What my Needles Wouldn't Do for a Little Water!

Jesse Fulbright, MSU Liberty County Extension

This week, I wanted to address what I think is going on with some of the brown we may be seeing on our evergreens this time of year. 

A lot of our problems come down to what is probably winter desiccation.  Winter desiccation of evergreens is discoloration or damage of the needles.  Winter sun and wind can cause water loss.  Additionally, if the roots are in frozen soil, they are unable to replace the moisture and it will result in browning needles.  It is most common to see the damage on the south, southwest or windward sides of the plant, but the whole plant can be affected in severe cases.  This is more common in young trees.

Photos courtesy of Utah State University Extension.

For our evergreens, the best thing to do to prevent winter desiccation, or at least alleviate some of the more severe damage, is to water all trees and shrubs prior to the soil freezing.  In some winters, when we have chinooks, we also have the opportunity to water then.  Unfortunately, the past few winters haven’t necessarily provided us with many respites between storms.  If your trees are young, you can provide them with some sort of wind or sun barrier, such as burlap stretched between two posts.  However, this only works with younger trees and smaller shrubs, such as the arborvitae we see occasionally around town.  If a person does go with this method, you also need to remember not to cover the entire plant as air needs to continue to circulate around the trees to some extent.
 

 
 
Another problem that might occur around town is with our deciduous trees.  These are ones like our ash, birch, and chokecherry trees.  Bark on the south and southwest sides of tree trunks and in branch crotches may be killed by sunscald.  With sunscald, bark is warmed and the cells in tree de-hardened by afternoon sun.  Rapid temperature drop after sunset then kills the cells and bark. There are several ways to reduce sunscald.  Tree wrap, such as that made from heavy craft paper, can be applied to the trunk in October to reflect the sun and reduce abrupt temperature fluctuations.  This also helps keep rodents from feeding on the bark.  White latex paint also reflects the sun and prevents rapid temperature changes.  Wrap or paint the trunks from the soil line to the lowest branch.  The purpose of tree wraps is not to keep the trunk warm but instead to keep it cool.  Evergreen shrubs interplanted with trees help shade the tree bark during winter and reduce sunscald.

For more information about tree care, either for new or mature trees, the Extension office has a MontGuide titled, “What’s Wrong With This Tree” that is free and available to the public.

Watch Your Own Bobber...

Wendy Wedum, MSU Extension Pondera County

Over the past month, I have been feeling very stressed out.  Our 4-H District just hosted a statewide 4-H event, I have a training coming up, I volunteered to teach a couple classes at the high school and my son is moving back, among other things.

The result is feeling over whelmed and has led to poor eating habits, not exercising enough, not sleeping well and stress headaches the size of Beaverhead county.

Last weekend I asked about my son’s plans for moving and wondering about a potential Plan B in case I cannot help him.  Junior looks up at me, grins and calmly says, “Mom, watch your own bobber.”

My first reaction, because I wasn’t thinking clearly, was what does fishing have to do with moving?  Then the fog cleared and I realized what he meant as he said, "I’ve got my move handled and you don’t need to worry about it."  Then he shared he had changed his plans from what we talked about a couple months ago.

Spring can be a stressful time in rural Montana.  Sudden weather changes, calving, seeding crops, unexpected expenses, scholarship applications, graduations, planning for summer fun…whatever your list is, it can get big, fast.

If you are stressing out there are a couple strategies to help you watch your own bobber.  Write down a list of the things you are dealing with.  For each item, ask yourself what do you have control over?  Or What can you do to influence what happens with the item?  If you cannot change or do much about it, then it is time to stop watching that bobber.

If you can do something about it or have some control over the item, then it is time to do some planning or goal setting to better manage what is happening or what needs to be done.

When you are stressed out, it is hard to look at what you are doing objectively.  My son gave me a gentle reminder that he’s got this and he will ask for help when he needs it.

If you are interested in resources to cope with stress, MSU Extension has several MontGuides that may help.  One is called 50 Stress Busting Ideas for your Well Being, and there are others that deal with coping with family stress, helping children cope with natural disasters and dealing with financial crisis.

To get these resources you can call your local Extension office, or you can visit the North Central Montana Extension Blog, visit the Pondera County Extension facebook page or check out the KSEN/K96FM blog for links to downloadable pdf files on the msuextension.org website.

There are many resources available.  You don’t have to let yourself get hooked by things that are outside of your control.  My stress load dropped a lot that day and I got another good life lesson from my son when I listened to his wise words to “watch my own bobber.”

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Walk to Better Health

Jesse Fulbright, MSU Liberty County Extension

The one-way walk to work each day is approximately 1500-1700 steps for me, or about a 10-15-minute walk, depending on the conditions of the road and whether I’m running late or not.  That’s also just a little short of a mile for me.  On a good day where I don’t have lunch meetings, that means I can walk home for lunch and then repeat the cycle at quitting time as well, giving me 6,000 steps at the minimum on my watch/pedometer.  You factor in other errands, moving at work and at home and usually I walk about 10,000 steps each day.  Through this method of walking everywhere I can usually walk about 15 miles, or 25 kilometers each week.

