AlO-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 27, 2002 Common Guidelines The Lancaster County Planning Commission calls it “Envision” or “smart growth.” The mission: come up with agreeable, working land zoning standards. If property is zoned Rl, that could mean 550 different things lit erally, the number of different zoning districts in Lancaster County alone. Like farms, no zoning district is the same. But maybe unlike farms, there have been few times when township supervisors and bor ough managers actually spoke with one another, let alone planning commissions, about a “vision” for what agriculture and rural commu nities should look like. As a result, Lancaster’s planning commission knew something had to be done. That’s why work on a concept to unify the different agencies into a coalition to manage the growth of development, road use and repair, and other elements is necessary. For Lancaster, managing that key economic ingredient the ag man ufacturing and transportation cluster while supporting a livable community is critical. And many other counties looking to manage growth would do well to leam from this model. So attend the growth conference in Millersville on Monday, April 29. The insight gained about rural, and rural/urban community plan ning, could be invaluable. Saturday, April 27 Penn State and Master Gardener Spring Workshop, Donohoe Center, Greensburg, 9 a.m.-l p.m. Market Goat Day Camp, Myers View Farm, South Bedford County. Alfred State College Open House, Alfred, N.Y., 9 a.m.-3 p.m., (607) 587-4215. Farm Safety Day Camp, Perry County Fairgrounds, New port, 9 a.m.-2 p.m., (717) 834-6351. High Tunnel Workshop, Ist of 4, Rockspring, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., (814) 865-5587. Sheep and Wool Day, Springton Manor Farm, near Downing town, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., (610) 942-2450. A-Day Celebration April 27-28, Delaware Valley College, 9 Editor. The Governor has proposed a five percent cut in base budgets for the agricultural research and agricultural extension line items, resulting in a decrease of $840,950 and $931,248, respec tively, in funds available to the Penn State College of Agricultur al Sciences for programming. This, coupled with Penn State’s commitment to maintain compet itive salaries for faculty and staff, will result in a net decrease of ap proximately $2.2 million in agri cultural research funding and $2.5 million in extension funding. In keeping the budget request in line with other Yellow Book requests, the Pennsylvania Coun cil of Farm Organizations re quests a total of $24,995,000 for the research line, and a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday, April 28 Reunion of 4-H Members, Penn State Cooperative Extension, Carbon County, 2 p.m., (570) 325-2788. Monday, April 29 PennAg Industry’s Poultry Council Poultry Banquet, Her shey Lodge and Convention Center, dinner 7 p.m. Lancaster Smart Growth Confer ence, Millersville University, 299-8333. Pa. State Grange Legislative Luncheon, Radisson Hotel, (Turn to Page A 33) $28,748,000 for the cooperative extension line. This would amount to a three percent in crease over the 2001-2002 budget for the Penn State College of Ag ricultural Sciences Research and Cooperative Extension lines. To put the Governor’s request in human resource terms, a five percent reduction will result in 69 fewer faculty, or 99 fewer county extension agents, or 118 fewer support staff, with the most likely outcome being some combination of reduction of faculty, extension agents, and staff. There are not sufficient position vacancies cre ated by attrition to cover this shortfall, so people employed today, both at University Park and in the counties, will be on the (Turn to Page A 34) To Be Aware Of New Pesticides For Small Fruit Kathy Demchak in the Department of Horticulture reports that strawberry growers have an additional product to use for Botrytis grey mold control this year. Switch, from Syngenta, is a mixture of two active ingredients, cyprodinil and fludioxinil. It has provided a very high level of grey mold control in inde pendent studies. Tree fruit and grape growers may recognize cyprodinil as the active ingredient in Vangard, which is labeled for use against scab on apples, brown rot on peaches, and bunch rot and powdery mildew on grapes, among other uses. Fludioxinil is marketed as Maxim, which is used to treat seeds of many crops and seed po tatoes. In addition, Quadris 2.08 F fungicide and Abound 2.08 F (both from Syngen ta) recently obtained labels for some small fruit uses. Quadris and Abound are both the same material (azoxystro bin); however, Quadris is labeled for use only on strawberries while Abound is labeled for use only on blueberry, eld erberry, gooseberry, huckleberry, ling onberry, and juneberry. Abound is reg istered