Show Questions - July 28, 2011

1. This is a viewer who had Spruce die back from the top. We've this had earlier this year. They had it trimmed out. They were told it was a pine moth and applied a trunk application.
a. I don't believe we have the Zimmerman Pine Moth and there's some cousins, all related species. And they mainly attack pines and I’m not aware of any that actually attack spruces. So, a remote possibility of something else that I don't know what it is exactly. It would be nice to have a specimen or a description of exactly what the damage is. So, so unfortunately, probably the trunk application may or may not have been the right choice. It just essentially had no effect at all and wasted product. That's where it's important to really do background research about the kinds of pests that occur on a specific group of trees or a certain kind of a tree so you know what the whole rogue's gallery of pests is.

2. We have three or four Buffalograss questions. What do you use in Buffalograss for weed control? We have broadleaf weeds from a viewer in Davey. We have watergrass in with a Trenton viewer, and we have a Pueblo, Colorado viewer who wants to know where they can get Buffalograss plugs.
a. Let's start with the Buffalograss plugs. They are readily available to Todd Valley Farms. You can Google Todd Valley Farms. That would probably be the closest location to Pueblo. They harvest them and ship them to you and you get them within 48 hours; they pretty much take off. They are pre-rooted because they are greenhouse grown. In terms of weed control in Buffalograss, there is a misconception that you can't use many herbicides; in fact you can. Our best bet for watergrass, I’m assuming Crabgrass, is to put an application of pre-emergent down in the Spring just like any other grass. You don't want to put a fertilizer on at that point and time. You need a stand alonepre-emergent. Those are available; you just have to shop around and get one that doesn't have fertilizer in it. For broadleaf weed control, avoid products that contain 2,4-D at elevated temperatures. All through Nebraska it gets serious burn, so we don't recommend 2,4-D. If you can find a product that doesn't have it, it will go a long way in avoiding the risk of that. There are some at the garden stores; look on the label. It will be labeled for turf. Look on the label to make sure there is no 2,4-D so that you don't risk burn. One last thing on watergrass: some people think watergrass is Crabgrass. If you are talking about yellow Nutsedge, which is technically a Sedge not a grass (it has a triangular stem and grows faster than any other grasses, including the cool season grasses), that would be a product like Sedge Hammer which is available at garden stores as well.

3. We have a viewer from Fremont who wants to know why rust occurs on green beans and what they can do to prevent it. This happens every year.
a. Well, unfortunately, you're probably going to see it every year. Rust is a disease that usually blows in and moves around. So, to prevent it there are a couple things: There is resistance to rust. You could try to grow varieties that are resistant and look at the ratings on that. Or you could look at using a fungicide to protect it that way. Those are really your only two options.

4. We have a viewer that has carrots in a raised bed they use the strips they have done really well with the seed strip things. This year they have planted the strips they have planted the seeds very few are coming up. They did cover their raised beds with compost this year.
a. The good thing to know is what was in that compost if you made it at home. Did you use your grass clippings? If you did, did you apply anything to your grass? What kind of products were possibly in that compost? We had a really wet spring; there was a possibility it could have been too wet for your carrots. It depends on the soil type. They could have been not very happy and didn't want to grow very well. Try different things next year and if you're going to add compost, make sure you know what is in it.

5. Jim you have the first picture tonight. You actually referred to this little invader before. This is a viewer that had this insect in beans.
a. It's unusual to find that guy in beans. That's a fairly mature Common Stalk Borer. We talked about it a few times earlier this season. They are sort of coming to the point where they are reaching maturity, but still can do damage to some stems. So if you see a sudden withering going on, you can check it out and see if there is a borer in there. It may be possible to nurse the plant. Usually it's a goner, but it may be possible to nurse it if you get the borer out of there. So just beware of it. They are always a possibility that happens from June to July. Usually by the end of July they are over with. Remember, the adult moths will come out later on and they deposit eggs on weeds. Sanitation is really important, especially this year.
The fact that this question came to us over the internet is a good reminder to look for us on the internet next time you log on. You can start by going to the Backyard Farmer website. There is a wealth of gardening information for you, so search for answers. You can also find us on Facebook, YouTube, and iTunes for the Backyard Farmer podcast. So check us out on the web and bookmark your favorites. We want lots of friends and lots of information to get disseminated to our wonderful audience.

