St. Francis County Extension - UADA

09/02/2026

08/26/2026

St Francis County Master Gardeners are having their seminar October 8th, 2026 at Woodruff Electric. The theme this year is "Blooming Good Time." Come out and see us! We will have a silent auction.

08/17/2026

Five Alarm Fire
From the National Weather Service Little Rock Office on Thursday 8/13: “we have high confidence in a prolonged period of dangerous heat from today through at LEAST August 23 (next Sunday).” And another comment: “this extended period of significantly higher than normal temperatures combined with very little rainfall sets an almost perfect staging for a FLASH DROUGHT across much of the state of Arkansas.”

Draining: You know your ground better than anyone. Only drain as early as you need for it to hold the combine up when you get there. The ground is going to rapidly turn to concrete. When folks start throwing out terms like “flash drought” you know that rice plants can rapidly shut down and die. Suddenly we’re talking lodging and shattering from plant death, with grain moisture cratering and bringing milling yields down.

Grain Moisture: With this kind of heat and low afternoon humidity, grain moisture is going to fall much faster than normal. Reports of rapid drops have been coming in the last few days from the southeast through the northeast regions of the state. That being said, it does appear the DD50 is very close in terms of predicting 20% grain moisture right now – we just cut the first planting date at Stuttgart and the grain moisture compared to number of days after 50% heading places it very close. Use that as your guide for jumping in rice on time – the moisture is going to be running away from you screaming.

From the Arkansas Rice Update
https://arkansascrops.uada.edu/posts/crops/rice/arkansas-rice-update-8-14-26.aspx

08/14/2026

Our Xtendflex Soybean Variety Trial is moving right along! Thank you to P&R Farms for opportunity

08/11/2026

NEW PUBLICATION AVAILABLE!

If you’re dealing with disease problems in an Arkansas lawn, we have a brand-new resource that can help!

Chemical Control Options for Common Lawn Diseases in Arkansas – FSA7584 covers fungicide options and recommendations for several common turfgrass diseases, including large patch, spring dead spot, brown patch and fairy ring.

The publication also explains how fungicides move within the plant and why selecting the right product, application timing and watering practices can make a difference in disease control.

📖 Find this publication — and more than 1,500 other research-based Extension publications — at pubs.uada.edu.

As always, read and follow the pesticide label — the label is the law!

08/10/2026

Good morning all, St. Francis County Cooperative Extension office, had a wonderful time partnering with the St. Francis County Community Health fair, held on August 6th, 2:00pm-6:00pm at the Larry Bryant Sports Complex in Forrest City, AR. We featured a salsa recipe that participants had the opportunity to taste until we ran out 🤣🤣! Also, we passed out brochures highlighting the recipe and the services and programs that the St. Francis County Extension office offered. It was great talking to the citizens of St. Francis County. Until next year!!!

07/30/2026

07/29/2026

💐🌷Are you interested in becoming a St. Francis County Master Gardeners?? Now is the time to sign up. We offer the training once a year in the fall. There is an option to come and watch the zoom (in person) training or you have the option to complete it online at your own pace.

🐞🐝Our Master Gardeners work hard to help with the beautification of our community. Also, they educate others about their projects and different aspects of gardening.

🌵🪴If you are interested in becoming a Master Gardener, contact Sarah Stone, [email protected] or 870-261-1730, to register.