for control of mummy berry, Altemaria fruit rot, Phomopsis stem canker, and anthracnose fruit rot. These are supplemental labels, so even new containers of these materials won’t have these uses on the label at this point. Your chemical dealer should be able to supply you with the supplemental la- WHO APPOINTED YOU JUDGE? Background Scripture: Romans 14:1 through 15:13. Devotional Reading: Romans 14:14-23. Much of the turmoil I have experi enced in church life I would put, not in the “Of Vital Importance,” but in the “Disputes Over Opinions” column. Paul tells us, “As to the man who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not for disputes over opinions” (Ro. 14:1). The problem is that many of us think that our disputes occupy a much higher level than mere opinions. Other people may have “opinions”; we have “vital is sues.” Somewhere 1 read about a violinist who drove his wife to distraction by playing the same string over and over again. “Why do you play just one string?” she demanded. Other violinists use many different notes when they play. “Ah,” replied her husband, “they are looking for the right note, but I have found it!” Many Christians think they have “found it.” I have seen them come Lancaster Farming An Award-Winning Farm Newspaper • Keystone Awards 1993,1995 • PennAg Industries 1992 • PACD Media Award 1996 • Berks Ag-Business Council 2000 • Recognized for photo excellence throughout the years by the Northeast Farm Communicators bels. Quadris is registered for control of powdery mildew and anthracnose on strawberries. This is significant, be cause the occurrence of anthracnose appears to be increasing in Pennsylva nia. Dr. Mike Ellis of The Ohio State University reported in the Ohio Fruit ICM News that “although Botrytis fruit rot is not on the label, research in New York has shown that Abound (azoxystrobin) provides good to fair control of Botrytis. In addition, azoxys trobin has good activity against Phy tophthora fungi on several other crops. Therefore, it may provide some level of leather rot (a fruit rot caused by Phy tophthora cactorum) control when ap plied for control of Anthracnose fruit rot on strawberry. “Quadris is registered for use at the rate of 6.2 to 15.4 fluid ounces per acre and may be applied the day of harvest (0-day PHI). For fungicide resistance management, do not apply more than two sequential sprays of Quadris before alternating with a fungicide that has a different mode of action. Do not make more than four (4) applications per acre per crop year. Do not apply more than 1.92 quarts per acre per season. This is four applications at the maxi mum rate.” Apple growers and small fruit grow ers with neighbors who are apple grow ers should pay particular attention to the points below concerning phytotox icity to some apple cultivars. “The active ingredient in Quadris (azoxystrobin) is very phytotoxic to Mclntosh apples and other varieties re lated to Mclntosh. Therefore it is rec ommended that Quadris not be used in the same sprayer or equipment that will be used on apples. It is also impor tant to prevent any drift from strawber ries to apples. Apple varieties related to Mclntosh are Bancroft, Bromley, Cort land, Cox, Discover, Empire, Gala, Janamac, Kent, Mclntosh, Spartan and Summared.” To Prepare To Control The Asparagus Beetle In last week’s column I discussed scouting your asparagus fields for the asparagus beetle. Although the return of colder weather this week has slowed insect activity substantially, beetle ac tivity will increase again as soon as warmer temperatures return. Therefore it is important to continue scouting and be prepared to implement control mea sures. In small garden patches, hand pick ing can control the asparagus beetle adults. The larvae can be controlled by brushing them to the ground. The lar vae usually are not able to reclimb the stalks and die on the hot soil. This will nearly to blows over the most trivial of matters, because they failed to realize how trivial they were: the color to paint the church doors, the variety of hymns to be sung, the version of the Bible used in the service, the suitability of having church suppers, the choir members who get to sing most of the solos, and on and on, ad nauseam. Human Opinions Admittedly, we often have disputes over more important matters, too: What shall be in the church budget? What clergy person shall we engage? Shall we support this mission or that? Is it “Christian” to permit this or that activity in the church? etc. Important though these may be, they are not earth-shattering unless we make them that way. These too are about opinions human opinions fallible opinions. There is nothing wrong in keeping our opinions, so long as we remember that that is all they are. Many of our intramural disputes are not about vital issues, but about the all too-human