- [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,

The Galatin Gardeners Club,

and the Rocky Mountain

Certified Crop Advisor Program.

(soft dueling guitar music)

- Good evening, folks.

You're tuned to Montana AG Live,

originating tonight from

the studios that KUSM

on the very dynamic campus

of Montana State University,

and coming to you over

the Montana Public

I'm Jack Riesselman and I'll

be your host this evening.

Those of you who have watched

the program in the past,

know how it works.

You provide the questions

and we will do our best

to provide the answers.

We do like to stump the

panel once in a while.

Last week, we managed to stump

the panel a couple of times.

So, if you asks some questions

that you're really

curious about,

go ahead and send

them in this evening.

Tonight's panel, let

me introduce 'em,

You to Uta McKelvy. Uta is

here as a plant pathologist.

She's been with us

several times before.

Glad to have her back.

Tim Seipel. Tim is kind of a

weed specialist, ecologist,

crop plant weeds, a

little bit of everything.

Plus, if you've got

weeds any other place,

good chance to ask about 'em,

because if you don't

have weeds in Montana,

you're doing something

special, I guarantee you there.

We all know Mac Burgess.

Mac is a small farm specialist,

specializing in all

kinds of different,

independent

agricultural endeavors,

and also, he knows a lot

about horticultural plants.

So, any questions tonight

that you'd like to know about,

good chance to call 'em in,

and our special guest

tonight is Stephen Vantassel.

Stephen works for Department

of AG up in Lewistown.

He is a critter specialist.

If you've got critter problems,

this is a chance to find out

how to keep the mice out,

keep the voles down,

keep the skunks out,

whatever you want

to do with critters.

He's going to answer

those questions tonight,

and we'll come back

to Stephen a minute.

But, first, let me

introduce the people

taking the telephone

calls this evening,

Erica Rockville

and Cheryl Bennett.

And Cheryl was here last week,

and she told me I

looked better last week,

and I think that's

probably true.

So with that, Stephen,

tell us about what you do.

- Well, I think you hit it

right on the spot there.

So yeah, I help people

resolve conflicts

with vertebrate animals.

That's the animals with a spine,

so be skunks, raccoons;

unprotected birds,

like pigeons and starlings,

and prairie dogs.

And so, that's

basically what I do

is do a little bit of writing.

I do presentations for

our pesticide program,

and then, also do a little

bit of research, as well.

- You know, I've

used Stephen too.

We've had some skunk

issues at various places.

I spent a little time in the

fall, it's called a Duck Blind,

and the skunks took up

residents under that Blind.

It was not

particularly pleasant.

Stephen helped me

eliminate that problem.

So, at that, let me move ahead,

and we have a Facebook

question already, Stephen.

This person had

issues with voles

during the previous winters.

Is it advisable to

use plastic protectors

around the stems of rose bushes,

or are the thorns

deterrent enough.

- If you're having damage

with voles with rose bushes

and you'd want to protect those.

Typically, voles are going after

your thinly barked

trees and plants.

And I would encourage you

to be thinking about doing

some aggressive control now,

as the vole populations

are declining.

Usually, people wait too long.

They want to do

control in the spring

when they see the damage,

but the damage, actually, is

occurring all winter long.

So, I'd be putting in some traps

and doing any types of barrier,

barrier fencing

around your plants

that you are very

concerned about

because once that snow comes,

they would love to

take advantage of

and then they'll be attacking

some of those plants,

they can get access to.

- Stephen, about two

or three years ago,

I had a major vole problem.

And I've been around

voles long enough to know

that I keep trash piles

down, so forth and so on.

The last two years,

I've not had any issues.

Are they cyclical or do they?

- They are. And

so, there can be-

Generally, the rule

of thumb is, I think,

every four to five years,

the numbers begin to spike,

but there's no rhyme

or reason to it.

You can't guarantee

that's going to happen.

So obviously,

environmental conditions

will play a role in that.

And we don't understand

it completely

as to whether it's food-based

or whether it's

because they age out.

The literature is a little bit,

hasn't made a decision, a

ruling, on that quite yet.

- Okay. Are they more of an

issue in the Northern climates?

You know, you and I both spent

a lot of time in Nebraska.

I never had vole issues down

there, but I have them up here.

- Well, there's vole-

Yeah, no. There's vole

problems in Nebraska, as well.

And I think that when you can

start getting farther south,

there's just so much

green vegetation

that there's probably

enough food for them

to just keep eating,

and so, the vegetation

will overcome the damage

caused by the voles.

But once they have

that snow cover,

they get food-stressed,

and then they start attacking

your ornamental plants

that you know, that

are valuable to people.

- Okay. Mac was

asking me earlier,

we were talking about voles

even before this question

came in Facebook,

organic methods of

controlling these pests?

- None of the chemical means

are approved for organic use.

So, I would think, habitat,

mowing, keep your cover down,

like, you said, Trash piles,

weed-free areas

around your trees.

And I've seen them, you know,

take up cover in mulches.

So, mulches are a

double-edged sword.

They can be great in many ways,

but they can provide

habitat for these rodents.

- Absolutely.

- Keeping the bare ground.

- Okay, thank you guys.

- Even cholecalciferol?

Even cholecalciferol

isn't allowed?

- I don't know. (laughs)

- Okay.

- You might, you might

know more than I do there.

- All right.

- I'm not aware of that one.

I'd have to look into that.

- Okay. Okay.

- Vitamins, it's vitamin D.

- Vitamin D. All right.

A question that came

in this evening,

we were talking about

trees and shrubs.

What about pruning?

Uta, is this a good

time to prune trees?

- Right. So, typically,

we want to prune

our trees and traps when

the plants are dormant.

So, I would, generally,

recommend to do it

in the early, early spring,

February, March, next year.

I think you could

do it in a fall,

but you want to be sure that

your plants are dormant,

and given how warm

this year has been

and how warm to fall still is,

I wouldn't quite

count on that yet.

So, wait a little longer,

or just wait until

March and you know,

do something fun this fall.

- March is a great time.

You can get out there

when the wind blows,

and the snow flies in March.

- That's just a good time.

- Yeah, it is a

good time. I agree.

- Keeps you warm.

