Download Date: For April 2, 2012 Contact: Tom Woods, Brunswick County

Date:
For April 2, 2012
Contact: Tom Woods, Brunswick County Master Gardener Volunteer Coordinator
TREATING INSECTS ON FLOWERING PLANTS CAN KILL BEES
(This article appeared in Georgia Faces – a horticulture website)
On a recent visit to the Sawnee Mountain Preserve in Cumming, Ga., I was shocked to find many dead
bees in the preserve's observation hive.
The fallen insects were piled up at the bottom of the display and at the entrance and exit to the hive. Bill
Dunn, who manages the hive for the center, believed the bees collected nectar from flowers that had
been sprayed or dusted with an insecticide and had inadvertently contaminated themselves with it. He
expected most of the bees in the hive would die as a result.
Contaminated pollen?
Nectar, the sweet liquid produced by many flowers, is the major food source for bees and the raw
material used to make honey. Pollen collected by the bees may also have been contaminated with
insecticide. Worker bees returned to the hive carrying loads of nectar and pollen from insecticide-treated
flowers and shared it with other workers, larvae and even the queen.
Bees are insects and exposure to insecticidal products can kill them. Early spring is a critical time in the
life of a beehive. Warm temperatures increase activity within the hive and stimulate workers to begin
foraging for food. Usually, there are few flowers to choose from in the first weeks of spring. Flowering
trees such as pear, plum, peach, quince and apple do tend to produce the largest sources of nectar in the
early spring.
Sometimes, particularly where fruit production is the goal, peach, plum, pear and apple trees are treated
with insecticide to protect them.
Takes it back to the hive
Bees visiting these flowers may be killed instantly if exposed to a dose of insecticide, or as in the case of
the display hive at mountain preserve, bees pick up sub-lethal doses of insecticide in nectar and return to
the hive. When water is removed from the nectar and then served to the inhabitants of the hive, the doses
of insecticide are increased to lethal concentrations.
Bees are an essential part of our ecosystem. They provide pollination to many fruit and vegetable plants.
Without bees, our food choices would become severely restricted. Insecticides applied as sprays or dusts
represent the biggest threats to bee populations. Many commonly used insecticides like Sevin, Malathion,
Permethrin and Orthene are hazardous to bees and can remain toxic for several days after application.
There are relatively non-hazardous insecticides available. They include Pyrethrum, Azadirachtin (Neem
oil) and insecticidal soaps that rapidly break down by exposure to sunlight and microbes.
Use low toxic chemicals, late in the day
By following a few simple steps, you reduce the threat to bees when applying pesticides. Apply
chemicals late in the day when bees are not foraging. Use chemicals with low toxicity or those that are
less persistent. Spray only the target organ and avoid open flowers. Apply insecticides when there is no
wind. Spray only when the target insects are active. Beekeepers can reduce the risk of poisoning by
locating hives at least 3 miles away from crops that are routinely treated with insecticides.
Date:
Contact:
For April 9, 2012
Tom Woods, Brunswick County Master Gardener Volunteer Coordinator
FEED YOUR GARDEN
Intensive food gardening is almost certain to strip nutrients from the soil, nutrients you will need to put
back in order to grow vegetables year after year.
I admit I am no expert in soil science or in the practice of permaculture, which seeks to create near-closed
loop systems for food production with minimal outside input — that is, without bringing in large amounts of
fertilizer from the world outside your yard. But I read a lot.
To make such systems work, you usually need to create a mixed-use farm setting in which nutrients cycle
from the soil as ground crops to livestock and back to the soil as manure and compost.
You can approximate such a system in the backyard setting by ensuring that your grass clippings, the
leaves from your trees, your garden waste and your kitchen trimmings all end up in the compost to be
used in the garden the following growing season. By doing so you will greatly enhance levels of organic
material in your soil and the health of the microbial community therein.
But the nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium content (the so-called NPK value) of the very best and most
expertly made compost is no better than 1-1-1, or one per cent of each nutrient. That’s a far cry from the
typical commercial vegetable fertilizer at 6-8-6, or 8-20-20 for tomato food.
For several years gardeners have been tinkering with a fertilizer formula from Pacific Northwest gardening
guru and author Steve Solomon. Much of what I have to tell you about this fertilizer you can learn from his
book “Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades.”
10 parts canola or cottonseed meal
1 part steamed bone meal
1 part kelp meal
1 part dolomite lime
¼ part blood meal (for dark greens only)
The bulk of this fertilizer mix is seed meal, which is just the sort of material you would be adding to your
soil through composting, except that seed meal has four to 10 times the nitrogen of compost. It is also dirt
cheap.
As the seed meal decays with the help of bacteria, fungi and other wee beasties, the nitrogen will become
available to your growing plants. When your garden seeds first sprout, they need few nutrients. But as
the soil warms and plant growth accelerates, so too does the microbial activity, breaking down the seed
meal just when your plants need it.
Bone meal brings phosphorus to the party, and usually brings its friend calcium as well. Phosphorus is
what you need to grow roots and produce fruits. You can increase the proportion of bone meal for your
tomatoes.
