Three weekends ago marked a milestone of sorts as mean daily CO2 levels at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration observatory at Mauna Loa, Hawaii topped 400 ppm for the first time ever. Rising levels of CO2 and other greenhouse gases could result in significant increases in temperature in the Upper Midwest over the next century. When we think about trees in cities the scenario is even worse since not only will urban trees have to deal with overall temperature increases but they must also contend with urban heat island effects, which can add another 8 deg.… Continue reading this article “The Canary in the Coal Mine”
Category: Cool Research
Scientists Put the Dog in Dogwood
(special guest post by/with permission of good friend Mr. John Friel, marketing manager for Emerald Coast Growers – Holly Scoggins)
How do you recognize a dogwood? By its bark.
That old joke might not be a joke anymore, if the innovative folks at Metamorphic Agriculture Developers (MAD) get USDA approval for a new line of ornamental and functional shrubs that blur the line between the animal and vegetable kingdoms.
MAD scientists claim to have successfully introduced genes from Canis familiaris into a cultivar of Cornus canadensis.… Continue reading this article “Scientists Put the Dog in Dogwood”
News flash – genes don’t explain everything!
Last week dedicated blog follower Ray E. sent me this link to a story in the Smithsonian magazine. It’s a fascinating look at adaptive responses by frog eggs and apparently is causing quite a stir in the evolutionary biology community. Phenotypic plasticity, which is the ability of an organism to modify its appearance or behavior based on environmental cues, is being hailed as a “revolutionary concept in biology.”
I don’t get it.
Anyone who’s studied plants for any length of time knows about this phenomenon. … Continue reading this article “News flash – genes don’t explain everything!”
Research that gardeners should appreciate!
Today I received my November 2012 issue of Arboriculture and Urban Forestry. This is one of the few peer-reviewed journals that generally has information of immediate value to gardeners and landscape professionals as well as academics. This issue contains an article entitled “Evaluation of biostimulants to control Guignardia leaf blotch (Guignardia aesculi) of horsechestnut and black spot (Diplocarpon rosae) of roses.” (And before you ask, no, I can’t attach the article or link to it. … Continue reading this article “Research that gardeners should appreciate!”
A Note To Horse Owners
Every once in awhile I get to work with really, really cool people who do really, really cool work. This is one of those times. About a year ago I received a message from Dr. Stephanie Valberg, a Professor over at the University of Minnesota’s Equine Center. It seems that she was interested in looking at a deadly disease called Seasonal Pasture Myopathy which she thought might have something to do with horses ingesting maple leaves. … Continue reading this article “A Note To Horse Owners”
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. … Continue reading this article “Ideas needed for webinar”
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.… Continue reading this article “Tree research continued”
New study on pesticide use and GMOs
Some environmental extremists discount agricultural research done by universities, because they receive funding from Big Ag and therefore their researchers can’t be trusted. So this news report of a recent study by one of my Washington State University colleagues is doubly important: it dispells this baseless assertion and it provides some significant – and troubling – information about pesticide use and GMO crops.
Briefly, the article links an increased use of herbicides as a result of increased use of GMOs such as Roundup-ready crops.… Continue reading this article “New study on pesticide use and GMOs”
Deconstructing the cornmeal myth
Back in June of 2010, I wrote about an online column that recommended applying cornmeal as an antifungal soil amendment. (Important note: we are not talking about corn gluten meal. Just cornmeal.) The upshot of the post was while some gardening personalities extol the use of cornmeal to kill soil pathogens like Rhizoctonia and Sclerotinia, no published science supports the practice. The post was effective in encouraging the author of the referenced online column to update her information, but the controversy didn’t die.… Continue reading this article “Deconstructing the cornmeal myth”
Cool website with info on amendments
Not to horn in on Bert’s posting day….but I was just sent this link to Iowa State’s compendium of research reports on nontraditional materials. Though this database is targeted towards crop production methods, there may be nuggets of information relevant to home gardens as well. And it includes a product list if you’re not sure what to put into the search box.
Unfortunately, the collection is focused on north central USA, but look at the filter a report or article has to go through to make it onto the site:
Criteria for inclusion of a research report or abstract in the compendium includes: 1) at least two site-years of research, with multiple crops or varieties substituting for a site-year; 2) authors listed; 3) replicated with statistical analysis; 4) reasonably applicable to north central USA crop production; 5) reference source available; and 6) author permission.… Continue reading this article “Cool website with info on amendments”