1 Inside this issue 2017 State Master Gardener Conference in Review ........... 2 Pest Monitoring Network ......... 3 Calendar of Events ................... 4 What am I? .............................. 4 Quarterly Meeting-July 10........ 5 Bee Found St. Louis ................. 5 Gardeners: You don’t’ have to sweat the small stuff-yet!....... 6 Missouri Botanical Highlights ... 8 July Gardening Calendar .......... 9 Event Flyers ............................. 10 (connued on page 2) JJULY 2017 (connued on page 2) “The Jefferson County Master Gardener’s chapter was well represented by 5 aendees! 2017 State Master Gardener Conference in Review By Debi Kelly, Horculture/Local Food Specialist The 2017 State Master Gardener Conference was themed “Master Gardeners Go to College” and yes, we did. The conference was held right in the middle of the University of Missouri campus in Columbia. Over 116 Master Gardeners (MG) and Master Gardener Coordinators aended the 2-day event. The first day consisted of breakout sessions in three different tracks: Fruits & Vegetables; Trends; Ornamentals and Turf. While Master Gardeners aended ses- sions on unusual berries, monarchs & waystaons, bee & pollinator preservaons; landscape design principles, and elderberries, the MG Coordinators aended their own track to an overview of the updated MG Coordinator ’s Manual & Operaons Policy, Fund Raising Ideas for MG Chapters, Volunteer Management and A Look to the Future. Aſter the breakout sessions, everyone aended a Title IX Training with Briani Fults who gave an excellent presentaon about inclusiveness, knowing your civil rights and safe environments. Following this was the Missouri Master Gardener Associaon’s business meeng. It’s July! I trust everyone enjoyed the June issue of The Garden Path. I found that from page one all the way to page eleven filled with very important informaon. On page one we learned about the new Roundup for Lawns. And the warning to read the labels (remember the pollinators) on these products before we buy them. Then on page three, Sharon Ward, Master Gardener Jefferson County, shared how she has incorporated Integrated Pest Management (IPM) into her garden. Sharon also used seeds distributed to the class by Dr. Pinero to start her pollinator garden. It read like Sharon was having some success with the project. There is also a picture of the MG volunteers working at the Fisher House.
Transcript
1
Inside this issue
2017 State Master Gardener Conference in Review ........... 2 Pest Monitoring Network ......... 3 Calendar of Events ................... 4 What am I? .............................. 4 Quarterly Meeting-July 10 ........ 5 Bee Found St. Louis ................. 5 Gardeners: You don’t’ have to sweat the small stuff-yet!....... 6 Missouri Botanical Highlights ... 8 July Gardening Calendar .......... 9 Event Flyers ............................. 10
(continued on page 2)
JJULY 2017
(continued on page 2)
“The Jefferson County Master Gardener’s chapter was well represented by 5 attendees!
2017 State Master Gardener Conference in Review
By Debi Kelly, Horticulture/Local Food Specialist
The 2017 State Master Gardener Conference was themed “Master Gardeners Go to College” and yes, we did. The conference was held right in the middle of the University of Missouri campus in Columbia. Over 116 Master Gardeners (MG) and Master Gardener Coordinators attended the 2-day event. The first day consisted of breakout sessions in three different tracks: Fruits & Vegetables; Trends; Ornamentals and Turf. While Master Gardeners attended ses-sions on unusual berries, monarchs & waystations, bee & pollinator preservations; landscape design principles, and elderberries, the MG Coordinators attended their own track to an overview of the updated MG Coordinator’s Manual & Operations Policy, Fund Raising Ideas for MG Chapters, Volunteer Management and A Look to the Future. After the breakout sessions, everyone attended a Title IX Training with Brittani Fults who gave an excellent presentation about inclusiveness, knowing your civil rights and safe environments. Following this was the Missouri Master Gardener Association’s business meeting.
It’s July!
I trust everyone enjoyed the June issue of The Garden Path. I found that from page one all the way to page eleven filled with very important information. On page one we learned about the new Roundup for Lawns. And the warning to read the labels (remember the pollinators) on these products before we buy them. Then on page three, Sharon Ward, Master Gardener Jefferson County, shared how she has incorporated Integrated Pest Management (IPM) into her garden. Sharon also used seeds distributed to the class by Dr. Pinero to start her pollinator garden. It read like Sharon was having some success with the project. There is also a picture of the MG volunteers working at the Fisher House.
