- [Announcer] Montana Ag Live is made possible by The Montana Department of Agriculture, The MSU extension Service, The MSU Ag Experiment Stations of the College of Agriculture, The Montana Wheat and Barley Committee, Cashman Nursery and Landscaping, The Northern Pulse Growers Association, and The Gallatin Gardners Club.

- Good evening.

Welcome to Montana Ag Live, originating tonight from the studios of KUSM, on the very vibrant campus of Montana State University, and coming to you over the Montana Public I'm Jack Riesselman, retired professor of plant pathology.

Happy to be your host this evening.

But before we go any farther into words of Hayden Ferguson, happy mother's day to all of you out there who qualify, and those of you who don't qualify, have a nice day anyway.

That was Hayden's favorite line.

And Hayden sat in this chair for a lot of years, passed away just a couple years ago.

Interesting program.

Now, as you all know, we are doing a series on women in agriculture.

And when I started in 1979, back in the dark ages here in Montana, we had maybe one and I remember hiring a second female ag extension agent.

Right now we have maybe half of them in the state are female.

And that's great.

So with that, I'm gonna introduce the panel.

And then we'll go back to our guest to evening.

And she'll tell us a little bit about what she does.

But starting way in my left is Uta Mckelvy.

Ute is a plant pathologist here with extension service.

Very knowledgeable.

If you have questions tonight about diseases, hey, it's an excellent opportunity to call me in.

It's gonna warm up, we're gonna have disease problems at no time at all.

So get your questions in and answer at this time.

Shelley Mills, I've known Shelley for long time.

Shelley used to be with the department of ag.

Now she's the Valley County Extension Agent and does a wonderful job in one of the hidden treasures of the state up in Glasgow in Valley County.

It's a beautiful area, I love it up there.

Jane Mangold, she likes to be called the Invasive Specialist, I like to call her weed scientist, it works better.

But if you have any questions about weeds this evening, and if you live in Montana, I bet you have a weed problem.

So get 'em called in tonight and we'll get 'em answered.

And of course, Abi, Abi's here again.

She's our Extension Horticulturalist, Answering the phones tonight, we have three of 'em because we anticipate a lot of calls in a snowy rainy cold evening.

And the phone answers are John Holly, Jennifer Weiss, and Nancy Blake.

And the phone number will be on the screen in a little bit and get those questions coming in.

Shelley, welcome to Bozeman.

I know it's hard to leave Valley County, but thanks for driving down.

Tell us about what you do in Valley County.

- Well, first of all, thanks for having me.

It's an honor and pleasure to be here tonight.

So what I do is agricultural work.

That includes in crops, crop production, livestock production, horticulture questions, and one of my favorite things to do is my beekeeping workshops.

So we have quite a few things that extension agents do in the agricultural world world.

- You do a ton of stuff, you've got forage, you've got county fairs, - Yes.

- agriculture, but I wanna see a little bit about this bee project you have up there.

That's fascinating to me, and bees are always a good topic.

So William roll the film and see what we have on bees, that should be up here in a second.

- So this is my brand new beekeeping learning laboratory that I've put in collaboration with the US Army Corps of Engineers at Fort Peck, Montana.

I'm placing five hives out there that I will use to teach people hands on beekeeping measures.

I've been teaching beekeeping workshops for about six years now, and I noticed that people were missing key concepts about beekeeping things.

Like you have to leave all the frames in there, or they build burr comb, which is really hard to extract.

And so I got an instructional innovation grant from the Center for Faculty Excellence and purchased our hives.

And then I got a Western SARE grant to purchase the bees.

And I just tied them last Monday, this last Monday.

- Oh yeah, on that note, we had a call in email from a guy that I know out there, Jeff Robinson, with the Army Corps of Engineer.

I've known Jeff for quite a few years, he's great guy up there.

He'd like to have you talk a little bit about the pollinator garden and cooperation with the Corps of engineers.

- Sure, so I've been working with a couple of people at the Corps of engineers, Patricia Gilbert Ball and Sue Dalby, who is the Director of the Interpretive Center.

And we're putting in a 23 acre pollinator plot around the interpretive center.

And we got some money, some funding, through the Army Corps of Engineers, and we are going to have it in five different phases.

We'll have mesic areas and then we'll have Zurich areas as well.

So some areas that'll be wetlands, that we will be able to irrigate from the Missouri River.

And then a good portion of it will be Zurich, which is dryland.

- Okay, a plug for Fort Peck.

If you haven't seen the interpretive it is absolutely beautiful in the history of Fort Peck, is incredible.

So, if you're looking for a weekend vacation, take drive up to Glasgow, pretty country up there.

Jane, a question from Twin Bridges.

Is a Houndstongue weevil found in the Ruby River drainage?

What is the Houndstongue weevil?

- Yeah, so there is a root feeding weevil that is a pest of Houndstongue, a Houndstongue one of our noxious weeds.

And this is kind of an interesting story in the bio control realm, because this is an insect that was not approved for release in the US, but it was approved in Canada, just across the Northern border where it's done a wonderful job on Houndstongue.

And it has moved on its own across the border.

