The Food and Mood Connection Friday, January 27, 12:00 noon Extension meeting room, 601 Main, Hays After the indulgence of the holidays, many think about losing weight at this time of year. In fact, weight loss is annually one of the most common New Year’s resolutions. Many factors influence our eating behavior. But physical hunger is different from food cravings triggered by stress, boredom, and other emotions. This noon-hour program will help participants differentiate between physical and emotional hunger, identify emotional eating triggers, and find non-food activities to manage stress or other emotional food cravings. Linda Beech will be the instructor. Please register in advance for this free program at 785-628-9430 or [email protected] to ensure adequate materials. A minimum attendance is needed to hold this program. Know the 10 Signs of Alzheimer’s Disease– Early Detection Matters Wednesday, February 15, 12:00 noon Extension meeting room, 601 Main, Hays In the US, 1 in 3 senior citizens dies with Alzheimer’s disease or another form of dementia. Alzheimer’s is the 6th leading cause of death and accounts for 60-80% of all dementia cases. While there currently is no cure for Alzheimer’s, it is valuable to be aware of the common warning signs of the disease and seek early medical evaluation and di-agnosis if there is concern for yourself or a loved one. This presentation by Jamie Rathbun, Midway District agent, will review the 10 signs of Alzheimer’s disease and the benefits of early detection. Please register in advance for this program at 785-628-9430 or [email protected] to ensure adequate materials. A minimum attendance is needed to hold this program. Test for Radon During Winter Winter is the ideal time to test your home for radon, a colorless, odorless radioactive soil gas which enters from the soil beneath a home. Radon is a leading cause of lung cancer in the U.S. A simple radon test kit is available at the Extension Office for $6.00.
Linda Beech-Family & Consumer Science –[email protected]
Board Leadership Series in February-March Informed and committed board members are the key to healthy, effective boards and committees in our Kansas communities K-State Research and Extension’s Board Lead-ership Series will provide an opportunity for board members to learn the basics of being a good board member. Whether you are a member of a church board, a township board, a United Way agency board, or a rural water board, this training is appropriate for you. ● February 21- Roles & Responsibilities of Board Members/Effective Meetings ● February 23- Understanding Fellow Board Members/Conflict Resolution ● February 28 Fundraising and Fiscal Respon-sibilities/Legal and Ethical Issues ● March 2- Strategic Planning All sessions will be conducted from 6:00-8:00 pm at the Ellis County Extension Office meeting room in Hays. Workshop participants will meet at sites throughout the state to take part in web-based instruc-tion and locally facilitated discussion. Pre-registration is required by February 10. The cost is $40 for all four sessions. Each registration buys one seat which can be rotated by participants, if desired. Registration includes refreshments and a Board Basics workbook. More information is available at: https://goo.gl/qavDAq
Farmers Market Vendor Training Workshop Friday, February 17, 9:00 am- 3:00 pm KSU Ag Research Center Auditorium, Hays Farmers markets are growing across the state and provide an important source of fresh fruit, vegeta-bles, meat and other products from small towns to large metropolitan areas. To support Kansas farmers mar-kets, K-State Research and Extension will team up with the KS Department of Agriculture and KS Depart-ment of Health and Environment to offer four training workshops for farmers markets vendors and managers. The Hays location is the only workshop in western Kansas. Topics include successful farmers market vend-ing, beekeeping basics, regulations for selling meat, eggs and poultry direct to consumers, food safety in-spection requirements and more. Vendors can also
bring their sales scale to be tested and certified FREE by the Kansas Department of Agriculture. The cost is $20 per person which includes lunch. (Lunch is not guaranteed for late registration after Feb. 7.) Register and pay online at www.FromtheLandofKansas.com/FMConference or contact the Ellis County Extension Office for more information. “Preserving the Family With Estate Planning” Workshop Tuesday, February 21, 5:30- 9:00 pm KSU Ag Research Center Auditorium, Hays Plan to attend one of the regional estate plan-ning workshops offered by K-State Research and Ex-tension at two locations in February: Tuesday, Febru-ary 21, 2017 at the Ag Research Center in Hays and Monday February 27, 2017 at the American Legion Hall in Atwood. An attorney and two Extension experts will pre-sent information on getting started in estate planning; estate planning basics with do’s & don’ts; and planning for farm and small business transition. A meal and ma-terials are included in the $20 registration fee. Addi-tional family members are only $15 each if registered together by February 13. Late or on-site registration is $30 per person; meal and materials cannot be guaran-teed. For more information or to register online, go to www.northwest.ksu.edu under Events or call the County Extension Office at 785-628-9430. National Festival of Breads Entry deadline- January 16 Youth and adult home bakers can enter their original bread recipes online at http://nationalfestivalofbreads.com Youth ages 8 to 17 may enter a quick bread or yeast bread recipe. Adults ages 18 and up may enter any of these yeast bread categories: Time Saving & Simple, Holiday Breads, Rolls and Whole Grain. A complete list of rules and (cash!) prizes may be found at the website, above, or contact Cindy Falk, Kansas Wheat, 785-539-0255.
