Posted on 02/09/2009 12:36:11 AM PST by nw_arizona_granny
I love trying things in Macaroni and Cheese because I don’t know ONE kid that doesn’t like good old mac ‘n cheese. It is so easy to have children try it and this is no exception! Not only are we going to use magic mix (if you need a crash course on it, click on my video page to watch a video on how to make magic mix and a white sauce from magic mix), elbow noodles from your food storage, but we’ll add in some vegetables as well. The best part is…no one will ever guess! It is delicious, creamy, and bound to please the pickiest eaters! Hopefully, this will eliminate some fights you may be having at the dinner table!
Yellow Squash Puree Macaroni and Cheese
2 C. Elbow Macaroni
1/3 C. Magic Mix
1/2 C. Water
1 C. Yellow Squash Puree
1-1/2 C. Cheddar Cheese, grated
4 oz. Cream Cheese (can be reduced fat or non-fat)
1/2 t. Salt
1/8 t. Paprika
1/2 t. Pepper
Directions:
1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add the macaroni and cook accodring to package directions until al dente. Drain in a colander.
2. While the macaroni is cooking, combine Magic Mix and water in a saucepan. Stir rapidly (I use a wire wisk) over medium heat until it starts to bubble and thicken.
3. Add the squash puree, Cheddar, cream cheese, and seasonings, and stir until the cheese is melted and the sauce is smooth.
4. Stir in the macaroni and serve warm. (Personally, I chop up a tomato and stir it in. I really like the taste of tomatoes and cheese but that is optional. I also garnish with a little paprika and grated cheese.
Try it! Your kids will love it…which means you will too!
http://everydayfoodstorage.net/2008/09/05/ham-cheese-rolls/food-storage-recipes
Ham & Cheese Rolls: Whole Wheat Food Storage Recipes
Posted on September 5th, 2008 by Crystal-Everyday Food Storage
Okay, I got really sick this week (no not from these :) and didn’t think I would be able to post anything today because I’m SO behind on everything around my house and didn’t have time to make these until today. HOWEVER, when I made these this morning I couldn’t wait to share the recipe with you!! They taste amazing, are easy to make, make your house smell WAY better than a Deseret Book with a Lion House Pantry in it (now you know that is good…I wish I had smellivision so you could all smell my house right now!), are great for kids to help with, and are VERY versatile. Have I sold you yet? Not to mention that this comes from Tammy R. from Huntington Beach that gave us that wonderful Blender No Bake Cheesecake that everyone loved. Personally, I used my own bread machine dough recipe (the same I use to make my wheat bread) but did it on the dough cycle (I just really like throwing everything in and not worrying about it for 1-1/2 hours!) then rolled it out like Tammy said.
Okay, here is how I picture these sandwiches working:
1) eating right out of the oven
2) Like Tammy says, freezing them and using them in lunches
3) a luncheon type event (baby/wedding shower, lunch after a blessing) in the winter when fresh produce for sandwiches is expensive!
4) Along side some homemade tomato soup
Okay…enough of me let’s get on with the recipes and the how to: (she even gave the bread recipes she uses all of the time)
HAM AND CHEESE ROLLS
One batch of bread recipe/ or 1 loaf rhodes frozen dough, thawed
8 oz. ham or turkey thinly sliced
1/2 lb. shredded cheese (Jarlsberg is our family’s favorite, but cheddar or whatever you have works great!)
Mix together:
1/2 cup dijon mustard
2-3 Tblsp honey.
Roll out dough in a rectangle as you would for cinnamon rolls. Spread mustard-honey mixture on dough, leaving 1/2 inch along edges. Lay meat slices on dough and sprinkle with cheese. Roll up jelly-roll style. Slice into 10-12 equal slices with a sharp knife. Place in greased muffin tin (for gourmet look) or place on greased cookie sheet (for easier clean up, use Reynolds non-stick Release foil–then you don’t even have to grease it!). Let rise until double, about 45 mins-1 hour. Bake 400 degrees for 10 minutes until light brown. They can be baked at a lower temperature, for a longer time, as you would a loaf of bread, just watch them carefully! Serve warm, or at room temperature. Great for a picnic!
Cooks Note: Due to the ingredients, these rolls must remain refrigerated after baking, until they are consumed. Often, I will wrap the leftovers in individual sandwich bags and freeze them. They will thaw in a lunchbox and be ready to eat while staying cool until lunchtime. Once thawed they can be warmed up in a microwave easily for 15-30 seconds, and re-melt the cheese all over again!
EZ Dough Recipe (Makes 1 loaf) - This is for sea level, if you live in high altitude you may need to adjust the yeast)
This recipe came in the recipe book from my first breadmaker. We loved it so much, always seemed to be successful, and it used all our food storage, so I quit trying to mess with other recipes. I use it to make my cinnamon rolls, cover a cookie sheet with it to make pizza, quick dinner rolls, scones, fry bread, breakfast pastry, ham and cheese rolls, and my santa bread at Christmas (um…don’t worry, I’ve already asked her to send me the recipe and pictures for this).
EZ Dough White Bread Version
1 1/8 cups warm water
1 3/4 - 2 tsp active dry yeast
2 Tblsp sugar (you can use a little more sugar if you like your dough a little sweeter)
3 cups flour
1 Tblsp vital wheat gluten
1 tsp salt
2 Tblsp nonfat dry milk
1 1/2 Tblsp butter/margarine or oil (My preference is the butter, but as long as you use the wheat gluten you can get away without adding any fat, by doubling the amount of wheat gluten to the recpie and omit the butter/oil.)
