March 2005

Back Issues: September '98, October '98, November '98, December '98, January '99,
February '99, March '99, April '99, May '99, June '99, July '99, August '99, September '99,
October '99, November '99, December '99, January '00, February '00, April '00, May '00,
July '00, August '00, September '00, October '00, November '00, December '00,
January '01, February '01, March '01, April '01, May '01, June '01, July '01,
September'01, October '01, November '01, December '01, January '02, February '02(NA),
March '02, April '02, May '02, June '02, July '02, August '02, September '02, October '02,
November '02, December '02, January '03, March '03, April '03, May '03(NA), June '03(NA),
July '03, August '03, September '03, October '03, November '03, December '03, January '04
February '04, March '04(NA), April '04, May '04, June '04(NA), July '04, August '04, September '04
October '04, November '04, December '04, January '05(NA), February '05

How To Build A Simple Pond For Native Frogs By Carol Savonen, Oregon State University. Disclaimer. If you build it, they will come. This spring, Oregon State University Extension Service 4-H Wildlife Stewards Program students would like to encourage home gardeners and their kids to create their own backyard frog pond. With a minimal amount of effort, you may be able to attract Pacific chorus frogs to your property. Providing water, plants and cover will meet most of these frogs' needs. Areas with tall grass and shrubs provide cover for frogs to hide from predators. Frogs can also use logs, rocks, and brush piles. The Pacific chorus frog, formerly known as the Pacific tree frog, is the most abundant species of frog in Oregon. Ranging from southern British Columbia (Canada) to southern Baja California (Mexico), these tiny frogs are found over much of Oregon. The frogs can live in many different types of habitats, including wooded areas, meadows, pasture, and towns and yes, even urban areas. They spend their time close to the ground, in grass and shrubs. When they lay their eggs, they must stay near water. Variable in appearance, Pacific chorus frogs range in color from bright green to brown, reddish or gray. They have a dark mark that goes from their nostrils to their shoulders and looks like a mask. Some have dark stripes and spots on their backs. They can change color to match their background. A pond for Pacific chorus frogs should be at least 20 inches deep and have about half open water and half plants. Plants are important to frogs because they supply oxygen, hiding places and places to attach eggs. They also are attractive homes for the spiders and insects that frogs eat. Algae are important as food for the tadpoles, but too much algae is bad for your pond. The sun makes algae grow. You'll want to shade the pond to control the amount of algae that grows. In the spring, male Pacific chorus frogs find pools and ponds and call females to these spots. Odds are, when you hear frogs croaking in the spring, they probably are Pacific chorus frogs. The males hide in grass and shrubs and fill up their throat with air to make their call. A female lays 400 to 750 eggs each year. She lays the eggs in groups of 10 to 70, held together by a slimy jelly. The groups usually look like small, loose clusters and are attached by jelly to grass, stems, and sticks in the water. The eggs seem lumpy and mostly clear with dark specks. In about 10 to 12 days, the eggs hatch into tadpoles. The brown tadpoles mostly eat algae and dead plants and animals. Their tadpoles are brown and when fully grown are about two inches long, including their tail. Like fish, they breathe through gills. Tadpoles go through metamorphosis, growing legs and losing their tails and gills and develop lungs. They go from being herbivores (plant eaters) to carnivores, meaning they eat bugs and other living creatures. Pacific chorus frog tadpoles usually are about two months old when they become frogs. Newly metamorphosed frogs are only 1/2 inch long. These small frogs need lots of food to grow to full size. They eat spiders and insects, including beetles and ants. Insects, fish, snakes, birds, mammals, and other frogs eat pacific chorus frog tadpoles. Adult frogs serve as prey for hawks, owls, skunks, raccoons, snakes and other critters. In your pond, take care to use only plants that are native to Oregon, found naturally in your area. The OSU 4-H Wildlife Stewards recommend planting a mix of submerged (underwater) plants, floating plants, and emergent (growing on the banks) plants. A list of recommended native plants for frog ponds in Oregon can be found on the WWW at: http://eesc.orst.edu/agcomwebfile/edmat/html/EC/EC1542/EC1542.html#t11 In the winter, these frogs hibernate, hiding in leaves, logs and mud to stay warm. Let your pond dry out after the frogs emerge as adults. Ponds that dry out in late summer are good for Pacific chorus frogs, because fish and bullfrogs, predators of chorus frogs, cannot survive in a temporary pond. OSU 4-H Wildlife Stewards are trained volunteers working in partnership with public and private agencies to assist students and teachers in creating, developing, using and sustaining wildlife habitat on school grounds. The National Science Foundation funds the program. According to the director of the OSU Extension 4-H Wildlife Stewardship program, Maureen Hosty, the program serves 52 Wildlife Stewards Member Schools and more than 12,000 students in Oregon. More than 400 volunteers have completed the 24-hour Wildlife Stewards course and 190 Wildlife Stewards remain active. 