POSTED 10/4/06| Seasonal Tips Archive 2006 |
For archival purposes only. Links, contact names and organizations may have changed.
Answers to popular current questions from the Master Gardener Helpline (1-800-639-2230).
Seasonal Tips archives: 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 , 2005
Vermont Hardiness Zone Map (link to UVM Extension)
New England Hardiness Zone Map (link to UConn)
POSTED 10/4/06
Here are 2 factsheets on tree and shrub diseases that have been very prevalent this year because of the wet spring. Tar spot on Norway maple and anthracnose on all maples as well as other deciduous trees and shrubs.
If you compost infected leaves it is very important that the compost be covered. If you put the infected leaves in an uncovered pile, the spores will disperse next spring and reinfect your woodies.
http://plantclinic.cornell.edu/FactSheets/tarspot/tarspots.htm
http://plantclinic.cornell.edu/FactSheets/anthracnose/anthracnose%20trees/anthracnose%20trees.htm
POSTED 9/12/06
IF YOU FERTILIZE YOUR LAWN only once a year, late August and all of September is the time to do it. The grass will be slowing down with top growth and making more and deeper roots in the cooler weather. August 20 to October 20 is also the best time to reseed lawns. The soil is cooling down, the weed seeds are less likely to germinate, and the rains will help with the watering of newly germinated seeds, which have to be kept moist for a month or more. Remember, when you plant a mix of grass seeds, the varieties do not all germinate at the same time, so keep watering. But do not keep the ground heavily soaked for that month or more. Then you can get fungus problems, especially if the general weather remains humid.
WHAT TO DO WITH THAT OVERGROWN ZUCCHINI AND SQUASH TAKING OVER YOUR HOUSE? Try freezing it. The trick is to get as much moisture as possible out of the fruit before freezing to retain flavor and keep it from turning to mush. Grate the fruit down to the seedy core. Lightly salt the grated zucchini and drain it in a colander. Squeeze as much excess water out as you can with a kitchen towel. Freeze until ready to use. Works great in soups, breads, and sautéed in olive oil with garlic, lemon, and pepper. Be a pal and pass on the seedy cores and drained liquid to your friendly neighborhood barnyard critters. If there are none in your area, you can compost it.
POSTED 7/26/06
GRUBS IN THE LAWN ARE BEST TREATED LATE JULY, EARLY AUGUST. Apply grub treatment with active ingredient imidicloprid to the lawn for getting rid of Japanese beetle and Asiatic Garden Beetle grubs. Water it in well, but don’t put it down just before a thunderstorm that will wash it all away. The eggs are being laid in the soil now by the adults, and will hatch into small grubs, which is the ideal size for treatment. The pesticide needs to be in the soil for the grass roots to absorb it so the grubs get it into their stomachs when they chew on the roots. HURRY! HURRY! Timing is everything!
VIBURNUMS that are being attacked by the viburnum leaf beetle can be treated with imidicloprid granules that are watered in well. Imidicloprid is an active component of grub treatment products, so this can be done at the same time as lawn grub treatment. The imidicloprid will act as a systemic pesticide for a period of up to two years. It is still a good idea to examine the outer twigs of the shrub for egg masses, and to prune them off anytime between October and April. The egg masses appear as straight rows of bumps on the twigs. There are few straight lines in Nature, so these are easy to spot. Viburnums that have been destroyed by repeated infestations of the viburnum leaf beetle can be replaced by species that are only moderately susceptible or are resistant to the beetle.
Click here for a list of viburnum species from Cornell University (Adobe pdf document)
Click here for photos of Viburnum Leaf Beetle Egg-laying sites.
TOMATO DISEASES such as blight and leaf spot are getting a boost from wet weather:
MUSHROOMS are plentiful this year in lawns and mulch. Remove them before they ripen and spread their spores. Bag them and put them into the trash. A ring of mushrooms in the lawn indicates decomposing organic matter in the soil (old tree stump, maybe). There is no chemical treatment for mushrooms.
WOODCHUCKS’ hearty appetites are a problem for many gardeners, especially those growing vegetables. Not surprisingly, deterrence is not particularly easy. Trapping and killing can be distasteful and is illegal in many parts of the country. Bad-tasting sprays and motion devices are not particularly reliable. One solution is to place a 3-foot-tall fence around your garden. But woodchucks can tunnel under the fence, so you need to extend the fence at least one foot below ground. Or, if you have the space, consider growing a simple “critter garden” away from your own garden and leave it to the wild animals!
POSTED 6/16/06
Birdbrains: Caterpillar-crazy cuckoos highlight the week
Burlington Free Press, Friday, June 2, 2006
By Kent McFarland
Special to the Free Press
The sound of frass raining down in Vermont forests must be music to cuckoos. Stand in any hardwood forest right now, and you will probably hear caterpillar dung, known as frass by entomologists, bouncing off tree leaves as it tumbles from above.
Forest tent caterpillars have begun chewing their way through forests in what likely will be a repeat of last summer, when they defoliated 230,000 acres of Vermont leaves. While that might not be good news to sugarbush owners, it is for cuckoos.
A cuckoo can devour thousands of caterpillars. One closely watched gluttonous black-billed cuckoo ate 36 forest tent caterpillars in five minutes and then continued to consume 29 more in several minutes. After a brief rest, it ate 14 more.
Many birds avoid eating tent caterpillars because of the covering of stiff hairs, but cuckoos can. First, they give the caterpillar a hair knocking hammer on a branch. Any remaining hairs pierce the lining of the stomach and remain there like a fur coat. When this interferes with digestion, the entire stomach lining is shed and regurgitated as a pellet.
