FOR RELEASE THE WEEK OF APRIL 26, 1999:
I keep digging my dandelions and they keep coming back. Am I wasting my time?
If you are, then so is Don Morishita, University of Idaho extension weed specialist. He agrees that hand-to-hand combat with dandelions is challenging but says that, "based on personal experience, you can do just as good a job of eliminating them by digging as you can by spraying them with 2,4-D."
Be sure to break or cut the root of a good-sized dandelion at least 2-3 inches deep–shallower for smaller, newly seeded ones. "The more root you can get, the better," says Morishita. Look hard for those sly dandelions that haven’t yet flowered or the young ones tucked deeply in the grass; try to grub them all out at the same time.
It’s a dirty job, sure, but you’re not alone in preferring to dig in and just do it. "Probably the best reason for digging dandelions is its therapeutic value," Morishita says.
Is it true that compost piles should be at least a certain size? How big do they need to be? We’d like to compost, but we don’t have much available space.
The general recommendation for backyard compost piles is at least one cubic yard–or 3 feet by 3 feet by 3 feet–says Bob Rynk, University of Idaho extension waste management engineer. Smaller piles don’t retain heat as well as larger piles, limiting their composting speed. In winter, they can lose heat faster than they generate it–and freeze.
"In reality, the minimum-size rule is just a rough rule-of-thumb," says Rynk. "But it’s a decent place to start–and then you can adjust your pile size based on your experience."
Generally, larger piles are better than smaller piles, but only up to a point. They can be impracticably and unmanageably large for homeowners. The bigger the pile, the more difficult it is for oxygen-carrying air to penetrate it. "You may need to turn a large pile more often to prevent it from getting oxygen-starved and therefore too odorous," says Rynk.
An important factor is what you’ll be composting: piles with predominantly light, fluffy, moist materials like leaves can be larger than piles with small, dense, wet particles like grass clippings.
Rynk says his personal preference is for backyard compost piles that are between 4 and 5 feet wide and up to 5 feet high at the peak–regardless of length. "This size seems to work well for most backyard situations and materials."
How do you determine when a credit card offer is a good one?
That depends on how you use your credit card, says Sandra Cann, assistant coordinator of extension family economics for the University of Idaho.
If you pay the balance in full at the end of each month, look for an offer with no annual fee and a grace period–which allows you to avoid finance charges.
If you don’t pay off the balance each month, base your comparisons on annual interest or percentage rates. Why pay 18 or 19 percent interest on unpaid balances when you can get a card with a lower rate? Be careful when evaluating these rates: some increase steeply if you’re more than two months late making payments.
Don’t stop reading that fine print once you’ve signed up for the card, Cann says. Scan the cardholder agreement updates that come in your monthly statements for news of additional fees or interest rate changes.
The leaves of my vegetable seedlings are shot full of tiny pits and holes. What’s causing this?
The culprits are no doubt flea beetles, says Bob Stoltz, University of Idaho extension entomologist. Tiny black beetles that jump like fleas when disturbed, flea beetles feed on just about every kind of vegetable you’re likely to grow. Less than a 10th of an inch long, they overwinter as adults in weeds and debris. Normally, they’re only a threat early in the season, when their shothole feeding damage can remove so much critical leaf surface from tiny radishes, peppers, eggplants, tomatoes and corn that the seedlings’ survival is jeopardized.
You can look for the beetles on both the tops and undersides of leaves, but unless it’s very early on a cool morning, you’re unlikely to find them, says Stoltz. "As soon as you bend down to take a look, they disappear."
The remedy? "Depending on how many holes they’re chewing or how many you want to tolerate, you can either spray the pests or forget about them and let the plant try to outgrow their damage," says Stoltz.
Flea beetles will succumb to carbaryl (Sevin), malathion, pyrethrum dust, rotenone spray and a number of other insecticides, Stoltz says. Or, you can protect your seedlings with row covers or hotcaps "so long as you haven’t already collected any flea beetles underneath."