Talking smoke detectors wake sleeping children better than shrill, beeping alarm
COLUMBIA, Mo. – The piercing 85-decibel alarm from smoke detectors will wake most adults with a start, but small children might sleep right through them.That’s why parents might want to consider an alarm that talks to their children in case of a fire, said Karen Funkenbusch, a University of Missouri safety specialist.
Proper disposal of flood-damaged grain
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Inspect buildings and look for fire hazards
Once an area has been cleared for you to return, stay out of any buildings where floodwaters remain. Avoid using candles or open flames. Instead, use battery-powered lanterns or flashlights to reduce fire hazards.
First steps home after a flood
As floodwaters recede and you’re allowed back into your home or business to assess the damage, take lots of pictures of the building and its contents to document damages for insurance claims.
Removing water from flooded basements
Before you enter a flooded basement, take the following steps:Turn off electricity and gas. Check outside basement walls for possible cave-ins, evidence of structural damage or other hazards. Open doors and windows.
Flooding in the vegetable garden
If they have been touched by floodwaters, discard leafy vegetables, fleshy fruits or vegetables (like tomatoes, berries and summer squash), root crops, corn, grains and even produce with a hard, protective skin. Record all losses.
Saving food after a power outage
Those of us in the Midwest know that spring storms can bring power outages. When freezers and refrigerators are off for several hours, whether it’s due to a storm or an accident, the food safety rules about what to keep or toss are the same.
Keep your food safe during a power outage
When the electricity goes off, one important thing to know is how to save as much food as possible.
How to handle food after a flood
Floodwater can be toxic, so precautions need to be taken to prevent illness. There are special ways of handling cooking utensils like pots and pans as well as food that have been exposed to floodwater.
Make the most from late-planted soybean
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Poor corn stands and crop insurance provisions
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Top 10 questions about forages after the 2019 flood
download this article The flood of 2019 has created problems for cattle forages, such as leaching from rain, digestibility, ergot poisoning and damage to soils. This FAQ address top cattle farmer concerns.
What about nitrogen for a corn crop? Still there?
download this article It’s been wet over the whole state of Missouri. Since October, really, but especially in May.
Possible alternative crops for late planting situations in Missouri
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Prevented planting provisions on corn acres
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Consider your neighbor this spray season
As we move into that part of the season where post-emergence herbicide applications are commonly made in soybean, it's important to remember the effects that off-target movement of herbicides can have on others around you. And this year, for the first time ever, we will be able to legally apply dicamba (in the form of Xtendimax, Engenia, or Fexapan) to Xtend-traited soybean.
Palmer amaranth is still on the move in Missouri
Palmer amaranth is a member of the pigweed family that is native to the southwest United States, but has slowly migrated into the Midwestern U.S. over the past decade or so. In the bootheel of Missouri, like western Tennessee, Arkansas, and a host of other southern states, Palmer amaranth has been the predominant pigweed species for several decades.
Cleanout and upkeep of the sprayer: Don't get complacent
The availability of dicamba-tolerant soybean this season increases the need for emphasis on proper maintenance and thorough cleanout of the sprayer system between applications; especially POST applications. The likely introduction of additional herbicide-tolerant traits in the future indicates that sprayer maintenance and cleanout will continue to be an essential focal point to avoid tank contamination and injury to subsequently…
Herbicide options for killing failed corn stands
I have already received a few calls about herbicide options for killing out poor stands of Roundup Ready and/or stacked Roundup Ready/Liberty Link corn, and I expect there will be more whenever things dry out. We conducted a few trials on this several years ago, and Dr. Larry Steckel has also published some data in the weed science literature from two years of research he conducted in Tennessee.
A final report on dicamba-injured soybean acres
Throughout the summer we have attempted to provide updates as to the extent of dicamba-injured soybean throughout the United States, either in the form of official dicamba-related cases that are currently under investigation by the state Departments of Agriculture, or as estimates of injured acreage from university extension weed scientists (see Ag Industry, Do we have a problem yet? and Update on Dicamba-related Injury Investigations…
Ag industry, do we have a problem yet?
It's funny how we can be living through a situation or watch something unfold in front of our very eyes and one person can view it one way and another can see it totally different. If you think about it, this happens all the time at sporting events. Not too long ago I was watching a Cardinals game with some Cubs fans and all of a sudden they all started yelling that our player was out when I could clearly see that he was in fact, safe…
What have we learned from four years of studying temperature inversions?
We are beginning our fifth year of monitoring inversions in Missouri. In 2017 we started expanding our inversion monitoring network and also began studying how inversions affect dicamba applications thanks to partnerships with colleagues at other states and funding from the United Soybean Board, Missouri Soybean Merchandising Council, and the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture.
July 15 Dicamba injury update: Different year, same questions
As explained in previous articles from this season (Dicamba Injury Mostly Confined to Specialty Crops, Ornamentals and Trees so Far, Dicamba Injured Crops and Plants Becoming more Evident: June 15th Update), I have attempted to provide updates as to the extent of dicamba injury throughout the United States, either in the form of official dicamba-related cases that are currently under investigation by the state Departments of…
Five things we’ve learned about dicamba
As we prepare for another year with the Xtend soybean and cotton system, we thought it would help to briefly summarize some of the most important things we’ve learned about dicamba as a result of the research our outstanding graduate students have conducted over the past several seasons.