April 1998 News Releases

Contents » April 1998

April 24, 1998

GOVERNOR'S MAY 19-20 WEED SUMMIT AIMS TO DRAFT NATION'S FIRST STATEWIDE STRATEGY AGAINST “SLOW-MOTION WILDFIRE'S"

By Marlene Fritz ,Communications Specialist
(208) 364-4010 in Boise

BOISE, Idaho--They flare like range fire, choke out wildlife habitat, bully native plants and rob Idahoans of hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

But unlike range fires, the first strikes of noxious weeds usually go unreported-- and, rather than eventually burning themselves out, weed problems intensify over time.

“Most Idahoans do not realize the economic threat and the very real danger that we in Idaho are in concerning the spread of noxious weeds,” says Gov. Phil Batt.

Rush skeletonwood, for example, dotted about 40 acres in 1963; today, it's roaring across 4 million.

On May 19-20 at the Governor's Idaho Weed Summit, Idahoans determined to win the war on weeds expect to develop the nation's first strategic plan for statewide weed control.

“It could become a prototype for the U.S.,” says Gary Lee, University of Idaho extension weed specialist at Parma. “Weeds are everybody's business, and everybody needs to be concerned.”

Representatives of state, federal and local agencies, Idaho universities, the Legislature, recreationists, environmentalists, tribes, agriculturists and private citizens will meet in Boise to hammer out a framework. On the agenda: developing cooperative action plans, forming coalitions, improving public awareness and education, identifying funding and personnel resources, and outlining needs for mapping, monitoring and research.

Glen Secrist, vegetation management bureau chief of the Idaho State Department of Agriculture, says Idahoans dazzled by the invading weeds' often striking flowers forget what they're no longer seeing because of them: the native plants the weeds have overrun or the wildlife they've driven out. “One fisherman told me he can spot purple loosestrife blind-folded by the silence wherever it grows,” Secrist says.

In Ada County, weed control director Brian Wilbur says novice ranchette-owners assume 5 acres of noxious weeds are “pheasant cover or pretty flowers” until they're told what they are. “A very high percentage of people go, `Oh, my goodness. I never knew.' And then they take care of them.”

Summit speakers include Jerry Asher of the Bureau of Land Management in Portland, John Randall of The Nature Conservancy in Davis, Calif., Steve Dewey of Utah State University, Roger Sheley of Montana State University, and Bob Callihan of the University of Idaho. They will discuss weeds as “wildfire in slow motion,” describe the impacts of noxious weeds on wildlife and wildlands, outline the importance of restoration in integrated weed management, and present the fire model as a template for organizing weed management efforts.

Summit organizers say they plan to assimilate participants' conclusions into a draft document by July 1 and a final strategic plan by Aug. 1. They hope to release the plan Aug. 19 at the annual meeting of the North American Weed Management Association in Idaho Falls.

The Governor's Idaho Weed Summit begins at 1 p.m. May 19 at the DoubleTree Riverside Hotel and concludes at noon May 20. A registration fee of $40 covers dinner and breakfast. For more information, call the Idaho Department of Agriculture at 332-8536 in Boise.

April 24, 1998

WINTER RAPESEED SHOWS PROMISE IN POTATO WEED, DISEASE CONTROL

By Marlene Fritz,Communications Specialist

ABERDEEN, Idaho—In the 21st century, potato growers digging into their bag of technical tools to control weeds and diseases may pull out a bag of winter rapeseed.

In University of Idaho trials at Aberdeen, winter rapeseed released so many naturally occurring, weed-inhibiting compounds into potato plots that it cut early-season hairy nightshade populations by 30 to 40 percent and green foxtail and redroot pigweed by half. The winter rapeseed had been sowed in mid-August and plowed under the week before potatoes were planted.

“The story is that you can thin out the weed populations with the winter rapeseed green manure but you can't depend on it alone to control weeds,” says weed scientist Charlotte Eberlein.

That's because the surviving weeds catch up quickly. By the end of the 1997 growing season, the biomass of hairy nightshade in the plot treated with winter rapeseed green manure was only 17 percent shy of the biomass of hairy nightshade in an untreated plot. For green foxtail, no differences remained at all.

