AgAlerts From Griggs County
By John Swenson, Griggs County Extension Agent
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AgAlerts From Griggs County |
Issue # 12, September 13, 2000
A giant puffball was found on the Jerome and Sandra Eli farm. Giant puffballs, Langermannia gigantea, are a member of the mushroom family. Puff balls are a mushroom of pastures, meadows and other grasslands and are globular or dome-shaped, lacking typical narrow stems and cap of other common fungi. They are often found in early fall and are sometimes call football mushrooms due to their shape and the start of football season. This particular puffball was 13 ½ inches in length, 9 inches tall, 36 inches in circumference and weighed 6 pounds. Puffballs are edible as long as the flesh is white, dry and compact, but be sure to identify any mushroom prior to eating. Many species are poisonous and could be fatal. As this fungi matures, it turns brown and spores mature within a sac, compared to other typical mushrooms where spores form within gills on the underside of the cap. It is at this stage that when kicked or squeezed that a puff of yellowish-brown "smoke" spores can be excreted.
(click on picture to enlarge)
Now that cooler weather is approaching, many insects are
looking for places to overwinter. What better place than in the
home. Most common insects seeking shelter include crickets, boxelder bugs,
millipedes, spotted wing flies and cluster flies.
We have been getting quite a few calls concerning millipedes
and centipedes over the last week. These arthropods frequently become
nuisance pests in damp, dark areas such as basements. Both millipedes and
centipedes resemble worms with many legs. Centipedes are able to move
rapidly while millipedes are relatively slower. Millipedes are
grayish-brown or black worm-like animals with two pairs of legs on each body
segment and one pair of short antennae. They often curl up into a tight
C-shape and remain motionless when disturbed. Millipedes range from 1 to 4
inches in length. Centipedes are generally reddish-brown, flat,
multi-legged animals. They have an elongated appearance with one pair of
legs attached to each body segment. The common house centipede is
approximately 1 inch long and has 15 pairs of conspicuous long legs. The
antennae and pair of legs on the terminal segment are each twice the length of
the body. House centipedes are gray in color and the legs appear to be
banded.
Since centipedes and millipedes require moisture for
survival, effective control may be achieved by keeping all rooms in the
household dry. Seal all cracks, crevices and other entry ways in
foundation wall, doorways and around basement windows. Eliminate excessive
moisture in basements and provide adequate ventilation when possible. In
general, insecticides are not recommended indoors for controlling
millipedes. The best approach is to exclude them from gaining entry and
eliminate moisture problems. Perimeter treatments of insecticides around
the home can help with high numbers of millipedes trying to gain access.
Spotted wing flies and cluster flies tend to enter the house
around the eves. They normally are attracted to the east, south or west
sides of the house since these are the warmest sides of the house. The
will try and gain access to the house and enter dormancy between the
walls. During the winter, they may break dormancy and enter the house
through cracks around windows or wall sockets. These flies tend to migrate
to south facing windows due to the warmth of the sunlight. During the day,
inspect the eves of the house and look for any swarming around any openings and
seal any that are found. Check around windows and any other entrance
areas. A multi-purpose insecticide can be used to spray around eves and
windows, but it could affect certain paints or sidings.
Crickets and boxelder bugs can be controlled similar to
millipedes. The main line of defense is to eliminate any sources of
entrance. Check for cracks around the foundation, old or missing weather
stripping, cracks around basement windows or any other area that could be a
place of entrance. Treating with a general purpose insecticide around the
outside perimeter of the home can help reduce their numbers and limit the number
that can get inside. When making this application, it is also useful to
spray on the foundation if possible.
For more information, contact your local County Extension Office and ask for
bulletin "Insects Invading the Home".
The Griggs County Extension Office and AgriAliance of
Cooperstown have joined together in put on a demonstration on possible control
strategies for Common milkweed. Common milkweed is becoming a more problem
weed as farming practices has change to include reduced tillage and the
introduction of more broadleaf crops.
