- [Narrator] Montana Ag
Live is made possible by
The Montana Department
of Agriculture.
The MSU Extension Service.
The MSU Ag Experiment
Stations of the
College of Agriculture.
The Montana Wheat
and Barley Committee.
The Montana Bankers Association.
Cashman Nursery and Landscaping.
And the Gallatin Gardeners Club.
(cow mooing)
(country music)
♪ If your herbicides
and fungicides
♪ And pesticides are old
♪ The veggies you are growing
♪ In your garden start to mold
♪ If the ants are attacking
♪ And you're having a hard time
♪ Call Montana Ag Live
♪ Knapweed in the ditch
♪ And the old bull's got an itch
♪ Ticks upon my sheep
♪ And the wool is really cheap
♪ The gophers in the pasture
♪ Are even worse than last year
♪ Montana Ag Live
where are you ♪
(country music)
- Good evening.
Welcome to Montana Ag Live
originating tonight
from the studios of KUSM
on the campus of Montana
State University.
And before I go any
farther along tonight
I'd like to wish everybody
out there a Happy Mother's Day
especially all you mothers.
I can't let that pass,
or I'd be in big trouble.
Okay, with that I'm
going to go ahead
and introduce the panel.
You know the routine.
If you have questions, pertinent
to the panel this evening
please phone them in.
The phone number will be
on the screen and the more
questions you ask, the
better off we are in here.
I'm going to start the
introduction tonight
with an old friend.
On the far left,
Hayden Ferguson.
Hayden has moderated
this program for years
lots of years, actually.
And he is here tonight
as a soil scientist.
So if you have fertilizer
questions, soil questions,
potting questions
for your garden pots
tonight would be a good
night to ask those questions
because Hayden can
definitely answer.
Our special guest tonight
is Jeff Littlefield.
Jeff is a biocontrol expert,
and has one of the best
biocontrol programs for weeds
going in the United States.
So Jeff, we're happy
to have you here.
Barry Jacobsen would
be sitting next to him.
Barry is a plant pathologist,
he's also associative dean
at the College of Agriculture.
But he's here as a plant
pathologist this evening.
Y'all recognize Laurie.
She always has a great smile
on her face, Laurie Kerzicnik.
Love you have you,
she's our entomologist.
And she'll be happy to
answer any entomology
or bug questions this evening.
The phone operators,
who will be taking your
calls this evening.
From the left is Barbara Shaw.
And in the middle is Judge
Bruce Lobel back again
as a phone operator, thanks
for being here judge.
And Sheryl Moregoff.
So with that, let's start
off with asking Jeff
to tell us a little
bit about what you do
in Montana State University.
- Well Jack, I think I'm
a Jack of all trades.
(laughing)
You know I do
a little of everything.
I the quarantine lab, I
guess the payment laboratory
for biocontrol.
Very kind of a specialized
containment lab
that's probably only maybe
30 such labs in across
the United States.
And, we work primarily with
biological control with weeds.
But sometimes we do
bring in plant pests
to work on, as well.
So my function is to
maintain the facility
then for testing
biocontrol agents we see
what they feed on,
how specific they are,
what sort of impact they have.
Once we have a suitable
agent we run them through
the regulatory process then we
bring them in to quarantine,
bump up the numbers for field
release, redistribute them
across the state.
Then do research to see
how effective they are.
So kind of a little of
entomology, a little botany,
a little bit of plant
pathology at times.
- And over the past
15, 20, 30 years
that I've been around here,
Hayden's been around here.
Barry you're a youngster,
you might have been here 15.
We've seen a big
improvement in the amount
of biocontrol agents
that we have available
to control weeds,
is that correct?
- Yes, I think that
when I first got here
leafy spurge and spotted
knapweed were the big programs.
There was kind of a
lag time there where we
started to bring in new insects.
And now we're starting
to put out agents for
hawkweed,
tote flags, Russian knapweed.
Then we have agents
in the pipeline.
(crosstalk)
- I'd like to ask
you a question.
- Okay.
- 100 or so years ago
I interviewed at a
place called Deep Creek.
(laughs)
- [Jeff] Yes.
- In Maryland.
Which was an army
research center
dealing with issues of
using biocontrol of
good plants
to defeat some
bad group of people.
In theory.
- Yep.
- Do you interact with them?
And has any of that kind
of information transferred
into the kind of things you do?
- Yes well they're not
doing any germ warfare now.
(laughing)
But there is a specialized
laboratory for plant pathology.
And they have been working
on a number of plant
pathogens for weed control.
And over the last couple
years, they've actually
partitioned several
agents for release.
They have one agent
for yellowstar thistle.
Common (mumbling).
And Russian thistle.
- [Jack] Okay.
- So.
- Appreciate the
answer, thank you.
Hayden, from Belt,
this came in last week.
Is it important to fertilize
a lawn in the spring?
I don't want to.
(crosstalk)
- Now that's a personal
question because
if I were to fertilize my
lawn like two weeks ago
I couldn't keep my mowing
machine sharp enough to do it.
So what I do is wait
until things cool off
in terms of rainfall and growth
and then I fertilize.
Now, is that, do I have
a totally green lawn
early in the spring?
No.
(laughs)
Do I care?
(laughs)
My mow machine works better.
(laughing)
- [Jack] That's a
good point Hayden.
If you fertilize too
early you could pasture
with a lot of sheep
and never keep up.
(laughs)
Okay, thank you.