- Question from Three Forks.

Tim, this person has heard

that there is a

glyphosate shortage,

which is, also, a lot of

people know, is Roundup,

is this true?

And will that affect

agriculture in here,

in the state of Montana?

- Yeah, there is actually a

nationwide glyphosate shortage,

and prices have gone up

for Roundup, or glyphosate,

quite a lot.

And there's people

who are out there

looking for alternatives

for next year.

I don't know that we have

a lot of alternatives,

but it will drive

up producer prices

and prices per acre of inputs

for the next year, or so.

I think 30 to 50%,

even more than that,

in terms, of glyphosate

prices going up.

- Well, that makes

a big difference

in a chem fallow operation.

That makes a really big

difference in a chem fallow.

So, people who are looking

at chem fallow next year,

and, you know, they may go

out every 30 days and spray,

it's going to be,

it's going to be challenging,

and it's going to require

more money to input in there.

So, there might be instances

where you could skip a

chem fallow application,

but don't skip on rates.

Don't cut your rates and

think you'll get away with it.

You won't get as good

of weed efficacy.

It would be better to figure out

if you could actually cut out

one of the chem

fallow applications.

- And you probably don't

know the answer to this,

but I am kind of curious,

is there a particular reason

why there's a shortage?

There never has been before.

- I think it's related

to all the shortages

we've had with Coronavirus

around the world,

and, sort of, our supply chains.

A lot of the precursor molecules

come from other

places in the world,

whether that be China

or whether they be

made in other places,

and so, I think that's

led to some shortages

of manufactured and ready-to-go

Roundup combinations,

on the market out there.

- Tim, so is this shortage then

only affecting glyphosate,

or are we talking

about, essentially,

all herbicides being short?

- Not all herbicides,

there's other-

So, the two biggest

ones right now

that people are really looking

at is glyphosate or Roundup,

which we, really,

commonly use in Montana.

And the other one that's

been really short this fall

and going into the next

spring, has been glufosinate,

which is a molecule

that's more commonly used

in the Midwest of

the United States.

So, we don't have to worry

about glufosinate as much.

We are really affected

by the Roundup shortage.

Glufosinate is used

in LibertyLink crops,

LibertyLink canola,

and some of those

things out there.

It's used in corn and

soybeans more often.

- Okay, thank you.

Interesting situation.

From Facebook, Bozeman,

Stephen, this is for you,

and it's kind of

interesting question.

They have a lot of rabbits

living under their porch,

and they wonder whether or not

those rabbits could cause

any structural damage

or damage to the house.

- I have never heard of rabbits

causing structural

damage to the house.

They can chew some wood if

they can get access to it.

So, if you have any

type of wood exposure

underneath that porch

area or that deck area,

that might be a little

bit of a concern.

Otherwise, they're not going

to be gnawing on concrete

or anything like that.

So, if there's any pipes

or wires underneath there,

they could certainly

gnaw on that.

But, otherwise, I have

not heard of rabbits

becoming a problem.

Now, if they're doing any type

of burrowing underneath there

or exposing, if you have

like a slab foundation,

I'd be more concerned

about your foundation area.

If they're exploiting a borough

that was already created

by another animal,

and that could be an

issue, in terms of,

cracking a foundation,

depending on how large

that borough was.

- Okay. Well, what

about ornamental plants?

I've wondered we've

had heavy snows,

which we haven't had,

rabbits we'll do some

damage all around.

- Oh, they sure will.

Oh yeah, they will.

You can always tell it's

going to be a rabbit

as opposed to a deer,

because you're going to look

for that 45 degree angle cut,

and also, the height of the

damage will be different.

I mean, the rabbit can

only reach so high.

You want to be thinking

about something a couple feet

above the snow line,

where a deer is

going to, obviously,

be able to go up

almost six feet,

so that'll also be another one.

So, deer when they bite,

they bite and then twist.

So, if you look

carefully at the branch,

it'll be frayed at the top.

A rabbit takes a clean

slice at a 45 degree angle.

So, look carefully.

You want to make sure we

go after the guilty animal.

And then fencing will

stop your rabbit damage

around your plants.

It's very easy to do.

- I have a couple

of golden retrievers

that have moved the

rabbits out of our yard

pretty effectively.

- Biological control

can work too.

- Yeah, your right.

Thank you Stephen.

Mac, this person said,

"Last time you were on,

you had a lot of squash

in front of you."

(laughing)

They grew some winter squash,

and they said, "it tastes like-"

and I can't mention the word.

Was there a problem?

- Depending on the variety,

you might just wait a while.

And as I mentioned, last time,

several of those varieties

do get better with storage,

and some of them are at

their peak, you know,

two months after harvest.

So, I would say some of those

bigger Hubbard's

and Kabocha squash

are still not anywhere near

their prime eating quality,

but it's great.

Delicata and Acorn

squash season right now.

- You know, I bought an

Acorn squash not long ago,

and I happen to like

squash quite a little bit,

and be honest with you, it

really wasn't very tasty.

And, normally, it has a

little bit of a nutty flavor.

You put a little butter

and brown sugar on it.

- And it can be hit and miss

if they weren't harvested,

or if they were harvested too

early, which is a temptation

with some producers and

production areas, so.

I would think Montana

producers, by in large,

don't have any incentive

to harvest early

and get a second crop in.

So, they let them go all the way

to full ripeness or

even to the frost.

And so, we tend to grow

pretty good ones up here.

But, the market sells

them out pretty quick.

And if you just go to

the store and get them,

they may well have

been harvested

when they looked like a squash,

but not without guards to

make it tastes like a squash.

- Okay. Thank you.

Uta, last week,

this person says,

"You talked about dry seed

decay. Can you explain-"

This question is from Custer

out in the central

part of the state,

a long I-90, 94, actually.

What can you tell us

about dry seed decay,

and what can you

do to prevent it?

Because this has been a dry year

in which they

seeded winter wheat.

- Well, I guess this

person missed me

at the Pest Management tour,

where we sure talked

about dry seed decay.

Maybe keep an eye

out for next year.

Dry seed decay is a disease

that affects the seed.

And, as the name suggests,

that typically happens when

we put seed in a ground

that has not enough moisture

to promote an early germination

and seedling development.

