FOR RELEASE THE WEEK OF JUNE 11, 2000:
In the wintertime when the weather is very cold, I exercise indoors on my treadmill. But now that the weather is nicer, I like to walk outside. Which is better?
According to Martha Raidl, University of Idaho extension nutrition specialist, some studies have found that people walk faster outdoors and feel less stressed, tired and depressed.
Says John Porcari of the exercise and sports science department at the University of Wisconsin in LaCrosse: "When you’re inside, you tend to focus on your breathing and how miserable you may be feeling. But outside, you are distracted by your surroundings."
Raidl says that’s why one hour on the treadmill can drag while one hour walking outside in the park can fly by.
I’ve got some cream-colored butterflies–with a black spot on each wing–flitting around my cabbages. Every year, my cabbage leaves get chewed full of irregular-shaped holes. Are these guys the culprits?
They could very well be, says Bob Stoltz, University of Idaho extension entomologist. Those pretty little butterflies are the adult forms of imported cabbageworms–probably Idaho’s No. 1 cabbage pest. In the three short weeks between hatching from eggs and beginning to pupate back into butterflies, their wormlike larvae will chew through one layer of leaf after another until they’re nibbling on the cabbage heads themselves.
There’s still time to stop them in June, says Stoltz. Inspect both sides of your cabbage leaves for tiny, yellow-to-orange, solo eggs. They’re shaped like footballs and standing on end as though it were kickoff time. If you find those eggs, go ahead and kick them right off.
Also look for the very young larvae–tiny, green, velvety caterpillars that eventually grow to an inch or longer, thanks to those nutritious cabbage leaves they’re stuffing themselves with. "You have to really get into the leaves and be an active inspector to catch them," he says. "They’re kind of cryptic."
If you’re already seeing some holes–and the inevitable caterpillar poop–peel off the damaged leaves, then treat the cabbages with Sevin or the biorationals Neem or Bacillus thuringiensis. To keep the pesticide from sliding right off the waxy cabbage leaves, use liquids with sticker adjuvants or, where available, dusts.
Full-sized cabbageworms aren’t susceptible to Bt. Blast them with Sevin, Neem, rotenone or permethrin.
I used to use my sparerib marinade to baste the ribs during the last part of grilling. Now I hear that’s not safe.
You’re right, it’s not safe, says Sandy McCurdy, University of Idaho extension food safety specialist. Marinades from raw meat, poultry or seafood should not be applied to cooked food unless those marinades have been boiled first for at least one minute.
That’s because bacteria that cause foodborne illness may have transferred into the marinade from the raw meat. You can baste or brush some of the marinade onto the meat at the very start of grilling–since it will have time to cook with the meat–but don’t add anymore.
McCurdy offers these other food-safety tips for the backyard cook: always marinade food in the refrigerator–not on the counter–and use a clean plate to carry cooked meat from the grill.
The previous owner of the house we bought this winter had planted grapes. We didn’t do much with them this spring but understand that grapes need a lot of pruning. Why can’t we just let nature take its course?
You can, but a jungle will soon develop and fruit production and quality will drop off, says Danny Barney, University of Idaho extension horticulturist. Grapes simply require more pruning than any other temperate fruit. In fact, each year in late winter or early spring, before new growth starts, you should remove about 90 percent of the wood that grew the preceding summer.
"The idea is to leave about 30 or 40 fruiting buds on last year’s canes," Barney says. For American-type grapes such as Concords, leave those 30 or 40 buds on two to four canes–15 or 20 buds per side–that grow from the top or head of the vine. For European and hybrid grapes, like Rieslings or Castels, create a permanent arm called a cordon on each side of the vine and support the cordons on a trellis; each arm should be about 2 or 3 feet long, along which you should leave a spur with two or four buds every 6 inches.
Since it’s already too late for dormant pruning, you can still remove all dead wood and thin out the canes and new shoots. Remove all suckers and shoots between the ground and the head of the vine, head back new shoots so they don’t touch the ground and plan on doing some extensive pruning next spring.
For more information on growing and training grapes, pick up a copy of the UI’s four-page bulletin "Backyard Grapes" at your county extension office. Or, order it from UI 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 $1.55, including tax and shipping. For help in selecting grapes for your site, check out the crop recommendations page at http://www.uidaho.edu/~sandpnt/.