6. All right Roch, do you want to do a quick ID for a person here? It's a plant; they think it's a weed spreading in their yard over a fence through the trees. They’re finding some starting in the grass. They want to know whether you can identify it and whether we can get rid of it.
a. We talked about it before the show started. I’m almost thinking this is Virginia Creeper. You said you thought it might be what? Wood Vine? But the more I look at it---once again, this is one of those plants that Kim tends to know better than I do. They are relatively easy to control. Any of the 2,4-D-based products will do a fairly good job on them. If you want to clip them down a bit, very carefully spray that with a three way product or something like that. You will get pretty good control. Right now is probably not the best time to hit it for obvious reasons. They are going to have winds and heat that will make that 2,4-D dissipate onto your sensitive ornamentals. If you are going to do it, do it probably in the spring when it first starts off. One thing I caution you: if you are using a product like Tordon, it will move into the root system. Unfortunately, it also will stay in the soil and actually move out of roots into other adjacent trees and shrubs. When you see a creeper like this or wood vine, bottom line is there is going to be a lot of other ornamental roots. I would recommend using a wood or brush killer like Tordon for this example.

7. A Nebraska City viewer wants to know if there is a fungicide she can use in her garden. Sounds like a broad-spectrum thing. She is plagued every year with rots and spots.
a. We don't know what species we're talking about managing and what diseases. If it is foliar disease, first make sure you're not overhead irrigating, mulching, doing the things to limit the potential as much as possible. Chlorothalonil is a contact fungicide. It would need to be reapplied every ten days. It would be fairly safe to use.

8. This is a viewer who has Crimson King Maple, planted last year. The new leaves are turning a little bit brown or all of the leaves are. Still seeing a little green in the stem. Wondering about the prognosis of this plant.
a. It depends where the tree is located. If it is surrounded by concrete, it could be a little bit of sun scorch. They tend to get that from the reflected heat off the pavement and the concrete. Just keep pouring on the water. That inch of supplemental water will help that tree in the long run. When we say water, we don't mean a half hour every day, right? Like Sarah talked about: we want to make sure we wet the top six to 8 inches of soil, make sure it has it goes to the drip line of the tree. Soak it up good.

9. Also, in Northeast Nebraska a black walnut question. There is a worm on the husk of the fruit and in the shell. What to do to get rid of it and when to spray if need be.
a. It's probably the Walnut Husk Fly. These kinds of flies come earlier in the year; I would think somewhere in June, probably the latter part of June when the walnuts are getting larger and there's this is skin for them to develop. They deposit eggs inside of it. And of course, the maggots feed on that material between the delicious walnut and the skin on the outside. And so, they don't often get into the walnut itself, but if you want to try to control it, you would do something similar, to an orchard spray---at least from the standpoint of spraying. Get a hold of a sticky trap to let us know when the Husk Flies are flying. They are very pale yellowish, interesting patterning on the wings. And you will have to do more research on it, but once the trap indicates that the flies are there, that would be the time to spray and then probably for two weekly intervals thereafter. You know, once or twice, at those two week intervals and that would probably cover that period when the flies are active.

10. This is a Council Bluff viewer who has a question about Nimblewill in turfgrass. What product is best for control, what is the timing for application, and how soon can they overseed after they apply it?
a. The product we have been recommending is not readily available, but is available at some of the CO-OPS and the garden stores. You get an 8-ounce container of a product called Tenacity. It's very good. You could be spraying it now, right now, probably 2 maybe 3 applications every 14 to 28 days. You can seed right into it after you spray, if you use the product, Tenacity. If you use some of the other products, spot spray with RoundUp. You can still seed right into it. The bottom line is Tenacity is much more effective in removing Nimblewill in a bluegrass or fescue lawn, not on a Buffalograss lawn.

11. This is a viewer with a weeping white spruce in Omaha. They just noticed that the needles are going off color this week. I think our viewers can see that especially in the close-up. It is situated northeast between a patio and a brick wall that does block the west sun.
a. It's very rare that we would see a disease in a newly established tree like that. I tend to think it's not a a disease that we need to manage. I would just watch it carefully and see how it continues because that purple color is effecting the whole shoot. I just don't think it's a disease I would try to manage at this point. I would just keep it under good health and just watch it. Then see if we get anything reoccurring.

