2023 Annual Summary

Extension Publishing teamed up with the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) and OSU Extension’s Pesticide Safety Education Program (PSEP) to offer study guides for commercial pesticide applicators in Ohio. The complete catalog is available for viewing at go.osu.edu/extpubspested, where you'll also find a PDF suitable for printing and sharing with clients. Effective Oct. 1, 2023, products became available for purchase in print or PDF format at extensionpubs.osu.edu. Many thanks to our partners at ODA and in PSEP. We are looking at you, Mary Ann Rose and Chrissy Kaminsky!

• 2023 Weed Control Guide, Mark Loux, Alyssa Essman, Doug Doohan, and Anthony F. Dobbels (authors from Ohio State)
• Computer Science (idea starter), Mark Light
• Cooking on My Own, Shannon Carter, Lorrissa Dunfee, Aubrey Fowler, Katie Schlagheck, and Michelle Treber
• Counting Your Money Calendar, Margaret Jenkins and Melissa Rupp, with Courtney Warman and Richard Wofford
• Digital Media (idea starter), Christy Millhouse and Danielle Combs
• Rabbit Project and Record Book, Travis West
• Ready, Set, . . . Mow!, Forrest Lang and S. Dee Jepsen
• Robotics Essentials, Ritch Ramey and Heather Smith
• Tick ID Card (set of 25), Tim McDermott, Risa Pesapane, Megan Meuti, and Sarah Short
• Your Feelings Matter, Jami Dellifield and Amanda Raines
• You're Hired, Nate Arnett, Frances Foos, and Kate Wells

ANR, FCS, and CD

1. 2023 Weed Control Guide (2,319)
2. Applying Pesticides Correctly (Core Manual) (1,376)
3. Tri-State Fertilizer Recommendations for Corn, Soybean, Wheat, and Alfalfa (992)
4. Counting Your Money Calendar (713)
5. Ohio Pesticide Applicator Training: Core Student Workbook (657)

4-H

1. Rabbit Project and Record Book (9,390)
2. Poultry Project and Record Book (7,275)
3. Market Hog Project and Record Book (5,457)
4. Beef Project and Record Book (4,927)
5. Goat Project and Record Book (4,765)

What were the most popular fact sheets on Ohioline? Here are the titles, publication year, author(s), and number of pageviews* for the 25 most-viewed fact sheets this year:

1. Wild Mushrooms (2014); Sarah Ellis Williams, Britt Bunyard, and Walter Sturgeon; 29,714
2. Calculating Cation Exchange Capacity (2019); Steve Culman; 29,453 
3. Growing Giant Pumpkins (2019); Mike Estadt; 27,216
4. Role of Soil Bacteria (2016); James J. Hoorman; 26,885
5. Ohio Bee Identification (2015); Scott Prajzner and Mary Gardiner; 23,010
6. Drones for Spraying Pesticides (2023); Erdal Ozkan; 18,895
7. Bacterial Diseases of Plants (2017); Sarah D. Williams, Michael J. Boehm, and Francesca Peduto Hand; 17,532
8. Food Preservation: Making Jerky (2017); Katharine Shumaker and Christine Kendle; 15,480
9. Ohio Agricultural Sales Tax Exemption Rules (2012); Chris Bruynis; 15,203
10. Giant Caterpillars (2011); David Shetlar and Barb Bloetscher; 14,942
11. Basic Principles of Pruning Backyard Grapevines (2017); Maurus Brown and Gary Gao; 14,755
12. Gastrointestinal Tract of the Horse (2022); Elizabeth Share, Sara L. Mastellar, and Haley M. Zynda; 14,619
13. Staphylococcus aureus (2011); Nancy Stehulak, Lydia Medeiros, and Jeffrey LeJeune; 14,594
14. Bushels, Test Weights, and Calculations (2018); Alexander Lindsey; 14,432
15. Understanding Soil Microbes and Nutrient Recycling (2010); James J. Hoorman and Rafiq Islam; 14,246
16. A History of Packaging (2017); Paula Hook and Joe E. Heimlich, revised by Cynthia Bond; 13,843
17. Fire Blight of Apples and Pears (2016); Melanie L. Ivey; 13,670
18. Is it Pine, Spruce, or Fir? (2019); Curtis E. Young; 12,374
19. Pruning Blueberry Bushes (2017); Gary Gao and Maurus Brown; 12,349
20. Soil Testing for Ohio Lawns, Landscapes, Fruit Crops, and Vegetable Gardens (2017); Joe Boggs, Cindy Meyer, Gary Gao, and Jim Chatfield; 11,614
21. Growing Onion in the Garden (2018); Sabrina Schritzinger; 11,308
22. Hydroponic Nutrient Solution for Optimized Greenhouse Tomato Production (2018); Mark Kroggel and Chieri Kubota; 11,299
23. Measuring Standing Trees (2016); Randall B. Heiligmann and Stephen M. Bratkovich; 11,205
24. Basic Estate Planning: Trusts (2012); James C. Skeeles and Russell N. Cunningham; 10,925
25. Controlling Non-Native Plants in Ohio: Bush Honeysuckle (2010); Kathy Smith and Annemarie Smith; 10,764