And so, there are a lot of

organisms, fungal organisms,

living into soil that just

naturally occur there.

And for them, a seed

that is not growing

and it's just laying dormant,

it's just a very, you know,

easy meal for them to attack.

So, there are various fungi

that can cause this disease,

aspergillus or-

- [Jack] Penicillium.

- Penicillium, that was the

other one I was looking for,

are some of the

causal agents here.

And you may observe

that, you know,

you don't have a

great emergence.

And if you look for

the seed in the ground,

it might appear

like it's covered

in some grayish, bluish,

or whitish fuzz or mold,

or it's just covered in soil,

'cause the fungus

growing around the seed

is just trapping the soil and

keeps attract to the seed.

And so, the best way to

prevent a dry seed decay

is planting into moisture.

So if, you know, a rain or

precipitation is coming,

that's a good time to plant.

And fungicide seed treatments

can also be very effective.

And I cannot recite a

specific product right now,

but, essentially, any

fungicide seed treatment

that has broad-spectrum activity

would be a suitable choice

for a dry seed decay.

- I agree entirely.

Okay, Stephen, we got a lot

of questions coming in here,

and some of these

are fascinating.

(group laughing)

This person would

have liked to know,

how to keep mice

out of parked cars?

- Yeah.

- Any suggestions?

- That is- Yes.

It is a tough one,

but here's some

strategies for you.

One, you want to be sure

your parking on gravel

and away from planting areas.

You want to try to keep

everything as mowed down

as much as possible.

You want to be looking at

putting out multiple-catch traps

around the structure.

You also want to be sure you're

if you have bird feeders around,

you modify those bird feeders;

you want to be thinking

about food sources.

Remember, anytime a plant grows

long enough to go to seed,

that's the seed for

rodents as well.

So, you want to be sure

those are all cut down

and not allowed in.

So, then you want

to be thinking about

putting out some bait stations.

Make sure you're

following the label,

and put out some,

probably some Rodenticide.

If you're not wanting

to use Rodenticide,

then use the

multiple-catch mouse traps,

and place them around

your facility as well.

But, around your area as well,

to kind of keep those

rodents in the low end.

Yeah, those are some

bait stations there,

and there should be also a photo

of some multiple-catch baits,

multiple-catch traps as well.

And you just have to,

basically, put enough material,

enough traps out

there, to sort of,

get that population down

so they're not going to

go after your vehicle.

- Stephen, is that half-eaten

bag of potato chips

and food scraps left

at the floor of my car,

are those going

to be issues, or?

- I don't think it helps, but

I'd be, probably, you know,

but I'm not sure that's

going to be enough

because a mouse is going

to want to get up in there,

simply, your know,

if you're driving,

it's going to be a heat source

and they're going to be

attracted to some of that heat,

but also, in terms of structure,

if a rodent, you know,

Deer mice will travel 400

plus feet to go somewhere,

so their home range

is quite large.

So, they would, probably,

just jump up into it

because it's a structure,

and it provides them

shelter from predators.

So, I don't think

the food, you know,

I would always encourage you

to keep the food out of it,

'cause, you know, bears

may want to be interested

in your car as well.

But, I think it's more

of the issue of the fact,

that the presence of

the vehicle is there,

is going to be the attractant.

- You know, Stephen, while

we're on the subject,

it is mouse season, and you

move into November in Montana.

Those mice like to

move into warmer places

as you have suggested.

- Absolutely.

- Can they do a lot

of damage at homes

if you don't keep

them under control?

- Significant. It's

one of the things

I've been doing in my training.

I've been trying to

help people understand.

It's one of the interesting

psychological elements

in Montana where, even

generally across the US,

is that when people have rats,

they will move heaven and

earth to control the rats.

But, when it comes to

mice, they'll just say,

"Oh, it's just a

mouse. No big deal."

No. I want you to

take that seriously.

That photo that

you're seeing there,

is at my house when

I was in Nebraska.

We used some use some

foam to fill a gap,

and the mouse, mice, just

chewed right through it.

So, don't rely on foam

to be your solution.

But, once they're

getting into the walls,

they are damaging

your insulation.

They can also

attack your wiring.

And so, if you're wondering

why your heating bill

is sometimes going up,

it may not just be,

it may be partly due to the

cost of the fuel, of course,

but you may also

have, over time,

those mice are degrading

your installation,

and so, you're losing

more heat to the outside.

And so, take mice seriously

for the physical damage

they can do to your structure.

- Okay. Thank you. Good advice.

Tim, this person from Conrad,

has heard of a weed

called Beggars Lice.

Do you know what that is?

- Beggars lice. I might

know what that weed is.

So, Hound's-Tongue.

So, it's either-

So, it could be a Hound's-

It could be Hound's-tongue,

which is an obnoxious weed

in the state of Montana.

And so, it makes these...

It looks, I guess we

call it Hound's-tongue,

because it has, sort of, a

rough cover on the outside.

It's, sort of, round shape

with a little point on one end,

and it'll stick to

all your clothes.

And it'll end up

all over the place,

and it can be a real pain.

I encourage you, not

to just pull them off

and throw them in your yard,

I encourage you to put them

in a bag and throw them away.

We also call Beggars ticks

a closely related native

species, actually, too.

There's a few native,

blue-looking, forget-me-nots

that you'll see in the

mountains, in the summertime,

and those can also be

called Beggars ticks.

So yeah, there, we have a

couple of 'em out there.

- Okay. Here's an

interesting question

I've thought about a lot.

And this comes from Bozeman.

And Mac, I'm going to put

you on the spot with this.

This person wants to know,

"Why Dixon melons

are only growing

in the Dixon/Plains area,

and why we can grow good melons

like that anywhere else?"

- What is the elevation

in Dixon, Montana?

- Probably, around 2,500

feet, I would guess.

- I think that's it.

- I thinks it's

a little special.

- It's a little

bit warmer. Yeah.

- In Sander's County over there.

I think the nights are warmer.

- [Mac] Yep.

- I think it's lower elevation,

and there gets to be

some really warm days.

I've also-

- To be fair, I think that

you could grow great melons

along the Yellowstone River,

down in Billings, as well.