Linda Beech-Family & Consumer [email protected]
Volunteer Quantity Food Safety Wednesday, February 15, 6:00-7:00 pm Ellis Public Library, Ellis Food is a great way to bring people together, and selling food is a key way for nonprofit groups to raise needed funds. However, cooking large quantities of food for events such as community meals, concession stands or funeral dinners is different than cooking for a family. For example, do you know if you need a license for your event? Can you be inspected? Do you use a food thermometer and know how to calibrate it for ac-curacy? At this program, volunteers will learn the im-portant food safety steps to take when preparing food for a crowd. Participants will also learn to calibrate a food thermometer and do high-speed handwashing. All who attend will receive a food safety checklist for quantity events. Linda Beech, Ellis County Extension Agent and certified food safety instructor, will be the instructor. There is no charge for this program, but advance registration is needed to ensure adequate materials. Call the Ellis Recreation Commission at 785-726-3718 or register online at www.ellisrec.org. A minimum attend-ance is needed to hold this program.
Is It Safe? Understanding Genetically Engineered Food for Consumers Thursday, March 9, 12:00 noon Extension meeting room, 601 Main, Hays Consumers are increasingly interested in where their food comes from, and may be concerned about the health implications of various food production methods. The words Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) can be intimidating, sounds very technical or maybe even scary to some. This might be due to the fact that consumers simply may not fully understand what a GMO is, how they are developed, and the potential ben-efits of GMO foods. Stacy Campbell, Ellis County Agriculture Agent, will present an introductory overview on genetically engineered (GE) foods (commonly referred to as GMOs), as well as safety information on these products. Please pre-register for this free program at the Ellis County Extension Office, 785-628-9430, to ensure adequate materials. A minimum number is needed to hold this class. Walk Kansas Begins March 19 Can you meet the challenge of walking across– or around– the state? Walk Kansas is an 8-week health and fitness program from K-State Research and Exten-
sion encouraging teams of six people to walk for their health from March 19 through May 13. The cost is $8 per person which provides weekly newsletters, educational activities, motivational team-work and statewide support. Participants may purchase an optional Walk Kansas t-shirt for an additional cost. Walk Kansas is a great way to build a healthy lifestyle. Team registration information will be availa-ble in mid-February online at www.walkkansas.org. Registration deadline is March 10. Fixing Funky Foods Tuesday, March 28, 12:00 noon Extension meeting room, 601 Main, Hays Instructor: Donna Krug, Barton County FCS agent Each year over 20,000 new foods are introduced on grocery store shelves. In addition to new food prod-ucts, a larger variety of fruits, vegetables and grains are being added to even small town grocery stores. This lesson will cover a variety of foods that date as far back in history as Babylon in 3000 BC. In-cluded for each food are the nutritional benefits, a way to prepare and history or interesting facts. The goal of this program is for participants to add variety to their diet by choosing nutritious foods that were not familiar before the lesson.
Prepare for Winter Power Outage Now is the time to prepare for a power outage that sometimes comes with ice storms or heavy snow. Here are some ideas to be better prepared for power loss in winter: 1. Stock a survival kit with a flashlight and ex-tra batteries, candles and matches, battery-powered port-able radio, sterno-type canned cooking fuel and some simple foods which can be eaten cold or with saucepan heating. 2. Gather emergency heating supplies such as extra firewood for a fireplace or fuel for other types of portable heaters. 3. Put a thermometer in each freezer and re-frigerator to monitor the temperature of food supplies. During an outage, do not open the refrigerator or freezer door any more than is necessary. An unopened refriger-ator will keep food safely cold for about 4 hours. A full freezer will hold the temperature for about 48 hours (24 hours if half full.) 4. Freeze large chunks of ice in clean plastic jugs or containers to place in freezers or refrigerators as needed. These can quickly be frozen outside overnight if you have the containers on hand. Obtain dry ice if the power is going to be out for a prolonged period of time.
