Everyone seems to have been waiting for warmer temperatures and the appointed date to begin broadleaf weed control programs. Well that time has just about arrived. The first item of business is to know what type of weeds you want to control. This will make a big difference in what product or products you select.

The main products used for broadleaf weed control in lawns are 2,4-D, MCPP, dicamba, a combination of those three products, and triclopyr. Let's start with the triclopyr since it's probably the easiest to discuss. Its place in weed control is for violet control. It improves control of violets. It can be added to one or more other chemicals to provide broad spectrum control.Some blends now contain trichlopyr, so check the label.

2,4-D is the old standby. It is good on carpetweed, chicory, dandelion, lambsquarters, plantains, and wild carrot. MCPP is good on chicory, lambsquarters, and white clover. Dicamba is good on black medic, chickweeds, chicory, dandelion, dock, henbit, knotweed, lambsquarters, pearlwort, purslane, red sorrel, thistles, white clover, wild carrot, and yarrow. The combination of all three products will pick up all of those listed for the individual products, plus a few more such as mallow, speedwell, and wild onion. The combinations are sold under many different trade names so check the active ingredient list for ones you need.

My annual disclaimer for application of these types of products is: "Beware of potential drift from these products." Not only can the spray move under windy conditions while you are spraying, but particularly with dicamba, the products can drift as a vapor for up to two weeks after spraying with hot and humid conditions.

Cedar apple rust is caused by a fungus that attacks two different groups of trees. The first group is apples and crabapples, and the second is juniper and eastern red cedar. In order to survive, the fungus must "move" from one group of host to the other.

On juniper or eastern red cedar, small (3/8 to 1 and 3/16 inches in diameter) galls develop throughout the tree on needles and small twigs. When mature, these galls swell considerably and repeatedly produce orange, gelatinous telial horns during rainy spring weather. As spring rains subside, the galls die, which may cause death of the twig from the gall to the tip.

On susceptible crabapples and apples, tiny yellow spots appear on the leaves after infection in the spring. As the spots mature, they become yellow/orange and swollen with a red border, and develop tiny black dots in the center of the lesion. By mid-summer, small cup-like structures with tubes are visible on the undersides of mature leaf lesions. The fungus may also infect fruit and tender twigs of very susceptible crabapple and apple varieties.

The entire life cycle takes about two years, with a year on each host. The apple phase is easily recognized on the leaves and fruit by just about anybody who has grown apples. The teliospore phase on the cedars is quite striking, but is noticed much less frequently. Fungicides in spray programs do a good job of controlling the apple phase, while the cedar phase is best controlled by buying resistant varieties. Some homeowners cut the galls off before they break out into the "orange blob," but the result is the same: you're going to likely lose the tips on those branches.

Logan County Extension Office

The Sixth Annual Master Gardener Plant Sale will be Saturday, April 28, 2007 from 9 am until noon or sellout in the Exhibition Building at the Logan County Fairgrounds. Contrary to popular belief, there have been plants left at noon the past couple of years. They will have perennials, annuals, and houseplants available at reasonable prices. Of course, some of the perennials may look a little bit tough due to the freeze, but they should grow out just fine.

It has been quite a year already. Temperatures in the 80s followed by an extended freeze may have done in your early seeded grass. At this time, mowing is beginning in earnest. Remember to remove no more than a third of the grass blade in any one mowing. This will reduce thatch buildup, and do away with the need to rake or catch grass.

It's time to prepare for fertilizing the lawn. To begin with, it is important to know what the numbers on a bag of lawn fertilizer mean. The bag has numbers like 26-4-7 or 13-13-13. The first number is the percentage of nitrogen in the product, the second is percentage of P2O5 (commonly referred to as phosphorus), and the third is percentage K2O (commonly referred to as potassium or potash). This means that a 10 pound bag of 13-13-13 would contain 1.3 pounds of nitrogen, 1.3 pounds of P2O5, and 1.3 pounds of K2O.