But what provided excellent results was combining the winter rapeseed green manure with a low-rate, post-emergence herbicide treatment. Applying that reduced-rate mix to the “escaped” weeds while they were still small provided 98 percent weed control, Eberlein says—“just as good as a grower's standard treatment.”

However, because of the additional expense, Eberlein doubts growers would consider adopting the sustainable agriculture practice without additional benefits beyond weed control. So far, Eberlein's research points to three of them: “excellent” fall, winter and early spring erosion control and reduced incidence of verticillium wilt and rhizoctonia.

Once established, the winter rapeseed provided 93 to 100 percent ground cover throughout the winter, Eberlein says.

Jim Davis, University of Idaho plant disease specialist at Aberdeen, says the green manure cut stem infections of rhizoctonia by half in both 1996 and 1997 and significantly reduced verticillium wilt in 1997.

Brassica species--including mustards and rapeseeds--are rich in glucosinolates, which release compounds called isothiocyanates that are chemically related to the active ingredients in fumigants like Busan or Vapam. Indeed, some scientists now refer to glucosinolate-producing plants as “biofumigants.”

Unfortunately, the Brassicas also scavenge nitrogen so well from soils that they release bursts of it after they are plowed under in the spring. At Aberdeen, those bursts delayed potato tuber initiation in both 1996 and 1997, Eberlein says. While 1997's long growing season allowed the delayed tubers to catch up, that was not the case in 1996, when an early fall frost cut short their potential.

“There's a big nitrogen management issue that needs to be worked out,” Eberlein says. “If you apply too much fertilizer on top of the nitrogen being released by the degrading winter rape tissue, you can substantially delay tuber initiation. That can cost you in yields. But if you manage nitrogen properly, U.S. No. 1 yields are excellent.”

In cooperative work with Washington State University scientists, Eberlein also tested white and brown mustards in Mt. Vernon and Prosser, with promising results. But only the winter rapeseed survived the winter at Aberdeen.

Eberlein hopes to interest several eastern Idaho potato growers in initiating long-term, on-farm studies with winter rapeseed beginning this fall.

(For more information, contact Eberlein at 397-4181 in Aberdeen or 736-3600 in Twin Falls.)

April 24, 1998

THEY DON'T CALL THIS ONE A “WEB” SITE FOR NOTHING

By Marlene Fritz, Communications Specialist

BOISE, Idaho—If they're buggin' your pansies, your wheat, your tomatoes, your dairy cows or your newborn puppy, you can get a line on them on-line this season on the University of Idaho's electronic “Bug Stuff” newsletter.

Bob Stoltz, the university's extension entomologist in Twin Falls, keeps his web site hopping with witty details and not-for-the-faint-hearted factoids about whatever's nibbling on whatever-it-shouldn't-be.

Developed for southern Idaho homeowners and agriculturists, it's one interactive, illustrated guide that's positively guaranteed to make you itch with each “regularly irregular” edition—or, about once every two weeks.

Stoltz unveiled his March issue by first pondering why the Chinese didn't include an insect in their lunar calendar, then making hay with a complex of early-season alfalfa pests. He cheered homeowners with the news that the insects that had holed up inside their walls all winter were soon to be underfoot and garden-bound. “Remember that our old friend the boxelder bug makes a nasty red stain if you squash it in the house,” he warned.

By the April issue, Stoltz had m-o-o-ved on to horn flies and wood ticks on range cattle. For those “smug” gardeners who had promptly planted their cold-tolerant vegetables, he helpfully pointed out that clover mites and flea beetles were already lying in wait.

Ensnare yourself, if you dare at www.uidaho.edu/pses/bugnewsltr.htm. And if you have bug questions, the entomologist is in.

For more information, call Stoltz at (208) 736-3600 in Twin Falls.

April 22, 1998

UNIV. OF IDAHO VETERINARIAN IDENTIFIES CAUSES OF COSTLY TWIN BIRTHS ON U.S. DAIRIES

By Marlene Fritz ,Communications Specialist

CALDWELL, Idaho—U.S. dairy producers are seeing a steep rise in twin calves that's no bonus to the profitability of their herds.

Their concerns about increases in twinning--reported to be as high as five-fold since the early 1980s—prompted University of Idaho veterinarian Mark Kinsel to initiate a study into its causes.

