Plants or Crops

All Plants or Crops Content

Three bright red and green apples ready for harvest

Brookings Master Gardener donating apple trees to local youth

March 26, 2025

A Brookings-area Master Gardener is donating apple trees to local youth for the sixth annual Fruitful Children Project.

Cropland illustrating soil surface cover in instances where there is and is not rye cover crops planted.

Conserving Soil Moisture During Dry Conditions

Dry conditions can create difficulties for agricultural producers. Using soil health principles can improve the resilience of agricultural systems to dry conditions.

Wheat plants exhibiting severe symptoms of rust.

SDSU Plant Diagnostic Clinic provides fast diagnoses of plant diseases

March 07, 2025

South Dakota State University Plant Diagnostic Clinic is the only public diagnostic clinic for plant diseases in South Dakota and receives more than 1,500 samples each year.

silver maple tree

Tapping Maples for Sap

Fact sheet on how to tap maple trees for sap.

hand examining clump of soil organic matter

Soil: It’s Not Just Dirt

Most soils are complex ecosystems with worms, insects and microscopic organisms, which all work together in helping plants grow.

Healthy, well-managed grassland with a variety of native plants and grasses.

Understanding Grassland Terminology

Before learning the best practices of grassland management, it's important to know some of the common terminology used in the land management and conservation arena.

A blooming prairie strip with a variety of grasses and wildflowers growing throughout.

Using Prairie Strips To Protect South Dakota Water

Prairie strips are a new continuous Conservation Reserve Program practice that integrates native prairie plantings oriented linearly within a row crop field to reduce soil erosion and runoff.

Watershed Academy attendees discussing riparian area management in the countryside on a bridge over a waterway.

The Importance of Riparian Areas

Riparian areas occur along streams, rivers, wetlands, lakes, and shorelines and can be considered the last line of defense before pollutants enter a body of water. Learn about the many benefits these areas offer and the programs available to support their conservation.

South Dakota native grassland with a variety of plants and grasses growing.

Grassland Fertilization: Ecology

In the first article in this series, we discussed basic terminology and economics. This article focuses on the ecological impacts of fertilization in various grassland plant communities, including native rangelands and prairies.

Healthy, South Dakota native grassland with a variety of plants and grasses growing.

Grassland Fertilization: Native Pasture Case Studies – McPherson, Deuel, Grant and Clark Counties

Even our best native pastures, rangelands and prairies suffer from at least some level of invasion. Within this reality lies a wide gradient of quality of native grasslands that is largely influenced by past and present management.