In The Grow - Q & A

Rosie Lerner, Purdue Extension Consumer Horticulture Specialist

Q. I have a cat that has been digging up the soil in my houseplants. I read in a magazine that mothballs can be used to keep rabbits out of the garden, so I'm wondering if I can use them on the top of the soil to discourage the cat.

A. In a nutshell, don't do it! While it is not uncommon to see mothballs recommended for repelling rodents and other animal pests, it is a dangerous and illegal practice. Mothballs, flakes and crystals are Environmental Protection Agency-registered insecticides, and they are not intended for use in the manner you suggest, in either the indoor or outdoor garden. In fact, they pose serious health risks to cats, dogs, and humans, and perhaps even to the plant you want to protect. In addition to the risk of ingestion, exposure to eyes and skin, and inhalation of the fumes can all lead to serious illness or injury. Further, it is illegal to recommend use of these products in a manner that is inconsistent with the pesticide label.

Mothballs have a high percentage of active ingredient, either naphthalene or paradichlorobenzene. These chemicals vaporize at fairly low temperatures, so they are particularly dangerous indoors at room temperature. Naphthalene is the more toxic of the two, but both have great potential to cause harm. These products should only be used according to label directions. Like all other pesticides, keep them out of reach of children and pets.

For more information on common misuse of moth-repellent products, see
http://www.ag.purdue.edu/entm/wildlifehotline/Pages/pesticides.aspx and http://npic.orst.edu/ingred/ptype/mothball/index.html.

Q. Some of the spring flowering bulbs that I planted this fall are sprouting and showing some foliage above the ground in early January. Is there anything I should do to protect them through the rest of winter?

A. Lots of gardeners are noticing their bulbs coming up, since the weather has been so mild, and there has not been much, if any, snow cover in many areas of the state. The most dramatic response is with early flowering bulbs, such as snowdrops, early tulips, daffodils and crocus. These plants may be showing a bit of their foliage above ground now, especially those that were planted near buildings or other warm, protected locations.

Snowdrops, an early-spring flowering bulb, in Purdue's Horticulture Gardens. (image provided by Rosie Lerner)

These leaves will likely be nipped back once the temperatures drop back down below freezing again. In most cases, flower buds will remain protected inside the bulb below ground. If the warm temperatures continue for an extended period, the flower buds also may break out; some of the really early spring bulbs, such as snowdrops, may already have done so. Those blossoms that do show their heads will be nipped by a hard freeze once more normal temperatures prevail. However, the bulbs themselves will survive and come back next year, even if the flowers don't make it to spring this year.

There's not much a gardener can do to prevent nature from taking its course. Mulching over the plants now might smother them and would actually encourage growth by warming the soil further. And we have a lot more winter to get through before we know how the plants will fare.

Weekly Outlook - Understanding the Surprise in the USDA Corn Stocks Estimate (from 1/17/2012)

The corn market was surprised by the USDA’s final 2011 corn production estimate and the estimate of December 1, 2011 corn stocks.  The March 2012 futures price declined by $0.52 per bushel in the two sessions following the release of the reports. 

At 9.642 billion bushels, December 1 corn stocks were 425 million bushels smaller than those of a year ago and the smallest in 5 years, but were about 240 million bushels larger than the average of the reported trade guesses.  Those guesses were in an extremely wide range of 500 million bushels.  Three of the 15 analyst guesses reported by Dow Jones were 9.55 billion bushels or larger, so not everyone was surprised by the USDA estimate.

Part of the surprise in the magnitude of December 1 stocks came as a result of the average expectation of a smaller 2011 crop estimate.  With the absence of any supporting evidence, it is not clear why, on average, analysts expected a 30 million bushel reduction in the estimated size of the crop.  The USDA estimate was a very modest 48 million bushels (0.4 percent) larger than the November 2011 forecast.  The 78 million bushel difference between expected and actual production accounts for about one third of the surprise in the stocks estimate.  The remainder of the surprise is the result of incorrect expectations about the level of feed and residual use of corn during the first quarter of the 2011-12 marketing year. <Read More> 

Little Insects on the Prairie

Almost everyone has read or heard a story that begins with, "Once upon a time." That phrase is often used to introduce a fable or a tale with its origins in bygone days. For example, "The Story of the Three Bears" begins, "Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Goldilocks."

Once upon a time in the Midwestern United States there existed a major ecosystem - the tallgrass prairie. It covered some 142 million acres from western Indiana through Illinois and Iowa to the eastern parts of
Nebraska and Kansas.

The first Europeans to see the tallgrass prairie called it a treeless plain and generally did not perceive the land to be of much value. Some of the first farmers agreed, and in the words of one Illinois settler, "The land here is the worst I have seen since I left the banks of the Ohio." Indeed, Thomas Jefferson acquired most of this area for the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase for three cents an acre. <Read More>