Add the ingredients in the order listed into a mixer bowl (like a kitchen-aid) with a dough hook attachment and mix on low for 10-12 minutes. Or mix it on the dough cycle in your bread machine. After all the mixing is complete, if the dough still seems too gooey and you are unable to handle it, add 1 Tblsp flour at a time, and mix after each addition until the dough is manageable with your hands.Let rise 45 mins -1 hour, punch down and use to make bread, cinnamon rolls, cookie sheet pizza, rolls, or anything else you can think of! Let rise after you have made your creation and bake according to the direction of the recipe you are making.If you are making it into bread, form into a loaf at this time, place in a loaf pan, let rise in a warm place 45 min -1 hour and bake 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and sounds hollow when lightly tapped.If you are making this recipe in a bread machine. Follow your bread machine’s directions and add the ingredients in the order listed in their recommendations.
EZ Dough Wheat Version
1 1/4 cup warm water
1 Tblsp active dry yeast
1/4 cup honey or 1/3 cup sugar
2 3/4 cups whole wheat flour (or whatever combination white/wheat you like)+ 1/4 cup vital wheat gluten
1 tsp salt
2 Tblsp nonfat dry milk
1 Tblsp butter/margarine/oil
Mix ingredients in order listed in mixing bowl of mixer with dough hook attachment (like kitchen-aid) for 12-15 minutes. Let rise until double, 1- 1 1/2 hours. Punch down, and shape into loaf or rolls. Let rise again until double and bake 375 degrees for 20-30 minutes until golden brown and sounds hollow when lightly tapped.
If you are making this recipe in a bread machine, follow your bread machine’s directions for wheat or whole grain selection and add the ingredients in the order listed for their recommendations.
http://mtalt.hort.net/article-index.html
In Marge’s Garden Basics Perennials
Shrubs, Trees & Vines
Mailorder Nurseries
Wildlife Seasonal Potpourri
Articles, not food gardens.
http://tomclothier.hort.net/page44.html
Plants for Attracting Beneficial Insects
Code: Botanical name, Common name, Bloom time, Zone, lw=lacewings, lb=ladybugs, hf=hover flies, w=parasitic mini-wasps, t=tachinid flies, s=spiders, mpb=minute pirate bugs, db=damsel bugs, bb=big eyed bugs.
Lacewings:
“Achillea filipendulina”,”Fern-leaf yarrow”,”Summer through fall”,5,”lw, lb, hf, w”
“Anethum graveolens”,”Dill”,”Summer”,”annual”,”lw, lb, hf, w”
“Angelica gigas”,”Angelica”,”Mid to late summer”,5,”lw”
“Anthemis tinctoria”,”Golden marguerite”,”Spring through fall”,6,”lw, lb, hf, w, t”
“Atriplex canescens”,”Four-wing saltbush”,”Summer”,7,”lw, lb, hf”
“Callirhoe involucrata”,”Purple poppy mallow”,”Summer”,4,”lw, hf, w”
“Carum Carvi”,”Caraway”,”Summer”,”bi-an”,”lw, hf, w, s”
“Coriandrum sativum”,”Coriander”,”Summer through fall”,”annual”,”lw, lb, hf, w”
“Cosmos bipinnatus”,”Cosmos - white sensation”,”Summer through fall”,”annual”,”lw, hf, w, s”
“Daucus Carota”,”Queen annes lace”,”Summer through fall”,”annual”,”lw, lb, hf, w”
“Foeniculum vulgare”,”Fennel”,”Summer”,5,”lw, lb, hf, w, s”
“Helianthus maximilianii”,”Prairie sunflower”,”Late summer”,4,”lw, lb”
“Tanacetum vulgare”,”Tansy”,”Late summer through fall”,4,”lw, lb, w, t”
“Taraxacum officinale”,”Dandelion”,”Spring and fall”,3,”lw, lb”
Ladybugs:
“Achillea filipendulina”,”Fern-leaf yarrow”,”Summer through fall”,5,”lw, lb, hf, w”
“Achillea millefolium”,”Common yarrow”,”Summer through early fall”,2,”lb, hf, w”
“Ajuga reptans”,”Carpet bugleweed”,”Late spring or early summer”,4,”lb, hf”
“Alyssum saxatilis”,”Basket of Gold”,”Early spring”,3,”lb, hf”
“Anethum graveolens”,”Dill”,”Summer”,”annual”,”lw, lb, hf, w”
“Anthemis tinctoria”,”Golden marguerite”,”Spring through fall”,6,”lw, lb, hf, w, t”
“Asclepias tuberosa”,”Butterfly weed”,”Summer”,4,”lb”
“Atriplex canescens”,”Four-wing saltbush”,”Summer”,7,”lw, lb, hf”
“Coriandrum sativum”,”Coriander”,”Summer through fall”,”annual”,”lw, lb, hf, w”
“Daucus Carota”,”Queen annes lace”,”Summer through fall”,”annual”,”lw, lb, hf, w”
“Fagopyrum esculentum”,”Buckwheat”,”Early fall”,”annual”,”lb, hf, t”