12. This was a viewer in Wasau, Nebraska. They have a patch of asparagus bearing beautifully; it's gone to seed. Can they cut it off? if not now when?
a. You want to let it stand as long as possible. When you start to notice it starting to turn yellow then brown, you can go ahead and cut it off. You want to leave it up as long as possible while green so it can get as much energy as possible into the crown so you continue to have a good productive asparagus bed.

13. We have somebody who has been picking 50 to 70 bagworms daily off their globe blue spruce. They want to know do they need to keep doing that or what?
a. I would say keep it up if there are no drift concerns one product that can be used with a lot of longevity would be Bifenthrin or Cyfluthrin; Tempo is a brand name. Since these have more longevity, as the bagworms get older they have a little more effectiveness. These products cannot be allowed to drift onto vegetable gardens or get near livestock or fish ponds. You have you to make sure you follow the label directions.

14. We had a call asking to clarify whether Tenacity is available for homeowners and who can apply it?
It's not a restricted use pesticide. You don't have to have a commercial pesticide license to buy it or put it out. It's not going to be available at your local box store or nursery. Probably will have to go to some of the distributor centers like John Deere Landscape, which is primarily catering to commercial audience. You can purchase these non-restrictive pesticides. They’re packaged in smaller containers, but they still might be a little big for what you're going to be needing. Get together with your neighbors because it’s not inexpensive. They have low doses so you've got to buy them in a bigger quantity. They end up being kind of pricey. Keep in mind, you put them down at low rates; as long as you can store them correctly, keep them from freezing and from heat, they will last three to four years.

15. We have an Omaha viewer who has black spots on the green grapes. Spots on the skin and they don't go into the fruit. After a while the grape shrivels up and dies. Is that a pathogen or a bug?
a. It's almost likely black rot on grape. It will do that. You will have those fruit mummies in the canopy and they will serve as inoculum if you don't do a lot of cleanup. It may be difficult to control if you have a lot of it. You could try a fungicide if there’s just a little bit. Next year, I would get on a fruit spray program to manage those grapest. I did want to mention, too, on the corn question in the lightning round that striping on leaves we'll see that occasionally. That is fairly rare actually it is usually a genetically related; it’s a mutant. We’ll see that in field corn. It is fitting that the person that sent that in would just see once in their first time ever in gardening.

16. We have a picture from a Hastings viewer. It is a Japanese garden they are managing and they want the moss appearance. I know we have talked to this viewer before. Anything you want to add to this one?
a. Nebraska is not Japan. We need to keep in mind that we need to make it similar to a Japanese garden, but not going to be exactly the same as the ones in Japan. We have got to make do with what we can grow here in Nebraska. There are quite a few perennials, low growing and things like that. They just need to be working with those plants that we can grow in Nebraska in that type of situation. I know we get a lot of questions; we don't have time to answer them all. That's a good time to talk to your local extension office and go to them with some of the questions.

17. We have a question about Iris Borers what is the color of the moth that lays the eggs and when do they lay them?
a. The Iris Borer Moth is brownish and has very faint dark markings on the wings mostly circular or bean shaped. It comes out in the latter part of August or early September. So, it is actually going to be depositing, could be later, too, depending on the weather. It will deposit its eggs, of course, on the fans that are there. Also the tops of the rhizomes. Anything that is emerging a little above the soil line. That's why it's important that we have spring sanitation to help remove a lot of those over-wintering eggs . That will diminish the population.

18. Roch, last week we talked about fescue. They want to know what we're recommending.
a. That’s actually RTF or Rhizomatous Tall Fescue. It is available at a lot of the garden stores in a seed form. We mentioned Todd Valley Farms earlier. We're not getting proceeds for this, but they are the supplier of RTF sod if you want to go the sod route. We really like that in the courtyard. It’s done really well hasn't begun to show really any major signs of brown patch which in that particular protected area it probably wouldn't for a couple years, but looked pretty good on TV last week, if that’s what they’re interested in. There are other blends that have similar sort of characteristics, but that was RTF.

