What's in this Issue:

#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

Organic Pest Control

Solution -1:

Be patient and see what the insects are really doing.

Solution-2:

Plant a diverse mix of flowers ad plants that encourage natural predators to hunt in your garden. Examples include frogs, lizards, and birds.

Solution-3:

Barriers such as row covers and netting can protect plants but it defeats the purpose if you are growing flowers.

Solution-4:

If pest invasion is acute, there are several natural products that are available in the market. These products:

Extra Pest Control Tip:

Put out pest traps / sticky bars to see what pest are visiting your plants.

Watering Potted Plants

It’s easy to over water a potted plant. More plants die from over watering than by drying out. The reason for this is you are dealing with a small closed system that can retain water (when the soil becomes saturated for a longer period the plants roots will rot).

If the soil is waterlogged then proper amounts of air will not get to the plant and nutrients are blocked.

Pointers on watering plants in flower pots:

Water Test – Pick up your pot and feel the relative weight compared to when it was fully watered. If it’s dry you’ll feel that it’s lighter.

Water Deeply – When you do water, do it deeply rather than lightly everyday. This of course depends on the flower or plant because cactus for example will die if you water them too much.

Water Crystals – These can reduce watering frequency needed. If Outdoors – Potted plants placed outside may need daily watering because they have the elements such as sun, wind and heat to help dry out their soil.

Terra Cotta / Clay Pots – Flowers and plants in these types of pots usually need watering more than if in plastic or ceramic pots. This is because Terra Cotta / Clay pots are more porous and will absorb water away from your plantings.

Self Watering Pots – These work by storing water in a small area under the pot. There is also a tube that draws that water slowly into the potting mix as needed. Great for busy gardeners or when you are vacationing.

MultiBloom

MultiBloom (OMRI Listed™) and MultiBloom® is listed by the Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI), one of the strictest organic review agencies in the country as well as the standard.

The company making Multi-Bloom starts by using only FRESH FISH - providing you with the purest organic fish fertilizer on the market today. The fish are all farm raised in fresh well water within a totally controlled environment. The fish are raised on a strict diet of proteins, minerals, & vitamins. They are free from any harmful heavy metals.

MultiBloom® does not use decomposing remains of fish. MultiBloom® is processed from freshly harvested catfish that is ground up and the protein is used one Millimeter in size.

The result is a uniform product that contains 17 different amino acids that equate to 12+% by volume of protein.

Key Features

1- Topical application absorbed through leaves and roots.

2- Applied at rate of 25 parts water to one (1) part OF2 - Low Cost per Application.

3- Will not burn leaves or roots.

4- Compatible with other sprays.

5- Little to no odor (scents available upon request).

6- Macro and micro nutrients, short chain amino acids.

7- Goes through drip irrigation ( 200 MESH).

8- Shelf Life 5+ Years.

9- Increased flower blooms and growth.

10-Up to 25% increase in yield and improved taste of fruits and vegetables.

Contact MultiBloom at: www.multibloom.com
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Rubber Trees

Rubber in its natural form was used by South American natives and was noticed with great curiosity by Europeans in the early 1700’s. In 1736 it was treated with great curiosity when several rolls of it were sent to France, along with a number of other rubber products.

In 1791 rubber manufacturing, albeit on a small scale, became commercial when the Englishman Samuel Peal discovered a method of waterproofing cloth by treating it with a solution of rubber in turpentine.

Note: Orginially collected from wild trees in South America, now 90% of rubber production comes from plantations of rubber trees in Southeast Asia.

By the 1830's, rubber was popular in the United States, but its drawbacks included becoming brittle in cold weather, and soft and bad smelling in warm weather. These negative properties could be removed by a processs known as vulcanisation.

First developed in 1839 by the inventor Charles Goodyear, it involved cooking rubber with sulphur, which increased its strength, elasticity, and decreased its sensitivity to temperature change.

Natural rubber is made from the sap of the wild rubber tree. The bark of the tree is 'tapped', this means cutting small slits into the bark, so that the white sap, known as latex, drips out and is caught in collecting cups. Tapping of rubber trees is done by hand.

African Violets

Regular Violets:

True Violets have been known for centuries with the ancient Greeks cultivating them about 500 BC or earlier. Both the Greeks and the Romans used them for all sorts of things such as for herbal remedies, wine, to sweeten food and for festivals. Regular violets have up to 500 species and are come in all shapes and sizes.