And is in a dozen or so counties in Montana.

And I'm not sure if it's up the Ruby River per se, but it is in Madison County.

And I know it's in the Cardwell, and the pony area and it could be up kind of the Ruby River drainage, but we just haven't seen it yet.

We are doing some research on that with Melissa Maggio, with the Montana Biocontrol Project.

And monitoring where it is and what sort of impact it's having on Houndstongue.

And also if it's having any impact on native borage species.

That's one of the reasons it was not approved for release in the US, is it did feed on some native borages in the Southern part of the country, and was not approved, but it is moving on its own.

And it it's very effective on Houndstongue.

- Is Houndstongue found statewide?

My dogs seem to find it wherever they go.

- Yeah, it is found statewide.

It's even I know up in Northeastern Montana, it's one of the newer invaders for noxious weeds.

- Does it like higher moisture situations?

- Mm, I don't think so.

I not- - okay.

- I've seen it in a lot of different places and I don't think it's tied to moisture.

- All right, thank you.

Have a lot of questions coming in tonight.

We'll get to those that we go along.

I have one leftover from last week, and this person from Bozeman would like to know when's the best time to aerate their lawn.

- So now is a good time to aerate your lawn.

Usually when things are at greening up, it's cool season.

It's a good time to aerate.

It's also a good time to overseed your lawn.

If you are wanting to revitalize some of those patchy areas that don't have that really nice filled in turf grass.

So aerating your lawn now is good.

It's just not a good idea to do that in the summer months.

- Okay, Uta.

- May I throw in a question?

Sorry.

- Sure.

- Aerating your lawn already working on that, when is a good time to fertilize my lawn?

- That's a great question and good timing for that Uta.

Fertilizing your lawn, if there's like a nice handy guide where you can talk about in terms of holidays.

So you wanna fertilize your lawn usually around Memorial Day and then again, Labor Day, and then Columbus Day.

So about three times a year, those are your go-to marks for fertilizing.

- So while we're on the lawn thing, what about dethatching lawns?

What's everybody's opinion and then I'll get my 2 cents in.

- Yeah, so I personally dethatching can be quite an intensive procedure for your lawns.

And a lot of times the thatch buildup isn't usually high enough in most situations to warranty thatching in my opinion, and from what I've seen.

So I usually opt for aerating instead.

Do you guys have other thoughts on that?

- Okay, I don't like it.

- What's... - Yeah, I don't usually recommend it either.

- No, to me it does more damage.

- It does.

- And I am a big fan of aeration versus dethatching.

- Absolutely.

- And iteration, you have to have somebody else doing dethatching, that might be hard work.

So, I avoid that if possible.

All right, Uta, from Havre.

Actually, I have a question from Havre and also Malta, regarding some yellow and drying winter wheat in their rolls.

Any idea what might be causing this?

- Yeah, I think that's probably winter kill.

Like this would be the time of the year where that would show.

So winter kill happens to your winter crops or in this case, winter wheat when they're kind of stressed going into winter.

Particularly in Montana, Northern Montana, we had a severe drought situation.

So there's a good chance those wheat plants haven't gotten enough moisture.

Maybe they were also seeded very late due to the lack of moisture and didn't get enough chance to establish before the winter.

And then not a lot of snow covered as winter either.

So they're kind of exposed to those cold temperatures.

And all of these things can really take a number on the weeds.

So probably these brown patches are winter kill, and you'll just have to see what recovers and what might stay.

That this is the time where it starts showing and we'll see how bad it's gonna be.

- Shelley, when I used to work for a living, Valley County was a big spring wheat producing county and they still are.

Has winter wheat moved into Valley County?

- Occasionally you'll have growers that are optimistic.

If we get moisture in the fall, then they'll try to do a winter wheat, but it's not a very big crop.

We're primarily spring wheat, but we've gone mostly into the post crops, which are peas, chickpeas, and lentils.

And we do almost continuous crop.

And in the 30 years that I've been there they have switched from wheat fallow to continuous crop, no till or conservation tillage, and including canola and flax.

And we even have sunflower cover crops.

We're trying everything we can to make the most of the small amount of moisture that we have.

But it's a much more sustainable system now than it was 30 years ago.

- I agree.

Question, this person's been driving around the state of Montana, has noticed a lot of goat farms.

And actually we had John Hilley from Dylan on a couple years ago.

And at that time he told us that Montana is one of the biggest exporters of goat to the Colorado region where they utilize a lot of goat meat.

So yeah, it is a big business, especially in Yellowstone County.

And possibly also I've seen them down in Big Horn County.

So it is an expanding industry.

Abi, from Helena, the outer bark is peeled off a pear tree, exposing the inner bark.

What should they do?

- I would- - Change zone?

- I would say, depends on how extensive it is, but don't apply anything on it.

Like any tars or tree paints or tree wound covers.

See if it'll heal on its own and just kind of watch it over the course of the summer.

And just see how it does, and take it from there.

Sometimes trees can survive if it's not extensive damage all the way around the trunk.

- Okay.

- What causes that?

