Author: Linda Chalker-Scott

Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott has a Ph.D. in Horticulture from Oregon State University and is an ISA certified arborist and an ASCA consulting arborist. She is WSU’s Extension Urban Horticulturist and a Professor in the Department of Horticulture, and holds two affiliate associate professor positions at University of Washington. She conducts research in applied plant and soil sciences, publishing the results in scientific articles and university Extension fact sheets. Linda also is the award-winning author of five books: the horticultural myth-busting The Informed Gardener (2008) and The Informed Gardener Blooms Again (2010) from the University of Washington Press and Sustainable Landscapes and Gardens: Good Science – Practical Application (2009) from GFG Publishing, Inc., and How Plants Work: The Science Behind the Amazing Things Plants Do from Timber Press (2015). Her latest effort is an update of Art Kruckeberg’s Gardening with Native Plants of the Pacific Northwest from UW Press (2019). In 2018 Linda was featured in a video series – The Science of Gardening – produced by The Great Courses. She also is one of the Garden Professors – a group of academic colleagues who educate and entertain through their blog and Facebook pages. Linda’s contribution to gardeners was recognized in 2017 by the Association for Garden Communicators as the first recipient of their Cynthia Westcott Scientific Writing Award. "The Garden Professors" Facebook page - www.facebook.com/TheGardenProfessors "The Garden Professors" Facebook group - www.facebook.com/groups/GardenProfessors Books: http://www.sustainablelandscapesandgardens.com

Archived webinar available

We had a decent turnout on the webinar yesterday – saw a few names from our blog readers there.  I hope everyone was able to see and hear the presentation and didn’t have any technical difficulties?  If you did, please let me know so we can fix them for next time. For those of you who weren’t able to attend, it’s been archived for viewing at your leisure.

I used suggestions that readers suggested on the blog to demonstrate how to search academic databases for science-based information on products and practices related to gardening.  So if you’re curious to know whether wireworms can be controlled naturally using bait traps, or whether hydrogen peroxide as a soil drench will prevent damping off off seedlings, or whether mowing leaves into the lawn is a good practice…you’ll have to watch!

Up in smoke

If you read my postings the last few weeks, you know that I’m doing a webinar on Wednesday on searching academic databases for information of interest and use to gardeners.  While researching one of the suggested topics (should we mow leaves into the lawn or bag and dump them?) I found a 2012 article* entitled “Biomass yield from an urban landscape” in the journal Biomass and Bioenergy.  My blood ran cold when I read this part of the abstract:

“It was estimated that the City of Woodward could generate about 3750 Mg of biomass dry matter in a normal rainfall year and about 6100 Mg in a high rainfall year if every homeowner collected their lawn thatch and clippings, and tree leaves, twigs, and limbs for bioenergy production.”

My first thought was that is a botanical version of The Matrix.  My second thought was how misguided such a proposal would be.  Rather than using the organic material in our landscapes and gardens to replenish soil nutrients naturally, or greencycle it, we’d gather every shred and give it away to be burnt for energy production. Then we’d spend money on fertilizers (organic or otherwise, it doesn’t matter), many if not all of which require energy to manufacture, package, and/or distribute.

Does anyone else see something wrong with this picture?

I can tell you who wins with this approach, and it sure isn’t us or our gardens.

(*Springer, T.L. 2012. Biomass yield from an urban landscape. Biomass and Bioenergy 37: 82-87.)

Webinar update – yes, YOU can attend!

A few days ago I posted about a webinar I’m doing on using academic databases for gardening myth-busting.  At the time I wasn’t sure what the rules were for viewing the webinar, but happily I’ve found out we can have outside viewers!  So here’s the information about when and how to log on to Adobe Connect (keep in mind this is Pacific Standard Time here).

Speaker: Linda Chalker-Scott

Date: Wednesday, November 7

Time: 10:30-11:30 a.m.

Address: http://breeze.wsu.edu/ext_skills/

We have 99 slots for people, so there should be plenty of room.  And if you can’t make it, no worries.  The presentation will be archived so you can watch it over and over and over…

I’ve gotten some great ideas from you – thanks!  Hope to see some of you there. 

Ideas needed for webinar

I’m doing a webinar for WSU Extension folks next week with the decidedly unsexy title of "How to run literature searches when writing extension publications and how to develop client material using the information from the lit search." In reality, it’s how to research gardening topics, identify the myths (those practices and products with no basis in science), and then write up the valid scientific parts for use by gardeners.  I’d hoped to get some ideas from this group on specific topics to demonstrate the process, but have gotten nothing.  And I’m doing this a week from tomorrow.

So…how about you all? What practices or products that we’ve covered on this blog (or haven’t) that you’d like to see put through my sorting process?  I don’t think people outside the WSU system can watch the webinar, but I’d be willing to post something on the blog about it later.

Feel free to comment below – the earlier the better, as I have to have this done by the end of the week so I can develop the presentation. And thanks in advance for your ideas!

Something different to end the week

Thanks to Neil H. for sending this my way.