Barry, from Cows Bell, this
person called in last week.
It's a little out of your
area of expertise but you
could probably answer this.
This person is concerned
about the anticoagulant
properties of
yellow sweet clover.
If it's used as a cover crop.
Is this a real concern
for a beef producer
if they pasture that cover crop?
- Well they produce a
compound called (mumbling).
And when molds start
to attack that hay
it's only the moldy sweet
clover hay that's a problem.
It forms an anticoagulant
compound in there, (mumbling).
And it's you'll only see
it as a problem if you
feed it long-term more than
seven to 10 days in a row.
And that's exclusive feed.
So is the dose that
makes the poison.
- Exactly.
- [Barry] And there are
varieties of sweet clover
that don't produce this
compound for very high levels.
One of them is polar.
So I would say it's not going
to be a serious problem.
Avoid feeding moldy
sweet clover in hay.
- [Jack] Exactly.
- That's all you have
to worry about.
- Thank you.
- Laurie, from Bowsman.
This came in again last week.
This person has about a dozen
ant hills, many of which
are burrowing their way
into the irrigation ditch.
On his property.
Is there a non-toxic
control measure for ants?
- Well I mean I think a
lot of people will turn
to boric acid to treat ants.
Or I think one of the least
toxic methods you could use is
(mumbling) Earth.
And it's a dust formulation,
it's very affordable.
And especially if you know
where the ant hills are
that's usually the
challenge with ants.
You could put the
(mumbling) Earth on
and it will end up
smothering the ants
and won't be as toxic as
some of the other methods
that are available.
- One of our previous
entomologists here
recommended feeding them yeast.
- [Laurie] Oh.
- Because when the yeast
expands, the ants blow up.
(laughs)
Now I don't know
if that's actually.
- [Laurie] That sounds
like a fun thing to test out.
(laughing)
- [Jack] Well I just thought
I'd bring it up because
that was mentioned years ago.
Okay.
- [Hayden] Sweet clover
was used utilized
as a big time hay crop
that fed the dairy cows
and that was their
exclusive food.
- [Barry] Yeah.
They died right and left.
- [Barry] Yeah
- But it's not
an issue today.
- [Barry] No.
It's not an issue today.
- [Jack] Okay,
Jeff, from Bowsman.
This person is thinking of
starting a milk weed garden
for monarch butterflies.
We all know that monarchs are
kind of in a decline phase.
Any suggestions for
this individual?
- Well maybe Laurie
can help me out.
First of all, I'm not sure if
have you ever seen any
monarchs in Bowsman?
- I hardly ever get
any butterfly samples.
But I get questions about them.
So I'm not sure what
their population is
and how much milk weed
we have around the state.
- [Jeff] There's quite
a bit of milk weed
over in the Billings area.
Probably a little
bit around Bowsman
probably not a whole lot.
For planting it, I would suggest
planting native milk weed rather
than more tropical things.
And providing some other
plants for nectar sources.
I really have some questions
whether you will attract
any monarch butterflies
to the Bowsman area.
I haven't seen any
in and I'm not sure
the last one I saw
in Montana at all.
- [Barry] We're not really
in a major migration routes.
- No, we're kind of
at the edge of the
probably what little
there is for migration.
So if you're interested
in butterflies I would
probably go with a
more diverse planting.
- [Barry] Yes.
- Of flowers
or even some other things
to attract native bees.
- [Jack] Okay, Barry.
This is an interesting
question and I've read
quite a little bit about this.
It's from Great Falls.
And he's heard that planting
intentions indicate that
we're going to have over
200,000 acres of chickpeas.
Is that a concern to you?
- Yeah, the two reasons.
A lot of our field crops
we really don't
have any diseases
that we absolutely have
to use fungicides for.
Sometimes we have to but
in the case of chickpeas,
especially the large seeded
or (mumbling) types, there's
a disease called Ascochyta.
And one of the key
controls for this
is disease free seed.
And there's no way in
the world we had enough
disease free seed to
plant 200,00 acres.
So we're going to plant
some diseased stuff.
And we have a lot of new growers
and they don't realize
that you've got to get out
and scout for this.
And you have to use fungicides
for control of this.
Now the small seeded
chickpeas or (mumbling)
are less susceptible
although it can still
be a serious disease.
And some of the newer varieties
do have some resistance.
But I foresee some
real wrecks Jack.
- I've seen those in the past.
So, you nailed it.
You need to really watch
that crop day in and day out.
And watch the fungicides,
a lot of the fungicides
we used to use are now.
- [Barry] Well any of the
Headline of that quadrants
they don't work anymore.
Right now I talked
to Mary Burrows
Headline is not effective, but
Preaxor is still effective.
Which has got Headline's
component Bravo.
But this is a difficult
disease to control.
So if you start seeing little
tan spots on the leaves
and you're serious about
what you've got invested
and you've got a high seed cost.
- [Jack] Yo do.
- You really need
to think about a
fungicide program.
- Potential for
high profitability.
But it's a management
issue with (mumbling)
- [Barry] Clearly.
- I assume my knowledge about
growing those things
is infinitely small.
Are they related to legumes?
- [Barry] Yes.
- They are a legume?
- [Barry] Yeah.
- The legume for run of
the galloot is valley peas.
- [Barry] Yeah.
- With diseases.
- [Barry] Yeah.
- Does that disease transfer
to other?
- Not to the chickpeas.
But we've gone in
this state from
probably Jack when you
retired we had maybe
70,000 acres of peas,
something like that?
