FOR RELEASE THE WEEK OF AUG. 23, 1999:
Why do my evergreens drop so many brown needles each fall? Is it insects or disease, or does this just occur normally?
If the needle drop occurs throughout the tree–and throughout your neighborhood and town, for that matter–then it’s absolutely normal, says Yvonne Carree, University of Idaho extension associate in forestry. "Evergreens don’t drop their needles all at once like deciduous trees," she says, "but they all drop foliage at some time. After they produce new leaves, they shed their oldest ones."
Pines hold three years of needles and drop their third-year needles every fall beginning around mid-September. "It’s very obvious and sometimes very dramatic," Carree says. Arborvitae and junipers shed their oldest branchlets in the autumn, while the foliage of spruces and firs thins more sporadically and over a longer period of time.
Evergreen needle drop tends to be magnified when trees were especially drought-stressed during the summer, Carree says. "It can look like your tree is going out fast, but all of the trees in your area will look like that. With an insect or disease problem, you see a tree here or a tree there or only part of the tree will be affected."
No matter what we do, our morning glory weeds come back every year. Any advice?
The misnamed morning glory–only a distant relative of the annual flowering vine–is one tough noxious weed to control. "You can’t get rid of it in one year, even with chemicals," says Don Morishita, University of Idaho extension weed specialist. "People will go in with herbicides expecting that they can do it with a single chemical application, but it requires a 3- to 4-year program and follow-up beyond that."
The reason: the seed of what’s accurately called field bindweed can survive in soil for more than 50 years and the extensive root system can send up shoots from a depth of 2 feet.
The best time to spray field bindweed is in early fall, when night-time temperatures drop to the mid- to low-30s but before a killing frost. Make sure the weed is well-watered and healthy before taking deadly aim: the better it’s growing, the more effectively the herbicide will move through it.
Persistent nonchemical methods–repeatedly cutting, hoeing or pulling the weed out–also work, "but it requires a lot of energy to do that," Morishita says. "Diligence is probably the key word there." Beware: cutting the roots into small pieces can multiply your troubles with morning glory because each segment can generate a new weed.
When we eat outside, the yellowjackets keep fighting us for our hamburgers. Where are they coming from and what should we do about them?
Actually, they’re probably coming from your lawn or from under your shrubs, says Bob Stoltz, University of Idaho extension entomologist. Yellowjackets build their nests underground, leaving a hole about an inch in diameter. "You can easily be mowing the lawn or working in your flowerbeds and accidentally walk on top of them," he says. "That stirs them up and gets you stung."
Yellowjackets pollinate our flowers and destroy plant-chewing caterpillars. "If the colony isn’t bothering you, there’s no reason to kill them out," says Stoltz. "But if they’re getting aggressive or if you find a colony where children are playing, get rid of them."
Locate the nest holes in your lawn or flower beds by watching the yellowjackets carefully. Put Sevin dust in the entrance at night. "They’ll pick up the dust as they come and go and it will take down the brood," Stoltz says. Diatomaceous earth might also do the same thing.
"Usually, yellowjackets get pestiferous in the fall when the workers run out of food," he says. The workers bring food to the larvae, which regurgitate it back to them. With the number of larvae ebbing as the season progresses, the workers fall short of eats and go out looking. That’s when you find them in your sodas and under your sandwiches.
We recently married and hope to buy a home in a few years. Some of our friends have been turned down for mortgages, and we want to make sure our credit record is solid. What should we do–and not do?
A growing number of lenders rely on computerized credit information that produces a "credit score" for each applicant, says Beverly Healy, University of Idaho extension educator. High scorers get the best deals and the lowest interest rates. To make sure your score is among them, pay your bills with precision timing, build a pattern of stability in residency and employment, and pay off whatever "excess" debt you possibly can, including school loans, car loans and personal loans.
Many people mistakenly believe that the more credit cards they have, the more credit-worthy they’ll look to the lender. The opposite is true, says Healy. "Don’t apply for credit you don’t need," she says. "Even if you pay your bills on time, credit-scoring software could downgrade you if you have too many accounts with unpaid balances"–or simply too many cards.
Credit reports total up the credit limits of each of your accounts. "Numerous accounts with high limits–like the six credit cards you signed for but rarely use–could put up a red flag to a lender," Healy says. "The lender might worry that if you charged up the limit on these cards, you would default on repayment." Even a pattern of applying for numerous credit cards can make lenders nervous.
"You may want to cancel any unused credit cards or lines of credit," she says. If you decide to do this, create a paper trail by asking the issuers–in writing–to send you letters on their official stationery confirming that the account was closed at your request.
To learn more about managing credit, call your local Cooperative Extension office for "Money 2000" educational programs in your area or click on the University of Idaho’s "Money 2000" web site, www.uidaho.edu/fcs/money2000.