- It could be, I think pests like deer and stuff that could be chewing on the bark or mechanical damage or something like that.

So, it could be a variety of different things.

- Sorry, I just keep throwing things in, but I saw a picture the other day of a tree where the bark was removed at the base of the tree.

And it was kind of a what happened here diagnostic quest, but it turned out it's like people with lawnmowers going too close by the tree and really severely damaging the trees.

So as the lawn is greening up and we are thinking about mowing again, be sure to give some room around your trees to not damage them.

- Yeah, and that's a really good point too.

A lot of times I'll recommend people don't let the turf grow all the way up to the base of their trees.

Because when you have that closeness to the turf and you're using your weed whack or a lawnmower, I like to call it lawnmower blight that injury to the trees, make sure you kind of pull your turf out and you can mulch the area around it instead.

So you're not tempted to get in there, but that's a really good point.

- It's a good trick.

- Okay, thank you.

From Shelby, this person would like to know if the county extension agents, ag agents or home EC agents help with occasions help with natural disasters or local disasters, including drought relief and so on.

- Absolutely, we try our best to bring... Be forward thinking and anticipate what that are coming in the future.

Like this year's for Northeast Montana and a lot of Eastern Montana, gonna be another drought year.

And so we're trying to do a lot of drought programming and education.

How can they do alternative feeds?

Grasshoppers are gonna be a big issue.

Another thing is people are bringing in hay from all over the nation and paying a premium price for it.

And one of the things that we wanna make sure that they do, is check their feed grounds and look for any unusual weeds, particularly Palmer amaranth which is really, if we get it in the state of Montana, it's gonna just devastate us.

So, if you see a weed that's grown really rapidly, call your extension agent.

Because we wanting to be on top of that.

But we also do nitrate testing of small grain forages for people in our offices, it's free.

And it used to be a yes, no answer.

We just had an acid test that, yeah, it's there.

We don't know how much is there, but it's there, but now we actually have a new strip method.

It takes longer, but we can give you a range.

And if it's in a certain higher level, we actually will say, Hey, we need to send this to the laboratory to get an analytical number for you on it.

So yeah, we are trying to do as best we can.

With fire, we are helping people with fire mitigation, weed management and fire, Jane does a lot of that.

Flooding, yeah, we're there.

- You're busy.

I will put a plug in for the county extension agents, they do a great job.

And with all these people moving the state that really don't have an appreciation for agriculture, much less gardening.

The county agents in all these counties, all 56 counties, can provide assistance and they're more than happy to do it, right?

- Absolutely, and we provide assistance.

Even if you only own 20, acres or two acres, or just a lot, we help you with the horticulture questions.

We're the people out in the field.

And you call us, we will come to your house and we will look at your plants.

And if we don't know the answer, we will send them to the specialist here at MSU.

And we work very closely with the Schutter Diagnostic Lab on a lot of things.

- I agree with you.

Okay, thank you.

This is a new one to me from Hamilton.

Can Jane talk about new noxious weed, culbosa grass replacing Chi grass.

You ever heard of it?

C-U-L-B-O-S-A.

- Oh, I think it's Poa bulbosa.

- Okay.

- Which is bulbous bluegrass.

Yes, I can talk about it, I actually brought some.

Yeah, I was kind of anticipating a question about bulbous bluegrass, because it's one of the grasses greening up right now.

And it's a little bunch grass.

So this is kind of what it's looking like right now.

Growing fairly flat to the ground.

And if you separate these kind of these tillers, what we call tillers, you'll see that it has bulbs at the base of the plant.

Hopefully that's showing up, which is where it's name comes, Poa bulbosa.

Probably within a couple weeks, this is here in Bozeman.

We're always a couple weeks behind other parts of the state.

This call came from Hamilton, I think, they're usually ahead of us.

It'll start shooting up its flowering stems.

And the Bulbous bluegrass becomes important again, too, because instead of producing seeds, this plant actually produces they're called bulbous.

I've heard it described as the only plant that gives live birth.

But instead of seeds, those little bulbous are actually immature plants.

And they fall to the ground and they're ready to grow right away.

So now is the time to be managing this plant.

Once it starts getting those flower heads, it's harder to manage.

It's mostly a problem in pastures and range land.

And we're still learning about the best way to manage Poa bulbosa or Bulbous bluegrass.

But some of the work that's coming out of the University of Wyoming, they've been doing some different trials.

Suggests that you can treat it this time of year when it's just the little bunches with Imazapic, sometimes Imazapic plus glyphosate.

So that treatment will work.

You will see some injury to your other grasses, especially if you put the glyphosate in there.

Katie Halewood, who is our extension agent in Judith Basin County, she and I have been corresponding over the last couple years.

She has some producers up there that are dealing with this.

And they had used a soulful sulfuron which is sold as landmark for range and pasture.

And had like 80% control, and we're very happy with the control that they got.

But it is very critical to treat it now.

And it's kind of a...

This just looks like any old grass.

It's kind of a non distinct plant and people don't really notice it until they start seeing the balbous on the flower heads.

So, treat it now.

- Okay, you got the word from Jane, now's the time to do it.

- Now is the time.

