Chadwick Arboretum has lively blooms

By John Hixson
Contributing Writer
Union County Post

Area residents are invited to stop and smell the roses - and everything else at The Ohio State University Chadwick Arboretum & Learning Gardens Open House, on Sunday, July 20, 2-5 p.m.
The open house is free to the public and attendees can tour the colorful perennial gardens and Ornamental Plant Germplasm Center.
The gardens are located in front of Howlett Hall, 2001 Fyffe Court, just east of Rt. 315, at Fyffe Court and Woody Hayes Drive. Parking in adjacent lots is free.
Highlights of the open house include Idnat, a 10th century storyteller and herbalist as well as a display of artists from the Worthington Area Art League, free root beer floats, music and children's activities.
The Central Ohio Hosta Society will conduct a plant auction and the Franklin County Master Gardeners will have a diagnostic table.
In addition, garden tools will be sharpened and cleaned for nominal fee by Sharpening on Site.
For more information or directions, see the Chadwick Arboretum Web site at http://www.chadwickarboretum.osu.edu/. The Chadwick Arboretum and Learning Gardens are part of Ohio State's College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences.

Late-arriving Japanese Beetle infestations

You have likely seen the late appearance of the Japanese beetle in Union County. It first seemed like we were going to escape them this year and then they appeared rather quickly. Western and central Ohio are generally experiencing relatively low to moderate beetle populations while localized areas in southern and northern parts of the state are seeing huge numbers. The emergence seemed delayed in southern Ohio with beetles eventually arriving en masse.
Dave Shetlar, an Ohio State University Extension Entomologist, has speculated that the delay in this season's beetle emergence followed by a sudden appearance of huge numbers of late-arriving beetles may be related to the effects of last year's drought. Eggs deposited late in the season when rains became more frequent stood a better chance of survival. Thus, grubs appeared late in the season and an inordinate number of grubs spent the winter in the second in-star stage rather than in the more normal 3rd in-star stage. The delay carried over to this season producing the deluge of late-arriving adults.
Many general use insecticides are effective in controlling adult Japanese beetles. Applications must be repeated according to label directions while beetles are on-the-wing to protect newly-emerged plant growth. Japanese beetle bag traps are occasionally used to monitor and watch for beetles; however, they should be positioned well away from susceptible landscape plants. Research has shown that the traps attract more beetles than they can catch, so the traps may enhance the number of beetles coming to adjacent plants. If you place them in an area where there are landscape or garden plants that they infest, the traps will catch a lot of beetles, but they will attract many beetles from outside the area or even your property. Even the beetles that are caught will feed on their way to the trap.
Where populations are low, beetles can be managed using the highly effective "pluck and drown" control method, or the more satisfying "pluck and stomp" method. A gloved-hand makes plucking the beetles from plants more tolerable, and soapy water in a bucket enhances beetle drowning. The stomping method is self-explanatory. They also make good bluegill bait. Use a small hook with no sinker. Put the beetle on the hook and you will likely have a bluegill very quickly. For more details on insecticide applications, contact OSU Extension at 937-644-8117 or 1-800-589-8584.

Fertilizer prices continue to rise

Retail fertilizer prices in Ohio continue to surge as a combination of strong world demand, supply shortages, supply disruptions, high energy/transportation costs and a weak U.S. dollar make for a bad combination for farmers looking to make purchases. Barry Ward, Ohio State University Agricultural Economics, has recently surveyed current prices and compared them with March prices.
Retail fertilizer price surveys show anhydrous ammonia prices to be 16-percent higher than they were in mid-March. Anhydrous Ammonia prices averaged $910 per ton on July 2nd compared to $782 per ton on March 26. Retail UAN (28 percent) averaged $425/ton on July 2 while UAN (28 percent) shipped direct to farm storage averaged $402/ton. Urea prices are significantly higher (36 percent), averaging $705/ton on July 2 compared to $520/ton on March 26.
Phosphorous fertilizers prices continue to hit new records as MAP and DAP both are averaging over $1000 per ton. As of July 2, an OSU telephone survey showed MAP averaging $1092/ton and DAP averaging $1195/ton. This compares to the March 26 spot prices of $914/ton for MAP and $917/ton for DAP. Since March, this is a 20-percent increase for MAP and a 30-percent increase for DAP.
Potash is also experiencing big run-ups in price as the average price on July 2 was $686/ton, a 24-percent increase over the March 26 price of $557/ton. The 2009 crop budgets will certainly increase significantly with these increases.

John Hixson is Union County Extension Educator, Agriculture, Natural Resources and Community Development. He can be reached by email:hixson.2@cfaes.osu.edu or by calling 644-8117 or (800) 589-8584. The OSU Extension website is http://union.osu.edu/