You can find the black-billed cuckoo and the yellow-billed cuckoo in Vermont. They are more often heard than seen. The black-billed has a fast rhythmic series of two to five notes on the same pitch, with a brief pause between each set: "cu-cu-cu-cu, cu-cu-cu-cu," while the yellow-billed call is a throaty "ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, kow, kowp, kowp, kowp, kowp." The tendency to call more frequently before rain explains why both black-billed and yellow-billed cuckoos are sometimes called "rain crows."
This week black-billed cuckoos have been reported from across the state. The rarer yellow-billed was seen in Danby on May 25, and at the West Rutland Marsh on May 27.
The Vermont Institute of Natural Science (VINS) is a statewide, membership-based organization dedicated to protecting our natural heritage through education and research. Visit VINS on the Web at www.vinsweb.org.
POSTED 5/17/06
Using Plants as Indicators for Turf Problems (pdf)
POSTED 3/27/06
YOU CAN HELP PREVENT THE SPREAD OF VIBURNUM LEAF BEETLE by going out now, before the shrubs leaf out, and pruning away the eggs that have been deposited into the twigs last summer. The egg-laying sites are easily visible, so prune them out and put them into the trash. Do not put them into the compost, the pile probably doesn’t get hot enough.
What does an egg-laying site look like? Cornell University has come to the rescue with a website, www.hort.cornell.edu/vlb, that contains pictures to assist with identification. This website also lists the species that are most susceptible to attack, and those least susceptible. So when you go to the nursery to order or to buy, you are an informed consumer. Cornell also recommends that you closely inspect any viburnum plant that you purchase for eggs.
Using preventative pruning and choosing resistant varieties will save you money and also keep you from exposure to chemicals in your yard. You also will keep your shrub from being shredded.
Be prepared to spray HORTICULTURAL OIL (‘dormant oil’) on your fruit trees when there is a windless day over 40 degrees Fahrenheit and before the trees leaf out. Trees affected with scale should also be treated with oil, which suffocates the insects. This is the least toxic thing you can do for your plants and for you. Follow all label instructions.
If you are planning a HUMMINGBIRD or a BUTTERFLY garden, be aware that hybrids often have less nectar than species, or the nectar is harder to reach.
It’s time to think about seeds again, and which ones to choose and how to plant them. When choosing, keep in mind that new hybrids are available that have extra nutrition bred right into them. Also keep in mind the growing conditions you have in your garden specifically, and choose accordingly. Remember other folks when planning, and allow for extra to give to local food shelves (Plant a Row for the Hungry).
ORDERING RESISTANT VARIETY SEEDS FOR LESS TROUBLE LATER ON: If you had difficulties last year with diseases, look for seed varieties that have been bred for resistance to diseases. Tomatoes, especially, have many varieties that are disease resistant and palatable.
The disease codes, those letters and numbers following the name of the variety, help you pick out seeds to grow resistant varieties if you have been having disease problems in your garden.
We have several leaflets available (below) which tell you how to start and grow seedlings. They are not available from our website, but can be requested at no charge by calling the Master Gardener Helpline at 1-800-639-2230 or (802) 656-5421 any time and leaving a message with your name and address along with your request.
TEST GERMINATION RATE of old seeds by placing some in a moist paper towel placed into a plastic bag. Put the bag in a warm place. Check in a few days for germination. A seed sprouter also works well. Just be sure to use only untreated seeds in your sprouter if it is also used for food sprouts.
If you need information about growing fruits, go to the Master Gardener Home Page, click on LINKS, click on UVM EXTENSION PUBLICATIONS, Home Gardening, Fruit Culture Leaflets for a collection of 'Fruit Culture Leaflets' to help you along. These include 'Apple Varieties for Vermont', 'Pollinators and Pollinizers for Tree Fruits', 'Dwarf Fruit Trees', and others.
The following factsheets are available from our website: www.uvm.edu/extension/publications/catalog (select Home Gardening)
PLANNING AHEAD FOR DEER PROBLEMS OH 64 DEER RESISTANT PERENNIALS
PLANNING AHEAD FOR DROUGHT TOLERANCE: Find plants that have silver or gray leaves (they reflect sun and heat away), thick stems (cacti), aromatic or waxy leaves (lavender), hairy leaves (alchemilla, dusty miller), puffy leaves (sedum), long taproot (eryngium, dill), thick fleshy roots to store water (daylillies, poppies).
There are several leaflets of information available for helping to deal with problems that can show up on houseplants at this time of year.
POSTED 3/14/06
FORMOSAN TERMITES
If you've seen emails flying around the internet on Formosan termites in mulch coming from the south, this apparently is an internet urban legend/email rumor. There are several websites to check out any such claims. It is always good to be wary of any such scary claims in emails, or messages to forward this warning on. You may wish to read the nice discussion of this issue at one of these sites: http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/household/termites.asp
Leonard P. Perry
Extension Professor, Univ. of Vermont
Also...
The Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry, Office of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, has quarantines in place in the Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita affected parishes of Calcasieu, Cameron, Jefferson, Jefferson Davis, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. John, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa and Washington.
All woody debris in the quarantined areas is going to an approved landfill within the designated quarantine area. There are a multitude of government (state and federal) agencies that are looking at this debris every day as it is deposited into these landfills. The contractors mulching and hauling the debris know the regulations and are abiding by them according to the quarantine requirements. If there is anyone with knowledge of debris moving out of a quarantine area, they should contact our 24-hour hotline @ 225-925-3763. These are serious allegations and will be taken seriously.
Matthew Keppinger
Assistant Commissioner
Louisiana Department of Agriculture & Forestry
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