The Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon, Thursday, June 8, 1978 FIVE Weather problems in Texas and Oklahoma last week may have a negative effect on this year's southwestern wheat harvest, but two prime Mid western grain states may well FREE MOUNTING ROAD HAZARD GUESS PORKIE'S WEIGHT IN POUNDS AND OUNCES. THE PERSON GUESSING THE CORRECT WEIGHT OR THE TO THE CORRECT WEIGHT WILL WIN THE PIG. THE PRIZE INCLUDES CUTTING & WRAPPING. ENTRIES CLOSE SS AT 4:30p.m. ENTRIES LIMITED TO PERSONS 16 YEARS kl li V 4 J Ai Prices livW .Jh.j. Of i;' .:!' f 4 J 1 :.-&-nBgiflrjnaii3amsgae Robb Rush, Manager ; OVER 75 LOCATIONS eat price outlook remains anyone s guess exceed Department of Agri culture harvest estimates. The result leaves area growers uncertain about what prices they will receive when this year's better than aver H SAL "'..vitf i. ' - ?7 l Vj Kevin Rounfree, Ass't. Manager PMDLIT0 276-1571 ON THE FARM SERVICE WRITTEN WARRANTY SUPERMARKET SELECTION SUDDEN SERVICE FREE age Morrow County crop hits the combine. Wet fields set back the beginning of harvest in the more important commercial centers of Texas wheat pro duction last week, with heavy rains causing damage to WARRANTY OVER . u r c r T ' I '3 I , O J wheat stands in the Texas Panhandle. Drying winds should allow harvesting to begin soon, according to a North Pacific Grain Growers bulletin, but this year's har vest threatens to. be short in the drought-ridden Lone Star 75 LOCATIONS ON n, o n n n n 700x15 Phr 750x16 p'y KERMST0N 567-8523 state. In neighboring Oklahoma, rain showers and scattered hail storms were reported last week, but overall the weather was beneficial to maturing and filling new hard crop winter wheat. The grain THE FARM SERVICE r ? rn u L J -- r- , . vlJ hi if T; j C::;i rl i growers' bulletin predicted that this year's harvest will be about 10 days late, due to a cold, tardy start to the growing season. However, in Kansas, the nation's biggest wheat produ cer, Wheat Improvement WRITTEN WARRANTY SUPERMARKET n ff P . Mf -. w 4 u ' il 7, z: - ; T Will m fc j m m? pwr f L il U L'i UJ bvUu'.i lj f I I r " - A r j I ' . j r y r" ' f f v f I k.it ti U f it XSKJ ' ,i V- . J ir v . - . 1 I mk HP m T w I 1 i w Wats JJ fis U iJ I ' . ' se " f T f , m jm. f:. ytfh w H. L ' ' vl i'i J Jf - V m .. J? V i J U ii J r h ft r u i n r ROAD HAZARD WARRANTY $3.93 L l ?'7 r - T f h. ni W FOSSIL Assn. officials are predicting a harvest of 345 million bushels 20 million more than the latest USDA estimate. Nebra ska, another grain belt state, was also listed as a possibility for topping its USDA harvest estimate. CO P3 m m 5 CLOSEST AT AND OVER. m S 7434791 MOUNTING The Willamette Valley has had its share of wheat production problems this year, mainly from insects and disease. More than 40 inches of rainfall at the start of the season waterlogged many fields, getting growth of to a sluggish start, while winter temperatures failed to drop enough to kill aphids and other insect pests. Valley wheat stands also faced septoria, yellow dwarf virus, stripe rust, and scat tered outbreaks of damaging foot rot. Despite the setbacks, Oregon State University agro nomists are predicting a normal yield for the Willa mette Valley. Recent wheat futures trad ing moved prices up with the news of unfavorable east European crop conditions, then down, with news of a bright outlook for the Chinese harvest, according to the grain growers' bulletin. Home-grown lettuce makes sense The high price of lettuce should make even the most reluctant gardeners want to grow their own. "Lettuce is well suited to succession planting, and if managed correctly, will give a ready supply through the summer," said Harold Kerr, Morrow County Extension Agent. Leaf lettuce will give the most immediate results. It 'matures in 40 to 50 days. ' Recommended varieties hv elude Prizehead, Salad Bowl, Grand Rapids, Slobolt and Ruby. Head lettuce, also known as crisphead and iceberg, ma tures in 70-90 days. Recom mended varieties include Itha ca, Calmaria, and for fall harvest, Calmar. Butterhead type lettuces mature in 70-80 days. Varie ties that do well in Oregon include Buttercrunch and White Boston. Cos and R maine are the two recommen ded varieties of cos lettuce. They mature in 65-70 days. Lettuce grows best in loose, moist soil that is fertilized at planting time. Kerr recom mended using three cups of 16-16-16 fertilizer for an area 10 feet long by 10 feet wide. Seeds should be planted about one-half inch deep and one inch apart, in rows spaced one foot apart. Plants should be thinned when the lettuce leaves are about one inch high, so that a space of about six inches exists between the plants. Head lettuce plants should be thinned to about one foot apart. Kerr said it's all right to be "ruthless with thinning. If the plants are too close, you'll get poor results. Head lettuce will remain small or won't grow at all. Overcrow ded leaf lettuce will only produce bitter outside leaves." Care should be used in weeding lettuce, since the roots are few and close to the surface. Hoe between the rows hv corafrhino thp snrfare of the soil. Weeds close to the lettuce plants should be pulled by hand. Lettuce requires regular watering, with the most cru cial period of water need , occurring when the heads 1 begin to develop. Should damage from insects take place, Kerr recommen ded using diazinon or rete none, following label direc tions. "To get a regular harvest, plant lettuce seeds every week or 10 days until the first of August," Kerr said. During the hot weather, Kerr suggested planting the Salad Bowl, Ithaca, and But tercrunch varieties.