African Violets:

These are somewhat new to cultivation. African Violets were discovered for commercial use in East Africa in the early 20th century. They have a very distinct look from the Regular wild violets and have become one of the most popular household flower plants in the world.

Soil for Violets:

Most violets are grown in a non-soil, pasteurized mix. One of the main goals is to provide a soil that is very porous to allow high drainage. A rule of thumb is to make the mixture consist of:

Watering of Violets:

The best condition for African Violets is to keep the soil moist at all times without being saturated. One good method is to use a wick method where the wick draws water as is needed to the plants soil area. If a watertight container is used you will only need to water every few days.

Temperatures for Violets:

African Violets can adjust to a homes warm and dry temperatures. They do still need a good amount of light but don’t have o have direct sunlight. Best temperatures for African Violets are 60 degrees F. at night and up to 85 degrees F. during the day. If too cold, they become stunted; if too hot they may rot.

Multiflora Rose

Introduced from Japan in 1886 as rootstock for cultivated roses, planting of multiflora rose was encouraged by the U.S. Soil Conservation Service beginning in the 1930's to curb soil erosion. The nursery industry also touted the shrub as a "living fence," to control livestock and create snow barriers along highways. It was promoted by wildlife managers as late as the 1960's as an excellent source of food and cover for wildlife.

Due to the dense growing habits of the multiflora rose, it has become a serious problem in the eastern United States and occurs throughout the U.S. Individual plants may produce up to 500,000 seeds per year. The majority of seedlings emerge near the parent plant from which the seeds fell.

Ecological Threat

Multi-flora rose is an ecological threat because it is extremely hardy. It can thrive in various soils, in different light conditions, and with varying amounts of water. These adaptations allow it to thrive and form dense thickets that exclude native plants.

Multifora rose forms impenetrable thickets in pastures, fields and forest edges. It restricts human, livestock and wildlife movement and displaces native vegetation.

Cultural Control

Cultural practices that promote vigorous growth of the desired pasture species create an environment less favorable for establishment of the multiflora rose. Proper fertilization and avoiding overgrazing greatly reduce problems with multifiora rose in pastures.

Herbicidal Control

Multiflora rose can be effectively controlled with the proper use of herbicides. Care must be used to avoid injury to desirable species in and around infested areas.

Voles

Voles are small rodents that grow to 4-8 inches depending on species. They can have 5-10 litters per year. Gestation takes for 3 weeks and the young voles reach sexual maturity in a month. Needless to say, vole populations can rapidly grow within a very short period of time. Since litters average 5-10 young, a single vole in the yard can become 50 or more in less then a year.

There are many species of voles (23 in the United States & 70 worldwide) and they are divided into these groupings:

1. Below Ground Foragers
2. Above Ground Foragers
3. Above & Below Ground Foragers

Below ground foraging voles develop a network of tunnels and damage plants and roots form below the surface.

Above ground foraging voles create grassy runways in turf areas connecting multiple burrows by eating grass. The also gnaw on the bark of trees and shrubs to do damage.

Control: There are so many ways to control and eliminate voles ranging from humane methods to killing them. It is important to get control of them before they cause too much damage.

Damping-off

Damping-off kills or damages the seeds and seedlings of many plants. The extent of damage is dependent on the type of fungus, soil moisture and temperature. The most favorable environment for damping-off is cool wet soils.

Although it is usually seeds and seedlings that are attacked, damping-off disease can also attack older established plants. Usually the new developing rootlets are infected, resulting in root rot. Infected plants show symptoms of wilting and poor growth.

Controlling damping-off:

Proper conditions for seed germination and seedling emergence also favor vigorous growth of fungi that cause damping-off. Seed and roots must be kept moist and warm until the roots have penetrated the soil and the seedlings have emerged. As the seedlings continue to grow, moisture at the soil surface can be decreased, and the damping-off fungi then will have less of an advantage.

Additionally:

1- keep the fungi that cause it out of the flats of seeds.

2- Encourage the seeds to germinate and grow as fast as possible. Plants are only susceptible to damping-off as seedlings.

3- Help prevent this disease from causing huge losses (although some loss may occur) is to keep conditions in the seeding trays less favorable to the fungi. These fungi like wet conditions.

* Use well-drained planting media. * Sow seeds thinly to allow air to circulate between seedlings. * Avoid excessive watering.

In addition to these measures, use fungicide treated seeds, and see current recommendations for chemical control measures. As always, contact a local County Extension Agent or Master Gardener for recommendations. They are familiar with your specific region and types of damping-off problems and solutions.

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