It is also important to know what type of grass you have in your lawn. When looking at nitrogen application rates, improved bluegrass varieties (such as A-20 and Delphi) need 4-6 pounds of nitrogen per 1000 square feet per year. Common bluegrass varieties (such as Delta and Park) need 2-4 pounds of nitrogen per year, and fine-leaf fescues need 1-3 pounds per year per 1000 square feet. Nitrogen should be put on at least twice per year with ideal times being the first week of May and the first week of September. Resources vary on the amount of nitrogen that may be safely applied at any one time with ranges from 1 to 1.5 pounds per 1,000 square foot maximum. Most current University information recommends 1 pound maximum per application.

Phosphorus and potassium should be applied on the basis of soil test since these nutrients are not like nitrogen, in that nitrogen does not remain stable in the soil for long periods of time. Without a soil analysis, correct applications are about 1.5-2 pounds of P2O5 and 2.5-3 pounds of K20 per 1000 square feet.

Boiling this all down to practical terms means that a lawn of mixed common bluegrass and fine fescue should have about 12 pounds of 13-13-13 applied twice a year. I realize that you will build up phosphorus levels somewhat, but not very rapidly. And, the nice thing is that phosphorus will not be lost. It will remain in the soil until needed. Another option is to apply most of the phosphorus and potassium with one application, and use one of the high nitrogen products for the other.

Lawn weed control needs to be done in a couple of weeks if you are inclined to go after the broadleaf weeds in your grassy setting. I am mentioning this now, because weeds can also be an indicator of problems. Crabgrass is often an indicator of mowing too short or watering too frequently. This is often the case when trying to establish new seed since there are bare spots, and you tend to moisten frequently. Ground ivy (creeping Charlie) is usually an indicator of shady conditions or poor drainage. Clovers usually come in when bare spots are available or there is generally poor fertility. Knotweed grows in highly compacted areas. Moss grows in areas with shade, dampness, and poor fertility. Some of these conditions may be controlled to actually control the weed problems with some cultural changes.

Logan County Extension Office

The West Central Region has designated April 15-21 as Extension Week. Logan County has had Extension since February of 1918. It began with a Farm Advisor named Elmer Ebersol who began selling the county memberships in the combined Extension and Farm Bureau system that remained in place until the 1950's.

Early projects included establishment of the county Pure Bred Live Stock Breeders' Association, Pure Bred Beef Cattle Breeders' Association, Pure Bred Dairy Cattle Breeders' Association, and the Pure Bred Swine Breeders' Association. Soybeans were a new crop at that time, and their planting was being encouraged. Of course soybeans were used mainly for hay in their early years. Spring wheat was the predominant wheat crop of the time, and there were several thousand acres of oats. Farm labor was a major concern of the time, and labor placements were a major focus of Extension. The first soil survey of the county was also begun.

The 4-H Program began about 1920 with the first 4-H Clubs focusing on specific projects of swine and corn. Later in 1923 there began a push for home economics based clubs, and the push was on to identify volunteer leaders.

Home Economics was added a few years later with the first "Home Advisor." Focuses were on running a household and home food preservation.

Logan County added an aggressive Community Resource Development program in the late 1970's. This program was responsible for many of the community wide surveys done in the early 80's, and these surveys even led to removal of the city of Lincoln parking meters around the square and municipal parking lots.

Periodical Cicadas

2007 is the year of the Periodical Cicada Northern Brood VIII (17 year cicada) to return. The southern boundary of their range is from Iroquois County, to the northern edge of Sangamon County, to the Quad Cities. That puts Logan County at least partially in the range; however, 1990 saw little activity in our area.

While the damage from the freezing temperatures is evident, maybe just as bad was the wind. Wind dries things out, especially at lower temperatures. Colder air just can't hold as much moisture as warmer air, and the combination of cold and windy is just a double whammy.

