Chiggers are mites, not insects. And like all mites, the adults have eight legs. However, the larva only has six legs. Though the bright red female adult is tiny (about 1/20th of an inch) the larva is much smaller (about 1/150th of an inch). Only the larvae are parasitic and attack animals. The larva injects digestive juices into the skin, which causes a rapid swelling. In the center of the swelling is a "feeding tube" from which the chigger sucks out liquefied skin cells. Feeding usually continues for 2 to 4 days. 


Protection from chiggers uses two approaches. The use of a repellent can discourage chiggers from attacking. The most effective repellents are Deet and permethrin. Both are applied to clothing. The second approach seeks to reduce chigger populations. Keeping the lawn mowed regularly can help, but large populations may require the use of an acaricide. Effective products include bifenthrin (Talstar, Hi-Yield Bug Blaster II, Hi-Yield Bug Blaster Bifenthrin, and Ortho Lawn Insect Killer Granules), cyfluthrin (Tempo 20, Bayer Vegetable & Garden Insect Spray) and carbaryl (Sevin). For more information, see the K-State Research and Extension publication titled, “Chiggers” at: http://www.ksre.ksu.edu/bookstore/pubs/MF2107.PDF  (Ward Upham)

August 4         Kansas Turfgrass Field Day, Manhattan
 https://turffieldday.eventbrite.com
 The field day program is designed for all segments of the turf industry - lawn care, athletic fields, golf courses, and grounds maintenance. Included on the program are research presentations, problem diagnosis, commercial exhibitors, and equipment displays. There will be time to see current research, talk to the experts and get answers to your questions. Pesticide recertification credit in 3B is available and 0.25 GCSAA education points
 
August 15       K-State Vegetable Research Field Day, Olathe
http://hnr.k-state.edu/events/2016%20GG%20Vegetable%20Research%20Tour.pdf

Apples mature over a long period of time depending on variety. Some varieties such as Lodi can mature in July and others as late as October.  Here are some guides to help you decide when to pick your apples.
 
Color change: As apples mature, the skin color in areas of the stem and the calyx basin at the bottom of the apple turns from an immature green to a light-yellow color. Some apples will develop a red skin color before they are ripe, so this is not a reliable indication of maturity.
 
Flavor: This is a good guide if you are familiar with the apples you have and know how they should taste. Even if you do not know the characteristic flavor of the kind of apple you have, you can still sample slices of a few apples and decide if they have a sweet flavor. If they are not ready to harvest, they will taste starchy or immature. If apples have already fallen and taste a bit starchy, store them for a period to see if they become sweeter.
 
Flesh color: As apples mature and starches change to sugars, the flesh changes from very light green to white. When you cut a thin slice and hold it up to the light you can see the difference.
 
Days from bloom: The number of days from bloom is a reliable guide for general maturity time, but weather conditions will have some influence. Some kinds of apples and approximate days from bloom to maturity are Jonathan, 135, Delicious, 145, Golden Delicious, 145, and Winesap,155 days. This process may be slower than usual due to the cooler weather this year.
 
Seed color: The seeds of most apples change from light green to brown as the fruit ripens. This indicator should be combined with other changes since it is not absolute. The flavor of the apples, the change in color of the stem and calyx basins and flesh color are important in deciding if apples are ready to harvest. (Ward Upham)

As fruit growers are harvesting peaches, some are noticing split pits and/or pitburn.
 
Pitburn is evidenced by brown or gray areas around the pit and is caused by high temperatures and rapid growth. It actually isn’t the high temperatures that injure the flesh directly but a lack of oxygen interfering with normal development.  Remember the very high temperatures we had earlier in the year?  Those high temperatures led to pit burning.
 
Split pits are also often the result of rapid growth and can be made worse with excessive thinning and/or irregular watering during the pit hardening stage. Such peaches are more likely to rot than those with intact pits.
 
