Show Questions: June 9, 2011

1. Here we go with millers. What are they and where do they come from? How long are they around and what do you do about them?
a. Millers are moths. The adults are a variety of different caterpillars, army worms, web worms, and a variety of others. They are highly attracted to light. In some cases, caterpillars are important pests in the landscapes and gardens. You can keep the yellow bug lights on so you aren’t attracting them to your porch. They don’t cause injury and it makes no sense to spray. They won’t last long; generally spring and maybe again in July there may be a small outbreak. The rest of the time, during the hot dry part of the summer, they aren’t there much.

2. Thanks, Fred. Lowell, we have a trumpet vine killing question; one very large parent plant and 40 to 50 smaller shoots throughout the lawn, in Omaha. The question is, if they cut the main trunk and immediately paint the stump, will that translocate into the smaller vines throughout the yard?
a. It’s hard to say if it would kill all of them. I would imagine there would be some translocation, but you said it was like 50 to 60 chutes. That is an awful long way to go to count on working. I’m glad to see they are going to paint the stump right away. They should kill the main vine fairly easily. Then, just wait and see what happens and spot treat the shoots not killed. I wonder if RoundUp might be a better choice than Tordon. You see so many homeowners kill nontarget trees with that. It can hang around in the soil. If it is comingled with roots of a desired species, that is a possibility. If they want to plant other broadleaf plants back into the area, glyphosate might be a better choice.

3. Good suggestion. OK, Loren, we actually had images of this from a west Omaha location a couple weeks ago. We didn’t get to it, but we did talk about it. It is a mushroom ID The viewer is finding curious white balls, about the size of marbles. The inside is clear and sounds like Chinese rice paper. There is also a small amount of substance that has to do with a cold, and is green in color. Let’s leave it at that.
a. Those are always neat. People describe those as all kinds of things. I’ve had people say they are some sort of egg or look alien if you cut them in half. There is a jelly mass under the white outside. Those are the early developmental of the stink horn fungus. Within a few days, many times that will shoot up a mushroom cap. It will be from 4 to 8 inches tall and have a real sticky substance on top of it. You will see flies attracted to it, hence the name the stink horn fungus; that’s how they move their spores. We’ll have a Nebguide in a couple weeks that will talk about those.

4. Excellent. Sarah, this is a farm outside of Walthill. They had some shrubs covered with a tarp during a project. Arborvitae, actually. East facing. Three hours later, the tops were fried on the arborvitae. The question is, are those tops really dead; should they wait and see if they refoliate or just trim them out?
a. If you want to be really conservative you could give it a couple weeks and see if any new growth starts to come out on the stems. It’s like the leaves have died and the underlying stems are still alive. It is a little hard to know for sure which way it is going to go. It depends on how hot it was and how long the tarp was on. You could go ahead and cut the brown foliage off. They tend to grow back well from pruning and just reshape them and let them grow back out again. But, if you want to be conservative, you could wait a couple weeks and do that if you see no new foliage is emerging.

5. Fred, our Backyard Farmer garden is producing all sorts of things. Our producer, Brad Mills, found this one when filming and sent it. He wonders what this is and what to do about it.
a. Looking at that you sure would think it was a wasp or a bee. You would be wrong. That is actually a gay flying moth and that is a squash vine borer moth that we end up talking about on several occasions during the course of the season. It is a major pest of squash, both summer and winter squash, in our gardens. What the moth does is lays her eggs, a little bronze colored egg, at the base of the stem. Then the egg hatches and the borer goes in and tunnels in the stem and we get all of the sawdusty material. So, that is squash vine borer. If they are out now, they are busy laying their eggs so any squash that are up would be susceptible, vulnerable. You want to treat just the stem with a product. Sevin would work or any of the pyrethral products. Again, direct that at the base of the stem where the eggs are.

6. Lowell, this one is about wild strawberries in flower beds, phlox in particular. They can’t get down and find the main crown because the desirables are so heavy and thick. They also have been in the lawn. So what are we going to suggest for at least the phlox situation?
a. There is not really a lot we can suggest for the phlox situation. To actually kill the strawberries is a multiyear process with repeat applications of growth regulator herbicides. That is just not an option in flower beds. So, hand removal is, unfortunately, about the only thing we can offer. In the turf, they can use the growth regulator herbicides. It is a multiyear, not a one year solution. Do everything you can to encourage the vigorous growth of the turf to try to outcompete it, as well.

