Cooperative Extension News & Publications
Mississippi County, Arkansas

Welcome to our News and Publications page!  Below you will find local newsletters, news stories, and/or links to other relevant publications.  Please contact our county Extension office for additional information.

Sulfur (sulfate) is a mobile nutrient that readily moves with soil water. Sulfur deficiencies can be observed in wheat grown on sandy fields, especially during wet years. During wet years, sulfur can leach below the root zone and become unavailable to the crop. In addition, coarse textured soils are inherently low in organic matter and have lower levels of native sulfur.

Wheat grown on clay soils, and many silt loams, generally will not experience sulfur deficiency. These soils are less prone to leaching and have more organic matter which breaks down to release sulfur and other nutrients. Wheat yield response to sulfur fertilizer is not normally observed in research trials on these soil types. (continued) Please click here to read the full newsletter.

Current Irrigation Scheduling Programs:
Most Arkansas producers are familiar with the University of Arkansas irrigation scheduler. The scheduler is a computer aided program that calculates evapotranspiration. Temperature data is entered into the program and daily water use is calculated. Once a prescribed water deficit is reached, irrigation is recommended. The program requires daily temperatures (high and low) to be entered into the program. Additionally, rainfall and irrigation amounts must be logged for accurate deficits to be used in scheduling irrigation. The amount of time required to track these inputs has caused most producers to look for more "user friendly" irrigation scheduling techniques.

E-T Gage:
The E-T Gage simulates evapotranspiration in the field. Unlike the computer-aided irrigation scheduler, daily temperature and rain/irrigation amounts are not recorded. The E-T gage is filled with distilled water and placed in the field. Water evaporates from the gage through a filter which is designed to simulated evapotranspiration. The amount of water lost through E-T is measured by reading the sight tube which is mounted on the side of the water reservoir cylinder. The movement of water in the tube is measured in inches (which are marked on the gage) and are calibrated to equal the "inches of deficit" that triggers irrigation. The amount of water loss fluctuates based on daily temperature and therefore, entering daily temperature data is not required.

Best Care 2014 is Coming

Child Care providers: The U of A Cooperative Extension Service offers training opportunities in cooperation with TAPP to help you obtain your in-service and continuing education hours.

Best Care 2014 for Mississippi, Craighead, and Poinsett counties will be held in Spring 2014. Dates and locations will be posted. Contact Mississippi County FCS Agent , Pam Prutee, for further information. Email: ppruett@uaes.edu of phone 870-762-2075.

Best Care Connected is an online course providing 5 hours of continuing education. Visit www.arfamilies.org/child_care/connected for more information. Guiding Children Successfully provides 30 hours of self-guided and online study. You may enroll at the Mississippi County Extension office at 217 Chickasawba, Blytheville, or visit courses.uaex.edu for online enrollment.

Please see this PDF for more information about these three different programs that can help you reach your education goals. You can also email Pam Pruett, CEA-FCS, or call (870)762-2075 for more information.

Photo: Pam Pruett (center) leads a Best Care 2013 workshop sesson.

 

Get a Head Start of Your 2014 Resolutions

With the Thanksgiving Turkey already eaten and Christmas just around the corner, time will seem to fly when our schedules fill up with tasks, parties, shopping and things to do. Why not get a head start on your new year’s resolutions by carving out an hour in your schedule to join an Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program class. Please click here to read the full newsletter.

New classes are starting now. Please email Saundra Sovick Harms or call (870)762-2075 for more information.