Show Questions' - August 25, 2011

1. We are still getting lots and lots of questions about bag worms. What should people be doing, either now or later?
a. They're still active. Obviously we would have liked to have identified the infestation and treated back in early July. Ideally, we like to treat  them when they are no more than 1/2 inch in length. The ones we're seeing now are anywhere between 1 1/2 inches to 2 1/2 inches, depending on what plant they are on and their location. So, we would have liked to have treated them earlier. But I was looking at some just today on a variety of different plants, both cedar and on spruce, and they're about 2/3 grown or maybe 3/4 grown. So they're going to do a lot of feeding yet. So if you haven’t treated them, there’s still plenty of time. The products I like that you can use is Sevin (Carbaryl) or Eight (Permethrin). Or one of the Bifenthrin products. Pyrethroid will do a pretty good job. Good coverage is important. You can wait two or three days, wait a week, come back, and they will always be in motion. So if they aren't moving, you know you've got them. They won't drop off the plant. They will stay there---unlike when you spray a caterpillar, you kill him, it drops off. Bag worms will hang in there like scale insects. They don't go away. So, there’s still an opportunity to treat.

2. We have a lot of turf questions. This one is about some brown spots in lower levels of the lawn. Are these hot, dry weather issues since we have had a heat spell?
a. We have seen a lot of injury in those lower spots that stayed saturated, and the turf just basically ran out of gas and it was anaerobic for too long a period. But by the same token, there are two or three pathogens that would love that kind of environment. Pythium is an example and so is brown patch. Pythiums are going to love those saturated soils, especially in those little areas where we’ve had problems. A lot of times we are going to see the blades get kind of greasy in appearance. There can sometimes be an odor associated with it that kind of smells like fish. But that doesn't always occur. The other one would be any of the other root rots. If it's been wet for too long, you can get summer patch in there because it doesn’t have any roots anymore. And we can get brown patch moving in a wide variety. So the best thing is going to be to reseed this fall. Go with a variety that has good resistance, or tolerance, to brown patch, summer patch—all those major diseases we talk about every summer. Cross your fingers and hope it isn’t as wet next year. If you continue to have a wet problem in that area of your lawn, you may want to look at adding dirt, changing your drainage, or something to remove that little ponding occurrence from the landscape.

3. We have a question about hydrangeas. This is 'Annabelle'. The question is whether, in June, they can cut them back so they don't get so big and fall over. And how far is okay? When do you cut back the 'Annabelle' hydrangeas on campus?
a. We usually try to cut them back before they break bud. June would be a little late and I would worry about interfering with flowering at that stage. I would do it pretty early on and go ahead and cut them back. If they are more mature plants, look at raising that top maybe up to a foot, 18 inches. I like to vary the height so that the flowers have some depth and are not all coming up at the same point.

4. A Japanese beetle question: Can they do anything to reduce the infestation? They tried Bonide.
a. That would be Permethrin. It’s fairly easy to kill adults with Sevin and whatever. The problem is, as you’ve heard me say before, for every one you kill, fifty come to its funeral. Reducing the overall infestation is difficult because Japanese beetle adults are strong flyers, so they can come from miles around to seek out their preferred host plants. In the long run when you are renovating the landscape and replacing the plants, trees, and shrubs, plant selection can be very important. We have a NebGuide called "Managing Japanese Beetle Adults" that we’ve co-authored. It gives a list of plants that are adapted to Nebraska that are less preferred by Japanese beetles. And now that Japanese beetles are a fact of life here in Nebraska, as I’m renovating my landscape, I’m looking at that list to select my new plant material. We actually have somebody who said they bought beetle baggers. I suspect those are just traps. What they’re good for is to monitor, but you take such a small percentage of the population out. There are, in Omaha, literally millions and millions of these beetles spread over those square miles. Out of a million you catch a few thousand, or a few hundred, and it makes you feel good. But that’s all you’re doing. Good to let you know when you got them, but it doesn't do much for control.