7. All right, Loren, this is actually a very interesting comment that came a couple weeks ago, from a forester in Omaha. It pertains to our storm pattern and hail damage. They had significant hail damage to the trees and that made it easy for tip blight spores to enter. So, there was an explosion of tip blight in the damaged trees. I don’t know if you want to comment on tip the blight issue and what you’re seeing at present.
a. Anytime we see hail damage, we get trees with wounds in the bark. A lot of different species can come in and you can have diplodia that can cause a canker, which is a tip like fungus. That can be more extreme. When you have that you can’t do a lot about it. So, people may talk about preventative fungicides after damage situations, but it hasn’t shown to be real effective. If you have a lot of injury, over time it could decline. Plant a backup close by when that happens. It is just a matter of time. Just saw it down to the ground and eliminate a lot of problems. No need to make any treatment just saw it down.

8. OK. Sarah, this is a very unfortunate question from Iowa. An 8 to 10 foot tall blue spruce is about ready to go under water in the flooding. Can a blue spruce survive several days under, potentially, several feet of water?
a. Evergreens are not very tolerant of flooded roots. So, no, it probably wouldn’t survive more than just a few days. Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do to protect it.

9. Fred, this is a Lincoln viewer who has a 35-year-old elm. She thinks it has borers and wonders if there are borers that attack elms.
a. Borers attack everything. If it is a Siberian elm, the most common we see, the top growth of those is always dying back. They always look pretty nasty from a distance. You probably ought to get an arborist out to take a look and confirm the presence of borers because it is unusual. We don’t see a lot of borer activity in a 35-year-old tree, or in elm. I would recommend having an arborist out.

10. We have a lot of questions about this. This is one of our own, in Animal Sciences. This came up in the berm and he thought it was an ornamental.
a. This is a plant that has proliferated in a lot of areas, not only in town, but in rural setting as well. It is a biennial. Once it gets this big and has flowers the best thing to do is just go in and pull it or hoe it out. The best time to treat is early spring or in the fall because it is a biennial and will have a rosette growth habit in the fall. It will reproduce by seed so look for it and treat by fall.

11. Loren, how do you get rid of bud rot on tree peonies? It kills the buds before they have much size. They have used borax with little effect. This question is from Riverton NE.
a. I wouldn’t recommend a chain saw on a tree peony; other trees maybe. No, but this one is really beautiful. The petrititis is probably causing this. Do the normal things for any fungal infection. Avoid any overhead sprinklers. Try to redirect sprinklers. If you are still having the problem, look at some of the general use systemic fungicides.

12. Sarah, a viewer from Council Bluffs wants to know whether black walnut mulch should be used around trees or other garden plants.
a. Actually, black walnut is one of the few plants we don’t want you to use, the wood chips or leaves, as mulch. They have a chemical within the tree and it will remain in the leaves and wood chips. If you apply that to ornamental plantings or vegetable gardens, it could cause affects from the chemical which initially look like herbicide injury. Don’t put them in the compost pile and don’t use them as mulch. Just get rid of them.

13. OK. Fred, this is an anticipation question. An Omaha viewer saw the carrion beetle adult, black with yellow spots, come out of the ground in May or June. The viewer wants to know when to expect to find it emerging so he can send a sample in. Does that ring a bell?
a. Carrion beetle, by definition, feed on carrion; dead animals. They come to those animals when they find them. They don’t come out at any given time. They are present all year long.

14. Lowell, a new turf seeding in Omaha, a mixture of bluegrass and fescue. The question is when is a new seeding considered "established" turf?
a. We always see that on the label. There is not a hard and fast definition to it but once they have mowed the lawn a couple times, and it is starting to fill in, it would probably be established. When you look at herbicides for weed control, once a lawn has been mowed two or three times you can start applying other inputs and not have any harm.

15. Loren, you have an image here from a Council Bluffs viewer’s Hollyhock. There are spots on the underneath side. What is it and can it be treated?
a. It is rust and can be treated quite easily with several different fungicides. It is fairly common.

16. This is a Norfolk viewer who has a green spruce. It looked good but now it is losing needles. It is a 25-year-old tree. Anything they can do about it?
a. Well, we have seen a lot of winter damage on evergreens this year. If the needles are dying back from the tip turning brown, from the tip in, then it could be winter damage. We also saw a lot of blight on spruce this year. If they have entire twigs or branches that have lost all of their needles that could be a possibility. Those would be my first two thoughts.

17. Fred, a viewer has poker plants, from the lily family. Blooms are being stripped by something. He has seen some flying insects. He has tried several things: sevin, insecticidal soap. Nothing seems to be working.
a. They are eating the blooms? There are a number of pollinating insects that would be buzzing around bees and solitary bees. Maybe beetles. But, I have never seen them stripped like that. You almost want to think of an animal, like a rabbit maybe. But I have never had anything. Have you ever seen anything like that, Sarah?