- Okay, Shelley, from Creston.

This person says Montana farms are getting bigger, but there's been a huge influx, people who have purchase small acreage.

Does extension have any programs to work directly with these people that are buying 10, 20, 30, 40 acres?

- Absolutely, they've been really forward thinking on our small acreage farms.

So you have a farm that's 20 acres and you have a weed issue.

Who do you call?

Well, you call extension, and extension comes out and helps you identify the weed.

Helps you figure out how to manage it.

We offer both chemical methods and organic methods, depending on what your preference is.

And Western Montana has really gone a long way with it.

Patrick Mangan out of Missoula has done some amazing things with the small farm acreages.

And I know Kimberly Richardson in Hamilton has done as well.

In Eastern Montana, we still have pretty large farms.

10,000 acres or so, but- - Exactly.

Phones have quieted down folks.

If you have questions, hey, you might get 'em answered tonight.

So, the phone number's on the screen, give us a call and we'll get the questions answered.

Uta, I know what happened here.

From Bozeman, this person has some daffodils that they think have powdery mildew, because it has white bands on the leaves.

Any idea if that is powdery mildew?

- Seems a little early for powdery mildew and a little, especially little cold, if there's not a lack of moisture, it certainly hasn't been warm enough.

I think those white areas are probably cold damaged.

It's been very cold.

We had a couple of nice little snowstorms here and some really cold temperatures.

And I think the daffodils being like early bloomers, they had their foliage out and they probably...

Even though they should be adapted to cold temperatures, not as cold as it happened to be in the last couple weeks.

So it's probably some bleaching from frost damage.

If they're blooming, they're probably fine.

Not that pretty, but I think they'll make it, hopefully.

- I think there will.

- It could even be snow on the foliage.

- Oh, yeah.

If you could add it off, then it's snow.

- If it's cold and wet, it's probably snow.

- Okay, as a follow up question, this is an interesting one.

It's from Townsend.

Their tulip start to bloom, and the next day there was no blooms left on 'em, why?

Who wants?

- I have a guess, but I bet Abi.

- I do too.

I think either something ate them or something - Deer.

- knocked them off.

- That's what I was thinking.

- If you have deer in the neighborhood, they love tulips.

- Tulips are pretty sweet to deers.

- It's one of their favorite foods.

So no doubt, they'll come in and clip the heads off and they'll wait for the next bloom and come back again.

- At least you got a day of bloom out of that.

- That's true.

Uta why have you up.

Do you think this cold spring will increase or decrease the potential for serial crop diseases?

Shelley you can jump into, what do you guys think?

We're late this year.

- Yeah, well, I think especially like the Bozeman area and where it's also wet right now, the cold and wet is cause for concern.

There are a couple of seedling diseases.

If it's like for like spring planted crops, that really like that cold and wet, and they're gonna go after your seeds and seedlings.

So that's something to be on the lookout for.

Shelley you grow a lot of pulse crop, I don't think you have the moisture up there.

- No.

- As you're planting pulses and the moisture is welcome.

But planting pulses into wet cold soils, they need protection from a seed treatment because otherwise there are these root rots like perfume root route that are really just waiting for some innocent little seedlings to come out there.

So I think there is cause for concern.

But the good thing is seed treatments are really effective.

So if you still have time to apply seed treatment, if you haven't already, that's definitely good strategy.

- On that note, we do have... And Shelley can jump in on this.

I don't know where we're at at Valley County.

But I know a lot of the peas are normally in by this time of year.

But some areas of state, especially Eastern part of the state and this person from Manhattan has not been able to get their peas in.

Is it too late?

- No, I think after about the 15th of May for peas, it's a little late.

They are a cool season crop, but it certainly don't wanna be seeding peas in June, that's way too late.

But- - If you have temperatures above 80, it aborts the blossoms and they'll flower at that time.

- Yep, so if it's hot in August, in July no.

- Yeah, actually last time I was up there in August, I saw 103 degrees in Glasgow.

We never used to see that.

- That's for sure, yeah.

- Okay, Jane from Miles City, is goat head weed present in the Bozeman area?

You might explain what goat head is.

- Yeah, what is goat- - Is that (voice drowns in crosstalk) - I think it is the same thing as puncture vine.

Puncture vine, so the places where we see that most in the State are Yellowstone County, and I think down into Carbon County.

So Billings and then down towards Reds I have never seen it in the Bozeman area.

That call I think came in from Miles City, I could see where you might find it in Mile City.

It likes a little hotter and drier than Southwest Montana.

- Yeah, I would agree with you.

From Billings, I don't understand why somebody wants to get rid of lily of the valleys.

But anybody have an idea how you would get rid of lily of the Valleys?

- Yeah, you can use glyphosate and get rid of it that way.

But it's a nice plant for pollinators too.

But if it's growing somewhere where you don't want it, you can use glyphosate and get rid of it that way.

- Okay.

- Abi, do you think covering the ground with like black plastic and the area would work or- - So I've had kind of mixed results with that kind of thing, and I'd love to hear your opinion.

But a lot of times, I don't know if it would work to maybe kill that current crop.

