FOR RELEASE THE WEEK OF AUG. 27, 2000:
I purchased a new home a few years ago and was left with lots of old stumps. Is there something I can put on them that will make them rot faster? We have animals and children, so I’d like something that is safe, if possible. Love Barkhurst, Mechanic Falls, Maine
According to Yvonne Carree Barkley, University of Idaho extension forestry associate, the chemical products sold to accelerate decomposition still take a long while to work—even with the most diligent of applications.
The quickest way to remove stumps in an urban setting is to hire someone with a stump grinder, she says. "In one day, they’ll grind all of your stumps into piles of sawdust. They’ll grind them to well below the soil line, so you don’t have to worry about bumps in your new lawn or garden."
If you live in a rural setting where there are no restrictions on open burning, and if your stumps will fit inside a 55-gallon drum, you can make a "stump stove" and burn off the stumps one by one. Cut the ends off the drum, set it over each stump and light a slow fire on the stump’s cut end. Within several days or weeks, each stump and some of its roots will have burned down below the soil line, Barkley says.
"You’ll have to make sure the fire doesn’t go out—and also take precautions against setting a wildfire."
Is there any truth to the saying that "an apple a day keeps the doctor away?"
Actually, a more accurate saying may be that "an apple a day keeps the cancer away," according to Martha Raidl, University of Idaho extension nutrition education specialist.
Researchers at Cornell University looked at the anti-cancer activity in the skin and flesh of red apples and found that just 100 grams of fresh apple with skins had the anti-cancer properties of 1,500 milligrams of vitamin C. Furthermore, laboratory tests showed that when extracts from the apple skins were added to human colon and liver cancer cells, proliferation of these cancer cells decreased by 43 percent and 57 percent, respectively.
I’m considering planting some yews this fall, but I’ve heard that their berries are poisonous. How poisonous are they? Are they a menace to kids or pets?
Because they contain substances called taxine A and taxine B, the bark, leaves, twigs and seeds of yews are indeed toxic, says Patricia Talcott, University of Idaho veterinary toxicologist. The attractive, scarlet red berries themselves are not—unless animals or people actually chew on the seeds inside.
Taxine’s major effect is on the heart: it can cause acute cardiac failure. In humans, signs occur anywhere between 15 minutes and 4 hours after consumption of a toxic dose. They include dizziness, dry mouth and dilated pupils followed by abdominal cramping, salivating and vomiting. A rash may also appear, along with facial pallor and blue lips. Patients may even go into a coma or—if they’ve chewed needles—suffer allergic, anaphylactic-like reactions.
Two tablespoons of plant material have been shown to be fatal to dogs and chickens. "I don’t know how many seeds are enough to kill a small child," Talcott says, "but conceivably not too many."
Still, the scientific literature reports very few fatal poisonings of children. One dog suffered seizures after eating needles while lying under a shrub; he recovered.
"The biggest problem we see is when yews are pulled up and discarded into the back pasture or onto the mulch or brush pile," she says. Although the plants are toxic both fresh and dried, livestock readily graze them. Talcott says she’s "seen a lot of confirmed cases of yew poisoning in cattle and horses, but never in pets."
[READERS: Do you have a question about your home, yard or garden? Send it to HomeWise, University of Idaho Ag Communications, Moscow, ID 83844-2332 or e-mail it to homewise@uidaho.edu. Mention of proprietary products or firms does not constitute endorsement by the University of Idaho Cooperative Extension System or imply approval to the exclusion of other suitable products or firms.]