4-H Wildlife Stewards Member Schools receive curriculum support, access to education kits and supplies such as water quality test kits, training, bi-monthly newsletters, and a minimum of 100 volunteer hours from two Wildlife Stewards volunteers. Typical projects include planting native trees, shrubs and wildflowers, planning meadows or ponds, and creating murals, sculptures, vegetable gardens and other theme areas, transforming the traditional asphalt school ground into a dynamic "outdoor classroom." Hand-Washing Is Best Preventative For Noroviruses From University of Idaho's HomeWise Oh, my! You were sick as a dog for a day or two&emdash;vomiting, diarrhea, stomach cramps and maybe some low-grade fever, chills, headache, muscle aches, nausea and tiredness along with it. It struck suddenly and then it was gone&emdash;until another family member or co-worker promptly came down with it. Was it a food-borne illness or the misnamed "stomach flu"? If it was a norovirus, then it qualifies as both. A group of highly contagious viruses that cause acute gastroenteritis and readily contaminate food and drink, noroviruses spread briskly through restaurants, cruise ships, nursing homes, hospitals, schools and even family dinners. According to the Centers for Disease Control, it takes fewer than 100 norovirus particles to sicken a victim, and there are currently no vaccines that prevent it and no medications that work against it. "Fortunately, the infection is not usually serious," says Sandy McCurdy, University of Idaho Extension food safety specialist. Norovirus is unrelated to influenza, which is a respiratory illness. You can get a norovirus from food contaminated by a sick food handler or from oysters and produce contaminated even before they reach the restaurant or store. But you can also get it by touching objects or people infected with noroviruses and then touching your own mouth, nose or eyes. "The best way to avoid noroviruses is to wash your hands often," says McCurdy. "That's especially important after using the bathroom or changing diapers and before eating or preparing food." Alcohol-based hand sanitizers can give a little added protection over-and-above hand-washing but they're not a reliable substitute for good old soap, hot water and thorough cleansing, McCurdy says. If someone in your home has norovirus illness, you should wash your hands even more frequently than you normally would. If the ailment is making the rounds at your workplace, try to diplomatically avoid shaking hands. You&emdash;and everybody you would pass a norovirus to&emdash;will be glad you did. Pesticide Relies On Bacterium To Fight Root-Damaging Fungi By Bill Loftus, University of Idaho A pair of new pesticides recently registered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for use against plant-damaging fungi grew from University of Idaho researcher Don Crawford's study of bacteria found among linseed plant roots. The new pesticides offer a non-toxic weapon against major fungal diseases that cause extensive damage to greenhouse, nursery, turf and agricultural crops. Crawford, a microbiology professor and director of the Environmental Science program, said that is the beauty of putting bacteria to work against fungi. The bacteria, which colonize the plants' roots, produce chemical defenses at the specific points where the fungus attacks, delivering microdoses of antibiotics to specific targets at specific times. With the investment and support of Houston-based Natural Industries, two pesticide products recently won formal approval of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Both rely on the specific strain of bacteria that Crawford discovered attack a wide spectrum of root-damaging fungi. As a result, production has soared at the small Moscow spin-off company, Innovative BioSystems, which produces the bacteria commercially. In all, efforts by company founder Bill Kowalski, who died three years ago, to market the product began more than a decade ago. The business is now led by his son, company president Matt Kowalski. "Without their support and perseverance, this product would not have reached the market," Crawford said. Natural Industries markets Actinovate SP, the commercial product, and shepherded the