The Seasoned Gardener

Storm Damage and Pruning

The recent strong storms in many parts of the country got me thinking that I should publish something on pruning to address the resulting damage to our trees.  Pruning a tree well can make the difference between a healthy survivor or a plant with a poor prognosis for success. 

One cardinal rule of pruning is to have a plan before you start.  Pruning is a sort of addictive activity and many trees and shrubs are over pruned by homeowners who forget that once it's pruned, its gone.  Pruning should always be done for the wellbeing of the tree or shrub.  The first task is to remove any broken or damaged branches.  Always prune damaged branches back to the closest undamaged junction or bud to encourage regrowth from that spot.  The secondary reason for pruning is to eliminate potential problems in the future.  Look for weak angles on a tree.  Yes...these are called crotch angles.  The link at the end of this article will take you to a wonderful web page from Waterloo Gardens to explain all of the do's and dont's.

Storm pruning provides some serious risks.  First, avoid any power lines which may be hidden by fallen limbs.  If a tree or branch falls against your house or in your yard make sure that it is not hiding electrical lines before you start your pruning activites. 

A second risk is any ladder work you may want to do.  Bracing a ladder against a fallen limb can lead to a disaster for you if' when you prune the limb, tension is released and the ladder shifts.  In the case of large limbs it is often better to let a professional do the work. 

Finally, limbs damaged in storms may be hanging on by a thread in the tree.  In hurricane areas these dangling limbs are called "Widow Makers" since they often fall on their own, hopefully not when you are standing under them.  Wood is very heavy and a falling limb can kill someone if they are unlucky enought to be under it. 

Proper pruning techniques can help trees rebound from storm damage easily if the damage is not severe.  If the damage IS severe, it is often better to remove the tree entirely than try to prune it back to health. 

Check out the pruning tips from Waterloo Gardens on this link, and prune carefully when removing storm damage from your yard.

www.waterloogardens.com/now/march/pruning/

SG

Garden Voodoo, Bad Advice and The Aspirin Syndrome

  " Use gasoline to kill Yellow Jackets..."

This is one of the many dangerous and ineffective bits of information I found on a gardening chat page today.  I also read that a person who followed this advice ended up with burns over 30% of his body and months of physical therapy and plastic surgery as a result.  There are a number of ways to get bad information on gardening. It's not uncommon to see numerous home remedies for gardening problems all over the Internet.  Some are well intentioned homeopathic remedies and some like this one are downright dangerous both to the target pest and to the person applying the "solution."

Solutions are usually anecdotal information, and are usually offered to people looking to avoid either the work or the expense of taking the right steps to correct the problem.  Unfortunately, the information often gives advice which is more harmful than the pest which the writer is trying to control. 

Bad advice doesn't only apply to gardening, but to many things you look up on the Internet.  For today though, we'll limit ourselves to gardening issues.  There seem to be a few themes in the bad advice category.  I call them "Voodoo," Bad Advice, and The Aspirin Syndrome.

"Voodoo" is advice which seems to come from experts with experience, but which is in fact contrary to any known acceptable practice in gardening.  The "Gasoline on Yellow jackets" scenario is one I hear all the time.  You can substitute fire ants, termites, tent caterpillars and any number of weed species in the target category for this remedy.  Pollution and cost ($3.25/gallon today in Chicago) aside, This is a dangerous practice with implications including explosion, burns and unintentional poisoning as some of the issues.  If you don't want to use pesticides, don't use gasoline.

Some other Voodoo solutions I found on the net today include:

• Aspirin for spider mites - Not sure what this is all about but I'm sure it won't work if the infestation is bad.
• Birth control pills to feed African Violets - This was from a Garden Guru! It is certainly against the law to use a prescription like this, and expensive too.
• Bleach or pool shock to sterilize soil - Pool Shock is about 10X stronger than Clorox.  Incredible!
• Using dog feces as lawn fertilizer - Diseases and stink aside - How about just picking it up?
• Use bleach to treat poison ivy rash - Not Pool Shock?   The possibility for chemical burns to the skin is tremendous - Don't do it!

Bad advice is a real issue as well.  It can come from the 16 year old clerk at Home Depot who's in the garden department (I know there are specialists in Home Depot - I've trained them, but they don't seem to stay around long.) who recommends a systemic insecticide like Orthene for your tomatoes, or the garden center employee who recommends Roundup to control dandelions in your lawn.  Bad advice is easy to find. The Roundup example is very common.  A consumer looking for weed killer to drive dandelions out of her lawn asks if Roundup will do the trick.  The clerk sees that it kills weeds and grass and says "Yeah, that will do it."  It does.  But Roundup also kills the grass in the lawn leaving it looking like a dog walking park with dead spots all over.  The consumer blames Roundup when in fact it did exactly what the label said it would do - Kill weeds AND grass.  This scenario is fairly harmless, but sometimes recommendations can be more damaging.  I had an experience where a hardware store employee recommended an insecticide which was extremely safe used outdoors as an indoor insect killer.  Fortunately someone else read the label and remembered my advice that if it isn't on the label it isn't to be used, and intervened. 

