the wakulla gardener -...
TRANSCRIPT
The Wakulla Gardener
In this Issue:
Preparing Lawns and Landscapes
Germinating Wildflower Seeds
Extension Office Contacts
A Simple Plant Propagation Technique
Is Round-Up Safe?
The Luffa Gourd
Cont. from page 3, Round-Up
A Gardener’s Gift
Fall Happenings
What to Do , When to Do It
Published under the auspices of Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences
October, November, December 2016
Preparing Wakulla County Lawns and Landscapes for Autumn by Extension Agent Les Harrison
With the arrival of October the end of summer has come. The hot humid days of August gave way to the hot humid days of September, but the countdown has started for moder-ated temperature reading. Days have shortened noticeably and the plants have noticed. Foliage growth has slowed and seed production is in overdrive.
As the season slowly shifts, the needs and care for the lawn and landscape are changing too. Inputs needed six months ago and environmental factors which were true in the spring are now being altered by the immutable and timeless forces of nature. Fertilizer is one factor which must be considered in light of the dormant season’s approach. Inappro-priate or excessive application will waste resources and end up in the water supply where it will do no good.
As many warm season grasses and plants are reducing their growth rates to prepare for winter, the need for nutrients slows. Nitrogen, the first number on a fertilizer tag’s list of ingredients percentages, is especially vulnerable to misuse by the well-intended but inex-perienced or uninformed person. Over application of nitrogen will promote the aggressive growth of tender green foliage in the lawn. If a frost or freeze occurs when the tender veg-etation is presence, the plant will experience excessive damage or death. The directions on home and garden fertilizer bags, and soil test report all recommend restricting or elimi-nating nitrogen application late in the growing season. This is sound advice.
Herbicide use changes in the late summer and autumn also. As with misapplied fertilizer, misused herbicides will waste resources and can end up in the water supply. Weeds and other targets of herbicides must be actively growing for the herbicide to work effectively. Late summer and fall can also present challenges to effectively applying herbicides. With very few exceptions, plants must be actively growing for herbicides to work properly. Plants slowing towards dormancy will not absorb as much herbicide and may, species de-pending, be completely immune. Herbicides do not work on plants which are under drought stress. It is important to remember September is usually the driest month of the year in panhandle Florida, nature’s way of forcing a fall growth shutdown.
Yard waste and grass clipping will help refresh mulch in flower beds and on tree root zones. The summer heat and humidity have combined with bacterial activity to break-down the current supply of mulch. The on-site utilization of yard waste such as mulch as a basis for compost is a good practice to establish. It will benefit the landscape and reduce the multiple layers of expenses required to collect, haul and dispose of this material.
If properly composted, local material reduces the chances of introducing weeds, insects and diseases which can be on commercial products. Another way to look at the subject is “What is produced in Wakulla County stays in Wakulla County”…and saves everyone mon-ey in the process. To learn more about getting the lawn and landscape ready for Wakulla County’s autumn, contact your UF/IFAS Wakulla Extension Office at 850-926-3931 or http://wakulla.ifas.ufl.edu/
Wakulla County Extension Office 84 Cedar Ave. Crawfordville, FL 32327 Phone: (850) 926-3931 Fax: (850) 926-8789
Les Harrison Wakulla County Extension Director E-mail: [email protected]
Shelley Swenson Family & Consumer Sciences, EFNEP Extension Agent III E-mail: [email protected]
Eric Westbrook 4-H Youth Development Extension Agent I E-mail: [email protected]
Gohar Umar FAMU Horticulture Specialist E-mail: [email protected]
Sherry Balchuck Food and Nutrition Program Assistant E-mail: [email protected]
Cathy Frank Office Manager E-mail: [email protected]
Newsletter Contacts:
Becky Devlin Editor E-mail: [email protected]
Tim Devlin Assistant E-mail: [email protected]
Welcome to our Master Gardener newsletter, The Wakulla Gardener. We hope you enjoy our quarterly publication. If you would like to contribute articles or ideas for articles, please contact the Master Gardener office, at [email protected] or [email protected]. We look forward to providing timely articles on gardening and other extension office information and activities to you. Happy Gardening!
Germinating Wildflower Seeds by Master Gardener Daniel Dobbins
Pretty much all of us have some gardening experience. Some of us have been at it for decades; others got started when they entered the Master Gardener program. One thing we have in common is our experience has been limited mainly or exclusively to the germination of seeds of domesticated varieties of vegetables or other plants. The process is simple. Plant the seeds and in 7-10 days 90% or more will have germinated, leaving us with a warm and fuzzy feeling at accomplishing something positive and maybe a little smugness.