*Ohioline lost its connection to Google Analytics for a few weeks in June and July, so actual pageview totals for many fact sheets are higher than pageview totals shown here.

In 2023, 58 new or updated Ohioline fact sheets were added to the collection. Thank you to all the authors who help our readership engage with new content across the complete spectrum of CFAES topics and program areas. Here are the fact sheets (alphabetical order):

• Abnormal Ears in Corn – When and Why Do They Develop?, Osler Ortez
• Annual Ryegrass as a Cover Crop, Sarah Noggle and Rachel Cochran
• Assessing Farm Financial Health Using Your Balance Sheet, Chris Zoller and Eric Richer
• Barley as a Cover Crop, Sarah Noggle and Rachel Cochran
• Berseem Clover as a Cover Crop, Sarah Noggle and Rachel Cochran
• Buckwheat as a Cover Crop, Sarah Noggle and Rachel Cochran
• Bumble Bee Pollination in Tomato Greenhouses, Emily Runnion
• Cereal Rye as a Cover Crop, Sarah Noggle and Rachel Cochran
• Corn Growing Degree Days: A Method of Maturity Rating for Hybrids, Osler Ortez and Alex Lindsey
• Cover Crops in the Garden, Amanda Douridas
• Cowpea as a Cover Crop, Sarah Noggle and Rachel Cochran
• Crimson Clover as a Cover Crop, Sarah Noggle and Rachel Cochran
• Drones for Spraying Pesticides, Erdal Ozkan
• Elderberry Production in Ohio, Gary Y. Gao, M. Ryan Slaughter, Eric Barrett, and Margaret H. Rivera
• Fall Armyworm in Ohio Field Crops, Kelley Tilmon and Andrew Michel
• Fall Color Change in Ohio, Andrew J. Londa and H. Alexis Londo
• Field Pea/Winter Pea as a Cover Crop, Sarah Noggle and Rachel Cochran
• Foodborne Illness: Guess Who Came to Dinner?, revised by Nicole Arnold
• Forage Turnip as a Cover Crop, Sarah Noggle and Rachel Cochran
• Hairy Vetch as a Cover Crop, Sarah Noggle and Rachel Cochran
• Herbicide Injury and the Problem of Spray Drift, Doug Doohan, Imed Dami, and Bruce Bordelon (Purdue)
• It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s a Moth: The Sphinx Moths of Ohio, Iliana Moore and Jamie Strange
• Japanese Millet as a Cover Crop, Sarah Noggle and Rachel Cochran
• Lawn Mowing, Tyler Q. Carr, David S. Gardner, and Edward J. Nangle
• Management of Nutrition Incentives at Farmer’s Markets, Amanda Osborne and Christie Welch
• Marketing and Promotion of Nutrition Incentives, Amanda Osbourne and Christie Welch
• Native Shrubs: Creating Living Landscapes, Denise Ellsworth and Marne Titchenell
• Native Trees: Creating Living Landscapes, Denise Ellsworth and Marne Titchenell
• Norovirus: A Different Type of Foodborne Illness, updated by Nicole Arnold
• Oats as a Cover Crop, Sarah Noggle and Rachel Cochran
• Ohio Agricultural Fertilizer Applicator Certification Requirements, Mary Ann Rose and Abby Welsh
• Ohio Commercial Pesticide Applicator Requirements, Mary Ann Rose and Abby Welsh
• Ohio Phosphorus (P) Use By Crop Reporting District, Greg LaBarge
• Ohio Private Pesticide Applicator License Requirements, Mary Ann Rose and Abby Welsh
• Ohio Transportation Improvement Districts, Gwynne Stewart
• Pearl Millet as a Cover Crop, Sarah Noggle and Rachel Cochran
• Phosphorus Nutrient Use in Ohio, Greg LaBarge
• Radish as a Cover Crop, Sarah Noggle and Rachel Cochran
• Rapeseed as a Cover Crop, Sarah Noggle and Rachel Cochran
• Red Clover as a Cover Crop, Sarah Noggle and Rachel Cochran
• Relative Effectiveness of Herbicides Commonly Used to Control Woody Vegetation in Forest Stands, Randall B. Heiligmann and Dave Krause
• Ripe Rot of Grape, Melanie L. Lewis Ivey
• Shiitake Mushroom Production: Steps to Cultivation & Considerations for Production, Erika Lyon, Marc Amante, Andrew Londo, and Kaylee Toland
• Shiitake Mushroom Production: Troubleshooting, Erika Lyon and Marc Amante
• Slugs on Field Crops, revised by Rachel Cochran and Kelley Tilmon
• Soils and Soil Health, Rachel Cochran
• Sorghum-Sudangrass as a Cover Crop, Sarah Noggle and Rachel Cochran
• Sprayers for Effective Pesticide Application in Orchards and Vineyards, Erdal Ozkan and Emilio Gil
• Sudangrass as a Cover Crop, Sarah Noggle and Rachel Cochran
• Sunflower as a Cover Crop, Sarah Noggle and Rachel Cochran
• Sunn Hemp as a Cover Crop, Sarah Noggle and Rachel Cochran
• Sweetclover as a Cover Crop, Sarah Noggle and Rachel Cochran
• Tobacco Sucker Control, Mary Ann Rose and Chrissy Kaminski
• Triticale as a Cover Crop, Sarah Noggle and Rachel Cochran
• Understanding How Soil Test Phosphorus Impacts Water Quality, Greg LaBarge and Rachel Cochran
• Wheat as a Cover Crop, Sarah Noggle and Rachel Cochran
• Wine Grape Cultivars in the Midwest, Imed Dami
• Woodlands Make Poor Pastures, Kathy Smith