“Foeniculum vulgare”,”Fennel”,”Summer”,5,”lw, lb, hf, w, s”
“Helianthus maximilianii”,”Prairie sunflower”,”Late summer”,4,”lw, lb”
“Penstemon strictus”,”Rocky mountain penstemon”,”Late spring through summer”,3,”lb, hf”
“Potentilla recta ‘warrenii’”,”Sulfur cinquefoil”,”summer and early fall”,4,”lb, hf, w”
“Potentilla villosa”,”Alpine cinquefoil”,”Spring”,5,”lb, hf, w”
“Tagetes tenuifolia”,”Marigold - lemon gem”,”Summer through fall”,”annual”,”lb, hf, w, s”
“Tanacetum vulgare”,”Tansy”,”Late summer through fall”,4,”lw, lb, w, t”
“Taraxacum officinale”,”Dandelion”,”Spring and fall”,3,”lw, lb”
“Veronica spicata”,”Spike speedwell”,”Summer”,3,”lb, hf”
“Vicia villosa”,”Hairy vetch”,”Summer through fall”,3,”lb”
Hover flies:
“Achillea filipendulina”,”Fern-leaf yarrow”,”Summer through fall”,5,”lw, lb, hf, w”
“Achillea millefolium”,”Common yarrow”,”Summer through early fall”,2,”lb, hf, w”
“Ajuga reptans”,”Carpet bugleweed”,”Late spring or early summer”,4,”lb, hf”
“Allium tanguticum”,”Lavender globe lily”,”Summer”,4,”hf, w”
“Alyssum saxatilis”,”Basket of Gold”,”Early spring”,3,”lb, hf”
“Anethum graveolens”,”Dill”,”Summer”,”annual”,”lw, lb, hf, w”
“Anthemis tinctoria”,”Golden marguerite”,”Spring through fall”,6,”lw, lb, hf, w, t”
“Aster alpinus”,”Dwarf alpine aster”,”Summer”,3,”hf”
“Astrantia major”,”Masterwort”,”Summer”,5,”hf, w”
“Atriplex canescens”,”Four-wing saltbush”,”Summer”,7,”lw, lb, hf”
“Callirhoe involucrata”,”Purple poppy mallow”,”Summer”,4,”lw, hf, w”
“Carum Carvi”,”Caraway”,”Summer”,”bi-an”,”lw, hf, w, s”
“Chrysanthemum parthenium”,”Feverfew”,”Summer through early fall”,6,”hf”
“Coriandrum sativum”,”Coriander”,”Summer through fall”,”annual”,”lw, lb, hf, w”
“Cosmos bipinnatus”,”Cosmos - white sensation”,”Summer through fall”,”annual”,”lw, hf, w, s”
“Daucus Carota”,”Queen annes lace”,”Summer through fall”,”annual”,”lw, lb, hf, w”
“Fagopyrum esculentum”,”Buckwheat”,”Early fall”,”annual”,”lb, hf, t”
“Foeniculum vulgare”,”Fennel”,”Summer”,5,”lw, lb, hf, w, s”
“Lavandula angustifolia”,”English lavender”,”Summer”,5,”hf”
“Limnanthes douglasii”,”Poached egg plant”,”Summer”,”annual”,”hf”
“Limonium latifolium”,”Statice”,”Summer through fall”,5,”hf, w”
“Linaria vulgaris”,”Butter and eggs”,”Summer and early fall”,4,”hf, w”
“Lobelia erinus”,”Edging lobelia”,”Summer”,”annual”,”hf, w”
“Lobularia maritima”,”Sweet alyssum - white”,”Summer”,”annual”,”hf, w”
“Melissa officinalis”,”Lemon balm”,”Summer”,4,”hf, w, t”
“Mentha pulegium”,”Pennyroyal”,”Summer”,7,”hf, w, t”
“Mentha spicata”,”Spearmint”,”Summer”,4,”hf, s”
“Monarda fistulosa”,”Wild bergamot”,”Summer”,4,”hf”
“Penstemon strictus”,”Rocky mountain penstemon”,”Late spring through summer”,3,”lb, hf”
“Petroselinum crispum”,”Parsley”,”Summer”,”bi-an”,”hf, w, t”
“Potentilla recta ‘warrenii’”,”Sulfur cinquefoil”,”summer and early fall”,4,”lb, hf, w”
“Potentilla villosa”,”Alpine cinquefoil”,”Spring”,5,”lb, hf, w”
“Rudbeckia fulgida”,”Gloriosa daisy”,”Late summer through fall”,3,”hf”
“Sedum kamtschaticum”,”Orange stonecrop”,”Summer”,4,”hf, w”
“Sedum spurium & album”,”Stonecrops”,”Summer”,5,”hf”
“Solidago virgaurea”,”Peter Pan goldenrod”,”Late summer thru early fall”,5,”hf, mpb”
“Stachys officinalis”,”Wood betony”,”Spring/summer”,5,”hf”
“Tagetes tenuifolia”,”Marigold - lemon gem”,”Summer through fall”,”annual”,”lb, hf, w, s”
“Thymus serpyllum coccineus”,”Crimson thyme”,”Summer”,5,”hf, w, t”
“Veronica spicata”,”Spike speedwell”,”Summer”,3,”lb, hf”
“Zinnia elegans”,”Zinnia - liliput”,”Summer through frost”,”annual”,”hf, w”
Parasitic mini-wasps:
“Achillea filipendulina”,”Fern-leaf yarrow”,”Summer through fall”,5,”lw, lb, hf, w”
“Achillea millefolium”,”Common yarrow”,”Summer through early fall”,2,”lb, hf, w”
“Allium tanguticum”,”Lavender globe lily”,”Summer”,4,”hf, w”
“Anethum graveolens”,”Dill”,”Summer”,”annual”,”lw, lb, hf, w”
“Anthemis tinctoria”,”Golden marguerite”,”Spring through fall”,6,”lw, lb, hf, w, t”
“Astrantia major”,”Masterwort”,”Summer”,5,”hf, w”
“Callirhoe involucrata”,”Purple poppy mallow”,”Summer”,4,”lw, hf, w”
“Carum Carvi”,”Caraway”,”Summer”,”bi-an”,”lw, hf, w, s”
