NDSU Extension- Wells County

10/19/2026

Join us in Velva for Ranch Counts & Calculations!

Put your records to use to identify your most productive dams, compare herd performance to production averages and more.

The hands-on workshop is FREE but registration is required!

Call Kathryn at 701-537-5405 or sign up here: ndsu.ag/ranchcounts11-26

10/14/2026

Are you a sedum connoisseur?

Dakota Gardener: A hardy plant even better than mums
By Kelsey Deckert, NDSU Extension – Burleigh County horticulture agent

Fall is upon us, and we are starting to see color changes in the landscape. Now is the time of year when greenhouses and nurseries, along with big-box stores, are flooded with chrysanthemums! Mums are great for fall décor and stand out as a wonderful container plant on porches. Unfortunately, mums can be a little bit challenging to overwinter.

If you want a low-maintenance, show-stopping, fall-blooming, reliable, hardy plant for our great state, select sedum!

Sedums, also known as stonecrop, are part of the succulent family, and many varieties are zone 3 – perfect for our northern gardens. They have thick, fleshy succulent leaves and stems. Sedum comes in creeping and tall/upright forms that work well in garden beds.

Creeping sedum tends to grow 4 to 6 inches tall and spread easily. They are great for groundcovers, as they can handle poor soil. You will find a range of colors from bright gold to a deep purple. Varieties to consider for your garden are Angelina, Voodoo and Boogie Woogie. Angelina has a vibrant lime foliage that turns orange in the fall. Voodoo has deep burgundy foliage and small, bright pink flowers. Boogie Woogie has variegated green-and-white foliage and produces yellow flowers.

Upright sedums grow from 1 to 2 feet tall and can make a great focal point in any garden. Bloom colors range from white, antique pink, lavender or yellow. Newer sedum varieties have stiff stems, preventing them from flopping over. You will see stem and foliage colors including purple, dark red and variegated.

Some upright varieties to consider are Autumn Joy, Thunderhead, Double Martini and Mojave Jewels Sapphire. Autumn Joy is the most popular tall sedum for northern gardeners with green foliage and pink flowers. Thunderhead features dark green foliage that turns burgundy in the fall, with deep pink flowers. Double Martini has olive-green foliage with maroon stems and pink flowers. Mojave Jewels Sapphire is a unique sedum with dusty blue-purple foliage with antique pink flowers.

Sedums are a fantastic pollinator plant, and upright sedums are a great source of food for our pollinators in the fall.

For more information about sedums, contact your local NDSU Extension agent.

10/14/2026

Dakota Gardener: Another normal fall
By Joe Zeleznik, NDSU Extension Forester

A few weeks ago, I blinked, and a lot of trees changed color.

I blinked again last week and found out it was time to rake leaves.

Fall seemed to come on pretty quickly this year. Maybe it was because I was busy doing other things. The trees knew it was coming, though, and they prepared.

Leaves on the deciduous trees changed color as they drew nitrogen back into the twigs to be used for next year’s growth. Then, those same trees shed their leaves to prevent water loss over the winter.

But what about the evergreens?

I’ve had a lot of emails over the last few weeks about conifers losing needles. In each case, it was the older, inner needles of mature trees. Most people said that they had never seen this before.

I had to break the news to my clients: This is normal, and it’s okay.

Every year, mature conifers shed the older, inner needles from the crown because they’re just not as productive as they used to be. Quite simply, the younger needles near the ends of the branch are getting the sunlight, shading out the older needles.

And this is normal. It happens every year.

Right now, both my driveway and my pickup are covered in pine needles. Time to get out the leaf blower.

This happens to all conifers – pines, spruce, arborvitae and juniper trees.

A healthy conifer should have at least three years’ worth of needles on the majority of its branches. Needles sometimes live for seven or eight years before dying. That’s a lot of photosynthesis!

This year, it does seem like needle drop is heavier than usual. I’m guessing that this past summer’s drought is playing a part in that.

