|
|
| This Week's Titles: |
| Irrigation
Systems May Get Early Workout |
|
|
Avoid Heat Related Illnesses
This Summer |
|
| Problems
In Home Landscape Gardens |
|
| New
Textbook Helps Explain Southern Weather |
|
| Deadly
Enemy Of Plants Being Studied |
|
|
|
| Irrigation
Systems May Get Early Workout |
1:25 |
Farmers may have to give their
irrigation systems an early workout in 2003. |
After a wet early spring,
May turned off dry in South Georgia, while the Northern part
of the state received above normal rainfall. Kerry Harrison,
an engineer with the University of Georgia Extension Service
reports some irrigation systems are already at work giving thirsty
plants a drink of water. He adds other crops may soon need help
from irrigation. "We'd be talking about small grains such as
wheat, and early planted crops like corn, so basically any small
grain crop that's in the field right now would be short on water
and we need to be looking at it." Kerry Harrison with the College
of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, who adds turfgrass,
especially in South Georgia, may soon need to be irrigated.
Most of the rainfall during late spring and early summer comes
from scattered afternoon thunderstorms. So farmers need to make
final adjustments and make sure their irrigation systems are
ready for action, in case the clouds pass by without dropping
needed moisture. John Harrell, University of Georgia College
of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, reporting from Tifton. |
Links to audio files:
(files include a brief quote from the source for your use.)
|
| |
 |
| Avoid
Heat Related Illnesses This Summer |
1:51 |
Don't suffer a physical meltdown
this summer. |
As the state moves into
the summer of 2003, many people will spend a lot of time working
and playing outside. But along with long days, summer also brings
a lot of heat and humidity, which can make temperatures feel
like they are well above one-hundred degrees. Connie Crawley,
a nutrition and health specialist with the University of Georgia
Extension Service says people who spend a lot of time working
and playing outside in the summer heat need to be careful and
pay attention to warning signs of heat exhaustion and heat stroke.
"Well frequently of course the skin gets very warm, and in the
more extreme cases actually the person tends to sweat less.
Initially the person will be sweating quite a bit but then as
the prostration occurs, they actually get less sweaty and they
can become very confused, they can feel sort of nauseated, they'll
notice their vision is changing, they just feel light-headed."
Connie Crawley with the College of Family and Consumer Sciences
who adds the elderly are also at risk for heat related illness,
especially those living in homes with poor ventilation, or without
air conditioning. If you must be outside during the hottest
part of the day, drink plenty of water, and get out of the heat
if your body tells you it's beginning to overheat. John Harrell,
University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental
Sciences, reporting from Tifton. |
Links to audio files:
(files include a brief quote from the source for your use.)
|
| |
|
| Problems
In Home Landscape Gardens |
1:22 |
Some problems are beginning
to show up in home landscape gardens. |
After several years of
wilted plants caused by the drought, mother nature turned on
the rain in 2003, providing landscape gardens plenty of moisture.
But a horticulturist with the University of Georgia Extension
Service says many people are now finding yellow plants in their
gardens. He adds this could be a sign of too much moisture.
"So the real wet conditions have caused some of our plants just
not function properly and so we get that yellow appearance,
there's not a whole lot you can do, maybe pull the mulch back
and let it air out." That was Bob Westerfield with the College
of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, who adds wet, humid
conditions could also set the stage for powdery mildew and other
diseases during late spring. Also, several insects including
aphids and lace bugs are beginning to nibble on certain plants
in landscape gardens. John Harrell, University of Georgia College
of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, reporting from Tifton. |
Links to audio files:
(files include a brief quote from the source for your use.)
|
| |
|
| New
Textbook Helps Explain Southern Weather |
1:36 |
A textbook written by a university
scientist helps explain a lot of weather events in the South. |
John Knox, who teaches
an introductory course on meteorology at the University of Georgia,
realized textbooks can be boring. So he wrote a textbook entitled
"Meteorology: Understanding the Atmosphere," which is based
on weather conditions in the South. Knox, a research scientist
in the Engineering Department at the University of Georgia says
there are good economic reasons to focus on weather events in
the South. "The Deep South takes a huge per capita hit from
weather, partly because there's so many different phenomena
that hit us, where we get tornadoes and hurricanes, Oklahoma
is not known for getting a lot of hurricanes. Sometimes we even
get blizzards, ice storms can be extremely damaging to the South."
John Knox with the University of Georgia, who adds the book
also covers tornadoes and trailer parks, and if these violent
storms are attracted to mobile homes. The recently published
textbook is filled with dramatic photos and colorful charts.
The book also won the 2003 William Henry Fox Talbot Prize for
visual excellence from the society of academic authors. John
Harrell, University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental
Sciences, reporting from Tifton. |
Links to audio files:
(files include a brief quote from the source for your use.)
|
| |
|
| Deadly
Enemy Of Plants Being Studied |
1:33 |
College scientists want to
learn more about an enemy of plants with deadly results. |
The bacterial wilt pathogen
is one of the worlds toughest enemies of plants. It attacks
from within, destroying the plant. Tim Denny, a scientist with
the University of Georgia's College of Agricultural and Environmental
Sciences says the aggressive pathogen has attacked plants worldwide,
and caused a lot of damage. "Like tobacco and tomato, potato,
eggplant. But it also attacks a lot of other plants like banana
is particular important in a lot of places, peanut in China."
Tim Denny with the College of Agricultural and Environmental
Sciences. So far these bacterial wilt pathogens have not hit
Georgia hard, but a lot of problems are being reported in the
Carolinas. The university scientist recently discovered the
bacterium secretes proteins that help it colonize a plant so
quickly. He hopes to learn how to genetically engineer plants,
so they will turn off the bacteria's secretion system. This
would allow the plants to stop the bacteria before it has a
chance to make a meal of them. John Harrell, University of Georgia
College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, reporting
from Tifton. |
Links to audio files:
(files include a brief quote from the source for your use.)
|
| |
|
|
|
