A Greener View by Jeff Rugg

Q: The utility company gave us a large bag of grass seed to use for repairing an area they dug up after hitting our septic system. We used most of it, but want to save the rest for next spring to finish seeding the damaged area. How do we store it to keep it viable?

A: Grass seed is alive and dormant. It needs to stay dormant over the winter. The proper conditions would be to keep it cool, but not frozen, and in low humidity. It can be kept in a paper or plastic bag and left in a place where it will be dark.

If it is too warm, the cells in the seed will use too much energy and the seed will die. If it is kept too humid or if it gets wet, it may try to sprout. The germinating seeds will die and the succulent leaves and roots will become a breeding ground for mold, which could kill the rest of the seeds.

If the ground is prepared and ready to plant, you could plant the grass seeds in the fall and they should sprout just fine in the spring. They will probably even begin growing earlier in the spring than when you would plant them.

Q: I found some huge grubs in my crab apple tree. They look like lawn grubs, but they are super-sized at almost 2 inches long and as thick as a pinky finger. What should I do about them? Will they spread to my other trees?

A: Many members of the beetle family, such as June bugs and Japanese beetles, have a larva stage called a grub. They come in a variety of sizes and shades of white. Large ones tend to have a life cycle of several years as a grub stage before becoming an adult insect.

You most likely have a hermit flower beetle grub. The grub stage is found in rotting wood. They can be in hollow trees, logs in the woods or in rotting firewood logs that are on the ground.

Your crab apple must have some damage where the wood is rotting.

The grubs won't go to another tree. The adult beetles eat pollen from flowers and don't harm trees. They won't go to your other trees unless they have rotting wood, too. The grub damage is caused by them opening up more tunnels for water and decay organisms to move through the soft wood.

It is important to clean up wounds on trees so that the wood doesn't begin to rot. You don't want other problems like these grubs to find their way in.

Q: I have been saving bacon fat and other cooking fats and oils by putting them in a container in the freezer. When it fills up, I use it to fill a suet feeder tray that I put out for the birds. I was told this is bad for the birds. Should I stop, or is leftover cooking fat OK for the birds?

A: You can keep feeding the birds any leftover cooking fats and oils. Birds will eat any meats and fats they can find in the wild. I have seen pictures of downy woodpeckers eating the fat off the rib cage of a road-killed raccoon. They get vegetable oils from the seeds they eat, so any fats and oils used in human cooking are not going to harm them.

We often call these leftover fats suet, but suet is only the fat that surrounds the kidneys of cows. You can use suet or raw fat chunks, or you can melt them down and mold them in a tray. You can mix seeds, nuts, small fruits like raisins, oatmeal, cornmeal, peanut butter and other ingredients into the fat while it is warm.

When the mix has cooled to the consistency of frosting, you can apply it to pine cones to use as a bird feeder. Tie a string or ribbon on the end, apply the warm suet and roll it in birdseed.

You may want to first treat the pine cones. If they have sticky sap on the outside or the scales aren't open, it will be hard to apply the suet. Heating them to 250 degrees for 45 minutes will melt the sap and open the cones. Watch them carefully to make sure they don't catch on fire.

E-mail questions to Jeff Rugg, University of Illinois Extension at jrugg@illinois.edu. To find out more about Jeff Rugg and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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