FOR RELEASE THE WEEK OF APRIL 2, 2000:
What’s eating the green off my apple leaves?
Check the leaves for pale, yellow-green larvae, up to a half-inch long, with many prominent black spots on their side and backs. You’re most likely to discover them feeding in small groups on the undersides of the leaves, protected by the webs they have spun.
If you find them, they’re apple-and-thorn skeletonizers and they can produce three overlapping generations a year, says Bob Stoltz, University of Idaho extension entomologist. The first generation starts feeding on apple, crab apple, cherry, mountain ash, hawthorn and pear trees about two or three weeks after full bloom. By August, leaves can be rolled and brown.
Apple-and-thorn skeletonizers do have numerous natural enemies, including parasitic wasps, lady beetles, lacewings and birds. For homeowners who prefer to use insecticides, one spray in late July or August is all it takes in cherries, mountain ashes, hawthorns and pears. Optimum chemical control in apple and crab apples, however, involves up to three sprays, beginning about three weeks after full bloom.
My husband has been diagnosed with skin cancer. Are the shark cartilage products I’ve seen at the health food store effective treatments for it?
Not according to any of the scientific studies that have been done with shark cartilage, says Martha Raidl, University of Idaho extension nutrition specialist. In fact, she says, the Food and Drug Adminstration asked a federal judge in December to stop sales of the shark cartilage BeneFin and two other Lane Labs-USA products, SkinAnswer and MGN-3.
"There are other companies that sell shark cartilage as a dietary supplement, but the FDA doesn’t go after them as long as they don’t claim that their product cures or treats a disease," she says.
According to Raidl, an estimated 50,000 U.S. cancer patients have tried some form of shark cartilage as a treatment. She says interest was sparked by William Lane’s book, "Sharks Don’t Get Cancer." Lane’s son, Andrew, heads Lane Labs-USA.
I was using my slow-cooker last week and came home to find the clock lights blinking, indicating that the power had been out sometime during the day. The food looked cooked, but I wasn’t sure whether to serve it, so I discarded it. Was that the right thing to do?
Yes, it was, says Sandy McCurdy, University of Idaho extension food safety specialist. "If you’re not at home during the entire slow-cooking process and the power goes out, throw away the food even if it looks done."
On the other hand, if you’re home, immediately finish cooking the ingredient by some other means: a gas stove, an outdoor grill or at someone’s house who still has power.
If you’re home and the power goes out after the food is already done, your dinner should remain safe up to two hours in the cooker, McCurdy says.
We’re thinking about growing blueberries but we don’t know if we have a good site for them. What do they need?
Blueberries, like azaleas and rhododendrons, are acid lovers. "In Idaho, the most important thing we need to worry about with blueberries is soil acidity," says Danny Barney, University of Idaho extension horticulturist.
For best results, the soil pH should be between 4.2 and 5.0, although blueberries will tolerate a pH of 6.0 "without much difficulty." A pH of 7.0 is neutral, and many of southern Idaho’s desert soils are significantly higher. The University of Idaho Cooperative Extension office in your county can help you with pH determinations and soil tests.
If your soils are sandy and alkaline, you can still grow your blueberries in containers or raised beds filled with peat moss-based potting soils. "Keep an eye on the pH in beds and containers because irrigation water can be alkaline and raise the soil pH," says Barney. If that’s the case for you, apply one of the fertilizers for acid-loving plants available at your garden center.
In addition to high pH soils, blueberries also detest drought or flooding. Whether planted in raised beds, containers or into the ground, they like their soil deep, moist, rich in organic matter, and well-drained.
For more information on growing blueberries, the University of Idaho has recently published a guide, "Growing Blueberries in the Inland and Intermountain West," written by Barney. Order it from University of Idaho Ag Publications at telephone (208) 885-7982, fax (208) 885-4648, e-mail cking@uidaho.edu, web site http://info.ag.uidaho.edu, or Ag Publications Building, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID 83844-2240. Cost to Idaho residents is $3.90, including tax and shipping.