Uncategorized – Page 43 – The Garden Professors™

Pop quiz answer

Today’s post is a follow-up to yesterday’s quiz on foliar fertilization. I asked our blog readers to match the needle nitrogen content of Nordmann fir trees with the fertilizer treatments they had received.

Nutrient deficient Nordmann fir

The correct order is:

1)      control: no fertilizer 0.98%
2)      soil applied controlled release fertilizer 1.70%
3)      foliar nitrogen fertilizer 1.14%
4)      soil applied fertilizer + foliar feed 1.91%

While the foliar fert had a small effect, it’s important to note that, from a statistical standpoint, foliar fertilization did not significantly increase needle nitrogen concentration. Moreover, foliar feeding alone was not sufficient to overcome the nitrogen deficiency of the control trees. The main effect was from fertilizing the soil (actually container substrate is this case).

The take home message is that plants have evolved (or God designed them, if you prefer) to take up nutrients from the soil through their ROOTS. They’ve been doing it for millions years and have been getting along quite nicely, thank you. No matter how slick and clever the marketing, attempts to ‘short-circuit’ the process such as foliar feeding or trunk injection are short-term solutions at best or, as in this case, almost totally ineffective. Foliar feeding and trunk injection treat symptoms, not causes. Plant nutrient deficiencies occur because: 1) an element is lacking in the soil or 2) because the plant can’t absorb enough of the element (e.g., iron chlorosis). Effectively dealing with a plant nutrient problem requires understanding which of those two situations is occurring and why.

Pop quiz time!

It’s the start of new semester. Best way to get student’s attention is with a pop quiz right off the bat! So in that vein, we’ll cross things up and give a quiz on Monday instead Friday. Relax; to make things a little easier we’ll make this one a matching exercise.

Here goes. At our recent Christmas tree conference in Austria, a colleague of mine at Oregon State University, Chal Landgren, presented the results of a study to look at the effectiveness of foliar fertilization on Nordmann fir. Trees were grown in 15 gallon containers and assigned to one of four groups:

1) control: no fertilizer

2) soil applied controlled release fertilizer

3) foliar nitrogen fertilizer

4) soil applied fertilizer + foliar feed

Since Chal has yet to publish this I need to be a little careful with details but all fertilizers were commercially available products labeled and marketed for this purpose and were applied at manufacturers’ suggested rates and intervals.

At the end of the growing season, the trees were sampled for needle nitrogen content. As a point of reference a needle nitrogen content of 1.5 – 1.6 % is usually deemed adequate for this species.

For your quiz: match the treatments listed above to the nitrogen concentrations below:

a) 1.14%

b) 1.91%

c) 0.98%

d) 1.70%

Answer and discussion tomorrow…

Bambara

This past summer I had the chance to talk with an old friend of mine, Hamado Tapsoba, who I hadn’t seen in 15 years. We had gone to graduate school together, but after graduation he headed back to Burkina Faso, and I headed up to Minnesota. Anyway, while we were talking I told him that we were growing peanuts at the University (yes, I tell everybody — peanut news needs to be shared!). When I told him some of the problems that we had with shorter seasons he asked why we weren’t growing Bambara groundnuts. The answer was that I didn’t know what the heck Bambara groundnuts were. Well, it turns out that these nuts are native to Western Africa and grow under the surface of the soil just like peanuts. The reason Hamado recommended them to me was that they can have a growing cycle shorter than peanuts. They can also be cooked like peanuts and have a flavor somewhat similar to chickpeas (or so I’m told). I’ve had an incredible amount of difficulty finding Bambara in the US though I know that at one time they were grown here. We have found a researcher in Burkina Faso who is willing to work with us, but that will probably take some time to get going. Does anyone out there know about Bambara? Especially where to buy plants or seed?) It sounds like an exciting plant to work with.

Just for ewe: An alternative approach to weed control.

As I mentioned in the last post I was in Austria this past week for the International Christmas Tree Research and Extension conference. We hold these meetings every two years for Christmas tree researchers in Europe and North America to get together and share the latest research on various aspects of Christmas tree production and marketing. In addition to research presentations the programs also include tours of local Christmas tree farms, which is always the most interesting part of the conference.

In Austria one of our tour stops was an organic Christmas tree farm operated by Regina and Michael Spenger. For the most part, my views on organic systems are in line with those that Jeff Gilman has voiced here on the GP blog. There are certainly benefits in reducing pesticide use but it’s not a given that an organic approach is always superior to a conventional system. Nevertheless one hallmark of organic production is that growers must be creative and often develop innovative approaches to production issues. This is especially true when it comes to weed control; one of the most difficult challenges of organic growing. Good weed control is essential in Christmas tree production since grasses and broadleaved weeds are aggressive competitors for water, nutrients and light. To control weeds without herbicides the Spenger’s settled on a novel idea: Sheep. Each morning they release a herd of 40 Shropshire sheep into a plantation and let them munch away. The sheep are allowed to graze for a week and then rotated into another field. Shropshires are well suited to the job since they graze readily on the grass and forbs but leave the trees alone. The Spenger’s also get some small additional returns by selling a few lambs each spring as well as some wool. Obviously this approach has limitations but it certainly highlights important aspect of the organic movement that can benefit all production systems: looking at problems in a different way and thinking creatively.