passion for judging others. Paul asks us plainly: “Who are you to pass judgment of the servant of anoth er” (14:4). Our brothers and sisters in the faith are not our servants, but of the Lord. We will be judged, not by each other, but by the Lord. “For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God” and each of us “shall give account of himself to God” (14:10,12). Some of our own opinions are bound to be in error! Jesus did not ask his disciples all to have the same opinions. “One man es teems one day as better than another, while another man esteems all days alike. Let everyone be fully convinced in his own mind” (14:5). Live by your opinions, but do not presume to make your neighbor abide by them, too. That is for your neighbor and his Maker not be practical however for commer cial production. Before deciding to use insecticides, one should monitor the field for beetle activity. If 10 percent or more of the plants have beetles present, control could be warranted. However, the time of day will have a large impact on bee tle activity. Beetles are much more active during the warm afternoon and evening hours. If the scouting is done during the early morning or during cool weather, a 5 percent infestation rate would be a bet ter threshold. If you determine that your beetle populations require control, a number of products are labeled for use. These include Lannate, Malathion, Methoxychor, Ambush, Pounce, and Sevin. Be sure to follow the label in structions, especially the preharvest in terval. The disadvantage of using an insecti cide is that beneficial insect popula tions will be reduced as well as the pest populations. Many beneficial insects feed on the various life stages of aspar agus beetles and do provide some con trol. Ladybird beetles, other predacious beetles, soldier bugs, wasps, flies, and dragonflies all reduce the asparagus beetle populations. Testrastichus asparagi is a tiny wasp 1/16 of an inch long and metallic green. It attacks the eggs of the asparagus beetle. The wasp could kill as many as 70 percent of the eggs and larvae. The wasp chews a hole in the beetle egg and drinks the liquid or lays one of its own eggs in the beetle egg. The wasp egg will hatch and grow inside the beetle larva and eventually will kill it. Some times the wasps are so abundant that no insecticides are needed. However, the empty egg cases left by the wasp’s feeding can be unsightly and make the spears unmarketable as well. To Correct An Error In Last Week’s Column A sharp reader in Lancaster County pointed out an error in my paragraphs on the drought published last week. I reported the flow rate of the Susque hanna River at Safe Harbor on April 17 was 51,500 cfs (cubic feet per second) compared to normal flow for April of 79,300 cfs. These numbers are correct. However, I also reported on April 16 the Conestoga River at Lancaster had a flow of 283,000 cfs compared to the April normal of 765,000 cfs. These numbers have too many zeros! The cor rect flow rate was 283 cfs compared to a normal rate of 765 cfs. 1 am glad to know this column is read carefully and I do appreciate feedback! Quote of The Week: “Beware of little expenses. A small leak will sink a great ship. ” Benjamin Franklin to work out between and yours themselves. Honor The Lord The key to all this is found in Paul’s admonitions to do whatever it is you think you ought to do “in honor of the Lord.” If you abstain from eating, do it in God's honor. If you eat, do that to God’s honor. If you believe music is an important part of church worship, then have music to God’s honor. If you do not believe music should be in divine worship, then abstain to the honor of God. Keep the honoring of God in the center of your focus, not your doing or your not doing of a par ticular thing. “If we live, we live to the Lord. And if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s” (14:8). That is what we must keep remembering: “.. .we are the Lord’s.” He alone is capable of judging our opinions, our lives, and our faith. Judging others is beyond our au thority and our capabilities. I We know all of the above, but we fre quently forget it. So Paul puts in mem orable form: “Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment scat of God” (14:10) where “each of us shall give account of himself to God” (14:12). The accounting is not about our brothers and sisters, but ourselves. “Then let us no more pass judgment on one another, but rather decided never to put a stumbling block or hin drance in the way of a brother.” Lancaster Farming Established 1955 Published Every Saturday Ephrata Review Building 1 E. Main St. Ephrata, PA 17522 —by— Lancaster Farming, Inc. A Steinman Enterprise William J. Burgess General Manager Andy Andrews, Editor Copyright 2002 by Lancaster Farming
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers