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Identifying and caring for holiday cacti
Poinsettias, amaryllis, holly and evergreens are common sites during the holidays. Another group of plants, holiday cacti, also make an appearance this time of year. With their brightly colored flowers ranging from white, pink, yellow, orange, red or purple, they are often given as gifts during the holidays. While they are commonly referred to as Christmas cacti, there are several different types of holiday cacti sold: the Thanksgiving cactus, Christmas cactus, and Easter/Spring cactus. They get their common names from the holiday closest to their traditional bloom dates. WHAT HOLIDAY CACTI DO I HAVE? Most of the Christmas cacti sold are actually Thanksgiving cacti. To differentiate between the three types of holiday cacti, look at their “leaves” — the leaves are actually flattened stems. Thanksgiving cacti, also known as crab cacti, have pointed teeth along the outside margins of the leaves that look like hooks or claws. Christmas cacti have smooth, more rounded/scalloped margins. Easter cacti have rounded margins. The flowers can also be used to
differentiate the different types. Both Thanksgiving and Christmas cacti have tubular flowers. Easter cacti, on the other hand, have star-shaped flowers. CARING FOR HOLIDAY CACTI While holiday cacti are true cacti, they are quite different from the cacti growing in deserts. Holiday cacti are native to tropical mountainous regions of southeast Brazil. They do not grow in the ground but are epiphytic, growing in the crotches of trees where debris and organic matter build up. Keeping this in mind, their cultural requirements are quite different from desert-growing cacti. While plants are blooming, they should be placed in bright, indirect light with temperatures ranging from 70 degrees Fahrenheit during the day to 55-65 degrees at night. Soil should be kept moist. If plants get too dry while blooming, plants may drop their flowers. Once done flowering, they can be grown as houseplants. During the summer, they can be placed outside in an area that receives light shade. Once temperatures start getting into the low 50s at night in the fall, they should be brought indoors. Holiday cacti flower best when
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To differentiate between the three types of holiday cacti, look at their leaves. From left are Thanksgiving cactus, Christmas cactus and Easter cactus.
they are somewhat pot-bound, so they only need to be repotted every three years or so. They grow best in mixes that are well-drained and have good aeration. HOLIDAY CACTI PROBLEMS One of the most common problems people have with holiday cacti is bud drop. This can happen for a variety of reasons, ranging from temperatures that are too high, exposure to drafts, insufficient lighting, under or overwatering, and low humidity. Another common problem people encounter is the leaves (stems) of plants becoming wilted, shriveled/ wrinkled, and dull-gray-green in color. This is most commonly caused by overwatering. Avoid excessive watering, and don’t let plants sit in water.
GETTING HOLIDAY CACTI TO BLOOM Holiday cacti are short-day plants, meaning they will begin blooming as nights get longer and days get shorter. To initiate blooming, plants need to have at least 12 hours of continuous darkness for five to six weeks. In addition to longer nights, plants need to be exposed to cooler temperatures. Keep plants in an area where daytime temperatures are 65-70 degrees and evening temperatures are 55-65 degrees. If they are kept in an area that is too warm, particularly at night, they may not bloom. Ken Johnson is a University of Illinois Extension horticulture educator serving Calhoun, Cass, Greene, Morgan and Scott counties.
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Lack of snow, warm conditions lead to 16% decline in deer kill By TODD RICHMOND The Associated Press
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A lack of snow and warm temperatures that suppressed deer movement led to a lackluster opening weekend of Wisconsin`s nine-day gun season, with hunters killing thousands fewer deer than last year. The state Department of Natural Resources released preliminary data Tuesday that showed hunters registered 92,050 deer compared with 103,623 deer last year. That`s a 16% drop-off from 2022 and 10% fewer deer than the five-year average for opening weekend. Hunters also registered 51,870 bucks, down 13% from 56,638 over opening weekend in 2022. The number of potential hunters didn`t vary much from last year, however. The DNR reported that sales of all deer licenses stood at 774,369 as of midnight Sunday, with 421,525 of those licenses exclusively for gun use. Overall, sales of all deer licenses were down 0.61% from the same time last year.
The DNR`s deer specialist, Jeff Pritzl, speculated during a news conference that the lack of snow across the state likely helped deer blend into the landscape, making them harder to spot and trail. And warmer temperatures on Saturday and Sunday likely discouraged deer from moving, he said. Pritzl said, too, that he`d heard anecdotes of areas with a lot of acorns on the ground, which means deer don`t have to move much to find food. He added that northern Wisconsin saw a particularly severe winter last year, which may have led to heightened deer mortality and a sparser herd in that region of the state, he said. Forecasts call for cooler temperatures and dry weather for the rest of the nine-day season, which could spark more deer movement in the woods, DNR officials said. Hunters killed 203,295 deer during last year`s nine-day gun season. Pritzl said about half of the season total comes during opening weekend; that would put the state on pace for a 184,100 deer harvest this season.