19.A Broken Bow viewer has a red oak; leaves are turning brown from the bottom branches up. Earlier this year they did apply iron through the foliage. Any pathology associated with red oaks?
a. I guess if it’s the bottom up, if it's the whole lower portion of the canopy, I'm not real sure. A lot of times, especially if trees are changing color this time of the year, it could be a canker or certain portion of the tree---usually we'll see a large branch, a large portion of the crown and that gets to the pathology side. The whole tree’s kind of yellowing up.
Herbicide on the turf and then volatilized and hit the lower branches on the tree, too. That could be a possibility too. Even when that happens, what’s interesting, is that it will affect the lower branches, but only the new growth. Unless the dose is really excessively high. So, herbicides cause injury. I'm not saying that isn't the case here, but it would be the new growth only unless it was just really an ultrahigh dose.

20. What do you do with dill plants after they develop the seed heads? The question is whether you can cut them back and get more dill or are you just making pickles with seeds?
a. You can make pickles with seeds or feed your local swallowtail caterpillars. The dill is not going to—you might get a little bit of foliage---but it's not going to shoot up a whole new flower.

21. A Fremont viewer has tomatoes and wants to know—there is an insect eating only the Romas from the top down. Think that’s an insect?
a. It could be the tomato fruit worm, aka the corn ear worm. It really likes to be in those locations where the Roma tomatoes are kind of in a cluster. That gives it a foothold and will start penetrating the fruit from that point where they are connected together. It is so rare, just happens here and there. I wouldn't worry about an epidemic of it happening.

22. We're going to give Roch a really fun picture because there is a piece of turf in it. This is from our greatest fan from the Garden State, Roch. If you want to comment on what you're seeing on this one—oh we lost the picture. So you want to comment on what we saw?
a. Unfortunately, I have not seen the picture. New Jersey is called the Garden State for a reason. Everyone thinks about the city when they think about New Jersey. There we go. That's a spectacular landscape in New Jersey. This fan is getting BYF on iTune; another one of the ways you can get it even when you're not in Nebraska, you can still pick it up on iTunes. The viewer shared how much they like the show which is great, we appreciate that. Also that they’re from New Jersey and  New Jersey is always thought of as being industrial, but I have had the opportunity to work with the faculty at Rutgers on projects in the last 20 years in my career. When you go there it's amazing what they can show you and offer you because there’s some beautiful parts of that state.

23. Grand Island viewer has fungus in the sunny areas of their turf; some of it turned brown in a week. Brown with green in the middle. Seems to be fertilizing and water appropriately. So, brown spot, green in the center.
a. That is the most likely summer patch which probably showed up a little bit earlier based on the time of year we're at. Usually we'll see that in July, especially with the heat that we've had, if it's in the full sun areas. That's one we need to look at manageming much earlier in the year. You can't really do a lot right. Look more in the April window for fungicide application. The other thing I want could comment on is that we're seeing a lot of brown patch in tall fescue and even seeing it in some bluegrass lawns. The weather has been really conducive for that disease. That would cause large brown patches. We wouldn't see the green tuffs in the center though. That is one we can look at fungicide management for at this time. If you have a lot of it or ideally if you're just starting to see it, but probably been seeing it now for a couple weeks. The other thing you could do is just not do any kind of management and do overseeing in the fall.

24. Hastings viewer wants to know if they can pleach their trees in the United States. They want to do this and had read about it in a magazine: the technique of selective pruning and braiding plant material.
a. It can be done. The thing is, you need to keep in mind that it’s got to be a flexible species and you've got to take a lot of time to make sure you get it proper and it looks like it's supposed to look instead of crossing branches that are rubbing on each other. So it can be done, it takes a little time, and they’ve got to have a flexible species.

25. a West Point viewer has aphids on the peppers and the eggplant; they have tried insecticidal soap.
a. I would still try it, but I’d blast them really good to knock them off the plant. I’d still use the insecticidal soap, but you have to get down on those whirls. It's almost too bad, weather wise, to try a horticultural spray oil, but you could do that as long as we have a guarantee that we have some fairly cool days, like we’re just about to get now. Those summer cycles: you can take advantage of them by using a horticulture oil spray. Temperatures less than 90 degrees.