There isn’t anything that can be done at this stage to help the peaches.  However, a good job of watering and avoiding overthinning can help prevent split pits in the future. Peaches with pitburn or split pits are safe to eat.  (Ward Upham)

This is the time of year we normally think of planting a fall garden. Crops that can be planted now include lettuce, radishes, spinach, and similar crops. There still is time to raise another crop of green beans along with some summer squash. If you can find plants, cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower can also mature during the fall season.

Planting a fall garden is just like planting a spring garden with some big advantages. You will find the weed pressure to be much less and insect problems may be far fewer than in a spring garden. Seeds will germinate rapidly, so you will have crops up and growing in just a few days – compared to several weeks in the spring.
 
There are a few drawbacks to fall gardening, and one of those is that you must provide regular, frequent watering (possibly daily) until the crops are up and growing. It is best to plant seeds deeper than you do for a spring garden because soil is cooler and moister down a little deeper.
 
As far as soil preparation is concerned, don't get too excited about deep tillage for a fall garden. Lightly work the soil enough to establish a seedbed; reserve your deep tillage for later in the fall. Also, don't concentrate on adding a lot of organic matter and fertilizer for the fall garden. The organic matter can be added later in the fall with the deeper tillage, and excessive fertilizer application in hot weather is not a good idea. If you have some crop residue to remove from a previous crop, chop the residue with a lawn mower and lightly till the soil surface after the residue has had a chance to dry for 2 to 3 days. (Ward Upham)

Chiggers are mites, not insects. And like all mites, the adults have eight legs. However, the larva only has six legs. Though the bright red female adult is tiny (about 1/20th of an inch) the larva is much smaller (about 1/150th of an inch). Only the larvae are parasitic and attack animals. The larva injects digestive juices into the skin, which causes a rapid swelling. In the center of the swelling is a "feeding tube" from which the chigger sucks out liquefied skin cells. Feeding usually continues for 2 to 4 days.
 
Protection from chiggers uses two approaches. The use of a repellent can discourage chiggers from attacking. The most effective repellents are Deet and permethrin. Both are applied to clothing. The second approach seeks to reduce chigger populations. Keeping the lawn mowed regularly can help, but large populations may require the use of an acaricide. Effective products include bifenthrin (Talstar, Hi-Yield Bug Blaster II, Hi-Yield Bug Blaster Bifenthrin, and Ortho Lawn Insect Killer Granules), cyfluthrin (Tempo 20, Bayer Vegetable & Garden Insect Spray) and carbaryl (Sevin). For more information, see the K- State Research and Extension publication titled, “Chiggers” at:  http://www.ksre.ksu.edu/bookstore/pubs/MF2107.PDF  (Ward Upham)

A number of people have asked the name of the weed with the large leaves and purple-black berries that hang in a cluster. This perennial is known as pokeweed. All parts of this plant are poisonous, especially the roots. Signs of poisoning include abdominal cramps, diarrhea, vomiting, weakness, drowsiness and difficulty in breathing. One of the toxins found in pokeweed is the protein lectin, which can cause abnormalities in white blood cells.
 
Surprisingly, young leafy springtime shoots are sometimes eaten after thorough cooking. Though cooking eliminates most of the toxins, there is still a danger of being poisoned from handling and preparing the shoots as well as ingesting improperly cooked plants.
 
Berries can be attractive to children. Cut down and discard pokeweed that might come into contact with kids. This plant is a perennial. You may want to spray it with a herbicide next year before it is large enough to be attractive to children. (Ward Upham)

​We sometimes receive complaints from homeowners regarding the lack of effectiveness of various pesticides. There can be a number of reasons for this lack of efficacy. Here are some of the common ones:
 
1. Lack of good foliage penetration. This often is a problem when spraying for bagworms on junipers.  The spray must penetrate the foliage and reach the bagworms toward the inside of the plant. High-pressure commercial sprayers are able to get the spray to the insects but homeowner models are much more problematic. With pump-up sprayers, you may have to push the wand through the outer layer of foliage to reach insects toward the inside of the plant.
 