Linda Beech-Family & Consumer [email protected]
Cover Your Acres Winter Conference January 17-18, 2017 Oberlin, KS.
To see a full schedule and to register online go to link below or see the enclosed flier. www.northwest.k-state.edu/coveryouracres
Early bird registration deadline is January 11th.
Register on-line now!
Top 10 Considerations to Navigate a Struggling Farm Economy February 6, 2017 (Monday) 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Agricultural Research Center – Hays
RSVP & $15 registration due by Jan. 30th
The program brochure is enclosed.
Preserving the Family with Estate Planning Workshop February 21st, Tuesday 5:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Agricultural Research Center – Hays $20/person, $15 for each additional family member.
Families must register together for discount. Early registration due Feb. 13th
The program brochure is enclosed.
Weed Control in Field Crops - Hays Feb. 27th (Monday) 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Location – Ellis Co. Extension Mtg. Room at 601 Main Street, Hays.
Herbicide resistant weed control will be the focus of this weed control update.
Topics: • Weed Control Strategies for Wheat, Grain
Sorghum, Corn and Soybeans • Questions & Answers
Presenters – Curt Thompson & Dallas Peterson, K-State Weed Control specialists.
A noon meal will be served - RSVP requested for meal count by Friday, Feb. 24th. Call 625-3270 anytime (leave message, ext. 1) or email Theresa at [email protected]
Weed Control in Field Crops - Russell March 2, 2017 Dole, Specter Conference Center, Fossil Creek Hotel, Russell
If you can’t make the weed control mtg. on the 27th in Hays, you have another opportunity close-by in Russell.
For further details or to RSVP contact the Midway Extension District in Russell at 785-483-3157 or email Michelle [email protected]
K-State Corn Management School scheduled for January 11, 2017 A K-State Corn Production Management School will be offered on January 11, 2017 at the Buffalo Bill Cultural Center in Oakley, KS to provide in-depth training targeted for corn producers. The school will be primarily sponsored by Kansas Corn Commission and Pioneer Company.
The one-day school will cover up-to-date and specific corn topics: drought tolerant hybrids, high-yielding corn factors, weed, insect & disease control, soil fertili-ty, price and market perspectives. The School will begin at 8:30 a.m. and end at 2:30 p.m. An industry tour of an ethanol plant will follow at the conclusion of the School.
Lunch will be provided courtesy of the sponsors. There is no cost to attend, but participants are asked to pre-register before January 8th.
To register call the Gove County Extension office at (785)938-4480 or contact your local Extension office. Historic Brand Applications From a question I was recently asked I have learned that the Kansas Department of Agriculture, Livestock Brands Program is offering the following service or opportunity to descendants of original brand owners.
The original, paper brand applications dating back to 1939 are now being stored digitally. Rather than throw away these historic documents, the Brands Program is making them available on a first-come-first-serve basis to descendants of the original brand owners. These applica-tions are an important piece of history, not only for Kan-sas, but also for the family legacies touched by brands.
For a copy of the Historic Kansas Brand Application Request Form, go to the link below or type into your internet browser box Brands Program, Kansas Depart-ment of Agriculture. https://agriculture.ks.gov/docs/default-source/dah---forms/brand-app-order-form.pdf?sfvrsn=2
Stacy Campbell– [email protected]
K-State Sorghum Production Schools
A series of four K-State Sorghum Production Schools will be offered in late January and early February 2017 to provide in-depth training targeted for sorghum producers and key stakeholders. The schools will be held at four locations around the state. The one-day schools will cover a number of issues facing sor-ghum growers: weed control strategies; production practices; nutrient fertility; and insect and disease management.
The dates and locations of the K-State Sorghum Production Schools are:
Jan. 31st – Colby: City Limits Convention Center, 2227 S Range Ave Kurt Sexton, Thomas Co. Extension, [email protected], 785-460-4582
Feb. 1st – Wichita: Sedgwick Co. Extension Center, 7001 W 21st St N Zach Simon, Sedgwick Co. Extension, [email protected], 316-660-0100
Feb. 2nd – Concordia: Cloud County Community College, 2221 Campus Drive Kim Kohls, River Valley Extension District, [email protected], 785-243-8185
More information on the final program for each Sorghum School will be provided in future issues of the Agronomy eUpdate.
