1. A viewer that has a mugo pine that has the pine saw fly larvae we have talked about in the past. They have a controlled it with water and Sevin, but this year they have a cardinal nesting in the tree and want to know how to control the pine saw larvae without disturbing the cardinal.
a. This is a good time to do a little tapping. Wait until the cardinal is not in the nest and go out use a twig to tap the larvae off the branches. They have no way to climb back up. Cardinals are very territorial, so they will not be bothered by this. Mugo pines are fairly small, so you should be able to handle the larvae by being persistent about knocking them off.

2. We have half a dozen questions that are buffalo grass related. Do you want to give us buffalo grass 101 real quick?
a. Buffalo grass is one of our native species, the other turf grasses came from Europe or Africa. Buffalo grass is native to the central Great Plains. It doesn't have a good shade tolerance, so it’s not good if you have a lot of trees. But it's got a perfect opportunity to plant it. If you've got a cool season grass and you're trying to transition. We have a way that's going to work. You can eradicate the whole lawn and seed it, but a slower method is to take the lawn down, scalp it; run a core-aerator over it about three times, creating lots of holes in the lawn. Then spread the buffalo grass burrs (seeds). They will fall into the holes and germinate in them. Keep the lawn well watered. The cool season grass is going to keep growing. Mow it short, which is not what we recommend for cool season grasses. That's going to help the buffalo grass, then in the fall hit it with Roundup after the second hard frost (28 degrees at night, 65 degree day) when the buffalo grass is not actively growing. Repeat the Roundup to kill the cool season grass and the weeds that are present. Now you've got a buffalo grass lawn from seed. You can do the same thing, with plugs; drop the plug in, give it some time to get established and you're off and running. If you've got an established buffalo grass lawn and you want to use a pre-emergent; all the pre-emergents that are labeled for blue grass and fescue are labeled for use with buffalo grass. One caution on weed control, avoid products that contain 2,4d once our temperatures get warm. If the heat goes into the 80’s, it will injure buffalo grass, even if the temps are cooler in the morning. Today was an example of that. It was 82, 83, and you will injure buffalo grass with 82 or 83 degrees. There is one product from Ortho Weed-B-Gone clover and chickweed killer with triclopyr in it. Triclopyr is safe for buffalo grass. Avoid 2,4d on buffalo grass. First year, mow it real aggressively; after that, the buffalo grass takes care of itself.

3. Every year for the last several years this viewer got dollar spot fungus in the yard; they water about an inch a week. They do treat with a fungicide after it appears, two applications. The question is whether they can put it on before this happens rather than waiting and making a corrective sort of control?
a. Unfortunately, that's not really an option with dollar spot. There really isn't a good chemical to apply before the disease appears, so you're going to want to watch for the first signs of leaf infection and then treat. I think you can control this with cultural practices. We usually see dollar spot in a low nitrogen lawn. A little bit of nitrogen can go a long way. Add more nitrogen; you might have to mow more frequently. Dollar spot tends to be in thatchy bluegrass lawns, so if you have a heavy thatch you might want to consider verticutting or get on an aggressive core-aeration program to take care of that thatch. Dollar spot is an Equal-opportunity invader. Bluegrass is going to get dollar spot. In general, you're going to see it, especially in lawns that are low on nitrogen.

4. A view in Fremont has rascally rabbits. How do we keep them out of the garden? Will blood meal help?
a. Most repellents will give a little bit of help, but not much. If the repellant works for you, keep using it. Most people find that repellants give very, very little reduction. The best thing that's going to work, 100%, is a fence, in the ground four inches, 24 to 26 inches above the ground. Holes in the fence should be an inch or less in diameter. That will keep out 99% of the rabbits. I know most people don't want to put a fence around, but it is the most effective measure. You can't trap rabbits very well, any trapping would have to be done in the winter when there isn't much around to eat. Rabbits reproduce heavily; 48 hours after giving birth the mother can become pregnant, until October. If you have a dog or cat that chases them, that's great. Things like human hair or coyote urine probably will not work in an urban situation; urban rabbits do not know that a coyote is a predator. This year, the 24-inch fence only gave the rabbits something to stand on in the snow.