2. Not spraying where the insect is. Many of our insects and mites feed on the underside of leaves. If the plants are sprayed over the top, little to no pesticide reaches the pests. This problem is often seen with spider mites on broadleaf plants and cabbage worms on cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower.
 
3. Maturity of pest. Insects become much more difficult to control when they become adults. For example, Sevin does a good job of controlling young, early instar grasshoppers but is much less effective on adults.
 
4. Level of disease pressure. Most fungicides are better used as preventatives than as curatives. If a disease gets firmly established, it may be difficult to bring it back under control. For example, chlorothalonil is effective in controlling early blight and Septoria leaf spot on tomato if used as a preventative. However, chlorothalonil will not control these diseases on badly infested plants.
 
5. Choosing the wrong product. Homeowners often use a product they have on hand. However, products differ markedly in how well they control specific pests. Make sure the pest you wish to control is on the label. Unfortunately, even labeled products may vary in effectiveness. Check K-State Research and Extension recommendations for products.
 
6. Using the wrong rate. Using less than recommended rate can reduce effectiveness but using more can also cause problems.  For example, using a systemic herbicide such as Roundup at higher than recommended rates can burn off the top of the plant before the herbicide is translocated to the roots, thereby reducing effectiveness.
 
6. High pH spray water. Certain pesticides are not stable in high or low pH water. Following are  some examples.

* Captan has a half-life of 3 hours at a pH of 7.0, but only 10 minutes at a pH of 8.0.
* Carbaryl (Sevin) has a half-life of 24 days at pH 7.0, but only 1 day at pH 9.
 
The half-life of a product is the amount of time it takes for half of the product to be neutralized. For example, if you apply 3 ounces of a product to a gallon of water and the half-life is 8 hours, only half of the product is still active at 8 hours, one-fourth of the product is active 16 hours and 1/8 of the product is still active at 24 hours. (Ward Upham)
 
Contributors: Ward Upham, Extension Associate

If you have vegetables that are blooming but not setting fruit, you may have a problem with flower pollination. There are several possible reasons for this that usually vary by species. One condition that can affect several species at the same time is overfertilization. Too much nitrogen causes the plant to emphasize vegetative growth, often to the detriment of fruit production. Overfertilization can lead to a delay in flower production and a decrease in fruit set among the flowers produced.

Squash, cucumbers, watermelon, and muskmelon can have a couple of other problems. First, the early flowers on these plants are usually all male. The production of both male and female flowers becomes more balanced as time passes. You can easily tell the difference between the two because only the female flower has a tiny fruit behind the blossom. If you have both, have not over-fertilized, and still have a problem, make sure you have pollinators. Look for the presence of bees visiting the plants. If you don't see any, try hand-pollinating several flowers. Use a painter’s brush to transfer pollen from the anther of the male flower to the stigma of the female flower. If you get fruit on only those flowers you pollinated, you need more pollinators. Make sure you aren't killing them with overuse of insecticides.

Tomatoes are wind pollinated and therefore not dependent on pollinators. But they have another possible problem, which is temperature. Tomatoes normally won't set if the night temperature is below 50 due to sparse pollen production. They also won't set when nighttime temperatures are above 75 degrees F and daytime temperatures are above 95 degrees F with dry, hot winds. (Ward Upham)

Next year's strawberry crop will be affected by what you do to this year's strawberry bed. The sooner after harvest the patch is cleaned up, fertilized and irrigated, if possible, the better the chance of getting a good crop next year. One of the main goals in renovation is to provide a high level of sunlight to plant leaves so they can manufacture the food the plant needs. If leaves have disease spots, remove all the leaves in the bed. Removing these diseased leaves and weeds will cause new, non-diseased leaves to develop and remove competition from weedy plants. Hedge shears or even a mower can be used. Be sure the mower blade is high enough to avoid the strawberry crowns.