According to health professionals, walking 10,000 steps each day is a good goal.  Now, with our northern Montana weather, especially in the winter, walking any great distance can be a challenge.  Sometimes sidewalks aren’t cleared from snow, or in the absence of sidewalks, roadways.  There is the very real concern about slipping and falling when walking in the snow and ice, and there is the biting cold to deal with.  If you are serious about walking, I would encourage everyone to look at investing in a good set of snow boots or some sort of traction devices to put on your feet.  Other than that, bundling up in layers is the way to go to beat the cold.

There are benefits of walking, including it being a low impact way of getting in shape and losing weight.  According to other research, it also improves your sleep.  I haven’t necessarily found that to be true in my case, but it certainly could be true for others.  Walking daily has also shown to increase good cholesterol, commonly called HDL, and decrease the LDL, or bad cholesterol.  It also reduces stress, which I can fully appreciate.  That time to walk, just like driving, gives my mind time to wander and think about the day, and is much healthier than sitting in the car.  Increases in balance and endurance, along with a decrease in fatigue will grow with a consistent habit of walking daily.  For my family, who have a history of Type 2 diabetes, it is also a way to help control blood sugars, along with the other good health habits I previously mentioned that also help in managing the disease.

Whatever your reason for walking, in the words of a famous shoe logo, “just do it!”  It’s a great way to keep in shape physically and mentally!

Houseplants- Craving or Needing the Spotlight?

Jesse Fulbright, MSU Liberty County Extension

In the Master Gardener level 1 course there is discussion on plant growth and development, which runs the gamut of topics.  I wanted to touch on one portion of that specific lecture and talk about light requirements of plants and apply it to many of us that have indoor house plants. 

Plants need light for photosynthesis, which is one of the lessons that all of us picked up in high school, if not younger.  Photosynthesis is the process wherein a plant converts light, oxygen and water into carbohydrates or energy.  This energy is required by a plant to grow, bloom and produce seed.  Without adequate light, carbohydrates cannot be manufactured, the energy reserves are depleted and plants die.

When talking about light requirements of house plants, we are talking about three different things, light intensity, light duration and light quality.  Light intensity is the brightness of light, measured in foot-candles.  Foot-candle are the amount of light received by a 1-square-foot surface located one foot away from a light source equal to one candle.  Light duration is the number of hours of light per 24-hour period.  Light quality is the wavelength or color of light.  Plants use red and blue light primarily, with red light encouraging budding and blue light promoting foliage growth.  Most plants are green because they don’t absorb light in the green spectrum, so they reflect it back out.

Of course, our house plants come in all varieties, and that includes how much light they like.  Low-light plants, those that need light at 10-15 watts or 50-250 foot-candles, would be suitable for a north window or a fairly dark corner.  Examples could include plants that don’t dry out quickly such peace lilies, some begonias and Anthurium.  Medium-light plants are those that require 15-20 watts or 250 - 1,000 foot-candles.  Medium light areas are well-lit areas in the home, such as windows that face east.  A medium-light plant can also be located near a west-facing window, but out of direct light.  Examples of these type of plants include African violets, other begonias and Christmas cactus.  High-light plants are those that need light at greater than 20 watts or more than 1,000 foot-candles.  These do best near or in south or south-west facing windows.  Examples of these plants include poinsettias, ficus, and yuccas.  It is important to note that while a plant may tolerate lower light growing conditions, more light may be required to promote dense foliage and flowering.

Please let your local county Extension office know if you have any questions regarding light requirements for houseplants.

Pesticide Record Keeping- An Essential Task!

Jesse Fulbright, MSU Liberty County Extension

In a world where everything is white with snow right now, thoughts of spring planting and spraying aren’t necessarily at the front of the to-do list.  However, just last week Extension offices received a black and white, spiral-bound 48-page booklet.  This booklet fulfills the legal requirements in that certified private pesticide applicators are required to keep records of all applications of restricted use pesticides.  This is referred to as the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Record Keeping Requirements.  When I first came on as an Extension agent we had these booklets that we used to give out at grower meetings and they were very useful to have and to distribute.  Then, for some strange reason, they went out of print.  With the booklets being back in print, I wanted to talk about the advantages of having them be a part of your recordkeeping portfolio.

The objective of this booklet is to provide a simple method to manage each federal record keeping requirement for private pesticide applicators.  Keeping complete records can save money and improve farm management.  This booklet provides tables to fulfill each requirement, maps to sketch pesticide applications if needed, and instructions on calibrating sprayers.  This could include information regarding when you started and finished each application, the active ingredients you used, the brand name of the product, the site and crop description, the rate at which you applied the pesticide, the size of the treated area and the total amount applied.  All of this information is important to have on hand if you as a private pesticide applicator ever have your records inspected by the Montana Department of Agriculture.