5. Young Ponderosa pine in the Lincoln in the area of 96th and Roca Road; the tree has speckled black to completely black needles, and a young blue spruce is showing the same thing.  What is this and what can be done about it?

a. Possibly an insect, but maybe not. From the provided images we can’t see anything to help identify what it is. Ponderosas get pine aphids and those could lay eggs and the eggs could be the black spots. Another possibility is if there were aphids on the trees they might have left honeydew, and you could have sooty mildew as a result, it sort of looked like sooty mold (sooty mildew) on there. Take a piece of white paper; go out underneath there and give it a good shake over the white paper and see if anything falls out. If there are aphids, I would take the hose and try to hose them off. If there's a zillion of them, then you could treat them with any of the pyrethroids -- Permethrin would be a good choice. If you look at the new growth, and it's appearing on the new growth, on the new candles, you might want to send them in to the county office, or the diagnostic clinic, or have the county extension educator take a peek at them. From the picture, we really can't see anything on there like aphids. Other than what looks like sooty mold.

6. A viewer in Wilbur asks if an area is sprayed with Weed-Be-Gone and/or Roundup, how long before they can work in it -- plant annuals and perennials in the same area?
a. Roundup has minimal soil activity, so if they're going to till, I’d give the plants six to eight hours to take it up, wait a day or two after the Roundup before working the soil. Unfortunately, the Weed-Be-Gone products, there are multiple ones out there. I'm going to hedge a bit. Depending on what is in it the length to wait varies. Dycamba or triclopyr have a long soil residual, so maybe 28 to 35 days before you can do anything. If it is 2,4d wait about 14 days. Need to look at the label; all those containers come with a replanting interval.

7. Have three quaking aspens, one got a fungal disease last year, (we've seen in a lot of locations In Nebraska with this last year.) They've cleaned it up, but the tree is not leafing out as quickly as the other trees. And the one has gotten darker on the trunk, the bark is weeping, and smaller branches are turning black. Is this still the fungal disease and should they remove that particular quaking Aspen?
a. The fungal canker disease generally affects more of the main stem or the trunk itself, not usually the secondary branches. Aspens get older, the bark does tend to change from the grayish to darker. I'm not sure if that's disease related or just the normal aging of the tree. The fact that they're not leafing out yet is a concern to me. That indicates that they're stressed or weakened. They're not high-vigor trees, so I would step back and take a look overall at all the management -- the watering, the mulching, the soil conditions -- all those different factors and see how they're playing into the tree. We know that fungus is common in Aspen, but I would look at the overall management to check the vigor and see if we can't make these trees healthier.

8. A viewer from Falls City should probably just relocate, there are gophers in the yard, voles, and woodchucks. What can be done?
a. Which don't you like the most? Well, let's go with the gophers. Pocket gophers leave those mounds that are over a foot in diameter and about 6 inches high. The hole will have a plug in it. If they are true pocket gophers, there are poison baits you can use for pocket gophers. The baits are labeled for use on pocket gophers, read the label. You want to get that bait down into the burrow. Pull the plug out; don't worry, as your hand is going down there, they're going to run the other way. You want to put the bait down in the main run for the pocket gophers. Ground squirrels, try trapping them. We have a Nebguide to build a trap. Ground squirrels have a very simple system, if you pour water in one hole, they will come running out the other hole. You can try to trap them that way. There are also some seed baits registered for ground squirrels, place the seed baits down the golf ball size open hole and clean grass and that will help with them. Woodchucks, you're going to have to trap. What you want to do is get a trap by that big hole, (round, 8 inches in diameter with a lot of dirt around it). If it's eight inches oblong (longer in one direction), that's a badger, walk the other way. But if it's eight inches around, that would probably be a woodchuck. Woodchucks are very wary of new things in their surroundings. Get a trap, cover it with burlap and a sheet to disguise it, wire it open and let them steal the bait for a while. They have a big backend and if the trap door starts to fall, they can back right out. But once they're used to stealing stuff for a week, they will get further into the trap and then you remove the wire when you bait the trap so the trap can close with them inside. You have to euthanize. Remember, it is against the law to translocate wild animals. That's the regulation now. Don't think, I'll take it a mile down the road now and let it go. You must euthanize or release in the exact same location. Your choice.