Some plants show the damage from drying winds more noticeably than others. White pines are almost the kings when it comes to visible damage. The damage shows as brown needles. When you look at damaged evergreens, the key thing is the bud. If buds are still plump and green, new growth can occur. Even if all the needles are brown. Also remember on evergreens that they only keep up to four years of growth. The older growth toward the center trunk falls off each year, usually in a gradual process so it is hardly noticed. In stress situation such as drought or temperature extreme, many needles suddenly turn color and drop. This is quite noticeable, but the results are the same as the usual gradual loss of needles.

Evergreens and tender, succulent plants are most susceptible at this time of year. Hopefully nobody got caught with the latter out at this time of year, so that left evergreens. It is even more noticeable since the foliage doesn't drop off every year. But, it does drop off. That's why you get inches of needles that build up under a mature tree.

What can we do? At this time it's like the "take two aspirin and go to bed." In the case of trees and shrubs, this means to water when it is dry, and fertilize with the normal lawn rate in May and September. If you are fertilizing the lawn, you have taken care of the trees and shrubs. There would have been some preventative things that could have been done. One option is to block some of the wind with a screen of some sort. A second would have been to spray foliage with an anti-transpirant to slow the moisture loss from the needles. With plump, green buds there should be new growth occurring shortly.

Logan County Extension Office

Many wonder if there is a silver lining to the recent freeze. You may have to look long and hard, but surely there is something. Some tulips are now developing, especially those that came out later and still had the flower buds well protected. If the flowers are laying flat or are drooping, that usually means dead tissue in the stem area.

The best scenarioI can think of is nuisance fruit removal. Odds are very good that many trees will bear little, if any, fruit. That's bad for peaches and apples, but can be good for those crabapples around the school. There's something about kids and throwing crabapples. And of course, there are the sweet gums. It will be interesting to see how many of the gum flowers survived, as they were just emerging at the beginning of the cold snap. Destroyed flowers mean no fruit. And, no fruit means no gum balls in the case of sweet gums.

Another positive potential is the killing of germinating crabgrass seed. Germinating seeds that are frozen are basically goners.

"Wait and see" is the best advice concerning perennials subjected to the freezing temperatures of the last week. Temperatures below 25 degrees are generally regarded as harmful to budding and blooming plants. Temperatures of about 18 degrees are more damaging.

Flowers such as daffodils and tulips definitely took a hit. The blooms exposed froze, and stems and flower buds froze. What's the outlook for the plants? Existing foliage, and new growth, should provide plenty of foliage for the bulbs to store energy to go through the winter. The bulbs are well protected below the soil, and there should be no damage to bulbs planted at the proper depth.

Trees and shrubs recommended for our hardiness zone (5b) should fair well. They've been through this before, and probably will again. Plants normally planted in more southern zones may suffer more significant damage, while those normally planted further north should suffer less. A lot of the damage is dependant on the actual stage of development.

Many of our flowering trees and shrubs that show early blooms, such as dogwoods and redbuds, will lose most if not all blooms. Even early trees will show significant damage to the exposed fruit and leaf tissue and buds. Maple trees in particular will probably show some frost cracks, and these will be most significant on smaller diameter trees. Frost cracks are long, vertical cracks in the main trunks of the trees. They heal easily, and don't cause long-term damage to trees. They are very visible, and cause concern when they are discovered. The damage is similar to a jug of water freezing. The trunk is full of sap, and the freeze causes the sap to expand. This causes the large crack.

There will be some very tough looking foliage on some trees with many black or brown tips or margins, similar to anthracnose damage. Later trees, such as oaks, will show little or no effects due to the delayed swelling of the buds.

Some plants are marginally hardy in our area. They will probably show some dieback or death. Boxwoods traditionally are severely affected by cold snaps at abnormal times. But once again, wait and see. Abnormal pruning patterns may also cause more severe injury.

