FOR RELEASE THE WEEK OF DEC. 13, 1999:
How long can I store bottled water that comes in one-gallon jugs?
Water from any intact, microbiologically safe source – for example, municipal water supplies or commercially bottled water – can be safely stored indefinitely, says Sandy McCurdy, University of Idaho extension food safety specialist.
However, she notes, the flavor of that water may deteriorate over time, so you may want to rotate stored water, regularly replacing older supplies with fresher ones.
We found several inch-long black beetles with long antennae running around our house. Did we bring them in with the firewood?
Excellent guess, says Bob Stoltz, University of Idaho extension entomologist. They’re pine sawyers – long-horned, wood-boring beetles that emerge from firewood as it warms to room temperature. To confirm your suspicions, check your firewood for sawdust, quarter-inch-diameter holes and inch-or-longer white, legless grubs shaped like fingers.
"If you’d left the grubs outside, they would have finished their life cycle next spring. But when you brought them inside in the wood, they pupated and emerged as adults in your house," he says.
According to Stoltz, the types of pine sawyers found in Idaho don’t attack your house or furniture, but that’s no reason to roll out the welcome mat. Split your wood outside and don’t leave it in your house or garage more than a day or two before you burn it.
Stoltz says he’s collected 20 pine sawyer grubs from one foot-long round of wood that showed no external sign of beetles. "You can’t necessarily tell if the wood is infested until you split it," he says.
What should you do with the grubs? "Toss them to the dogs: they eat ‘em and think they’re great."
I understand that someone down the street from us is growing kiwis! Can we really grow kiwis in Idaho?
Chinese kiwis, no. The smaller-fruited Siberian kiwis – actually called Siberian gooseberries – yes. According to Jo Ann Robbins, University of Idaho extension educator, the Chinese kiwi that you typically find in the supermarket suffers frost damage at a wimpy 15 degrees Fahrenheit. But Siberian varieties of Actinidia arguta – among them Ananasnaja, Issai and Meader – are hardy to minus 25 or 30 degrees Fahrenheit.
Grown on sturdy trellises, Siberian gooseberries take three or four years to bear fruit and seven or eight years to reach full production. But, in well-drained, evenly moist soil and a sunny location free from wind, they can live an impressive 50 or 60 years.
They are not, by the way, related to common garden gooseberries.
We just bought an older home whose evergreen shrubbery looks less than respectable. The arborvitae have a lot of dead branches and the backs of the junipers are almost entirely bare. Can we successfully renovate them, or should we tear them out?
Danny Barney, University of Idaho extension horticulturist, says he has returned one overgrown juniper and one arborvitae to respectability, "but it took several years and they looked terrible for awhile."
"With old arborvitae or juniper, you normally have better and faster results by removing the old bushes and replacing them with young, vigorous stock," he says.
But, if you’re determined to try to keep the old bushes, start by removing all dead wood during late winter or early spring when the plants are dormant. At the same time, cut each long, live branch back to a junction, retaining some green foliage and being careful not to leave stubs.
"The idea is to re-establish a dense, compact shape," says Barney. "Judgment is required here. Cut back too hard and the plant may die. Leave branches too long and you’re left with a scraggly specimen."