Last year we were over
600, 700,000 acres.
With any of these pulse
crops, peas, lentils,
chickpeas, beans, if you
don't practice long rotations
three or four years, the
root diseases are gonna
drive you out of business.
That's just the fact of life.
- [Jack] You're
absolutely right.
Jeff, from Innsdale,
for biological control
of orange hawkweed, what
type of habitat is needed?
And what are the best
practices to benefit
those biological controls?
- We've been putting
out a gall wire
for orange hawkweed.
And unfortunately we
haven't established it
on orange hawkweed.
Even though it's a laboratory
host it doesn't seem
to be a good field host.
Up in Canada they
have the same agent
established on a closely
related species
whiplash hawkweed
it seems to be a
little better host.
They have recovered
it on orange hawkweed
but at very low levels.
So I'm not sure
right now it doesn't
look too promising.
- [Jack] Okay.
- However we do
have a new agent that
we hope to release
probably next year,
or the following year
that attacks a variety
of invasive hawkweeds.
- Appreciate it.
Laurie, from Billings.
They have some young
plains cottonwoods
with thousands of
tiny black bugs
about the size of ants.
What do you think they are,
and are they hurting the trees?
- And you can guess at that one.
- Yeah, those are
probably aphids.
They could either be
aphids without wings
or aphids with wings.
And that would probably
be the most likely thing
that would be on
the trees right now.
And most aphids are
controlled by natural enemies.
And especially with all
these rains coming in
I think that we could
maybe it will take
care of a lot of the
aphid populations
we've just seen them recently.
I try to steer people
away from doing a lot of
treatments for
aphids because if you
take care of the natural enemies
you might just have a
secondary pest infestation.
- All right, thank you.
Hayden, this person from
Havern wants to know
what causes dark green spots
in their winter wheat fields?
- Well if you drive around
this part of the world
especially in northern Idaho
you look at a winter wheat
field and there will be
a whole series of
spots about this big
out in that field
that are dark green.
Now what you know about that
is the cows stop there.
(laughing)
- I would have
guessed that Hayden.
(laughing)
- And you don't need
the soil to disc
if you have that kind
of thing on your farm.
You need some
nitrogen management.
- [Jack] Exactly.
From Bowsman.
Interesting, if you
live around Bowsman
you know we are inundated
with plenty of dandelions.
And this person
would like to know
is there any biocontrol
for dandelions?
- As a matter of fact there is.
- Oh, I didn't know that.
- There's a very good
I think it's called Setorra
or something like that.
It's a (mumbling) minor
which will not
produce Sclerotia.
But they put it on and
the Sclerotinia attacks
dandelions and any broad leaf.
And it works very very well
in over winter, go
to any of our crops.
And that's a very very
nice biological control
Disease-wise there might
be an insect or two.
- There's no insects from here.
Is that a commercial product?
- Yes, yes.
- [Laurie] Deer are too.
I've watched all the
deer eat all the heads
off my dandelions.
Why do I even have
to treat them?
(laughing)
- They do other things Laurie.
- Yeah.
(laughing)
- This I think
it's white mold
control for dandelions.
I'm sure if somebody Googles it
they can find the
name of that product.
It's a Canadian product,
but it does work very well.
- I bet it's a little
pricier than your standard.
- [Barry] It's more
expensive than 240, yes.
- Yeah, okay.
Jeff, what's that dead
plant you've got there?
- Well I told you I was
a jack of all trades.
And currently I'm a bug sucker.
So what I have here
is Russian knapweed.
And what you see here
are what the biocontrol
agents that we're releasing
and moving around the state.
And this is a Cynipid wasp.
A Cynipid wasp people
are really concerned
do they sting.
- [Jack] Yeah.
- [Jeff] And they don't.
What they do is they lay
their eggs in the plant
the larvae hatch out
and cause these skulls
that you see here on the plant.
And I get my coordination here.
And they kind of stunt
the plant a little bit.
And what we're hoping to
see that some long-term
impacts with reduced
plant density and
reduced flowering.
In some of our sites
we've had this out for
about nine years now.
And not even nine years
and maybe we're just
starting to see some impact
on some of our populations.
You can kind of
see here the plant
kind of compensates
a little bit.
So even putting these out about
about 10 to 20 sites
now across the state.
- [Hayden] Are those
bugs elective in the type
of weed that they eat?
- [Jeff] These are very
specific to Russian knapweed.
- They don't, how
about the others?
- [Jeff] Even though
it's called knapweed
it's a lot different
than spotted knapweed
or diffused knapweed.
And completely different
set of insects that
that attack it.
So Russian knapweed,
Asian small tag.
Spotted knapweed, spotted
knapweed agents won't attack
a Russian knapweed.
This is one agent that
we're putting out.
The other one is
a small (mumbling)
that attacks the
tips of the plant.
And that has
multiple generations.
- [Barry] I think Jeff,
Hayden just brought up
something that you spent
a lot of your time on
as we import some of these
biological control agents
from overseas, you have
to make sure they don't
attack our crops.
- Yes, it depends on.
- A lot off the
work that Jeff does.
- And some of that
work is done overseas
by a co-operators.
- [Jack] On that note we
had a questions come in
from out in Gateway.
And they have a small
patch of leafy spurge.
Would it be better to spray it?
Or would it be better to
use a biocontrol agent?
- One thing I found
over the years
what people consider a small
batch is quite variable.