5. This is a Wahoo viewer who has bent grass in a bluegrass lawn. They have applied three applications of Roundup and want to know how soon they can overseed.
a. You can seed after Roundup within seven days of the last application.

6. Fungus in the fescue. Will using a mulching mower just contribute to further disease next year?
a. No. It won't have any impact whatsoever to use a mulching mower in a disease situation. You just need to monitor those spots. Most likely you’re dealing with brown patch. It’s going to show up typically in about the exact same areas every July to August. You just overseed those areas with resistant varieties and you won’t have that problem. Continue to use a mulching mower. You're fine to go.

7. This is a Griswald, Iowa, viewer who wants apple trees, has walnuts. They have the apple trees. They’ve planted walnuts. The apples are looking sad. Is there anything about allelopathy in the walnuts that will affect the apples?
a. If they planted the apples very close to the walnuts, then there could be an effect by the walnuts. If the walnuts are new, if they are younger trees, probably not yet. The root systems wouldn't be interfering with the apple trees yet. Proximity is an issue. And then the age of the trees is an issue. It’s probably never a great idea to plant other plants around the base of walnuts, or near walnuts, within their root zone. There are certain things that are really susceptible.

8. This is a viewer with a cool picture. Large green beetles in the lawn and wondering what these are.
a. Those are green June beetles and they are very abundant in the south. And in the last five or ten years they have actually moved into southeast Nebraska. They are very large beetles that are about 3/4 of an inch in length and boldly colored--brilliant metallic green with bronze and yellow striping on them. A very attractive beetle. The adults, in fact, feed only on decaying or fermenting fruit. They can become a problem buzzing around fruit trees, particularly if there's insect damage to that fruit or if there’s drops. They’ll go down and feed on that decaying fruit so they can become a bit of a problem. They cause no injury to the trees or to the healthy fruit. The immatures are white grubs, very large ones, and they can, if they are abundant enough, cause damage to the turf. The grubs have an interesting behavior: Instead of walking on their stomach, they roll over and they walk with their legs up in the air on these spines on their back. It’s really bizarre to see. Put them on their fronts and they'll roll over and then truck away. It is an interesting behavior. Why they do that, we aren't sure. Those are the green June beetles. They really don't cause any injury to healthy fruit but they can become a bit of a nuisance.

9. Will diligent hand pulling over time get rid of wild violets in the lawn?
a. Hand pulling of violets is a lifelong occupation. And maybe, if you have grand kids, ultimately you’ll get rid of all of them. There is a little  corm or a nutlet, like a sedge-type nutlet---that is on a violet. The trouble is, you may pull up 50 or 60 of these and there could be generations of those nutlets down there and they will not all emerge at the same time. The next couple of years you will still have them. Ultimately, you will get rid of them but it will take a lot longer than you think. But, if you want to avoid the chemicals, you can hand pull pretty much any weed. We probably don’t emphasize that enough. You can always hand weed something out with enough diligence. If you want to start it off right and go with something that will knock them out and then go to hand weeding, if you have a really intense population, then you might want to consider using any herbicide product that has Triclopyr in it. A product like that will work very good on wild violets. You’ll probably get 75% to 80% control with a single fall application, maybe as much as 85%. And then the 10% you could probably easily weed out. So maybe it’s IPM at its best—a little combination of the nonchemical and chemical control. But if you do want to hand pull them, go for it. Have fun.
10. If they want to start with the 80% control with spraying, when do they start?
a. We’re still a little bit warm but we probably want to look around a Labor day application and again three to four weeks after that if they want to go with two applications.

11. This is a Scottsbluff viewer who has daylilies. They've finished flowering. The foliage is turning yellow on the tips. Any diseases of day lilies or are we simply getting toward fall?
a. I think we’re just getting toward fall. With just the tips turning yellow, I’d probably look at a water issue or something like that. So it’s nothing really to be concerned about. They're going to be dying back real soon and they should come back up next year with no problems.

