It figures. After I write a happy post I get an email question that brings me back to reality. I plan on sharing a little more about the question – and my answer – with you later, but I’m going to give you some homework. Let’s see what you can find out about these topics:
International Ag Labs
High Brix Gardens
Reams’ Biological Theory of Ionization
Hint: they are all interrelated. Post your comments on the blog and let’s see where we go with the discussion.
As you might know, I’ve been at the NW Flower and Garden Show this past week, and yesterday I had two seminars to give. So I didn’t have a chance to post a quiz, and this morning I’m back over for a few hours before I’m done.
I’m hoping to find an interesting Garden Prof question topic at the show, so I’m taking the camera today. If I can’t, I have a backup. But I promise there will be a question up by today!
As winter continues to hold its icy grip over the middle of the country, our thoughts don’t stray too far from plants and cold. Recently one of the graduate students in our department, Nick Pershey, brought to my attention a new product called FreezePruf that claims to improve plant cold hardiness by up to 9 degrees F. Since a couple of degrees of improved cold tolerance can be a big deal (just ask a Florida citrus grower after a 29 deg.… Continue reading this article “Checking up on FreezePruf”
Some odds and ends today that I either #1 was asked to post or #2 couldn’t resist posting. First for the picture that I was asked to post.
This, as far as we can tell (we being myself, my technician, and our grounds department), is the American elm tree that was being planted in that picture from 1909 which I posted on January 21. Dutch elm disease was devastating here in the mid 1900s as it was everywhere, but this region of the world was lucky and there were a number of escapes — and resistant trees (that’s an ongoing project of mine — working with DED resistant elms — I’ll probably post more about it this spring). … Continue reading this article “Odds ‘n Ends”
Our good friends and fellow gardeners at Garden Rant just gave us a big thumbs up:
Thanks, ladies! We love you!
I’m one of those people who can’t resist things that are free. When you pass a yard that has a ‘FREE’ sign on a rusted-out lawn mower or an old piece of exercise equipment and wonder, “Who on earth would take that home?” Uh… that would be me. Actually, I blame my dad. The Old Man’s garage was crammed full with outboard motors missing pull-cords, mismatched lawn furniture, and all manner of secondhand tools in varying states of disrepair.… Continue reading this article “The evolution of tree care”
I’ve got a good post for today…but have a seminar to give this morning and the blog has to wait. If you have time, go onto the web and look for “water drops burn leaves” or something like that. You’ll find reference to an article in New Phytologist that has the gardening world all a-twitter. I’ll be dissecting the paper – and the surrounding hype – later today.
Transgenic plants have been with us for well over a decade now. I have had the opportunity to work with many of the tools used for this technology, though most of that is far behind me (over 15 years now since I “ran a gel”) — I’m much happier being outside or even in front of a computer writing than in a lab. Fortunately I have a number of “lab rat” colleagues so I’m relatively up to date on what’s going on and what “gene-jumper” scientists can and can’t do.… Continue reading this article “Is This Really a Good Idea?”
From this week’s e-mail file…
“Dear Dr. Cregg:
As I’ve done for many year, this year I harvested my “wild” Christmas tree from the Huron-Manistee National Forest. I cut the tree at ground level. Soon after I brought it home, it started sprouting new light green clumps of needles at the tips of many branches. Is the tree actually growing? It doesn’t seem possible that it’s still alive, but it seems to be thriving and I hate to toss the tree to the curb if it’s fighting for life.
I’m in Grand Rapids this week attending the Michigan Nursery and Landscape Association/Michigan Turf Foundation Great Lakes Trade EXPO. The topic for my talk today was Landscape Tree Fertilization. That might not sound like a subject that would generate controversy, but as with most things, there are camps emerging. There is a rising chorus of folks that suggest that landscape trees should not be fertilized with nitrogen. There are a couple of lines of evidence that bolster this point of view.