“Coriandrum sativum”,”Coriander”,”Summer through fall”,”annual”,”lw, lb, hf, w”
“Cosmos bipinnatus”,”Cosmos - white sensation”,”Summer through fall”,”annual”,”lw, hf, w, s”
“Daucus Carota”,”Queen annes lace”,”Summer through fall”,”annual”,”lw, lb, hf, w”
“Foeniculum vulgare”,”Fennel”,”Summer”,5,”lw, lb, hf, w, s”
“Limonium latifolium”,”Statice”,”Summer through fall”,5,”hf, w”
“Linaria vulgaris”,”Butter and eggs”,”Summer and early fall”,4,”hf, w”
“Lobelia erinus”,”Edging lobelia”,”Summer”,”annual”,”hf, w”
“Lobularia maritima”,”Sweet alyssum - white”,”Summer”,”annual”,”hf, w”
“Melissa officinalis”,”Lemon balm”,”Summer”,4,”hf, w, t”
“Mentha pulegium”,”Pennyroyal”,”Summer”,7,”hf, w, t”
“Petroselinum crispum”,”Parsley”,”Summer”,”bi-an”,”hf, w, t”
“Potentilla recta ‘warrenii’”,”Sulfur cinquefoil”,”summer and early fall”,4,”lb, hf, w”
“Potentilla villosa”,”Alpine cinquefoil”,”Spring”,5,”lb, hf, w”
“Sedum kamtschaticum”,”Orange stonecrop”,”Summer”,4,”hf, w”
“Tagetes tenuifolia”,”Marigold - lemon gem”,”Summer through fall”,”annual”,”lb, hf, w, s”
“Tanacetum vulgare”,”Tansy”,”Late summer through fall”,4,”lw, lb, w, t”
“Thymus serpyllum coccineus”,”Crimson thyme”,”Summer”,5,”hf, w, t”
“Zinnia elegans”,”Zinnia - liliput”,”Summer through frost”,”annual”,”hf, w”
Tachinid flies:
“Anthemis tinctoria”,”Golden marguerite”,”Spring through fall”,6,”lw, lb, hf, w, t”
“Fagopyrum esculentum”,”Buckwheat”,”Early fall”,”annual”,”lb, hf, t”
“Melissa officinalis”,”Lemon balm”,”Summer”,4,”hf, w, t”
“Mentha pulegium”,”Pennyroyal”,”Summer”,7,”hf, w, t”
“Petroselinum crispum”,”Parsley”,”Summer”,”bi-an”,”hf, w, t”
“Phacelia tanacetifolia”,”Phacelia”,”Late spring to early summer”,”annual”,”t”
“Tanacetum vulgare”,”Tansy”,”Late summer through fall”,4,”lw, lb, w, t”
“Thymus serpyllum coccineus”,”Crimson thyme”,”Summer”,5,”hf, w, t”
Spiders, Minute Pirate bugs, Damsel bugs, Big eyed bugs:
“Carum Carvi”,”Caraway”,”Summer”,”bi-an”,”lw, hf, w, s”
“Cosmos bipinnatus”,”Cosmos - white sensation”,”Summer through fall”,”annual”,”lw, hf, w, s”
“Foeniculum vulgare”,”Fennel”,”Summer”,5,”lw, lb, hf, w, s”
“Medicago sativa”,”Alfalfa”,”Summer through fall”,3,”bb, db, mpb”
“Mentha spicata”,”Spearmint”,”Summer”,4,”hf, s”
“Solidago virgaurea”,”Peter Pan goldenrod”,”Late summer thru early fall”,5,”hf, mpb”
“Tagetes tenuifolia”,”Marigold - lemon gem”,”Summer through fall”,”annual”,”lb, hf, w, s”
As you have noticed, there is considerable overlap across these groupings. To download a single file containing all of the above plants, click here. The list is in comma delimited format which can be read into any database or spreadsheet software, after decompression..
http://tomclothier.hort.net/page41.html
Native Pollinator References
The decline of feral and domestic honey bee colonies during the mid-nineties due to Varroa and tracheal mites or to misuse of pesticides in agriculture, has turned the attention of recreational gardeners to attracting and preserving our native bees. There are a number of steps that each gardener can implement to do this.
1. Add another 100 nectar and/or pollen producing plants to your property every year (examples of pollen producing plants include sunflowers, cosmos, blanket flowers, and black-eyed susans),
2.. construct and install nest sites for bumblebees and solitary bees,
3. learn to identify beneficial insects and their nest sites, especially the bees , digger wasps, and hunting wasps.
4. teach children to love pollinators, with your knowledge and by setting a good example, and finally,
5. become a keeper yourself — make your own property into a haven for beneficial creatures.
The purpose of this page is to list references about native pollinators which are available to you through inter-library loan, mailing lists on the internet that you can monitor, and resources to be found on the WWW.
Book List:
ISBN: 0-8160-1992-4 O’Toole, Christopher and Raw, Anthony Bees of the World, 1991 h 192p This is the easiest and most fascinating read for the beginning hobbyist.
ISBN: 0-951-02423-x Sladen, F.W.L. The Humble-Bee This is perhaps the best starter book on bumblebees.
