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Welcome!The newsletter Extension in the Valley is a collaboration of four Extension educators across the Chippewa Valley that work in the realm of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Horticulture. These monthly newsletters will consist of relevant topics during a specifc season, current/upcoming events and general information. Let's introduce the four collaborators! - Lauren Larsen, Natural Resources Educator
- Margaret Murphy, Horticulture Educator
- Jerry Clark, Crops and Soils Educator
- Lyssa Seefeldt, Dairy Educator
All four educators proudly work for Chippewa, Dunn and Eau Claire Counties!
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Pesticide Applicator TrainingFree in-person training located at the Cadott High School on Friday, April 7th. Please call the Chippewa County Extension office to register at (715) 726-7950. Books need to be bought online, click here to purchase Pesticide Applicator Training (wisc.edu).
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How to tap trees for optimal sap production- Bill KlaseNow that spring has arrived, many of us are itching to get outside and tap some maples for sap. One of the critical parts of this process is getting the tap hole right. It is easy to do it incorrectly and this will impact the quantity and quality of your sap. To make sure you get it right, I have put together some tips to follow and live by.
Avoid old tap holes. Areas of your trees that have already been tapped will produce far less fresh sap and sometimes none at all. You will know if you hit an old tap hole if the shavings are dark in color.
Use maple tapping bits. Regular drill bits will work, but not nearly as well as tapping bits. Tapping bits are designed to remove the shavings from the drilled hole, while regular drill bits may require moving the bit in and out of the hole a few times to get all the shavings out.
Keep your bits clean. Minimize the chance of contaminating your tap holes by keeping your bits clean. You don’t have to wash them between drilling holes or trees, just try not to place them on the ground or place them on unclean surfaces. Excess microbial growth will slow the flow of sap and potentially spoil it.
Make the holes as round as possible. Oval shaped holes won’t seal correctly around your spiles which can lead to leakage, which is especially important for vacuum systems.
Use just one in and out motion. The more times you drill into a hole, the less likely the hole will stay round. A steady stance with good footing is the key to round holes created in one motion.
Angle the tap hole slightly upward. This will facilitate sap flow out of the tree.
Make the tap hole no more than 2 inches deep. Most of the sap transport is taking place in the newest wood within about 2 inches or so from the surface. Deeper wood will not transport as much sap and usually has a lower sugar content.
Clean out debris and shavings from the tap hole. You can do everything right and still get some shavings or debris in the tap hole. These may inhibit the flow of sap or stop it all together. Use a clean nail or wire to clean out the debris. Don’t “blow it clean”.
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How to bottle your maple syrup- Bill Klase Now that you have boiled your sap down into syrup, it is time to put it in containers for storage. If you bottle your syrup correctly, it will be shelf stable indefinitely. However, if you do it incorrectly, you can get mold growth in your bottles or crystals forming. Here are some tips to help ensure you successfully bottle your syrup.
Make sure your syrup is at the right sugar content. Mold or crystals forming in syrup is a result of the sugar content being too low or too high, respectively. The optimal range is 66% to 68.9% and is best determined using some kind of measuring device. Hydrometers and refractometers designed for use with maple syrup are readily available and relatively inexpensive.
Filter your syrup. During the processing of sap to syrup, other compounds within the sap will form solids called sugar sand or niter in the syrup and these need to be removed. Cloth filters for maple syrup are inexpensive and easy to use. Make sure to filter the syrup while it is hot.
Bottle it hot. Reheat the syrup to 190 degrees after you filter it and before bottling. This will ensure the container will seal properly.
Use the right bottles. Only use food grade containers, with a sealable lid, and ensure they are clean.
Seal the containers quickly after bottling.
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State of the AlfalfaJerry Clark, Crops and Soils Educator
If the President can give the State of the Union address, I can give a State of the Alfalfa Address, at least here in the Chippewa Valley. Since the 2022 growing season ended, fields across the Chippewa Valley have been snow covered with heavy, wet accumulating snow in early to mid-December. Snowmobile trails in the area have been open more this winter than in the past few years, another indicator of a snowy winter. This early snow cover continues to be present protecting alfalfa and soils from reaching damaging low soil temperatures.
The risk of damage to alfalfa from low soil temperatures is minimal if soil temperatures remain above 20°F. It only takes a few inches of snow to protect soil from reaching those low temperatures and we definitely have had more than a few inches, with more to come as I write this at the end of March. Soil temperature probes at two Chippewa County farm locations set at 6-and-18-inch depths have been reading at 32°F almost all winter. Currently, both locations and depths are at 32-34°F. The University of Wisconsin Spooner Research Station has recorded a low soil temperature of 32.4°F over the past few months. Most farmers in the Chippewa Valley have commented all winter about the lack of frost in the soil, a direct affect of having snow cover all winter.
The Chippewa Valley did experience rain in January which added to a layer of ice under the snow. There will be cases especially in lower parts of a field where water may have pooled. With very little frost in the soil, this water may have soaked away during the following months creating a pocket of air under the snowpack. The photo taken March 19 from a Chippewa County alfalfa field revealed about an inch of frost with alfalfa buds green and ready to emerge, when the snow melts.
Yes, we would like to see snow disappearing a l![]() ittle faster as we get excited about the approaching growing season. However, with a slow melting period and little frost in the ground, soil moisture is being replenished and alfalfa will have ample moisture to get growing when temperatures rise. With soil temperature and frozen soils less of a risk, heaving should also be reduced. Heaving of plants usually is the problem with deep soil frost and quick warm up on the surface. These conditions are less of a risk to occur at this point in the season.