But if they wanted to get rid of it from the area, it would probably regrow from there.

- Okay.

- So I don't know how well that heat will get into the soil and affect the seeds.

- Right, okay.

- Okay, this question came in from Manhattan.

And they'd like to know, does Montana have a litter law?

The interstate from Bozeman to Logan looks like a city landfill on the westbound lane, and I agree with that.

Who is responsible of enforcement?

We don't have anybody that answers that here.

I do know we have a litter law, but I'm not sure who's enforcing it.

And yes, we do have a lot of trash along the interstate right now.

- And I'm guessing that's because they're taking loads to the landfill.

That's why it's - Exactly.

- so much litter strewn along I-90 between here and Logan.

- It is a mess.

Why I've got this here?

Jane is very, very knowledgeable about weeds and so forth.

But if I can get a picture of this, she's also a very good cook.

And we invite her all the time because she always brings in treats.

And this particular one is butter caramels with sea salt.

And I'll bet you it'll be none left after the program.

And Jane, thank you for doing that.

- You're welcome.

- Okay, Shelley, I did not know this.

But this person from Billings, said they heard on the news that the National County Agents will meet in Montana in 2025.

Tell us a little bit more about that if you would.

- Well, it's an interesting process.

So national association, if you belong to the Montana Association of County Ag Agents, you belong to the National Association of County Ag Agents.

Once every eight years, the conference is held in the Western United States.

And about six years ago, Montana said, "Eh, we kind of would like to host it."

So we kind of talked about it, brought it back to our association and brought it back to Extension Director, Cody Stone.

And everybody was in agreement that it's a great opportunity to bring agents together and do some team building.

And so we went back and made a bid and we were accepted.

And we will be hosting the National Association of County Ag Agents in 2025.

We expect somewhere between 1500 and 2000 people.

- Wow.

- It will be in Billings.

So it's pretty exciting.

- That is great, it's good for Montana.

It really is.

The last time we held it was in 1982 and Dave Phillips was the chair at the time.

So I'm the chair and Patrick Madigan is my co-chair.

- And Shelley, if I remember correctly, it's a challenge to find a venue big enough to host that many people from across the country, correct?

- That is correct.

And Montana, the whole population of Montana is less than a lot of the places that have hosted in the past.

And Montana has no convention center.

So we had to go to the national board with special compensation to reduce the agenda, to cut it a day out.

And then we actually had an offer from the Idaho agents saying, "Hey, we want you to keep the spouses tour and the sons and daughters tour."

Which is a whole another track beyond professional development.

And they said, "We are willing to do that for you.

We will come to Montana and run that track for you," which was amazing.

So thank you to Scott Jensen and the Idaho agents for that.

- That's great, I like that.

From Wolf Point, kind of up in your territory.

They had a grass fire in 2021 on part of a CRP field.

It didn't grow last summer because of the drought understandable.

But he thought it would come back this year, but it has not.

The area not burned has greened up.

It is planted to alfalfa and tall wheat grass, any explanation.

- I think it was probably drought related.

We just like had three inches of moisture all last year.

And we normally are low, nine to 11 inches is our normal.

And it's just uncanny that we have had absolutely no moisture.

And the rains have gone around us, south of us, north of us.

So I would say, hold on, we did get some moisture this last weekend and hopefully that will green it up.

The alfalfa should come and the grasses should come.

But be aware that there's gonna be the likelihood of weeds in there as well.

- Yeah, I agree with you there.

Okay, from Glasgow, your country.

Is milkweed considered invasive, noxious or both?

Should it be encouraged for pollinators?

Jane.

- Well, I think everyone on the panel can probably say something about that.

Milkweed is not an noxious weed, it's actually a plant that's native to Montana.

And Montana will not list a native plant on the noxious weed list.

It's kind of aggressive, but I wouldn't call it invasive by any means.

I love milkweed and I'll let the others comment about its value as a pollinator resource.

- Absolutely, yeah, it's an important pollinator resource for our honeybees and Monarch butterflies as well.

We're kind of on the edge of the range, isn't that right Abi?

- On the edge of the range, yeah.

- I noted something last year and I think I probably mentioned on the program.

But I was out in the Eastern part of the state.

And drive along the interstate in the summertime, whoever mowed the interstate was courteous enough to mow around the milk weeds.

And I don't think that's a statewide program, but it just tells you that a lot of people are concerned about pollinators.

And they took the time to mow around.

And it's kind of unique to drive down interstate at 80 mile an hour and see nothing but milk weeds.

It's kind of neat.

Anyway- - Yeah, there actually, I think it's 12 species of milkweed in Montana.

Some are more showy than others, but there's actually quite a few species out there.

And they are very important for Monarch butterflies, which are in peril.

So they're an amazing plant that has a lot of value.

- One thing you do need to be careful for, they can be toxic to livestock.

So if they're growing in an area where you have livestock grazing, that's something to keep in mind.

But overall really awesome plant for pollinators.

- Yeah.

- Difficult to control as well because of the thick waxy layer on there.

So you have to have an adjuvant in your mix to get through that.

