Author: Brandy VanDeWalle

With Christmas nearly here, this week I decided to share an article from our Extension Horticulturalist, Nicole Stoner on poinsettias.

A common holiday gift is the Poinsettia. If you receive one for Christmas this year, do you know how to care for it? Poinsettias are a staple for the Christmas season, but they don’t have to be a short-lived gift that is thrown away at the beginning of the year.  Typically, poinsettias are most commonly found in red, but the color range is constantly expanding. They can now be found in white, pink, green, peach, yellow or marbled or speckled colors. On an old-fashioned poinsettia, the red colored portion of the poinsettia is not the flower of the plant. The colored, leaf-like structures are called bracts, which are just modified leaves. The true flower of a poinsettia is the yellow center of the colored bracts.

Poinsettias need to be cared for during transport in addition to regular care. When you first purchase a poinsettia, you need to protect it as you transport it. Wrap it in a plastic bag when you take it outside to protect the plant from the cold, windy outdoor conditions. This should be done when you leave the store, when you move it from your car to your home, and if you take it to another house as a gift. Remove that plastic bag each time it gets to the house. Once in its permanent location, remove the decorative foil wrapping from the pot of the plant. This foil can hold onto water for the plant, but in a bad way. It can make it so that the plant roots are constantly wet and root rot can occur.

The care of a poinsettia can be fairly easy. Water the plant when the soil becomes dry to the touch, but don’t wait until the plant wilts prior to watering again either. Place poinsettias where they will get indirect light for 6 hours a day. Keep the plant away from cold drafts and keep them from touching a window. This plant prefers temperatures of 60-70 degrees F during the day and 55 degrees F overnight. Avoid fertilization during the flowering period but fertilize monthly with a houseplant fertilizer during the rest of the growing season.

You can keep poinsettias year-round rather than discarding at the end of the Holiday season. After Christmas, grow the poinsettia like you would any other houseplant. Keep it evenly moist and in bright, indirect light. In February or March, cut back the plant to 4-6 inches in height. In May, repot into a larger pot. It can be placed outdoors in spring after frost. In the fall, bring the poinsettia indoors before night temperatures drop below 55-60 degrees F.

Poinsettias will flower after being induced by a photoperiod, like Christmas Cactus. It takes at least 12 hours of darkness per night to initiate flowering. Starting at the end of September, place the poinsettia in a closet or cover it with a box to keep it in total darkness from 5pm until 8am daily. Even the lights in our homes can interfere with the flowering cycle, so it needs to be completely dark around the plant. Once flowering begins, in mid-December, you may discontinue the daily dark period. It will help if you continue this until the bracts are fully expanded. Then, you can enjoy your poinsettia through the holiday season for years to come.

Wishing you and yours a Happy Holiday season!

Beginning Wednesday, Jan. 3, the 2024 Nebraska Crop Production Clinics will feature live presentations and present research updates and information tailored to regional crop issues and grower interests. Sponsored by Nebraska Extension, the programs will be held on eight days throughout January, with the final clinic offered on Tuesday, Jan. 23. The clinic on Jan. 23 will be in partnership with the Nebraska Agribusiness Association Expo and will include free admission to the Expo tradeshow.

2024 Clinic Dates and Locations:

• Jan. 3 — Gering Civic Center, Gering
• Jan. 4 — West Central Research Extension and Education Center (WCREEC), North Platte
• Jan. 9 — Northeast Community College, Norfolk
• Jan. 10 — Eastern Nebraska Research, Extension and Education Center (ENREEC), Mead
• Jan. 11 — Holiday Inn Express, Beatrice
• Jan. 17 — Lochland Country Club, Hastings
• Jan. 19 — Holthus Convention Center, York
• Jan. 23 — Crowne Plaza and Younes Conference Center, Kearney at the Nebraska Agribusiness Association Expo

Individual clinics will be customized to address topics specific to that area of the state, allowing attendees to engage with research-based information on the issues that may be faced locally.

Visit the Crop Production Clinics 2024 website for the most up-to-date information.

Registration is available online for each location. Pre-registration is required and costs $95.

Certified Crop Advisor credits will be available in crop production, nutrient management, integrated pest management, soil, and water management.

The clinics will offer commercial and non-commercial pesticide applicators an opportunity to renew their licenses in the general standards, ag plant, and demonstration/research categories.

The clinics are also a venue for private pesticide applicators to renew their licenses.

For more information, contact Chris Proctor, clinics coordinator and extension educator, at 402-472-5411. Registration questions can be directed to Connie Hansen, 402-472-8747. Register at https://agronomy.unl.edu/cpc.

Extension horticulturist, Nicole Stoner shared some tips on selecting the perfect live Christmas tree. If you have heavy ornaments, consider a Fraser Fir, Scotch pine, blue spruce or Black Hills spruce because they have stiff branches that hold ornaments better. If you’d like a Christmas tree scent, consider a Balsam Fir. If you prefer softer needles, go with a White pine.

Stoner also said, when choosing your tree, assess the tree condition. Walk around the tree to look for holes in the branching. Slightly tug on the needles that are on the tree to ensure they are tightly attached to the tree and have some flexibility. Also, give the tree a good shake, if green needles fall off or if it has a lighter green color that is not a fresh tree, choose another. Brown needles will naturally fall from the interior of the tree, that doesn’t mean there is a problem with it.

Finally, she provides some tips for home care of a real tree. When you take your tree home, place it immediately into the tree stand with plenty of water. If the tree was cut within the past 12 hours it doesn’t need to be recut but if it has to sit longer than 12 hours prior to placing it in the stand, it will need to be recut to improve water uptake. Place the tree in a stand that holds at least 1 gallon of water and be sure to add water daily. Research has shown that additives and water alternatives are not as effective as plain water in maintaining a tree through the holiday season.

Keep the tree away from sources of heat to reduce water consumption and help reduce fire hazards. Christmas trees rarely start fires in our homes, but they need to be watered to help them retain their color and keep your floor from getting too messy from fallen needles.

The American Farm Bureau Federation annually calculates the cost of a Thanksgiving meal to serve 10 people with plenty for leftovers. This year, with a traditional Thanksgiving meal, Farm Bureau estimated a meal total of $61.17 which is a slight decrease from $64.05 last year. This is a 4.5% decrease in last year’s cost. The turkey price is about $1.71 per pound compared to last year which is a 5.6% decrease from last year. Included in the meal is a 16-lb. turkey, bread stuffing, sweet potatoes, rolls with butter, peas, cranberries, a relish tray of carrots and celery, pumpkin pie with whipped cream and beverages of coffee and milk. You can thank our American farmers and ranchers who are able to provide us the bounty of safe and affordable food. Another interesting fact about Thanksgiving include that 88% of Americans are expected to be feasting on turkey for Thanksgiving this year (National Turkey Federation). The top turkey producing states are: Minnesota, North Carolina, Arkansas, Indiana, Maine, Virginia, Iowa and California.

Now let’s talk trivia:

Q: Why are turkeys raised?   A: Because of their excellent quality of meat and eggs

Q: What is a male turkey called?  A:  Tom

Q: What is a female turkey called?  A:  A Hen

Q: What sound do turkeys make?  A: Only tom turkeys gobble; the female makes a clucking sound.

Q: How many feathers does a turkey have at maturity?  A:  3,500 feathers

Q: How big was the heaviest turkey ever raised?  A: 86 pounds, about the size of a large dog

Q: Which gender of turkeys are usually consumed whole?  A: Hens (females) are usually sold as whole birds. Toms (males) are processed into turkey sausage, turkey franks, tenderloins, cutlets and deli meats.

Q: How long does it take a turkey to reach market size?   A: Hens usually grow for 16 weeks and is 8-16 lbs. when processed while tom usually takes 19 weeks to reach market weight and weighs 24 lbs. Large toms (24-40 lbs. are a few weeks older.

Regardless of what you do this Thanksgiving, remember to be thankful for what really matters.

If you need tips or resources to help you prepare a turkey or any other food for Thanksgiving, go to Nebraska Extension’s Food Website at https://food.unl.edu/article/thanksgiving-central.

A recent UNL Extension CropWatch article featured an upcoming program on strategies to creating family harmony through transition planning which I’ve decided to share in this week’s column. This is such an important topic in our rural areas and needs to be addressed.

According to census data, 70% of U.S. farmland will transfer to the next generation in the next 20 years, but today many families struggle to keep those farm operations in the family.

When it comes to transition planning, there is a close relationship between how well a family communicates and the probability of success. Good communication provides a good foundation to work from. It helps define what the issues are; it can validate or invalidate assumptions; and it minimizes misunderstanding, clarifies expectations, and develops understanding. It is critical to discover the expectations of all family members as each individual needs to think about and share with the others what they would like to see happen regarding the future ownership and management of the business. Family and business decisions should not be based on assumptions.

In a Center for Ag Profitability webinar which can be found at cap.unl.edu, Lisa Quist will share with tips for successful communication and best practices, which can help make the transition of our farms and ranches smoother, with the end goal of all the children still celebrating holidays together after the transition has taken place.

Lisa Quist is the central regional vice president for Nationwide’s Land As Your Legacy® program, a division of the Nationwide Retirement Institute®. Along with her team in Ohio, Lisa helps farmers, ranchers and other ag business owners build transition plans with the goal of keeping their family’s operation intact and suited to transition to the next generation.

This webinar is presented in partnership with the Nebraska Women in Agriculture program.

If you have recently enjoyed some juicy pork loin, pork chops, sausage, or my favorite – bacon, they you should thank a pork producer. In Nebraska, we grow nearly 7.8 million pigs each year from 1,230 family farms, making us the sixth-largest pork-producing state. These family farms have people who are locally involved in various community organizations, schools, churches, etc. and have families of their own to feed. This is just one of the reasons you can know that pig farmers raise a safe, wholesome product that you can serve your family. According to the Nebraska Pork Producers Association, there are nearly 18,000 jobs involved in pork production and an economic impact of 1.66 billion dollars in Nebraska.

October is National Pork Month, and the Nebraska Pork Producers Association website has some fantastic recipes on their website which can be found at nepork.org. There are also some delicious recipes including an air fryer pork and apple burger and pork rice bowl recipes on Extension’s food.unl.edu website.

Speaking of meat, did you know that pork carcasses are separated based on percent fat free lean (%FFL), which estimate how many pounds of boneless, closely trimmed retail cuts (BCTRC) that animal will provide.  Let’s take an example hog that has a live weight of 275 lbs. If that animal had a dressing percentage (the amount of weight from the live animal that makes it to the carcass) of 75%, the carcass weight would be 210 lbs. With a percent fat free lean of 57%, the boneless, closely trimmed retail cuts (BCTRC) of meat would be 120 lbs.   

Wholesale cuts are large meat cuts that the animal carcass is cut into for ease in handling and shipping. Some wholesale cuts are higher in value than others. In hogs, the wholesale cuts are the shoulder/“Boston butt”, shoulder/“picnic”, loin, belly, and leg/“ham”. These cuts are then broken down into retail cuts which is what most consumers will purchase at the grocery store. Some popular examples include sliced bacon and spareribs from the side and country style ribs, tenderloin and center cut chops from the loin.

Often when any meat turns out dry, it is often prepared and cooked incorrectly.  Using a meat thermometer is one of the best ways to ensure meat it not overcooked. For example, boneless pork chops and pork tenderloin only need an internal temperature of 145 degrees (Fahrenheit). Ground pork patties should reach an internal temperature of 160 degrees. For more tips on properly preparing pork, which include grilling pork, air frying pork, using an instant pot, roasting pork and more, go to the National Pork Board’s website at pork.org. Happy National Pork Month!