The third issue is what I call "The Aspirin Syndrome"  It's a testimony to my dad who always adhered to the rule that "If I take 2 aspirin and my headache goes away in 20 minutes, 8 aspirin will make it go away in 5 minutes."  This "More is Better" philosophy doesn't work for aspirin or pesticides.  If the label says use 1 oz. per gallon, 4 ounces will not be any more effective.  It will not kill bugs or weed faster or deader.

Fortunately, most garden pesticide manufacturers are recognizing some of these issues and are offering more products in a ready to apply or ready to spray configuration.  The economy of concentrated pesticides is giving way to the convenience of pre-mixed and ready to apply products. Safer active ingredients in lower concentrations add an element of forgiveness to some products.  Product labels carry large graphics showing the insect or weed that the product is to be used on.  It helps but it's no guarantee against bad advice. 

Organic gardeners are not exempt from this advice either. Don't confuse "organic" and "safe."  One does not equal the other.  Some organic pesticides such as nicotine sulfate are more poisonous than many of the chemical insecticides on the market. Organic gardeners are bound by the same rules and can make the same mistakes as others.   

How can a conscientious consumer make the right decisions?  Do your own research.  Ask questions, and most important read the label for every product you buy regardless of whether it's a soil, fertilizer or pesticide.  Ultimately you are your own protection against misapplication and incorrect information.

If you still want to take a shot at whirling up a bunch of Tomato Hornworm caterpillars in the blender with a few cigarettes and spraying that on your tomatoes to control insects in your garden that's fine. 

Let me know though because I won't be coming over for either Margaritas or a salad any time soon.

SG

Don't Blame The Dog...It's Slime Mold!

You may have noticed some "not so good looking" things in our mulched beds recently. These are "Slime Molds" an interesting but not pretty fungus which is common in mulched areas this time of year. Slime molds are opportunistic organisms which don't have chlorophyll, the green colored pigment in grass and leaves which allows plants to make their own food. As a result slime molds take their nutrients from decaying plant materials including mulch. There are hundreds of varieties of slime mold, two of my favorites are "Dog Vomit" shown left (Photo by Patrick Coin - Duke University) and "Scrambled Egg" which looks like it's name. 

Slime Molds are ugly but they are not damaging to plants. If your gardening esthetics make you want to get rid of them simply scoop them up and throw them away. If that's not what you want to do, you can chop them up with a rake or hoe, and wash the parts away. If you notice a brownish cloud of spores when you chop, you will probably have insured another episode for next year.

There are no commercially available preventers for slime mold, so we won't be treating for it. However removal is an easy way to keep it under control. Even in a normal year you will see these organisms, but in a year like this one with variable moisture and high heat they are a sure thing.

In addition to slime molds, you may also see mushrooms, puffballs and "Stinkhorns" which are, as their name implies, slightly smelly. Again, picking and tossing is an easy way to remove them.

SG

Share Our New Website

Our website is now up and running!!

I began this project before the Seasoned Gardener idea was born.  The Plant Doctor Online addresses some of your questions and suggestions in more detail than the blog. 

Please visit often and enjoy.  Use the Seasoned Gardener Blog to offer suggestions.  I'll even publish articles from my friends if you send them to me. 

Have fun and happy gardening.

SG

Grass Clippings and Mulching

I often get asked about using grass clippings as a mulch for plants in the garden.  On the surface this would seem like a great way to utilize the clippings in a way that does not add to our landfills or pollute our storm sewer or waterway systems. 

However, there are some real "Watch Outs" if using lawn grass clippings for mulch. 

To start out, lets review why we mulch in the first place.  There are a couple or very important functions that a good mulch layer will provide to the gardener.

1. Mulch, applied correctly, conserves moisture in the soil making rainfall and watering practices last a lot longer.
2. If mulch is applied at a depth of at least 3 inches in beds and around trees it acts to prevent weed growth by shading the weed seeds so that they don't germinate. 
3. Mulch acts as an insulator for the soil, warming it in cold weather and cooling it when its hot.  This moderating effect makes plants, especially shallow rooted plants grow more vigorously
4. Esthetically, mulch adds a common, consistent, and neutral background to plants and trees which is pleasing to view. 
5. As it decays, organic mulch such as pine bark, shredded hardwood, and other mulches (Not stone) add organic materials to the soil structure, enriching the soil. 

Now back to grass clippings.  The first thing about grass clipping that I always point out is that you should not have any.  Today's lawn mowers nearly all offer a mulching attachment which cuts grass blades multiple times leaving a finely chopped clipping which sifts easily back to the soil surface and which does not need to be picked up.  Simple.  If you follow the rules about "mowing high" and taking no more than 1/3 of the grass height off at each mowing, and combine these practices with a mulching mower you should never have grass clippings to pick up. 

However, there are those of us who bend these rules a little, and who end up with piles of carefully raked grass clippings which most towns now will not pick up as regular garbage.  Many people would like to use these clippings as mulch for gardens.  There are some compelling reasons not to do this. 