product through EPA registration, a five-year effort. In January, the company's early work produced a bonus. The closely-related product, Actino-Iron, won EPA registration approval in January months earlier than anticipated. "It was actually a surprise because we were expecting it sometime this summer. It's just in time for spring, Kowalski said. The company's investment in the federal registration process approached $500,000, Matt Kowalski said. We paid for everything on cash flow, which was a big testament to the product. We were able to generate sales to not only sustain the company, pay employees and satisfy investors, but also to pay for our registration, which is very expensive. It was pretty nerve-wracking through the years." "The real key was EPA registration because of the inability to really talk about its biocontrol abilities when you can only sell it as a soil amendment," Crawford said. When his father first traveled to the University of Idaho, his interest was in using microbes to cleanup contaminated industrial sites. His interest shifted to anagricultural product after visiting UI. Kowalski's and Crawford's faith in the bacteria's ability to combat fungi led to early seed and soil inoculants that were based on tests that showed plants grew better with help from the bacterium. But the company and its distributors could not talk about the bacterium's abilities as a pesticide without violating federal law. Extensive testing and review are required by EPA to ensure the environmental, consumer and worker safety of pesticides. The specific strain that Crawford isolated and patented with graduate student Hyung-Won Suh in 1995 is known as Streptomyces lydicus WYEC108. The strain caught their attention because it enhanced plant growth when added to soil and fought common, economically damaging fungal diseases of plants. Fungicides, pesticides that target fungi, tend to be toxic to animals because fungal cells are closer to plants and animals than to bacteria, Crawford said. That is the advantage of enlisting bacteria to provide protection to plants' roots at the cellular level, serving as factories to apply microdoses of fungicide where they count the most. The quest to develop the new pesticide will be featured in the Society of Industrial Microbiology News in an article by Crawford, Kowalski, and other principles including Mark Roberts, the chief operating officer of Innovative BioSystems in Moscow; .Gene Merrell, UI associate vice president for research and chief technology transfer officer; and Lee A. Deobald, UI research associate scientist. Now Crawford is studying bacteria found among sagebrush roots as sources of new medical antibiotics. Bacteria supply nearly two-thirds of the antibiotics used by physicians but microbiologists have barely scratched the surface in identifying potential sources of new drugs. He decided to look among sagebrush roots for potential miracle drugs because the plant is a common element of the western landscapes he loves. There's also a strong chance that a plant able to survive some of the least hospitable habitats has something a little extra working in its favor. Crawford believes bacteria may help sagebrush thrive despite the constant challenges of pathogens that defeat lesser plants. Eastern Oregon Gardens Need Winter Water By Peg Herring, Oregon State University Winter can be tough on eastside gardens, especially with little snow cover and the cold that comes with desiccating winds. The lack of soil moisture can damage plant root systems unless they receive supplemental water, according to Amy Jo Detweiler, horticulturist with the Oregon State University Extension Service. Most woody plants and perennials require supplemental watering during extended winter dry periods. Shrubs growing under the eaves of a house are particularly susceptible to damage during dry spells. They may appear to have been killed by the cold, but more likely the cause is desiccation, says Detweiler. During winter dry spells, when there is little or no snow on the ground, a deep watering every six to eight weeks will be enough to keep plants from drying out. Water only when the air temperature is above freezing, and early in the day so the water will have time to soak in before nighttime freezing. Another wintertime concern for eastside gardens is sun scald. Trees with thin bark, such as maples, ash and aspen, are particularly susceptible when young, before their bark has thickened. A paper wrap (available at garden stores) can be used during the winter months, but should be removed in early spring when growth resumes. HUMOR How do crazy people go through the forest? They take the psycho path.   How do you get holy water? You boil the hell out of it.   What do fish say when they hit a concrete wall? Damn!   What do eskimos get from sitting on the ice too long? Polaroids.   What do you call a boomerang that doesn't work? A stick.