26. We have a viewer who has been using a weed eater along the edges of sidewalks, so the bluegrass is actually very short. They are wondering if this encourages watergrass, crabgrass, those kinds of things?
a. It definitely does. Crabgrass, especially,, and foxtail need light to germinate. That’s why we don't recommend mowing short. So if they could maybe not do it as frequently or lift up on it a bit. Some of them, the weed eaters, have guides to bring them up a little higher so that would pretty much take care of it. I would not clip it as tight as you want to. I know you think you will not have to do it as often, but let's not do it as aggressively and you'll probably see far less crabgrass in that area.

27. We've had a couple questions about raspberries that are kind of broken and squirrely; the fruit itself is white and red and not looking the way they want it to.
a. There’s a couple things on that. You see the fruit on top those dried areas? They actually have quite bit of botrytis. It looks like in that planting, the shriveled up fruits on top and then the fruit on the bottom—that bleached area, there are some viruses that will do that. Many times you see that associated with a single plant in the planting. That will gradually spread; you'll see that on most of the fruits on that plant. If you see an occasional fruit, you know, it even can be almost a sun scald response that we'll see on the fruit occasionally. I wouldn't worry too much about it if you just see it occasionally. If you can, avoid overhead irrigation for the botrytis management. The ideal thing for raspberries is to put a soaker hose on or something that waters from below and then do some good clean up in the fall or spring depending on the type of fruit---if it is a first or second year cane bearing variety.

28. From Westin, Nebraska. Burpless cucumbers: the top half of the fruit is bitter, the bottom half is okay. They are cutting them longitudinally. Any idea?
a. I think it's heat probably and drought. The bitterness is from heat, but depends on when the fruit, the earlier fruit, was set on.

29. A viewer sent this image; if you want to comment on this from Pakistan.
a. This apparently was associated with a local flood where, of course, the water is raised up and during floodso of all kinds, critters are escaping and trying to—and they’re getting caught on debris on top of the water. Apparently I mentioned spiders dispersed along the water surface and here's a tree some anchorage that they can escape to. So apparently just millions, if not billions, of little spiders apparently use that tree as safe harbor, but in the course of being there, they spin their webs and so—look at it. It's amazing. Spider webbing is called gossamer. Maybe we can rename that tree a gossamer tree at least temporarily.

30. This is about cicada killers. Hastings and Ashland: tons of nests in the yards and the flowerbeds, holes in the ground, pretty aggressive. What can they do about those?
a. You have to remember that they are, in fact, kind of beneficial, you might say. They are harmless. They are not very aggressive unless you get in their way and bother them in some way. If you want to discourage their nesting in certain areas, we usually recommend trying to keep those areas irrigated so they are wet, because they like to dig in dryer soils. The other thing is that you can actually put down some granular insecticide, along with moistening the soil just to create a barrier there that would discourage them. That may not resolve it completely, but it does help. Eventually, by the time we hit mid-August, most of the cicada killers and their activity are gone. We'll have the cicadas with us until probably late September.

31. We have a viewer who seeded turf. 75 %fescue 25% bluegrass, didn't get a real good stand, they did get foxtail. They’re wondering whether they should go ahead and kill and RoundUp this fall and reseed or should they try to manage the foxtail with a pre-emergent next spring.
a. That depends on how much grass they have there obviously. If they think they have a pretty good stand when the crabgrass goes—I mean the foxtail—just by visual inspection, you know, they might be okay with that. But I would probably suggest they do some over seeding right into that foxtail and the grass they have now with the same tough turf blend and then get it up and growing this fall. Get some good mowings on it and then basically use a pre-emergent next spring.

Real quickly I want to give a shout out to people in western Nebraska. We were at North Platte and the Goodmanson Ranch and Sydney and Scottsbluff last weekend for an event for the Institute of Ag and Natural Resources and we probably ran into 30 loyal Backyard Farmer viewers and they all gave us big kudos for doing the show, so thanks to the people out west.