This is from The Tree Whisperer:

ALERT!  HOW TO HELP THE TREES. Hurricane Sandy is coming to the East Coast, USA

If you are inclined to talk with trees–and aside from the practical things you can do–here is another way you can help your trees through the storm: Hurricane Sandy.  (Or send help, if you are elsewhere.)  

Go outside and walk among your trees and plants on your property.  You may also touch them.

In your heart, say the following phrases to all your trees and plants. 

(If you are elsewhere, ask your trees to send these wishes to the trees on East Coast USA.)

  1. I care for you.  There is a big storm coming.
  2. Roots, please grip soil and earth with all your might.
  3. Trunk, branches, and stems, please be supple and bend like a dancer.
  4. Leaves, please drop if you can, or become slippery and turn on edge so the wind-driven rain slips past you or any snow slips off.  
  5. Community of Green Beings, please tighten your web of connections.
  6. Ecosystem, please become connected and interconnected. 
  7. Element of Earth, please hold roots tight.
  8. Element of Air, please caress, not assault. 
  9. Element of Water, please flow smoothly over.  
  10. Element of Fire, please give strength to the whole. 
  11. Spirit of the Land, please meet the Spirit of the Storm with serenity.

Please do this more than once in the coming days, if you can.  

 

When the storm arrives, see to your own well-being first. Continue to send these messages to your trees, even from inside the house or from afar.  

 

A followup on the WOW post of last week

There was considerable interest in my post last week, where I shared a photo from Canadian garden writer David Hobson. I wasn’t impressed with the production method and materials for the petunia that was illustrated, but readers wanted to know a little more about the plant (how did the top of it look?) and the mesh encasing the root ball. So I contacted David, and he graciously shared some more information and photos with me.

Here are David’s comments:

“Attached are three photos. Not the best, but the one beside the broom is the original that I sent you. It’s been lying on the patio and has lost a few stems. I don’t have a shot of it in flower as I didn’t particularly like it — one of those new wine and yellow striped things. It was in a container with a couple of other plants and did flower somewhat, but not noticeably well.

“Next shot appears to be a coleus — slightly more roots, but hardly a star.

“Sadly, I can’t tell what number three is for sure as I retrieved it from the compost heap, but it has had an awful time trying to burst free with its tuberous roots.

“I do plant as many as 100 containers in all shapes and sizes each spring and all are all well tended, planted in my own compost mix, supplemented with water soluble fertilizer, watered as required, and suitably oriented.”Certainly, how well these plants thrive and produce blooms is an issue, but given the restrictive nature of this material, it does not appear to be at all biodegradable, a quality that one would think essential. After almost six months in soil, it has barely changed its structure.

“As an after note, I removed the fabric from the petunia and dried it. It is a very fine mesh. I then subjected it to a heat source whereupon and it shriveled and melted as one would expect a plastic material to perform — draw your own conclusions.”

The first photo is the petunia from last week’s post. I think it’s fair to say that the root system is significantly impaired and would require frequent watering to support the above-ground portion (which is pretty wimpy looking). The other photos show the same problems. And it’s apparent from David’s description that the plug wrap is probably made of a plastic of some sort.So, yes, I think it’s the production method – specifically the plastic mesh – that’s creating these poor quality root systems. Gardeners will have better luck with seedling liners filled with loose media.

Tree research continued

Not to be outdone by Bert’s recent postings, I thought I’d show you what’s going on with MY tree research in Washington State.

As you might remember, we installed 40 1-gallon mugo pines and 40 B&B Japanese maples at the end of December 2011.  Here’s a photo of the site in April of this year:

I’ve been collecting data on above-ground growth during this year, but have had an unexpected twist to my research, as shown here:

That’s a pine tree.

Yes, we have moles…BIG moles apparently…in Puyallup.  There’s not much I can do besides move the soil away, but obviously the pine trees are not going to be happy with this additional treatment.  The maples are tall enough where it’s not going to be much of an issue.

Note to self: next time install guard Dachshunds next to pine trees. (Thanks to the Fremont Tribune for this great photo!)

Another WOW (why oh why) – “biodegradable” mesh for plugs

David Hobson, a garden columnist, sent me this great photo of his petunia planted earlier this year. Take a look at the root growth (or lack thereof):

I’m not sure where this particular product came from, but it looks a lot like a FERTISS propagation plug.  Here’s a description from their website of this product.”FERTISS is a ready-to-use, pre-filled propagation tray system. Cuttings are placed in a mixture of peat and perlite wrapped in a non-woven fabric. Roots of young plants will easily penetrate this fabric and enter the airspace between the fabric and the plastic cell wall. Roots are naturally air-pruned, resulting in a faster and better take, increased lateral branching, and improved transplanting performance.”

It sure doesn’t look like roots “easily penetrate” this fabric, at least when gardeners get them potted up at home.  And though I can’t see the top of the plant, I’m guessing it didn’t show “improved transplanting performance,” especially compared to a plug from a traditional liner pot.

Nowhere did I find what this “non-woven fabric” was made of (though there are allusions online to it being biodegradable), but it’s just one more impediment for plants – and gardeners – to deal with.