When an Ohioline fact sheet is posted, our work isn’t over. Extension Publishing continually monitors the website using Monsido software to ensure content is available to our readership at the highest possible level of quality. During 2023, we used data compiled from Monsido to optimize the website, resulting in a quality assurance compliance rating of 100%. The industry average is 65.81%.

In real terms, this means readers can expect functioning links, no broken images, and no misspellings or potential misspellings in all Ohioline content. With 1,196 fact sheets and a total of 6,855 pages, maintaining a high quality-assurance rating requires regular testing and updates to links, and spell checks for scientific words, common English words, and Latinized scientific taxonomy words. We also review the reading level of fact sheets during the editing process, which has resulted in an overall reading level of 10th to 12th grade. In addition, Ohioline has a search engine optimization (SEO) compliance of 91.5% (versus the industry average of 81.9%) and is accessible on all digital platforms—laptops, tablets, and mobile devices.

Social media promotion is now part of the Ohioline process. Social media posts for 39 fact sheets have been shared on Extension’s 2023 Instagram and Facebook accounts. You can share Extension's social media posts in the following ways:

• Clicking “share with public” allows your network to view the post, but you won’t have the opportunity to comment.
• Clicking “share to feed” places the post on your social media page and allows you to comment.
• Clicking “share to story” places the post in your social media story.

In 2023, 1,183,077 Ohioline users viewed 1,749,576 pages over 1,449,988 sessions, representing a slight decrease in activity from 2021 and 2022, but still more than 2020 and previous years. However, Ohioline lost its connection to Google Analytics for a few weeks over summer, so the actual pageview totals are slightly higher. Interesting! Did online activity in the pandemic years increase because of less in-person programming? Is it tapering off now because in-person programming is ramping up? No matter the reason, we are watching closely and looking ahead to regaining ground in 2024.

The average time on a page for fact sheets is 3 minutes, 53 seconds, meaning our audience members are finding value in reading the information you are presenting.

NOTE: If you want analytics for your own fact sheet(s), please complete an analytics request form. We are happy to share that information.