Weekly News

MASTER GARDENER PLANT SALE

            Gardeners, mark your calendar for Saturday, May 17.  The Athens County Extension Master Gardeners will hold their annual plant sale on Saturday, May 17 at the East State Street Shelter House.  The plant sale will run from 9:00 am until 1:00 pm.  The East State Street Shelter House is located just down the street from the CVS Pharmacy and is located next to the Athens Community pool.

            Plants sold in this sale are plants that have been dug from master gardener’s own gardens or they are plants started and raised by master gardeners.  This means that these are plants that are some of the favorites of the master gardeners and they are plants that do well in our area.  In addition, master gardeners will be on hand the day of the sale to answer questions about plants and provide you with more information about the plants offered for sale.  Plant selections will include perennials, annuals, herbs, houseplants, vegetables and more.  There will be plants for both sunny and shady conditions.

            The money raised in this sale supports master gardener educational projects.

BLUEBERRIES IN THE HOME GARDEN

        Blueberries are a tasty, nutritious fruit that can be successfully grown in the home garden with a little planning and preparation.  OSU Extension horticulture specialists at the OSU South Centers at Piketon are holding a planting blueberries in the home garden workshop on Thursday, May 15 from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm.  The cost of the workshop is $5 per person.  The workshop will cover the steps of successful blueberry production, including the tools needed to prepare and grow blueberries, care and maintenance, and pest control. The workshop is open to anyone interested in expanding the production of their blueberry farm or simply adding blueberries to a backyard garden.

        The Piketon Center is located about half an hour past Jackson, just off SR 32 on Shyville Road about 1 mile before the intersection of SR 32 and SR 23.  For more information on the workshop, contact Julie Strawser at (740) 289-2071, ext. 223 or e-mail strawser.35@osu.edu.

CARE OF EARLY SPRING BLOOMING BULBS

        Do not cut back the foliage on your early spring blooming bulbs such as daffodils and tulips. If the flowers have become smaller or less abundant – it may be because you are not allowing the plant to store sugar in the bulb.  This is done through photosynthesis.  The foliage should be left after blooming because of this needed energy production.  If you do not like the look of the foliage being around long after the bloom, simply move your bulbs to where perennials will come up in front of them and hide the foliage.  The other most likely reason for having fewer or smaller blooms is crowded bulbs.  If you have not divided your bulbs in years, now is the time to do so. Dig the bulbs with a spading fork or spade, and separate them. Bulbs can be respaced and replanted right away, or they can be stored to replant in fall.

PRUNING LILACS

            One of the pleasant aspects of spring has to include the bloom and fragrance of the lilac bush.  I have gotten a few phone calls from gardeners wondering about pruning their lilac plants.  The following advice was included in an OSU Extension horticulture newsletter I received last week, so I thought I would pass on this timely advice.
            Prune your lilacs as soon as the blooms begin to fade. Because common lilacs are susceptible to powdery mildew disease, this tall shrub tends to become quite bare at the base of the plant as it matures. Gardeners can remove one third of the oldest stems at the base this year and repeat the process during the next two years.  This kind of rejuvenation will encourage shoots forming and growing at the base of the plant, improve air movement to reduce disease pressure, and increase light penetration into the center of the plant for increased flower bud formation.  By the fourth year, the lilac bush should be reduced in size, fuller at the base and look almost as good as new.  For more information, click on the following link: http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/hortnews/1993/2-10-1993/lilac.html, or contact the Athens County Extension office at 593-8555.

WEEDS IN THE LAWN AND LANDSCAPE

            Weeds are commonly defined as “a plant out of place”.  With this definition, what might be a weed in one situation could be a desirable plant in another.  Keeping that in mind, I would like to mention some common lawn and landscape “weeds” that have been brought in to the Extension office recently for identification.  One of the popular specimens over the past couple of weeks has been chickweed.  There actually are two different chickweed species that are found in our area, one is named common chickweed, Stellaria media, and the other, mouse-eared chickweed, Cerastium vulgatum.  Common chickweed is a winter annual, so it begins growing very early in the spring.  It is light green in color and generally has a prostrate growth habit.  Leaves are rounded at the base and pointed at the tip.  Mouse-eared chickweed is a perennial plant and looks similar to the common chickweed except that leaves tend to be narrower or lanceolate in shape, the plant can be more erect growing and it is more pubescent or hairier than common chickweed.