Sometimes a small batch
is just a few plants.
Sometimes it's much
bigger infestation.
If it's a really
small infestation
my suggestion would be
to probably just spray it
if you don't have
anything else in the area.
The small infestations,
the roots haven't
been established very
well, in leafy spurge
they go down quite deep
and quite extensive root system.
So if you can get that
early before the roots
really become established
that is probably the
better than biocontrol.
- Who is the best person
for someone to contact?
I get a lot of calls
from extension agents
in the community, they want to
release the agents or want
to know who to contact.
Is there a lot of them,
or some of your agents
available though the state
that they could, I mean.
- There's a variety
of sources for agents.
You can buy some of
them commercially.
Some of the newer ones,
I'm always looking
for research sites.
Over in Missoula County
Melissa Mageo Cassner
is the biocontrol coordinator.
Every winter she puts
out a request list
for mostly state
and county people.
- Okay.
- Wheat suppliers
requesting that might
have a request for
biocontrol agents.
- [Laurie] Oh great.
- There's also school groups
that produce biocontrol agents.
And will give them out.
- [Laurie] Okay.
- [Jack] Barry, on a related
topic from Three Forks.
I kind of have to agree
with this question.
They have seen a
lot of advertisement
and a lot of
information crossing
their magazines, Ag
magazines talking about
biostimulants.
Are these bathtub brews,
or are they actually
some good biostimulants
out there?
What is a biostimulant?
- Well, there are bacterias
that colonize roots
and sometimes they
get insides of plants
that produce some of
the plant hormones
that cause things
to grow faster.
More importantly they're
probably very very important
(mumbling) both
phosphorous and potassium.
So there are legitimate
things, I would have said
20 years ago we
had a lot of things
that were probably witches
brews of some sort.
Today we've really got some
actual products out there
that work as advertised.
They can be applied as seed
treatments, most of them.
You got to remember with
anything when you're
dealing with biocontrol,
you're dealing with
living things.
- [Jack] Right.
- So you've got to take
care of your (mumbling).
It's just like the
(mumbling) we put on
(mumbling) for example.
If it's dead it's not
gonna fix nitrogen.
- [Jack] Most of what I've
read about the biostimulants
in the magazines and so forth
are geared towards
row crops more than
wheat or pulse
crops, is that true?
- No, no.
- [Jack] Okay.
- We've actually gotten
some pretty good materials
coming down the road.
This is one of the
reasons we actually
at the Central Agricultural
Research Station
Judd Eberly is a new scientist.
And he's applied
so much (mumbling)
It's his job to actually
find out how these
things will work in Montana.
On what crops, and how
to use them the best way.
Do they actually
help in water uptake.
Phosphorous
solubization, potassium,
plant hormones.
So that's gonna be
his area of study.
- [Jack] Good.
Laurie, from Bowsman.
This person's neighbors
cottonwood tree is dropping
tons of sticky leaf buds.
The dogs get them
stuck in their fur
and bring them inside.
The cat licks them off her fur.
Are they toxic?
Or what do you
think that might be?
- I think that might
be another aphid issue.
So if it's if you
got some aphids
aphids release honeydew,
and that's the sticky stuff
that's coming off the leaves.
So, it's not toxic.
It is a little bit of a
nuisance and sometimes
can attract sitting molds.
- [Jack] That's true.
- And it's sometimes
on sidewalks it can turn black
and from the sitting mold.
- [Jack] You don't want to park
your car under those trees.
- No (laughs) no.
- Hayden, why is
phosphorous deficiency
more of an issue
in eastern Montana?
And this question actually
came in from Mile City.
- Well for one thing,
phosphorous is generally
tied up to a very high
degree with calcium.
And the eastern Montana
soils are loaded
with calcium.
So it's a very slow
release process.
Now if you analyzed
some of that soil
and really analyzed it
completely you'd find
enough phosphorous to fertilize
half of the Gallatin Valley.
But it ain't
available to plants.
So the
calcium issue in eastern Montana
is a bigger factor in
phosphorous availability
than the actual amount of
phosphorous that's there.
- This is ties back
into the biostimulant.
If you can get some good
root colonizing bacteria
that actually start
to disassociate
the calcium and phosphorus
makes it available to the plant.
And this is a huge
area of research
with tremendous
economic implications.
- Yeah yeah.
I didn't know it was going on
but it makes total sense
if you could make it work
in any place that
is dominated with
the kind of rock
that's east of Bowsman
is gonna be short
of phosphorous.
- [Barry] Yeah.
- You know Hayden
I've always been
told that phosphorous
to be available to
a plant has to be
incorporated in the soil.
And a lot of people put
nitrogen phosphorous from
potassium on their lawn
and they just sprinkle
it over the top.
Is that phosphorous
ever available to?
- [Hayden] Oh yeah
some of it is.
Let me tell you a story about.
- Uh oh I shouldn't have asked.
(laughing)
- A long time ago my dad decided
he would plant a
lot of potatoes.
Along came a county agent
who was an icon in
this part of the world.
And my brother and
I were walking along
throwing a spoonful of
treble super phosphate
on each seed potato.
And the county agent said,
"I think that's gonna
"burn the potato.
"So plant it a couple of three
inches away from that seed."
Okay, we harvested
those things next fall
where we put the
phosphorous on the seed
the potatoes were this big.
Where we put it several
inches from the seed
you could stuff it in that cup.
Phosphorous does not
move readily in soils.
