June 18, 2007
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
Garden Pest Control Failures
There are many reasons measures to control pest in the garden may not be working correctly. Below is a re-cap of some key ones:
* Wrong Product: This is the most basic and simple reason. Read the labels closely and don’t just take the advice of a well meaning friend… read and figure out if you are using the right pest control product.
* Pest Resistance: Just like with diseases like TB for example, if exposed repeatedly to the same or a closely related chemical, pests can change and develop genetic resistance. This is more of a problem with farmers that grow the same crop over and over but occasionally switching the chemical families used in your landscape is still a good idea.
* Product Breakdown: Your pest control product does have a shelf life. If it is too old or stored incorrectly it may breakdown and lose its effectiveness. One solution is to only buy what you need for a series of applications.
* Lost Patience: It takes time to eliminate some garden pest (example: Grubs could take several weeks after treatment). When you rush you make mistakes. Follow the instructions and wait.
* Follow Directions: Manufacturers have good reasons for putting specific application rates on their pesticide labels. Too little or too much will either not work or do harm to your plants.
* Guessing on Problem: If you are not sure what disease or pest is affecting your plants get help. Local Master Gardeners or Country Extension Agents can help (at the very least bring a sample into your local garden center).
* Timing: There are correct times and wrong times to apply garden pest control. Understanding the pest’s life cycle so you know when they are most vulnerable is best. Most product labels have this information on them and you can also contact a local Master Gardener for help on this.
The most important thing in all of this is to follow the directions exactly!!! Manufacturers have spent a lot of money figuring out how to best control specific pest and print the recipe to do so on their packages.
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#2 Lynne's Backyard Gardening Tips
Hydrolyzed Fish Fertilizer
In the old days it was accepted by mainstream that chemical fertilizers were better than organic. The thought of organic fertilizers brought up images of smelly bags of manure or the BAD smell of fish emulsion products. Organic fertilizers today are just as good or better than chemical options and you have the added benefit of being friendly to the environment.
The hydrolyzed sounds so complex but it is just a process to best turn fish into fertilizer. The old method “fish emulsion” is a heat process that destroys a lot of the nutrients and totally destroys the amino acids. It also produces a fish fertilizer that stinks very badly. This is bad for the nose and once it is in the ground you are likely to have critters digging up your plants trying to get at the smell.
Hydrolyzed Fish Fertilizer is far superior: The word Hydrolyzed means it is has been cold processed. The advantage of cold processed means that all the nutrients are saved. The benefit of this is your plants get a fish fertilizer jam packed with nutrients including nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.
Hydrolyzed keeps all its nutrients and proteins and allows them to be readily available to the plant. It also makes those nutrients water soluble, so you can use them for foliar spraying or drip irrigation, with no worries of clogging. Because it does contain many minerals, it helps to keep the soil balanced and, in fact, improves soil quality just like an amendment.
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#3 New Gardening Product of-the-Month
Snake Away
Snakes rely heavily on their sense of smell, using not only their nasal openings, but also their tongues to gather and decipher odors. Snake repellents work by interfering with this olfactory sense, causing confusion and disorientation. The snake will leave the area. Continued use of the repellent acts as a barrier to prevent their return.
Get rid of unwanted snakes and keep snakes out of your barn, shed or yard with Snake Away. (an EPA registered granule deterrent). Sprinkle a 5-6" perimeter around the area you want to keep snakes out of. If a snake approaches the Snake-A-Way granules, its sensory perception is altered and the snake turns away leaving the area. Lasts up to 3 months, rain or shine.
To find this product type Snake Away in your search engine and you’ll find many sources to buy it.
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#4 Odd & Strange Gardening News
Tumbleweeds
Tumbleweed is a botanical success story in barren habitats throughout much of the world, including Eurasia, Australia, and North America. According to some accounts, despite its abundance in some areas of the world, tumbleweed is apparently extinct in its original native habitat in Russia. "Tumbleweed," "Russian thistle" and "wind witch" are common names for this symbol of the American west.Virtually everyone recognizes mature the Russian thistle, which looks like the skeleton of a normal shrub. Plants may be as small as a soccer ball or as large as a Volkswagen beetle. Most people, however, would fail to recognize the seedling and juvenile plant’s bright green, succulent, grass-like shoots, which are usually red or purple striped. Inconspicuous green flowers grow at axils (where leaf branches off of stem) of the upper leaves, each one accompanied by a pair of spiny bracts. Mice, bighorn sheep and pronghorn eat the tender shoots.
