Browse Environment Stories - Page 35

2015 saw one of the warmest Decembers since Georgians started keeping records, and the month was also much wetter than normal. The warm, wet conditions created havoc for Georgia farmers.

In her new book, “Sustainable Gardening for the Southeast,” Susan Varlamoff, CAES director of the Office of Environmental Sciences, aims to provide home gardeners with comprehensive information on environmentally friendly gardening and to teach readers how to create an ecosystem in home landscapes.

Much of Georgia was wetter than normal during November 2015, and with all that rain there’s a chance some runoff may have contaminated private wells around the state. While an odd taste, corrosion and staining are signs of water contamination, most contaminants aren’t readily detectible. Ensuring the safety and quality of your well water requires laboratory testing.

Over the last few weeks, many Georgians have focused their attention on the media-hyped coverage of the kissing bug. Much of the sensationalism and worry surrounding this insect boogieman is unwarranted, according to University of Georgia entomologists.

End-of-year rainfall and poor harvest conditions have been tough on Georgia’s cotton crop and tested Georgia’s cotton farmers, says University of Georgia Cooperative Extension’s new cotton agronomist.

For the past 13 years, seventh- and eighth-grade Georgia 4-H’ers have collected the tabs from aluminum cans to raise money for Ronald McDonald House Charities. This year, 13,181 pounds of tabs were collected, and $5,425 was donated to the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Georgia.

November 2015 was one of the 10 wettest, warmest Novembers on record for Georgia. Some areas of the state received as much as 10 inches more rain than is normal, and temperatures were generally 3 to 7 degrees above normal.

University of Georgia Cooperative Extension pecan specialist Lenny Wells fears Georgia’s pecan crop will fail to meet initial production projections by as much as 20 million pounds.

The current highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5 outbreak in the United States is a concern for the commercial poultry industry, not the general population, says a University of Georgia poultry expert. Humans won’t be infected with avian influenza by eating chicken or other poultry products. Nearly all previous cases of human infections with other avian influenza viruses involved close, direct contact with infected poultry, but little to no direct transmission from person to person. While the HPAI H5 virus has caused some severe devastation for the U.S. commercial poultry industry, there have been no reports of infections in humans, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) considers the risk to people from this virus to be low.

Georgia peanut farmers can’t control rainfall or the recent deluge the state received over the last week. They can, however, control how much water they apply to their crops through irrigation. A University of Georgia researcher believes applying too much water to peanuts can invite diseases and reduce yields.