The roots have to go get it.
- Good story Hayden.
(laughs)
And I have heard this before.
Jeff, from (mumbling),
what establishes
a biological control
for one of my
all-time least favorite
weeds, houndstongue?
- Houndstongue.
Hmmm, that is a sticky
(laughs)
question biocontrol-wise.
There's one agent
that attacks the
developing seeds
that will probably be
petitioned for a field release
in another year.
That's very host specific agent.
The other agent is an agent
that had been approved
up in Canada, but not
approved down in the U.S.
because of a possible
non-target impacts
on other native (mumbling).
However, that agent has
moved over the border.
And established in Montana.
So the question now is
whether or not to move
it around the state
and which we're not recommending
until we get some
additional information
about what sort of
impact it might have
or it might not have
on native plants.
Right now it looks like they
have very little impact.
And that we can
petition for release.
So technically you
cannot move that agent
across state lines
without being penalized.
We're not recommending
that be moved within state.
Up in Canada it is a good agent.
- [Jack] Barry.
- Now when (mumbling)
was in my lab
and I had a lab did a lot
of biological control work.
She had a bacterium (mumbling)
common leaf occurring thing.
And it worked quite
well on houndstongue
that were out in the full sun.
If they were in partial sun
it didn't work so well.
And there are a lot
of, it had worked well
enough people said you
should commercialize that.
Well you had something
for one single plant
and it's to get through
all the EPA labeling
and everything like that
is just too much for
just that single use.
But there are some other
biological controls
I've seen houndstongue
dying from
what I think is a
(mumbling) wilt.
So they are attacked
by other things.
- [Jack] A day where I
run around with the dogs
most of the houndstongue
is pretty active.
- [Barry] Well Jack,
that's why I've got
the German shorthairs.
(laughing)
- [Jack] Yeah the
goldens do have an issue
with weeds, I agree
with you there.
Laurie, from Missoula.
This person has brown beetles
and grubs in their garden.
Will they hurt the vegetables?
- At this time of year
that maybe there is
May June beetles.
And they're more of a
issue with turf grass.
And I actually would
check your turf grass
and in the turf grass
they're called white grubs.
And they spend most of
their time under the soil.
They can potentially
cause some damage
in your garden.
But it's they're more of a
nuisance in the turf grass
and then more of a nuisance
they come to your porch lights
kind of in a couple weeks here.
So not much of a problem.
- I actually rototilled a
patch of garden last week
and I saw some cut
worms in the garden.
- [Laurie] Oh really.
- So that could be what
those grubs look like.
Probably the army cut
worms, I would assume?
- Yeah the grubs for
the May June beetles
are white and they're C-shaped.
But there are the
army cut worms are
have a little bit of striping
and a little bit different.
- [Jack] I've seen
cut worms in gardens
go to town on a lot
of different plants.
- Oh yeah.
- If they really
want to know for sure
they could send you some.
- [Laurie] They could
send me the grub.
- (laughs) Okay.
- Or the immature.
- [Jack] All right.
Barry, question came in
I think it was from
Highsham last week.
They say they had
lesions on spring wheat.
It headed out and didn't
produce any berries
on the variety vita, which
is a very popular variety
in the state.
Any thought what
might have caused that
without seeing it?
- Yeah without seeing
it it's difficult.
It is in low areas I
might suspect frost.
We did have some frost
lat year, right near
heading time.
It could be a headlight or scab.
Another one that they
talked about lesions
if they had kind of
diamond shaped lesions
down on the lower
part of the stem
this could be (mumbling)
sharp eye spot.
And actually I have seen that
not very far from Highsham.
A good friend of mine
had some on his farm
and we got him changed
up on seed treatment.
And that took care of it.
- [Jack] All right thanks Barry.
From Hindsdale, Jeff, is
there any biological control
available for field bind wheat?
- [Jeff] For field bind
wheat we were working with
a gall mite back
in the mid '90's.
The mite attacks the
leaves causing it to fold
and to curl up.
And under heavy populations
it really stunts the plant
so your bind wheat
plant just comes up
and it's just kind of a
knotted mass of gall material.
That was fairly widespread
in eastern Montana.
But maybe about eight
years ago we had that
100 year flood where we had
a very very wet spring.
That seemed to knock
the population back
and it really hasn't
rebounded very well.
So the mite does well
in dry open areas.
But it's very inconsistent.
As you go south into
Colorado, or even down Texas
it seems to be more effective.
Another agent was a
moth, a defoliating moth
that we put out.
Established also down
in Colorado and Idaho
but not in Montana.
And that has
question about that.
- That is a tough
wheat to control.
- Oh yeah.
- They are looking
for additional agents
and I think there's
dust and mining lye
that they're considering.
- [Jack] Okay.
- In Europe.
- [Jack] Hayden,
standard question
comes in every spring.
They need to know how
much nitrogen is required
to get a bushel of spring wheat
and/or winter wheat?
Do you want to get that one?
- A little more for
winter wheat only because
you probably have
more water available.
But, it takes about
100 pounds of N
wherever the source of the N is
for a 40 bushel crop
of wheat, winter wheat.
And it takes a little
more than that actually
so it would be a
little more careful
with that.
And probably because the
water ratio with spring wheat
you might get by with less.
But that's questionable.
And it may not be
questionable though with
what's the cost
of nitrogen today?
- [Jack] I'm not sure this year.
- 30 cents a pound?