Solomon considers kelp meal an add-on for winter vegetables. In southeastern N.C. with our heavy
annual rainfall and leached-out soils, kelp meal is a must. It contains about 100 micronutrients, elements,
amino acids and vitamins that are washed out of our poor local soils. Our soil is sandy and needs all the
help it can get.
Those very same rains that wash away nutrients also ensure that most local soils are acidic. Lime raises
the PH of your soil and helps make nutrients available to growing plants. If testing has verified your soil is
acidic, adding a little each time you fertilize should help.
Blood meal is like a steroid shot of nitrogen. You should not put blood meal into your main fertilizer bin,
but you can add it when you prepare beds for kale, spinach, broccoli and other dark greens. Too much
nitrogen can inhibit fruiting, so use it with care.
Most of the ingredients for this mix can be purchased at the garden center. The seed meal is usually
found at farm supply stores.
You’ll want a good-sized bin with a lid to store your fertilizer. I use a plastic garbage bin.
You can apply the fertilizer generously, working it into the soil under each plant. It won’t burn and it
releases slowly. Use about one cup for each large plant, perhaps half that for a head of lettuce. Use
about one gallon per 100 square feet to prepare an entire bed. Sprinkle this mix lightly on each layer as
you build your compost heap to supercharge decay. It will help break down tough material and create
very fine compost.
Date:
For April 16, 2012
Contact: Tom Woods, Brunswick County Master Gardener Volunteer Coordinator
MOLE CRICKETS
Adult mole crickets spend winter underground. When temperatures warm, they emerge, feed and mate.
Their flights begin in March and continue through June when their numbers and damage in an area can
increase quickly.
Females lay 40 eggs per clutch and a single female may lay as many as 12 clutches. The eggs hatch
into nymphs that look like small adults without wings. Nymphs grow throughout the summer, becoming
adults in fall.
Eating and burrowing
Adult mole crickets can do considerable damage to lawns in the spring, but the most serious injury
usually occurs between August and October. This is when the mole crickets are large and active. Some
feed on turfgrass while others tunnel underneath it, damaging roots and causing grass to dry out.
To determine if you need to treat your lawn, sample your site. You can do this by using a detergent-water
solution. Dissolve 2 tablespoons of liquid dishwashing detergent in 2 gallons of water and pour over an
area of 4 square feet. Watch the area for five minutes and count the mole crickets as they emerge.
Repeat this in several different locations in your lawn. If an average of 2 or more mole crickets is flushed
per site, a treatment should be made.
Treat at night or late in the day
Regardless of the pesticide or time of application, steps should be taken to maximize control. Remember,
heat and sunlight affect all pesticides, and mole crickets are most active at night. Apply the insecticide as
late in the day as possible. Unless the label instructs otherwise, irrigate the area thoroughly after
application to move the material from the foliage down to the soil surface.
If irrigation is available, the mole crickets themselves can be manipulated to improve control. Allow the
soil to dry out for several days and then irrigate thoroughly in the evening. Apply the insecticide the next
afternoon. Mole crickets are sensitive to soil moisture and will move down in the ground to find
comfortable conditions if the upper soil surface is dry. Irrigation will bring them back up to resume feeding
the following night, making control much easier.
Wait for eggs to hatch
Timing is important, too. The nymph population increases throughout June and almost all eggs that are
going to hatch will have done so by July. Delaying insecticidal application until late June ensures that all
of the eggs have hatched. Small nymphs spend more time at or near the surface than larger nymphs do
and are relatively easy to kill.
Late June is the ideal time to treat for mole crickets. As summer goes on and the crickets grow, they
become harder to kill. By late August or early September, control may be difficult to achieve, and a
treatment with a bait formulation should be used. Be Always read and follow label recommendations
closely.
Date:
For April 23, 2012
Contact: Tom Woods, Brunswick County Master Gardener Volunteer Coordinator
Burweed and Sandspur
There are two weeds found in lawns that have sharp burs – burweed and spurweed. It’s easy to get them
confused since their names are often used interchangeably but there are ways to tell the difference,
which is important since correct identification of a weed is the first step in controlling it.
Burweed (Soliva pterosperma) is also called spurweed, sandbur and sandspur. It is a winter annual
broadleaf weed that grows prostrate (flat along the ground) reaching a height between three and four
inches. The plant germinates in the fall and remains small throughout the winter. About the time spring
sports start Burweed has a period of rapid growth. It is during this growth spurt that the plant forms its
spine-tipped burs.
Burweed, like most weeds, invades thin turf. Because of its prostrate growth habit burweed is not
affected by mowing, unless you cut your grass to within one-half inch of the soil line, which can result in
weakening your grass (making it more susceptible to weed invasion) if not killing it.
The best time to control burweed is before it germinates. Use a pre-emergent herbicide such as Atrazine
in the fall or, if the plant has already started to grow, a post-emergent. For post-emergent control you
can use a two or three way mix of 2,4-D, dicamba and MCPP. Other herbicides that control emerged
burweed include Weed-B-Gone, Trimec, Spectracide, Bayer Advanced Weed Stop and Southern Weed
Killer. Be sure to read the manufacturer’s label and directions before use. You may need to reapply two
to three weeks after the initial application.