It's a challenge in

Bozeman. A real challenge.

- I guess it's not

possible here, basically?

- Well. (laughs)

- Yeah, they don't

ripen very well.

- And it needs to be-

Because of the cold nights,

is it really the cold?

I mean, we have warm

enough days, but cold.

- Well it's both. Yeah.

It's the cold nights and

the not-warm-enough days.

- [Tim] And then maybe humidity.

- Is there a specific

variety that does well

in that Plains/Dixon area

that you guys know of?

- I don't know what

variety would grow.

- I'm sure the Dixon melon

folks have got their favorite,

and I bet they keep it

fairly, closely guarded,

but there are a number

of Musk melons available.

You just look for

the earliest ones.

Sweet Granite is one

that comes to mind.

That's an open

pollinated one, I think.

And I don't know,

I've tried to several of them.

And you can grow

them in Bozeman,

you know, all the usual tricks

to retain heat with plastic.

And then, you know,

you want to make

sure it doesn't rain

as they're ripening, either.

You want to cut the

water off as they ripen,

and that, sometimes,

September we get a rainstorm,

and then they'll explode on

you or they're no good, so.

- You know, they, they look

like they're going to ripen,

but if you try to eat

them, they're really-

I'd buy a Dixon melon anytime.

- Yeah. (laughs)

- It's much better.

- Yeah, they come out

quite a bit earlier.

- Yeah, they do.

Stephen, from Great Falls.

Squirrels in the yard,

and they want to get rid

of them without trapping.

Any suggestions?

- These are Tree squirrels?

'Cause Ground squirrels

should be in hibernation now.

- Probably, Red squirrels,

I guess, or Fox squirrels.

- Okay, in the yard.

So, I would have say,

you want to control

the amount of food.

So, I'd be asking, you know,

"Is there a bird feeder

on the property?"

Or, "Perhaps, your neighbors

have bird feeders?"

In which case, modify

those bird feeders

so you're not feeding

the squirrels,

to reduce the attraction

to that particular area.

But, if you have like an

Oak tree or something,

that's coming into seed,

that's going to be, obviously,

clearly a challenge.

What some people do,

is they'll actually

wrap the trunk

with some aluminum flashing

to prevent the squirrels

from climbing it.

But, that assumes that you

don't have another tree nearby

that they can jump to.

So, I would need a

little more information

to provide some other stuff.

Otherwise, the dog running

around the backyard

may be helpful,

but it's probably

going to be pretty hard

to keep a squirrel, Tree

squirrel, out of your yard.

- Do the Tree

squirrels we have here,

are they a problem

to any ornamental?

- I haven't had a lot

of reports of that,

but they certainly can get into

structures and be an issue.

Yeah, absolutely.

- Well, where there's

a lot of them,

they can do some pruning

and gnawing on stuff,

which is not real good.

We had them, at one

time, in the Midwest,

and I used live traps.

And that really

worked well, except,

if you don't dump

them far enough away,

they're going to be

back the next day.

- Yeah, and that's not quite

legal, here in Montana.

So, you can't really

dump 'em somewhere else.

You have to get landowner

permission, and so.

- I didn't say that. (laughs)

- It used to be a one-way,

kind of a one-way deal.

Plus, you know,

there could be some game

species issues as well,

so that has to be factored in.

But, typically, if

they're damaging turf,

that that can be, you know,

sometimes when they're

scatter hoarding,

and they're putting

out some food,

that would be more of

your Gray squirrel,

it can be quite

extensive, in that regard,

with their feeding.

But, that tends to

be not something

that occurs every single year.

I haven't heard that very often.

So, I guess give me a call,

and we can, certainly,

talk a lot more next week.

- Okay, thanks.

- When I'm back to the office.

- All right.

A call from, here in Bozeman.

People have seen a lot of ads,

that they need to spray their

lawns for disease control.

- Uta, do you think

that's necessary here?

- I don't think that lawn

diseases are a big issue here.

I mean, a lot of the

diseases are caused by fungi.

They typically like

it moist and warm.

I don't know if

that's, necessarily,

so much of an issue here.

I think that's maybe something

that your lawn and tree

care service suggests,

'cause you know, they

have to run a business.

But, I think you might be

fine, skipping that one.

- You know, we got some

snow last night here.

And I don't think it's going

to stick around for good,

quite yet, but we hadn't

got all the leaves raked up.

Is that an important thing

to be getting on top of?

- I raked my leaves

up yesterday, so.

Actually, that's

a good question.

You know, I think it depends on

how thick the leaf

layer is on your lawn.

I think if it's a lot

of leaves on your lawn,

there might just be a risk

that they don't decompose.

And then, you just have

this, like, kind of like,

gluey layer of half-composed

leaves laying on your lawn.

I don't know if it will

cause disease, but you know,

it will like take away

the air and the light

from your lawn, in

the next spring.

- I'm always figured

that could contribute

to the, sort of, the

environmental side

of the disease triangle for

all the fungal diseases.

- Oh yeah. I mean, so

there's this concern of,

there's a snow mold.

So, I think Abby talked

about it last week too.

If, you know, if we

have a lot of snow cover

and our grass blades

are very long,

they can be attacked by

certain fungi that, you know,

seem to thrive under these

temperatures and conditions

that are provided

under the snow cover,

so that can be an issue.

So, in that sense, I think

she recommended to mowed lawn.

I don't know if the leaves

do quite the same thing.

I mean, you know, I think

one idea would be, like,

rake it up or if you

don't want to rake it up,

mow it over with the lawnmower,

and kind of break up

the leaves a little bit,

to help them decompose.

It could be like a little bit

of mulching for your lawn.

- I, first of all,

it's November here,

and to have warm

conditions like we have,

I mowed my yard Friday,

- [Uta] Yeah. I saw that.

- in November, which

we never used to do.

- [Uta] Yeah.

- I mowed it just before we

had that nice, big windstorm.

I mowed the grass very short.

And you know what?

I don't have any

leaves left in my yard

that fell off the citrus trees.

- Oh, there ya go.

- Worked very, very well.

- Perfect.

- It blew away into

your neighbors yard?

- Yeah, exactly.

And it controls snow mold.

