1)  Control Rising Mosquito Numbers Now

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Rainy weather in the Heartland this spring has been a boon for mosquitoes, but people can take steps to curb the pesky creatures.

“There’s been plenty of standing water in which mosquito larvae can develop. This accounts for the recent increase in mosquito populations,” said Kansas State University entomologist Ludek Zurek. “While the peak season for the most common vector of the West Nile virus (Culex spp. mosquitoes) is late summer and early fall in Kansas, it is important to take precautions now.”

The best way to achieve mosquito population management is by directing control efforts toward their larval stages, said Zurek, who specializes in medical and veterinary entomology for K-State Research and Extension.

Because the larvae develop in standing water, this can include:

            * Eliminate breeding sites by dumping and removing containers in which water can collect.

            * Apply a larvicide to larger standing bodies of water – e.g., drainage ditches and ponds.

“Preventing mosquito bites is best achieved by using DEET repellents. Or, for small children, use soy oil–based repellents,” Zurek said.

Details on mosquito biology, West Nile virus, and effective repellents and larvicides are available on the Web at http://www.oznet.k-state.edu/library/ENTML2/MF2571.pdf.


 

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2)  17-Year Cicadas Not Expected in Kansas This Year

MANHATAN, Kan. – The year of the periodical cicada? Well, maybe not for Kansas.

The media have been making lots of noise about the expected arrival of noisy 17-year periodical cicadas in the upper Midwest. Kansans, however, may have to wait another eight years before they see any activity, said Bob Bauernfeind, Kansas State University Research and Extension entomologist.

Kansans can expect to hear some cicadas this year, though, he said. The state does have a number of cicada species with two- to four-year developmental cycles. Some of them emerge each year, giving them the appearance of having a one-year life cycle.

The 17-year periodical cicadas expected to emerge this year are the Brood XIII species, which occur in states northeast of Kansas, Bauernfeind said. The periodical species that occur in Kansas are Brood IVs, which last emerged in 1998. And, adding 17 years to 1998 gives Brood IV an expected appearance time of 2015.


 

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3)  Landscape Answers:Flower Baskets Don’t Have to Hang High

Q: We just finished building a. pergola. I want to decorate it with hanging baskets, but what I have found in stores is too short. Can you recommend anything besides brackets to lower the baskets?

A: The easiest containers to adapt are the moss-lined wire baskets – which also happen to allow for better soil air movement and root growth, plus be naturalistic looking.

One straightforward adaptation is to attach chain to a basket in three places, an equal distance apart, using double hog rings. (Any strong piece of wire, hooped, could also attach a chain well. But, making three wire hoops so they’re secure, attractive and exactly equal in size can be a challenge.)

Hog rings are a piece of metal that livestock producers sometimes use to keep their hogs from rooting. It’s like a ring for the animal’s pierced nose – which means it’s big enough to attach chain to baskets easily. It’s already curved, so you just have to pinch the ends together. Hog rings and their related pincher tool are not expensive and are available at many farm-and-home stores.

If you select fairly thick chain, use two hog rings per piece of chain, and double the wire-basket foundation, you can make a very large, strong hanging container.

Then to hang it, you can just connect all three chains with an S hook and slip the S hook over a screw-in hook, above. Bolt the three chains to something such as a lamp or pergola post. Or, you can connect the three chains with an S hook and then add a fourth chain on the remaining side of the S.

The other end of that fourth chain can slip onto a screw-in hook. Or, you can turn chain No. 4 into the “hanger” by running it over a tree limb or rafter and then connecting its other end to the S hook. If using ceramic, pottery or plastic containers, you may be stuck with what will work with each one. That may include adding extenders, using a shepherd’s hook or putting up a bracket.

– Source: Emily Nolting, landscape horticulturist, K-State University Research and Extension

 

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4) Clean, Treat Grain Bins Now to Save Time, Trouble Later

GARDEN CITY, Kan. – This is a busy time of year for the nation’s farmers, but getting one chore done now – cleaning and treating grain bins – will pay off later, a Kansas State University entomologist said.

“Now is a good time to clean and treat grain storage areas and to decide if grain going into storage will need to be treated with a protectant insecticide,” said K-State Research and Extension’s state entomology leader, Phil Sloderbeck.

Help for producers in making those decisions is available at county and district K-State Research and Extension offices and online, Sloderbeck said. Growers can refer to the publication “Stored Grain Insects, Part III: Structural sprays, pest strips, protectants and surface sprays.”

The publication is on the Web in K-State Research and Extension’s “library” at http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/library/entml2/MF917.PDF. It’s also on the entomology department’s Web site at: http://www.entomology.ksu.edu/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=628.

            “Over the past few years, there have been many changes in products that are labeled to treat grain and grain storage areas,” Sloderbeck said. “One new product for this season is Diacon-D, which contains the insect growth regulator methoprene. This product is a dry formulation, containing the same active ingredient as liquid formulation Diacon II.”


 

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5) Cheapest Route to Quality Water Is Existing Forests on Shorelines

MANHATTAN, Kan. – The most cost-effective way to protect and improve Kansas’ water resources is to maintain the tree and shrub buffers already growing on banks and shores.

Each time Kansans have turned some of nature’s by-water plantings into towns or farms, that’s left land open for flooding. In turn, the runoff from that land could stream unchecked into the waterway – carrying soil and other pollutants it picks up along the way, said Deborah Goard, watershed forester with the Kansas Forest Service.

This leveling of nature’s shore plantings is why Kansas’ forests now total 2.1 million acres, down from an estimated 4.5 million acres in the mid 1800s, Goard said.

“You might think this has only created flooding and water-quality problems in east Kansas,” she said. “But, forest buffers also are important for protecting more than 134,400 miles of streams in the west.”

Goard now has major sections of a new Web site on riparian forestry available at http://www.kansasforests.org/ (click on bottom-right link). To date, the posted information includes a seven-part series on best management practices, an interactive map to help Kansans find help with designing and/or managing a forest buffer, and a list of cost-share programs for landowners.

Print copies also are available at any county or district Kansas State University Research and Extension office.

Goard said an effective riparian buffer includes a diverse “community” of trees and shrubs with a well-developed understory and deep layer of forest “litter.” If wide enough, the buffer will divide up and slow down both runoff and flooding, thus buying time for pollutants to settle out and aquifers to recharge.

“In Kansas, riparian forests are important ecosystems, too,” Goard said. “They provide recreation, prime wildlife habitat, and shade for fish. Over time they also can produce valuable hardwood harvests.”