Try Growing Your Own Pea Shoots This Year From University of Idaho's HomeWise If you like fresh, lightly steamed or sautéed pea shoots in your salads, stir fries or garnishes, make plans to grow your own snow peas or snap peas this year. Pea shoots are high in Vitamin K and Vitamin C and are a great source of Vitamin A. Peas are also a cool-climate crop, so you won't have to wait long to plant them: they can be sowed outdoors about six to eight weeks before the last killing frost. Once your snow peas or snap peas are 12 inch tall&emdash;about six to eight weeks after planting&emdash;you can start the season's harvesting. Choose crisp, undamaged, bright-green shoots that include the top pair of small leaves, delicate tendrils, a few larger leaves, and blossoms or immature buds. Clip the top 2-6 inches of the plant every time you harvest. Expect the first harvest to yield just one shoot per plant, the second two to three times as many. Harvest again every three to four weeks until the shoots begin to taste bitter. Immediately after harvest, pre-cool your pea shoots in ice water, then wrap them in paper towels and store them in an open plastic bag in your refrigerator's vegetable bin. Because pea shoots are fragile and highly perishable, plan to use them within one or two days. A word of caution: Never substitute flowering sweet peas when clipping pea shoots. The shoots of flowering sweet pea are poisonous and can cause anything from mild abdominal cramping to serious cardiac complications. For more information on pea shoots and on growing peas, download two publications from the University of Idaho Educational Communications Web site: www.info.ag.uidaho.edu. From the publishing catalog, select Pea Shoots and Grow Your Own: Beans and Peas. You can also order these Pacific Northwest Extension publications by calling (208) 885-7982. How To Get The Most Out Of Your Garden From University of Idaho's HomeWise If your appetite for garden-fresh vegetables exceeds the space you can allot them in your yard, consider these University of Idaho Master Gardener strategies for using your plots more efficiently, and intensively, this year: Build raised beds. Make them 3 to 4 feet wide and as long as you'd like. Amend your topsoil with plenty of compost or manure: grown more densely than in typical vegetable rows, the plants in raised beds will benefit from additional synthetic fertilizers and irrigation, but there's no substitute for deep, fertile soil high in organic matter. Consider vertical gardening. Grow vining or sprawling plants like cucumbers, tomatoes and melons on trellises, nets, strings or poles or within cages. Plant shade-tolerant&emdash;rather than sun-loving&emdash;crops near your vertical plants to avoid casting shadows on plants that will suffer in reduced light. Make sure your vertical plants get enough water: because of their increased exposure, they dry out faster and may need to be watered more frequently. Try interplanting two or more types of vegetables at the same time. For example, alternate rows of peppers with rows of onions. Or, mix carrots and radishes, harvesting the latter before they begin to crowd the former. Or, plant lettuce, spinach or celery in the shadow of taller crops. Interplanting helps keep insect and disease problems under control by breaking up large expanses of the crops a pest might prefer, but it also makes spraying more difficult should a pest reach levels that warrant treatment. Plant in relays. Follow a spring crop&emdash;such as broccoli, lettuce or peas&emdash;with a summer crop&emdash;such as beans, tomatoes or peppers. Where the growing season allows, follow the summer crop with a fall or even a winter crop. High-Speed Internet Expansion Encouraged Agriculture Acting Under Secretary for Rural Development Gilbert Gonzalez recently encouraged private companies to leverage over $2.1 billion in USDA funds to expand access to high-speed Internet technology in rural areas. "This is an investment by the Bush Administration in the future economic vitality of America's rural communities," said Gonzalez. "Accelerating the availability of broadband technologies in more remote rural communities increases their ability to effectively compete in domestic and global markets." As part of President Bush's goal to expand high-speed access to every household by the year 2007, USDA Rural Development is aggressively working to provide qualified borrowers with investment funding needed to expand such infrastructure. Since the beginning of the Bush Administration, over $3.3 billion in rural telecommunications loan and grants have been invested in rural