Germinating wildflower seeds is a vastly different matter. When you start dealing with these, accept going in that regardless of your gardening experience, you are eventually going to be humbled. Seeds of some wildflower species, including many of the sage species, behave much like domesticated seed varieties. They germinate easily and the germination rate is relatively high.
Seeds of many other species, however, require special treatment and present their own particular challenge to the would-be grower. Frustration and aggravation often replace warm and fuzzy.
Germination rates and times can vary greatly depending on the requirements of individual species. Passion vine seeds germinate quicker when planted before they dry out. After drying, they will still germinate, but they will take their own sweet time doing so.
Germination can also be spread out over a period of weeks. Seeds of native milkweed species need to be surface sown in the fall or placed in the refrigerator for 4-6 weeks before planting. This treatment basically tricks the seed into “thinking” it has gone through winter and is ready to germinate when planted.
Cold treatment often times increases germination rates in native milkweed species. Coral bean seeds have a particularly hard, thick seed coat. Prior to planting, this seed coat needs to be breached (scarified) or you might have to wait a year or more before germination occurs. Additionally, germination will likely take place over a period of months. When planted following scarification and overnight soaking in water, coral bean seeds behave much like seeds of domesticated species. Germination takes place in a relatively brief window, approximately two weeks after planting.
These are just a few examples of what you may run into when you start working with wildflower seeds. There are many more. Some seeds require light to germinate while others require darkness. Soil temperature can also affect germination. Germination of seeds of some species can be enhanced by soaking them in orange juice for 24 hours. And so on ad infinitum.
When you get into germinating wildflower seeds, you will invariably run into one or
more species whose seeds refuse to germinate no matter what you do. That is
where the aggravation and frustration arise. For me that species is the devil’s
walking stick. In all of my attempts at germinating seeds of this species, I managed
to get one seedling which eventually died. Perseverance is the key here. One day it
is going to happen. Maybe.
October, November, December 2016 Wakulla Gardener
A Simple Plant Propagation Technique by Master Gardener Tim Devlin
Have you ever wanted to duplicate a favorite plant but not sure how? Here is one tried and true method using
simple measures with great success. First, take a seven inch section of a healthy branch and remove all leaves
and limbs from the bottom three inches. Dip the branch in a rooting powder that contains Indole-3-butyric acid.
Place the branch in a small pot with good soil. Last , place a wide mouth mason jar over the branch. Place in a
filtered sun place and water frequently. It is best to do this in the summer time when the mother plant is in an
active growing state. You should see root growth in about a
month. At that time, you can remove the jar.
The pictures to the right show this method. First is a seven inch
rose branch covered by a mason jar after being dipped by the
rooting powder. The second picture is a rose branch after 30
days and the last picture is a rose bush propagated in this
manner after three months. I have used this technique
successfully with Gerbera daisies, blueberry, blackberry, rose
bushes, bottlebrush, sapphire shower and citrus plants.
Is Round-Up Safe? by Master Gardener R. John Alcorn
Master gardeners respect science. It is the basis of our training and the work we do. The scientific method requires that scientists gather facts and come to rational conclusions regarding the facts. But we demand that the scientists are reliable and that they have “truth” as their guiding principle. So, when scientists disagree, we have to look at their qualifications and their motives. The controversy in the scientific community regarding the cancer-causing probability of Round Up* (glyphosate based) should make the rest of us question what we hear and read and who is writing or saying it.
The two strongly-opposed sides to this issue include scientists and respectable organizations. Among those who question the safety of glyphosate (Round Up) include a couple of scientists who are speaking outside their fields. Their lack of applicable credentials, their spinning of information and their questionable motives makes it easy to dismiss their claims and question any opposition. On the other hand, it is far more difficult to question opposition from The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) who formed a separate “international expert scientific group” called the Joint Meeting on Pesticide Residue” (JMPR). “JMPR meets regularly since 1963 to review residues and analytical aspects of the pesticides, estimate the maximum residue levels, and review toxicological data and estimate acceptable daily intakes (ADIs) for humans of the pesticides under consideration.” (www.who.int)
Last year, the JMPR published a 92 page monograph which stated that “There is sufficient evidence in experimental animals for the carcinogenicity of glyphosate” and that “Glyphosate is probably carcinogenic to humans (Group 2A).” [Italics is theirs] And as if that weren’t enough to keep the execs at Monsanto, the developers of Roundup, awake all night, the report also noted that “A positive association has been observed for non-Hodgkin lymphoma.” The folks at Monsanto insist that “Glyphosate has a history of safe use for more than four decades.” (Monsanto’s web site “Newsroom”) Roundup was developed by Monsanto in 1974 and has been used by farmers, parks departments and homeowners since.
