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
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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