areas, resulting in over 1.3 million rural subscribers gaining access to high-speed Internet technologies. The funding announcement for the Rural Broadband Access Loan and Loan Guarantee program was made, via a Notice of Funds Availability (NOFA), on March 4, 2005, in the Federal Register. Funding available in FY 2005 totals $2.157 billion in loans. This amount includes $2.032 billion for direct cost-of-money loans, $46 million for direct 4-percent loans, and $79 million for loan guarantees. USDA Rural Development's mission is to deliver programs in a way that will support increasing economic opportunity and improve the quality of life of rural residents. As a venture capital entity, Rural Development has invested over $50 billion since the beginning of the Bush Administration to provide equity and technical assistance to finance and foster growth in homeownership, business development, and critical community and technology infrastructure. As a result, over 800,000 jobs have been created or saved through these investments. Further information on rural programs is available at a local USDA Rural Development office or by visiting USDA's web site at http://www.rurdev.usda.gov . Economist Says Fast Food Actions Speak Louder Than Words By Kathy Barnard, Washington State University McDonald's this week announced a new advertising campaign emphasizing the healthiest of its offerings, but a Washington State University economist says actions speak louder than words. "If McDonald's was really concerned about the health of their customers, they would change their menu, not just their ads," said Trent Smith, assistant professor in the WSU School of Economic Sciences. In fact, he notes, the new campaign is a "distraction from the real issue&emdash;the menu." Smith said no advertising campaign compensates for the high glycemic load or level of trans-fatty acids still inherent in fast food offerings. "The nutrition problem is at the level of the entire fast food industry, not just McDonald's," he added. "Adding extra choices that don't sell is not going to promote good health in the end." Smith, who recently authored a paper entitled "The McDonald's Equilibrium: Advertising, Empty Calories, and the Endogenous Determination of Dietary Preferences," said the same lawyers who successfully pressed tobacco companies into taking responsibility for the effects of their products are working on lawsuits against the fast food industry. "According to these attorneys, the suits against fast food are proceeding exactly like the tobacco suits did - only faster," Smith said. "The tobacco suits established the legal test - if a food company knows more than the average consumer can be expected to know about the effects of its products, then the company can be held liable." The best consumer defense is still education, Smith said. "The only real solution is to learn the nutrition science, so you can understand what it is you're really eating when you go to a fast food restaurant." He also said that the fast food industry may find new, better ways to offer healthy products. "It is not unthinkable that McDonald's could develop healthy milkshakes, sandwiches and fries. There's no reason the technology couldn't go that direction." Soy Milk Calcium Concerns From University of Idaho's HomeWise If you are lactose-intolerant and have difficulty digesting regular milk, then consider fat-free soy milk as an alternative, says University of Idaho Extension nutrition specialist Martha Raidl. Because it's made from soybeans, soy milk contains health-enhancing fiber, Raidl says. The isoflavones in soy milk may reduce your risk of developing breast, colon and prostate cancers. If you drink at least 3 cups of soy milk a day, its proteins may also help lower your LDL or "bad" cholesterol levels. However, since you'll consume less calcium if you switch from dairy to soy milk, Raidl recommends buying fat-free soy milk that has been fortified with calcium and vitamins A and D. Phytates&emdash;naturally occurring compounds in soy milk&emdash;can also interfere with calcium absorption, so include yogurt, cheese and other calcium-fortified foods in your diet as well. According to Raidl, a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that the human body absorbs about 25 percent less calcium from soy milk than cow's milk. Allelopathic Plants Don't Play Nice Standoffish Plants Can Play Hardball With Their Neighbors From University of Idaho's HomeWise As you plan your garden this spring, think about the neighbors. No, not your neighbors&emdash;the plants' neighbors. Some unneighborly plants secrete "allelopathic" chemicals that