            Two other weeds that can sometimes be confused with each other due to their similar appearances are henbit, Lamium amplexicaule, and purple deadnettle, Lamium pupureum.  Both plants are winter annuals, starting growth early in spring.  Henbit prefers moist fertile soils but can be found in many landscapes and thin turf areas. This winter annual is in the mint family so it has square stems. Leaves are green, scalloped with rounded ends and rounded teeth on the edges. Flowers are located in upper leaf axis and can be pink to purple. This plant can grow to 16" and stems root where they touch the ground.  While henbit is sometimes mistaken for purple deadnettle, distinguishing characteristics  include: a more pointed leaf, the lower leaves have long petioles and the upper leaves have short petioles.  On henbit, the upper leaves have no petioles.

            I have had questions from gardeners wondering why do these weeds seem so abundant this year compared to past years.  In most cases, the reason can be traced back to last year’s drought that caused lawns to thin and provided some open area for these weeds to invade.  All of these weeds can be controlled by pulling or cultivating. Post-emergent broadleaf herbicides applied in the spring will also give control.   Of course a thick healthy turf will prevent the development of these and many other weeds.

PURPLE EMERALD ASH BORER TRAPS

        Beginning next week, the first full week in May, the Ohio Department of Agriculture's (ODA) EMERALD ASH BORER Program will begin placing purple detection traps in or near ash trees across the buckeye state. A map of the trapping area can be found on their website at: http://www.ohioagriculture.gov/eab/maps/eab-survey-2008.pdf .  Athens County is included in the targeted trapping area.

        Researchers have developed a purple trap and lure that is attractive to EAB adult beetles. State and federal officials are using these manufactured traps for the first time in Ohio and throughout the country, replacing the former detection tree survey method. Department surveyors will be placing nearly 7,500 traps in or near ash trees in parts of Ohio where the insect has not yet been detected. Surveyors will place traps roughly every 1.5 miles, focusing primarily in the southeast and far northeastern areas of the state. The purple, triangular traps will be constructed with three corrugated plastic sides, roughly 1' wide by 2' tall. The outside of the traps will be coated with glue and will be hung in or near ash trees before EAB adults begin to emerge in the spring. A lure will be used to attract EAB adults. Department officials will monitor the traps throughout the summer and will remove and inspect the traps in the fall after the adult beetles are no longer flying. The traps pose no risk to humans, domestic pets or wildlife.  For more information about the purple traps, visit the following ODA web site: http://www.ohioagriculture.gov/eab/FAQS/plnt-eab-fs-purpletrap.pdf

BEE AND WASP ACTIVITY

            This is the time of year that we begin to pick up some bee and wasp activity and I’ve had a number of phone calls from homeowners and gardeners wondering about the activity.  Generally the phone calls can be broken down into one of three types: paper wasps, ground nesting bees and carpenter bees.

            There is a lot of paper wasp activity around homes and buildings at this time of year as the over-wintered queens search for areas to begin building a nest and laying eggs.  These wasps can be provoked into stinging and can sting multiple times.  They like to build nest under eaves, between wall spaces and under roof ventilators.  This is a good time to inspect the home and work on sealing openings that could allow a nest to be built between wall spaces.  Check roof ventilators to make sure that screening is in place and/or intact.  If large numbers of wasps are intruding in areas where there is likely to be contact with people, it may be a good idea to prevent future problems and spray under sides of eaves and exterior siding with a pyrethroid type chemical that will provide quick knock-down of the wasps and provide 10 to 14 days of residual control as well.  If the wasps are working in an area that will not have a lot of people contact, consider letting the wasps go without treatment.  Wasps and bees are generally considered a beneficial insect, especially throughout most of the growing season when they feed on other insect pests, such as some of the leaf feeding caterpillars.  For the occasional wasp that becomes bothersome inside the home, a flyswatter is an effective control option.  A fact sheet about wasps and control options is available at the OSU Extension web site on the Internet at: http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2077.html.

