Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control and Delaware Department of Agriculture

The following are the steps and criteria for the interim implementation of the Extreme Deer Damage Assistance Program (EDDAP) during the summer of 2018, which will allow permittees and their hunters to harvest antlerless deer from the date the permit is issued through August 14, 2018. Continue reading

Jarrod O. Miller, Extension Agronomist, jarrod@udel.edu and Amy Shober, Extension Specialist – Nutrient Management and Environmental Quality, University of Delaware, ashober@udel.edu

With variable corn growth following our wet spring, you may be interested to know more about what may be going on in good and poor performing parts of your fields. While lack of nitrogen (N) has been a major reason for poor corn performance due to very wet conditions in May and early June, there are other nutrients that could be lacking and contributing to poor performance. Continue reading

Jarrod O. Miller, Extension Agronomist, jarrod@udel.edu and Amy Shober, Extension Specialist – Nutrient Management and Environmental Quality, University of Delaware, ashober@udel.edu

Nitrogen (N) is a complex element that can undergo many transformations in the environment. The most likely form of N found in soils is nitrate (NO₃^–), which can be lost from the root zone by leaching or through denitrification. When soils are saturated with water for more than 48 hours, microbes can transform nitrate into gases, allowing them to escape to the atmosphere. Many studies have observed denitrification increasing when water filled pore space is above 60%. With heavy rainfall across the state, soils are definitely under those conditions. Dense or heavier textured soils are at an increased risk for denitrification.

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Jarrod Miller, Extension Specialist – Agronomy, jarrod@udel.edu; Cory Whaley, Extension Agent- Agriculture, Sussex County, whaley@udel.edu; Amy Shober, Extension Specialist – Nutrient Management and Environmental Quality ashober@udel.edu; Phillip Sylvester, Extension Agent – Agriculture, Kent County, phillip@udel.edu;, Richard Talyor, Retired Extension Specialist – Agronomy

Our region has experienced plenty of cool, wet springs in the past, but the intensity and accumulated rainfall of the last few weeks presents additional challenges. Like nitrate, the plant available form of sulfur (S) in soils is easily leached below the root zone. Sulfur issues were quite rare on corn in the last few decades because crop need was met, or even exceeded, by deposition of S from the atmosphere. However, S deposition in Delaware has dropped from 25 to 5 lbs/acre between 1985 and 2010 due to stricter air emissions standards. Continue reading