12. A flowering plum, four years old, is in sort of a windy location apparently, and it’s never really established a good root system. Is there any way to encourage good rooting on something like that?
a. That is tough. My guess is it was probably a potted tree when they planted it, so we’re going to get some of those devilishly stem girdling roots going there. So that’s going to be some of the issue. If the plant hasn't really become very well-established, I would be tempted, when things cool off a little bit, to excavate around the base of that tree and see if we have some girdling roots going on, clean some things out, add some new topsoil and compost to enrich the soil around there, and stake the tree. Mulch it, water, it and continue to keep an eye on it and see if that will help get some root growth growing. We have had luck with that on campus with some trees that have gone in and then have some issues later. You know you must deal with the possibillity that you may lose the tree. The way it is, you are probably going to lose the tree anyway if it’s loose in the ground. So this way maybe we can get some root growth going here in the next couple of years.

13. What is the difference between mosquitos and chiggers and will the same insecticide work on both?
a. Mosquitos are insects. They are flies. Chiggers are, in fact, more closely related to mites, spiders, and ticks. They are not insects. They are characterized by eight legs and two body segments. Insects have six legs and three body segments. They are two different groups. Will the same insecticide products work? In some cases, sure. The very broad spectrum products like any of the synthetic Pyrethroids, Bifenthrin, Permethrin, will generally control both of them. Mosquitos are typically much easier to control, the adults, than the chigger mites.

14. This is a viewer who has a question about EZ^® seed, the grass seed product that contains seed, mulch, and fertilizer. Good idea or potentially just a waste of time and money?
a. The major concern we have with these pruducts is often the grass that’s put in them is perennial rye grass or annual rye grass. Perennial rye grass is a misnomer, in the state of Nebraska anyway, because it seldom lives longer than about two or three years at tops, and gets all kinds of diseases. I think we could spend an hour talking about every disease it gets—and it gets Chinch bugs as well. So it’s just not a good choice for Nebraska growing conditions. But it does germinate quicker than anything out there. It’s like a patch product and they throw the mulch and everything in there. If you can actually get a handle on what specific cultivar is in there and if it’s a bluegrass cultivar or a tall fescue cultivar, you’re pretty good. But most of the time they are prepackaged for a wide geographic region and you sort of get what you get. And the seed is not certified and you may get a great stand for that first little jolt and then you’ll probably regret buying the product. I don't mean to bad mouth the product other than the fact that if you don't know what's in the bag in terms of specific cultivar, you can't follow the recommendations that Amy has been saying all night about choosing a resistant or a tolerant to the diseases. And fungus has been a major problem this year and you don't want to aggravate that by making a bad choice in terms of species or cultivar.

15. This is a Cheyenne, Wyoming viewer. Beautiful Aspens all summer, but in the last month the leaves have gotten these black spots and they’re dropping. What's up with that? And I know this is an issue that we also have had in Nebraska on occasion.
a. If my memory serves me right, this is considered a mycosphaerella leaf spot and nothing really important. The leaf spot usually develops later on in the summer—typically, the first part of August to the middle of August. And all it ends up doing is causing the tree to defoliate early just like we see with cedar apple rust or apple scab. That won't kill the tree, just because it’s early defoliation. What it can do is weaken it to winter injury and deplete the energy source in the tree. It is one of the diseases typically with Aspens with how large they are, they are usually bunched up in clusters. Fungicide applications are really not recommended for it. So you’re just going to see some early leaf drop. Some years are worse than others. And when we’ve had a bad year you just want to do good management—pruning them up properly, making sure we’re watering when we get into the spring or even now if it gets really, really dry as we go into fall. So a little bit of watering to help them go into the winter months. That's about all you can do for it. Pick up those leaves as they fall and mulch them. Composting is the best management recommendation that I can give you.

16. This is a North Bend viewer and they want to move their asparagus. They want to know whether fall is the time to do that or should they wait until spring.
a. Ideally you’d wait until spring. If you have to do it now for whatever reason, from personal experience, moving a bed or making changes now is the time you can do it. Sometimes the downside to spring is it is wet and never a good weekend to do it. And the fall is generally a little drier and maybe wouldn't hurt. But you will probably have to experience some loss over the winter. Mulch the plants in.

