************************************************************* QUESTIONS
FROM READERS BY
Three questions were sent in recently by readers. The first is
about bees in response to the article I wrote about orchard bees. The
second question is about rubber mulch in response to the article
ABOUT
BEES BY
One of our readers sent in the following: “This question is
regarding the column about bees.
Since this question involved the safety of kids I e-mailed the
response to the reader and am publishing the question and answer today. I
am fortunate to have a number of very knowledgeable people as friends and
associates that I can call on for assistance. One is
“The social insects living in the hole in the ground are probably
not bees at all. They are probably yellow jacket wasps. Their
nests are very large and noticeable in the fall of year. Vibration
around their nest from mowers, weed eaters, kids running can trigger them
to be defensive. If a large nest is located where kids play, it
should be exterminated or the kids should avoid the area until we have a
killing freeze. It is inadequate to simply put a toxin in the
entrance as the nest may be 4-6 feet from the entrance. The toxin
will only trigger the wasps to make a new entrance, and it will often
leave them agitated and defensive. To exterminate a nest, one needs
to locate the actual nest and introduce a toxin at night when all colony
members are in the nest. I get a dozen or more phone calls per day
this time of year (early fall) about "bees" nesting in the
ground, and they almost all turn out to be yellow jacket wasps.”
If you want a positive ID in order to know if an insect is a
solitary bee and therefore not very aggressive, or a social insect that
should be avoided, take a digital picture of the insect and the hole, and
take the pictures to your local County Extension Educator or to the
Entomology Department on East Campus in Lincoln. Copyright 2008 ************************************************************* RUBBER
MULCH BY
One of our loyal readers wrote
to me the other day with a question about rubber mulch. She had heard that
one of the box stores was going to discontinue
some of their wood mulch and start promoting rubber mulch made from old
tires. She said they
are going to advertise it as “Environmentally friendly and safe”. She
also said they will be pushing it as “a Green
thing because it would be recycling tires and would last longer”. She
concluded by asking “Is it a good thing that lasts longer and is
it safe?”
In summary
The article also talks about the effectiveness of rubber mulch She
says, “Rubber mulches have not proved to be particularly good choices
for either horticultural production or landscape uses. In comparison
studies of several mulch types, rubber tire mulch was less effective in
controlling weeds in herbaceous perennial plots than wood chips.
Similarly, sawdust made a better mulch for Christmas tree production in
terms of weed control, microbial biomass, and soil chemistry. Another
comparative study found rubber to be less effective than straw or fiber
mulch in establishing turfgrasses.”
In regard to the permanence of rubber mulch she says, “Far
from being permanent, rubber is broken down by microbes like any other
organic product....Although some of the additives used in tire manufacture
are toxic to rubber-degrading bacteria, there are white-rot and brown-rot
fungal species that can detoxify these additives. While isolating these
microbes has been beneficial in developing natural mechanisms to recycle
rubber products, it also points out the fallacy of assuming that rubber
mulch is “permanent”. Furthermore, it alerts us to the very real
possibility that car tires leach toxic compounds into the landscape.”
If we listen to the producers, marketers, and advertising it would
appear that rubber mulch is an environmentally friendly solution to a
major waste disposal problem. However,
“• Rubber mulch is not as effective as other organic mulch
choices in controlling weeds
• Rubber mulch is highly flammable and difficult to extinguish
once it is burning
• Rubber mulch is not permanent; like other organic substances,
it decomposes
• Rubber mulch is not non-toxic; it contains a number of metal
and organic contaminants with known environmental and/or human health
effects.”
Before using rubber mulch please read Copyright
2008 ************************************************************* WINTERIZER FOR THE LAWN BY
A reader asked, “Is it too late for a fall application of
fertilizer? If not, what should I reach for?” The fall or
winterizer fertilizer goes on sometime between Halloween and Thanksgiving.
Put on the winterizer fertilizer the weekend after you do your last mowing
and you put your mower to bed for the winter. Some companies call it
“winterizer” and some “fall fertilizer”. Usually an application of
regular fertilizer is put on about Labor Day and the winterizer fertilizer
is the last application for the season. If you only fertilize twice a
year, these two applications are the most important. If
you have already applied one application of fall fertilizer and we have a
long fall you may want to put on another application when you put your
mower away for the winter as the nitrogen in the first application will be
used up and not available for the winter. I like Super
Trimec (Earl May Super Brush Killer) as this can be applied when the
temperature is at least 45 degrees F. when applied. Trimec (Earl May Lawn
Weed Killer or Weed-Be-Gone II) and glysophate (Kleen-up, Round-up) have
to have the temperature at least 55-60 degrees F. or above to be
effective. Copyright 2008 |