I was asked by Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott to look up some information in order to answer a recent comment and question on a previous post. Paraphrased, the question is, “… are there any verifiable “organic” fertilizers that can be guaranteed to be made from 100 percent non-GMO sources.” First off, let me state up front … Continue reading NON-GMO FERTILIZER?
And there it is….Our own Linda Chalker-Scott has been accused of being incompetent and is being investigated by Washington State University. If found incompetent she will be removed from her academic position – in other words she will be fired. I have had the opportunity to read the investigative report…. And it’s damning. I mean, … Continue reading Wrong is wrong
Susan Harris over at Garden Rant has done a terrific write up of all the details, so I’ll be brief here: Linda Chalker-Scott, the founder and fearless leader of The Garden Professors, is facing possible termination from her job at Washington State because she’s doing exactly what it says in her job description — extension, … Continue reading Founding GP under fire… for doing her job.
As a beginning gardener I learned that to give plants like tomatoes and peppers more time to grow and produce the largest possible crop, it was best to start the seeds early indoors. As soon as I learned that, I wondered: Well, if starting my tomatoes 6-8 weeks before transplanting them outside is good, surely … Continue reading Why you (probably) shouldn’t be starting seeds yet
Posted by Bert Cregg A little over six years ago Jeff Gilman called me out of the blue and asked me to be part of a new blog about the science of horticulture that he was embarking on along with Linda Chalker-Scott. I was reluctant – I didn’t know much about social media at the … Continue reading Just post some pretty pictures or something
Lots of discussion recently over on the Facebook side regarding the recent publication in Ecological Letters by Karin Burghardt and Douglas Tallamy, “Not all non-natives are equally unequal: reductions in herbivore β-diversity depend on phylogenetic similarity to native plant community.” http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ele.12492/full While there are certainly some things to nitpick in the paper (see Linda’s comments … Continue reading Native vs Exotic: Not as simple as it seems
Inspired by Linda’s post about thigmomorphogenesis, I decided today I would add the word gravitropism to your vocabulary. It simply means growth in response to gravity. Shoots of plants grow up, because they are negatively gravitropic, they grow against the pull of gravity, while roots are positively gravitropic and grow down towards the pull of … Continue reading “Lazy” corn and gravitropism
One of the great things about doing a multi-author science blog is that there will be topics about which colleagues will disagree. One of those topics revolves around the best way to prepare woody rooted plants (trees and shrubs) before planting them. This is an area in arboricultural science that is evolving. A search through … Continue reading Little ball of horrors
Posted by Bert Cregg Reading through Linda’s recent article in Arboriculture and Urban Forestry “Nonnative, Noninvasive Woody Species Can Enhance Urban Landscape Biodiversity” (Arb. & UF 41:173-186) reminded me of some thoughts I had while I sat through a talk by Doug Tallamy at the New England GROWS conference back in February. As most … Continue reading Don’t just stand there like a statue
If you’re looking for cat videos, birthday reminders, and a method for spying on old friends then Facebook is pretty useful, but for cold hard facts? Not so much. Well, actually we’re overstepping here. It’s really not Facebook. After all, Facebook is kind of like a blank sheet of paper. The paper doesn’t tell the … Continue reading Master Gardeners are Great, And They Deserve Better