Monsanto insists that “glyphosate is not a carcinogen.” On their web site, Monsanto references the monograph of the JMPR but states that the conclusion that glyphosate is a carcinogen is “a conclusion that conflicts with the overwhelming consensus by regulatory bodies and science organizations around the world, like the U.S. EPA, which have found no evidence of carcinogenicity.” (Monsanto website under “Is Glyphosate Safe?”) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also supports the use of glyphosate. On their website, the EPA states, “EPA's worst case risk assessment of glyphosate's many registered food uses concludes that human dietary exposure and risk are minimal.” (www3.epa.gov under “Fact Sheet for Glyphosate”) Cont. on page 4.
October, November, December 2016 Wakulla Gardener
The Luffa Gourd – Luffa cylindrical by Master Gardener Linda Clemons
One of the pleasures of winter time is looking at garden and seed catalogs and planning for the spring garden. A vegetable that caught my eye last year was the luffa gourd. Not only does the luffa produce a fibrous sponge that can be used for cleaning and scrubbing, but it can also be eaten (another name for luffa is “Chinese okra”). So we ordered the seeds, and started them in seed flats in February.
The young plants seemed delicate and not particularly impressive. Only eight plants survived a late February attack by wood rats on our greenhouse. My son and I carefully planted our spindly plants in mushroom compost filled trenches along the garden fence in mid-March. Two promptly died, and the rest struggled until warmer weather arrived. At that point, the six remaining plants proceeded to grow like nothing I have ever seen before.
The luffas were definitely our garden success story this year. The vines grew to cover three quarters of the garden fence and took off across the yard for the woods and the garden shed. Dozens of massive, 12 to 16 inch long gourds formed. The plants produce huge numbers of bright yellow flowers, and the flowers were covered by butterflies. They continued to thrive and bloom during the hottest part of the summer. We did try eating the small, 4 to 6 inch long gourds, but they had an odd, slippery texture and were not popular.
As the gourds ripened, they turned yellow, then tan. We found that if we picked them at this stage and let them dry for a few days, we could easily peel the outer skin off, revealing the fibrous vegetable sponge within. The sponge is filled with dozens of black seeds, and the easiest way to remove them is to hit the sponge against the side of a bucket, letting the seeds fall inside the bucket. After the seeds are removed, the sponge can be soaked in a bleach solution overnight then dried in the sun to produce a uniformly white scrubbing sponge that is surprisingly functional and durable. For more information about the luffa gourd and how to grow it, click here IFAS Publication #HS604, Luffa Gourd.
October, November, December 2016 Wakulla Gardener
Luffa Gourds
Luffa vines in the garden
Cont. from Page 3, Is Round-Up Safe
We are Master Gardeners certified by the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS). As Master Gardeners, we can make recommendations only if they comply with the position of IFAS. IFAS states “Glyphosate is extremely safe to use.” (Research.ifas.ufl.edu under “Biotechnology Literacy Day. Wakulla County Extension Office Director stated that “My faith is toward the evidence and regulations provided by the U.S. highly restrictive regulatory agencies. There are three considerations that need to be addressed here. First is the difficulty in getting products on the market. With the number of hoops companies must jump through to get a regulated product on the market, it would be nearly impossible for a cancer-causing product to make it through the process. Secondly, farmers have been using Roundup and other glyphosate-containing products for more than forty years. Follow-up studies have found that in that time, there is statistically no difference in the occurrence of cancer and non-Hodgkin Lymphoma among farmers that have used glyphosate for forty years and the general U.S. population.”
When Master Gardeners are asked about products containing glyphosate, how is it best for us to respond? Les Harrison, stated: “Remind gardeners that they should always follow label instruction which is the law. If they do, they will be safe. However, as with any pesticide or herbicide, alternative treatments should be tried before or instead of a chemical solution. Have your gardeners consider alternatives like tilling or pulling the weed or introducing or encouraging predatory insects like lady bugs. Next would be to consider ‘selective’ pesticides and herbicides rather than a non-selective Roundup or Malathion.”
October, November, December 2016 Wakulla Gardener
The Perfect Gift for Just About Anyone by Master Gardener Becky Devlin
Are you unsure what to give to a gardener or gardener want-to-be during the holiday season? The choices are numerous but one gift I particularly like to give is an amaryllis bulb. First of all, you give it to your friend at least 8 weeks before you want your friend to have the blooms in their home. This is truly a gift of anticipation. Giving the gift early will certainly put a smile on their faces everyday as the water and watch their plant grow. Second, there are numerous colors from which to choose, bright reds, snowy whites, pinks, oranges and many varieties in between.