ISBN: 0-521-25975-4 Prys-Jones, Oliver E Bumblebees
Bogatyrev, Dr. Nickolaj, Applied Ecology of Bumblebees, (Novosibirsk, Russia, 2001 - 160pp.) - bilingual
ISBN: 0-870-81621-7 Carol A. Kearns, James D. Thomson The Natural History of Bumblebees, A Sourcebook for Investigations, Univ. Press of Colorado, 2001
ISBN: 0-444-19733-8 Andrewes, Christopher The Lives of Wasps and Bees
ISBN: 0-720-70252-6 Vesey-Fitzgerald, B. The Worlds of Ants, Bees, and Wasps
Borror, Donald J, Peterson Field Guides - Insects
ISBN: 0-817-22541-2 Ogawa, Hiroshi The Potter Wasp
ISBN: 0-941-13049-5 Crompton, John The Hunting Wasp
Hutchins, Ross E The Carpenter Bee
Krombein, Karl V. Trap-nesting Wasps and Bees
ISBN: 0-472-00118-3 Evans, Howard E. The Wasps
ISBN: 0-844-80560-2 Spoczynska, Joy O The world of the Wasp
ISBN: 0-706-70138-0 Alford, D. V. Bumblebees
Free, JB & Butler, CG Bumblebees
ISBN: 0-674-08581-7 Heinrich, Bernd Bumblebee Economics, 1979, s 245
ISBN: 0-9635841-1-1 Griffin, Brian L. The Orchard Mason Bee, 1993, s 69
ISBN: 0-9635841-3-8 Griffin, Brian L. Humblebee Bumblebee, 1997, s 111
ISBN: 0-472-06515-7 Dunn, Gary A Insects of the Great Lakes Region, 1996, s 324
ISBN: 0-674-81175-5 Michener, Charles D The Social Behavior of the Bees, 1974, h 404
ISBN: 0-521-26236-4 Roubik, D. W. Ecology and Natural History of Tropical Bees, 1989, h/s 514
ISBN: 0-521-25975-4 Prys-Jones, O.E. et al Bumblebees, 2nd Ed, 1991, s 92
ISBN: 0-88192-352-4 Proctor, Michael, et al The Natural History of Pollination, 1996, h 479
ISBN: 0-12-479740-7 Matheson, Andrew et al The Conservation of Bees
ISBN: 1-559-63352-2 Buchmann, Stephen L. et al The Forgotten Pollinators, 1996, h 292
ISBN: 1-559-63475-8 Daily, Gretchen C. Nature’s Services: societal dependence on natural ecosystems, h 392
All of the books on the above list can be obtained from your local library. Each of them has an extensive bibliography which will lead serious students to the rest of the literature on these topics.
Internet Mailing Lists:
Bombus-L (Biology of Bumble Bees Discussion Group) Volume is low and discussions between biologists (internationally situated) are usually quite technical in nature. Lurking hobbyists can get an idea of the latest research and listen in on discussions about commercial crop use of bumblebees. To subscribe, send the message to listserv@listserv.umd.edu with SUB BOMBUS-L in the body of the message. To delete your subscription, send the message to listserv@listserv.umd.edu with SIGNOFF BOMBUS-L in the body of the message. To get a list of available archives, send the message INDEX BOMBUS-L
Socinsct-L (Social Insect Biology Research) Volume is low and discussions are usually technical in nature. Subscribe by mailing Listserv@uacsc2.albany.edu with the following words as the sole content of the message body: Subscribe SOCINSCT-L (your full name)
Bee-L (Honey Bee Biology) Volume is high and discussions are usually about beekeeping. Subscribe by mailing Listserv@uacsc2.albany.edu with the following words as the sole content of the message body: Subscribe BEE-L (your name)
Essential or Interesting Web Sites:
http://www.pollinator.com/alt_pollinators.htm
http://members.aol.com/pollinator/polpage4.htm
http://www.uidaho.edu/pses/Pollinationecology.htm
http://www.pollinatorparadise.com/Solitary_Bees/FAQ.htm
http://www.uidaho.edu/pses/Strickler/SolitaryBees/solitary.htm
http://www.LoganBeeLab.usu.edu/
http://www.ars-grin.gov/ars/MidWest/Ames/bees/bombus.html
http://cvs.anu.edu.au/andy/beye/beyehome.html
http://gardening.wsu.edu/library/inse006/inse006.htm
http://gears.tucson.ars.ag.gov/na/bgardn.html
Plants of interest to bumblebees
Construction of Nest-Boxes for Bumblebees
Here are some links to other interesting insect sites found at http://website.lineone.net/~ammophila
The Bumblebee Pages at http://www.mearns.org.uk/mrssmith/bees/bees.htm Quite a detailed and clear account of bumblebee biology and natural history (mostly for the common species found in the NE Scotland).
http://www.angus.co.uk/iussi/index.html UK branch of the International Union for the Study of Social Insects .
British Entomological and Natural History Site at http://benhs.org.uk/benhs.html
http://www.pollination.com/ - This is a commercial site, but has a lot of good information on pollinators and pollination.
Articles about raising bumblebees - “for pleasure and profit”.
“A technique for year-round rearing of Bombus terrestris (Apidae Bombini) colonies in captivity” by P. F. Roseler (1985) Apidologie 16(2): 165-170
“Year-round production of Bumble Bee colonies for crop pollination” by C. Van Steemert, A. De Rujiter, J. Van Den Eijnde and J. Van Der Steen (1990) Bee World 71(2): 54-56
“Why bumble bees?” by K. S. Delaplane (1995) American Bee Journal 135:459-460
“Bumble beekeeping: The queen starter box” by K. S. Delaplane (1995) American Bee Journal 135:743-745
“Bumble beekeeping: Inducing queens to nest in captivity” by K. S. Delaplane (1996) American Bee Journal 136:42-43
“Bumble beekeeping: Handling mature colonies, mating queens” by K. S. Delaplane (1996) ABJ 136:105-106
“Helping Bumble Bees with Bombus next boxes” by P. Munn (1998) Bee World Vol. 79, Nr. 1:45-48
“Bumble Bees - For Pleasure and Profit” edited by Andrew Matheson (1996) Internation Bee Research Association, ISBN 0-86098-221-1
http://tomclothier.hort.net/page38.html
Construction and Placement of:
Bumblebee Nest Box
Drawing of Nestbox construction details.Construction:
Scrap plywood (1/2 inch to 3/4 inch thickness.)
