Cary Sims
Agent for the Angelina County Office of the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service
Cary Sims is the County Extension Agent for agriculture and natural resources for Angelina County. His email address is cw-sims@tamu.edu
Updated: Jan. 27, 2023 at 5:18 PM CST
|By Cary Sims
Old gardeners know all about saving seeds. As newer gardeners develop their gardens and learn more about which vegetable varieties they prefer while reducing input costs, “seed saving” often becomes a part of their gardening plan.
Updated: Jan. 20, 2023 at 10:41 AM CST
|By Cary Sims
Angelina County Extension Agent Cary Sims has some tips for East Texans who want to plant potatoes this season.
Updated: Jan. 13, 2023 at 12:13 PM CST
|By Cary Sims
Gardeners have truly appreciated the recent rain and are watching the weather and the calendar for opportunities to get to work outside. Be it your yard, landscape or vegetable garden, many of us can’t wait for the sun to shine so we can start digging, prepping the garden, and planting!
Updated: Jan. 6, 2023 at 3:25 PM CST
|By Cary Sims
The Angelina County Extension Office will host a free evening seminar, Building Your Soil’s Health, on Jan. 17. Attendees will learn how soil health affects the productivity of garden, pastures, hay meadows and landscape.
Updated: Dec. 28, 2022 at 3:12 PM CST
|By Cary Sims
When I think of a potted plant for the Christmas holidays, I first think of the poinsettia. We’ll buy one, then let it die and buy another one next year. But, another potted plant that folks don’t let perish is the Christmas cactus, known scientifically as Schlumbergera.
Updated: Dec. 21, 2022 at 4:06 PM CST
|By Cary Sims
I always take note of the livestock present at manger scenes. In my role as a county agent, I get the chance to assist all manner of agricultural producers, both farmers and ranchers. And, perhaps working with livestock as a part of my job is why I take such a keen interest in what animals are there.
Updated: Dec. 15, 2022 at 5:38 PM CST
|By Cary Sims
Ready or not, Christmas is just days away. Among the many trappings we associate with Christmas such as gifts, traveling, ugly sweaters and more, we also bring into the house a variety of plants.
Updated: Dec. 9, 2022 at 12:25 PM CST
|By Cary Sims
The recent warm spell has resulted in questions about lawn management much later than normal. When should a homeowner last fertilize, what about disease control, and when do you quit watering your lawn?
Updated: Dec. 2, 2022 at 3:59 PM CST
|By Cary Sims
Lady beetles are insects that are absolutely beneficial. They are not invading your home to cause problems, only to stay warm.
Updated: Nov. 28, 2022 at 6:05 PM CST
|By Cary Sims
There is always a favorite variety of fruit or other food I love that proves difficult to grow. Snow peas are one such vegetable for me: difficult yet highly desired.
Updated: Oct. 20, 2022 at 3:05 PM CDT
|By Cary Sims
Frost effectively ends the growing season for several warm season annuals and puts many perennials into their winter slumber.
Updated: Oct. 6, 2022 at 4:00 PM CDT
|By Cary Sims
The honeydew that I’m getting calls about is the excrement of aphids and other plant sucking insects in your landscape.
Updated: Sep. 29, 2022 at 2:27 PM CDT
|By Cary Sims
Local ranchers should work closely with a veterinarian to help prevent this disease.
Updated: Sep. 8, 2022 at 11:57 AM CDT
|By Cary Sims
While lawn disease issues can happen anytime during the growing season, I hear about them mostly in the fall.
Updated: Sep. 2, 2022 at 3:40 PM CDT
|By Cary Sims
Cary Sims has advice to offer in the wake of the abundance of rain lately.
Updated: Aug. 26, 2022 at 4:05 PM CDT
|By Cary Sims
With recent rainfall seeming to bring fire ants back to the surface of the soil, questions have come up about how to deal with them.
Updated: Aug. 18, 2022 at 4:41 PM CDT
|By Cary Sims
With the worst of this summer hopefully behind us, and sputtering’s of rain starting back into our local area, could the last of this drought be behind us? And what does that mean for cattlemen and hay producers?