1. Contamination - Weed killers and fertilizeres applied to lawns can make mulching with grass clippings a roll of the dice for your other plants.  If you applied weed killer within the last few weeks the residual contaiminants could damage plants where the clippings are applied as mulch.  Further, some insecticides applied to lawns are not to be applied to vegetable plants, providing another contamination problem.
2. Compaction - At best, grass clippings used as mulch will compact so much after they are applied that they would be inefficient as a mulch.  If you apply 3-4 inches of fresh grass clippings to your beds, by the time it dried and settled it would yield less than an inch of mulching benefit. 
3. Odor - Grass clippings applied as mulch will begin to decompose very rapidly, and during that decomposition they can have a very unpleasant odor, not what you want conficting with your roses and gardenias in the garden.
4. Heat of Decomposition - applied deeply enough to be a viable mulch, grass clippings release heat when they decompose which can damage plant roots and stems, and disrupt the temperature of the soil, leading to poor plant vigor and disease development.
5. Appearance - Mulched grass clippings turn a light brownish yellow and as such don't add much to the visual appeal to your garden. 

The practice of mulching is a very valuable addition to your gardening experience.  However, using grass clippings as mulch may do more harm than good based on the observations above.  So, what should you do with grass clippings if you still have them around.  Try composting them with other garden waste.  Clippings need special care when incorporating into a compost pile, but they can be successfully added if you follow a few rules.  There is plenty of information on composting at the University of Illinois site and other sites online. 

The best way to deal with grass clippings is not to have them at all.  Follow the rules of 1/3 of the grass height, and use a mulching blade or mower and you should not have to deal with these piles of grass at all. 

SG

What Is It and Why Is It In My Garden?

It's strange looking.  It smells bad.  It attracts flies and it's growing in your garden.  What the heck is it? 

Lots of folks are seeing a strange, unusual and unsettling organism growing in their gardens these days.  This carrot orange fungus with a dark green slimy cap looks almost pornographic as it grows, and then fades from your garden mulch.  What is it? 

Its a variety of fungus called the "Elegant Stinkhorn"  a somewhat uncommon fungus which likes to surprise gardeners at this time of year.  Like most fungi the ESH does no harm to the garden, and there are really no effective ways to rid yourself of the interesting visitor. 

For More information on the Elegant Stinkhorn and other stinkhorns and mushrooms check out this site, or google "Stinkhorn" for more information. 

What could be more fun than inviting your gardener friends over to see your "Stinkhorn?"

SG

Suckers, Watersprouts, and Stump Management

Recently, a group of friends on a site I visit were discussing "Suckers", the volunteer plants that grow up around another plant looking like straight little clones of the parent tree.  The questions which were asked were good and led me to do a little research on the subject for my friends. 

Suckers are whippy plants which grow up from the ground around a tree and which are the same apparent variety as the tree.  In trees such as crabapple and ornamental plum trees these vigorous volunteers look like a sure way to get free extra plants.  Unfortunately, the plants generated spontaneously like this are the offspring of the rootstock plant and not generally of the grafted variety which is what everyone wants.  Nearly all ornamental and bearing fruit trees produce suckers, and in nearly all cases they are not true to variety. 

Suckers also show up in other ornamental plants, particularly roses.  Again, nearly all rose varieties are grafted, and plants growing up from below the graft are the rootstock variety and not the one you paid a heap of money for.  The exceptions to the grafting process are some types of hardy shrub roses which are grown on their own rootstock.  Another "Sucker To Avoid" is on tomato plants.  Suckers grow as stems appearing between the primary leaf and stem of a tomato plant.  Because these suckers do not product flowers they are often pinched off of home garden tomatoes so  that the plant can put that energy into growing more tomatoes for your summer table. 

Another problem child in ornamental and fruit bearing trees is the watersprout.  These are very fast growing branches which sprout from existing branches on trees.  As illustrated above, they tend to grow straight up and very fast and in come cases can overwhelm the fruit bearing branches and reduce the vigor and productivity of the tree.  A very good site on these problem plants is maintained by TLC for Trees.  You can get there by clicking on their name.

Suckers and watersprouts can be easily pruned out by hand.  Another way to stop suckers is a product called "Sucker Stopper" (I'm not making that up!) which is applied to the area where suckers are formed early in the spring.  According the the manufacturer it prevents suckering.  I'm not endorsing the product because I know nothing about it, but I'll do some more digging and let you know. 

The third type of problem child related to suckering is the STUMP THAT WILL NOT DIE!   Usually this is the stump of a vigorously growing tree such as willow, poplar or aspen which insists on sprouting even though you have cut it down.  These suckers grow quickly and can be a real blade ruiner for your mower.  Products such as Glyphosate (Roundup) and Triclopyr (Brush Killer) can be painted directly on the fresh cut stumps of these trees to prevent the growth of suckers.  It's always important to read and follow the manufacturer's instructions carefully especially when you are applying a concentrated weed killer in an area where other plants may be.