Newspaper Page Text
♦ THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 2007
6A
Whiteflies creating quite a mess
By BRAD HAIRE
University of Georgia
Small, white smears
appear on automobile wind
shields throughout south
Georgia now. They’re signs
of head-on collisions with
whiteflies. The minuscule
menaces are hitting vegeta
ble farmers hard, too, says a
University of Georgia ento
mologist.
Whiteflies are a sixteenth
of an inch long and are
white. They suck the juice
from plant leaves to sur
vive, said Alton “Stormy”
Sparks, a vegetable ento
mologist with the UGA
College of Agricultural and
Environmental Sciences in
Tifton.
They prefer vegetables
such as squash, tomatoes,
cucumbers and greens. But
they’ll hit cotton and many
landscape plants.
The flies are typically a
problem at this time every
year as they begin to show
up in mass around Georgia’s
vegetable production region,
Sparks said. In some places,
hordes of them fall from
the sky like tiny snowflakes.
But they’ve been exception
ally bad this year for two
reasons: heat and drought.
“They thrive in hot, dry
conditions,” he said, “and do
better on drought-stressed
plants.”
In Georgia’s recent weath
er, hungry whiteflies can
take over a field in a hurry,
he said. A female whitefly
can easily produce 300 or
more offspring. In seven to
SCANNER
From page iA
for things like kidney stones,
appendicitis, and pulmo
nary embolisms, acute
strokes. “It’s the number
one machine we put ‘em
on,” Sisco said.
The new machine is set
up to be as customer friend
ly as possible, Sisco said. “It
is in a more relaxing, nice
light environment,” with
wood floors and decorative
light covers.
The real critical compo
nent is the speed, Sisco said.
“With the old scanner, a
procedure took 60 seconds.
This does it in 8 seconds. It
is a big difference for us.”
It makes the patient expe
rience better, Sisco said.
There is less time they will
have to hold their breath
and stay still. “It is very
customer friendly.”
Radiology Manager Joy
Schall agreed. “We get
‘em in and out real quick.
There’s less motion, we get
a better image, and a better
evaluation.”
Sisco said the new machine
is better for seniors and for
children - anyone who can’t
stay in one position for long
periods.
Schall said the speed of
the new machine allows
technicians to use less
contrast and get the same
results. “There’s better care
and less risk.”
Sisco said the new tech-
START
From page iA
are going to be in a world of
trouble.”
Tebbe emphasized the
wide variety of civilian jobs
and career tracks available
at the base, and said, “Kids
think it’s only painting air
planes or being a pilot, but
there are many avenues of
opportunity.”
Asked about the possibil
ity of another base realign
ment and closure study,
Tebbe said, “There’s talk
in the halls of congress now
about a potential BRAC for
2012. We have to be pre
pared.”
She noted that the three
Air Logistics Centers, at Hill
Air Force Base in Utah, and
Tinker in Oklahoma, each
CRASH
From page iA
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Brad Haire/UGA CAES
Hundreds of whiteflies feed on a small squash leaf in
Tifton, on Aug. 22.
10 days, the females from
that hatch can produce
another 300 or more.
Based on this and anec
dotal reports from UGA
Cooperative Extension
agents in vegetable-grow
ing counties, he said, some
places may be seeing record
numbers of whiteflies.
For example, there have
been reports of at least
500 whiteflies on every
leaf on some plants in and
around Tift County, he said.
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Journal,Hay Lightner
Perry Hospital Radiology Manager Joy Schall demonstrates the new 16-slice CT
scanner and “nice, light environment.”
nology allows the techni
cians to focus on the target
organ with the contrast, so
less contrast can be used.
“It goes just to that organ
instead of through the whole
body,” he explained.
“Our main goal is effi
cient comfortable care,”
Sisco said, “with the best
have different strengths
and are considered the
“crown jewels,” of ALCs.
She had high praise for
Sen. Saxby Chambliss and
Rep. Jim Marshall for their
joint effort to secure funding
for the new s2l million soft
ware facility for the base.
Noting that Marshall is a
Democrat and Chambliss
a Republican, she praised
to the two for getting past
partisanship and working
together on the project.
Tebbe, who formerly spent
18 years in broadcasting,
was already well known as
Mary Therese in her radio
and television work. Her
father was in the Air Force,
which is why she first came
to this area.
She also entertained her
audience with some person
al anecdotes, while empha-
less driving, driving while
not being licensed and homi
cide by vehicle - first degree,
a felony.
The incident is still under
investigation.
Research shows that farm
ers need to spray pesticides
to control whiteflies in
squash when five or more
appear on each plant leaf.
“If you have that kind of
whitefly population coupled
with any disease pressure,”
he said, “entire fields could
be wiped out.”
Vegetable farmers are try
ing to control them, he said.
But they’re losing.
During a normal sum
mer, farmers spend S6O per
technology we can use. It
allows the doctors to treat
patients effectively through
an effective diagnosis.”
With the increased speed
is resolution, Sisco said, “we
can evaluate arteries and
veins throughout the whole
body, which we couldn’t do
before.”
sizing her excitement about
her current position and
the support system that has
been developed through the
21st Century Partnership.
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times that he and the U.S.
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LOCAL
acre to control whiteflies to
make the best yields in veg
etables. This year, farmers
will spend three times that
and still get reduced yields,
he said. Squash yields alone
will be slashed as much as
50 percent.
The flies trouble south
Georgia, but they could
move north, Sparks said. A
strong breeze can blow them
several hundred miles.
“But to become a problem
like they are here, there
would need to be suitable
host plants currently grow
ing in regions north of
here,” he said.
Good, hard rain will
knock whitefly populations
down, he said. But if hot,
dry conditions follow, they
can rebound quickly.
“There’s a good chance
whiteflies will become more
of a problem as we continue
into late summer,” he said,
“especially if we continue
to have the weather we’ve
been having.”
Sparks and other CAES
scientists are testing new
pesticides, not yet available
to farmers, to control white
flies in the future.
Whiteflies hit home land
scapes hard at this time of
year, too. If plants aren’t
growing as well as expected
and a slight brush of a leaf
produces a flurry of white
bugs, almost like a puff of
smoke, whiteflies are likely
to blame.
Local UGA Extension
agents (1-800-ASK-UGAI)
know what you can do to
control them.
The 16-slice scanner
takes a volumetric pattern
of the body, Sisco said, and
the “technology can recon
struct it in ways we couldn’t
before. Doctors can look
at different planes, which
can’t be done with an MRI
or the old CT scanner.”
Air Force had ruined my
life,” she told her audience
with a smile, “I bent his ear
many times. In the 1980 s I
couldn’t wait to leave here.
Now you couldn’t drag me
out.”
WRFD seeking
help for Jerry’s kids
ByRArLIGHTNER
Journal Staff Writer
Warner Robins firefight
ers are selling Boston butts
to help Jerry’s Kids.
Today is the pickup day for
the annual Boston butt sale.
The butts are smoked over
night at the Fire Department
training center and brought
over to the Wellston Center
for pickup from 4-7 p.m.
The butt sale is just a part
of the month-long fund-rais
ing effort for the Muscular
Dystrophy Association.
Firefighters will also be out
again this weekend at the
Warner Robins Wal-Mart
stores on Booth Road and
Watson Boulevard asking
the public to “fill-the-boot,”
in efforts to fight muscle
disease.
Last year, the Warner
Robins Fire Department
raised over $109,000 for
Jerry’s Kids and MDA.
The proceeds collected
from the Warner Robins
Fire Department boot drive,
butt sale and a gospel sing
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