The results: Kinsel found that antibiotics, reproductive hormones and high milk production are largely responsible for the boom in dual births.

“This study suggests that you can reduce twinning by altering management practices,” he says.

According to Kinsel, each set of twins costs the nation's dairy producers between $100 and $250. Twin births beget more calving problems, antibiotic treatment and hormone therapy for their mothers. They compromise a cow's future milk production and her future in the herd. If that's not enough, the heifer calves are often sterile.

“Generally speaking, dairy producers would prefer to have all single births,” says Ed Fiez, University of Idaho extension dairy specialist in Caldwell. “It's not like some other livestock, where you're trying to get as many offspring as you can.”

Kinsel analyzed 1983-1993 data from 260 dairy herds and 52,362 dairy lactations nationally. Altogether 2.44 percent of those lactations ended in a twin birth—1.4 percent in 1983 and 2.4 percent in 1993. The range of twinning on a herd basis was 0 to 9.6 percent.

Kinsel used a statistical analysis method called multivariate logistic regression to identify management factors related with twinning. By subtracting factors that had no effect and by accounting for factors with confounding effects, he was able to identify and quantify five specific causes.

Cows treated with antibiotics prior to conception were at 1.85 times the risk of delivering twins. Cows that received the reproductive hormones GnRH and prostaglandin F2 alpha in the absence of ovarian cysts were 1.79 and 1.64 times as likely to produce twins, respectively, while those with untreated ovarian cysts were 4.25 times as likely to twin.

Finally, Kinsel found that the risk of twinning increased slightly but significantly with peak milk production. Cows that delivered twins peaked at an average 6 pounds more milk production during the lactation in which they conceived than those that later delivered single calves. Indeed, Kinsel says higher peak milk production appears to be the “single largest contributor to the recent rise in twinning rate,” accounting for more than half that increase.

Scientists from the University of Minnesota, Monsanto, Inc., and the University of California-Davis contributed to the research. Bovine somatotropin or bST—a naturally occurring growth hormone synthesized by Monsanto--was not included in the study. Kinsel says “anecdotal evidence” in the dairy industry suggests that bST also contributes to twinning.

(NOTE: Kinsel can be reached at 454-8657 and Fiez at 459-6365 in Caldwell.)

April 16, 1998

FOUR NEW RUSSETS RELEASED FOR 1998

Marlene Fritz, Communications Specialist

ABERDEEN, Idaho—The Tri-State Potato Variety Development Program has released four new russet potatoes that will supply additional marketing options for Idaho potato growers in 1998 and beyond.

Umatilla, a late-maturing, high-yielding selection with medium russet skin and long tubers, is expected to be useful in both fresh and processing markets. With medium to high solids and good fry color, it resists early dying and most internal and external defects—including sugar ends and net necrosis. It also resists the tuber decay that can be associated with late blight infections. On the minus side, however, it can produce heart-shaped tubers under moisture stress in heavier soils.

Program director Steve Love of the University of Idaho's Aberdeen Research and Extension Center expects Umatilla to replace a “considerable amount” of the U.S. acreage now planted to Ranger. Its processing quality and yield are similar to Ranger's, but it does not share Ranger's propensity for blackspot bruise.

Umatilla outperforms Russet Burbank in yield and in percentage of No. 1 grade potatoes, Love says, but the new potato's shorter dormancy makes it no match for long-term storage.

Legend, a medium-yielding, late-maturing potato with an outstanding appearance and high proportion of No. 1's, is also headed for both freshpack and processing markets. According to Love, it has high solids, very good fry color and strong consumer appeal, but its promise is undermined by a “persistent and occasionally severe problem” with stem-end discoloration.

“We're telling growers to use it with caution,” says Love. “The stem-end problem is not in every lot, it doesn't occur every year, and for some growers it hasn't been a problem at all. But under other conditions it can be severe enough that a lot of potatoes become unusable.”

Because stem-end discoloration doesn't compromise storage quality until December, Love says growers would be wise to initially plant only small amounts of Legend and to carefully monitor the progress of the defect in storage--“until you know whether you're going to have consistent problems.”