- Yeah, true.

And so works as management, right?

That's correct.

- Yeah, you don't have to.

Don's pretty reasonable compared to some of the (voice drowns in laughter), And I couldn't say that, but it is.

Okay, Uta, from Park City, their mature spruce has spots on the needles.

And the needles drop off and the branches seem to be dying.

What did be the cause?

Would that be cytospora possibly causing that?

- Ah, (panel laughing) I'm just not good with the (indistinct).

So like you take it from me before I throw a diagnostic lab under the bus once again.

- So, I was going to say there are a few fungal pathogens that affect spruce trees that show those little dots.

And one of them is Rhizosphaera needle cast.

But a good thing to know would be to send a sample into the diagnostic clinic to confirm, what it might be depending on where you see those spots on the needles.

Whether it's the old growth or new growth, it could be a different pathogen.

So I would send a sample to the diagnostic clinic to have that confirmed.

- Absolutely, yeah.

- Okay.

- Sorry, Eva.

- That works.

Wanda, from Yellowstone County has old pasture that is not doing very well.

And she's curious if using a cover crop instead of going back into a pasture would be suitable.

And my suggestion would be to get ahold of last week's guests, Kate Vogel @kateVogel at Northern... What is it?

- North 40 Ag.

- North40Ag.com in Ballentine.

And she can definitely answer your question there.

Ah, this is fun.

From Shelby, what is the best time to pick dandelion leaves for edible salads, before or after bloom?

- Finally, somebody that likes dandelion.

- I love dandelion, but I would probably say before bloom, because you'll have like that bitter kind of fibrous taste probably after blooms in the leaves.

I have never eaten dandelions in my salad.

I've tried to cook dandelion heads, but I'm curious.

Have you guys ever tried?

- I have not.

- I've tried them, they're kind of a little tart.

But yeah.

- Bitter is the word.

- Definitely, if you get them young, they're way better than the older after they've bloomed.

- Porcelain, you're porcelain fan too?

- Yeah, that one makes me mad in the garden, I just wanna pull it.

- I agree.

For Jane, this is from Bozeman.

They say they have heard Jack call Canada thistle, the Bozeman city flower.

And there is some truth to that.

They're curious, what can they do?

Because there are so many Canada thistles and lots of land waiting for development, that are now controlled and they contaminate this person's lawn.

What can they do?

- If it's in an area that's being developed, I would suggest talking to the County Weed District.

Developments do require a weed management plan.

That's part of the county noxious weed control act.

And the weed district folks would be the best people to know if there's a plan in place and who is responsible for implementing that plan.

- Okay, in other words, get ahold of some management and shake the table a little bit.

- You might have to, yeah.

- Yeah, I agree A question from Glasgow.

If Jane wanted to do weed control research Shelley, do you help her or do you line it up?

- Well, I think it's a little bit of both.

When we had a producer come into our office in 2010, with a weed in his hand and said, "What is it?

And how come I can't kill it with 16 ounces of Roundup?"

People started to get a little concerned and it started to spread.

And so I contacted Jane and a couple of weed scientists from MSU and North Dakota State University as well.

We did a bunch of research on it and found out that it was narrowleaf hawksbeard, which was identified by Noel Orloff of the Schutter Lab.

And we researched many different ways to control it in both the crop land and in range and pasture.

As a matter of fact, Jane and I did a couple of research projects with Bobby Ross, who was the Daniels County agent, and that was my master's thesis.

And we came up with different ways to manage narrowleaf hawksbeard.

And I sent out a survey to the growers and asked how much money we had saved them by doing this education and outreach.

And they said anywhere from 40 to $83 an acre.

So roughly around $6 million in Northeast Montana, that we've saved by helping them prevent this crop from invading their weeds or this plant from invading their crops.

- And that's a nasty one too.

- Well it's it is and it isn't, it's a winter annual.

So it fits really well into the no-till situation, which is where winter annuals really succeed well.

And it just was a new invader to our area.

It was common in Canada, common in Alaska, but it was like the all perfect storm where it met in Montana and people are able to control it very effectively now.

- Good.

You mentioned Palmer amaranth that's in North Dakota now, isn't it?

- Hmm.

- How close to the Montana border?

- It's still quite a ways about half the state over, but it's there and it's millet is one of the areas that they think brought it in.

Most likely because it can't be cleaned out of millet very well.

But hay, was brought in on hay.

- So it's also been moved in conservation planting seed mixes.

In Minnesota that's how it was introduced.

- So we have to be very cautious.

- Yeah.

Jack, may I say one other - Sure.

- thing about the question about research?

I think one of the neat things about the extension system is that, there's specialists on campus and then agents out across the state.

And when something like narrowleaf hawksbeard' shows up and it's kind of a unique situation in one part of the state, that's a great opportunity for agents and specialists to work together, to address a regional or local need.

And then it's also great for specialists on campus, we hear what the issues are in the state from the agents.

And they help to keep us abreast of what's going on out there.

And then we can work together to try to develop resources to address those needs.

- It's worked very well over time, there's no doubt about that.

Moving along, this person would like to know if the oyster mushroom is relatively safe to eat.

