Cooperative Extension Service Bourbon County 603 Millersburg Rd Paris KY (859) 987-1895 Fax: (859) 987-3120 extension.ca.uky.edu
Bourbon County Horticulture News
September 2018
Farm Field Day has a
new look this year!
Come join us for
activities from family
activities, farmers
market update with
Sharon Spencer, Center
for Crop Diversification
with Brett Wolff and
honey extractor
demonstrations!
You won’t want to
miss this!!
Vegetable Crops Extension & Research Website Launched!
Dr. Rachel Rudolph, UK Extension Vegetable Specialist, and Senior Extension Associate Joshua Knight have created a new website to help Kentucky commercial vegetable growers. The website, titled Vegetable Crops Extension & Research, is intended to provide growers with current production resources. The website also has information on upcoming events around the state related to vegetable production. New information and events will be added often. View the website at https://vegcrops.ca.uky.edu/.
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For More Plate It Up Recipes, Visit: http://fcs-hes.ca.uky.edu/
content/plate-it-kentucky-proud
Kentucky Gardens Need Attention in the Fall
Source: Richard Durham, extension horticulture specialist
Fall is a beautiful time in Kentucky gardens, but it can also be a messy time. Tree leaves turn from green to vibrant fall colors and then drop, creating big piles. Then there are the leaf and spent shoots from our flower beds.
The way you address our yard waste can have a significant impact on your gardens and on the environment. Gardeners commonly rake up and bag leaves to haul away to yard waste dumps.
This option, while tidy, uses a lot of energy, both yours and the energy to transport the leaves and mixed garden waste.
An alternative is to mulch leaves and yard waste. You could use the bountiful resource to enrich your lawn and garden, while creating less waste and air pollution.
A very simple technique with leaves is to rake them into a line and mow over them with your lawn mower.
The mower will chop the leaves into pieces small enough to fall between the blades of grass in your lawn. The chopped leaves will break down out of sight, provide nutrients to your lawn and improve the quality of your soil.
For larger items like spent flower stalks, composting is a simple, easy and environmentally friendly option. Done properly, it produces no odor and provides a generous amount of nutrient-rich organic compost for your garden, which reduces or eliminates the need to buy fertilizer.
Composting also eliminates the need to transport garden waste, making composting a triple-win situation for your garden, wallet and the environment.
The speed of compost production is influenced by the size of the material placed in the bin, so the more you can chop up the garden debris, the quicker you will have usable compost. Many options for compost bin design and construction are well suited to any location and budget.
Using leaves as mulch has many benefits. The mulch helps retain moisture in the soil and insulates plants from extreme winter temperatures. The decomposed leaves become an excellent conditioner for warming spring soil, helping to attract worms and other beneficial microorganisms.
For more information on mulching and composting, contact Bourbon County Cooperative Extension Service at (859) 987-1895.
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Motorized Honey Extractor
Includes:
Motorized Extractor & Stand– Extracts (6) 6 1/4 inch frames
Bottling bucket kit
Electric Knife
Plastic uncapping tub
Capping Scratcher
A $50.00 deposit will be collected at time of pick up and will be returned at time of return.
Extractor equipment cannot be kept for longer than 48 hours and must be thoroughly cleaned
prior to returning. If equipment is not properly cleaned, you will forfeit your deposit.
Scolia dubia Swarming Lawns
Source: Ric Bessin, Extension Entomologist
There have been quite a few reports last week of people with concern over wasp activity on lawns. The wasp of concern is Scoila dubia. It doesn’t have a common name but ‘grub hunter’ would describe its role. Many people are afraid when they see dozens of wasps in areas where children, pets, and others might play. But be-fore making the decision to control these wasps, it is important to understand what
they are doing and put the perceived threat in perspec-tive.Scolai dubia is a dark-winged wasp with a black head, thorax and upper half of its abdomen (Figure 1). The end of the abdomen is orange with two yellow spots. Female
wasps patrol over lawns to dig into the soil in search of white grubs, which serve as food for wasp larva. She paralyzes the white grub with a sting and lays a single egg on it. She then makes a small underground chamber for the egg and grub. When the wasp larva hatches, it feeds on the white grub. These wasps can be very nu-
merous where white grubs are abundant. Grub hunters pose little threat to us. They are very common in late summer and provide grub control benefits.While the fe-male does have a stinger (male wasps and bees do not) they are not aggressive. So-cial wasps, like yellowjackets and hornets, have large colonies and possess a strong instinct to defend their nests; Scolia does not. However, grub hunters may sting if handled or stepped upon.
Figure 1. Scolia dubia is a 3/4-inch wasp with distinctive coloration (Photo: Ric Bessin, UK).
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Boxwood Blight Publication Updated
By Nicole Ward Gauthier, Extension Plant Pathologist
Boxwood blight causes rapid defoliation and plant dieback of boxwood (Buxus spp.) and other susceptible hosts within the boxwood family (e.g., Pachysandra and Sarcococa spp.). Infected plants are eventually weakened, and the resulting plant stress and consequent colonization by
secondary invaders often results in plant death. This fungal disease is particularly devastating to American boxwood cultivars, which can defoliate within a week; weakened plants can die within one growing season. This newly updated publication includes large color images to aid in diagnosis. Symptoms, cause, disease development, and management strategies are discussed in the text. The management portion has been divided into two sections to address specific recommendations applicable to the following production systems: Nurseries & Retail Centers (commercial) Landscapes (commercial and residential) Boxwood Blight (PPFS-OR-W-20) is available online or through the Bourbon County Extension Office by calling (859)987-1895.
Don’t Miss This Grant Opportunity!
Kentucky St. University Small-Scale Farm Grant Deadline: October 1st and December 1st, 2018
Funding: Up to $5,000 for farmers and $15,000 for agriculture groups benefiting multiple
farmers Eligible Entities: Kentucky farmers and Kentucky agriculture groups including farmers
markets Link: http://kysu.edu/academics/cafsss/ research-extension/small-scale-farm-
grantprogram/
Soil Testing
Soil test bags and soil probes are available through the Bourbon County Extension Office.
*Notice*
Due to soil probes not being returned, the Bourbon County Extension Office will now be requiring a $40.00
deposit when checking out soil probes. If soil probes are not returned within two weeks from the check out
date, your deposit will not be returned. 6
