14th Annual McLean County Plant Swap & Sale

As you start to prep your garden, purchase vegetable transplants and fill your flower pots on your porch, you may want to think about attending the upcoming Plant Swap and Sale.  Saturday, April 30th will mark the 14th year of the McLean County Plant Swap and Sale.  In its first years,    organizers held this event in the parking lot behind the courthouse.  As the event has seen many changes over the past 14 years, it will be held in the 4-H Activities Building at Myer Creek Park again this year.

As of right now, there are 10 vendors that have signed up to sell various plants.  Plant enthusiast will have the opportunity to purchase the following plants from 8am-1pm: Various Annuals, Various Vegetables Slips, Strawberry Slips, Heirloom Tomatoes, Hollies, Daylilies, Iris, Various Herbs, Hostas, Black-Eyed Susans, Cannas, Verbena, Bachelor Button, Widow’s Tear, Nandina, Marigolds, Dianthus, Petunias, Geraniums, Daffodils, Belladonna Lily, Lilac Bushes and Ferns, in addition to others.

Concessions will be sold at this event and there will also be a yard sale in the adjacent pavilion.  The McLean County 4-H will be conducting kids’ activities throughout the event, and from 9am until 1pm, the public will be able to turn in any expired and/or unused prescription medicine as part of National Drug Take Back Day.  Door prizes will also be given out throughout the day.

For more information about this year’s Plant Swap and Sale or if you are interested in being a vendor, please contact the McLean County Cooperative Extension Service at (270)273-3690.  Educational programs of the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service serve all people regardless of race, color, age, sex, religion, disability or national origin.

Be on the Look Out for Stripe Rust and Leaf Rust in Wheat

Stripe Rust was diagnosed by the Plant Disease Diagnostic Laboratory at the UKREC last week in a wheat sample that came from Lyon County.  In addition, Leaf Rust of wheat has been observed in states south of Kentucky (Arkansas and Mississippi), and appears to be moving northward.

Accordingly to UK Extension Plant Pathologist Dr. Carl Bradley, some wheat varieties have high levels of resistance to these diseases; therefore, it is important to know the susceptibility of the varieties planted. Resistant varieties likely will not require any additional management for rust disease control; however, a foliar fungicide application may need to be considered for susceptible varieties.

When scouting wheat for Strip Rust, look for yellow, blister-like lesions that are arranged in stripes.  The disease is most common on leave, but head tissue can develop the symptoms when disease is severe and left untreated.  Leaf Rust can be identified by its small, orangish-brown lesions.  It is most commonly found on the leaf, but can also occur on the leaf sheath.  Lesions cause by Leaf Rust are normally small and round.

Both of these wheat diseases can be managed by foliar fungicides in the strobilurin family as well as those containing metconazole and tebuconazole.  That would include Quadris, Headline, Caramba, Prosaro and/or Embrace.

If you feel like you might have stripe or leaf rust in your wheat (or if you need more information), please contact the McLean County Cooperative Extension Service at (270)273-2690 so that we can continue to monitor the spread of rust in Kentucky.  Educational programs of the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service serve all people regardless of race, color, age, sex, religion, disability or national origin.

Leaf Rust

Stripe Rust

Cover Crop Field Day Set For April 13th