Lunch will be provided courtesy of Kansas Grain Sorghum Commission. There is no cost to attend, but participants are asked to pre-register by Jan. 27. Online registration is available at: K-State Sorghum Schools
You can also preregister by emailing or calling the nearest local Research and Extension office for the location you plan to attend. Cover Crop Workshop February 7th at 11 a.m. St. Wenceslaus Parish Hall, Wilson KS. RSVP by Jan. 31 to: [email protected] 785-483-3157
Shawn Tiffany with Tiffany Cattle Company, Herring-ton will discuss the benefits cover crops offer for graz-ing & soil health. Also there will be a Producer Panel Discussion.
Preplant Corn School February 23, 2017 St. Wenceslaus Parish Hall Wilson, KS
1. Welcome – 9 AM 2. Insects in Corn (Sarah Zukoff) - 9.10 AM 3. Corn production practices (Lucas Haag) - 9.50 AM 4. Break (10.30 – 10.40 AM) 5. Diseases in Corn (Doug Jardine) - 10.50 AM 6. Looking at planting practices and early season in corn (Ignacio Ciampitti) - 11.30 AM 7. LUNCH (12:10 – 12:50 PM) 8. Weed Management (Curtis Thompson) – 12:50- 1:30 9. Economics (Dan O’Brien) – 1:30-2:10 PM 10. End – 2:10 PM
For further details on the pre-plant corn school contact Midway Extension District in Ellsworth at 785-472-4442. New K-State 2017 Chemical Weed Control Guide now available online The new K-State 2017 Chemical Weed Control Guide is now available online at: http://www.bookstore.ksre.ksu.edu/pubs/SRP1132.pdf
Hard copies of this publication will be available soon in local Extension Offices. Grain Marketing Strategy Workshops Otis, February 14th, (Tuesday) Cougar Den on Main Street adjoining Community Bank—Registration at 8:30am, Meeting at 9:00am For further details contact Jared Petersilie 785-222-2710, [email protected]
WaKeeney, February 23rd 4-H Building, Trego Co. Fairgrounds 8:30-12:00
Grain Marketing Strategies for 2017 Program Schedule:
• Grain Marketing Outlook • Marketing Strategies Over the Last 20
Years…..What has worked • Marketing Strategies for 2017 • Hands-On Scenarios
Free event with morning refreshments. Pre-register by February 20th
Contact Golden Prairie Extension District, Gove office at (785) 938-4480.
Stacy Campbell– [email protected]
Horticulture Info on Social Media Do you use social media? If so, like/follow the Ellis County Extension Office, the Ellis County Extension Master Gardeners, and Holly Dickman. An increased effort will be made in 2017 to provide timely horticultural infor-mation on as many social media outlets as possible. By liking/following the social media sites below (as well as our posts/tweets/pins, etc.) you will not only gain educational information yourself, but spread the word to others that might not be aware of the information we can provide!
Find timely horticulture information at the following:
Twitter: Holly@EllisCoHort
Facebook: K-State Research and Extension - Ellis County Ellis County Extension Master Gardeners
Pinterest: EllisCoExtensionHorticulture
Plant Hardiness Put to the Test? The extreme cold we experienced in December have some people concerned. The "official low temperature" on the coldest night, December 18th, was -16 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the KSU Ag Research Center in Hays. The record low for that date, set back in 1927, was -8° F. When we talk about plant hardiness zones for landscape plants, the USDA has Ellis County in the Zone 6 category which has a minimum temp of -10°. I have always rec-ommended people to still consider our area as a zone 5 which has a minimum temp of -15° when it comes to hardy plant selection...we got colder than that! Will we see damage to our landscape plants? Possibly, on some of our less winter hardy varieties, but only time will tell!
See this link to learn more about Plant Hardiness Zones: http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/
(continued)
Holly [email protected]
What about Tree Damage? Many of you may remember the November 2014 freeze when the temperature dropped from the upper 60’s to the teens overnight. Damage to trees was spotty and varied but very noticeable. Most trees showed no damage at all. Also, damage did not show up right away. Back then we saw all of the following.
• Trees died over winter and didn’t leaf out in the spring. • Trees leaved out and then either all the tree or a portion of the tree died seemingly overnight. • Trees looked stressed and then either recovered or died either in 2015 or, in some cases, 2016. • Trees lost bark but continued to bear leaves until the tree suddenly died. This often occurred late in 2015 or
they survived until 2016 and then died.