- [Barry] No I'm gonna guess
a little higher than that.
- It was 23 when I
was dealing with it.
- Yeah.
- You're doubling the
cost of your input there
so be a bit careful with that.
- [Jack] On that note, for
winter wheat producers,
spring wheat producers,
most people do a pretty good
job in today's
world to fertilize.
- [Hayden] Yeah.
- And that was not
the case 30 years ago.
There was a lot of
people who did not use
a lot of fertilizer.
Let's change the subject a
little bit and go to lawns.
How much nitrogen would you use
on 1,000 square feet of lawn?
- Well, any more
I tell the lady who sprays it
to put on whatever the
extents and service recommends.
- [Jack] (laughs) Okay.
You know I probably
under-fertilize my yard.
But then again, I don't run my.
- [Hayden] Most
people over-fertilize.
- That's true.
- [Hayden] And then
they over-water.
And nitrogen is
extremely moldable
because it's NIN.
Most of the nitrogen
is, it's an NIN.
And if you want to kill
your neighbors cows
with nitrate poisoning,
that's probably
a good way to do it.
- [Jack] (laughs) Okay.
Laurie, a comment from Plains
on using yeast on the ants.
This person says yeast
packets work on sugar ants.
Was there such a
thing as sugar ants?
- I don't know what,
yeah I'm not sure.
- [Jack] What they do
is they use a packet
at the entry point
into the house
and replenish until
the ants stop.
This will eliminate the problem.
- Give them another source?
- Yeah.
- Yeah yeah.
Laurie, I want to have
you up from Manhattan.
This question
concerns dandelions.
Some say they are the
most important plant
for maintaining honey
bee populations.
What are your thoughts on that?
- [Laurie] They are
one of the earliest
things out there for
that are blooming.
So they're very important for
if you do start a honey
bee colony that's one of
the things that they
suggest is make sure that
you have a good pollen
source right away.
And early on, and if you
can put your honey bees
somewhere where you
have some dandelions
then yeah, it's
they're important.
- [Jack] There's no
shortage of dandelions
in the Gallatin County.
- Yeah not at all.
Yeah.
- And they're really
attractive, I think.
- [Laurie] Yeah, early season.
- They are.
- [Laurie] Yeah.
Barry, this probably
came in last week
and we didn't get to it on
the organic program we had.
But this person would
like to know what is new
in organic research at MSU?
- Well I think MSU
has had a long-term
interest in organic
related research.
Certainly Jeff Littlefield's lab
using biocontrol
for noxious weeds.
We've had a lot of
efforts in disease
and other insect control
with biological agents.
Certainly we can, one of
the things we're always
studying is what
are the mechanisms
for the biological suppression
of any of our pests.
Our breeding programs,
particularly in our cereal crops
breeding for disease
resistance, that's
organic-related work.
Doing a lot of work now
in cropping systems.
And I think the Ag
Experiment Station
we look at biological systems
and try to understand them.
And I think from that
work the organic producer
gets very good information
but as well as our
traditional agriculture.
So we have relatively little
work that just focuses
strictly on organic agriculture.
I might say that the
we've done some really
revolutionary work in
the area of cover crops.
To use manual crop
plannings for hay
and whatnot.
And I think these are gonna
play a real important role
in Montana agriculture
from more of the organic
perspective perhaps
long-term in getting
organic matter up
and proving water infiltration,
things of that nature.
- You know, you
mention organic matter.
We got one of our
experts on that.
It's my impression that
over the last 20, 25 years
statewide, the organic
content of our soils
has actually increased
significantly.
Would you agree with
that, Hayden or Barry?
- [Barry] I think no
till has had a tremendous
impact on that.
Although Jack, it's still not
back where it needs to be.
One of the things that's
very impressive to me
is up at the northern Ag
Research Station in Havern
we've got native
prairie up there.
That native prairie's
got an organic matter
levels five, three, five,
five and a half percent.
- [Laurie] Wow.
- Where we've cropped
there for 100
years, the research
we're down to one percent,
one and a half percent.
- [Hayden] THat's right.
- And you know
a lot of our guys that
have gone to no till
we're starting to see that
two, two and a half percent
we're coming back up,
but it takes a long time.
- [Jeff] It does.
- All right, thank you.
Jeff, from Livingston.
This person would like
to know, are there any
biocontrols for bell flower?
And I'm not sure
what bell flower is.
- [Jeff] No.
- Okay.
- Sometimes.
- Not that I'm aware
of, anyway.
- All right.
And the other one that we
have, have you ever heard of
minors candle or mullen?
And are there any biological
controls for those?
- [Jeff] For mullen
there is a weavel
that accidentally
got introduced that
attacks the flower heads.
It is established in the state.
Unfortunately it doesn't
build up high enough
populations to impact
the seed production.
It has a lot of seeds
and that mullens produce
and the weavels just
can't keep up with that.
- Mullen is a tough
bugger to control period.
There's no doubt about that.
And I'll save that because
Jane's gonna be around
and she might have
some suggestions
on which herbicides
would work best for that.
- Getting back to
your last question
that me and Jeff just said no.
Just like our crop
plants, or our ornamentals
all plants are
attacked by things.
And it's just understanding
how we can manipulate
the environment or
manipulate the populations
of these agents.
So there are biocontrols
they're just not
commercial biocontrols.
- I was going to ask Jeff
if the tell us about outstanding
biocontrol systems
that are documented
and have made a huge difference,
huge, a big difference
in the growth of
some obnoxious plant.
