As a third grader I distinctly remember my teacher telling our class about how it was bad to smoke because the smoke would make your lungs filthy. She used her aunt as an example. It seems that this aunt was a heavy smoker. One day this aunt was eating popcorn and accidently inhaled a piece. About 6 months or so after she inhaled it she coughed it up and it looked like a little piece of tar. … Continue reading this article “Lungs and Plants”
Author: jeffgillman003
Crazy Tree Revealed
Matt had it right — the tree was indeed an ash — and did not die of its exposure to herbicides — but it did look pretty bad for a year!
What the Heck Is This?
Thought I’d throw up a quiz today. In the work that I do I frequently see trees and other plants damaged by herbicides. The plant in the picture below was accidentally hit with an herbicide very similar to 2,4 D, but one that is not currently labeled for general landscape use (clopyralid). Can you guess what type of tree it is?
Balanced Fertilizer and Peak Phosphorus
When I first started reading extension recommendations for plants around 15 years ago now, I read a lot about “balanced fertilizers”. Today I still see balanced fertilizers recommended, but not nearly as frequently, which is a good thing.
At this point you may be asking yourself “what is a balanced fertilizer?” A balanced fertilizer is one that has three numbers on its label which are the same — such as a 10-10-10 or a 14-14-14 (Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium are the three nutrients indicated by
these numbers). … Continue reading this article “Balanced Fertilizer and Peak Phosphorus”
Almost But Not Quite
Today I was reading an interesting gardening website with a wide variety of advice, some good and some not so good. As I analyzed the website in my mind to figure out why some stuff was good and some stuff was bad it occurred to me that the problem was that a lot of the stuff that the author was recommending was based on testimonials. And then it occurred to me that many of you out there might not know what a testimonial is and why recommendations based on testimonials shouldn’t be recommended — and then viola!… Continue reading this article “Almost But Not Quite”
Jicama (The Yam Bean)
Every once in awhile I get the urge to try and find something interesting in old literature, and today was one of those days. So I went over to my pile of old “Journal of Economic Entomology” journals and snatched a 1943 issue from the top. The pest issues that we had to deal with during the war years were interesting because resources were tight — we had DDT (and lead arsenate), but all of it was going to the front to protect our soldiers from lice. … Continue reading this article “Jicama (The Yam Bean)”
Want an organic source of nitrogen that isn’t shipped from halfway across the world? Urine luck
There are lots of organic fertilizers out there: Fish emulsions, corn gluten meal, guano. Many of these fertilizers (all that I listed above with the exception of the guano) are by-products of some other industry. Still, they need to be shipped from somewhere to somewhere to get to our garden and so they cost energy — and of course they cost us money. But there is a high nitrogen fertilizer that you can use which doesn’t come from a long way away, and that’s pee. … Continue reading this article “Want an organic source of nitrogen that isn’t shipped from halfway across the world? Urine luck”
A quiz – from our visiting professor
We’re glad to have Dr. Rohwer back for another visit! Here’s his Friday quiz – see if you can figure out what happened to his tomatoes.
"Exhibit A is a tomato in our garden. We had 2 tomatoes last year a couple feet away from this one, they met the same fate. Wilting at about flowering time, and water did not resolve the wilting. Previous to last year, the area was turfgrass for who knows how long.… Continue reading this article “A quiz – from our visiting professor”
Propagating in the air
Most gardeners that I know have tried to produce roots on stem cuttings from plants that they like. Sometimes this turns out well for them, particularly if they are working with what we call an easy-to-root species, and sometimes it turns out poorly. OK, in all honesty, it often turns out poorly. The problem is that plants like very particular conditions when they’re growing roots and the typical gardener is going to have a tough time providing these conditions. … Continue reading this article “Propagating in the air”
Visiting Virginia
The first thing that I did, gardening wise, when I moved to Minnesota from Georgia was to try all of the plants that I had grown to love in the South in the North — hoping beyond hope that perhaps someone had made a mistake when listing the hardiness zones of these plants. The result was a mess of dead lacebark elms, Japanese maples, and butterfly bushes. One plant that I did find could live, albeit just barely, was the beautyberry — a purple fruiting shrub that would survive as a perennial in Minnesota, just barely getting up to my knee — just enough to tease me.… Continue reading this article “Visiting Virginia”