- Got hung up in the fence.

- Okay. Question came in

this week and last week,

and I didn't ask it last week

because I hadn't heard of it,

but we talked about

a little bit before.

From Facebook, "Is it okay

to plant Yellow Rattle seeds

in flower beds that are

riddled with a horrible grass

that has a lot of

underground rhizomes?"

First of all, I'd never

heard of Yellow Rattle.

So, you want to

tell us what it is?

- Yes. So, Yellow Rattle is,

it belongs to the

genus, wren sinus.

Excuse me.

I'll just put my plant

nerd credentials out there.

And it's a member of

the scrophularia family.

So, it's a hemi-parasitic

plant, actually.

And it lives, I'm pretty sure

it does not live on grass roots,

but lives on Daisy

roots, of the different.

And so, if you planted it

into a heavy grass stand,

I think it would be okay,

and I think it would grow.

It's a little bit of a weed

that people worry

about in certain-

If you have a really

clean, alfalfa legume,

sort of, grass hay,

it's not desired in that

alfalfa, or sort of-

- Were you planting it because

it's a desirable ornamental?

- I think people have

planted it before,

as an ornamental

plant, but you know,

a weed is just one step away

from an ornamental plant.

Sorry to all the horticultural

people out there.

But, we've introduced a whole

lot of weeds into Montana

that were introduced for

their horticultural value.

And so, sometimes, when

we look at those plants,

and it's an attractive,

little yellow box,

or like a little Yellow

Rattle, that forms on the top.

And so, you know, I don't know

if I would encourage

planting it.

It has been a weed around

the Twin Bridges area,

and, I think, at some other

heavily irrigated pastures.

It needs a lot of moisture.

So, it's usually in

flood irrigated pastures,

where I've seen it, as a weed.

- Okay. I've learned

a lot tonight.

I had never heard of it before.

Thank you, Stephen,

from Phillipsburg,

this caller has had rabbits

eating her car wires.

Is there any way to stop

this from happening?

And I know that's an

issue a lot of places.

- Well, number one,

I would love to have,

have her send me those wires.

I'll be glad to pay for the

pay for the shipping for that.

So, I'm always looking

for damaged items.

I wish there was an easy way.

Short of garaging your field,

there is a product

out of California

that uses a shock mat around

the perimeter of your car.

And you, basically, drive

your car into this grid,

and it uses a shock track,

so animals aren't going to

step towards your vehicle.

But, I think that's not

going to be practical

once we start getting

snow, here in Montana.

I think, ultimately, what

you're going to have to do

is either have some sort of

fence around your vehicle,

put it in the garage,

or try to trap down those

rabbits in your particular area,

or reduce the population.

The problem is, is that

we have some vehicles

are using organic

type of wiring now,

for the installation,

and that seems to be some

thought, it's called Soy.

And some people believe

that that's, actually,

encouraging more

gnawing on these wires.

- [Jack] Okay, thank you.

- [Mac] It doesn't

happen in my old truck.

(group laughing)

- If you've ever been to

the Bugaboos in Canada,

outside of Fernie, you drive

down a really long gravel road.

One that you don't want to,

you don't want to

have car trouble on.

And when you get

to the trail head,

people wrap their

cars in chicken wire,

around the base,

and put rocks on the base,

because they had a really

bad problem of porcupines

chewing vulcanized rubber hoses.

And so, it could be a

tough, tough out there.

So, I have seen

chicken wire and rocks.

- That'll work. That will work.

- We learned something

again tonight.

- That will work.

- We're going to do a little

promo after this next question.

So, I'll let the studio know

that I'm going to

plug a little thing

called, Annie's Project,

after I ask a question.

Will there be herbicide

carry-over caused

That's a good question.

- I would say likely. Yes.

It's a hard thing to predict.

So, when we use herbicides

in our crop fields,

we often use molecules

that have what we call,

a residual half-life.

And we want them to

stay in the field

to continue to affect the weeds.

But, when most herbicides

are broken down,

either through a chemical

reaction that requires water,

or microbes consume it, and

they also require water.

So, in these really

dry drought years

that we've had this year,

sometimes the half-life of

that herbicide is longer.

So, it takes longer

for it to break down.

So next year, there

may well be issues

of herbicide carry-over from

things that were applied year.

I know in Canada,

they've made some,

in Saskatchewan, Alberta,

they've some of the companies

have really talked about,

"Be careful with pulses

and be careful with

oil seeds next year,

where you've sprayed certain

residual herbicides."

So, it definitely could

be a problem next year.

- Okay. I'm going to bring

up a little a blurb here,

there's a project

going on in the state

called Annie's Project.

And they're promoting

empowering women in agriculture.

And that's a six-week program

that starts, actually,

tomorrow night, virtually.

It starts at 6:00 PM,

goes to 8:30. It is $50.

And I tell you, what I've

heard about this program,

it's absolutely incredible.

Women are playing such

a more important role

in agriculture every year.

This would be a good chance

to interact with those women

who are involved

with agriculture.

If you're interested

in joining that group

starting tomorrow night, you

can get a hold of Katrin Finch.

And her number is

(406) 454-6980.

And I'll repeat that

phone number again,

in about 10 minutes, if

you didn't have a pen.

But, folks, this

is a great program.

It's a chance to

learn something.

If I weren't going

to be gone a lot,

I would be joining

this group tomorrow.

So, anyway.

- [Uta] But you're

not a woman, Jack.

- I know, but you can

still learn, right?

(group laughing)

And, actually,

that's a good point.

I think next year, we're going

to really take a special look

at women in agriculture,

on this particular program.

It's high time we do.

And they play a

very critical role

in today's agricultural picture.

Why have you, Uta-

This person would like to know,

is there anything

special they should do

to prepare their

garden for winter?

And Mac, you can jump into.

You guys, just hop on it.

- Yeah, I think that's

a great question.

And I guess applause to

the person for, you know,

thinking about that and

asking that question.

You know, I think there

are a lot of things,

we already talked about leaves.

I want to add here, if

you have a tree or shrub

in your yard or in your garden

that has some disease issues

and foliar disease issue,

I would think it's

especially important

that you rake up those leaves

and actually dispose of them.

