Seedling protection

Use this...............................................to protect this.................................from this.




Nursery pony-pack tray, wire cutters, 1/4 inch hardware fabric, twisty tie wire.

Yard - June

Fun May/June bird activity

Quail nest and eggs by the strawberry bed



New in 2009 - started seeing Black Chinned Hummingbirds in late May

Growing melons

Perfect melon growing latitude is 30N to 35TD; Spanish Springs is 39 to 38' 57" N

January - try to buy 75 day varieties

Melons like it hot and bright: sunny days in the eighties, nights in the sixties. Melons Mature 80-120 days after seeding: some watermelons need about a month longer (up to 150) says. None of the melons take kindly to frost, but if you don’t have a decent interval between spring and fall freezes, there are ways to stretch the season.

Soil light, deep and well drained: sandy loam is best. Amend soil in the fall with leaf mold and compost, green manure or cover crop.

September – set up next year’s melon bed. South sloping to promote warmth, small enough to work in without stepping on growing area; protected from N and/or W wind.

Rotate your melons to a new area every year, especially if the soil is infected with nematodes or Fusarium.

Watermelon does well in acidic (ph 5-7); melon prefers basic or alkaline (ph 7-8).

Root systems are large but relatively shallow.

Melons hate soil compaction and water logging. Protect from wind, especially N and/or W, but don’t block out the sun.

Plant after threat of frost has passed and soil temps are at least 60. Four inch transplants should work just fine and produce fruit.

April - Nick and soak watermelon seeds; start 4 inch pots with 4-5 seeds each, 2-4 weeks before Memorial Day (find out when air temps stay above 60 at night -- can I plant three weeks prior to that if transplants covered with Agrobon); keep in a dark moist place until seedlings emerge in about a week at 75-85 degrees. Watermelon can take longer because seeds are tough, scarify and soak first. Once seedlings emerge provide 16 hours under grow lights, keeping them 2-3 inches from the light. Thin to three plants per pot; feed with diluted fish emulsion once or twice a week until they’re ready for the garden.

Six millimeter black polyethylene is helpful.

At planting, mix a shovel full of well-rotted manure into the soil and plant melons in “hills” a grouping of three or four. Sprinkle soil with diatomaceous earth for slugs; use Bt for caterpillars. Cover with Agrobon for 3 weeks until plants are established

Remove any leaves that show signs of disease, cull (prune out) defective fruits to 2-3 per vine; wrap fruits in Agrobon bags to deter cucumber beetle.

Codling Moth control

How to use a Codling Moth trap

List of biorational controls

Read more about organic controls

How to calculate degree days

Degree day calculator

Weather/Temperature info

NOAA for weather and temperature

Codling Moth control model

"From what I have read there are four organic sprays: spinosad, summer oil, Kaolin clay and Bt (least effective).


"Spinosad in Reno at Moana Nursery under the product name Captain Jack’s Deadbug" - we'll try this one in 2009

Apple tree/Codling Moth biofix and control

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7412.html

If you'd like to calculate degree days, scroll down to Chemical Control and click the degree day chart. You can use the 30 day temp on weather.com or noaa.gov for past temps.

Melon experiments

Red Seeded Citron - must cook it to eat it. (Watermelon) - 90-100 days

Queen Anne's Pocket Melon - only smells good. (Dudaim)

Prescott Fond Blanc (Cantalupensis) - 85-95 days

Van Doren Moon and Stars - probably won't work, needs 100-120 days (Watermelon)

Minnesota Midget (Reticulatus) - 60-75 days

Golden Midget (Watermelon) - 70 days

Charentais (Cantalupensis) - 90 days

Delice de Table (Cantalupensis) - 85-90 days

Yacon or Bolivian Sunroot

Mother Earth News yacon article

Will we see Yellow Lilac flowers this year?

Lots of blossoms! But plant is five years old and has yet to display flowers...the frost always get them.

"The yard" May 2009

MAY TREE CARE 2009

Spring has sprung, at least my fruit trees are blooming. The codling moths are returning. May is the time to thin fruit, monitor and spray for pests, plant sales, and planting the summer garden.

Codling moths. This year, we will beat the codling moth. With the help of newsletter volunteers and probably Cooperative Extension, we will keep you updated on the biofix and the appropriate spray date(s).

For complete info on codling moth CTRL+ click http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7412.html. You can click on their degree day calculator link and time your spray using last Friday as the biofix date.