A8495-1, another dual-purpose russet that is being proposed as Classic Russet, can fry acceptably even at storage temperatures as low as 40 degrees. It has excellent tuber shape and appearance, a high proportion of No. 1's, long dormancy, high solids and good fry color. Its only weaknesses are mediocre yields in some environments and a susceptibility to potato virus Y.

Love believes Classic Russet, a medium- to late-maturing potato, “will probably replace all of the Russet Norkotah that comes out of storage” in Idaho. “It has the attractive appearance of Russet Norkotah, better internal quality and maintains very good texture, even after an extended storage period,” he says. “For Idaho, it offers a distinctive advantage over Russet Norkotah because Russet Norkotah is a potato that comes out of storage with problems.”

A fourth new russet, A81473-2, provides the Treasure Valley a late-maturing variety that is “very well adapted” to hot growing conditions, free of stress-related problems, yields “extremely well,” and resists many of Idaho's most common field diseases, including verticillium wilt, early blight and black dot.

“It could change the dynamics of freshpack storage” in southwestern Idaho, Love says. Treasure Valley growers have largely abandoned the Russet Burbank for anything but processing, because it's proven so prone to stress-related malformities in long, hot seasons that only half the crop achieves No. 1 grade. Under the same conditions, 90 percent of A81473-2 scores No. 1, according to Love.

A81473-2 also offers processors medium to high solids and excellent fry color. It resists blackspot bruise, but its tubers can be undesirably short, it occasionally develops hollow heart, and it is susceptible to both shatter bruise and skinning.

For more information on the new russets, call Love at (208) 397-4181 at Aberdeen.

April 16, 1998

UI COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE ANNOUNCES ANNUAL AWARDS

Diana Armstrong, Editorial Associate

MOSCOW--Seven faculty, staff, and students of the College of Agriculture received significant awards at the college's annual Awards Banquet April 13 at Moscow's University Inn-Best Western. The two faculty and one staff person each received a plaque and a check for $1,000.

Recognized for the R.M. Wade Excellence in Teaching Award was Scott A. Minnich, associate professor of microbiology in the Department of Microbioloby, Molecular Biology and Biochemistry. Minnich, at UI since 1989, challenges his students to understand the material rather than “perform academic bulimia by binging and purging information for the test,” said students who nominated him. He incorporates stories of famous researchers in his lectures so that “you feel engaged in an intricate narrative instead of simply receiving facts.”

Enrollment in Minnich's general microbiology class has increased from fewer than 20 in 1991 to over 90 due to his reputation as a teacher, said Donald Robertson, associate director of research and extension. Acting head of the department, Gregory Bohach, credited Minnich with the recent jump in microbiology majors.

The Department of Animal and Veterinary Science claimed four awards: Carl W. Hunt garnered the Outstanding Advisor Award from a field of six nominees, and Ronald W. Lewis the Outstanding Staff Award from nine finalists. Two of the four outstanding students are also in AVS.

Hunt, associate professor of animal science, serves not only as an academic advisor but also as the faculty advisor of organizations such as the Student Idaho Cattle Association. At UI since 1985, Hunt received a regional outstanding teaching award in 1993 and the R.M. Wade award in 1990. Hunt considers his ability to work individually with students to be his strongest attribute. “When students see me working on their level in the research activities, they become more relaxed and more motivated. I have always tried to foster a family environment within the research program.”

Nominated for the Outstanding Staff award by the UI Dairy Club, Lewis is the feedmill supervisor, in charge of mixing daily rations for the dairy, beef, horse, and sheep herds at UI. At

UI for 13 years, Lewis also harvests forages, maintains farm machinery--and budgets, and trains and supervises student employees. Richard A. Battaglia, chair of the Department of Animal and Veterinary Science, said Lewis epitomizes the ideal of “productivity, quality of work, dependability, and good judgment.”

Four students were honored for their superior grades and achievements in extracurricular activities. Each received a plaque and check for $500. Six or seven outstanding students were nominated for each award.

College of Agriculture Outstanding Senior Award went to Maureen W. Olsen of Bonners Ferry, who will receive her B.S. degree in animal and veterinary science this May. An 11-year 4-H'er, Olsen is a charter member of the Student Idaho Cattle Association, former president of Agriculture Student Affairs Council, and an Ambassador for the College of Agriculture. Olsen is a “superstar” according to Hunt, outstanding in terms of drive, leadership, and generosity. She is the daughter of Merle and Kathy Olsen.