As it rolls down a desert road, a Russian thistle plants do what they do best, disperse seeds, which typically number 250,000 per plant. Seeds are unusual in that they lack any protective coat or stored food reserves. Instead, each seed is a coiled, embryonic plant wrapped in a thin membrane. To survive winter without a warm coat, the plant does not germinate until warm weather arrives.
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#5 Great Plant of the Month
Seedless Green Ash
A fast growing shade tree, the Seedless Green Ash will tolerate many varieties of soil conditions. This tree is very commonly used as a street tree or on commercial sites because of its ability to withstand salt, drought, and flooding. This tree forms a large rounded or upright crown, depending on the variety. It has a bright yellow fall color, and is best transplanted in the spring or fall.Outstanding Features:
Fast growing and adaptable to drought and poor soil. Green Ash has a broad range and is native throughout the upper Midwest. It is very commonly used in the landscape since its adaptability allows it to survive in many sites including street plantings and in parking lots. Well adapted to a broad range of soil conditions. Very drought tolerant and salt tolerant and can take full sun. Easily transplanted and rapidly becomes re-established. Prune to improve form. Select seedless cultivars to avoid problem of weedy seedlings.
Limitations:
Usually not seriously bothered by insect or disease problems but can be attacked by borers if under stress. Green Ash tends to become unattractive with age and is susceptible to ash flower gall on male flowers.
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#6 Invasive Plant of-the-Month
Hairy Whitetop
Impact: Crowds out native species
Hairy Whitetop is a common weed species on alkaline soils, but is not restricted to them. It forms dense patches that can completely dominate sites, restricting the growth of other species or degrading pastures. The species is not toxic to livestock but they will not graze it either.
• Origin: Eurasia
• Flowering Dates: April-May
• Reproduction: Rhizomes and Seeds
• Height: Usually 1-1.5 ft.
• Flower: White, 4 petals, spatulate, pedicels slender, spreading ascending; clawed, diagonal to the septals forming a cross
• Seed: Oval to globe-shaped seed, beaked, purplish, rough • Underground: Rhizomes, creeping extending horizontally and vertically
• History: Native to the former USSR, and Afghanistan, Iran,
and various other countries in Asia. It most likely entered the country in contaminated alfalfa seed. The plant has also been called (Hairy Whitetop or Hoary Cress).
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#7 Garden Pest of-the-Month
Cockroaches
There are 4,000 species of cockroaches worldwide
They are mostly thought of in the home but there are varieties that hang out in your garden as well. It is thought that cockroaches have existed 350 million years and reproduce at alarming rates. One pair of German cockroaches for example can expand to more than 2 million offspring in less than 1 year.
Roaches like nearly any area humans like - especially where food, moisture and warmth are abundant. Cockroaches prefer darkness and crawl into amazingly small crevices as small as the thickness of a dime! An adult cockroach can live for a month without food as long as water or moisture is present.
Roaches carry and spread diseases. It’s not unusual for bacteriologists to find salmonella bacteria (which causes food poisoning in humans) on the bodies of cockroaches. Additionally, cockroaches are believed to spread viruses and their presence can cause allergic reactions for many people, especially asthmatic children.
The most important method of cockroach prevention and control is sanitation. Even a few crumbs that slip down beside a stove, for example, can serve as a gourmet dinner for several cockroaches for some time. Most cock roaches are unlike the majority of insects in that their exoskeleton is coated not with a waxy layer but a greasy one. Among other things, this characteristic enables cockroaches to slide into narrow cracks and crevices where even the human foot cannot reach them.
After good sanitation, you may need to resort to chemical solutions. Read the labels and keep all poisons away from children, pets and food.
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#8 Plant Disease
Alternaria
At least 20% of agricultural spoilage is caused by Alternaria species.
Alternaria is a fungal blight where leaves develop brown to black spots which enlarge and develop concentric rings like a target. Lower leaves are usually hit first. Spores are carried by air currents.
Alternaria is a genus of ascomycete fungi. Alternaria species are known as major plant pathogens. They are also common allergens in humans, growing indoors and causing hay fever or hypersensitivity reactions that sometimes lead to asthma. They readily cause opportunistic infections in immunocompromised people such as AIDS patients.
There are 44 definite, well-known species, but there may be hundreds more. They are ubiquitous in the environment and are a natural part of fungal flora most everywhere. They are normal agents of decay and decomposition. The spores are airborne and found in the soil and water, as well as indoors and on objects. The club-shaped spores are single or form long chains. They can grow thick colonies which are usually black or gray.
There are fungicides that can control alternaria. Read the labels for proper application and do contact a local Master Gardener or Country Extension Agent for advice.
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