17. In Bellwood, we have a hackberry woodpile. Little bees or flies are turning it into sawdust. Spray or just leave them alone?
a. Leave them alone. They might be ants or there’s a number of bees that actually drill holes, very small holes. They won’t spread to the house or live in trees.

18. A viewer has wild grapes growing along a path near water. What chemical can be used to control wild grapes?
a. They can try cutting and pulling, but that may not work very well. Anything that contains Diquat can be used in and around water. The commercial product name is Reward. It's safe for both the terrestrial and aquatic environments. It’s a contact, nonselective, so don't get it on other things in and around the area. It’s available at some of the distributor type stores in Omaha and Lincoln. You are not going to find in it a box store or a garden center. Go to a turf distributor and ask for a product called Reward and it is labeled for both aquatic and terrestrial environments.

19. This is a Stanton viewer who has tomatoes with issues. They are splitting and the vines are brittle.
a. That is most likely a water issue. When we see cracking in the tomato fruit it is due to inconsistent watering. So we water it a lot and then it gets dry. Rain events are the primary cause of it. But even the vines being brittle is an indication of overwatering. There is too much water in the vines if they’re snapping too easy. If you can, pull back the mulch a little bit and cut back on the watering and see if that helps.

20. This is a tree from the storm last Thursday night. They’re not sure of the species. The tear occurred and they are wondering about pruning. 40% of the circumference of the trunk is damaged.
a. It is firewood size and if they have a fireplace, this would be a great one to add to their firewood pile for those little bees to chew on. Unfortunately it probably flowered lovely and probably was in a prominent place in the landscape and they enjoyed it, but this is a chance to do something different.

21. This is very cool. A viewer who sent us an image but it wasn't quite clear. They found a chrysalis in the landscape and their description was that it was a green jewel box. I haven't seen any of those this year.
a. Monarch. They leave the milkweed and travel some number of feet or yards and they hide that little chrysalis and it isn't in that form very long. And it takes on the monarch color just before the butterfly comes out. It goes from the gorgeous green with the jewels on it and transforms into the orange color of the monarch and the monarch leaves and goes away fairly quickly.

22. Two viewers side by side. One has no cucumbers, no flowers, just foliage. The neighbor has the same variety and harvested the cucumbers. The caller, who has no flowers, no fruit, tilled three bags of manure into the soil before planting, and the neighbor just tilled.
a. If the manure was not bagged manure, it is entirely possible that the salt content was a little bit high, which can delay or inhibit flowering. Or it might have been too high in nitrogen, but you should see bud formation with high nitrogen. So the high salt is more likely. If it was composted manure, maybe it was too wet when the organic matter was added. But the manure being too fresh is more likely.

23. A viewer has 38 French blue scotch pine, and suddenly some are turning brown. Can they save any? Don't say how big they are or where it's occurring.
a. Most likely it’s pine wilt. If they are turning really, really fast, the best thing to do is cut the wood from some of the branches. If the wood is really dry, it’s an indication of pine wilt. You can always bring it to Amy and she can try to extract the nematode. Most likely you will have to remove the trees quickly. It does make great firewood, but it must be used up this winter. Don't over winter because the little insects will be emerging and causing more havoc. You can chip it and it makes great mulch.

24. A viewer in Omaha has red raspberries. This year the berries are just dinky. Is it weather related potentially?
a. It might be. Or if the plants are older, it might be time to clean those up or even start over.

25. We have a lot of questions about tobacco budworm. Anything to be done this late?
a. Be vigilant. Look for the early sign of feeding and treat them. It is real easy to control the caterpillars with BT or Sevin or Eight or one of those products.

26. A viewer has described something called moon flower, but more like a tree. It grows back from the stump. It’s almost up to the soffit of the house and grew up from the stump.
a. Possibly jimsom weed, also known as locoweed. But even in the southwest it doesn’t grow like that, doesn't get woody, but could be. The flowers are almost identical to moonflower. If it is jimsom weed, do not consume any part of it. It is extremely poisonous and a student died at New Mexico state thinking they were going to get a good buzz and that was the last buzz.

