September 17, 2006
What's in this Issue:
#1 Master Gardening Tips#2 Lynne's Backyard Gardening Tips
#3 New Gardening Product of-the-Month
#4 Odd & Strange Gardening News
#5 Great Plant of the Month
#6 Invasive Plant of-the-Month
#7 Garden Pest of-the-Month
#8 Plant Disease
#9 Feedback - Anonymous
#1 Master Gardening Tips
Mushroom Compost
Mushroom compost is the “by-product” residual compost waste of mushroom farming. It is made from the same basic materials with different variations depending on where it is made. Some of the varying ingredients include:
Note: Wheat straw or hay seems to be ingredients that are used in all mushroom compost no matter its origin.
Why Does Mushroom Compost Work so Well?
There are many countless testimonials by both home gardeners and professionals who tout the incredible results they have had with mushroom compost. Following are some of the positives attributed to mushroom compost:
* Like peat moss, it improves the ability of the soil to hold nutrients.
* It is heat pasteurized so disease pathogens as well as weed seed are neutralized.
* Mushroom compost can act as a good temperature buffer for root systems.
* It helps to retain moisture and water uptake efficiency.
* Has a high pH value of 7.5 so it replaces the need to treat soil with lime.
* Mushroom compost is a very high organic fertile medium.
* Mushroom compost can greatly reduce the amount of nutrient runoff which in turn means less fertilizing and less danger to the surrounding environment.
In addition to all the key benefits listed above, mushroom compost can be used for building up flower beds, planting trees and shrubs, and soil preparation when laying down sod. Commercial uses include golf course use, farming, tomato growers, and substituting for peat moss in potting mixes.
Special Note: The pH levels of mushroom compost is high (alkaline). As a result acid loving crops like Azaleas and Camellias may not do well with only mushroom compost unless you make adjustments with sulfur or lime.
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#2 Lynne's Backyard Gardening Tips
Bird House Basics
Bird watching is a very popular hobby for millions around the world. We like to view them in the wild, at bird feeders and using bird houses both natural and manmade.
It’s really fun to add a bird house to your yard and watch wild birds using it. You provide entertainment for yourself and give protection and a place to live for the birds. Many birds such as cardinals and doves won’t use a manmade birdhouse, but there are many that will and include the following:
With bird houses there is no such thing as one size fits all. Figure out which types of birds you want to attract and then provide the appropriate size home for them. A good strategy if you want to attract the largest number of birds is to provide a variety of bird homes in your yard. Some of the basics you’ll consider after deciding on size are:
Words of Caution:
Perches - Perches make it easy for predators to raid the nest
Ventilation – If there is not adequate ventilation young birds will die on hot sunny days.
Height – Too close to the ground and it’s easy for raccoons, etc to get the birds.
Thin Wood – Won’t protect against heat or cold
Be Patient… They will eventually come
Click to read Full Article...
#3 New Gardening Product of-the-Month
SpringStar Fly Traps / Fly Lures
Yuk… Flies just bring up that thought of disgusting and nasty. Probably because they frequent dumps, sewers, garbage heaps, and unfortunately among other places our homes.
Fact: House flies are suspected of transmitting up to 65 diseases to humans.
Life Cycle of House Flies:
Female house flies lay their eggs in decaying matter such as garbage and excrement with horse manure being the preferred breeding medium. These female flies deposit between 100-500 eggs which hatch in 1-2 days to become maggots. Fly maggots feed on the medium in which they have hatched. After molting 3 times the larvae pupates and changes into an adult house fly.
A typical house fly lives 2-1/2 weeks in the summer and can live up to 3 months at lower temperatures. Amazingly, some flies can over winter outdoors in protected locations such as crevices in buildings. Flies usually stay within two miles of their point of origin.
Some of the diseases a common house fly may spread include:
Flies have a very highly-evolved evasion reaction which helps to ensure their survival. It is possible to confuse a fly's evasion system by swatting it with two objects simultaneously from different directions. The holes in a fly swatter minimize the air current which warns the fly of being hit, whilst reducing air resistance and increasing speed of the swat.
Some of the more common types of flies include the following:
Controlling House Flies:
The 4 basic ways to control house flies are sanitation, exclusion, chemical, and non-toxic / non-chemical measures. Each one may have their place depending on the exact situation. You for example would not want to use certain chemicals in a home environment where there is a risk of poisoning humans or pets.
Sanitation – If food sources such as garbage are limited or eliminated there won’t be fly issues.