It is also important to reduce the number of strawberry plants so they do not compete for light, moisture and nutrients. If you have a small bed, you can hoe out or pull some plants so they are spaced about 4 to 6 inches apart. On large beds, adjust a rototiller so you can till between the rows, and cut each row back to about 10 inches wide.

The next step is to fertilize the plants with about 3/4 to 1 pound (3 to 4 cups) of a complete fertilizer such as 13-13-13 (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) or an equivalent on each 25 feet of row. If a soil test shows adequate levels of phosphorus and potassium, use 3/4 pound (1.5 cups) of a 16-0-0 (nitrate of soda) fertilizer per 25 feet of row instead. If nitrate of soda is unavailable, use the lawn fertilizer that contains about 30% nitrogen such as a 30-0-3, 28-0-3 or something similar. Make sure the lawn fertilizer does not contain a weed killer or preventer. These fertilizers should be used at the rate of 3/4 cup per 25 feet of row.

The next step is to irrigate to wash the fertilizer into the soil and provide moisture for the rapid growth of the strawberry plants. When the soil is dry, apply about 1 inch of water. A garden sprinkler can do a good job applying the water.

Controlling weeds and watering throughout the summer are important so plants are vigorous when fruit buds begin to develop in September and October. (Ward Upham)

Looking to add a bit of whimsy to your garden this year? I was recently on the hunt for a tree with interesting features that are a bit Dr. Seuss-like. You know, weeping habit, curvy trunks, pom-pom ball pruning…the whole nine yards.  I thought I’d share my finds with you in case you’ve got a curious child in your life that would really enjoy a fun plant.
I’m always interested in the actual plants, of course, but I think it’s interesting and worth noting how they grow the way they grow. Most interesting cultivars or varieties of ornamental plants are discovered by unusual growth called  “sports,” originate from a “witch’s broom,” involve unique traits on a seedling, hybrid or plant breeding resulting in polyploidism (bigger flowers, bigger fruit, but often brings sterility and cross fertilization incompatibility). However those unique traits are found, they are generally cloned (vegetative cuttings) and grafted onto more stable roots.

Of course there are always unique ways of pruning plants into topiaries as well, but let’s get into the plants.

If you’re looking all for a weeping tree, there are lots of choices. For starters, the redbud is a great plant for our region. You can’t go wrong with dark pink flowers in the spring and large, glossy, heart-shaped leaves in the summer.   Add a weeping feature and you’re in business. Popular weeping cultivars of redbud (Cercis canadensis)( are ‘Lavender Twist’ and ‘Ruby Falls.’ The latter has red/purple leaves in the summer.

Other deciduous weeping trees include Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum ‘Ryussen’), Mimosa (Albizia julibrissin ‘Pendula’), River Birch (Betula nigra ‘Summer Cascade’), European Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus ‘Pendula’), and Baldcypress (Taxodium distichum ‘Cascade Falls’ or ‘Falling Water’) just to name a few. Evergreen weeping plants can range from our native Eastern Redcedar (Juniperus virginiana ‘Pendula’) to Cedar of Lebanon (Cedrus  libani ‘Pendula’) and Atlas Cedar (Cedrus atlantica ‘Glauca Pendula’).

How about splendiferous plants with contorted stems and leaves? Corkscrew Willow (Salix matsudana ‘Tortuosa’) is a wonderful deciduous tree that fits the description. It’s just fascinating to look at all of the curly branches and stems. But this is a willow and it needs to be planted a good distance from your house and any water features. The roots of willow can be fairly invasive when looking for water sources.

In the shrub category, there is Harry Lauder’s Walkingstick (Corylus avellana ‘Contorta’). This is a fantastic plant for winter interest. In the summer it can be difficult to notice the uniquely contorted stems when the leaves cover the plant, but it’s a great specimen to bring some Dr. Seuss to leafless days. In the annuals category, a great plant for container gardens is Soft Rush (Juncus effusus). With cultivars like ‘Curly Wurly’, ‘Spiralis’ and ‘Unicorn’ you can be assured that someone will ask you about it.

