Monthly Newsletter

September-2026

Agriculture and Natural Resources

Purdue Extension

Geoff Schortgen

A Word From the ANR Educator

September 2026

Greetings All,

September is here, and hopefully everyone is drying out after a very wet August. As I checked in with folks around Wabash County, rainfall reports ranged from 3 to 9 inches during the wettest part of the month. Thankfully, area reservoirs did their job by holding back localized flooding. Over the next few weeks, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will be working to draw those reservoirs down to help prevent the Wabash River from overflowing.

With all the moisture and relatively mild temperatures, disease pressure has increased in both soybeans and corn. On the bright side, lawns have never looked better for late summer!

Despite the wet weather, August was full of successful and impactful programming. A big shout-out to everyone who helped with the UWIN Invasive Species Field Day and Workshop! Thank you as well to Hoegemeyer Seed Co. for inviting me to speak and provide a PARP regulatory update during their Summer Field Day.

If you have any questions about upcoming programming or Ag questions in general, please reach out to the Extension Office. Phone: 260-563-0661 (ext 1408) or by emailing me directly at gschortg@purdue.edu. For in person meetings I would suggest setting up a time as I am not in the office as much with programming and trainings.

Best Wishes,

Geoff Schortgen

Purdue Extension

Ag and Natural Resources Educator

Upcoming Programs & Events!

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Resister for 2026 Extension Hot Topics

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**Past years of Extension Hot Topics are at the bottom of this newsletter**

Visit the UWIN website for more information!!

August Review!

Invasive Species Field Day

The Upper Wabash Invasives Network hosted the 5th Invasives Speicies Field Day and Workshop. Purdue Extension's role in this event is to provide speakers and topics that allow commercial pesticide license holders to get continuing credit hour. This year we had over 50 in attendance!

DNR and Drones

Spray Drones

Control Methods

Pond Management

Prep for making Weed Wands

Tools of the Trade

Tools of the trade

ANR Educators

Pond Managment

Plant ID

New Partnership-PARP

I was able to work with a new group of folks with the Dairyland Ag Business, now Hoegemeyer Seed. There were more than 150 community members in attendance and over 60 who needed PARP credits. Sponsorship for the PARP fee was provided by the Corn Marketing Council and the Soybean Alliance.

PARP set up

Wabash PARP

Nursery Visit

Hot Topics- State Parks

Check out our August Hot Topics where we discuss Indiana State Parks. The Salamonie Interpreter, Teresa Roday, explains the services and various state parks in Indiana! Recording HERE

Extension Master Gardeners

Tomato Harvest

Potato Harvest

Popcorn Harvest

Noble County EMGs

Huntington EMGs

More Photos!!

Lespedeza

A common summer annual that shows up in August and September is Lespedeza. It spreads quickly and is typically fount in the Southern Part of Indiana. Applications of 2,4-D are often ineffective. Applications of tryclopyr and flurozpyr are usually more effective. More info HERE