9. A views has an insect, half to three quarters inch long, black, longer antenna, resembles a cockroach ran out of the grass onto the sidewalk when he mowed.
a. If it looks like a cockroach and runs like a cockroach, it probably is a cockroach. Probably a wood roach or oriental roach, they live outdoors and really are not a concern. The wood roaches are very active right now. If you see roaches in the house, that’s a concern.

10. This is in Spencer, on the South Dakota border. Is there any way to control perennial rye in a bluegrass and fescue mixed lawn?
a. If it was just bluegrass, there would be some products to use, but with the bluegrass and fescue mix, no. Both fescue and perennial rye are both bunch grasses, they don't have rhizomes, they don’t have stolons. Even the new rhizomatous fescues have limited rhizomes. To get rid of the rye grass, there's nothing they can do. Perennial rye grass a short-lived perennial in this state, and it winter kills, so if it's coming back year after year after year, they have a very protected site.

11. A viewer sent two images, one of snow covered lawn, including a your clump white birch, the other is the same tree this spring, with a single trunk looking to be in good shape and two others that suffered severely bent sections. Should she remove the tree or just the damaged sections?

a. You're definitely going to have to remove the branches where the branch snapped, but using good pruning practices. You could prune those back if you had a shoot that was a third the size of the bent branch. If you don’t have a shoot that size, what you're going to end up with is just basically a topping cut and you're going to get suckers from where you make that cut, so you're probably better off to remove the trunk all the way rather than to cut it back. Now, with the tall trunk, if there was a damaged section in the center of the stem, there again, you'll probably have to cut it back and let it grow back out again because those bent areas are weakened and they're weakened permanently. They won't heal up again, so you're better to remove them and let the tree grow back again.

12. A viewer in Gothenberg has issues with garter snakes. They have tried Snake Away and mothballs.
a. No. There's no effective repellants on the market that we've tested, and we've tested moth balls, benzines, sulfur, lime. Habitat modification: they like tall grass and rocky areas. If they're near the house, very close to the house, not where you have your landscaping, if you put fresh lava rock one foot deep by two foot wide, they can't burrow in it and don't like to bask in it. If you don't have plants in this ridgy area that will keep the garter snakes away. They carry no germs and viruses, they can't hurt us in any way, and they're feeding on soft-bodied insects, earthworms, and things like that. So the reason why there are really no repellants, there's no reason for it.

13. Hartington, Nebraska, they have bats in their belfry. How to get rid of them.
a. Probably large brown bats. They say before June and July, let them fly. From February through July the nursery is active, the young, may be up in the attic. If you exclude the adults, the young will die and create quite a smell. Once July hits, we have an excellent Nebguide that tells you how to put netting up so it drops down over the openings. Bats can get out, but don’t know how to get back in. Then you can caulk up any openings. They have fragile teeth and can't chew through even duct tape. Make sure they're out and plug up any holes.

14. A Norfolk viewer had a worm that looks like a wire worm. They found it when they were planting the radishes, yellow body, stoplight yellow, hard body like it had a Shell, a few legs. What is it and should they worry about it?
a. It might be a wire worm. If it looks like a wire worm, it probably is. It might be a ground beetle larva, which is a predator. If there aren't very many wire worms, I wouldn't be concerned. If it's a ground beetle larvae, preserve it for its beneficial nature.