            Most of the ground-nesting bees that are active at this time of year belong to the Andrenidae species, commonly known as mining bees.  These bees belong to a type of bee known as solitary bees because each female digs her own nesting burrow.  However, large numbers of these bees will nest in the same area, creating large colonies.  The male bees will patrol the nesting area and react quickly to anything that enters what they consider as their territory.  By react, I mean that they fly up to and around the “intruder”, but since they do not possess a stinger, they really are no threat.  The female bees can sting, but are not aggressive.  Stinging would result from trying to pick one up or maybe if one got pinched in clothing, but typically would not happen when just walking through the colony.  A fact sheet with more information about ground nesting bees is available at the OSU Extension web site on the Internet at: http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2143.html.

            Carpenter bees are large bees, sometimes confused with bumblebees.  However, carpenter bees drill or bore neat circular holes into softer wood, especially cedar, found on homes and buildings.  As with the ground-dwelling bees, the males are very territorial and will buzz and even bump intruders, but they do not have stingers.  The females, can sting, but generally are focused on building their nest and excavating wood for egg laying, so they pose little threat to sting.  Over time, carpenter bees, because they return to the same site year after year and continue to expand their galleries in the wood, can cause some significant structural damage.  Chemical control involves the use of dust formulations of insecticide puffed into the nest openings, followed by sealing openings with some type of caulking or wood putty.  Mechanical control can be achieved by using screening or hardware cloth tacked up over areas constructed of susceptible wood to prevent the bees from being able to chew and excavate the wood.  In some cases, replacing the susceptible softwood with a hardwood species has solved the problem.  Other physical control methods that have been used with success include swatting the bees with a tennis racket and the use of a vacuum cleaner to suck up the bees.  Finally, keeping exposed wood painted with good quality oil based or polyurethane paint can discourage carpenter bees from starting a nesting site.  For more information about carpenter bees and control options, see the following fact sheet available at the OSU Extension web site on the Internet at: http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2074.html.  For hard copies of any of the fact sheets mentioned in this article, contact the Athens County Extension office at 593-8555.

SPRING CHORES: MOWING AND MULCHING

            With our recent spell of warm, sunny weather, I see a lot of yard work under way, and two common chores seem to be mowing and mulching.  I want to write a few words about both of these landscape tasks.  First, mowing the yard.  A couple of key points to keep in mind are: maintain a sharp mower blade and be mindful of mower height.  A dull mower blade leaves jagged and/or frayed edges on a grass leaf blade.  This often results in brown colored tips on the grass blade and detracts from the appearance of the lawn.  A sharp blade provides a clean cut.

            Mower height should be adjusted according to the season and conditions.  In the spring of the year when grass is growing fast because environmental conditions are ideal, grass can be maintained at a lower height compared to the summer when grass is slower growing and under heat and/or moisture stress.  Most grass lawns can be maintained at a 2 to 2.5 inch height in the spring and at a 3-inch height in the summer months.  Regardless of the height the lawn is maintained at, do not remove more than one-third of the leaf blade in any one mowing pass.  For example, if the goal is to maintain a bluegrass lawn at 2 inches in the spring, do not allow it to get to more than 3 inches in height before mowing.  If the goal is 2.5 inches, the lawn should be mowed before it exceeds 3.75 inches in height.  Violating this rule does not mean the grass is going to die, but, removing more than one-third of the leaf blade in any one mowing pass will weaken the root system of the grass.  Over time, if the root system is weakened, it opens up the lawn for invasion by weeds and/or disease.

            What happens if the lawn gets ahead of you?  This is where mowing height must be adjusted.  It may be necessary to raise the mowing height, do a mowing pass and then a couple of days later, lower the mower to the desired mowing height and mow again.  If we get a spell of rainy weather, it is better to mow when the grass is damp, than allow it to get excessively tall and remove too much at one mowing pass.  For more information about mowing practices contact the Athens County Extension office at 593-8555 or see the fact sheet entitled “Lawn Mowing” available on the Internet at: http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/4000/4020.html.

            The second item that deserves some attention is mulching.  Mulching can be a benefit in the landscape when done properly, but when done improperly, can cause problems in the landscape.  When I see a lot of mulching being done early in the spring, I question the wisdom of that practice.  Think about what mulching does.  It keeps soil temperatures cooler, reduces moisture loss from the soil and gives some weed control/suppression.  Right now, soil temperatures are still very cool, below optimum growing temperatures for many plants.  Our soil moisture condition on most of our clay soils is still close to saturation.  Mulching makes more sense later in the spring, once soil temperatures have warmed up and soils have dried out a bit more.  At this time of year we do not want to keep our soils too cool or lock in moisture in saturated soils.  Mulching is of more benefit in the landscape later in May, before our summer temperatures and typical drier weather arrives.