So, put them in the garbage

rather than composting them.

'Cause those leaves

can often, you know,

be a place where the

pathogen overwinters

and then re-infect the tree

in new, the next season.

And then while we're talking

about, you know, sick plants,

I'm a pathologist.

So, I think it's a great

idea at the end of the season

to sanitize your garden tools

to really kill off the germs

that, you know, are

maybe residing on there.

So, your tools that

you use for pruning,

but also for example,

your wheel barrel or other

things that you carry sod with.

Your pots, once

you've emptied them,

you want to wash them,

rinse them, sanitize them.

That would be something

important to do,

and just sets you up for a

successful season the next year.

- I agree. Anything

you want to add?

- Yeah. Clean up.

Look for your tools, and bring

them inside, and oil handles.

- So, my frozen,

cold cucumber vines

that still have the

last stragglers,

I should go clean those up and

pull them out of the garden?

- You know, it's probably

not the end of the world.

But, you know, in this

number, of specific cases,

are mind boggling.

But, there are diseases and pest

that will proliferate

on, you know,

either from the presence

from your old cucumber vine,

or just having residue

on the surface residue.

And residue on the

surface can be good

for many aspects

of soil quality,

but they can also

harbor pests, and so.

Some fall tillage, or

just turning things over

and covering things up,

can be beneficial from some of

the insect pest perspectives.

- Okay. Thank you, folks.

Stephen. From Billings,

this person has soft-wooded

trees in a ditch

that are about six

inches in circumference.

They're being gnawed

down by a beaver.

How do you get rid

of these beaver

without destroying the

ditch bank behind your home?

Legally.

- Well, you'd want

to be trapping.

And so, seasons should be here.

I think it's seasons

going on right now.

So, if you can

find a fur trapper,

who'd be interested in

trapping those beaver,

then that would certainly be

the easiest way to go forward.

Otherwise, you're looking at

either some sort of

fencing situation,

or a mixture of paint

and masonry sand,

that can sometimes

be placed on trees

to prevent their gnawing.

It's not a foolproof.

And so, generally speaking,

if the beaver doesn't have

alternative trees to feed on,

it's not going to be something

that's going to be

very effective for you.

So, I think if you're

having tree damage,

trapping and removal system

is going to be the

way forward for you.

- Okay. Thank you.

I like this one. Mac, you ready?

- Okay. What do we got?

This person from Townsend,

like Split Pea soup.

They want to know

why Split Pea soup

is always made with green

peas and not yellow peas?

- You can make it

with yellow peas

and just call it, "Dal," right?

(group laughing)

- Well, I, you know, if you

ordered in a restaurant,

and I happen to like it,

it's always green peas.

Is there a nutritional

reason or quality reason?

- You know, the yellow

peas and yellow lentils

are eaten in other countries,

and, you know, enjoy

them too. They're great.

But yeah, green are

traditional, I guess.

- This summer, at

a cropping tour,

The Streetery out of Havard,

they actually made some really

delicious Yellow Pea hummus.

- [Jack] I like that.

- Yep.

- Yeah. I do those

Crimson-red lentils

that are decorticated

and they're, kind of,

pink-red in color and they

make a real nice soup.

- Okay.

- If you want to call it that?

- Well, have-

- A little bit of garlic.

- Isn't that what

pulse means, right?

Pulse means-

- [Jack] Soup.

- Yeah, pulse means,

soup or a stew. Yeah.

- Okay. Well, now that

we got that settled.

- [Uta] I'm getting hungry.

(group laughing)

- Yeah.

Steve, and this is

another interesting one.

From Plains, the caller

has seen and heard

of plastic sunflowers

that are placed

in the ground by plants.

They make a noise and scare

away voles and rabbits.

Have you heard of that before?

- Not that specific

frightening device.

I'd love to hear more about it,

but here's the rule of thumb.

The rule of thumb for

wildlife control is,

"If it's easy, and

something simple,

and inexpensive, and

you want to do it,

it probably won't work."

So, unfortunately, that's

just the reality of it.

The reason is because

the animal can come at it

from a different angle.

Like, you know, people

will try repellents

of various forms,

and often they don't

have the kind of success

that people want to have.

So, I would be highly skeptical.

I have photo of a

vibrating-type device

that was used to repel voles,

and you can see the

vole damage around it.

A lot of this stuff

simply doesn't work.

So, I would be very cautious

about putting money into that.

- Why I have you up,

and we have a lot of

questions about voles,

and every time you're on,

we get a lot of

questions about voles.

It comes down to, most

people want to know,

what's the best

way to trap voles?

And I think you probably

sent some pictures down

showing vole traps, or am I-

- And I have a publication,

on our website,

on vole control.

So, if you can find the

trails, take your mouse trap.

You want to use an

expanded trigger mousetrap,

and you don't even

need to bait it.

You can then put

it perpendicular

so that the trigger

is right in the trail,

and just line them up, and

start trapping your voles.

You can also use your

multiple-catch mousetraps,

and just put the opening

right in the trail,

and they'll run right in.

Vole aren't that smart.

And just trap aggressively.

And keep that debris down,

and that's going to be

very important for you.

- So, right now is the time?

- Troll, aggressively,

now before the snow hits.

- Yep.

- Okay. Thank you.

- Absolutely.

- Uta, you had

something here earlier,

that you're showing me.

You want to show the

audience what you have here,

as kind of a show and tell?

- All right. I wanted to

or I brought along today,

the, what's it called?

It's a calendar.

It's produced by the

Urban IPM program,

or the it's the MSU

Extension IPM program.

But, this calendar is

specifically focusing

on Urban IPM, and

it's for next year.

So, this is a great

time to grab some,

and then, you know, give it

to your friends and neighbors,

or hang it up in your house.

So, it's really pretty.

I hope, you know, you

can already make that out

from the cover,

but what's really

nice about this,

is it has, for every month of

the year, some tips, you know,

that are just around house

and garden care, et cetera.

And yeah, it's a, kind

of, a product that is,

you know, we put a

lot of effort in,

and it turns out

really nice every year.

So, if you are

interested in these,

they are for free, and every

county extension office

across the state has several

of those laying around.

