1) Pine Tip Blight Control Must Precede This Year’s Symptoms

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Pine tip blight seemed near-epidemic in parts of the Midwest last spring, in part due to plant stress resulting from an Easter freeze in early April, a Kansas State University plant pathologist said. New, infected needle growth was stunted and then died.

“By the time you see the symptoms, though, it’s too late to stop this fungal disease. If you know you’ve got an infected pine, you need to treat it just as the year’s new buds are elongating – which in Kansas is typically around the third week in April. Then you must spray again 10 to 14 days later,” said Megan Kennelly, horticultural disease specialist with K-State Research and Extension.

Although tip blight kills new shoot growth, its symptoms aren’t obvious until late May or early June, Kennelly said. First, the pine’s developing candles don’t elongate properly. Then they turn yellow or tan, but the needles remain attached. Small resin drops may form on the stunted growth.

“Often the infection starts in the needles closest to the ground,” she said. “But it can cause more and more serious damage. In a few years, it can kill large branches or even the entire tree or shrub.”

The Austrian, mugo, Ponderosa and Scots pines are all susceptible to tip blight, Kennelly said. The disease itself is variously known as Sphaeropsis or Diplodia tip blight.

The tip blight fungus survives from year to year in dead shoots, branches and pine cones, she said. It spreads by producing small, black spore-bearing structures on infected needles and cones.           

Labeled fungicides for controlling the disease include come of the copper compounds (e.g., Bordeaux Mixture) and fungicides that contain thiophanate-methyl (Fungo, Cleary's 3336).

“To achieve control, though, you’ve got to spray when the new shoots are just starting to grow. You must cover the foliage thoroughly, especially in the lower two-thirds of the crown,” Kennelly said. “Removing dead shoots and fallen needles on the ground will only make infected pines look better.” 

More facts about pines’ sometimes confusing problems are online at http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/ (search for pine disease).


 

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2) K-State Plant Pathologist: Remove, Chip Dead Pines NOW

MANHATTAN, Kan. – A pine that’s died since late last summer in the Midwest may very well be harboring the pine-wilt carriers that will spread the fatal disease further this spring.

“The most important step in saving the pines we have left is sanitation. Infected trees need to be cut to the ground – no stump – and chipped, burned or buried ASAP.  We used to use May 1 as the deadline for chipping or burning but now consider April 1 safer,” said Megan Kennelly, plant pathologist with Kansas State University.

Help in testing for the disease in Kansas is available through county and district K-State Research and Extension offices, the Kansas Forest Service, Kansas Department of Agriculture, and K-State’s Plant Disease Diagnostic Lab.

Pine wilt symptoms generally appear between August and December, Kennelly said. Affected trees can wilt and die within a few weeks to several months. The needles turn gray, then yellow and finally brown. This may occur branch by branch or all at one. The needles stay attached for up to a year.

“Another key symptom is reduced resin,” she said. “Healthy pines ‘bleed’ sticky resin from wounds. Trees with pine wilt often have little to no resin, and their branches become dry or brittle.”

The early spring deadline for removing newly killed pines is vital, Kennelly said. A microscopic worm called the pinewood nematode causes pine wilt. It and the pine sawyer beetle both overwinter in infected pines. The beetle hatches around May 1 and flies to look for another pine on which to feed. Nematodes by the thousands hitch a ride.

“You’ve got to get rid of both of them before this year’s beetles emerge,” she warned. “You can’t even save the wood for your fireplace.”

Scientists first identified pine wilt in the United States in 1979. So far, the heaviest losses have been in Iowa, Illinois, eastern Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri and southeastern Nebraska.

“Scots pines over 10 years old have accounted for about 90 percent of the losses,” Kennelly said. “But, the disease has occasionally appeared in Austrian, jack, mugo, red, black and white pines.”

More information is available online at http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/library/plant2/MF2425.pdf.

 

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3) Give Early Transplants a Boost With Mild, Soluble Fertilizer

MANHATTAN, Kan. – A mild fertilizer solution can be a real boost to flower and vegetable transplants that move into the garden during early spring’s cool weather.

“You can find this kind of product for sale as transplant solutions, starter solutions and root stimulators. Basically, though, they’re all the same thing. And, you can even make your own,” said Ward Upham, Master Gardener program coordinator for Kansas State University Research and Extension.

Early plantings that don’t receive this kind of feeding often develop a purplish tinge.

“The cause is a phosphorus deficiency. Surprisingly, it can even result in soils with plenty of phosphorous,” Upham said. “The actual problem is that transplants often have difficulty in taking up nutrients from cool soils. Soluble nutrients, applied near transplants’ roots, can help them get off to a better start.”

Transplants put in the garden in late spring or early summer after the soil warms up won’t need the same help, he added.

The base for a homemade transplant solution is a fertilizer that contains more phosphorus (P) than nitrogen (N) or potassium (K), Upham said. Examples of that kind of N-P-K combination include 5-10-5, 10-20-10 and 11-15-11.

“Put 2 to 3 tablespoons of the fertilizer in a gallon of water several hours before use. Then apply about 1 cup of solution per transplant,” the horticulturist advised. “The fertilizer won’t completely dissolve, but enough of it will go into solution to get the plants off to a strong beginning.”


 

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4) Lessen Weather’s Impact on Exercise

MANHATTAN, Kan. – While many health experts recommend 30 minutes of moderate physical activity five or more days a week for general health, the weather – heat, cold, rain, snow, wind or ice – can sidetrack even the best intentions, said Elizabeth Fallon, Kansas State University exercise scientist.

“To maintain healthful physical activity, make watching the daily and weekly weather forecasts a habit,” said Fallon, who this year is consulting on K-State Research and Extension’s Walk Kansas health and fitness program, March 9-May 3. 

If a warm air mass is expected to offer a few days of respite from winter weather or spring storms, schedule time to exercise on those days. In summer heat, plan to exercise in cooler morning or evening hours, Fallon said.

“Be flexible, and look for ways to make it happen,” said Fallon, who noted that walking inside the mall or on an indoor track also can help fill the gap.

Like to swim, but don’t have a swimming pool nearby? Check with a local hotel or recreational facility to inquire if water walking or swimming laps in off hours is possible, she said.

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


 

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5) Pork Center of Excellence, K-State Team on Feed-Production Cost Tipsheet

AMES, Iowa – Right now isn’t an easy time to be a pork producer. Rapidly increasing costs are making it difficult for pork producers to turn a profit.

The U.S. Pork Center of Excellence, Pork Checkoff program and university experts from around the country have created a tipsheet that addresses the challenges now facing the industry.

Called “Practical Ideas to Address High Feed and Production Costs,” the tipsheet is available on Kansas State University’s Pork Information Gateway (PIG) at http://ksu.porkgateway.com.

“We know that it has been difficult as of late for pork producers,” said U.S. Pork Center of Excellence director David Meisinger. “Our hope is that with this document, producers are able to find ways to cut down on their costs and ultimately improve their profitability.”

In addition to strategies from researchers, the tipsheet provides links to resources located within PIG and throughout the World Wide Web.

PIG is an online resource for the pork industry that provides information about pork production. A username and password is required to view its library, but the site is free for all users.

The U.S. Pork Center of Excellence, which is housed at the National Swine Research and Information Center at Iowa State University, was established in 2005 as a public/private partnership to bring together academic expertise in research, teaching and extension related to pork production. Two government agencies, two industry associations, 14 state pork producer associations and 24 land-grant universities are involved in the coalition.