The Capital Press Outstanding Junior Award went to Trent Ball of Rupert, son of Jerry and Carma Ball. A food science major, Ball received the Capital Press Outstanding Freshman Award two years ago. Recipient of 12 scholarships, Ball is also active in sports and organizations such as Food Science Club and Ag Business Club. He was Development Chair of the Western Association of Agriculture Councils and has been an Agriculture Ambassador for three years.

Melanie A. Coonts from Boise received the College of Agriculture Outstanding Sophomore Award. Daughter of Beth and Paul Allan Coonts, she is an honors student majoring in molecular biology and biochemistry. Coonts plans to become a research scientist in plant genetics. Walter Hesford, her English professor, noted Coonts's “questioning intellect.” She is “gifted with the unusual ability to understand subjects in both the sciences and the arts and thus is one of those people who can truly make the most of a university education.”

Kathryn S. Hoffman, Capital Press Outstanding Freshman Award recipient, is majoring in both animal sciences and range resources. As a member of the Range Club, Hoffman recently attended the Society for Range Management's annual convention in Guadalajara, Mexico. From Mountain Home, and daughter of Ted and Rita Hoffman, her career goals include working in developing countries to establish sustainable grazing systems. Hoffman was a National Merit Scholarship Finalist and is a UI honors student and UI Top Twenty Scholar.

College of Agriculture departments and honorary societies also acknowledged outstanding scholars and students at the annual Awards Banquet.

Plant, Soil and Entomological Sciences--American Society of Agronomy Outstanding Senior, Kelly Wetherell, Boise.

Family and Consumer Sciences--Elsine Nielsen Award, Melynda Anderson, Pullman, Wash.; Phi Upsilon Omicron Outstanding Member, Jodi Putnam, Billings, Montana.

Microbiology, Molecular Biology and Biochemistry--Graduate Student Teaching Award, David Newcombe, Riverside, Calif.; Microbiology Outstanding Senior, Sara Craigmiles, New Market, Maryland; IMAGE Biotechnology Award, Karen Cloud, Hamilton, Montana.

Agricultural and Extension Education--R. M. Wade Foundation Scholarship, Michael Tesnohlidek, Fruitland; Donald and Ruth Benedict Scholarship, Roger Wells, Buhl, and Justin Mink, Cambridge; Rush-Crumarine Student Teaching Scholarship, Ted Heggie, Hammett.

Animal and Veterinary Science--Animal Science Outstanding Academic Senior, Maureen Olsen, Bonners Ferry; Pre-Veterinary Science Outstanding Student, Kerry Pride, Cameron, Montana.

Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology--Western Agricultural Economics Association Senior of the Year, Airon Shuler, Soda Springs; William E. Folz Scholarship, Cara Shuldberg, Hamer, and Toni Kemp, Lexington, Oregon.

Biological and Agricultural Engineering--American Society of Agricultural Engineers Student Honor Award, Christopher Campbell, Moscow.

Food Science and Toxicology--Outstanding Graduate Student, Gloria Murray, Moscow; Outstanding Junior, Trent Ball, Rupert.

Alpha Zeta--Alpha Zeta Outstanding Senior, Meribeth Lomkin, Platteville, Colo.; Book Scholarship Awards, Jill Quaade, Potlatch, and Jessica Bunch, Moscow.

Gamma Sigma Delta--Outstanding Graduate Student, Jonathon Hutchings, Moscow; Outstanding Research in Agriculture, Caroline Bohach, Moscow; Excellence in Teaching Agricultural Students, Karen Launchbaugh, Moscow.

Club of the Year--Collegiate FFA.

For more information, please contact Lori Curtis at 885-6446.

April 8, 1998

PROMISING NEW POTATO CLONE TOLERATES LATE BLIGHT AS WELL AS FUNGICIDE-TREATED SPUDS

By Marlene Fritz Communications Specialist

BOISE, Idaho—A new potato being developed by scientists in Idaho, Oregon and Washington naturally survives a late blight onslaught just as well as potatoes protected with a full season's regimen of fungicide sprays.