So, you just stopped

by, and ask for a copy,

and it's yours.

- I've been into a

lot of nursery shops

over the last few years,

stocking up on plants

that the voles have

eaten and so forth.

But anyways, I see those in

most of these nursery shops.

And I think they're great.

And thank you for showing us.

Stephen.

- Yes.

- Back to you.

And this one, I can

kind of relate to.

From Missoula, this

caller has a skunk

in the basement of

her older house.

How can she get rid of it?

- Okay, well, I have a

publication on skunks as well.

So, you want to get a cage trap

that is at least 7 x 7 x 24.

And then you also want to

get an old cloth cover.

You can use a larger

trap if you wish,

but the minimum size

would be 7 x 7 x 24,

and that's an inches.

And so, you'd want

to get a cover,

some sort of an old cloth,

that would cover at least half

of the length of the trap,

typically, where

the bait area is.

Get some fried chicken.

Set your trap so

it's a very stable,

you don't want any

movement in that trap

when the skunks walk it in.

Put the fried

chicken in the back.

Cover the trap so you have

a blind place to come to.

And then capture it.

And that way, when

you capture it,

you can then take it out of

your basement and let it loose,

if you let loose your backyard,

or dispatch it, accordingly.

But, you know, you're not

going to be trans-locating it.

If you're gentle with that trap,

you shouldn't have

the skunk smelling,

Make sure you know how

to set and open the door.

Because once the skunks inside,

if you're going to

be releasing it,

you need to be sure you know

how to quickly open that door.

You're always wearing

gloves and safety equipment.

Happy to give you more

advice from my publication,

or you can call me, as well.

That's basically it.

It's pretty easy project.

- Okay. I'm going to

follow-up skunk, a little bit,

because I learned

something this year

from one of my

golden retrievers.

If they get skunked,

or you get a little bit,

and you treat 'em

with something like,

Skunk-Off, or some

of these products,

you have to do it before

you give them a bath.

Is that correct? And if so, why?

- Well, I recommend when

people are having a dog issue,

you want to be sure, don't

let the dog in the house.

That's very important.

Wear gloves.

And then you want to

be wearing gloves,

and you want to use a product-

You want to use a

cup of baking soda,

a pint, or I think it's a

quart of hydrogen peroxide,

and one tablespoon of

liquid dish detergent.

Mix that fresh,

and then simply

place it, you know,

pour that over where the dog-

Keep it out of the

dog's mouth and eyes.

And it actually

de-natures the odor.

Don't use tomato juice.

Don't use a lot of

this other stuff.

Skunk-Off may work,

but you'll find that the

hydrogen peroxide formula

is chemically proven to

denature the odor, and so.

- [Jack] It's a lot cheaper.

- And it's cheap.

- It's very easy to

use. Just mix it fresh.

Don't mix it in advance.

Just keep the materials

around. It's very good,

But, don't let that

dog in the house,

because that odor

can just contaminate

a whole host of things,

and you'll rule-the-day if

it gets into your house.

- My dog was out in the

garage for a lot longer

and he preferred to be

there, I will tell you that.

(group laughing)

Another question, this isn't

on peas, this is on lentils.

Mac said that he

uses red lentils.

Can you actually tell

the difference in tastes

of their various,

different colored lentils?

- I don't know if you

could do the taste.

There's definitely textural

differences and size differences

among them.

But, some of the smaller ones

that have their seed

coat on them still,

can stay kind of

crunchy or al dente.

And then, your typical

green lentils, you know,

you taste the- Not you taste.

You experience the

fiber on the skins,

and those red lentils

I was talking about,

those do turn into a

much smoother texture

because those skins

have been rubbed off.

- Yeah. They cook much

mushier, quicklier,

where you end up

with more like a dal,

or something like that.

Where as, the green

lentils tend to, at least-

Yeah, I think it's texture.

- Yeah, they stay

a little chewier.

And then there's some of

those small ones, like I said,

you know, especially, if

you don't cook them as long,

they can have more

of an al dente-

- [Jack] Okay. Thank you.

- Experience.

I'd like to do a blind

taste test on you.

We'll see if he can

tell 'em apart. (laughs)

- I'm going to another good

one for Stephen, in a minute.

But, before we do that,

I have another one here

that fascinates me.

This person from Conrad,

wants to know the

difference between

wild oats and regular oats.

- Wild oats and regular oats,

they're both in the

same genus of plants,

and that's Avena.

So, when you go to

the grocery store,

and you look at the

Avena soap on the aisle,

it'll be called,

"Aveeno" or something.

They are two different species.

Cultivated oats are

much larger in size

and their seed coat

is not as tough.

Wild oats are, you know,

we have to sew our wild oats,

and they're pretty tough seeds.

They live a long time. They

have a thick seed coat,

and there's not as much sort

of germ plasm in there to eat.

The actual genus of

plants is pretty big.

There's a lot of wild

oat grasses and oat

- So, what makes them weedy

is that seed dormancy then?

- Yeah, the seed dormancy,

they grow more rapidly and

their fruit is smaller.

- We get resistance to

wild oats, quite rapidly,

with the herbicides that

we've used, is that correct?

- Yes, we do, in Montana,

herbicide-resistant,

wild oats is, probably,

one of our biggest problems

when it comes to

herbicide resistance.

And we do have multiple

herbicide-resistant wild oats.

And the Fairfield Bench,

I think with the

irrigated barley,

or some of the barley

that's been up there,

was a real focal point of it

in the 90s and the early 2000s,

but it's also spread

across the state.

And now, we have

wild oat problems

where we have resistance

to the grassy herbicides

that we would normally use in

peas, and lentils, and pulses.

And so, wild oat can become

problematic in there too.

But, it's definitely

more of a spring wheat,

so it's a spring

wheat, pulse crop weed,

not so much a winter wheat weed.

- Okay. Thank you.

Stephen, question from Missoula,

and they say they are

plagued by Fox squirrels.

Once they found this

person's Apricot tree,

they never tasted a ripe one.

They only want the

innermost core,

the fruit is discorded,

and my dog's gave up.

Had a similar problem

with raccoons.

Is it time to get rid of

the apricots and plums,

or any suggestions?

- No, I think that, you know,

you have a couple of options.

One, you know, population

reduction, of course,

but also though, that

flashing wrapping of the tree

is certainly something

to be thinking about,

especially if your tree

is relatively isolated,

but if it's not,

you can do all the

trees that are nearby it

to prevent the squirrels from

being able to climb the trunk.

And so, you'd want to have

at least three feet wide

and probably four feet,

starting four feet

off the ground,

really make the force

that squirrel to commit,

and then layer it like

you would shingles.

So, you'd always have one wrap

underneath the wrap above it,

and then you'd want to have

little quarter-inch dowels

between the flashing

and the tree

so that there's some air flow

so you don't get mold fungus

growing underneath that,

but moisture dry out.

- I haven't seen a ripe

apricot in Bozeman since 2007.

(group laughing)

You might, you might

need to put bird net too,

as they ripen, or?

- Well, the bird netting

might get chewed through

by the squirrel.

So, you'd want to,

it's certainly, if

you'd have to be thinking metal,

because squirrels are

beaver that climb.

And you want to be sure that

you're being aggressive,

not, you know-

So there's also, maybe

some electrical fencing

that can work for you as well.

It depends on how much effort

you really want

to put into this,

but there can be some

ways to at least diminish

some of this damage for you.

- Okay. Thanks, Stephen.

A comment from Billings.

This person says you can

get a Deprivation Tag

for beavers from the

Department of Fish and Game,

and get a permit from the

agency to trap the beavers

in the summer.

So that's good to know.

- [Stephen] That's correct.

- Uta, this is an

interesting one,

and I can't remember a

little bit about this.

Black Walnut trees,

and we do have a

few in the state,

have a toxin associated with it.

I think it's called juglon

toxin and or something.

Does that prevent other plants

from growing under Black Walnut?

I think it does, but I

don't remember for sure.

- Yeah. I don't know

what the toxin is called,

but it rings a bell, I think.

Yeah. It's like a

nifty little trick

that this tree has developed,

that it suppresses anything

else growing nearby.

So with Walnut trees,

I think it's important

that you rake up the leaves

to maintain your lawn, you know.

I think that's all that

I can say about that.

- Yeah, that's the thing.

Yeah, the outsides of the fruits

is where most of the toxins is.

- Oh, not even the

leaves, the fruits?

- I think it's

mostly the fruits.

And you know, my

neighbor down the street

has a Black Walnut tree.

And just in the last few years,

as climate change has made

it a little bit warmer,

we start to see them

make a few fruits.

- That's interesting.

- Okay, Stephen,

you're back on board.

And we've had several

questions about Pocket gophers.

And almost everybody says,

"They're a pain and they

want to get rid of them."

Any suggestions?

- Sure. I have a publication

on Pocket gophers, as well.

So, you have various options.

You have, of course, trapping

is the preferred method,

actually, the best method.

But, if you have

lots of acreage,

then you probably

want to be looking at,

for some sort of Rodenticide.

Strychnine is the best toxicant,

but it's also one of

the most expensive.

And you also have zinc phosphate

and, also, chloracetophenone,

and a diphenadione

product as well.

All those Rodenticides

are placed below ground

in the main tunnel.

Make sure there's no

access to the surface.

Read that label carefully.

Always treat fresh mounds.

And the same thing occurs when

we're talking about trapping,

you're always focusing

on the fresh damage.

And if you work

hard enough at it,

you will get enough success

to eliminate them

from your landscape.

- Thank you. I'm going to

mention that phone number again,

for the program on empowering

women in agriculture,

you can Katrin Finch

and the number is

(406) 454-6980.

It starts tomorrow

night at six o'clock.

So, the rerun next week,

you'll know that you're

already late for registering.

So, if you want to register,

you need to do it

tomorrow before 6:00 PM.

Okay. I have a question here

that I find interesting

from Belgrade.

This person was cleaning

up their flower bed,

and found that the tulip

bulbs were emerging.

Will they last

through the winter?

It's all yours.

- It depends on how

much they come up.

(group laughing)

- I have not observed that.

- I haven't either, but

it's been a warm fall.

- It sure has.

- Yeah. It's very possible.

One last question for Tim.

This person wants to

grow a rye for grain.

Does that increase the chance

of them getting feral rye?

- Yes. You can

grow rye for grain.

It is not done very

much in Montana.

I do know of a couple of

organic growers who do grow rye.

But, you can end up with

some feral rye problems

if you have a lot of volunteer,

your fields don't clean up.

It's not quite the same.

You know, it's really more

of a volunteer rye problem.

Feral rye can happen,

but that was, actually,

the feral rye problems that

they have further to our south,

that came from rye

that went feral,

so the genetics is a little

bit different on that.

- All right. Thank you.

- Now, a lot of

Montana wheat growers

have spent their childhood

hand-walking wheat fields,

growing that out.

That might not be

popular with a-

- It might not be

so popular and-

- Some of your neighbors.

- Yeah. There's some

people that, you know,

I do know of a couple

of organic growers

who are growing rye,

but not very many.

- Okay.

- Does Triticale have the

similar issue of becoming

weedy in wheat?

- No, not as much as I've seen.

You know, I have seen some

sort of volunteer Triticale,

or weedy Triticale

in years after,

but it's nowhere the same

as, as the feral rye problem.

All right, there.

- Folks, we're getting

down to the end here.

I've got one thing I want

to ask Stephen real quickly.

This person says that,

"If they use steel

wool, that it keeps mice

out of coming in the

house." Is that true?

- It would be steel wool,

but I recommend not

using steel wool

because it does a rust.

So, I would recommend Xcluder

fabric, which is spelled,

X-C-L-U-D-E-R.

So, that's stainless

steel shards,

embedded into a plastic mat.

- Stephen, I got to cut you off.

We're just out of time here.

Next week, Joel

Schumacher will be here

talking about labor

crunches in agriculture.

Folks, thanks for watching.

Steve, thanks for

being here. Good night.

- [Narrator] For more

information and resources,

visit montanapbs.org/aglive.

(soft dueling guitar music)

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,

The Galatin Gardeners Club,

and the Rocky Mountain

Certified Crop Advisor Program.

(slow, dueling guitar music)