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Jefferson County Master Gardener JULY 2017
(continued from front page)
A highlight was traveling to the MU Bradford Research Farm, 11 miles southwest of Columbia where we enjoyed a fried chicken dinner. Both Dr. Rob Kallenbach, Associate Dean for the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources and Dr. Marshall Stewart, Vice Chancellor of Extension and Engagement, gave welcomes to the group. The fun began with tractor pulled trams to tour the research farm. The Bradford Research Center is 591 acres where research is done, among other things, on drought resistance, organic research production, vegetable production, and a new research project started just this year on hops. The second day continued with the same first day tracks and breakout sessions on soil, diseases, mushroom growing, wildflowers in the landscape and woody plant maintenance. I facilitated the Fruit & Vegetable track. Tim Schnackenberg, Agronomy Specialist and MG Coordinator in Taney County, presented on Keys to Soil Improvement. The 4 keys were 1. Soil quality is the bedrock of gardening; 2. Compost provides fundamental building blocks for healthy soils; 3. Soil testing is fundamental to knowing your soil’s needs; and 4. Soil amendments will enhance and rejuvenate garden soil. Patti Hosack, Director of the Plant Diagnostic Lab, gave a very insightful presentation about diseases on fruits, vegetables, and ornamentals. The key to remember with diseases of all kinds is that they need the following to become viable: a susceptible plant, pathogen itself and a favorable environment. If any one of the three are missing or not “in sync” then the disease will remain dormant. Patti brought in microscopes, magnifying glasses and samples of plants with diseases. Each sample came with a description of the plant and the sign or symptom of the “issue”. Participants were given time to investigate the disease to see if they could figure out what was wrong with the plant. A few of the diseases were nematodes on tomato plants, elderberry rust and hail damage on watermelon. At the end of the session, Patti went over each sample explaining the sign or symptom and disease. You can never learn enough about plant diseases.
Lunch was served at the Student Center. After lunch MG selected from 4 different tours they could take: 1. MU Botanical Garden 2. Shelter Gardens – on the prop-erty of Shelter Insurance; 3. Elderberry Farm and 4. Pierpont Farm – owners Rob & Angela Hemwall who market through a CSA (community supported agricul-ture), the Columbia Farmers’ Market and to several restaurants in the area. It was a good conference with lots of learning and companionship. Be sure to mark the dates of Sept 28-30 for “Harmony in the Garden” in Branson at the Cha-teau on the Lake Resort, Spa & Conference Center lo-cated on Table Rock Lake. Visit https://momg18.org/ for more information. Hope to see you there!
2017 State Master Gardener Conference in Review
(continued from front page)
From the President . . .
On page four, Judy Price, Master Gar-dener Jefferson County, shared a pic-ture of her Shiitake log. It looked like Judy was going to have some mush-rooms. Page four, also had the Calen-dar of Events. On page five, we learned about the parasitic wasps we may encounter in our gardens. On page six, Judy Price expressed a Big Thank You to the MG’s for contrib-uting to the beautification project at Pony Bird. You are very welcome Judy. Good job. Watch out for Japanese Beetles! Page eight, is the June Gardening Calendar. I save this page for future reference. The last three pages are devoted to events that may be of some interest to MG’s. The Root Speaker Series; The French Colonial Gardens Tour; and the 2017 Extension Workshop List. I wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone who contributed to The Garden Path Newsletter. The Mas-ter Gardener Chapter of Jefferson County has, I think, one of the best newsletters around. And that is be-cause of people like Sharon Ward, and Judy Price for their contribution. The photo of the Fisher House volunteers. And the added articles form Extension contributors. The newsletter is for MG’s and it depends on the MG mem-bers to contribute articles, pictures, projects and anything of interest to other MG’s. And last but not least, Thank You to Kathy Maddox without whose talent and skill and help The Garden Path would not be what it is. Remember to record your hours. Help is needed to develop a speak-er’s bureau. We were asked by the Northwest Library to do 2 presenta-tions. Joe Corio presented on June 19th and Jeri Schmidt is scheduled to give a presentation August 16th. - Tom -
Pest Monitoring Network By Debi Kelly, Horticulture/Local Food Specialist
