OCTOBER, 1997VOL. 8, NO.10
IN THIS ISSUE:PRIVATE APPLICATOR TRAINING AND FEES
CUT ON THE DOTTED LINE....
TIGHT SHUCKS AND EMPTY PECANS
SHAGGY BARK
PICKING CITRUS
PRIVATE APPLICATOR TRAINING AND FEES -----
The following is modified from Suzanne Deatherage's reply to questions concerning changes in private applicator training and fees for recertification.1. Re: Sept. 11 letter and survey from Randy Rivera at TDA
If you receive this mailing, please complete and return the questionnaire without concern about the cover letter. As a noncommercial recipient of the letter, you could easily interpret it to mean that you must become licensed under the Structural Pest Control Board. This is NOT the case. FYI ... commercial applicators in the ornamental plant pest and weed control category are the actual subjects of interest to TDA.
2. Re: Noncommercial license and exam fees for Extension
As previously announced, the state employee exemption from these fees was eliminated by law, effective September 1. However, current proposed regulations waive the exam fee and reduce the license fee to $10 for state universities, Extension and Experiment Stations. Please stand by for final word on these regs (pending public comment) and on administrative intent regarding payment of future fees (i.e. will/can extension cover the cost?)
3. Re: NonExtension trainers for private applicator certification
Effective September 1, TDA was given authority to approve providers other than Extension to conduct certification training for private applicators. Proposed regs define how these providers must conduct training (i.e. minimum 3 hours, topics covered, etc.) and how to seek TDA approval. In the interest of competitiveness, my office (Ag. and Environmental Safety) will speed up improvements to Extension's version of certification training. Your comments are welcome (please provide any suggestions for changes that have proven useful at the local level), but in the meantime, just carry on as usual with your respective certification trainings.
4. New state record-keeping rules for private applicators
Proposed TDA regulations expand the scope of pesticide records that private applicators must keep. In addition to data required as a minimum under federal law, application records (for regulated herbicides and restricted and state-limited pesticides) must include:
* the beginning time of application (in addition to month, day and year)
* wind direction and velocity, and air temperatureFor the full text of these regulations, go to the September 5th issue of the Texas Register at http://www.sos.state.tx.us/texreg
Stormy Sparks
Associate Professor & Extension EntomologistCUT ON THE DOTTED LINE.... -----
A number of calls this month have involved a series of holes on the trunk or limbs of pecan trees. Invariably, the holes are spaced rather uniformly in lines around the trunk or scaffold limbs‹an inch or so apart, each about the diameter of a pencil and only about a quarter inch or so deep.
These holes are made by a woodpecker-type bird for the apparent purpose of providing a place for insects to hide. The bird supposedly returns periodically to eat the insects that seek refuge therein.
Although the number of lines or rings of holes may seem excessive, there is no significant damage to the tree, as the inner bark usually seals off the opening from the wood underneath.
Pecans are not the only tree affected‹oaks and other landscape trees are also frequent targets of the birds' insect-mining efforts.
Julian W. Sauls
Professor & Extension HorticulturistTIGHT SHUCKS AND EMPTY PECANS -----
It is again the time of year for complaints of blackened pecan shucks that fail to open normally. Soon afterwards will come the complaints about hollow pecans, i.e. a shell with just a blackened, dried up nothing inside.
The two are intimately related‹a pecan with a badly damaged shuck will not fill at all. While pecan scab and other fungal diseases can damage the shuck, damage such as this was caused by the feeding of the larvae of hickory shuckworm. This pest usually attacks pecans in the Brush Country during late July. The best control is an insecticidal spray at the time that the pecan shell has hardened about halfway down its length, i.e. late July for us.
This seems to be the most serious problem of landscape pecan trees year after year in South Texas.
Julian W. Sauls
Professor & Extension HorticulturistSHAGGY BARK -----
Another pecan tree "problem" that has come to my attention lately is that of the bark peeling off. At first, that sounds like a serious situation‹until you learn that the caller has virtually no prior experience with pecan trees and thus has not observed the natural aging, splitting and sloughing of the older bark.
As the pecan tree grows in size with age, the oldest bark changes from smooth to scaly‹and the scaly outer bark splits and sloughs off over time (leaving more scaly bark underneath). Usually, the pieces that slough off are not large‹a few inches long by an inch or so wide and less than a quarter inch thick‹and are rarely even noticed by people who have had pecan trees for many years and are familiar with the fact that mature pecan tree bark is scaly rather than smooth.
So, if this "problem" arises, suppress your grin and use the opportunity to both welcome and educate a new home pecan grower.
Julian W. Sauls
Professor & Extension HorticulturistPICKING CITRUS -----
As usual, a few early oranges have already been picked, degreened and shipped from the Valley. Although these very early fruit are usually referred to as the 'Pineapple' variety, they are not since 'Pineapple' doesn't mature until after Thanksgiving. In all likelihood, these are 'Parson Brown' oranges‹an old, seedy variety from Florida.
Nonetheless, the 'Marrs' variety is in the mill already, while navels will probably be mature in another week or two. Too, shippers will be testing Rios and Ruby-Sweets valleywide over the next couple of weeks to find orchards that will pass maturity tests so that harvesting and shipping can commence.
Official crop estimates are not available yet, but the local consensus indicates slightly higher grapefruit production and much higher orange production. Overall quality seems better than normal, especially in that Rio appears to have less sheepnosing than in prior seasons.
In short, Texas grapefruit and oranges should be plentiful, with quality as good as or better than normal. Early prices may be a little high, at least until the official estimates are released in early October. That's another way to saying that if the Florida grapefruit forecast exceeds that of last season, prices to both growers and consumers will probably take a sharp dip.
JULIAN W. SAULS, Ph.D.
Professor & Extension Horticulturist
2401 East Highway 83
Weslaco TX 78596
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THE INFORMATION GIVEN HEREIN IS FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. REFERENCE TO COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS OR TRADE NAMES IS MADE WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT NO DISCRIMINATION IS INTENDED AND NO ENDORSEMENT BY THE COOPERATIVE EXTENSION SERVICE IS IMPLIED.
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