Last fall’s management of alfalfa is the next criteria to consider. The age of the alfalfa stand, fertility management, and cutting schedule all add to the risk of alfalfa winter survival. Older alfalfa stands are at a higher risk since tap roots can be exposed to more diseases and exposed to more stresses over a longer establishment period. Of course, this all depends on the variety. Soil fertility is important for alfalfa survival and overall plant health. Potassium levels should remain in the range of 120-150 ppm K20. If an alfalfa field overwintered with low potassium levels, those fields could be at higher risk of winter injury. Cutting schedule also puts additional stress on alfalfa plants. The more cuttings harvested in a season, the more stress on the individual plants. Intensive cutting schedules can add more risk to alfalfa winter survival.
As winter slowly moves out and spring moves in, alfalfa appears to have dodged the winter wrath of cold temperatures. We still have a month to go before we will know for sure what alfalfa has in store for us but with normal temperatures and adequate precipitation, alfalfa should be ready for a good year. Spoken like a true politician.
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Horticulture Clippings: A monthly column about plants, yards & gardens
Margaret Murphy, Horticulture Educator serving Chippewa, Dunn and Eau Claire Counties
Grow More Vegetables in Less Space
Growing up, I remember we always had a very large vegetable garden in the backyard. Mom was a marvel in the garden. I don’t remember a time when we didn’t have fresh vegetables to eat all summer long.
Over the years, the popularity of growing one’s own food has waxed and waned, but in recent times, the trend is once again to have edibles in the home landscape. However, not everyone has the room or time (or mobility) to keep a large garden. Small gardens are easier to manage but keeping your garden size small doesn’t mean you have to forfeit a bountiful harvest.
With the garden season quickly approaching, here are a few tips that can help gardeners get maximum productivity from a small space whether you have an in-ground garden, a raised bed or plant in containers.
The first tip is to interplant. With interplanting, you can grow a short-season, fast maturing crop and a long-season, slow maturing crop in the same area. The fast maturing vegetable is harvested first leaving space available for the slower crop to mature. An example of this is planting radishes, a short-season, fast maturing crop, with carrots, a long-season, slow maturing crop.
Succession planting is another technique to consider. There are a couple of ways you can employ succession planting. One is to plant the same crop in successive one to two-week intervals. This is commonly done with lettuce, radishes, and beets. Three plantings of leaf lettuce spaced about a week apart, for instance, allows for continued harvest over a longer period of time.
Another way is to plant a different crop in the area where one has already been harvested and is finished for the season. This method allows you to plant a larger variety of vegetables with limited room. It is often done with a cool season crop such as peas or spinach. When that crop has stopped producing, the plants are removed and the space is replanted with a warm season crop such as summer squash or beans.
Then there is the practice of growing food vertically using trellises, cages, stakes or hanging baskets. This is an increasingly popular garden practice and offers creative ways to grow food even with very limited space. Many vegetables grow well vertically including pole beans, peas, cucumbers, squash and tomatoes. Buy small-fruited varieties for crops such as cucumbers and squash. An added bonus of growing your food vertically is you can bring the plants up to eye-level, which makes harvesting much easier.
If you lack land to cultivate don’t despair. Many vegetables grow just fine in containers. Most vegetables require a container that holds six to eight inches of potting soil though crops like tomatoes and other larger-sized plants will need deeper soil. Leaf lettuce, kale, chards, beets, cabbage, peppers, tomatoes, radishes and cucumbers are just a few types of vegetables that I have grown in containers. For a list of popular vegetables that are well-suited for growing in containers, check out the University of Wisconsin Garden Facts article, Vegetable Varieties for Containers, at https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/vegetable-varieties-for-containers/.
Whatever type of garden you have or space saving technique you want to employ, remember to choose plants that fit your space and fit your taste. Also, remember that soil is the foundation of a successful vegetable garden. For information on testing your garden soil, visit the UW Soil and Forage Lab website at https://uwlab.soils.wisc.edu/soil-samples/. To learn more about the best soil to use in containers, take a look at the University of Wisconsin Garden Facts article, Growing Vegetables in Containers, at https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/growing-vegetables-containers/.
Lastly, a nice habit to get into is keeping a garden journal. I use a journal to keep a record of weather conditions, soil amendments, crop rotation, and my successes and failures. Basically, a journal allows me to keep track of all those things that I think I’ll remember but then forget. Plus, it’s a great place to jot down new ideas for next year!
Questions? Contact your local County Extension Office.
Happy Gardening!
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Badger Crop Connect Spring 2023
The UW-Madison Division of Extension’s Ag Institute and the UW-Madison Nutrient and Pest Management Program will be hosting the fourth annual Badger Crop Connect webinar series for the 2023 growing season. The purpose of this series is to provide agronomists, crop consultants, and farmers with timely crop updates for Wisconsin. These free webinars will be offered, on the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month at 12:30 PM, with the spring webinars beginning in April. Registration is required. You must register for each webinar separately. The entire series is split into three sets of webinars: spring, summer, and fall. Find a list of upcoming webinars and more information on the Badger Crop Connect Webpage.
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Tractor SafetyTractor Safety will be offered by Bloomer, Cornell and Cadott Schools this June. Please click on the button for a link to the brochure and registration information.
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This newsletter is a contributional effort from the following UW-Madison Extension Educators:
- Lyssa Seefeldt,Dairy Educator: Chippewa, Eau Claire, Dunn Counties
- Jerry Clark,Crops & Soils Educator: Chippewa, Eau Claire, Dunn Counties
- Lauren Larsen,Natural Resources Educator: Chippewa, Eau Claire, Dunn Counties
- Margaret Murphy,Horticulture Educator: Chippewa, Eau Claire, Dunn Counties
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Contact us!
- Chippewa County Extension Office
- Dunn County Extension Office
- Eau Claire County Extension Office
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