The sheep herd heading out to a plantation to start their day’s work…

To say that sheep grazing in an Austrian plantation creates an idyllic scene is an understatement.

Marketing naturally grown Christmas trees.

</d

If it’s Monday this must be Austria…

Just a quick post from on the road. My family and I have been traveling through Europe the past week and a half. A bit of a whorl-wind trip combining some vacation and work travel. We started off a week and half ago, flying into Frankfurt. We rented a car and drove to Paris where we spent a couple of days sightseeing. Then it was off to southern France to visit friends that run a bed and breakfast there. This weekend we drove from France to lower Austria where I am attending our biennial International Christmas tree Research and Extension conference. I’ll have a few bits to report from the meeting later but for now I’ll just close with a few random acts of Horticulture from France.

Trees shaped like boxes…

Trees in boxes…

Horsechestnuts. Europe is big on horsechestnuts. Unfortunately most of them are scorched to a crisp and look like crap.

Pollarding. Europe is big on pollarding. Occasionally it’s done well and creates some neat effects. More often, like here, it’s done poorly and just makes a mess.

A green wall. Green roofs and green walls can help to reduce urban heat island effect. This green wall is mainly for show, I think. It’s made up of ferns and other mesic plants and requires constant mist irrigation. Not exactly a sustainable system, but it is dramatic and certainly commands attention.

</d

Toxic mulch: When shredded bark goes bad

We typically think of mulching landscape beds as a good thing. And it usually is; helping to conserve soil moisture, reducing soil temperatures and contributing to soil organic matter. Recently, however, I received an e-mail from a local landscaper that reported severe damage to annuals and perennials in a landscape bed immediately after applying hardwood mulch. The problem, sometimes referred to as ‘sour mulch’ or ‘toxic mulch’, occurs when mulch is left is large piles and undergoes anaerobic conditions. This results in the production of acids and other compounds that can volatilize when the mulch is placed in beds, especially during hot weather. These vapors can quickly damage annuals and other sensitive plants. Mulch in this condition is often characterized by a ‘sour’ smell. If you suspect your mulch has gone sour, spread it out before use to allow toxins to dissipate and water thoroughly either before or immediately after application. The University of Arkansas Extension has a nice fact sheet in the subject “Plant injury from ‘sour’ wood mulch.http://www.uaex.edu/Other_Areas/publications/PDF/FSA-6138.pdf

Fried Gerber daisy

Sedums are usually pretty tough…

And, yes, I did steal the title of this post from one of my all-time favorite ‘Far Sides’…

This Bud’s for you…

Ask the risk of honing in on Jeff’s turf, I thought I’d pass along this article by former University of Maine associate dean (and apparent Garden Professor wannabe) Katheryn Olmstead. It seems that Dr. Olmstead’s painstaking research has documented a preference among slugs for domestic beers, particularly Budweiser. http://bangordailynews.com/2011/07/21/living/garden-slugs-prefer-budweiser-over-foreign-brands/ Like most undergraduate students, it seems slugs prefer domestic swill to more refined imported brews; confirming many suspicions about both slugs and undergrads. Although we’ll have to wait for the full peer-reviewed article, her scientific method seems sound, including use of replicated plots. That said, her admitted qualms about being seen purchasing two six-packs in the same week raises doubts about Dr. Olmstead’s eventual rise to the rank of full Garden Professor

A Garden Professor is most severely vexed

I’ve been thinking a lot about Jeff’s recent post on “What happens to the horticulturist.” It’s true – universities rely more and more on faculty-generated grants for funding, so new hires tend to be in “hot” areas of research. Fewer horticultural generalists are hired in teaching/research positions, and the same is true for Extension – the educational outreach arm of land-grant universities.

Many of you might not even know what Extension really is. In my opinion, that’s because Extension as a whole has done a pretty poor job of evolving with the times. When small farms were the mainstay of life for many people, farmers relied on practical, science-based information provided by university Extension services. We’ve become an increasingly urbanized society, but Extension just hasn’t kept up. The bulk of the research and information coming from plant and soil science departments is still geared towards production agriculture. It’s of little immediate use for the majority of us living in urban areas.