Also take a look at their discussion and link on ‘Bagging Fruit’. I did bag several hundred apple in past year with mixed results; some of the apples already had codling moth eggs laid and/or hatched when I put on the bags-hence the spray at blossom drop this year. The easiest bags to affix were the cheap ‘zip lock’ sandwich bags.

Thinning is an important step in producing larger, tastier fruit and will also help prevent damage from insects. Cherry trees do not need to be thinned; apples, pears, apricots, plums, peaches, and nectarines will benefit from thinning. Fruit should be thinned when the fruit is ¼ to ½ inch in diameter; after the fruit is an inch in diameter, it is too late to improve fruit quality by thinning. To thin, first lightly run your fingers over the fruit; a good number of the fruits will fall off as some fruits were not completely fertilized or the tree is selectively pruning itself. Then, remove any damaged/deformed fruits. Note that apples and pears form on clusters with the center fruit larger than the rest; those are the ones I leave on the tree. This year, I’m thinning apples and pears to 12” apart per limb; peaches and nectarines 8” apart and plums and apricots 6” apart. The object is to leave as much fruit as possible, but remove enough so that the remaining fruits will not touch when mature (insect larvae tend to bore into fruit where they touch).

Pests and disease seen in May include aphids, powdery mildew, and the first codling moth hatch. Look at the growth tips of the limbs for the dull gray coating that is powdery mildew. Generally, only one or two limbs will have it on new growth. Prune off the infected portion back to a branch or bud, dispose of the affected sprouts, and spray a disinfectant (like Lysol) on your pruning tools afterward.

Aphid damage will also occur on new growth and will appear as curled, deformed leaves especially on peaches, nectarines, and cherries. If only one or two places are infected, just squash the little bugs. If the whole tree is infected, attach a spray nozzle to your hose and spray water into the affected limbs from all sides. Aphids do not like humidity and the force of the spray will knock the aphids off and onto the ground. Being fat boys (actually all females) with skinny legs, the aphids will not be able to get back into the tree. Spray the tree daily, if possible in the morning, as the aphids knocked off the tree will slowly cook in the noonday sun.

Asclepias speciosa (Showy milkweed)

Asceplias speciosa or tuberosa, May 2009.

Flowers for bees and butterflies

Butterflies visit red, orange, yellow, pink, and blue flowers.

Bees visit yellow, blue, and purple flowers.

From Community Gardening by Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

Monarch Watch and growing Asclepias

Monarch Watch and growing Asclepias

Althaea officinalis - Marshmallow

Althaea officinalis from Wikipedia (refers to other botanical/culture info)

March fruit tree care

If you haven’t inspected your fruit trees for a while, now is a good time to do so. My trees are still in their dormant stage, but with the milder temperatures and precipitation, the trees should be going into delayed dormant stage sometime in March and April. During the delayed dormant stage, buds—especially the flower/fruiting buds—begin to swell.

If you haven’t had time yet, prune your apple and pear trees. I’ll start pruning stone fruits (peaches/nectarines, plums, cherries) in mid March when the buds swell and show color. You’ll have time to prune until mid to late April depending on the weather. Hold off on pruning roses until mid April to avoid late frost damage.

When we get a few warm, sunny days in a row do the first dormant oil application to all varieties of your fruit trees (and roses). Dormant oil smothers over-wintering aphid eggs. I’ll have a complete spray schedule in the April newsletter.

December to-do

Fruit trees:

Give orchard area a last good soaking
Turn off, drain watering system
Protect trunks from sunscald
Clean leaves and debris from orchard floor
Mulch

November to-do

Fruit trees:

Give orchard area a last good soaking
Turn off, drain watering system
Protect trunks from sunscald
Clean leaves and debris from orchard floor
Mulch

October to-do

Fruit trees:

Check soil moisture; start cutting back on water
Clean up wind fall fruit at least weekly
Harvest apples - fruit ripe when seeds are dark brown to black

September to-do

Fruit trees:

Check soil moisture; start cutting back on water
Clean up wind fall fruit at least weekly
Harvest apples - fruit ripe when seeds are dark brown to black

August to-do

Fruit trees:

Check soil moisture and adjust watering system as needed
Cover apples and pears with bird netting
Continue to monitor for pests

July to-do

Fruit trees:

Check and adjust watering system as needed
Monitor for pests
Cover ripening cherries and stone fruits with bird netting
Harvest stone fruits as they ripen

June to-do

Fruit trees:

Thin fruit when less than 1/2 inch diameter
Continue/finish pesticide program for coddling moth
Check and adjust watering system

May to-do

Fruit trees:

Turn on watering system remove plastic tree guards
Check and refill coddling moth bait
Monitor for aphids (curled, deformed leaves at tips)
Monitor for powdery mildew (prune out affected shoots)
Mulch

April to-to

Fruit trees (March or April:

Plant bare root trees
Do second dormant oil spray at 1/4 inch green tip (organic?)
Fungicidal application 10 days after dormant oil and before bloom (organic?)
Check soil moisture once each month; water if necessary

March to-do

Fruit trees:

Plant bare root trees
Do second dormant oil spray at 1/4 inch green tip (organic?)
Fungicidal application 10 days after dormant oil and before bloom (organic?)
Check soil moisture once each month; water if necessary

February to-do

Fruit trees (can be done January through February):
Prune trees
Rake mulch away from the tree trunks
Check soil moisture once each month, water if necessary
Do first dormant oil spray if nighttime low will be above freezing (rare)

Raspberries - apply compost for vigorous growth

January to-do list

Fruit trees (can be done January through February):
Prune trees
Rake mulch away from the tree trunks
Check soil moisture once each month, water if necessary
Do first dormant oil spray if nighttime low will be above freezing (rare)

European Starling

(Pic from columbia.edu)
So numerous they are not protected in the US or Canada. Sturnus vulgaris

Voice – a series of discordant, musical, squeaky and rasping notes; often imitates other birds. Call a descending whee-ee.

Nesting – 4-6 pale blue eggs in a mass of twigs, grass, and trash lined with finer plant material and feathers, and placed in a tree or building cavity.

Range – Native to Eurasia and widely introduced around the world.

Hordes of these birds damage vegetable or fruit crops and do considerable damage around orchards and feedlots, consuming and fouling the feed of domestic cattle. They join blackbirds to feed on locusts, ground beetles, and the like. Starlings compete with native hole-nesters for woodpecker holes and natural cavities.

Rock Dove or Pigeon

(Pic from Birds of Our Yard, at President Avenue)

The common pigeon of towns and cities

Voice – soft guttural cooing

Nesting – 2 white eggs in a crude nest lined with sticks and debris, placed on a window ledge, building, bridge, or cliff

Range – Native to Old World. Introduced

Everyone knows Rock Doves, or domestic pigeons, as city birds that subsist on handouts or country birds that nest in pigeon cotes on farms. Few have seen them nesting in their ancestral home – cliff ledges or high among rocks. Over the centuries many strains and color varieties have been developed in captivity through selective breeding. Since pigeons have been accused of carrying human diseases, there have been several attempts to eradicate them from our cities, but they are so prolific that little progress has been made in this endeavor.

House Sparrow

Male and really light colored female

So numerous they are not protected in the US or Canada

Description - Male has black throat, white cheeks, and chestnut nape; gray crown and rump. Female and young are streaked dull brown above, dingy white below, with pale eyebrow.

Voice – Shrill, monotonous, noisy chirping.

Nesting – 5 or 6 white eggs, lightly speckled with brown, in a loose mass of grass, feathers, strips of paper, string, and similar debris placed in a man-made or natural cavity. 2 or 3 broods per season. Sometimes builds a globular nest in a tree.

Introduced and resident throughout temperate North American. Native to Eurasia and North Africa.

Within a short time after their introduction, these sparrows adapt to the local environment. Thus the sparrows of the rainy climate of Vancouver, British Columbia, are plump, dark birds, whereas those inhabiting Death Valley, California, are slim, pale, sand-colored birds. These changes took less that 60 years, and influence our ideas about the speed of evolutionary changes in birds

Mourning dove

(my pic)

Voice – Low mournful coo-ah, coo, coo, coo

Habitat – Open fields, parks, and lawns with many trees and shrubs

Nesting – 2 white eggs in a loosely made nest of sticks and twigs placed in low bushes and tall trees, more rarely on the ground.

This abundant bird has increased with the cutting of forests and burning off of grass. The Mourning Dove is common in rural areas in all parts of the United States, as well as city parks and, in the winter, suburban feeders. In some states it is hunted as a game bird while in others it is protected as a songbird. Its species name, macroura, is Greek for “long-tailed”. The young are fed regurgitated, partially digested food known as pigeon milk.

Sick maple?

Tree is taller on the right side than the center!?