Steve Groff's two-day cover-crop event has been moved back a week due to travel problems and power outages expected to come from Hurricane Sandy hitting the East Coast.

In addition to the weed plants, some crop plants have been tested with Ohio populations and found to make good hosts for SCN.

With this years drought conditions there is less residue than normal in many fields. In some, the crop was harvested as a forage or cut as silage, leaving very little residue at all. Without residue to absorb the energy of raindrop impact and keep the wind off the soil surface, soil erosion will be greater and surface crusting could be a problem. Also, without the water-conserving residue mulch, soil moisture losses by evaporation will be much higher.

For farmers wanting to insure a grain crop in 2013, certain rules applied to the treatment of cover crops for emergency forage this summer.