It could also be insect or disease problems, such as spider mites or a needlecast disease, that are making things worse.

Pest problems can be dealt with. And so can drought.

Watering conifers in the fall is a great way to minimize problems with “winter injury.” I put that term in quotation marks because it’s actually rather vague.

Winter injury shows up in the spring as dead/dying needles, often in no particular pattern around the crown. We usually attribute it to water loss from the needles on those winter days when it’s above freezing and the sun comes out.

We try to prevent that by making sure the trees go into winter being fully hydrated. Just place a hose near the base of the tree and let water trickle slowly into the soil. Move the hose around to cover the entire root system.

Another good thing to do for winter prep is to protect the younger, smaller trees from rabbit damage. Rabbits and other rodents can easily destroy a tree by chewing off its bark during the tough times of winter.

This damage is easily preventable, but I still get emails each spring from people asking what they can do after the fact. At that point, the answer is “remove the tree, and do better next time.”

It’s a hard lesson to learn. And a harder one to teach!

10/14/2026

A one-size-fits-all guideline for how much water people should drink does not exist. This is because there are vast differences among individuals that determine the amount of fluid they need.

Learn more from the latest Healthy Communities Alive newsletter >>> https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Happy-October-.html?soid=1136598077807&aid=xsI5XeKJ47o&fbclid=IwY2xjawU6H6xleHRuA2FlbQIxMABwZG9mAWJyaWQRMU1Cc0NqUm04czZSOEhFckVzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeeBEeDqVLjYbigzzBwwj4Qp8A9ncg2r9UK9w6FchN8esgLmdP9U2eLZsgz2U_aem_dcFSyO_0SRlc8nClM0eYUQ #:~:text=How%20much%20fluid%20does%20a%20person%20need%3F

10/14/2026

There is still time to join!

Learn more about the course and register >>> ndsu.ag/fp101

10/14/2026

10/05/2026

This year's herbicides should be taken into considerations when planning for 2027. Joe Ikley, NDSU Extension W**d Specialist breaks down what growers should be thinking about in issue #21 of the Crop and Pest Report.

"The dry conditions throughout the summer have led to many concerns about herbicide carryover to certain crops next year. It will be beneficial to most everyone this winter to take a look at the herbicides applied this summer, and the rainfall requirements to allow for rotation to certain crops next year. The products of most concern are anything containing clopyralid, or many of our Group 27 herbicides that we use in corn or small grains. There may be certain situations where 2027 cropping plans may need to be changed based on herbicides used in 2026, especially in some of the areas that are observing severe rainfall deficits. Labels will be the best guidance in these areas of concern. One note is every year we get questions about getting soil analyzed for presence of certain herbicides, typically reported back as a PPM or PPB of certain active ingredients. We do not have a lot of guidance on what a certain PPM or PPB test results actually means in regards to risk of injury from carryover, so these tests can help determine presence or absence of a product, but may not be helpful for determining level or severity of carryover concern for next year."

See Joe's FULL Fall W**d Control article https://www.ndsu.edu/agriculture/ag-hub/ag-topics/crop-production/crop-pest-report

10/05/2026

We all know that many foods have increased in price at the grocery store. Eating out costs even more. Is it possible to meet nutritional needs? The answer is “yes.”

Read on from the latest Family Table newsletter >>> https://myemail.constantcontact.com/The-Family-Table---October-2026-Newsletter-.html?soid=1136598077807&aid=AncBmJj4yRM

10/05/2026

Who's ready to enjoy soup as the weather cools?

The National Center for Home Food Preservation is an excellent resource for safely canning soup >>> https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can/canning-vegetables-and-vegetable-products/soups/

Learn more about pressure canning from NDSU Extension >>> https://www.ndsu.edu/agriculture/extension/publications/pressure-can-it-right-tips-safely-using-stovetop-or-electric-pressure-canner