1) Tips Can Make Improving Health Easy

MANHATTAN, Kan. – The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends 30 minutes of physical activity five or more days a week, but finding that 30 minutes isn't always easy, said Elizabeth Fallon, Kansas State University exercise scientist.

Dividing the 30 minutes into three, more manageable 10-minute breaks, however, can yield health benefits that include reducing the risk of heart disease, diabetes, mild depression and anxiety, and breast and colorectal cancers, said Fallon, who is consulting on K-State Research and Extension’s Walk Kansas fitness and health challenge, March 9-May 3.

“Taking the stairs instead of the elevator can add heart-healthy exercise,” she said.

Pushing a lawnmower, raking leaves, gardening or vigorous housework also are activities that can yield benefits.

Something is better than nothing, said Fallon, who believes that adding health-promoting physical activity need not be difficult. Even standing and walking briskly in place during television commercials will work, particularly when the weather is not conducive to exercising outdoors.

“If you’re not in the habit of exercising, start slow and gradually increase the time to 30 or more minutes a day,” she said.

Information on Walk Kansas, physical activity and healthy living is available at county and district K-State Research and Extension offices and on the Walk Kansas Web site at www.walkkansas.org and the Kansas Extension Web site at www.oznet.ksu.edu. 


 

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2) Stopping Iris Leaf Spot Starts Now

MANHATTAN, Kan. – A series of wet springs has allowed iris leaf spot to run rampant through a central U.S. garden favorite. Iris plantings that once were dependable staples now look sickly by bloom time and half-dead by summer’s end.

Only two things can help control the fungal disease. And, the timing for one of them is right now, said Ward Upham, horticulturist with Kansas State University Research and Extension.

“If plants were heavily infected last year, you need to start a spray program as soon as the leaves appear,” Upham said. “You’ll need to spray again four to six times at seven- to 10-day intervals.”

The recommended treatments are chlorothalonil (Daconil) or myclobutanil (Immunox), he said. To ensure good spray coverage, however, gardeners must include a spreader-sticker product, too, because iris leaves are waxy.

Once the disease is in check, the only additional control needed may be to remove and either discard or destroy the plants’ old, dead leaves in late winter or early each spring before new growth starts.

Those leaves are the haven that allows the fungus to overwinter, Upham said. The disease actually spreads in early spring when wind or splashing rain carries the fungus’ spores up to nearby new plant tissues.

Eventually, the infection appears as little reddish-rimmed spots, often surrounded by what looks water-soaked leaf tissue. The spots turn yellow and expand. After bloom time, they can be large enough to join together.

“At worst, the disease just kills individual leaves, although it can make iris plantings look really ugly,” Upham said. “The real problem is that every leaf spot attack also reduces plant vigor. So, if the disease is left unchecked, the irises may very well die when exposed to other stresses.”


 

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3) Spreadsheet Can Help Producers Determine Best Pig Marketing Weight

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Recent record-high grain prices are reinforcing the need to make livestock operations as efficient as possible. To that end, swine scientists with Kansas State University Research and Extension have developed a spreadsheet that producers can use to determine the optimal sale weight for market pigs.

The spreadsheet, available on the Web: http://www.KSUswine.org (click on the “Marketing Tools” link), can be customized for a producer’s own marketing situation.

 

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4) Spring Vegetable Garden an Easy Route to Just-Picked Flavor

LAWRENCE, Kan. – For the experienced and novice alike, cool-season vegetable gardening can be a low-key approach to getting just-picked flavor on the dinner table.

“Spring vegetables use little garden space. You can plant them in containers on the patio or in bare spaces where you plan to put annual flowers,” said Jennifer Smith, horticulturist with Kansas State University Research and Extension.

Unless they plan to replant for a fall crop, too, gardeners are likely to be through with the year’s cool-season vegetable harvests by the end of May, Smith added. That will limit their work to the cool days of spring. Plus, they should have few, if any, problems with insect pests.

“Some gardeners start planting in mid-March. In most years, though, planting by the first week of April gives many cool-season vegetables enough time to produce in Kansas before summer weather shuts them down,” she said. “Since many of the crops can withstand temperatures in the 20s, they’ll be safe even if we get more wintry weather.”

Among Smith’s favorites for her own garden are:

* Onions - grow from plants or sets, 1.5-inches deep, spaced 4 inches apart for large onions.

* Radishes - plant from seed according to package directions, then thin to the sturdiest sprouts.

* Cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower - easiest to grow from transplants, but they’ll need to be outside for a few days in a sheltered location, to “harden off” before going into the cool outdoor soil.

* Lettuce and spinach - start from tiny seeds and thin to allow distance between plants later. They’ll soon reach harvest size and replace any leaves you take, so you’ll have fresh salads until summer.

* The greens (mustard or collard greens, endive, Swiss chard) - grow much like spinach.

“It’s getting a little late to start potatoes or peas for this year, but you can still do it if you hurry,” Smith said. “By mid to late April when the soil temperature is a little warmer, you also can start planting turnips, beets, carrots and parsnips – all of which are fairly easy to grow from seed if you just follow packet instructions.”


 

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5) K-State Researcher Barney Gordon Honored

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State University agronomy researcher Barney Gordon received the Fluid Fertilizer Researcher of the Year Award during February’s annual Fluid Forum, held this year in Scottsdale, Ariz.

The award goes annually to a project leader demonstrating outstanding research progress and contributions. The recipients are selected from among all Fluid Fertilizer Foundation-supported researchers.

For years, Gordon has conducted research in developing environmentally sound and economically profitable fluid fertilizer programs for adoption by production agriculture. He is based at K-State Research and Extension’s North Central Kansas Experiment Field near Belleville, Kan.

The FFF is the research and education arm of the fluid fertilizer industry.