FOR RELEASE THE WEEK OF SEPT. 16, 2001:
We would like to plant some trees to reduce our energy costs. How much of a difference can trees make and where should we place them for greatest effect?
A properly designed landscape can reduce your energy costs by 10 to 20 percent, says Jo Ann Robbins, University of Idaho Extension horticulture educator. Landscape plants can funnel cooling breezes and block heat rays in summer, and they can also capture the sun's heat and block chilling winds in winter.
Robbins recommends planting low-density, low-crowned trees to the east and northeast of your home. They'll filter the sun without blocking the light.
Along the south face of your house, plant tall, high-crowned trees that lose their leaves in winter. These trees will give you summer shade without obstructing summer breezes. In the winter, they'll let sunshine warm your home.
Manage your challenging western and northwestern exposures--which get blasted by late-afternoon summer sun--by installing short trees and shrubs. The trees--especially conifers--also serve as windbreaks in winter.
All around your home, plant shrubs, vines and ground covers to reduce reflection, draw heat away from buildings and provide summer shade and winter insulation. Strategically placed hedges can even channel summer breezes to outdoor living areas.
Finally, shade your pavements, rock gardens and dark surfaces in the summer with trees and shrubs that drop their leaves in the fall. During the winter, these surfaces can serve as welcome heat sinks.
My 14-year-old son is becoming a very serious runner. Does he need extra protein or special foods, pills or drinks?
He needs more water, more calories and just a little more protein, but he doesn't need sports drinks or any of the foods, pills, powders or liquids that purport to help athletes perform better, says Marnie Spencer, University of Idaho Extension educator. Those supposed performance-enhancing substances simply have not been proven to work.
"Water is the best liquid to drink during most types of exercise," Spencer says. Make sure your son gets plenty of it before, during and after workouts.
Spencer recommends adding extra protein very sparingly. "Most people in this country eat about twice as much protein as they need anyway. Even athletes don't need twice as much."
My doctor has recommended a low-fat diet, but the reduced-fat grocery items are putting a strain on my tight budget. Is it really necessary to buy these products to follow low-fat guidelines?
No, buying fat-modified foods isn't necessary for healthy, low-fat eating, says Martha Raidl, University of Idaho Extension nutrition education specialist. "You can eat regular food, but cut back on some of the higher fat items like meat," she says. Try limiting your meat portion size to about 3 ounces--the size of a deck of cards.
At the same time, increase your consumption of foods that normally contain little or no fat: fruits, vegetables and whole grains, such as whole-wheat bread and brown rice. Also, try switching to skim milk or skim-milk dairy products.
I've never used dormant oils and some of my trees and shrubs really got hammered by aphids and scale this year. Are there any new products that are environmentally friendly but still do a good job of control?
UI Extension entomologist Bob Stoltz is very enthusiastic about Bayer Advanced GardenTM Tree & Shrub Insect Control, whose active ingredient is a new chemical called imidicloprid. "I've had tremendous luck with it on my currants and honeysuckles," he says.
The product, intended strictly for ornamentals, controls aphids, scales, leafhoppers and white flies--among other leaf-sucking pests--and has much lower mammalian toxicity than previous generations of synthetic systemic insecticides, Stoltz says.
Apply it as a trunk drench this fall. It will move with water down into your shrubs' root system, then disperse through branches from there. By spring, your woody plants will be ready to fend off sucking insects for most, if not all, of the next season.
If insect problems recur in late season next year, supplement with foliar insecticides.
[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 University of Idaho Extension or imply approval to the exclusion of other suitable products or firms.]