Guidelines in this booklet are not intended to meet the pesticide record keeping requirements for Montana Commercial and Governmental applicators.  These professional applicators must record additional information.  For a copy of the Pesticide Record Keeping Handbook and Calibration Guide for Private Applicators, I would encourage you to contact your local county Extension office.

Rancher Roundtable scheduled for February 20, 2019 at Cut Bank Voting Center

 Ranchers are invited to attend the Rancher Roundtable on Wednesday, February 20 at the   The event is free to the public, refreshments will be provided, and the program will begin at 1:30 p.m. at the Cut Bank Voting Center 

 (913 E. Railroad, Cut Bank, MT).

Dr. Jeff Mosley, Montana State University Extension range specialist, will cover proper spring grazing management to manage plant health and livestock performance, and opportunities for early spring grazing.  Dr. Mosley has degrees in Range Science from Montana State University, University of Idaho, and Texas Tech University and has completed extensive research regarding grazing management of livestock and wildlife and using targeted livestock grazing to suppress invasive plants such as spotted knapweed and sulfur cinquefoil.

Kari Lewis, Montana State University Extension Agent for Glacier county, will share cowherd nutrition for the late gestation and early lactation periods to meet the cow’s needs for breed back and to support a growing calf.  Calf care management to increase calf viability and health will be covered as well.

A rancher roundtable is scheduled for February 20 in Cut Bank
at the Cut Bank Voting Center, beginning at 1:30 p.m.
Photo by Kari Lewis.

John Steuber, State Director of USDA Wildlife Services will wrap up the day with a presentation on Predatory Animal Damage Management.  Steuber will explain the process of petitioning for a per capita fee for predatory animal control within Glacier county, if producers desire.  Currently, 29 Montana counties have cattle petitions in place, and 49 Montana counties (including Glacier County) have sheep petitions in effect.   A cattle petition would be a $1/head fee used to provide predator damage management through the U.S. Department of Agriculture - Wildlife Services to Glacier County producers via hunting and trapping of livestock depredating coyotes, bears, mountain lions, wolves, etc.  With declining federal funding, cattle petitions allow Wildlife Services to support employees (hunter/trapper), equipment, helicopter flying time, etc. and provide a significant presence within the county.  If Glacier county producers desired the program, producer signatures representing 51% of the cattle on the county tax rolls (approximately 13,500 head) would be needed for the petition will go into effect.  Producers are strongly encouraged to attend to learn more about the predatory animal control program. 

Please contact Kari Lewis, Glacier county agent, with any questions regarding the program at (406) 873-2239 or kari.lewis@montana.edu. 

Paraquat Mitigation Measures

Today’s material comes from an MSU Ag Alert regarding Paraquat Mitigation Measures, put out by Dr. Cecil Tharp, MSU Pesticide Education specialist. 

Photo by Kari Lewis

The EPA has approved several paraquat mitigation measures due to increased human health concerns.  Paraquat was first registered in 1964 in the US for weed control and crop desiccation; however, it is categorized as highly toxic through all routes of exposure by EPA where as little as one sip can be lethal with no known antidote. Many human poisonings through the ingestion of paraquat, either accidental or intentional, have been reported to EPA from poison control centers, product registrants, health agencies, environmental agencies and individual consumers. 

EPA has ordered the following measures to adequately protect applicators and the public.

1. Label changes emphasizing paraquat toxicity and supplemental warning materials.

2. Targeted training materials for paraquat users.

3. Closed-system packaging for all non-bulk (< 120 gallon) end use containers of paraquat.

4. Restricting the use of all paraquat products to certified applicators only.

In regard to the Targeted Paraquat Trainings, EPA is requiring all applicators who handle paraquat to take an EPA-approved paraquat training program when indicated on the new product label. EPA-approved paraquat training programs must provide information on: (1) paraquat toxicity; (2) a summary of the new label requirements; (3) consequences and examples of misuse of paraquat; (4) how to apply paraquat; (5) what to do in case of accidental exposure, and (6) appropriate handling, storage, disposal, and personal protective equipment requirements and instructions. The paraquat training program will be available via an internet link included on all paraquat end-use labels. All persons handling paraquat are expected to take the training every three years and retain documentation of successful completion.

At this point, we have not yet received specifics on the Targeted Paraquat Trainings, but we’ll be sure to keep you updated as we have more information.  The MSU Extension Pesticide Education program will continue to provide updates on that platform as we receive more information.   In the meantime, be sure to keep this on your radar.  For anyone needing a restricted use pesticide license or who would like one of their employees to become certified, you may test in your local Extension Office, or attend the training that will be held on April 17 in Conrad, watch for details on that.  Registration deadline is April 12, so register now to be sure to get on the list!