So, what happened in 2014? Much of it is related to damage to the living tissue under the bark. The sharp drop in temperature killed at least a portion the phloem and the cambium. Phloem carries food made in the leaves to all parts of the plants including the roots. The cambium produces new phloem as well as xylem. Xylem will be dis-cussed later. Now that the phloem is dead and the cambium cannot produce new, living phloem, the roots don’t re-ceive the food needed to survive and eventually starve to death.
Why didn’t these trees die immediately? First of all, a healthy root system has stored energy reserves that it can use to keep the tree alive. When those reserves are depleted, the tree dies very quickly. However, a tree also needs wa-ter. Since the living portion of the trunk was killed, wouldn’t this stop water flow? Actually, it would not. This is due to how a tree grows and, specifically, how xylem works. Xylem is the structure that carries water from the roots to the top portions of the plant. Even in perfectly healthy trees, most of the xylem is dead. This dead xylem forms hollow tubes that carry the vast majority of water and nutrients throughout the plant. Though there are living xylem cells, the contents of those cells make them inefficient in moving water. Therefore, the functional portion of the xylem wasn’t hurt by the freeze because it was already dead. Since this xylem system still works, the tree can live for quite a period of time until the roots starve.
Does that mean a tree with cracking or lost bark will die? It all depends on how much of the living tissue under the bark was killed. If only a small portion was damaged, then the tree may recover. If the entire circumference was killed, it is done for and there isn’t anything you can do to save it.
Hopefully our trees were hardened off enough to escape damage and the extreme cold experienced in December wasn’t too “extreme” but again, it is a “wait and see” situation.
Holly [email protected]
Conservation Trees from the Kansas Forest Service The Kansas Forest Service offers low-cost tree and shrub seedlings for use in conservation plantings. Plants are one to two years old and sizes vary from 5 to 18 inches, de-pending on species. Orders are accepted from now through the first full week in May each year, but order early to insure getting the items you want. Orders are shipped from the second week of March through May 1.
Approved uses for these plants include windbreaks, wood lots, riparian plantings, wildlife habitat and Christmas trees. They may not be used for landscape (ornamental) plantings or grown for resale. Though a single species can be purchased, three special bundles are also available including pheasant, quail and songbird bundles. All items are sold in units. Each unit consists of a number of plants; usually 25. For example, a unit of Eastern red cedar has 25 trees per unit. For details and an order form, go to:http://www.kansasforests.org/
Order forms are also available from local K-State Research and Extension offices.
Using Old Garden Seed Seed catalogs seem to come earlier every year, (I re-ceived three before Christmas!) and many gardeners already have a collection of them. Garden seed can be expensive, and you may want to consider using seed from previous years. Seed stores best if kept in a cold, dark, dry location. We normally consider seed will stay viable for about 3 years under these conditions though there are exceptions. For example, members of the car-rot family (carrots, parsnips and parsley) are short�lived and are usually good for only 1 to 2 years. If you are unsure of viability and have plenty of seed, there is an easy method of determining how good your seed is. Place 10 seeds on a paper towel moistened with warm water and cover with a second moistened towel. Roll up the towels and place inside a plastic bag with enough holes for air exchange but not so many that the towels dry quickly. Place the bag in a warm place such as the top of refrigerator. Remoisten towels with warm water as needed. After the first week, check for germination. Remove sprouted seed and check again after another week. Add these numbers together to determine the percent germination. Starting Plants from Seed January is often a cold and dreary month for many gar-deners. However, starting vegetables and flowers from seed can make this a much more interesting time of year. Following are the steps needed to be successful in seed starting.
Purchase Recommended, Quality Seed: Start by tak-ing a look at our recommended varieties at www.ellis.ksu.edu by clicking on “Plants for Ellis County” under the Lawn & Garden tab. These plants have proven themselves across the state of Kansas and are a good place to start when deciding what to plant. However, also talk to your extension agent, neighbors, friends and garden center about what has worked well for them. Obtain your seeds from a reputable source including garden centers and seed catalogs. If choos-ing seeds from a business that does not specialize in plants, pay special attention to the package date to make sure the seed was packaged for the current year. Though most seed remains viable for about 3 years, germination decreases as seed ages. See the accompa-nying article on using old garden seed for more de-tailed information.
Determine the Date to Seed: There are two pieces of information that need to be known in order to deter-mine the date to seed: the target date for transplanting outside and the number of weeks needed to grow the
transplant. The target date for transplanting the cool-season crops such as broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and onions is the end of March to the beginning of April. Warm-season crops like tomatoes, peppers and most annual flowers are usually planted about May 10. There is a companion article in this newsletter listing common plants and the number of weeks needed to grow a transplant.