Exclusion – Keep flies outside with screens and other measures.
Non-Chemical / Non-Toxic – Sticky fly traps, fly swatters and baited fly traps.
Scary Fact: A single female fly at the end of a ninth generation could reach as many as 1,953,000,000 female flies.
Click to read Full Article...
#4 Odd & Strange Gardening News
Mexican Jumping Beans
Believe it or not, there is such a bean that actually moves about erratically right before your eyes. The Mexican Jumping Bean is commonly sold in novelty shops in both North America and Mexico.
What makes the Mexican jumping bean do its thing?
There is a tiny larva from a small gray moth (jumping bean moth) that burrows its way into the bean. After the larva consumes the seed within, it instinctively throws itself with force from one side wall to the other. This cases the unique jumping movement to give the name “Mexican Jumping Bean”. When you see it for yourself… you understand.
In reality, the Mexican jumping bean is not really a bean at all. It is actually a seed capsule (resembling a bean) that is produced by a native shrub tree that grows wild in the deserts of mainland Mexico, and includes the Cape region of Baja, California (a very rugged area unto itself), parts of Arizona, etc. The most popular place to view this shrub tree is in Alamos, Mexico which is known as the “Jumping Bean Capital of the World”.
Interesting Footnote:
The freshly cut stems of the jumping bean shrub tree exudes a poisonous milky sap that some native Indians use to poison their arrows when hunting.
If you have never seen a Mexican Jumping Bean in action it is worth picking up some. Kids will especially enjoy watching them in perpetual and erratic motion. To find Mexican Jumping Beans you can do a search online and you’ll find many sites that offer them for sale.
Click to read Full Article...
#5 Great Plant of the Month
Crape Myrtles
It’s a bush, it’s a tree, it’s a flower, it’s… Crape Myrtle. There are many varieties of crape myrtle that range in height from 3 feet to more than 35 feet tall. Their flowers range in many colors including:
To add further to the great variety of crape myrtles they flower anywhere from 70 days to 120 days (that’s a whopping 4 months of flowers coming in dramatic fashion). Furthermore, they have been bred to resist the disease powdery mildew and come in hardiness capabilities from “good” to “very good”. There is nearly any type of crape myrtle available that you would desire. Some of the primary categories include:
Since there are so many different sizes of crape myrtles you can use the smaller ones for an ornamental in your garden, medium ones for hedges in your yard, and the taller ones like a tree. Depending on the variety, crape myrtles can be grown in USDA hardiness zones from 6 to 10. For those who live in zone 5, you can experiment with the perennial hardier variety and may have luck.
For superior flowering they require full sun from 6-8 hours per day. The good news about this is no need to worry about sheltering them from sunshine like many other types of flowers. Crape Myrtles are also very drought tolerant once they are established.. Doesn’t this seem like a good choice if your looking for something that is easy to grow and maintain.
Since there are so many different varieties of crape myrtles, find out your needs, then check out which ones will fit that plan. For example, if you live in a colder region you’ll obviously choose a crape myrtle that is very hardy. Some of the potential problems you may encounter with crape myrtles include:
There are issues with all plants; so when the conditions are good, you have good results. As with any plant adventure you are about to undertake, or with potential problems and questions, remember… there are a multitude of county extension agents and master gardeners available to help. It’s better to spend 10 minutes finding one in the yellow pages than to spend 10 hours trying to fix a mistake.
Click to read Full Article...
#6 Invasive Plant of-the-Month
Yellow Toadflax
Yellow Toadflax is native to Eurasia and was introduced to places like North America as an ornamental and great source for yellow clothing dye. It is a pretty flower that is still sometimes used in flower gardens but it can escape and is very aggressive.
Yellow Toadflax will take over and displace desirable grasses and plants. Once established, Yellow Toadflax is very difficult to eradicate because of its extensive root system. On top of all this, it is suspected of being mildly poisonous to livestock.
Some of the common names for Yellow Toadflax include:
There were other uses for Yellow Toadflax including medicinal uses. Besides an ornamental, it was widely used as a dye in different parts of the world. With the advent of commercially manufactured chemical dyes it became a scourge instead of an asset.
In North America it became very destructive weed and spread rapidly by roots, seeds and rhizomes. Some of the places where Yellow Toadflax invaded most were:
Control of Yellow Toadflax:
The 3 primary methods for controlling Yellow Toadflax are:
It is always a good idea to check with your local county extension agent or master gardener program to determine a best approach. They will have advice on what’s worked in your particular region and can steer you clear of improper chemicals.