And the answer is yes, and this is a time of year where the oyster mushroom shows up on dead cottonwoods and it does make great soup.

I might even throw a recipe for that into the Ag Live Newsletter.

- Relatively safe sounds a little scary.

- Scatching.

- I don't know if those were the words the caller used, but relatively safe, I don't know if I go with that.

- Okay, it is safe, let me put it that way.

But it's one of those things that if you were to consume too much alcohol with some sort of mushrooms, - Oh, okay.

- You can release some toxicity.

But that normally is not the case with the oyster mushroom.

Shelley, if someone was interested in becoming an extension agent, what advice would you give them?

- Oh, go for it, it's the greatest job in the whole wild world.

I put 23 years of working with the Montana Department of Agriculture and waiting for Verlin Conig to retire so I could take his job.

Gave me the opportunity to do the research on my own, to learn all the crops, and learn the weeds, and learn the horticulture before I applied for the position.

But it is a great job.

And we work with the best people in the world.

I can't say enough about extension.

- I remember Verlin, I worked a lot with Verlin and you've done a great job replacing him, we appreciate that.

- Oh, thank you.

- I like this question.

From Boulder, are there weeds that shouldn't be composted?

And how long does it take weed seeds to die if composted?

That's gonna vary probably.

- Wow.

Yeah, I would appreciate some help on this one about the composting, as far as the weed seeds, it varies from species to species.

Weeds that you wouldn't wanna compost.

- Yeah, I don't know, and I don't know how common we use hot composting here in Montana, which would be one way that you would kill them.

- Right.

- So just passive or cold composting, I think they might survive longer potentially.

- Yeah, that's a good question.

- That's a good question.

- What I recommend for the master gardeners is, if they're headed out, don't put 'em in the compost.

- Yeah.

- If they're just vegetative, go ahead and put 'em in there.

- I think that's probably good advice.

You have what looks like a overgrowing musty carrot there.

What is that?

- Yeah, that's good call.

This might be a weed you wouldn't wanna In fact, you probably wouldn't wanna even handle it.

This is poison hemlock, and it is one of the most toxic plants in north America.

It's not native to north America.

There is a native hemlock that's just as poisonous, but it has these very...

It's really quite beautiful, it looks like a carrot leaf actually.

A very divided leaf, it has a tap root.

I did a fairly good job getting this one out of the ground.

A highly toxic plant.

This plant will grow five, six feet tall.

It gets very tall and it gets beautiful white flowers on it.

It kind of looks like Queen Anne's lace or any of the wild Parsnip, wild carrot species.

It is toxic to all mammals including humans.

And even handling this plant, I will be washing my hands right after the show before I would eat anything.

It has to be ingested.

It's not toxic topically to your hands, but it has to be ingested.

And all parts of the plant are toxic.

Now is a great time to treat this.

This kind of grows in the under story of deciduous forest, that's where I see it.

Or like on the field edges where you start getting into some trees.

And the nice thing about it right now is it's only a couple inches tall.

And where I dug this up, it's one of the only green things in the forest.

So you can actually come along and spot treat this and not have any like off target injury to other species.

'Cause it's one of the only things growing right now.

I did wanna mention too, it is highly toxic.

We do have this publication.

This is a publication that the NRCS put out, that some of us extension specialists worked on this.

And it's all about plants that are poisonous to livestock in Montana and Wyoming.

Has some really nice tables in the back that talk about like dosage of species, like poison hemlock, and how toxic a dose would be to different classes of livestock.

- That one can kill you.

- Yes.

- And it there's quite a bit of it around, to be honest.

- There is quite a bit of it.

It seems like the last 10 years poison hemlock has been showing up more commonly across Montana.

It likes moist areas.

So sometimes you'll see it growing in the - You can see it in yards at times.

- You can see it in yards, yep.

- Okay, Shelley, you mentioned earlier and I bring this up because we've had a couple of questions about how extensive the pulse crops are.

And the highline regional or high lines that Northern tier counties.

You do a lot of work with pulses up there, correct?

- We do, and we actually do a lot of work with the Eastern Ag Research Center.

Chengci Chen is the superintendent.

And he puts in a pulse plot with some farming collaborators that I have Dick and Darlene Fulton and Chad and Jackie Forrest.

Up in the Richland area, it's been North Valley County.

And every year it gets larger and larger.

And every year Dick says, "Hmm, maybe we need to start charging."

But no, I also funded through the Northern Post Growers Association.

They provide funding for Chengci to put in the plot, and it's an amazing thing.

We do have a plot tour, this year it'll be July 7th.

And we're gonna invite a lot of specialists out.

Unfortunately, it's the same date as the post plot tour in Bozeman, but we'll probably end up inviting somebody from North Dakota State University over.

- And we didn't hear that.

- Yeah.

- Shelley, are you trying different types of pulse crops or different cultivars of pulse crops that we know will grow here.

What all is in the plots?

- They're doing quite a few different things in the pulse plot.

And pulse means pea, chickpea or lentil.

So it's an edible Legum, is what a pulse is.

And we have different variety trials.