On June 26, I posted to the Jefferson County Extension Facebook page and website the following: Japanese Beetle Alert: Potentially significant captures of Japanese Bee-tle (Popillia japonica Newman) have been reported in Jefferson county. A list of 2017 alerts can be viewed at https://ipm.missouri.edu/pestmonitoring/JB/viewall.cfm. Japanese Beetle captures do not indicate that treatment is necessary, but indicate that gardens/fields should be scouted. More information can be found at ipm.missouri.edu. So what does this mean and how are alerts created? Horticulture and Agronomy Specialists with MU and LU Extension are provided traps for a number of different pests on crops: black cutworm, brown marmorated stink bug, corn earworm, European corn borer, fall armyworm, Japanese beetles, southwester corn borer, spotted winged dro-sophila, tobacco budworm and true armyworm. Once a week, the traps are emptied and the insects are counted. We then put those numbers into a system online, which then generates an alert. The particular insects are counted because they are ones that cause the most economic damage to agronomic and specialty crops (vegetables and fruits) or they are considered an invasive insect. Invasive insects are counted to deter-mine when they first show up in a county, which helps to determine their spread across the state as well as to deter-mine when the invasive insect then becomes stablished in a county. Alerts notify gardeners and farmers that the insect has reached a critical mass that economic damage could be seen from the numbers counted. Gardeners and farmers then can decide if they would like to spray for the insect or not. Jefferson County has been fortunate over the past several years not receiving alerts for Japanese beetles while other areas of the state had alerts. We are also fortunate this year with a count of 29/day versus Taney County (Branson area) with 609/day and Cole County (Jefferson City area) with 1,267/day. For the past 3 years, Jefferson County had numerous traps out to collect the spotted winged drosophila (SWD), an invasive insect that loves small fruits especially raspberries and blackberries. Counts were high all 3 years so we know that the insect has become established here and are no longer monitoring them in traps. There are both conventional and organic sprays to control the SWD but be sure to rotate your sprays so the SWD does not become immune to the pesticide.
Another invasive insect I am monitoring in Jefferson County is the brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB). I have yet to catch one in a trap. However, I have had residents come into the office with them asking what they are. I even had one come in this past January where it was found inside an elementary classroom. So, the BMSB is here, we just have yet to make any monitoring catches. The BMSB likes all kinds of plants, from vegetables to fruits to ornamental trees to row crops. It is not selective in its diet. The BMSB is hard-er to control and even some conventional pesticides do not kill all of them in a garden or field. Not only does the BMSB cause damage to crops and gardens, it will also invade
homes and buildings in the fall seeking warmth for overwintering. If you’re interested in getting email alerts on these insects, you can sign up at https://ipm.missouri.edu/pestMonitoring/ and select which pests you’d like to follow.
A mailbox mounted on a nearby post makes a handy place to store and keep dry any small tools, seeds, labels, etc. frequently used in the garden.
11 Twilight Tour at Hamra Farms, Sikeston, 573-238-2420, $5
November
4 Kress Farm Fall Festival
December
2 S.A.L.E. Conference (Small Acreage Landowner Entrepreneur), Jefferson College, 636-797-5391
Find the answer somewhere in this newsletter :)
WHAT AM I???
Pictures from the Plant Sales
Kress Garden Plant Sale Kramer and Hand Community Garden Plant Sale
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Jefferson County Master Gardener JULY 2017
The next Jefferson County Master Gardener Quarterly Meeting will be held Monday, July 10 starting at 6:30 pm in the Viking Room at Jefferson College. Be sure not to miss this meeting because we will have a guest speaker, hand out new Master Gardener name badges and have a short business meeting. Our guest speaker will be Rich Hoormann, Horticulture Specialist from St. Charles County. Rich has a wealth of knowledge about pesticides and their use. No matter if you use conventional or organic pesticides, knowing how to calibrate sprayers, understanding which kind of spray nozzle to use, and how to clean the sprayer is necessary in not only protecting yourself but also helping you to save money on the expense of pesticides. We will also recognize those who have now reached Master Gardener Emeritus--An individual who has been an Active Master Gardener for a total of 10 years. Being an Active Master Gardener means they have volunteered at least 20 hours and reported them in the database system for 10 years. The following 10 individuals will receive their new name badge:
Richard Burke
Joe Corio
Jo Ferguson
Frank Miller
Mary Ann Heuer
Next, we will recognize those who took the Master Gardener Level I class in 2016 and have completed their 30 volunteer hours. They now have become Active Master Gardeners. The following 14 individuals will receive their name badge:
Donna Daugherty
Joanne Fehling
Jill Fennell
Joyce Frey
Brek Graham
Helen Held
Cheryl Hughey
A short business meeting will conclude the night.