A rough cut 2 x 4 (such as cedar) about 6½ inches long.
3/4 inch pvc pipe, 6 to 8 inches long.
1/8” x 8” x 15” clear acrylic panel (optional, but practical)
Dimensions:
Front and back each 5½” high x 15” wide
Sides each 5½” high x (8” minus two times the thickness of the material used), e.g. if using 3/4” plywood, the sides pieces will be 6½” wide.
Bottom 10” x 15”
Top about 14” x 17”
continued, with complete plans for building box and more info.
http://tomclothier.hort.net/page34.html
Warning: This is the humor section of larger site devoted to seed methodology and practice. If you are wandering about without your sense of humor, you are likely to find some of this material objectionable. It is just weedy herbiage, after all.
[photos at link]
Why are some fruits and vegetables uncommon?
Over the Years, I have grown edible plants from many other countries, as much for the pleasure of growing new plants from seed as for experimenting with new flavors. What I have learned in this effort is that edible plants from around the world require a great deal of processing in the kitchen, often lose all of their nutritive value in that process, and just as often, fail to taste good enough to be worth the bother. Naturally, I suspect that people in North America and Western Europe eat much better food than the rest of the world, because of what we are able to grow. The bodies of people in less developed nations seem less developed. Is there a link between food and social institutions?, between food and industrial output?, between food and culture, religion, and politics, etc.? Did I hear someone say that “you are what you eat”? Photo of ruffled tomato (fruit).Here is a description of just three of the edibles that I don’t eat.
Solanum integrifolium, aka ‘ruffled tomato’ or ‘tomato egg plant’ looks exactly like S. melongena ‘eggplant’ as it grows. Leaf shape, stems, etc. are identical. The flower is white instead of purple, and not quite as large in overall diameter. The fruit starts out a rich bright green, about as large as a goose egg, but then turns a brilliant orange red color that is most attractive. I think the fruit is edible, but I didn’t find anything in it that I wanted to eat. It’s worth growing for its ornamental value, is not fussy, and relatively care free to grow. The fruit is comfortable to hold or play catch with, and I suspect that a pair of them would make a remarkably realistic addition to certain public statuary. The environment and the space required to grow this plant is the same as for regular eggplant, which you may as well grow. Eggplant is one of my favorite foods, so it may be that I am just prejudiced against poor substitutes.
Momordica charantia, aka ‘balsam pear’ or ‘bitter melon’ is a well behaved vine that climbs with tendrils. It is not as vigorous as Ipomoea or Dolichos, though it did grow to 15 ft. high here in Chicago. The fruit is light green, covered with lumpy-bumps, 5 to 7 inches long, and must be picked before the blossom end begins to change color. When overripe, it turns orange throughout, except for the seeds. The seeds are shaped like heraldic shields and are encased in a dark red slimy jelly. The fruit opens of its own accord to reveal the red globs contrasting with the orange flesh. It is worth seeing but not much more. Yes, the fruit can be made edible by picking green, removing seeds, blanching, salting, rinsing, blanching, salting, rinsing, pureeing, squeezing, etc. until all of the vitamins and minerals have been thoroughly disposed of. While edible, the result is only the illusion of food. This is a first class weight control substance which would benefit many Americans. I took 8 or 9 fresh fruits to the local Chinese restaurant. I handed them to the dining room hostess, and said “free, no money”. She said, “wait here”. A few minutes later, she returned with a sack of takeout food that provided two meals. I protested; she insisted. Wait until next year, I thought, see if it works again with something different.
Photo of Kiwano (plant).
Cucumis metuliferus, aka ‘horned melon’ or ‘kiwano’ is not your typical cucumber. The vines grow faster than Kudzu, and it is clear to me that they could even span large bodies of water. I had to hack away at them every day to keep them in bounds. They have a long growing season before producing small yellow flowers hidden behind the leaves; and they follow your movements like little eyeballs. As you walk by them, they tell the leaves to throw little fiberglass hairs at you which stick in your skin for several days. I found that a 3 x 6 ft shield of 1/4 inch plywood between the plant and the garden path solved the problem of daily access to the rest of the garden. I never should have put it so near the gate. The fruit is so carefully hidden, that you cannot watch it develop. At harvest time, I put on full rain gear with balaclava and sou’wester.
Photo of Kiwano (fruit).
But, I couldn’t pick up the fruit. The horns each carry a razor sharp spine and are positioned so that there is no space for thumb and forefinger without bloodletting. Besides, while only 6 to 8 inches long, the fruit is so heavy that you could not hold it with fingers alone anyway. After re-arming myself with leather work gloves inside of welding gloves, I gathered about 30 of those alien football spaceships. I cut one in half with a machete, looking for something to eat. What I found was a lot of seeds and a little juice. Allowed to ripen to a nice golden color, I understand that Californians find the juice to be a pleasant combination of watermelon, papaya, and bat guano flavors. Unfortunately, you have to take your harvest to the automobile junkyard compressor to extract the juice.
I always thought that “third-world” was an economic expression, but now I think of it as the set of places where you need to pack your own lunch.
http://tomclothier.hort.net/page23.html
How to have fresh lettuce year-round, without a greenhouse or a cold frame.