18. Southwestern Nebraska in Mitchell. The issue here is whether in fact we have problems with buffalograss this time of the year. How do we get it to look good? Are we going to be able to start seeing good growth on that?
a. For buffalograss, right now is a good time to put down fertilizer. Apply half a pound to a pound of nitrogen per thousand square feet. It would probably help it perk up right now if they haven’t done that already. But, buffalograss is pretty hy and low maintenance so there is not a lot to do on it other than possibly fertilization right now.

19.  Loren, in Malcolm, a scotch pine in a windbreak is starting to turn brown. How does he decide what goes and how to find out?
a. It is most likely pine wilt. If the whole tree is turning color that will definitely be a chain saw operation. There is nothing to do to treat it. If it is just tips, that is a different issue and if you see that, you might want to take a sample and bring it to a local Extension office to confirm what it is.

20. Sarah, you have a picture sent in with no label. They want to know what it is.
a. It is a type of bachelor button in the genus Centoria and the species name is montana. So, a great perennial for your garden, not difficult to grow. Very easy. There is a new one on the market called 'Snow and Sapphires'. It’s white and blue. Pretty cool. Pretty cool plant.

21. We have a cool follow-up. A Grand Island viewer called in and said they are seeing the orioles grasp the side of the stems of the hot poker plants and eat their way up.
a. That is so cool. I have two nests of orioles on my acreage. I feed them grape jelly every night. They go through as much grape jelly as you can feed them. I will start checking because my hot pokers are just coming into flower. I will watch them. We have at least 4 orioles.

22. Lowell, what chemical can we use to control bindweed?
a. It is in full bloom right now. Driving down the street, the white blooms in turf are probably bindweed. Around ornamentals we would recommend quinclorac. Just try to stay away from the desirable plants. We need something that translocates to the roots to reduce the bindweed.

23. All the way from O'Neill: Alberta peach, 5 to 6-years-old. The leaves have blisters, but it is loaded with fruit. Is this a problem?
a. Most likely peach leaf curl on that; it is not going to affect the fruit if they don't already see some fruit that may be hollow or swollen. It’s a fungal infection that occurs early on, when the buds are just starting to open. So some dormant applications next spring, lime sulfur, early on when the buds are starting to open would be the time to do that.

24. A rose question from Mitchell: a tea rose blooms on the short branches at the bottom, but doesn't get any flowering from the top of the plant. What’s wrong?
a. Possibly this is blooming from growth of the root stock and the top of the plant has actually died. If the color is wrong, this is pretty sure to be the problem. If only the bottom is growing and the top has died, the only way to correct the problem would be to remove the old plant and plant a new rose.

25. From Waverly, a Mr. Lincoln rose planted this year, the blooms fall off right after they bloom.
a. Well, we've had extremely dry, hot conditions, and possibly this is a physiological thing. If it was thrips, you would get deformed flowers as opposed to petal drop. If the buds didn't open normally, that could be thrips. Possibly it's just an establishment problem — if this is newly planted, maybe it's just not well enough established to handle the dry conditions and winds we've had. Just clip those off, rather than letting those stems die back; see if you can get it through to another season, and hopefully next year it will be better established.

26. A viewer in Lincoln has three old-fashioned lilacs and one hybrid; they are seeing tiny beige-colored insects like pinheads on the flowers. If they are still seeing flowering, they may be talking about later blooming ones.
a. I wonder if the insects are doing any damage? A number of pollinating insects will come and take nectar from the lilacs. If they are not seeing any injury, any damage, I wouldn't worry about them. It probably is one of the pollinating insects.

27. A Brainard viewer wants to know how to control trumpet vine in a lawn without hurting the parent plant.
a. Use contact herbicides (NOT something that will translocate like Finale that has has Glyphosate as the active ingredient). Those will not translocate and harm other parts of the plant. Like a sucker-stop type of product.

28. Can those runners on trumpet vine be stopped by barriers in the landscape at all?
a. I have seen them run around or dive under barriers.

29. A 14-inch diameter 'Greenspire' linden, 8 to 10-years-old. Three years ago it lost one side of the foliage. New leaves have been coming on. It continues to do this year after year. They are not saying which side whether this is south, southwest facing.
a. One thing that comes to mind would be a girdling root possibility, especially if the leaves are falling early in the fall, compared to the rest of the tree. If that portion of the crown is affected, that could easily be. Look at the base of the trunk and see if it is flat and not flaring out in a normal pattern. Unfortunately, there is not really much you can do about that. It's really hard. Environmental issues that cause any kind of root disturbance or root damage, if they have done any trenching or digging or put a new addition on the house on that side of the tree, that can cause this as well.

