FOR RELEASE THE WEEK OF JUNE 18, 2000:
Our 7-year-old son whines, whines, whines whenever we ask him to clean up his room, freshen the dog’s water, take out the newspapers–you name it. What can we do to change this very annoying behavior?
"It sounds like he’s whining specifically about chores, which no child really likes to do," notes Harriet Shaklee, University of Idaho extension family development specialist.
You might want to encourage him to work more cheerfully by following task completion with a fun activity. For example, tell him: "When you get your room straightened, we’ll be ready to pop some popcorn. But we’re just not ready yet until you’re finished." Or, schedule his chores for a half-hour before his favorite television program and invite him to "Come and join us on the sofa when you’re done."
Indeed, setting up a predictable time for them often makes chores go down more easily, Shaklee says. You might even turn that chore-time into a pre-arranged "talk-time" by working side-by-side with your son–or into a "song-time" by teaching him all of the songs that you know.
If all else fails and he’s still whining, there’s always that time-tested parental option: "Get out of earshot."
"Sometimes your own parents can help you remember how you behaved as a child at chore-time," Shaklee adds. "You might have more in common with your son than you realize."
As a rule, is it better to sprinkler-irrigate vegetables, therefore giving them a good rinsing, or to surface-irrigate them, therefore keeping them dry? Or is there no preference?
From a disease control standpoint, it’s better to keep the foliage dry, says Bob Forster, University of Idaho extension plant pathologist. "If disease organisms are present and if the plant is susceptible to them, wet foliage provides a favorable environment for fungus spores to germinate and for bacterial cells to enter wounds and natural plant openings," he says. Further, splashing water from rainfall or from sprinkler irrigation will spread bacteria and fungus spores from plant to plant.
An exception is the powdery mildew fungus, whose spores actually won’t germinate in water.
Forster provides another reason to surface-irrigate your vegetables: The same splashing that spreads disease organisms also dirties the leaves of lettuce, spinach and other low-growing vegetables–unless gardeners have mulched with grass clippings or similar materials.
Are Trichogramma wasps worth buying? Will they work?
They may work. Then again, they may not. But to Ed Bechinski, University of Idaho extension integrated pest management specialist, it’s always a good idea to try ecologically friendly pest-control methods and decide for yourself.
Scientific research is "a little confused" about the effectiveness of Trichogramma wasps, Bechinski says. "It’s hard to interpret the reports and apply them to backyard situations." A key reason is that the wasps are only one-fiftieth of an inch long–barely visible to the naked eye–and many species are such "dead ringers" for each other that even entomologists can’t tell which one is which under the microscope.
Which species you release makes a big difference because a species adapted to one region of the U.S. won’t necessarily survive in another. Likewise, a species that searches out caterpillar eggs on shrubs won’t thrive in your low-lying vegetables: it won’t even reproduce there.
Unfortunately, no Idaho research data is available to tell Idahoans which species to use here, Bechinski says. Scientists do know that in the right environment and in the right habitat, Trichogramma wasps are very good at destroying the eggs of caterpillar pests: while they’re very discriminating about where they live, the wasps are fairly indiscriminate about which eggs they’ll parasitize. Indeed, they’ve been known to infest the eggs of 600 different species of insects. Some of those insect victims are no doubt beneficial, Bechinski says, but releasing Trichogramma wasps will be less disruptive to your garden’s ecosystem than applying even-less-specific pesticides.
Still not sure what to do? You may be one of the lucky Idahoans whose garden is already being patrolled by native Trichogramma wasps.
My brother and I are debating which type of barbecue is the bigger polluter: he says propane, I say charcoal. Who’s right?
You are, says Heather Cataldo, program coordinator for Idaho GEMStars. While both propane and charcoal emit carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, charcoal barbecues pose the greater threat to human health, she says.
That’s because charcoal barbecues release tiny particulates called PM10s that can lodge deeply in lungs; irritate eyes, noses and throats; increase the risk of bronchitis; make it more difficult to overcome pneumonia; and were strongly associated with lung cancer and heart disease in a 16-year Harvard University study.
These microscopic particles are too small to be filtered out by our nasal passages and upper respiratory systems. Cataldo says medical researchers consider them among the most harmful components of air pollution.
In addition, lighter fluid poured onto charcoal contains compounds that react with sunlight to create low-level ozone smog.
"If you’re deciding between charcoal and propane barbecues, propane is the better alternative," she says. "We should decrease our activities that emit PM10s."