- There's probably
several examples.
One that may relate to
Montana is Tansy ragwort.
We do have Tansy ragwort
in the state up in
the northwest corner.
That was a big biocontrol
project in western Washington,
and Oregon, and
northern California.
They had several
agents center bar moth
and a three beetle
that they introduced.
And it was very effective
in reducing Tansy ragwort.
Tansy ragwort is also
poisonous to livestock cattle.
We've introduced some
of the same agents
in northwest Montana and
they've been equally effective.
We've brought in a different
strain of the flea beetle
that is more cold hearty that
seems to be doing quite well.
The center bar moth
is really doing well
up in northern Montana.
So, that would probably
be an example of
a really important
biocontrol agent
that's been effective
across regions.
Rather than just localized.
- Right.
Has there been a release
of a particular bug
that is dessimated
the particular weed?
- [Jeff] Usually
biocontrol the insects
kind of leave a few
weeks behind.
- Yeah they have to
if they want to eat wheat.
- Although some of
my ragwort agents
actually will eliminate the
weed from a particular area.
But eventually the
seeds might germinate
and they come back.
Let's see
some of the agents
on St John's Worts
can be very effective
in reducing the populations
down to low levels.
But they have a kind
of up and down cycles
where the
we target weeds
start to increase the
biocontrol agents eventually
catch us up with it
to make an impact to make
the population crash.
With that system it's kind
of a long up and down cycle
maybe like 10 years.
For something like.
- Barry would agree
that the lack of a dramatic
control
is more reason to work
hard on it, than not.
- Yeah.
- We can't
stop working on biocontrol.
- No.
You know one of the things
I was gonna mention Jeff
in sites we know the
flea beetle won't spurge.
When I first came
here 25 years ago
almost 26 years ago
the Story Hills were
just covered with spurge.
And there's still
some spurge there
but not like it was.
What's your impression of?
- Well at least up there
there has been some
chemical treatments, as well.
So it's not entirely biocontrol.
Leafy spurge has been pretty
effective in some habitats.
The flea beetles tend to be
somewhat habitat specific
sometimes.
And it's one of those
systems where it
can benefit from
an integration of
other management techniques.
Especially grazing with sheep
you go in there, thin
out the leafy spurge
the flea beetles seem to
be doing a lot better.
Same way with chemical control.
The combination of
simple techniques
that can benefit biocontrol now.
- The sheep are
biocontrol agents.
- Well they are.
(laughing)
They are kind of biocontrol.
- [Jack] And they
taste good too.
(laughs)
- From Stephensville, is
there a way to get rid of
crab grass in the lawn,
and the answer is no.
The only way you can
do it is take a glove
and Round Up, and
that's a lot of work.
- It sounds like it.
- From Cut Bay, Hayden
does the use of chemical
fertilizers accelerate
the decomposition of
organic matter in the soil?
- Well it might if it's
supplied a nutrient
that the bugs couldn't
get on their own there.
But I would guess
that proper fertilizer
management at Cut Bay
would have a positive
effect on organic matter
unless you burned it.
Then, then none
fertilizer management.
So I think that the
increase we may be seeing
in organic matter
smally
is probably more associated with
good management than it
is with anything else.
- [Jack] I would agree
entirely with that Hayden.
Laurie, from Bowsman.
They have a bunch
of holes on the side
of their pine tree.
Dozens all over the
trunks and branches,
is this an insect?
- If it's in a patterned
form, and not just a couple
holes here or there, it's
likely is sapsucker damage.
And I have a lot of sapsucker
damage on my pine trees
and several other trees.
And there's not much
you can do about it
except try to deter
the birds in some way.
And you can use some
flashy tape or something
of that sort but are
they protected so you
can't get rid of the birds.
It's they're taking
the sap out of the tree
they're not boring it
and looking for insects.
So they're not, if you have
dozens it could potentially
threaten the health
of your tree.
But just try to
get the birds away.
- Yeah.
I have seen a lot of
sapsucker damage around,
there's no doubt about that.
- Yeah, me too.
- From Clancy, Jeff, is
there any biological control
agents for poison ivy?
And is poison ivy a
big issue in Montana?
- If you run into it, yes.
(laughing)
There are patches of poison ivy.
To my knowledge, there's
no bioocontrol agents that.
Barry do you happen
to know if there's any
any sort of pathogens
that they have used?
- I'm sure there are
insects and plant pathogens
that attack poison ivy.
We just don't have really
studied them, I think.
- [Jeff] Right.
And typical most native plants
we don't do a lot of
biocontrol work on
because of
yeah, they're native.
- You know it's interesting
and maybe somebody
can explain this.
I've been in poison ivy
many times as a kid.
I've never had an issue with it.
Do some people react to
it, and others do not?
- I think so.
I grew up back east and we
had a lot of poison ivy.
And we would burn our
fields or a brush pile.
And with poison ivy and the oils
would get onto your skin.
So it becomes quite a problem.
I think some people are
fairly resistant to.
- A long time ago Ford Ord
was a poison ivy
area of the world.
And so when you were
marching and the guy said,
"Hit the ground."
it didn't bother me.
But we had people
almost die from it.
- [Jack] Yeah I've seen
some nasty reactions.
All right from Bowsman,
a comment about
the cats that had
stuff sticking to them
from the cottonwoods.
This person says,
and this is true,
that bud scales from
cottonwoods have a resin
on them that's naturally sticky.