But the thing I like most about giving amaryllis, is that it is a gift that keeps on giving. Once the flowers have faded cut the flower stems back but do not remove the leaves. Plant the bulbs in the ground, leaving about 1/3 of the bulb exposed. I have done this for several years and have not had any problems.
October, November, December 2016 Wakulla Gardener
Fall 2016 Happenings by Master Gardener JoAnn Green
Wakulla County Master Gardeners have lots going on this fall:
October: The activities begin on Tuesday, October 18 with a continuing education program about ‘Florida Yards and Neighborhoods (FYN), a branch of the Florida Friendly Landscaping TM program. The FYN is one of the Extension Services outreach programs to educate homeowners about landscaping practices, importance of water conservation, and ways to reduce environmental impacts of landscaping practices. At the same time the education helps homeowners maintain the beauty of their landscape while saving time and money on landscape maintenance. Master Gardeners can assist the Extension Office by conducting FYN landscape surveys in the community. The FYN program offers two levels of recognition to honor a client’s efforts to maintain a Florida Friendly Landscape – gold and silver awards.
On Saturday, October 22, Master Gardeners will participate in the Monarch Butterfly Festival at Saint Mark’s National Wildlife Refuge. We will have a booth for residents and visitors to learn about landscape plants that attract butterflies to their gardens. Dan will have milkweed seeds for us to sell, and we also have educational brochures and flyers to hand out. The festival runs from 10 am to 4 pm.
Each year Master Gardeners have an opportunity to attend educational conferences in the state. During the even years the statewide program offers several regional conferences and in the odd years there is one conference for the entire state. This year our Northwest Regional Conference is at the Quincy Research Center on October 26 and 27. There are two tours on October 26, and the conference is from 9 am to 4 pm on the 27th.
November: Saturday, November 5th, Michelle Hackmeyer graciously offered her home as an FYN practice site. We have an experienced Master Gardener surveyor, Lana Arnold, from Leon County to walk us through the
process and let us practice what we learned from the program on October 18. Thank you, Michele and Lana!
December: Our annual holiday party to celebrate our newest certified Master Gardeners and recognize our ‘seasoned’ colleagues for their hours of service will be on
Thursday, December 8th starting at 6:30 pm.
For more information regarding the Master Gardener program, click here.
What to Do and When to Do It
Tips and Activities by Month
October
October 15th and 16th - Monarch Madness from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Panhandle Butterfly House located at 8581 Navarre Parkway (Hwy 98) in Navarre Park just west of the Navarre Bridge. Click here for more information.
October 18th through the 21st - The 2015 Master Gardener Conference in Kissimmee, FL. Click here for more information.
October 24th - The Monarch Butterfly Festival a the Saint Marks National Wildlife Refuge. For more information, click here.
October is typically a dry month so check your irrigation system for broken heads and ensure spray pattern is optimal.
Harvest late season crops such as okra, green beans and peppers.
If you have a greenhouse, now is the time to prepare its use. Install UV protected plastic cover and ensure there is adequate heating source such as 75 Watt light bulbs in protected sheathing and/or electric strip heater for those very cold nights.
Plant winter crops including carrots, lettuce, onions, cabbage, broccoli, kale, and collards. For more information on what to plant this month, click here.
Order amaryllis to force to bloom by Christmas.
Apply pre emergent herbicide when night temperatures drop to 55 to 60 degrees for 4 to 5 days.
If desired, may seed rye grass when temperatures are in the low 70’s.
November
Fresh pine straw starts to become available in November. Use pine straw around plants and trees that are subject to damage from freezing temperatures.
Plant winter crops including carrots, lettuce, onions, cabbage, broccoli, kale, and collards. For more information on what to plant this month, click here.
Plant amaryllis for Christmas display and then plant them. For more information, click here.
Protect small citrus trees by watering a day before an expected freeze.
Reduce levels of automatic watering as plants need less water during colder months.
December
Plant bedding plants such as pansy, petunia, and snapdragon to add color in winter.
Plant English peas, radishes, broccoli, and cabbage as well as cold weather herbs such as parsley, thyme, sage, dill, fennel and garlic. For more information on what to plant this month, click here.
Wait until warm weather to cut cold damaged plants.
Have a live Christmas tree to dispose of? Contact the Wakulla County Extension Office at 850-926-3931 for suggested disposal methods.
Prune deciduous trees when they are completely dormant (all leaves have fallen) possibly beginning in late December and continuing into January and February dependent upon temperature as it is best not to prune if you expect exceptionally cold weather in the near future. For more information, click here.
October, November, December 2016 Wakulla Gardener