15. Should we be promoting the use of corn gluten as weed control?
a. It does carry a high dose of Nitrogen. It works reasonably well.  It's not as good as the synthetics, but for those who want to go organic in their yard.   It is a pre-emergent only. It can be used in multiple locations. It has a heavy price tag and a fair amount of nitrogen.  So don’t us it around tomatoes, and you don't want a lot of nitrogen on your lawn in the spring of the year, so you have a give or take.

16. A viewer has roses that came up and have curly and red foliage, something to worry about there?
a. There's a common disease we have in Nebraska, called rose mosaic, it looks just like this, and oftentimes the foliage is stunted, the plant overall can be stunted. Unfortunately, there's no control for this disease so affected plants have to be removed so the disease doesn't spread on to additional plants.

Lighting Round

Dennis

1. How do you dispose of voles after they're dead?
a. You can bury them in a corner of the garden, they deteriorate quite quickly, or they probably can be flushed, they're pretty small.
2. Where can you buy a vole trap?
a. Most hardware stores sell box traps or snap traps, they are not specifically called vole traps.
3. There are lots of sprays available at the garden centers, various things for animal repellant. Do any of them really work very well?
a. Most will not work unless there's an alternative food source. No repellant is a panacea. Some will give 10% reduction, some less, some a little more.
4. How does this viewer keep a squirrel out of the peach tree.
a. Net it. Unless you can cut all the branches lower than six foot and put metal around it.

Sarah

1. Should a viewer cut the top off their ferns when they are transplanting them?
a. Depends on how tall they are; if they're only four or five inches tall, then no.
2. Autumn purple ash, sycamores, and crab apples are all suckering. How can you stop that?
a. There's really no way you can stop that. Just cut the suckers off.
3. Why didn't the daffodils bloom this year for various viewers?
a. I saw a lot that did bloom very nicely, so it could be yours are old and are so small they don't have the resources to put up a flower.
4. A viewer says her beauty berry died to the crown, is that a normal thing for these plants?
a. That happened quite a bit this year, winter kill. But they should come up from the crown.
5. Can newspapers be used for weed control in paths and gardens?
a. Yes, newspaper makes a nice mulch. Get it wet, put down two or three layers, and then put something like wood chips on top.

Roch

1. Do you ever recommend using perennial rye for shade?
a. No.
2. Is there any way to keep the cool season grasses from seeding themselves into buffalo grass in an urban area?
a. Just cut the seed heads off.
3. Can composted hay that did have manure in it be used to replace one fertilizer treatment on a lawn?
a. Probably not enough nitrogen in it.
4. How do you get rid of Kentucky bluegrass and ornamental grass in peonies, daisies, and Rudbeckia?
a. Grass-B-Gone or a fusillade type product or Ornamec, those will all work for that.
5. Will Preen control the germination of bindweed?
a. Yes, but bindweed propagates from below-ground roots as well, so we have some issues with that.
6. Can you safely apply pre-emergent to a lawn that's been seeded and has been up for two weeks?
a. No, you need to wait until you've mowed it at least twice.
7. What would you suggest for weed control in a rock driveway?
a. Probably Roundup Extended, it comes in a special container It’s got Roundup plus a pre-emergent. Do not use that anywhere else, but it will give you up to four months control.

Fred

1. What do they use for lilac borer control and when?
a. I like bifenthrin or permethrin, first application middle of May, one or two more applications, ten days apart.
2. How do you discourage mud wasps that live in the barn?
a. That is tough. If you can put a waxing material, like paraffin, down they would not be able to affix the nest. But screen them out, don’t let the adults in in the first place.
3. Is there a product that you can use on swarming ants that they will take back to the colony and kill everything?
a. There's a commercial product called Arena that wouldn't be available to the homeowner that would be a systemic that they would take back, and there are some baits.
4. How and when do you control leaf miners in hawthorns?
a. Early June, maybe. Do not remember hearing about leaf miners in hawthorns before.
5. Should you use foggers for spiders in the house?
a. Probably not, probably just use a vacuum cleaner.