Lighting Round

Jeff

1. A Harlem County viewer has a silver lace or white silver lace vine. How do you control it?
a. They can grow rapidly, several vines that can do that. You need to do pruning and control it that way. Any kind of fruit, you can clean that up when you are done enjoying the fruit.
2. We have a viewer from Hebron and one from Davey; they want to know how and when to harvest seed potatoes.
a. After the vines start dying back. Watch for the vines to start to decline, but don’t wait too long. If you do, the thing you want to harvest is starting to rot.
3. A grandiflora rose with no flowers but good growth. What happened?
a. If it's really good growth and really liking the growth, my guess is the root stock is taking over.
4. Tree lilac with no buds, no leaves, but green under the bark.
a. I would say it's probably toast. If they really love it, they can kind of wait and see how it goes, but it’s probably toast.

Amy

1. Lots of rust showing up on all the ornamental feather reed grasses. What is up with that and what is the alternate host?
a. The alternate host for that is ash. So you want to clean it up this fall and put in the compost so it won't affect the ash trees next spring.
2. Is there a problem with oak wilt in central and or eastern Nebraska and if so, what can be done about it?
a. I have only seen oak wilt in the Omaha metro area. There is not much you can do, you need to remove the tree. Be careful removing the tree; cuts and injury to neighboring oak trees can move the disease.
3. We never hear about smut on corn anymore. What is up with that?
a. We still have it, but we hope everybody knows what it is.
4. What sorts of things get bacterial scorch this time of year? What should people be looking for?
a. Bacterial scorch is primarily in the sycamores, oaks, maples. There is a wide list of susceptible plants. I have never positively identified it in Nebraska, but it is really difficult to identify. At times I will say I suspect it that's bacterial scorch.
5. Is tobacco mosaic spread by flowering tobacco?
a. Tobacco mosaic can be spread on tobacco and flowering tobacco, but it's spread by contact. It isn't an insect. If you have it on your hands and go to the next plant and that is how you're going to move it. If you are a smoker and touch tobacco, you can move it that way also because it's in the tobacco that you are smoking. And if you are a smoker, and playing with the tomatoes, wash your hands well before you do it or wear gloves.

Roch

1. Is it better to power rake or aerate before you seed, or doesn't it make any difference?
a. Aerate is better than power rake.
2. Should seeds be covered with straw, hay, compost or nothing?
a. If you have mulch, use it.
3. If you have straw, is that better than hay or compost?
a. Hay might carry a fair amount of seed. You want the straw or hay to be a year old. And compost, properly composted, will be fine.
4. What is the absolute latest fall seeding date for turf species in the panhandle?
a. No later than the 15th of September.
5. What is the exact fertilizer formulation that goes on around Labor Day?
a. Something that's going to put on about a pound of nitrogen.
6. Should people begin backing off on the irrigation in the fall, and if so, when?
a. In the fall it's going to be about 30% less than it would have been in the summer months. You usually don't see a critical need for irrigation in the fall. Shut off the system and turn it on when it needs to be watered.

Fred

1. What are the giant black and yellow spiders?
a. Those are garden spiders, very common and beneficial.
2. Is there any way to get rid of the spiders that spin webs across the doors every single night?
a. Just take a broom and get rid of them.
3. Leaving a dead tree and carving the stump into something, will that attract termites?
a. The dead tree will, carving it into a thing will not. It is not an issue.
4. Is there a fall treatment for borers in lilacs and viburnum?
a. No. They are inside to tree, nothing can be done in the fall. Wait until May.
5. Will using coffee grounds deter insects around potatoes?
a. No, but it makes good mulch.
6. Do pill bugs cause damage in the crowns of plants?
a. Only if they are extremely abundant, but generally they feed on dead, decaying material.
7. Is there a drench you would recommend for plants that are coming inside for the winter?
a. Not generally. If there's no insects, don't worry about it.