Click to read Full Article...
#7 Garden Pest of-the-Month
House Fly
Yuk… Flies just bring up that thought of disgusting and nasty. Probably because they frequent dumps, sewers, garbage heaps, and unfortunately among other places our homes.
Fact: House flies are suspected of transmitting up to 65 diseases to humans.
Life Cycle of House Flies:
Female house flies lay their eggs in decaying matter such as garbage and excrement with horse manure being the preferred breeding medium. These female flies deposit between 100-500 eggs which hatch in 1-2 days to become maggots. Fly maggots feed on the medium in which they have hatched. After molting 3 times the larvae pupates and changes into an adult house fly.
A typical house fly lives 2-1/2 weeks in the summer and can live up to 3 months at lower temperatures. Amazingly, some flies can over winter outdoors in protected locations such as crevices in buildings. Flies usually stay within two miles of their point of origin.
Some of the diseases a common house fly may spread include:
Flies have a very highly-evolved evasion reaction which helps to ensure their survival. It is possible to confuse a fly's evasion system by swatting it with two objects simultaneously from different directions. The holes in a fly swatter minimize the air current which warns the fly of being hit, whilst reducing air resistance and increasing speed of the swat.
Some of the more common types of flies include the following:
Controlling House Flies:
The 4 basic ways to control house flies are sanitation, exclusion, chemical, and non-toxic / non-chemical measures. Each one may have their place depending on the exact situation. You for example would not want to use certain chemicals in a home environment where there is a risk of poisoning humans or pets.
Sanitation – If food sources such as garbage are limited or eliminated there won’t be fly issues.
Exclusion – Keep flies outside with screens and other measures.
Non-Chemical / Non-Toxic – Sticky fly traps, fly swatters and baited fly traps.
Scary Fact: A single female fly at the end of a ninth generation could reach as many as 1,953,000,000 female flies.
Click to read Full Article...
#8 Plant Disease
Plant Disease Intro
Plant disease is a detailed and multi-faceted topic. The purpose of this introduction is not to get too deep into the specifics but to touch on the basics for a fundamental understanding of plant disease.
Basically, a plant disease is any abnormal condition that damages a plant and reduces it productivity in ornamental / cosmetic look or useful to people like with vegetables for example. There are 2 basic types of Plant Disease:
Infectious Plant Disease
Infectious plant diseases are caused by organisms that attack plants and subsequently get their nutrition from that plant. The plant then becomes the “Host Plant” and the organism causing the problem disease is called the “Pathogen”. A few common plant pathogens include the following:
* Fungi – Spread by spores
* Bacteria – Examples include bacterial blight & ring rot
* Viruses – 1,000 times smaller than the tiniest living cell
* Phytoplasma – Transmitted by leafhoppers
* Nematodes – Tiny roundworms
Non-Infectious Plant Diseases
Non-infectious plant diseases are caused an environmental factor that in turn produces an abnormal plant. Note: These types of plant diseases are NOT caused by living organisms. Some of the more Non-Infectious plant diseases include the following:
* Nutrition – Either too much or too little can cause issues.
* Moisture – Excessive or lack of water can cause issues
* Temperatures – Extremes of heat or cold can cause issues
* Toxic Chemicals – There are many examples possible here including too much road salt running off into your landscape.
Basically, there are 3 things that must be present to form infectious plant disease.
If all the “Right” conditions exist there is the chance for disease to develop and if one of the 3 are missing infectious plant disease probably won’t occur. The primary methods infectious plant disease is spread are by:
Management of Plant Diseases
Non-Infectious diseases are more cut-and-dry in their management. You either add or subtract from a deficiency or excess. Infectious plant diseases are more complicated and require greater actions to correct. The 4 basic methods of infection plant disease management are:
There are 2 types of fungicides used to help protect against disease. (1) Protectant Fungicides work on a plants surface and (2) Systemic Fungicides are taken up by the plant tissues to help in plant disease management.
Special Note: All pesticides are poisons and should be used with extra care. Always error on the side of caution and don’t hesitate to call one of these very important organizations with questions (They are there to help and will do so very openly and expertly):
The wonder and fulfillment of growing things far outweighs the potential of plant disease. Remember, there are always reasons for the disease and subsequently courses of action to manage those plant diseases.
Click to read Full Article...
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