Just a short post today as I am participating in an Extension planning meeting for most of the day. One up-side to the meeting is we are meeting and having lunch at Brody Dining hall here at MSU. If you’re around my age and attended college in the 80’s, the thought of eating at a dormitory dining hall might elicit memories of a hair-netted cafeteria lady glopping amorphous slop on your tray next to the mystery meat of the day. … Continue reading this article “Closing the loop”
Author: Bert Cregg
Does fertilization increase insect herbivores?
Always fun when you find a research paper that confirms what you’ve suspected all along. I ran across a paper last week in the Annals of Applied Biology entitled ‘Fertilisers and insect herbivores: a meta-analysis’ (Butler et al. 2012. Ann Appl Biol 161: 223–233). I’m interested in the topic because in recent years a dogma has emerged that if you fertilize a landscape tree it will be immediately devoured by insects. In this study the authors conducted a meta-analysis (basically a compilation of studies on a given topic and then combining and analyzing the aggregated results) and looked at dozens of studies of the response of insect herbivores to fertilization to answer the question, does fertilization increase insect damage? … Continue reading this article “Does fertilization increase insect herbivores?”
Why oh Why? Christmas tree edition
Hope everyone has had a chance to digest their Thanksgiving meal and is spending a productive day at work shopping on-line. My daughter and I enjoyed one of our Holiday traditions this weekend and brought home a Christmas tree from a local choose-and-cut farm. This was followed by another tradition at our house known as the “Annual cursing of the Christmas lights.” Seems like no matter how careful I am when I put away the lights when we take down the tree, they are always a mangled mess the next year.… Continue reading this article “Why oh Why? Christmas tree edition”
What would YOU do?
Once in a while we end up flicking around the dial on Friday evenings and land on a show called “What would you do?” It’s a hidden camera-type set up where viewers get to see the reaction of everyday folks faced with awkward or contentious situations like an overbearing customer berating a waitress over a minor mistake in their bill. The scenarios are played out by actors but the people responding are not. Personally I find the premise of the show slightly annoying because it smacks of entrapment but it seems to lure in the rest of my family.… Continue reading this article “What would YOU do?”
Finding agreeable things not sought for
As a graduate student at the University of Georgia many years ago I took a course in research methods. One of the discussions that stuck in my mind all these years centered on the word ‘Serendipity’. The classic definition of the word is “the faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for.” As scientists we rely heavily on the scientific method as a systematic method of inquiry to make new discoveries. But we also need to need to keep our eyes and minds open to serendipitous discoveries along the way as well. … Continue reading this article “Finding agreeable things not sought for”
A different kind of storm chaser
As an Extensional Specialist working on urban and community forestry issues, I am frequently asked to respond to questions about tree damage after storms. One standard bit of advice I give is to be wary of ‘door knockers’ or ‘storm chasers’; individuals that descend like locusts upon storm-ravaged areas with pick-up trucks and chainsaws offering to clean up storm damage. Sometimes these are just honest folks trying make a buck but there are also less scrupulous folks in the mix that are clearly exploiting the misfortune of others. … Continue reading this article “A different kind of storm chaser”
Superstorm Sandy aftermath: A modest proposal
Initial estimates from insurers indicate that Superstorm Sandy may be the second costliest storm in US history. A large portion of the damage attributable to Sandy and several of the deaths associated with the storm were due to falling trees. In many cases the winds were severe enough to topple healthy trees, but I’m sure many GP blog readers share my frustration in looking at storm-related tree damage photos and seeing obvious defects that a professional arborist would have readily spotted.… Continue reading this article “Superstorm Sandy aftermath: A modest proposal”
It’s the bomb!
Between Hurricane Sandy and the inglorious end of the Tigers’ season, the news today has been pretty depressing here. So I figured I’d stay with something light today and talk about a bombing incident that occurred on campus last Friday. In case you’re wondering how a bombing on a major university campus can be considered a light event, I need to point out that this was a Yarn Bombing incident. Yarn Bombing (also referred to as Yarnstorming or guerrilla knitting) is type of street art – in this case garden art – where trees and other objects are covered with colorful yarn.… Continue reading this article “It’s the bomb!”
A guest blogger (sort of)
One of the best things about my job is I get to work around bright, enthusiastic young people everyday. And not just students here at MSU. Through conferences, meetings and other contacts I get to interact with students at other universities as well. Over the last couple of years I have had a chance to sit in on a couple talks by Alison Stoven O’Connor, who is an Extension Agent and Ph.D. student under the direction of Jim Klett and Tony Koski in Horticulture and Landscape Archetiecture at Colorado State University (and you thought you were busy!). … Continue reading this article “A guest blogger (sort of)”
SoMeDedTrees update
Things have settled down briefly here and I have had a chance to summarize some of the data from the container tree transplanting experiment we installed earlier this year. For those that aren’t familiar we installed two tests this summer using 96 ‘Bloodgood’ plane trees grown in 25 gallon containers that were leftover when we completed an earlier trial in our Pot-in-Pot nursery. I decided to use this as an opportunity to look at some tree transplanting recommendations. … Continue reading this article “SoMeDedTrees update”