So we have an imbalance: there are increasing numbers of people living in urban areas who want good information on home gardens and landscaping, and decreasing university resources to fill those gaps. Nature hates a vacuum, and this information gap is quickly filled with all kinds of stuff: some good, some bad, some dangerous, some illegal. The very worst offenders, in my opinion, are the fear mongererss with most definite agendas but no solid evidence to support their claims. For instance: I’m always skeptical when I hear about an article in an “obscure journal” being the only source of new information. If there was something new out there on an important topic, the researchers would not be publishing in an “obscure” journal. It would be in a highly visible and highly regarded scientific journal. In any case, the information would be easy to find and discuss, not hidden away in a secret location.

I don’t have a good way to end this post, because I don’t have an easy answer to the problems that both Jeff and I see in horticulture departments and in Extension. Do you?

Spin Cycle

The issue of potential damage to conifers by the turf herbicide Imprelis continues to get a lot of air play in this neck of the woods. One of the interesting things about watching an emerging story such as this is watching some of the sideshows that go on around it and how people spin the issue to match their needs and agenda.

Example 1:

Heritage Lawn Care Company put out flyers in neighborhoods in southeast Michigan with affected trees to promote their service. The flyer incldued the heading “ALERT:DYING PINE AND SPURCE [sic] TREES” The flyer claimed that issues related to Imprelis damage to trees are “99.9% applicator and mixing errors”. Surprisingly, there was no mention of where they got the data for this assertion. But fortunately Heritage stands ready to save the day by using “only organic based fertilizers giving the same or better results”. Again, no mention of how organic fertilizer controls tough weeds like ground ivy and wild violet. Thankfully, “If you prepaid (your lawn care provider) for 2011, and want to switch companies, Hertitage is willing to extend you credit until your current company refunds your money.” Call it a hunch, but I don’t think the folks at Heritage will be receiving an invitation to the local landscaper’s group picnic this year…

Example 2:

Mother Earth News trumpeted the news on Imprelis with the headline “Imprelis: Another Deadly Herbicide, This Time From DuPont” http://www.motherearthnews.com/grow-it/imprelis-killer-compost-zb0z11zrog.aspx First of all, isn’t ‘Deadly Herbicide’ redundant? Every ‘icide’ is designed to kill something so I think they’re supposed to be deadly, at least on their target. While the unintended damage to spruces and pines is certainly unsettling, especially for a newly released product, this group of herbicides has low toxicity to mammals and in many regards is comparatively safe. I don’t consider myself a nozzlehead but I’m sure most GP readers recognize I have little aversion to judicious use of chemicals around Daisy Hill farm. So I was a little taken aback to find my “Fasten your seatbelt folks, this could be a bumpy ride” (GP Blog 6/27/11) quoted in Mother Earth news. My reference was to applicators having to deal with customer complaints and potential litigation – but that’s the nature of putting things into the blogosphere…

Example 3:

On July 14 I received an e-mail advertisement from Growth Products, Inc. breathlessly announcing “An Essential Cure For Trees Damaged By Imprelis Or Sahara Herbicides.” Pretty impressive stuff: We’ve only known about the issue for three weeks and these guys have already found the cure. I had to read on. The cure consists of an “Essential Cocktail” of three Growth Products liquids including Essential Plus (a rich concentration of organic ingredients including humic acid), Micrel Total (“Eight chelated minors to help the tree through stress”) and Companion (a biological fungicide). Alas, once again eye of newt and wing of bat were apparently out of stock. But, “The magic mix can be used as a soil drench and/or a soil injection.” The e-mail also included a link to an article I wrote for our extension news that included a photo of some maple trees that had largely recovered from herbicide injury by Sahara in 2009. I also documented the case here on the GP blog I wasn’t aware, but apparently a landscaper treated the trees with some of these concoctions. No word in the e-mail from Growth Products on how the untreated control trees did.

In defense of weeds?

Blog reader Shawn sent this link to me yesterday. It’s a pretty short take on a complex topic, but even so I was troubled by the perception that all nuisance weed species are our own fault.

Sure, it’s true that humans have moved plants or plant parts around with them for centuries. Sometimes it’s been deliberate, and sometimes it’s been accidental. But other animals also move plants around, especially seeds. When we draw this kind of distinction between what we do and what other animals do, philosophically we are removing ourselves from the natural world. True, we have technology and all kinds of other human inventions, but as a species we are still part of the biosphere.

Ivy’s little dispersal units – spread by birds

Philosophical issues aside, there’s another part of this blithe acceptance of weedy species that concerns me. Though plants take advantage of animals as a means of dispersal, the rate at which nonnative, weedy species are spreading and colonizing new environments is unprecedented (this is where technology comes in). Ecosystems can adapt to new species and other environmental challenges – but when the rate is accelerated, the adaptive process is impaired. Thus, some native species go extinct when the rate of change is too great.

Ivy left to its own devices in a natural area

These are basic ecological concepts – and we ignore them at our own peril.