Burning Guidelines: Part II

Below is the section of the memorandum of understanding between DENR and NCDA&CS that pertains to burning of Christmas tree and nursery plants and plant parts.

Christmas Tree. Nursery and Ornamental Burning

Open burning of Christmas trees, ornamental trees, shrubs, and other misc. ornamental
plants, and annual prunings from these trees and shrubs, is considered an acceptable
agricultural practice by the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer
Services. This applies to all commercial Christmas tree farms, nurseries and
greenhouses that grow these plants. Burning will kill many primary insect and disease
pests that live in this wood and pose a hazard for nearby Christmas trees, nursery and
greenhouse crops. Burning is recommended in a timely manner to prevent the spread of
these insect and disease pests to healthy trees, shrubs, and other ornamental
plants. Piling, mulching or transferring to landfill increases the risk of spreading
disease. Any burning with prevailing winds towards a public road should be a minimum
of 250 feet from the edge of the public road. No burning is allowed within 1,000 feet of
another property owner's occupied structure without a signed written waiver at the time
of the burn from the property owner(s) within the 1,000 feet boundary. Such a waiver
must be approved by the Division of Air Quality Regional Supervisor in the respective
area prior to the burn being initiated.

Burning Guidelines

The memorandum of understanding between the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources - Division of Air Quality and the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services sets guidelines for acceptable burning at farms, primarily to control diseases or pests as well as some crop residues. Although it remains illegal to burn man-made materials, the state open burning rule allows some exceptions for the burning of plant materials — such as land-clearing and acceptable agricultural practices.

The following website is a news release from NCDA&CS announcing the burn law. You can also get a free brochure from the Division of Air Quality describing what can and cannot be burnt.

http://www.agr.state.nc.us/paffairs/release/2009/8-09agburning.htm

http://www.ncair.org.

Weed Update

Weeds don't take holidays.

While we are thinking about a holiday trip to the mountains or the coast -- weeds are going to keep doing what they do best -- reproducing. Summer annual weeds are going to seed with wild abandon. Although you cannot stop seed production you can sure reduce the amount of seeds produced by controlling summer annuals now. While herbicides like glyphosate work on mature weeds, the time it takes to die from glyphosate treatments will allow a lot of seeds to mature before plants succumb to the inevitable.

Fall applications work better you say?
I had a salesman once try to explain to me how bentazon (Basagran TO) worked really well on Yellow Nutsedge in early Fall. My response was -- "well, so does frost". Seriously, nutsedge has been making tubers for months but it is still a good idea to kill what you still have to prevent even more tubers from forming. Nutsedge can be controlled by glyphosate or glufosinate or bentazon But please, next year resolve to get serious about nutsedge earlier in the season.

Fall applications of glyphosate do work better on many perennial weeds. In particular, deciduous woody weeds are generally well controlled with late summer or early fall applications of glyphosate. But, you often don't see the results until next spring when plants begin to grow -- ahh, then the fun begins. New growth, if it occurs, will be stunted, malformed, and yellowed. Plants usually die back but often will start new growth after a time. When this occurs, treat again with an appropriate herbicide such as glyphosate or triclopyr for the one--two punch that knocks your weeds flat.

But don't forget to plan ahead --
Winter weeds have already started to emerge in some areas, so get your preemergence herbicide applications out soon to prevent winter annuals like henbit, chickweed and annual bluegrass from turning your Thanksgiving celebration into another gardening labor day.

Joseph C. Neal
Professor and Extension Specialist -- Weed Science
Department of Horticultural Science

Fall Twig Aphid Control

Fall is normally not the time when growers are considering doing treatments for Balsam Twig Aphids. That is until a few growers got to experimenting with treatments and found that a fall treatment might just prevent them from having to treat the following spring when they are busy with other chores. That would be great in a year like this one where it was raining every other day and growers couldn’t find a good time to spray for twig aphids. It appears that the window for making these fall twig aphid treatments is wide open. Growers can start with treatments during August, September or October. Even treatments later in the year may work. The insecticide that seems to be working the best is Talstar. Growers will still need to scout for twig aphids, rust mites and spider mites in the spring, but this could be a good alternative to a calendar based application. To learn more about these fall applications, plan to attend the Mitchell Co. Christmas Tree Growers’Assn. meeting on September 14th.