Sap-sucking Bugs Make a Mess of Indiana's State Tree

Tuliptree with scale and
sooty mold (Purdue PPDL)

Across Indiana this week, homeowners with tulip poplar trees could be finding their cars and landscape plants covered in a mysterious sticky film. This time of year tulip poplars are easily recognized by leaves whose shape resembles a tulip and the two inch long lime green and orange flowers in the tree canopy.

The culprit in this sticky mess could be the tulip tree scale insect, a small sap-sucking bug that feeds on the trees’ branches. Declared as the state tree of Indiana in 1931, tulip poplars are well-regarded and widely planted for their beautiful flowers and form, shade, and rapid growth. The tree’s sap carries vital nutrients, and feeding by the insect can cause damage to the trees in addition to the unsightly mess.  <Read More>

June Home, Yard, and Garden Calendar

HOME (Indoor plants and activities)

Indoor plants will require more frequent watering and fertilization as they increase their summer growth.

Houseplants can be moved outdoors to a shady location, but pay close attention to their watering needs.

YARD (Lawns, woody ornamentals and fruits)

Prune spring-flowering shrubs after blooms fade.

Apply fungicide to prevent and control black spot on roses.


GARDEN (Vegetables, small fruits and flowers)

Discontinue harvest of asparagus and rhubarb around mid-June to allow foliage to develop and store food reserves for next year’s harvest. Fertilize and water when dry to promote healthy growth.

Mulch to control weeds and conserve soil moisture after soil has warmed. Many materials such as straw, chopped corncobs, bark chips, shredded paper and grass clippings can be used.  <Read More>

Weekly Outlook - Pork Producers Ask, What Happened?

There is an old saying that, “Life is what actually happens when you’re planning on something else!” That adage is playing out for pork producers this spring. The spring hog price rally has not occurred and feed costs have now pushed to record high levels. This combination is resulting in a disappointing period of financial losses this spring and summer that was not anticipated earlier this year.

Hog prices normally shoot up in the spring. In fact, in the past 5 years, live hog prices rose by an average of about $11 per hundredweight from early April to mid-May. This year, prices struggled to hold on to their early April levels in the low $60s. The reasons for the lack of a spring rally are not totally clear. Perhaps there was too much anticipation of high spring and summer hog prices earlier in the year. June lean hog futures, for example, reached levels equivalent to about $76 per live hundredweight in late February. This was just before the “lean finely textured beef” issue hit the media waves that sent livestock futures prices down. The lowest cattle futures prices came on more bad news announcing a fourth BSE cow on April 24. Lean hog futures then bottomed about 10 days later.  <Read More>

Poison Hemlock - A Mini Review

Travis Legleiter and Bill Johnson – Purdue Extension Weed Science Specialists

We have received a couple of calls on poison hemlock this spring with concerns of its presence in the Indiana landscape. The appearance of poison hemlock on roadsides and fencerows of Indiana is not new, but the weed may be more prevalent this year as it came out of winter dormancy and has been rapidly growing since the unusually warm days of early March. I myself noticed it being one of the first plants to green up in the roadside ditches this winter as I traveled the state (Image 1). The presence of this weed is not new in Indiana as I can find articles in the Purdue weed science database back to 2003 on the subject of poison hemlock. The largest threat of this weed is the toxicity of it’s alkaloids if ingested by livestock or humans, but it can also be harmful to aesthetic values and has been reported to creep into no-till corn and soybean fields as well.

Image 1. Photo of a green and growing poison hemlock plant in a roadside ditch taken on March 7, 2012 in central Indiana.

Biology and Identification
Poison Hemlock is a biennual weed that exists as a low growing herb in the first year and bolts to three to eight feet tall in the second year and produces flowers and seed. It is often not noticed or identified as a problem until the bolting and reproductive stages of the second year. The alternate compound leaves are pinnate (finely divided several times) and are usually triangular in outline. Flowers are white and occur in an umbel inflorescence. Poison hemlock is often confused with wild carrot but can be distinguished by its lack of hairs and purple blotches that occur on the stems.

Toxic Properties
Poison hemlock contains five alkaloids that are toxic to humans and livestock if ingested and can be lethal. All parts of the plants contain the toxic alkaloids with levels being variable throughout the year. Symptoms of toxicity include nervousness, trembling, and loss of coordination followed by depression, coma, and/or death. Initial symptoms will occur within a few hours of ingestion.

Cases of poisoning due to poison hemlock ingestion are rare as the plants emit a mousy odor that makes it undesirable and unpalatable to livestock and humans. Consumption and toxicity in animals usually occurs in poorly managed or overgrazed pastures where animals are forced to graze poison hemlock.

Control
Control of poison hemlock with herbicide is most effective when applied to plants in the first year of growth or prior to bolting and flowering in the second year. The closer to reproductive stages, the less effective the herbicide. In roadside ditches, pastures, and waste areas, herbicides containing triclopyr (Remedy Ultra) or triclopyr plus 2,4-D (Crossbow) are most effective in controlling poison hemlock. Other herbicides that provide adequate control when applied at the proper timing are dicamba (Clarity, Banvel), metsulfuron-methyl (Cimarron, Escort XP), metsulfuron-methyl plus dicamba (Cimarron Max) and clopyralid plus 2,4-D (Curtail).

For information on control of poison hemlock in corn and soybean please refer to a previous Purdue Weed Science article: Poison Hemlock Control in Corn and Soybeans.

For further information on toxic plants in Indiana refer to the Purdue University Weed Science Guide to Toxic Plants in Forages

Prevalent Purple Plants Perennially Puzzle Producers

Like the swallows that return every year to San Juan Capistrano, it seems that purpling in young corn returns every year somewhere in Indiana. In recent days, I have received several reports of purpling from widely scattered areas of the state. While mildly attractive from an ornamental standpoint, landlords and tenants alike often become concerned when they see their fields take on a purplish hue that is clearly evident from the window of the pickup at 60 mph.