And it also could be aphids.
- Yeah, thanks for that comment.
- All right.
Laurie, this is south
of Billings toward
caller is seeing an increase
in ticks and grasshoppers
this year.
Would like suggestions on
how to best control them.
Ticks are tough to control.
- Ticks are very
tough to control.
I'll start with that.
But just as a note I
talked about this a
few weeks ago when I was on.
We don't have either
species of ticks
of the two ticks that vector
Lyme disease, so
we're lucky there.
If you're traveling
outside of the state
you might run into those.
But they really like tall grass.
I guess if you keep your, if
you went away from your yard
if you want to keep
your lawn mowed short
and you don't have a
lot of tall grasses
then that would keep a
lot of the ticks away.
But if you're going for
a walk where anywhere
you're encountering
them you're gonna
come across them.
Grasshoppers are
really depending on
they usually don't
over winter don't spend
don't ever spend
winter in your yard.
So they usually are in ditches.
Or somewhere close by.
But it's really important
to try to target
grasshopper control
early before they
get into the later
stars or later stages.
- We actually had a
question from back
in the Jordan area
a couple weeks ago.
This person was driving
along the highway
from Jordan to someplace
and ran into swarms of
small grasshoppers already.
- [Laurie] They're out.
- Obviously there's
probably a good year
for grasshoppers
so need to be watching for them.
- You need to be watching.
- Barry, this probably relates
to last week's program.
We talked a lot about
production of organic crops
especially organic wheat.
If this person were to
produce organic wheat
in the Gallatin Valley,
is there a local elevator
that would take it?
If not, where would
you market this?
- I don't know the
exact answer to that.
But I can tell you where
they can get that answer.
The State Department
of Agriculture has an
organic cropping specialist.
And marketing specialist.
And if you call the Montana
Department of Agriculture
up in Helena, and ask for
the organic specialist
they can give you that answer.
- [Jack] That's exactly
right, thanks Barry.
Hayden, this person
is from Mile City
and they want to know
why an inch of rain
in the Mile City area
will penetrate to a foot deep?
Is there a reason?
Is that normal, or not?
- Now, repeat that please.
- [Jack] Well this person
says that if they get an inch
of rain, on dry soil.
- Oh.
- [Jack] It would
penetrate a foot deep.
- Soil will basically
the average soil,
there's a huge difference there.
An inch of rain
would wet dry soil
about a foot.
That's the water holding
capacity of that soil
basically.
If you got four feet of wet soil
you've actually got four feet
you've got four inches
of available water
for winter wheat.
- [Jack] That makes sense.
All right, from Bellgrade.
Jeff, these homeowners have
problems with dandelions
and knapweed.
They say one of the best
biocontrol methods is
to pull them and
remove by the tap root.
That works for
dandelions, will that work
as well for knapweed?
- You have to be somewhat
persistent with knapweed.
Because of seed bank.
So if you can pull up a
most of the tap root
it helps.
If you start breaking it
off it can regenerate.
But you just have
to be persistent
in hand pulling knapweed.
- [Jack] Okay, thank you.
This question came
in from Helena.
They have had issues
with their Aspens
and insect damage.
They see holes and sawdust.
What causes this, and is
there anything they can do
to make their Aspens healthier?
- That would probably be
based on those symptoms
it probably would be
the Poplar bore.
And once they've
gotten into the tree
they have a pretty
complicated life cycle.
Sometimes up to three,
three or four years
to complete their life cycle.
The best thing you could
do is try to protect
your other Aspen trees.
I would try to get any of
your infested trees out
and away from your property
so they don't infest
your other trees.
If your neighbor has them
as well and they're infested
that's a big deal.
But there are a lot of
things that you could spray
on the trunk to keep
to protect the trees
that have not been infested yet.
- What about a middle culprit,
would that a systemic on Aspens
would that control
the Poplar bores?
- That again that would
have to be applied.
Now would not be
the time to apply it
to the (mumbling)
because it takes
several weeks to be absorbed.
And your whole goal
is to try to protect
the eggs from hatching and
burrowing into the trunk.
- [Barry] Laurie it's
been my general impression
you tell me if I'm wrong,
and I might be wrong
for this insect.
But on woody plants we
tend to get the wood boring
insects on stressed trees.
- That's right, yep.
- And I'm gonna guess if
they're having real trouble
on these Aspens,
Aspens are a shallow
shallow rooted thing,
they're meant to grow
on wet places.
And in Helena there's
not a whole lot of
really wet places.
- Yeah.
- So I think if they do
some mulching and watering
that might help just as much,
about as much as anything.
- That's a great tip.
- [Jack] All right.
With that folks we're down
to our last 30 seconds.
I have a few calls
that we didn't get to.
We'll work on those next week.
I'd like to thank
Jeff for being here.
- Thank you.
- Great job.
Laurie, you didn't
get to show the scales
but we'll have those on
again some other time.
Hayden, good to have you back.
Next week we have Miles Watts
retired economist who
wants to talk about
the effect of public debt
on agriculture in Montana.
Thanks for watching,
have a good week.
And we hope to
see you next week.
♪ (country music)
-[Narrator] Montana Ag Live
is made possible by...
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Agticulture
the MSU Extension Service
the MSU Ag Experiment Stations
of the College of Agriculture
the Montana Wheat & Barley
Committee
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Cashman Nursery and Landscaping,
and the Gallatin Gardeners Club
♪ bluesy guitar riff