BUREAU COUNTY REPUBLICAN Bureau County Republican / shawlocal.com/bureau-county-republican • Saturday, December 16, 2023
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AG MATTERS Not the ‘80s, but watch farm income in the next few years By TAMMIE SLOUP FarmWeek
OKLAHOMA CITY — The unknowns facing the agriculture sector are much greater today than in the past few years and possibly decade. The good news is farmers’ balance sheets are generally stronger, largely because of the flow of government funding and low interest rates throughout the pandemic, coupled with commodity prices. “What I’m seeing is the rearview mirror shows us that we came through from a period of really challenging times for ag bankers and for the ag sector, to a point where balance sheets are really cleaned up,” said Jim LaPierre, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation regional director. “I think all of us are looking at 2024 and thinking it’s probably not going to be quite as good as 2023 and not quite as good as 2022.” Farmers and ag lenders are likely in store for a more challenging environment, said LaPierre during the Agricultural Bankers Conference in Oklahoma City.
The conference session focused on the evolving agricultural landscape, looking through the rearview mirror and windshield. The previous low interest rate environment was an anomaly, said Sam Miller, an agribusiness adviser. “The good news is the ag sector is in the best liquidity and solvency position it’s been in in decades,” Miller said. A number of risks will challenge farmers in the coming year, including trade disputes, higher interest rates and inflation, Miller said. But it’s certainly not comparable to the 1980s, the panelists agreed. Miller noted risk management tools are the best they’ve ever been. According to the Center for Farm Financial Management at the University of Minnesota, which examines financial data from 3,500 farms in 11 states, crop and cattle farmers are more likely to finish 2023 in the black while dairy and hog producers are expected to report financial losses. The median income for crop farmers within CFFM is estimated to decrease from $385,000 in 2022 to $171,000 in 2023.
Agcor CEO Chris Peacock focused on the generational shift now occurring. “And in the not-too-distant future, not just on the farm, will be one of the largest transfers of wealth,” he said. Every day in the United States, 10,000 people turn 65, and $38 trillion of wealth is going to exchange hands between now and 2035, noted moderator David Kohl, professor emeritus, agricultural finance and small business management entrepreneurship at Virginia Tech. Miller said he’s carefully watching the global economy. “If you look at the marginal sales of most ag commodities, it’s an export market, and that’s going to be something to keep an eye on,” he said. “And global unrest is a challenge in that regard.” The panelists also zeroed in on weather impacts on the ag sector, specifically, transportation challenges related to weather, including low water levels on the Mississippi and Amazon rivers, as well as the Panama Canal. Supply and demand also are key components, and what lies ahead for biodiesel and renewable diesel, and whether
ethanol will qualify as a green fuel. “That’s something I’m looking for down the windshield,” Miller said. “I think that is, frankly, positive, it’s a good green shoot for agriculture,” he said. “If you look at why soybean prices are where they are, it’s because of renewable and biodiesel trade policy.” From a regulator’s perspective, LaPierre advised ag bankers to continue to be diligent in the way they’re managing their portfolios. “It’s easy when corn is $7 as a lender to say, ‘I can probably not require that financial statement,’ or ‘I could probably let some things go.’ And I would encourage you not to do that for two reasons: One, that’s not good for your institution to have those exceptions. … It’s also not good from your borrower’s perspective. They should expect you’re always going to be diligent, disciplined in the way you’re underwriting your credit,” LaPierre said. This story was distributed through a cooperative project between Illinois Farm Bureau and the Illinois Press Association.
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Bird flu still taking toll on industry as 1.35 million chickens are killed
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By JOSH FUNK The Associated Press
More than 1.3 million chickens are being slaughtered on an Ohio egg farm as the bird flu continues to take a toll on the industry. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said all 1.35 million chickens on the farm in Ohio`s Union County will be slaughtered to help limit the spread of the highly contagious virus after a case was confirmed in the flock this week. The outbreak that began in early 2022 has been much less severe this year as fewer cases of the virus are being found among the wild birds that spread it. But there have still been 8.1 million birds killed this year to help control the spread of the disease and 5.8 million of those have come just this month as several large egg farms have been struck. That includes 1.2 million birds at one Iowa egg farm and another 940,000 chickens at one Minnesota egg farm that had to be killed. Egg farms tend to be much larger than turkey or chicken farms, sometimes with millions of birds. That`s a big part of why Iowa — the nation’s largest egg producing state — has been hit the hardest in this outbreak with nearly 17.3 million birds killed. Ohio is also one of the top egg producing states but it has seen only 5.1 million birds killed because of bird flu. This week, there have also been sizeable bird flu cases confirmed on farms in Minnesota, Maryland, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Georgia and California. But the biggest one of those cases was the Maryland chicken farm where 198,200 birds were killed. In 2022, nearly 58 million birds were slaughtered as part of the outbreak. The highly contagious virus is
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spread easily by wild birds through droppings and nasal discharges. Farmers are working hard to keep the virus from infecting their flocks by taking steps like requiring workers to shower and change clothes before entering barns, sanitizing trucks that enter a farm and investing in separate sets of tools for every barn. But the virus is difficult to keep out particularly along the main pathways for migrating birds who are headed south for the winter. Officials say bird flu doesn’t represent a significant health threat. Human cases are extremely rare and none of the infected birds are allowed into the nation’s food supply.
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