Biochemical Cause of Purpling. Purpling of corn plant tissue results from the formation of reddish-purple anthocyanin pigments that occur in the form of water-soluble cyanidin glucosides or pelargonidin glucosides (Kim, 1998). A hybrid’s genetic makeup greatly determines whether corn plants are able to produce anthocyanin. A hybrid may have none, one, or many genes that can trigger production of anthocyanin. That is the reason why purpling may appear in only one of two hybrids planted in the same field. Purpling can also appear in the silks, anthers and even coleoptile tips of a corn plant. <Read More> 

Black Cutworm Flocks to Indiana; Scouting Proves Critical

Record numbers of black cutworm moths have descended upon Indiana fields, and after a week of warm temperatures and rainfall now is a critical time to scout, a Purdue Extension entomologist says.

Pheromone trap cooperators throughout the state monitor for the insect's arrival, which has the potential to cause significant economic damage to field crops. A round of storms originating in southern states in March brought not only rain to Indiana, but cutworm populations not previously seen. Since that time additional captures have had the trappers very busy counting. 

According to John Obermeyer, the key to successfully controlling the insect is to scout early and often and to apply insecticides when larvae are small - especially because large larvae are difficult to control.  <Read More>

Buttercup Bonanza

Buttercup in pasture (The Buttercups of Indiana)

Does your pasture or barn lot look like this?  If so, you likely have an influx of buttercup; and you are not alone.  This weed has been very prevalent in area pastures this spring, due at least in part to a mild winter and early spring. 

The name buttercup is actually a common name associated with approximately 20 different weed species that are found in Indiana.  To complicate matters further, petal number and leaf appearance can vary within the same species, occasionally making exact identification difficult. 

The main concern with buttercup, regardless of species, is its toxicity to livestock.  While the amount required to be consumed to cause poisoning symptoms varies among species, all have the potential to cause drooling, diarrhea, weakness, bleeding, etc.  The good news is livestock rarely consume the weed, especially if there is an adequate supply of desirable forage.  Also, buttercup toxicity does not carry through to hay crops due to the break down of the toxins as the hay dries. 

Control of buttercup can be accomplished through a combination of soil testing/soil amending, mowing, and herbicide applications.  Additional information on buttercup biology and control, including specific herbicide recommendations, can be found in the Purdue Weed Science bulletin, The Buttercups of Indiana.          

Weekly Outlook - Corn Prices in Three Parts

Corn prices have recently moved in three distinct patterns. These include the patterns for new crop futures, old crop futures, and old crop cash prices.

December 2012 futures reached a high of $6.735 on August 31, 2011and declined erratically to the current low of $5.15. The decline since the third week of April totaled about $.50. Continued weakness reflects a combination of large crop expectations and demand concerns. The early planting season along with non-threatening weather conditions to date have created expectations for an above-trend yield in 2012. In combination with large acreage, yield expectations point to a crop well above 14 billion bushels. New crop demand concerns are in two categories. First, the delayed and likely slow implementation of 15 percent ethanol blends in the U.S. fuel supply point to stagnating corn consumption in that category next year as the E10 blend wall rapidly approaches. Second, the European debt crisis, a slower pace of economic growth in China, and the slow pace of job creation in the U.S. dampen commodity demand expectations for the year ahead. The one bright spot may be a larger export market for U.S. corn as the USDA has recently announced large sales to both China and “unknown” destinations. Conditions currently point to a substantial build-up of U.S. corn inventories next year and increasing expectations that prices will return to the lower averages experienced in the 2007-08 through 2009-10 marketing years. Average prices received by farmers in that three year period averaged just under $4.00.  <Read More>

In The Grow - Q & A

Q. What is the best way to eradicate henbit? Would a weed-and-feed in fall or spring be most effective? Would a spray weed killer be most effective in spring or fall? Could you use a pre-emergence like crabgrass preventer in the fall?

A. Henbit is a winter annual, meaning it germinates from seed in the fall, overwinters in a dormant state and then blooms and sets seed to complete its lifecycle in late winter/early spring. By mid- to late spring, the foliage will turn yellow, but if allowed to remain until then, it will have produced a lot of seed to germinate in years to come.  <Read More> 

Weekly Outlook - Is the Cattle Market Too Cautious?

The beef industry was stung by two negative events in the past two months that have left market traders uncertain about their longer term impacts. For now, market participants are taking a cautious approach until consumers more clearly define if they will reduce beef consumption.

The issue over lean finely textured beef (LFTB) played badly for cattle producers in early March and the fourth BSE cow found in the U.S. was announced on April 24. Finished cattle prices were about $129 per live hundredweight in early March before these news events, but have since declined to about $120. The decline in cash cattle prices has not been as severe as the drop in live cattle futures. At the start of March, June 2012 live cattle futures settled near $128, but declined about $15 to $113 as of April 27. In a similar manner, the December 2012 live cattle futures have declined by about $12 per hundredweight since the first of March. <Read More>

Early Planted Corn Developing Slowly

Planting of the 2012 corn crop in Indiana got off to its earliest ever start. By April 8, an estimated 6 percent of the state's corn crop was already planted and that increased to 24% by the following week (USDA-NASS, 2012). The early rush to begin planting corn was fueled by the unusually warm late March temperatures, soil conditions that were favorable for field activities and.................................. memories of the near-record breaking delayed planting of the 2011 corn crop. So, how is that crop faring nearly a month after some of it was planted? <Read More>