1) Moist Roots the Key to Bareroot Plantings

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Many homeowners first learn about bareroot plants when they buy a rose that’s packaged in a plastic bag.

But, windbreak trees, fruit trees and many smaller fruit plants are available bareroot, too. Often, they cost less than the same plants, sold in containers, said horticulturist Ward Upham.

Bareroots come with a do-or-die rule, however: Those roots must never dry out before planting.

“That’s a big reason why experts advise getting bareroots planted in early spring, as soon as you get them,” said Upham, Kansas State University Research and Extension’s Master Gardener coordinator.

He advises opening and checking mail-order or packaged plants immediately. If their roots aren’t moist, they’ll need a six- to 12-hour soaking in water before planting. If the roots are moist, planting can wait a day or two so long as the plants are repacked and placed in a cool, sheltered place.

“That’s about as long as bareroots should stay out of the soil, though. So, if your yard is too wet for planting then, you’ll need to heel the plant roots in, in a well-drained, sheltered location,” Upham said.

He recommends letting bareroots wait in a bucket of water while digging their planting holes.

“Each one will need a hole that’s wide enough to accommodate all of its roots without twirling them. If a plant has one really long root, you’ll be better off if you cut it to fit, rather than circle it around the hole. Twirled roots are what eventually can girdle and even kill a tree,” Upham said.

Improving the fill dirt also can promote girdling, he said. Plus, amended soil can allow water to run through quickly and then fill the planting hole like a root-suffocating fish bowl.

“You don’t need first-year fertilizer for bareroot plants, either,” the horticulturist said.

In general, bark color helps gardeners to identify and duplicate original planting depth, he said.

“One exception is that the graft union on apples must end up 3 to 4 inches above the soil surface after the tree is fully in place,” Upham said.  “The graft line for peaches must be below the soil surface.”

 

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2) After Break, Get Exercise Program Back on Track

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Enthusiasm at the beginning of an exercise program can’t guarantee long-term success, said Elizabeth Fallon, Kansas State University exercise scientist, who, this year is consulting on Walk Kansas, a K-State Research and Extension health and fitness program March 9-May 3.

Reasons for skipping exercise – the weather, a difficult day at work, children’s school program, or illness – are valid, she said. And, while skipping a day or two needn’t de-rail the goal of adding physical activity to improve health, skipping more than an occasional day may make it more difficult to return to a consistent schedule.

Return is the key word, Fallon said.

Start slow, if away from the program for any length of time, and focus on adding minutes, rather than thinking about miles, she said.

Gradually increasing exercise time can contribute to long-term success, Fallon said. 

More tips on adding healthy physical activity to your day is available at county and district K-State Research and Extension offices, on the Walk Kansas Web site: www.walkkansas.org or the Extension Web site: www.oznet.ksu.edu.

 

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3)  Counting Backwards a Key to Growing Plants From Seed

SALINA, Kan. – For some gardeners, growing plants from seed is the ultimate satisfaction. 

Chip Miller isn’t one of them.

“Like the person who didn’t buy green bananas, I’ve felt my time is growing too short for such long-range plans,” said Miller, a horticulturist with Kansas State University Research and Extension.

He’s got so many leftover seeds in storage, however, that he’s thinking of trying again this year.

“All you have to do to figure out when to plant seeds is just count backwards,” Miller said. “But, you also need to know when, on average, the odds no longer favor your getting another freeze.”

To decide whether to plant seeds indoors or outside, risk-taking gardeners often use their average frost-free date – the day their area usually has 50-50 odds for more freezing cold. (Salina’s is April 17.)

“If you don’t know that date, you can just call your nearest county Extension office,” Miller said.

Cautious gardeners won’t plant outdoors, though, until their 95 percent frost-free date, when they have 5 percent odds for another freeze. The Kansas Weather Data Library maintains that date for weather stations statewide on the Web at http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/wdl/freeze2.htm. (Salina’s is May 7.)

Miller said most seed packets provide several other facts needed for the backward counting:

* The number of weeks of indoor growth required to raise seedlings ready to transplant outdoors.

* How many weeks before or after last frost that seed and/or transplants can go into the garden.

* How many days that food-producing plants need to produce harvest-ready fruits or vegetables.

“Sometimes that last fact determines whether you need to start seed indoors,” Miller said. “But, sometimes gardeners just want to produce their own transplants, rather than spend money to buy some.”

Miller’s fact sheet on what’s needed to start plants indoors successfully is on the Web at http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/ (search for “2007 HortNews 118.pub”).


 

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4)  K-State Study Shows No Health Benefit to Keeping Just-Weaned Calves

MANHATTAN, Kan. - A study by Kansas State University researchers indicated that calves shipped just after separation from their dams grew and stayed as healthy as calves that were kept on the ranch for varying amounts of time up to 60 days.

In the study, summer-weaned beef calves (Angus crosses, weighing 400 pounds) were separated by age, said K-State Research and Extension animal nutritionist K.C. Olson. They were assigned to one of five weaning periods that corresponded to the length of time (60, 45, 30, 15 and 0 days) between separation from dams and shipment to an auction market.

Olson and graduate student Justin Bolte conducted the study.

All calves were fed the same diet-free choice throughout the trial and were monitored twice daily for symptoms of respiratory disease. They were vaccinated against common diseases 14 days before separation from dams and again on the day of separation.

On a common shipping date (day 0, Aug. 24, 2007), the calves were transported three hours to a commercial auction market, where they were held for 14 hours. Then they were moved to a feedlot an hour away.

The body condition of the dams was assessed 60 days before and 60 days after the shipping.

“The bottom line,” Olson said, “is that under the conditions of our study, ranch-of-origin weaning periods of between 15 and 60 days did not improve calf health or growth performance, relative to shipping calves immediately after maternal separation.”

More information about the study is available by contacting K.C. Olson at 785-532-1254 or kcolson@ksu.edu or K-State animal science researcher Twig Marston at 785-532-5428 or twig@ksu.edu.