Numbered A90586-11, it is heading into its fourth year of production trials in Idaho and its third and fourth years of late blight trials in western Washington and Oregon this spring.

Potato breeders Dennis Corsini and Joe Pavek of the USDA Agricultural Research Service at Aberdeen say if the potato continues to perform acceptably in all of its tests, it could be available commercially in seven years. Should the Pacific Northwest potato industry decide to fast-track the new spud, seed could be in growers' hands in as little as four years.

A90586-11 falls short of perfection for freshpack because it lacks the heavily russeted skin of Idaho's famous russet potatoes. But so far in trials at the University of Idaho's Aberdeen Research and Extension Center, the nicely shaped spud has consistently outyielded both Russet Burbank and Ranger varieties by more than 20 percent and scored between the two in percentage of No. 1's.

It also equals Ranger and outperforms Russet Burbank in solids content, suggesting a possible future role for the wanna-be spud in the manufacture of Idaho french fries.

While potato breeders throughout the nation are working towards late-blight resistant potatoes for the freshpack industry, Pavek says “no one else has anything suitable for french-fry processing.”

A90586-11 is half Ranger and half a complex of European potatoes. A late blight-resistant Polish parent is apparently responsible for its outstanding showing in the Tri-State Potato Variety Development Program's late blight trials at Mt. Vernon, Wash., and Corvallis, Ore.

“You look at most of the material and it's absolutely dead,” says Pavek of an October 1996 visit to the Corvallis experimental fields. “The plants are flat to the ground. And here are a few five-hill plots that are just as green as they can be. That's a sight to see.”

The Polish parent is also resistant to potato viruses X, S, Y and leafroll, Corsini says. However, with its half-Ranger background, future tests could uncover susceptibility to blackspot bruise.

This year, the spud's production tests will be expanded to the University of Idaho's Kimberly Research and Extension Center as well as to other Tri-State plots in Oregon and Washington. In production trials, potatoes are protected against late blight and then compared for yield and other qualities. Only in the late blight trials west of the Cascades—where the disease occurs widely and predictably each year--are they actually “challenged” with late blight fungus.

Corsini and Pavek say A90586-11 has withstood exposure to a complex of up to seven races of late blight that occur in the Pacific Northwest. It appears to resist infection primarily through plant vigor. Fungal lesions grow more slowly on its leaves and stems, covering less than a fourth as much of the foliage as untreated Russet Burbank potatoes.

Another experimental potato, A84118-3, is substantially less susceptible to foliar late blight than Russet Burbank or Ranger and could be suited to both freshpack and processing. But its resistance falls far short of A90586-11's, potentially allowing growers to reduce but not eliminate fungicide applications.

Also this summer, Corsini and Pavek will be evaluating 3,000 seedlings at Aberdeen and in Toluca, Mexico--many of them carrying genes from wild parents. The products of two years of trials, the seedlings are being examined for resistance to late blight in Mexico and for other key characteristics at Aberdeen.

Not even the most highly resistant wild potatoes are totally resistant to the late blight fungus. All play host to the fungus to some extent. “Late blight always infects them; it just isn't able to destroy them,” says Corsini. “We get a very limited disease, and that's what we want—a very limited disease that we can very easily live with.”

(NOTE: Corsini and Pavek can be reached at 208/397-4181 at Aberdeen.)

April 8, 1998

SHELLEY THORPE JOINS UNIV. OF IDAHO EXTENSION FACULTY IN SOUTHEAST IDAHO

By Marlene Fritz Communications Specialist

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho—The University of Idaho College of Agriculture has appointed Shelley Thorpe to the position of extension educator for family and consumer sciences in Caribou, Oneida, Bear Lake and Franklin counties.

Thorpe, education and consumer relations director for the Oneida County Hospital since 1994, begins her new job on April 13. She will join two other University of Idaho extension family and consumer sciences educators who are serving the university's four-county southeastern Idaho cluster.

Thorpe earned her bachelor's degree in consumer economics education and her master's degree in health education, both from Idaho State University, in 1990 and 1994, respectively. From 1990 to 1994, she served as consumer educator for the Idaho Beef Council in eastern Idaho.