Lightning Round

Elizabeth

1. This viewer wants to know if they can prune a Harry Lauder’s walking stick to the ground? If not, how much should they prune it and when?
a. No you don't want to prune it to the ground; it will be straight instead of curly. Most of the time, no more than a third and usually want to prune when it’s dormant so you can see what is going on.
2. We have somebody who has a chlorinated pool and wants to know if they can use the water on their landscape plants?
a. No.
3. When should plants be moved? This is a Dwight viewer that’s moving and they have both woody and perennial plants.
a. With most of those perennial plants, you want to try to do it this fall. I know they’re in a short time frame and want to try to move them as soon as it gets to that time. Roses are gonna be kind of tough for them to move.
4. We have a viewer with no flowers on the pole beans; what’s going on there?
a. Could be a variety issue. Could be due to heat. It’s hard to know.
5. Will black walnuts affect the size and quality of cherries making them smaller?
a. They could.
6. How much should yews be trimmed and when?
a. Again, no more than a third and you can prune them now until about beginning August or so.

Loren

1. We have a viewer who has peonies that have very few buds that open and then the leaves get black spots on them.
a. Most likely botrytis blight.
2. And what to do about that.
a. Avoid overhead irrigation. And you don’t have to use a fungicide so many times in the landscape, but you could use fungicide to manage that.
3. Can a person apply a fungicide now, if their lawn is pretty much totally fungus and no lawn?
a. You can; it would be better to do it early on. At this point, if it’s really severe, I would just bite the bullet and look at over seeding it later on.
4. We have a viewer with a Prairie Cascade willow that has black leaf spots. They want to know what causes this and what to do about it.
a. There is a septoria leaf spot on willow. You could open the canopy up, do a little pruning; try to get more air circulation in there and that would probably be the best thing at this point.
5. Is there a home remedy for brown patch?
a. No.
6. Variegated leaves on honey and pearl corn: is that unusual?
a. It could be.
7. Rusty streaks in daylily leaves: is there a fungus in daylilies?
a. There is a fungus in daylilies. There is a rust in daylilies. I haven't seen that much in Nebraska, though, so I would not think so. So The rusty streak is probably more environmental.

Roch

1. This viewer has wildflowers up about 3 inches tall and also some grasses; they want to know if they can use Grass-B-Gone.
a. Those wildflowers are probably not mature enough yet to put herbicide on them.
2. All right, how do they control the grasses?
a. Pull ‘um.
3. How do you control trumpet vine that has crept into the lawn?
a. Use any of the 2,4-D based products and be really, really patient because it's going to take a long, long time.
4. Is it time for clover control and if so, with what?
a. Too hot, too early let's go wait until we get cooled off in mid to late August and, once again, any of the three-way type products or Drive is a really good product for clover.
5. Is there any way organically to control bind weed that has crept into the lawn?
a. Actually, that's one where if you get the horticultural grade vinegar that’s 20% acetic acid, you can burn it back pretty well. But you’ll want to realize some of that is going to get onto the lawn and it will burn it as well. So you’ll want to be real careful when you put it on. That would be a organic way.
6. What is the lowest possible seeding rate for buffalograss to be effective?
a. Well, obviously, if you wanted to establish quicker, the higher the seeding rate the better, up to two, two and half pounds per 1000 square feet. Some people have gone down to a pound. Much less than that and you end up with a lot of weeds because it doesn't have a lot of time to grow.

Jim

1. We have a viewer with roses with holes like paper punch rounds in them and then the foliage is stripped off. What is that?
a. Those are called leaf cutter bees and they’re not doing too much damage other than aesthetic damage, so try to discourage them if you can. Maybe, perhaps, cover the rose just for a little while so they get habituated somewhere else.
2. Will borax mixed with sugar kill ants?
a. It will. You’d have to test out the dose if you’re going to try to make some yourself, but otherwise you can buy the product in your local store for controlling most ant species.
3. Burning bush leaves have been turning white then dropping and there is a little webbing. Is Eight controlling whatever this is?
a. Eight is probably causing some flaring. We might say spider mite flare-ups because it was used previously. Spider mites are resistant to it and it kills the beneficent insects and so you get a outbreak of spider mites.
4. Is it possible to spray or trap for the Japanese Beetles that are eating everything in Omaha?
a. Yes, because it makes us feel better. But the traps will really load up if you get those and that helps to diminish the massive population just a little bit. And then, of course, the sprays—maybe worth it on something you want to protect, something highly valued; you can try with something, but beware of pollinators. I know most of the time we just have to put up with it.