(in zone 5a)
My system uses three types of lettuce. Crisp heading types such as Gemini , Ithaca, or Summertime are sown in the spring for harvest during each week in June. These are “cut and come again” types, however the hot weather usually causes them to bolt after the second cutting. A loose heading Batavia lettuce such as Sierra or Nevada is sown in May, for harvest each day during the summer. Batavia lettuce can be cut again and again without bolting.
The supreme of all lettuce, Jade Pagoda - Michihili, a Chinese cabbage, is sown on July 1st for table use during October. A second sowing is made before the end of July for final harvest in November, but actually the exact day on which a killing frost (26º or less) is forecast for that night. Fourteen to eighteen heads of michihili are placed in a large refrigerator in the freeze-protected (36º) garage. This lettuce lasts in perfect condition through the end of May. Each head weighs from four to ten pounds, and there is little resemblance to those skinny heads of Chinese cabbage seen in the supermarkets. Here are the growing details:
Crisp head lettuce is a cool weather crop which requires well drained soils, but constant moisture. These lettuces often require shading from overhead and afternoon sun. The Batavia and Michihili lettuces love the sun. Lettuce requires neutral soils high in nitrogen. No controls for insects are required with the proper soils.
Soil:
The Michihili, crisp head, and Batavia style lettuce are sown in ordinary garden soils which carried onions during the previous season. Since I use a little calcium nitrate and garden compost for fertilizing onion rows, these are ideal the following season for lettuce, with no further amendment. All of the looseleaf varieties are sown in soils manufactured from ground up Christmas trees. This soil has a very high moisture retention in the hottest temperatures without becoming wet because they drain rapidly. This type of soil is so friable and loose that root growth and travel are not impeded. The pH is constant at 6.5 and requires no liming. Slugs hate this type of soil.
Sowing:
Seeds for the Crisphead lettuces are sown indoors on March 12th, and transplanted to their permanent site in April. All other seeds are sown directly. Lettuce seed must have light to germinate. I like to make a shallow furrow in the soil, sow the seeds, then cover the furrows with a dusting of peat based germination mix to retain moisture.
Shadecloth for crisp head types:
I use a 60% shadecloth stapled to 2ft x 8ft and 4ft x 8ft lattice panels. These are light in weight and easy to move from one patch of lettuce to another. They are placed on supports like pepper cages, and have proved wind resistant. Another panel leans against the West side of the patch to protect from late afternoon sun. A lath house would be nice.
Watering:
All plots use drip hose manufactured from recycled auto tires. The longevity of this type of hose is preserved by careful control of water pressure. Since each plot has its own water tap, I simply control the pressure by opening the tap only the amount necessary to get the hose to start to drip. If the hose is emitting fine sprays of water into the air, the lettuce will get wet, and the life of the hose will be diminished over time. Without a constant supply of moisture, every variety of lettuce will bolt sooner, and will develop a sharp taste. Like tomatoes, lettuce does best if soil moisture does not change from one day to the next. I apply only enough water to keep the roots in moisture, but not enough to moisten the soil at the surface. It is important to check the moisture levels daily if the surface of the soil is dry.
Jade Pagoda - Michihili:
I prefer the Michihili lettuce above all others because of its sweet flavor and its variable crunchy textures. It does not have the rubbery texture or the cabbage flavor of other Chinese cabbages, all of which require cooking. I especially like it and the crisp heading Gemini or Ithaca because no water washing of the lettuce is required. Once the outer wrappers have been peeled off, even a lazy man can put his own salad together.
Starting from the base, I cut the Michihili heads into 3/8” thick slices as you would cut a loaf of bread. As you place the slices into a lettuce crisper or into vegetable storage bags (with holes), they break up into individual strips ranging from 2 to 6 inches long. Each strip is thick and crunchy in the center tapering off to leaf at each end. The strips are pleasant to eat as is, and when in salad, respond well to every type of dressing.
While in storage in the garage refrigerator, it is best to stack the heads vertically. When that is not possible, they should not be stacked more than two high, as they do best when there is plenty of air circulation. By March, the heads are attempting to search for water with fine white root hairs at the crown. Do not mistake the root hairs for mold. If your lettuce is going to rot, it will do so from the inside out, and you should not notice any softening of the centers until near the end of May depending upon refrigerator temperature which should average about 35ºF.
I should repeat the importance of allowing the Michihili to suffer several light frosts before harvest, as this is the source of the sweet flavor. Once frozen, however, the lettuce has no further value as a raw vegetable, so it is important to make your harvest on the day on which you have received your first weather report of an expected killing frost (26º or less).
While I am fond of all the lettuce I grow, I would not grow any of the other lettuces if I could have Michihili all year long. The method described is a lot of work, but if you really love your salads, you will grow as many varieties of lettuce as you have room for.
http://tomclothier.hort.net/page22.html
Horseradish
Horseradish is one of my favorite flavors; it is also an herb, a condiment, a stimulant, and an excellent source of vitamin C (23 mg per ounce). The enzyme peroxidase is extracted from the roots by the pharmaceutical industry for use by diabetics to test their blood sugar levels. Peroxidase is also used in neurobiological research.
Drawing of horseradish plant.Cultivation - Once you have secured a piece of root, either from a gardening friend or from the local market, select a spot where the soil is at least 2 foot deep, and where you are sure there will be no reason to change your mind. Once planted, your horseradish plant will be there forever; in fact, if you are not careful with the little rootlets, side roots, and the crowns when digging, you will unwittingly expand your horseradish garden in every direction. The fertilizer I prefer is 6-24-24. It is important to limit the amount of nitrogen so that growing energy is directed into the root. Organic fertilizers like fish emulsion and liquid kelp are a better choice when available. The plant likes evenly moist soil and full sun, but will tolerate part shade. Soil Ph slightly on the acid side is preferred, but it will do well from a Ph of 5.0 to 7.5
For large straight roots, push back the soil from around the crown when the leaves are about 12 inches tall. Smaller roots coming out the side of the main root should be cut. Check the crown for the number of sprouts forming leaves. Cut off all those emanating from the sides of the crown so that the number of sprouts is limited to 2 or 3. Do this again in about 4 weeks. I have never bothered with the above advice, but then, I only havest roots every other year anyway. Replant all the pieces you cut off if you want to expand your horseradish bed. If that is not your intention, be sure to discard them in a manner which insures that you will not be starting new plants on your own property.