Updated: Jul. 14, 2022 at 4:27 PM CDT
|By Cary Sims
As we continue in this dry season that has only seen brief respite from a few showers, lets take a good look into watering basics.
Updated: Jul. 7, 2022 at 9:13 PM CDT
|By Cary Sims
There are a few ways that pond owners could experience a major fish die-off during these hot, dry summer months.
Updated: Jul. 1, 2022 at 8:30 AM CDT
|By Cary Sims
Looking forward with anticipation, or perhaps dread, at winter feeding and stocking rates, it is important that we that one strongly evaluates the anticipated hay needs and purchases.
Updated: Jun. 23, 2022 at 4:54 PM CDT
|By Cary Sims
Don’t water enough and you’ll end up with a thinning or dying lawn. Yet, water too much, or at the wrong time of day, and you will be full of fungal diseases that can also kill your lawn.
Updated: Jun. 16, 2022 at 11:24 AM CDT
|By Cary Sims
Pollination is such an important but often overlooked part of fruit and vegetable production. A frequent call is someone asking why their fruit or vegetable crop hasn’t produced.
Updated: Jun. 9, 2022 at 4:53 PM CDT
|By Cary Sims
Last month at an Angelina County Extension seminar, our local vet Dr. Bradley Clary spoke about the common thieves of cattle growth, flies, and internal parasites. It was an excellent talk about the losses each could incur on the herd and the steps necessary to put them at bay.
Updated: Jun. 2, 2022 at 5:19 PM CDT
|By Cary Sims
Learn the active ingredient in pesticides often products may not have the familiar brand name yet when used at the same rate will yield the same results.
Updated: May. 26, 2022 at 2:39 PM CDT
|By Cary Sims
Beginning in mid-April, galls or knots appear on the leaf veins, leaf stems, the current season’s shoot growth, and nuts of affected pecan trees caused by the feeding of small aphid-like pecan phylloxera.
Updated: May. 19, 2022 at 10:48 PM CDT
|By Cary Sims
The tour starts at 9 am and is expected to be complete well before noon. This is a free event. Those interested in joining the tour and discussion should enter 16071 Hwy 94, Apple Springs into the map app on your phone. If you are heading away from Lufkin, the entrance will be on your right.
Updated: May. 12, 2022 at 5:06 PM CDT
|By Cary Sims
Looking ahead at the upcoming hay and grazing season, there is growing concern among the cattlemen with whom I have been visiting.
Updated: May. 6, 2022 at 11:51 AM CDT
|By Cary Sims
The cost of fertilizer is a significant factor in the final cost and profitability of this summer’s hay crop.
Updated: Apr. 7, 2022 at 4:46 PM CDT
|By Cary Sims
Grafting and budding are horticultural techniques used to join parts from two or more plants so that they appear to grow as a single plant.
Updated: Mar. 25, 2022 at 4:27 PM CDT
|By Cary Sims
Volunteers are truly the heroes behind the scenes who make our county fair successful.
Updated: Mar. 17, 2022 at 4:00 PM CDT
|By Cary Sims
Preston Jelinek, 17, and Peyton Jelinek, 14, from Lufkin will be part of the 4H competition at the Angelina County Youth Fair on March 26.
Updated: Mar. 3, 2022 at 4:21 PM CST
|By Cary Sims
Jacob will have his heifers and record book judged along with his interview on Friday, March 25th at the Angelina County Fair.
Updated: Feb. 25, 2022 at 2:51 PM CST
|By Cary Sims
This will be Lauren Boulware's last time to compete in the Angelina County Fair heifer show.
Updated: Feb. 17, 2022 at 5:24 PM CST
|By Cary Sims
Reach for the Stars “Celebrating the Possibilities” at the Angelina County Fair is a livestock show on Thursday, March 24 at 5 p.m. that will showcase the talents of special needs youth from across our county. Participants will be paired up with a 4-H or FFA buddy to exhibit livestock
Updated: Feb. 3, 2022 at 5:12 PM CST
|By Cary Sims
Most everyone knows the best time to plant potted trees and shrubs in the landscape is in the fall through winter, but during the later winter and spring, local nurseries are stocked up on several fruit tree varieties that will work for us.