In summary, healthy perennials will probably look somewhat rough this year. There will probably be more damage to flower and fruit buds than to leaf buds, but leaves may be misshapen or have dead portions. If leaves were severely affected, a new set of leaf buds will come out later. Of course this will take some stored energy from the trees storage. The best thing we can do is the simplest. Water when it is dry, and make sure to fertilize at the right time. The blanket recommendation is to use a "lawn rate" over everything. This would be 10 pounds of 10-10-10, or eight pounds of 12-12-12 or 13-13-13 per 1000 square feet. It is best to fertilize everything about the first week of May.

It's amazing what can happen with very warm temperatures, followed by a quick cold snap of the degree we experienced. Wait and see. That's the best advice for now.

Logan County Extension Office

One of the more prevalent "different" weeds this year has been Star of Bethlehem. This is a weed that looks like wild onion or garlic, but doesn't have the odor. It can also present a small white flower. It grows from small bulbs, so tilling an infested area is not a good idea.

Control is difficult. Traditional lawn weed herbicides don't touch it. Recommendationshave beenrepeated Roundup use or use of Gramoxone (paraquat). Of course, both of these also kill most anything they come in contact with.

Some research out of Virginia shows some promise for carfentazone ethyl, which is usually mixed with traditionalbroadleaf weed killers such as 2,4-D or dicamba.Gordon Chemical has the sole lawn product and sells it as SpeedZone. I don't know of any distributors around here, but you may find it out of the area.

Logan County Extension Office

A common maintenance chore in a perennial garden is that of dividing. There is no set rule as to when to divide perennials. Some may need division every 3-5 years, some 8-10 years and some would rather you not bother them at all.

Perennials will send signals to let you know that they would like to be divided. The signals to watch out for include: flowering is reduced with the flowers getting smaller; the growth in the center of the plant dies out leaving a hole with all the growth around the edges; plant loses vigor; plant starts to flop or open up needing staking; or it just may have outgrown its bounds. These are the signs to look for and not a date on the calendar.

If division is indicated, spring is the preferred time to divide. Some fleshy rooted perennials such as poppy, peony, and iris are best divided in the late summer to very early fall.

Division is usually started when growth resumes in the spring. The process starts by digging around the plant and then lifting the entire clump out of the ground. Then, using a spade or sharp knife, start to cut the clump up so that each clump is the size of a quart or gallon sized perennial.

Discard the old, dead center and trim off any damaged roots. The divisions should be kept moist and shaded while you prepare the new planting site. After replanting, water well and protect the divisions from drying out.

Division is no more complicated than this. Some perennials may be more difficult to divide than others because of their very tenacious root system. Division has as its primary goal, the rejuvenation of the perennial planting so it can continue to perform the way it was intended. Many home gardeners have found that the process of division is more traumatic to them, the gardener, than it is to the perennial.

Coming off some record setting temperatures, we now have the thermometer heading the other way. Causes for concern are several, but there may only be a few we can actually do much about. The main thing the warm weather has done is speed along development of just about everything. Many trees are in bloom, tulips are now in bloom, and perennials are out and going in most cases.

Of course we can expect some fruit reduction in cases where severe frost or freezing catch trees in the tender bloom and early fruit set stages. Book figures are about a 10% reduction in apples for a full bloom temperature of 28 degrees. Peaches in early fruit set at similar temperatures will see about a 25% fruit reduction. Of course this isn't always bad. Many have been complaining the past couple of years about too much fruit and broken branches.

Of bigger concern is rhubarb. A hard freeze can actually damage leaf cells enough to release a toxin back into the leaf stalks. The leaves are always toxic on rhubarb, and if damages enough to wilt or have black or brown along the edges, the toxin is almost certainly released. The solution is rather simple, at least this early in the game. Pull or cut stalks, and you get to start over with the regrowth. It may happen again as the plants have more growth, but at least now we are early enough we don't feel quite so bad about starting at ground level again.

For those who got some potatoes out, if foliage is damaged enough to wilt, it is probably best to cut tops back to ground level and allow regrowth. If tops on potatoes rot back into the tubers, they're basically goners.