If Burweed has already developed the burs, reconsider before spraying. The plant will die as
temperatures approach 90 degrees Fahrenheit and secondly, the herbicide will kill the plant but the burs
will remain until they decompose so at this point you aren’t really taking care of the problem. This is why
it is essential to spray before the plant starts developing the burs.
Sandbur (Cenchrus incertus) is a summer annual native to the United States. This rough bladed plant is
a common indication of sandy or light textured soils.
The seed head of Sandbur is a spike of tiny spurs, which is the easiest way to identify it. Like Burweed,
once the spurs have been produced it’s really too late to control the plant.
Apply a preemergent herbicidesuch as Atrazine before the weed seeds germinate (they germinate when
the soil reaches around 52 degrees Fahrenheit). One of the main reasons chemical control of annual
grassy weeds fails is because the herbicide is not watered in thoroughly so be sure to follow label
instructions.
PASTORA (nicosulfuron + metsulfuron methyl) has just received its label in North Carolina to help with
weed control in established bermudagrass pastures and hayfields. Pastora will help with
postemergent control of a number of broadleaf weeds as well as barnyardgrass, broadleaf signalgrass,
sandspur and johnsongrass and suppression of crabgrass. Applications of PASTORAÒ may result in
temporary yellowing or stunting of bermudagrass. There are no grazing or haying restrictions.
Sandspurs (also called sandburs) are usually noticed after they have set seed and someone has had an
encounter with those nasty burs. However, the best time to control sandspurs is on the early spring when
they are young and actively growing. The herbicide Vantage provides the best postemergence control of
sandspurs in centipedegrass.
Date:
For April 30, 2012:
Judy Koehly,
Applying Fertilizer – Feed the Soil or Spray the Plant?
Our sandy soils cannot store nutrients for long periods of time releasing them according to plant needs as
do loamy soils; so domesticated plants (including lawns, flowers, shrubs and vegetables) benefit from a
careful periodic application of fertilizer. Gardeners apply fertilizer either by applying it to the soil or by
using a water soluble product and spraying the foliage. Soil application brings the best results most of the
time. The purpose of the plant’s roots is to take up water and minerals while the leaves are designed for
photosynthesis.
There are times when foliar application is desired, but it should not become the standard method. The
idea behind the practice of “leaf feeding” is that nutrients are immediately available so the plant response
is faster. Responses might be faster in some cases, but it is not as complete or as long lasting when
compared to soil applied fertilizer.
The function of roots and leaves is much different. Roots take up minerals and water from the soil where
they are transported to the leaves. Using energy from the sun, photosynthesis converts minerals to
usable sugars. This food is then translocated back to other parts of the plant that needs it including
stems, fruit and roots.
Leaf feeding has many draw backs compared to soil application. To avoid foliar burn a weak solution of
fertilizer must be used and then the product must be absorbed before being washed off the leaves by
irrigation or rain water. Plus the leaves simply cannot assimilate all of the various nutrients as well as
those absorbed by the roots.
Fertilizers used for soil application are available in several forms including dry granular, slow release
pellets or soluble. The plant is not fussy about the type of fertilizer only that it is applied in the right ratio
and amount. It is important to use the results of your soil test to determine the ratio and amount and to
carefully follow the directions on the fertilizer package for application method.
Liquid fertilizer is usually concentrated. They need to be mixed or dissolved in water before application to
the intended plants. When properly diluted you also negate the chances of fertilizer burn. Properly diluted
liquid fertilizer is ideal for use of soft, sensitive and young plants. Fertilizer for indoor plants, specialized
food for seedlings, bonsai fertilizer, and orchid fertilizer are all water soluble. Liquid fertilizer is easy to
apply – simply mix the required amount into a watering can or bucket filled with water. (TIP: Add the
fertilizer concentrate to the water.) Water the plant with the mixture and remember that the fertilizer will be
more easily absorbed if the soil is moist.
The instructions that you will find on the granular or pellet fertilizer container will indicate the amount
ounces or cups that should be applied to a certain number of square feet. When actually applying the
granular fertilizer you can gauge an approximate square foot by pacing. Then sprinkle the full measuring
cup evenly over the whole area that you gauged as the correct number of square feet. When fertilizing
trees or large shrubs you need to sprinkle the fertilizer over the whole drip area even if it happens to be
over the grass. The roots of plants grow away from the trunk; and the fine hair root are usually those
furthest away from the base of the tree or shrub. These fine hair roots are the ones responsible for
feeding the tree or shrub. Be aware that heavy handfuls of fertilizer near the base of the tree or shrub
can damage the root system by burning it.
Foliar application could be best used to supplement the basic soil application. Iron chlorosis for example
can often be quickly corrected with a foliar spray of an iron solution rather than making a second fertilizer
application to the soil. Leaf feeding can also be used to provide a quick, temporary green up of lawns,
flowers or vegetables.
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