For the University of Idaho, Thorpe will develop and conduct educational programs in family relations and family living. Her primary office location will be in Soda Springs.

She replaces Darlene Moss, who resigned in October 1996.

April 8, 1998

EBERLEIN NAMED TO UNIV. OF IDAHO EXTENSION ADMNISTRATION POST

By Marlene Fritz Communications Specialist

TWIN FALLS, Idaho—The University of Idaho College of Agriculture has named Charlotte Eberlein its new District III extension director for southcentral Idaho.

Eberlein, who has been a research and extension weed scientist at the university's Aberdeen Research and Extension Center since 1989, will begin her new job on July 1.

Eberlein earned her bachelor's degree in agronomy at Washington State University, her master's degree in crop science at Oregon State University and her doctorate in agronomy at the University of Minnesota. She spent three years as an extension weed specialist at North Dakota State University and five years as a weed scientist at the University of Minnesota before joining the University of Idaho faculty.

She was recently elected a Fellow of the Weed Science Society of America.

Eberlein succeeds Harry Guenthner, who retired in May 1997.

April 8, 1998

IDAHO ROSE GARDENERS CONFRONT NEW DISEASE

By Marlene Fritz Communications Specialist

PARMA, Idaho—When the forsythia bloom, southern Idaho gardeners sharpen their rose pruners, pull on their elbow-length gloves and tackle the skin-shredding, armed-to-the-tip shrubs that will be forgiven everything come June.

This month, as those gardeners apply their pruning shears to the canes of hybrid tea, grandiflora, floribunda and miniature roses, they should be alert to the signs of a new rose disease.

Krishna Mohan, an extension plant pathologist at the University of Idaho's Parma Research and Extension Center, first identified the disease in 1996 in Boise, where it had damaged or killed hundreds of rose bushes. He has since confirmed what he calls "bacterial cane blight of roses" in Fruitland and Blackfoot, and he plans to describe the disease and its cause at a meeting of plant pathologists in Scotland this summer.

According to Mohan, gardeners can readily distinguish bacterial cane blight from other common rose problems like winterkill and cane borers. Dark, “blighted” areas usually form near buds—rather than at the exposed ends of canes—and spread in both directions. Dark purple to black, the lesions can involve entire canes.

Under microscopic examination, the moist, reddish- to dark-brown tissue beneath the lesions reveals profuse amounts of bacteria. Mohan has identified the causal agent as an undetermined strain of the plant disease-inducing bacterium Pseudomonas syringae.

He recommends that gardeners prune their affected canes at least four to six inches below the blighted sections, sterilize their pruning shears with a 10% bleach solution between cuts and between plants, and discard—not compost—the diseased cuttings.

For more information, contact Mohan at 208/722-670, Ext. 218, in Parma or call the University of Idaho Cooperative Extension System office in your county.

April 8, 1998

NARROWER BEET ROWS NEED ONLY SLIGHT CHANGES IN WEED CONTROL

TWIN FALLS, IDAHO—With an increasing number of Idaho sugar beet growers reducing their row spacings from 22 to 20 inches, questions are arising as to how to adapt their herbicide applications to their more densely planted fields.

Don Morishita, University of Idaho extension weed specialist in Twin Falls, says growers converting to 20-inch rows will need to apply 10 percent more herbicide per field because they will have 10 percent more rows. However, if their spray band width is unchanged, they'll be applying the same amount of chemical per load as they would have applied with 22-inch rows.

"As long as you are spraying at the same speed and spray volume, the only thing to adjust is the nozzle spacing to 20 inches," he says.

Morishita cites this example: If a grower is applying Progress herbicide at an equivalent broadcast rate of 2 pints per acre, the 7-inch band rate equals 10.2 ounces per acre on 22-inch rows. On 20-inch rows, the rate equals 11.2 ounces per acre. Consequently, across a 100-acre field, a broadcast application will require 25 gallons, a 7-inch band width on 22-inch rows will demand 8 gallons, and the same band width on 20-inch rows will take 8.8 gallons.

"As always, it's important to calibrate your sprayer and follow the herbicide label directions to get good weed control," Morishita says.

NOTE: Morishita can be reached at 208/736-3616 in Twin Falls.