            When the time for mulching does arrive, don’t over do it.  Mulch depth should not exceed 2 inches.  Putting mulch deeper can begin to affect how plant roots interact with the soil and how air, water and nutrients reach the roots.  When mulching around landscape trees, do not put mulch up around the trunk of the tree.  Keep mulch pulled back a couple of inches from around the trunk.  This will allow the trunk to dry out in wet times and keep the tree healthier.  For more information about mulching, contact the Athens County Extension office at 593-8555 for a copy of the fact sheet, “Mulching Landscape Plants”.  It is also available on the Internet at: http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/1000/1083.html.

GARLIC MUSTARD PULLS

            One of the issues that more gardeners are becoming aware of is the threat of non-native invasive plants.  In fact, the topic of non-native invasive plants is now one of the units taught in our Athens County master gardener class.  One non-native invasive plant that can be controlled by hand pulling in the spring of the year is garlic mustard.  Recently I received an email from Phil Cantino, a professor in the botany department of Ohio University regarding some upcoming garlic mustard pulls.  Phil writes:

        There will be many opportunities this spring to help remove garlic mustard, an invasive introduced weed, from Strouds Run State Park, City-owned preserve land, The Ridges, and along the Hockhocking-Adena Bikeway.  Doing so will help protect our native flora.  Garlic mustard reproduces prolifically, producing as many as 20,000 seedlings per square meter, displacing the diverse wildflowers and ferns that were there before the mustard invaded.  Garlic-mustard also suppresses the fungal partners (called mycorrhizae) in the root system of most trees (and many other plants), which the trees depend on to help absorb enough water and minerals from the soil.

        The mustard-pulling sessions are organized by the Athens Forest Stewardship Club in collaboration with Rural Action, the Appalachian Ohio Group of the Sierra Club, Athens Conservancy, Athens Trails, and Friends of Strouds Run State Park.  However, anyone can (and hopefully, many people will) participate in any of the events, whether or not you are affiliated with the sponsoring organizations.  You do not need to notify anyone in advance in order to participate (except for a April 26 outing to Bluebell Preserve), but a contact person is listed for each event in case you have questions.  In general, heavy rain will cancel the outing but a light drizzle will not.
What to bring: drinking water, bag lunch or snack, sun protection, sturdy footwear, garden gloves (optional, but recommended if you are allergic to poison-ivy).  No tools are needed; the mustard plants pull out easily.

        A complete schedule of mustard pulls is available, some beginning this weekend April 12-13 and continuing on weekends through April.  For a complete listing of scheduled pulls with locations, times and contact persons contact Phil Cantino: 594-3338, cantino@ohio.edu, or contact the Athens County Extension office at 593-8555 and I can email the schedule to you or provide a hard copy.

EASTERN TENT CATERPILLAR EGG HATCH

            Gardeners may want to check their yards and landscapes for the presence of the eastern tent caterpillar.  The egg masses of this insect hatch when 92 growing degree-days accumulate, a figure that was reached late last week in the Athens area.  Currently, as of the morning of April 10, the Athens area was at 154 accumulated growing degree-days.  If the tent caterpillars are present, tiny webs or nests in the crotch of trees they are feeding on will be visible.  The caterpillars prefer to feed on trees in the family Rosaceae, particularly those in the genus Prunus, such as cherries. They occasionally feed on ash, birch, maple, and oaks.  Although the caterpillars live inside the nests, they venture outside of the nests to feed on tree leaves.  As the population grows and as the caterpillars grow, trees can be rapidly defoliated.  The advantage of the gardener looking for the caterpillar at this early stage is that control is relatively easy.  Nests can be wiped out of the tree using your hand, followed by smashing and smearing the caterpillars, or, for the less “hands-on” inclined gardener, tie a cloth rag around a broom handle and wipe the nest out of the tree, followed by plunging the nest into a pail of soapy water.  For more information about the Eastern tent caterpillar and control options, contact the Athens County Extension office at 593-8555 or visit the following web sites:

http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2022.html

http://www.ca.uky.edu/entomology/entfacts/ef423.asp