30. This is a northeast Lincoln viewer who says something is chewing on the chain link fence.
a. Well, we think that is squirrels. Squirrels sharpening their teeth and marking territory and, possibly even going after little metal nutrients out of the fence. It’s just kind of an oddity. It's amazing the weird things that squirrels will chew on sometimes. This is toxic to them, but apparently not toxic enough.

31. A viewer last week asked about plums or pears falling from the tree.
a. I looked that up over the past week because I wasn't happy with my answer. I think it is a pollination issue. These trees do benefit from cross pollination. Both do much, much better if they have cross pollinators, so if these trees are not getting well pollinated, they will just dwarf. It also might have been plum bug; the fruits get to be marble size, but they will drop. You've got the little larva inside; they will probably still be in egg form, but you can see the scar where the egg was laid under the skin.

Lightning Round

Sara

1. Is buckthorn invasive?
a. No, not in Nebraska.
2. Brown edges on a hydrangea, is the cause potentially fertilizer burn or a water issue?
a. Probably water issues, dryness. Scorched, try to keep them a little more watered.
3. A 4-foot tall beautiful blue spruce that had put on a lot of growth toward the top. The question is whether they should prune that growth back to put it into proportion?
a. I wouldn't. I would probably let it grow for a few more years and let the lower branches develop a little more. Before you do any real severe pruning.
4. How far should the mulch ring be extended around well-established evergreens?
a. To the drip line would be ideal, but a minimum of 2 feet from the trunk.
5. A white 'Iceberg' rose is now half red roses and half white; what happened?
a. It’s blooming from the root stock (the red blooms). Try to cut out those branches that are blooming red.

Loren

1. Is there a fungus on the base of trees that looks like dark rubber cement and if so, is it a good fungus or a bad fungus?
a. Yes, bad fungus.
2. What can be done?
a. Rogue it out.
3. Aster yellows is showing up already in a lot of locations, what to do?
a. Rogue them out immediately.
4. Can they go on the compost pile?
a. Yes
5. How do you tell the difference between a virus and seersucker or dimpling on hostas.
a. Viruses will be on one plant and not all of them. They can be confused with the actual cultivar though, so be careful and know how the cultivar looks.
6. Is it possible that powdery mildew is already showing up in shaded bluegrass lawns?
a. Yes.
7. And what should be done about it?
a. It depends.
8. Can plants from flooded soil be more susceptible to crown rot?
a. Absolutely, and a lot of the flooding can result in more crown rot as we go forward.
9. Will composting kill botrytis in peonies and other things?
a. Yes, if done properly and everything is broken down.

Lowell

1. Is using plastic between the rows of a wind break an effective method of controlling prairie grasses?
a. It is labor intensive; I would rather use herbicides to try to control that.
2. If they don't want to use herbicides, is mowing a possibility?
a. Mowing is a possibility. You probably don't want to till either. So they could keep it mowed to keep weeds out as well.
3. How available is Quinclorac and where?
a. Available at professional turf stores, not very common in the homeowner market. So they would have to look at a professional turf supplier.
4. Downy brome is appearing in flower beds; is that something to pull or spray?
a. Downey brome should be getting to the end of its life cycle right now. I would pull or hoe it out as soon as possible, because it's not going to germinate again until next fall.
5. Foxtail is appearing in flower beds, is that something to pull or spray?
a. Foxtail is really growing right now, they can either hoe it out or they can spot spray with glyphosate; it will do a really nice job.

Fred

1. Are the spider mites currently active in spruce?
a. Yes.
2. What to do about the spider mites in spruce?
a. Once you confirm their presence, something like Bifenthrin should work reasonably well.
3. There is a lovely black and orange insect on the butterfly milkweed what is it and is it a good guy?
a. It's a milkweed plant bug that feeds on the seeds, so it isn't an issue.
4. Is it possible to find termites in wood mulch if placed against the house?
a. It is possible; we recommend you keep the wood mulches pulled out a foot or so from the foundation.
5. Do June bugs eat the leaves of aspen and birch?
a. Not very often. The June bug that we're seeing right now does do a little chomping on the leaves, but doesn't generally defoliate.
6. What bait do we use for slugs on hostas?
a. It’s called metaldehyde