How about pom pom type growth? Allium bulbs are great for this effect. They send up a single stalk with a round inflorescence at the top in spring and summer. There are many types with features ranging from size of the inflorescence, height of the stalk and color (purple to white). Smaller annual plants like Gomphrena have pom pom type inflorescences that are smaller, but more prolific. Great for containers or flower beds!

These plants are mostly what I’d call “specimen” plants and may be more difficult to find in the nursery than others. You may have to special order or mail order some of them, but they’re available. Hunting for plants for your Dr. Seuss plant collection or garden might just be the fun endeavor you’ve been looking for lately. (Cheryl Boyer)

Chiggers are mites, not insects. And like all mites, the adults have eight legs.  However, the larva only has six legs.

Though the bright red female adult is tiny (about 1/20th of an inch) the larva is much smaller (about 1/150th of an inch). Only the larvae are parasitic and attack animals. The larva injects digestive juices into the skin, which causes a rapid swelling. In the center of the swelling is a "feeding tube" from which the chigger sucks out liquefied skin cells. Feeding usually continues for 2 to 4 days.

Protection from chiggers uses two approaches. The use of a repellent can discourage chiggers from attacking. The most effective repellents are Deet and permethrin. Both are applied to clothing. The second approach seeks to reduce chigger populations. Keeping the lawn mowed regularly can help, but large populations may require the use of an acaricide. Effective products include bifenthrin (Talstar, Hi-Yield Bug Blaster II, Hi-Yield Bug Blaster Bifenthrin, and Ortho Lawn Insect Killer Granules), cyfluthrin (Tempo 20, Bayer Vegetable & Garden Insect Spray) and carbaryl (Sevin). For more information, see the K- State Research and Extension publication titled, “Chiggers” at: http://www.ksre.ksu.edu/bookstore/pubs/MF2107.PDF     (Ward Upham)

Several new publications have been released recently that should be helpful to gardeners.

Harlequin Bug (MF3135) - A destructive pest of vegetable crops, especially the cole crops such as broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower.

Japanese Beetle (MF3151) -   Though this insect became established in Kansas in 1992, it remained confined to certain areas of the state for a number of years.  However, populations have been increasing and new areas are becoming infested.   Japanese beetle has a very wide host range (reportedly 300 to 400 plant species) including many vegetables, fruits and ornamentals.

Spotted Wing Drosophila (MF3158) - First detected in Kansas in 2013, this pest of fruit can attack a wide variety of small fruit including blackberries, blueberries, boysenberries, raspberries, strawberries, and grapes. Raspberries appear to be more susceptible than blackberries, blueberries, and strawberries.  Tree fruit such as apples, cherries, figs, nectarines, peaches, persimmons, and plums can also be attacked.

Tree and Shrub Problems in Kansas: Diseases, Insects, and Environmental Stresses (MF3132) - We have mentioned this one before but wanted to highlight it again as it is a very valuable resource.  This is a 92-page publication with 116 color images to help with identification. (Ward Upham)

These finger-shaped mushrooms live up to their name.  As they mature, they become extremely foul smelling.  The odor is reminiscent of rotting meat or, in some cases, of what a dog leaves behind after it has done its “business.”

Stinkhorn mushrooms live on dead organic matter such as is found in mulched areas (especially bark mulch), fields or in yards.  The finger-like fruiting body arises from a sac-like structure at the base.  A slimy spore mass eventually develops at the tip of the stalk.  It is the spore mass that causes the odor.  This spore mass also attracts flies which help spread the spores to new areas.

The question always comes up on how to prevent or control these mushrooms.  Since the main part of the fungus, the mycelium, is underground there isn’t anything you can do but remove the mushrooms as they appear.  Remember the mushroom is the fruiting body of the mushroom and it is the mycelium that must be controlled to prevent the mushrooms.  (Ward Upham)

Contributors: Cheryl Boyer, Nursery Crops Specialist; Ward Upham, Extension Associate