Updated: Jan. 28, 2022 at 11:55 AM CST
|By Cary Sims
Agricultural producers and home gardeners have been facing issues due to supply chain problems. Producers need to take a hard look at this year’s fertilizer costs as prices are currently high are expected to get much higher.
Updated: Jan. 21, 2022 at 3:39 PM CST
|By Cary Sims
Lufkin is now in Zone 8b with an average minimum temperature ranging from 15 to 20 F. Just a few miles north, Nacogdoches is in zone 8a (10 to 15 F), and further to our north, Tyler marks the transition into zone 7b (5 to 10 F).
Updated: Jan. 13, 2022 at 5:28 PM CST
|By Cary Sims
Dirt is the stuff under your fingernails and that which you sweep up after cleaning your floors. But soil is a rich, diverse, and living medium from which vegetation grows profusely and produces is abundantly.
Updated: Jan. 7, 2022 at 10:37 AM CST
|By Cary Sims
For the purpose of gearing up for spring planting, let us focus on the soil.
Updated: Dec. 22, 2021 at 10:01 AM CST
|By Cary Sims
Cary Sims ponders the plants, livestock, and agricultural nuances that are written in both the Old and New Testaments.
Updated: Dec. 16, 2021 at 1:44 PM CST
|By Cary Sims
Cole/cruciferous/mustard family vegetables include cool-season crops such as Brussels sprout, cabbage, cauliflower, collards, kale, kohlrabi, mustard, broccoli, turnips, and watercress.
Updated: Dec. 10, 2021 at 10:28 AM CST
|By Cary Sims
First frosts are a major marker for agricultural producers, gardeners, and landscapers. A frost effectively ends the growing season for several warm-season annuals and puts many perennials into their winter slumber.
Updated: Dec. 3, 2021 at 10:23 AM CST
|By Cary Sims
Lady beetles are insects that are absolutely beneficial. But they are not invading your home to cause problems, only to stay warm.
Updated: Nov. 23, 2021 at 9:53 AM CST
|By Cary Sims
Wander the aisles in our local nurseries and ask what’s been a favorite. Consider what tools are worn out and think of the additions that help your gardener enjoy the garden and landscape even more.
Updated: Nov. 19, 2021 at 3:54 PM CST
|By Cary Sims
As winter approaches, the days get shorter. As the days get shorter, we are cut back on the number of daylight hours we have to work outside.
Updated: Nov. 4, 2021 at 5:07 PM CDT
|By Cary Sims
All food sources are organic matter and anytime an organic item decomposes in an anaerobic (absent of oxygen) environment such as a landfill, it will release methane.
Updated: Oct. 29, 2021 at 4:39 PM CDT
|By Cary Sims
Sweet potatoes are a nutritionally dense, summer annual root vegetable that we can grow quite well here in east Texas.
Updated: Oct. 21, 2021 at 4:37 PM CDT
|By Cary Sims
This time of year is perfect for planning new beds, planting perennials, cleaning tools, closing down 2021′s garden, and gearing up for a great start to spring of 2022.
Updated: Oct. 15, 2021 at 3:21 PM CDT
|By Cary Sims
A bait that targets only feral hogs is being researched but still a long way away from being available.
Updated: Sep. 30, 2021 at 5:14 PM CDT
|By Cary Sims
Produce harvested in milder weather is reported to taste better.
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/MFHNJ55XIND2FESED2TSAETD3M.PNG)
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/2Q6GQXYFLBCV7KVJLJO536D4EU.jpg)
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/2Z3SFH7DENHK7H4ZRXMOKMTDQQ.jpg)
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/47XRR3OMXNDP3JAPLJ2UM3UVBM.jpg)
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/GBLWU6F6FRDNZCOC525TBS6LYY.jpg)
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/32UC4UHWS5AUPC6UADIPRLVL4U.jpg)
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/6I2BZP464JBKFLG5FSFX6SQSUM.jpg)
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/EXNTTL4TKVD3VM6XHMMCGM3OQA.jpg)
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/HLZ3MS3E4VEKDL6EEKD4E7GE4E.jpg)
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/KRGVSXT36ZCFFAPYM3DMHMFZ2I.jpg)
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/AYWT5PZM35FDLJYTTTP4P5NIKU.jpg)