Category: Uncategorized

A comment about home remedies from Catherine Daniels

In case you didn’t see yesterday’s comment that was added to Jeff Gillman’s January 6 post on home remedies, I’ve posted it here.  Dr. Catherine Daniels is WSU’s pesticide coordinator:

I’ve enjoyed reading the science-based information on your site. Keep up the good work. As regards home remedies, that is slippery slope, both legally and morally. Having a written definition of what you will or will not accept is helpful, especially if done in advance. Then you can be sure of being consistent and deliberate at least.… Continue reading this article “A comment about home remedies from Catherine Daniels”

Where to Draw The Line on Home Remedies

On Tuesday Holly posted an extremely interesting article about how Bounce could help control fungus gnats.  Then one of our frequent commenters (and all around great guy) Ray Eckhart pointed out that he has a problem with promulgating an off-label use of a product.  And that got me to thinking.  What household products is it OK for us to suggest that a consumer use for a non-labeled purpose, and what products shouldn’t we suggest?  This is a question that has haunted me for a long time, so with this post I want to give you my line of thinking – I’m not trying to tell you what’s right or wrong – just trying to let you know my thoughts on the topic.… Continue reading this article “Where to Draw The Line on Home Remedies”

New Year’s Prediction: Invasive Fire Continues to Burn

Happy New Year!  I hope everyone had restful and enjoyable holidays.  In addition to looking back over the year that just past, a common New Year’s tradition is to make predictions for the coming year.  Without going too far out on a limb, one of my predictions for the upcoming year is that the debate over invasive plants will continue to intensify, especially as it relates to Landscape Horticulture.  Along these lines, a couple of recent articles by Gregorio Gavier-Pizarro and his colleagues at the University of Wisconsin and the USDA Forest Service caught my eye.… Continue reading this article “New Year’s Prediction: Invasive Fire Continues to Burn”

One To Go!

Just one more little holiday to go over holiday week (A week during which faculty at UMN were put on furlough — in other words unpaid vacation), but for many of you I’m sure it’s a big one: New Years.  I’ve never been one for New Years resolutions.  It’s always just seemed kind of artificial to me.  Still, some people find real motivation with the passing of a new year.  What about you?  Any great New Year’s resolutions out there related to gardening?

Happy Holidays!

Relaxing at the in-laws in Ohio for the long Christmas weekend.  Hope all of our blog readers are having a enjoyable holidays.  In other words, I hope you didn’t have to fly anywhere over this Christmas weekend!

I’ve been catching up on some reading including recent articles on invasive alien plants that should be of interest to our readers.  I’ll share some thoughts when I get back on schedule next week.  In the meantime there’s still another football game to watch this evening and another plate of my mother-in-law’s cookies that need some attention.… Continue reading this article “Happy Holidays!”

Bees and Pesticides

I had the opportunity to read a disturbing post over at Garden Rant the other day about the insecticide clothianidin and how the EPA required its producer, Bayer, to run tests on the safety of using plants grown from seeds treated with clothianidin for bees.  Tests which were, apparently, never carried out appropriately.  This post sent me over to another site, AlterNet, which explained the problem in detail.  In a nutshell what happened is that the EPA asked Bayer to run some tests on how its new pesticide might affect bees.… Continue reading this article “Bees and Pesticides”

What fir?

OK, it’s the middle of December so I get to indulge my passion for Christmas trees.  One of the most interesting projects I’ve gotten to work on during my time at Michigan State is a study to look at alternative species of firs (Abies spp) for Christmas trees and well as for landscape conifers.  Firs are fascinating trees that are distributed throughout temperate regions of the northern hemisphere.  There are about 50 species, many of which are important for timber, landscaping or Christmas trees.… Continue reading this article “What fir?”

Balanced fertilizers are usually out of balance

I’m in the midst of grading papers for my nursery management class, and something that I’m running across is an incredible number of papers where the students are recommending balanced fertilizers.  Why are they doing that?  Or maybe an even better question is, what is a balanced fertilizer?  A balanced fertilizer is a fertilizer which has three numbers which are about the same, like a 10-10-10.  The problem with balanced fertilizers is that they are much higher in phosphorus than what most plants need — at least in relation to the amount of nitrogen and potassium which plants need. … Continue reading this article “Balanced fertilizers are usually out of balance”

The decline of Extension and the increased need for science-based information

I hate to be the downer this week, given Bert and Holly’s inspired posts, but reality continues to hit – or bite.  The budget crises in Washington state continues to gut higher education, and one of the hardest hit areas at WSU is Extension.  Land-grant institutions have a federal mandate to provide Extension services, and this sets WSU and similar universities apart from other state schools.  Unfortunately, Extension generates relatively little in terms of outside grants and contracts. … Continue reading this article “The decline of Extension and the increased need for science-based information”

Not your father’s extension service

We recently received a question on one of my old posts (Dec. 12, 2009) from a blog reader in Iran (yes, Iran) regarding agricultural extension and asking what’s new in how we disseminate science-based information.  There’s no doubt that things have evolved in agricultrual extension over the years.  There’s an old joke:  Guy walks into a county extension office and the agent is sitting behind his desk, crying.  The visitor asks, “What’s the matter?”   Agent replies, “My farmer died.”  … Continue reading this article “Not your father’s extension service”