Quarterly Meeting - July 10
Janet Patrick
Ron Patrick
Heather Sachs
Dorothy Schuette
Jim Rains
Chris Kempf
Suzette Lamb
Chelsi Montgomery
Cody Obenauer
Jennifer Stair
Sharon Ward
Julie West
Bee Found St. Louis The Jefferson County Beekeepers Association is hosting Jeremy Idleman from Bee Found STL on
Tuesday July 11 at 7:00 pm at City Hall in Hillsboro. Jeremy will be speaking on chemical free beekeeping and his program – Bee Found St. Louis. He has a unique program that some of you might find of interest. Welcome to Bee Found St. Louis! We're a new organization that believes new beekeepers should be taught the pros and cons of treatment-free beekeeping in an effort to keep the strongest, health-iest bees without the use of dangerous chemicals. Bee Found wants to prepare new beekeepers for the upsides and the downsides of the hobby in an effort to retain them into life-long beekeepers. We do this by placing colonies on private property for those who are interested. We train those landowners how to manage bees, while promoting the pollination of plants in the area. If they are not interested in learning how to keep bees, that is ok too! We will manage the bees and give customers some of the harvest.
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Jefferson County Master Gardener JULY 2017
By the Garden Gate by Paula McBurnett
Gardeners: You don’t have to sweat the small stuff – yet! Richard Carlson (1961-2006) was an American author, psychotherapist and motivational speaker who rose to fame with the success of his book, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff…and it’s all Small Stuff (1997). I don’t know if he was a gardener, but I’ve been using his philosophy for years when it comes to weed-ing. We’re going into July and it is “high weeding season” at my house, Marigold Cottage. When I was working my way through the Master Gardener certification in 2002 in Greene County, Springfield, MO, I was
fortunate to do my volunteer hours at the MG Demonstration Gardens which have since become a part of the Springfield-Greene County Botani-cal Gardens at Nathanael Greene/Close Memorial Park. http://www.parkboard.org/274/Springfield-Botanical-Gardens At that time, the demonstration gardens included shade gardens, several perennial and shrub borders, vegetable gardens, a brambles section, herb section, native plants section, native grasses and a rose garden. As a newbie, I signed up to work in one of the perennial and shrub bor-ders, and several Sunday evenings a month, my seasoned mentor MG, Betty North, and I would tackle the weeds in a section of our assigned garden. By “weeds,” I mean anything that grew in the garden that wasn’t planted in the garden scheme. (Some may agree with Ralph Waldo Emer-son who wrote in Fortune of the Republic, 1878, “What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.”) Regardless, it could get pretty hairy as we were the only two working that space most sum-mers. We’d arrive and Betty would say, “Let’s pull out the big stuff first.” The first time she said that, I asked, “What do you mean by ‘big stuff’?” She replied that big stuff meant anything that was up to our knees or vining for several feet. Wow! I thought how easy is that? So, for several hours—usually until dark—we’d pull out and dig up the big stuff, throw it into wheelbarrows and haul it back to the weed piles and composting area. We usually didn’t get to the small stuff on those evenings when we were pulling out the big stuff. Over the years and using Betty’s methodology, I have realized that some weeds are easier to pull, dig/yank when they are larger than when they are tiny sprouts. For instance, I think it is easier to identify and erad-icate the whole root of a Phytolocea Americana (common pokeweed) when it is say ankle high. Pokeweed can reach 10 feet in height! And the roots go deep. Viola spp. (wild violets) are more “grabbable” when they are bigger…those tiny wild violet clusters take hours to pick out of my hosta borders. I especially like to allow Portulaca oleracea (purslane) to grow a bit before I tackle it in the garden. Purslane, which you may or may not have invited into your garden for dinner, has fleshy succulent leaves and stems with yellow flowers (if you let them get that far…) And then there’s Lamium amplexicaule (henbit) which many gardeners con-sider to be an undesirable lawn weed. It creates carpets of lavender when it blooms in early spring. I’m not recommending that we allow our weeds to get knee high or vine out and choke out other plants. I’m just saying, some weeds are easier to grab or dig when they are little more “mature.” And there are many that you don’t want to get big enough to go to seed, such as Tova-ra Virginiana (Virginia knotweed) and Plantago lanceolate (narrowleaf plantain).
Gardeners: You don’t have to sweat the small stuff – yet!
Victorian Garden Maze
Did You Know . . .
There are MG volunteer opportunities at Kress Farms, Hillsboro, on the fourth Saturday of each month. Here is some of the serendipitous statuary, collected by Dr. Kress, that you will see as you work in the gardens which include perennials, shrubs, trees, bulbs, ferns, annuals, vegetables and more.