Sowing Seed: Do not use garden soil to germinate seed as it is too heavy and may contain disease organisms. Use a media made especially for seed germination.
Keep Seed Moist: Seed must be kept moist in order to germinate. Water often enough that the media never dries. Using a clear plastic wrap can over the top of the container until the new plants emerge can reduce the amount of watering needed.
Light: Most plants will germinate in either darkness or light but some require darkness (Centurea, Larkspur, Pansy, Portulaca, Phlox and Verbena) and others re-quire light (Ageratum, Browallia, Begonia, Coleus, Ge-ranium, Impatiens, lettuce, Nicotiana, Petunia and Snapdragon). All plants require adequate amounts of light once emergence occurs. South facing windows may not provide adequate amounts and so fluorescent fixtures are often used. Suspend the lights 2 to 4 inch-es above the top of the plants and leave them on for 16 hours each day.
Temperature: The temperature best for germination is often higher than what we may find in our homes espe-cially since evaporating moisture can cool the germina-tion media. Moving the container closer to the ceiling (top of a refrigerator) can help but a heating mat is best for consistent germination. A companion article lists common plants and their optimum germination temper-ature. After plants have germinated, they can be grown at a cooler temperature (65 to 70 degrees during the day and 55 to 60 degrees at night). This will help pre-vent tall, spindly transplants.
Hardening Transplants: Plants grown inside will of-ten undergo transplant shock if not hardened off. Plants are hardened off by moving them outside and exposing them to sun and wind before transplanting occurs. Start about two weeks before transplanting and gradually expose the plants to outside conditions. In-crease the number of hours and degree of exposure over the two week period.
Holly [email protected]
Holly [email protected]
Vegetables and Flowers Seeding Table The following information was adapted from the North Carolina State Publication titled “Starting Plants from Seeds”, HIL-8703 Plant Time to Seed Germination Before Planting Date Temperature** Ageratum 8 70 Alyssum 8 70 Aster 6 70 Balsam 6 70 Begonia 12 or more 70 Broccoli 8 70 Browallia 12 or more 70 Cabbage 8 70 Cauliflower 8 70 Celosia 8 70 Centuria 6 65 Coleus 8 65 Cosmos 4 or less 70 Cucumber 4 or less 85 Dahlia 8 70 Dianthus 10 70 Eggplant 8 70 Geranium 12 or more 70 Impatiens 10 70 Larkspur 12 or more 70 Lettuce 8 70 Marigold 6 70 Muskmelon 4 or less 85 Nicotiana 8 70 Pansy 12 or more 65 Pepper 8 80 Petunia 10 70 Phlox 8 65 Portulaca 10 70 Snapdragon 10 65 Squash 4 or less 85 Stock 10 70 Tomato 6 80 Verbena 10 65 Vinca 12 or more 70 Watermelon 4 or less 85 Zinnia 6 70
* Number of weeks before transplanting to seed. ** Temperature in degree F
4‐H Technology is Green and Growing in Ellis County!
4-H science programs provide youth the opportunity to learn about Science, Technology, Engineering and Math through fun, hands-on activities and projects. In Ellis County these learning opportunities take place in classrooms, after school programs, camps, rec programs and 4-H clubs. Many are teen led learning experiences.
Every 4-H project has a science component to it. Some are more obvious than others. Plant, Animal, Vet and Food Science projects have science in their names. Others like Entomology, Child Development and Geology help youth explore science in the world around them. Drones, robotics, computer programming and aerospace projects allow 4-H members to explore the technology and engineering sides of life. With 4-H’s hands-on learning opportunities, we are exposing youth to new opportunities, career paths and building skills that they will use throughout their lives. National 4-H surveys have shown that involvement in these types of experiences provide many benefits to our youth.
We are offering several technology learning opportunities this winter through our “Tech Saturdays” program (see attached flier) and the NW 4-H SpaceTech Day event. NW 4-H SpaceTech Day will be held in Ellis at the Ellis Public Library Maker Space on Saturday, March 25. We’ll offer a variety of project activities in the areas of robots, rockets and drones. To register members and adults for this one day workshop, contact the Walnut Creek District – Ness City office by March 15 to sign up. Watch for the schedule of classes and registration form to come your way on the Ellis Co. 4-H webpage soon and join us for this fun and interactive learning session.
Submitted by Susan Schlichting Ellis Co. 4-H Agent January 2017