keep other plants from growing too close to them. Whether these chemicals are released from roots, leaves, flowers or twigs, the effect is to keep nearby plants&emdash;especially young ones&emdash;from competing for water or essential minerals. Not all plants are equally phased by this hostile behavior&emdash;and some aren't daunted at all. Like so many things in life, it takes two. "Forget trying to grow tomatoes, peppers and eggplants under a black walnut tree," says Bob Tripepi, University of Idaho Extension horticulturist. They are highly susceptible to the juglone that the black walnut secretes from its roots, buds and nut hulls. "Juglone is also in black walnut leaves, so don't use them to compost your vegetable garden." Examples of allelopathic plants can include anything from herbaceous annuals to woody perennials. Tree-of-heaven, red cedar, and some species of pine, sagebrush and eucalyptus secrete allelopathic chemicals, says Tripepi. Some brassicas, like radishes, do the same&emdash;as do some clovers, fescues, knapweeds, sorghums and sunflowers. The chemical ailanthone extracted from tree-of-heaven has impressive herbicide-like activity, and residues of certain brassicas can be effective "biofumigants." Suspect allelopathy under a plant's canopy or in its root zone when these multiple symptoms occur: seeds don't germinate, seedling development is poor, growth is stunted, foliage is yellow or yellow-green, and species diversity is lacking. It's a jungle out there! Soil Temperature Key To Timing Of Veggie Planting By Carol Savonen, Oregon State University February is prime time to select and plan for planting this year's "cool season" vegetables. And it's a good time to find or purchase a soil thermometer. The soil temperature is the best indicator of when to plant each type of vegetable, no matter what climate zone you live in. To get an accurate temperature reading in the early spring, you'll need to insert the thermometer two inches deep into the soil. As the growing season progresses, you'll need to stick the thermometer deeper into the soil to get an accurate reading. The OSU Extension Service recommends pushing the thermometer into the soil about four inches to take the temperature before planting warm season vegetables such as tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, cucumbers, squash, corn and melons. For most reliable results, take the temperature at the same time each day for several days in a row and average them out. The best time to take the temperature is mid-day. If you can't take the soil temperature each day, agricultural weather reports give out soil temperature information taken mid-day. Crops that will germinate in the coolest soils (down to 40 degrees) include arugula, fava beans, kale, lettuce, pac choi, parsnips, peas, radicchio, radish and spinach seed. With a soil temperature above 50 degrees, Chinese cabbage, leeks, onions, Swiss chard, and turnips can be planted. When the soil warms to 60 degrees, warm season and many cool season vegetables can be sown, including beans, beets, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots and cauliflower. But be forewarned - beans will not tolerate any frost and may have to be planted again if the temperature goes below freezing. Wait until the soil warms to above 70 degrees to plant warm season vegetables including tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, cucumbers, squash, corn and melons. Deborah Kean, OSU vegetable researcher, provides these hints to ensure further success with early season vegetable gardening: • Wait to plant until the soil reaches the proper temperature for a specific crop. • Buy cold tolerant or short season varieties. • Warm the soil with a plastic mulch, cloche, Wall-o'-Water, spun fiber or fabric "floating" row cover or cold frame. Be prepared to protect things if a hard freeze is forecast. Just because a crop has germinated and is starting to grow doesn't mean it can't be hit by a late frost. Prepare well-aerated soil with plenty of organic matter for a seedbed. The OSU Extension Service has recently updated its vegetable variety recommendations for home gardeners for 2005. These are posted on the web at: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/news/story.php?S_No=774&storyType=garden This list will be published in many newspaper spring gardening supplements around the state as well. If you don't have access to the web or don't see the list in your local gardening section this spring, call or visit the Master Gardener help desk at your local county office of the OSU Extension Service and they can help you find it.

Top of Page