Common
Milkweed Facts: (reprinted from "Weed Watch" article
by David Van Der Puy, NDSU Extension Agronomist, June 17, 1985). Common
milkweed (Asclepias Syriaca) is a native North American species that
until the late 1930's was a relatively unknown specie amongst the thousands of
plant species inhabiting North America. The Japanese invasion of Malaysia,
Indonesia and other rubber-producing areas of southeast Asia helped focus
attention on milkweed and a number of other laticifers (plants with milky
sap). America's supply of natural rubber was cut off by the Japanese
invasion and alternative latex sources, such as milkweed, were
investigated. The success of the synthetic rubber program during the early
stages of the war put an end to the experimentation with latex-bearing
plants. Incidentally, early trials with milkweed showed that the plant was
capable of only very low latex yields, around 40 pounds of latex /A.
Now attention is focused on how to control milkweed.
There are several reasons why common milkweed is becoming a serious weed problem
in today's agriculture. First, through the use of selective herbicides,
growers have eliminated other weed species such as wild mustard and others which
formerly competed with milkweed. Secondly, the trend toward minimizing
tillage and doing away with moldboard plowing has encouraged a number of
perennial weeds to increase, milkweed being one of them. Finally, there
are very few herbicides that are available which can adequately control milkweed
in cropping situations.
Common milkweed can produce up to 1,500 seeds per season and
is also capable of producing aerial shoots from buds on its root system.
Seedlings do not produce flowers the first year but are capable of producing new
aerial shoots from root buds within 18 to 21 days after germination.
Research conducted in Nebraska and Canada has revealed some facts about the
formidable root system possessed by this plant. Radial spread of roots can
proceed at a rate of 10 feet per year. Roots can penetrate 15 feet
downward in silty clay loam soil. Many buds are formed on each root, but
only one produces an aerial shoot. The others are left in reserve in case
the aerial shoot is destroyed. Root segments 3 inches long are capable of
producing new shoots.
Uses: (summarized from
"Intriguing World of Weeds" by Larry W. Mitich, in Weed Technology,
Volume 7, Number 4, October-December 1993) Milkweed is one of the most
useful native plants and is almost a "pantry in the wild".
No one need go hungry while it is in the earlier stages of its growth.
Very young shoots are gathered when they are about 4 to 8 inches tall and boiled
for about 15 to 20 minutes, with one or two changes of water. They are
eaten like asparagus, creamed or with butter and taste as good or even better
than asparagus. Also used for food are the tender tops, the flower buds
(which taste like peas or asparagus but have their own unique flavor), and the
young 1 to 5 inch follicles (seed heads), which taste like okra and make an
appetizing dish. The sugar laden flower clusters can be boiled down to
produce a thick syrup.
After the follicles matured, pioneers gathered the downy
seed, using them to stuff sacks that served as pillows or mattresses. The
silky hairs from the follicles are still used in pillows, and stem fibers are
used in the textile trade in France and Russia.
Medicinal Uses:
Once common milkweed was medicinally valuable, and, when collected in autumn,
cleaned, transversely sliced and dried, was worth 6 to 8 cents a 0.5 kg in the
drug market. Formerly, it was listed in the United States
Pharmacopoeia; its extract asclepias is still obtainable and is listed in
the United States Dispensatory. Asclepias is used for asthma,
dyspepsia, and coughs. The latex was fromerly prescribed for treating lung
complaints, including asthma, although now it is little use in herbal
medicine.
Plot Trial: The plot
is located on the SE 14 of Section 33, in Washburn Township. Jonthan
Erickson is the cooperator. The previous crop was canola. We plan to
have up to 18 treatments to see if any treatment has an effect on common
milkweed. Past trial at NDSU have shown poor to fair control with
currently labeled products. If anyone has a suggestion from past
experience, please let us know by E-mail or by phone. Look
for a tour to be held in the summer of 2001.
North view 9-13-00 
West View 9-13-00 (click on pictures to enlarge)
Kip Kovarik AgriAliance Cooperstown, appling fall treatments on 9-13-00
Please Contact Our Office For Additional Information
E-mail: griggs@ndsuext.nodak.edu
Go to the 2000 AgAlert Index Page