Also, Securigera varia (crownvetch), a perennial broadleaf weed, spreads rapidly. Beware of letting weeds go to seed and letting the wind spread them far and wide in your gardens and yard. One time, a neighbor named Gwen brought a little start of Glechoma hederacea (ground ivy) for our landscape. After a while, we renamed it “Gwen weed.” If you can eradicate that fast-spreading weed by hand, then you are an amazing weeder! (Although, on a garden tour in Greene County, I noticed that one of the MGs had “planted” ground ivy growing around a couple of trees. It looked all nice and neat! I’m not sure how she was able to keep it from spreading all over the landscape.) One plant that I do sweat when it is smaller is Convolvulus arvensis (field bindweed)—because it can be the nasty infil-trator that will choke out my sweet potatoes! Weed identification is kind of important, and I’m always working to find out what’s growing uninvited in my gardens and yard. I typically go to the Missouri Botanical Garden website where I recently found “Summer Annual Weeds (and Bienni-als) which has been quite helpful. http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/gardens-gardening/your-garden/help-for-the-home-gardener/advice-tips-resources/pests-and-problems/weeds/summer-annual.aspx Really good photos help as well. Back to the demonstration gardens…It might be a couple of weeks before Betty and I got back to our section to tidy up again. By then, the small stuff had usually grown into big stuff . . .
”Sweet flowers are slow and weeds make haste.” ~ William Shakespeare.
For more information on events and things to do, check out the Missouri Botanical website
Common names Sansevieria trifasciata is commonly called "mother-in-law's tongue" or "snake plant", because of the shape and sharp margins of its leaves. It is also known as the "viper's bowstring hemp”.
Cultivation and uses Like some other members of its genus, S. trifasciata yields bowstring hemp, a strong plant fiber once used to make bowstrings.
It is now used predominantly as an ornamental plant, outdoors in warmer climates, and indoors as a house-plant in cooler climates. It is popular as a houseplant because it is tolerant of low light levels and irregular watering; during winter it needs only one watering every couple of months. It will rot easily if over- watered. The NASA Clean Air Study found S. trifasciata has air purification qualities, removing 4 of the 5 main toxins. The plant contains saponins which are mildly toxic to dogs and cats and can lead to gastrointestinal upset if consumed.
Remove infected leaves from roses. Pick up fallen leaves. Continue fungicidal sprays as needed.
Newly planted trees and shrubs should continue to be watered thoroughly, once a week.
Fertilize container plants every 2 weeks with a water soluble solution.
Keep weeds from making seeds now. This will mean less weeding next year.
Keep deadheading spent annual flowers for continued bloom.
Perennials that have finished blooming should be deadheaded. Cut back the foliage some to encourage tidier appear-ance.
Apply no fertilizers to trees and shrubs after July 4th. Fertilizing late may cause lush growth that is apt to winter kill.
Hot, dry weather is ideal for spider mite development. With spider mite damage, leaves may be speckled above and yellowed below. Evergreen needles appear dull gray-green to yellow or brown. Damage may be present even before webs are noticed.
Fall webworms begin nest building near the ends of branches of infested trees. Prune off webs. Spray with Bt if defolia-tion becomes severe.
Don't pinch mums after mid-July or you may delay flowering.
Semi-hardwood cuttings of spring flowering shrubs can be made now.
Summer pruning of shade trees can be done now.
Powdery mildew is unsightly on lilacs, but rarely harmful. Shrubs grown in full sun are less prone to this disease.
Divide bearded iris now.
Lawns
Water frequently enough to prevent wilting. Early morning irrigation allows turf to dry before nightfall and will reduce the chance of disease.
Monitor lawns for newly hatched white grubs. If damage is occurring, apply appropriate controls, following product label directions.
Vegetables
Blossom-end rot of tomato and peppers occurs when soil moisture is uneven. Water when soils begin to dry; maintain a 2-3 inch layer of mulch.
To minimize insect damage to squash and cucumber plants, try covering them with lightweight floating row covers. Remove covers once plants flower.
Prune out and destroy old fruiting canes of raspberries after harvest is complete.
Dig potatoes when the tops die. Plant fall potatoes by the 15th.
For the fall garden, sow seeds of collards, kale, sweet corn and summer squash as earlier crops are harvested.
Set out broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower transplants for the fall garden.
Sow seeds of carrots, beets, turnips, and winter radish for fall harvest.