We're trying ones that are developed by Montana State University, Idaho, Washington.

We have some private entities that are there.

We've had every single pulse breeder in the nation there with the exception of one out of Canada.

Talking about their research that they're doing.

They're also doing nutrient research, they're doing disease research, all kinds of things.

It's a pretty impressive plot.

And a lot of people come to it every year, generally between 50 and 120 people.

- And I have to give the Northern tier counties a lot of credit for bringing the pulse crops in there.

There was a gentleman in Malta for a long time, Mike Lang.

- Yep.

- Mike was a big promoter early on of pulse crops, especially chickpeas at the time.

But that's kind of where they've taken off.

And right now they really do fit in this state and do very, very nicely and been allowing us to more continuous crop.

And it's been much more profitable for producers.

So you guys have done a great job up along the highline.

- Well, thank you, it was a big learning curve.

When you had all of these herbicides that had residuals and knowing what was going on with the lentils or the peas, lentils or so hypersensitive to any kind of herbicides.

So if you had something there that was residual, we really struggled with learning that, but once they got it down, it's great.

And keeping good records is critical.

- Exactly.

From Facebook, is the treatment for bulbous bluegrass that Jane mentions safe for other desired grasses?

They're on an old river bottom, no irrigation.

If we use something that kills the other desired grasses, we don't have the ability to irrigate new seed up.

So- - Yeah, that's a really good note.

You will have injury to other grasses.

That's why one of the tricks with dealing with bulbous bluegrass is you are treating it when it's greening up because it greens up sooner than the other grasses.

So you can...

It's kind of a timing issue.

If it starts getting later into the season, then you may have more injury to other grasses that are greening up.

So it's a timing issue to get out there early.

- Okay.

Question from Bozeman, this person would like to plant their potatoes.

Is it time?

This week I might just hold back a little bit.

What do you guys think?

- I'm usually a little bit more conservative with when I plant.

So, we had snow today, so I would say, wait, but this is a good time in general to plant potatoes.

What would you say Shelley?

- I agree.

They used to say that Good Friday is when you want to plant them, but that's way too.

So we just planted ours yesterday as a matter of fact.

- You're dry there.

- But we're dry and we're a bit warmer than you are here.

Elevation is a little lower.

So I would say, when the soil temperatures get about 58 degrees, then it is the time to plant.

It's not gonna do anything, but sit there and you could get pests in them.

- Absolutely.

And contact your local extension agents to find out what that timing is for where you are in the state.

- Absolutely.

- This one, we don't have an entomologist on the panel, but it's from Kalispell and we'll see if everybody has an answer.

Are there praying Mantis in Montana, and that can they live in the Western side and should they?

Anybody have a clue on that?

- We have them in the Western side.

I don't think they're native though.

I think that they were introduced.

So I'm not sure a hundred percent, but we do have them in the Western part of the state.

- Eastern too.

- Yeah.

- Yeah, they're kind of cute.

- They are, yeah.

- And our entomologist generally brings in one of her pets out of her numerous different pets.

But I asked Gloria if she has a praying Mantis in captivity and we'll bring it on sometime.

- Fine.

- We're getting a little short, I'm gonna run this one by quickly here.

Montana has been short of hay.

We know that, we've been really short of hay.

They're bringing in a lot of hay from other areas.

Or does that present problems in some areas?

- Absolutely, we need to just be really cautious about one, the weed issue are you bringing in new weeds?

And secondly, the quality of the hay.

You should probably have it tested to find out, is it good quality hay for your forage?

And also nitrates, nitrates can be very toxic to cattle or any livestock really.

And some weeds, if it's really weedy hay, they will have high levels of nitrates as well as the small grains, particularly oat hay is really susceptible to high nitrates.

So take it into your extension office, have them run a nitrate test.

And in reality, doing it, even sending it to the lab, is way less expensive than losing livestock.

And quality is only like $30.

So... - I agree, and we have had issues with that through the years.

Not just this time, but in previous drought years throughout the state.

For Jane, quick question.

This person would like to dig their weeds like dandelion, how deep do they have to dig 'em so they won't come back?

- Well with like the real tap rooted plants, I usually think two to three inches.

Like a houndstongue plant if you can get a couple inches down into the ground.

Now I have heard people with dandelion say, you have to get more than that, five or six inches.

- But you can't do that with Canada thistle.

(Jack's voice drowns in crosstalk) - Well digging really only works with plants that have a root like this, where you're getting that tap root.

Canada thistle has a creeping root that's spreading all over the place.

So even if you get this part of the plant, the creeping root over here will sprout.

And sometimes the digging and the injury can actually promote sprouting from the rest of the roots.

- Thank you, before you wash your hands, you're not gonna get any of this crazy.

- So that's- - Those are for everybody else.

- Folks, thanks for joining us tonight.

Shelley, appreciate you coming down, we learned a lot.

- Thank you.

- Next week we're gonna have malting in Montana with Jennifer Brian.

She's our president of Montana Craft Malt.

Thank you for all the calls this evening, stay warm, it's gonna be a cold night.

We'll see you next week, have a good week.

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