Continues, with complete information on Horseradish.........
http://tomclothier.hort.net/page21.html
Growing & Processing Black Walnuts
Jump to: || Squirrels || Cleaning || Extraction ||
I have two black walnut trees (Juglans nigra) and two Carpathian walnut trees. Note that English, Persian, and Carpathian, all refer to the same tree (Juglans regia.) There are more than 400 cultivars of black walnuts. While the cultivar ‘Thomas’ is not suited to my midwest locale because of its susceptibility to anthracnose, it does produce very large nuts.
To select the cultivar that is anthracnose resistant, produces a very large size nut, and has a history of success in your area, it will be necessary to talk to your County Cooperative Extension Agent and the nursery you plan to purchase from. It would be silly to save $20 at the time of purchase, only to find that the tree is unsuitable when it is old enough to bear. If you do contemplate the purchase of any nut tree or already own nut trees, I recommend “Nut Tree Culture in North America” published by The Northern Nut Growers Association, Inc., 1979, ISBN: 0-9602248-0-7 for the best background information. Some of the information in this article was drawn from that fine book. While I do lampoon some of the outdated advice on cleaning the nuts and extracting the nutmeats found in that book, it remains an important one in my library.
Walnut trees are attacked by some 64 diseases and 296 species of insects and mites. I have used a fungicide in the spring as the leaves emerge, but usually just let nature take its course. Lacewings take care of the aphids; new growth containing colonies of walnut caterpillars can be cut off for disposal; and the larvae of the walnut husk fly cause no serious damage and are destroyed during husk removal. Walnut pests in your area may be less or more significant.
Walnut trees suffer for want of nutrients in competition with grasses and weeds. I do add fertilizer every 2nd or 3rd year at a depth of about 8 inches around the drip line. In addition, walnuts benefit from trace quantities of zinc. If your soil is deficient in zinc, there are two easy remedies which can be applied on the same schedule. One is the application of zinc sulfate (sold by Stark’s), and the other is Acecap zinc implants (not in Leonard’s catalog anymore, but may be available to special order). I tried the implants one year (4 per tree), and the nut production was phenomenal. I don’t think that I ever want that many nuts again in the same year.
Nut production across the various cultivars is a bit of a mystery. Some trees bear a few nuts every year with a major flush of nuts every third or fourth year. Others bear only every 2nd or 3rd year. I apply fertilizer in early spring in the year in which I guess that the tree is due for heavy production. Guessing wrong about the year in which to add fertilizer does not appear to create any problem.
Harvesting Nuts:
To have nuts to harvest in the bearing years, it is necessary to know something about squirrels. Recreational gardeners with one or more trees cannot avoid a certain amount of pilferage. Some of the methods used in commercial walnut groves simply cannot be applied in urban areas. Tall straight trunked trees isolated from nearby jumping off points on other trees can be protected by sheet metal bands around the trunk during August and September. Killing squirrels is fruitless because they are a part of large breeding colonies covering huge areas. Replacement squirrels fill empty territories in a matter of days, and the population remains constant despite your best efforts; don’t bother. My best defense lies in the proximity of my Carpathian walnut trees. Their prolific annual production keeps the bushy tailed rats busy, and they prefer the less highly flavored nut. In many cases, I have observed squirrels eating the husk in preference to the nut, early in the season. Needless to say, after losing 10 to 20 nuts per day on these trees, there are none to few left for me at harvest time. My greatest harvest from the two Carpathian trees was 800 nuts, but that was the year in which I used the zinc implants. The squirrels were simply overwhelmed with nuts, and therein lies the best defensive strategy, i.e. provide alternative sources of forage, especially those which ripen just before and during the period in which your nuts are ripening, or simply overwhelm the critters with more nuts than they can eat and bury. Based on the number of Oak seedlings I find every spring, there must be a number of trees somewhere in the neighborhood. Maturity of the acorns probably coincides with that of the Black walnuts. Therefore, I have begun planting Oak trees. As they begin to bear mature acorns, the squirrels will have had their fill of Carpathian walnuts prior to ripening and leave my black walnuts alone during final ripening, in preference to acorns. A less peaceful view of squirrels may be found at: http://www.deadsquirrel.com/index.html
Harvesting nuts is not like picking apples. Do not pick nuts from your trees as there will be too much damage to bearing branches which will slow future nut production, and you will have to wait for the husks to soften anyway. In September, check the ground underneath your trees regularly for dropped nuts. Collect those. By September 20th in the Chicago area, the nuts are ready to be shaken out of the trees. I use a plastic coated hook on a two piece aluminum tube about 17 feet long. Shaking the branches (up and down rather than sideways) usually dislodges a rain of heavy nuts. I would wear some form of head protection but they seem to just glance off the sharply pointed ridge that I call my brain- case. Do not try to dislodge each and every nut. The effort is not worth it, and you may begin to break some of the weaker branches. Check the ground three or four times every day thereafter, especially when there is a strong wind, and pick up the balance of the nuts during the following two to three weeks.
Cleaning Nuts:
“Numerous methods have been used to remove hulls. Where only a few bushels of nuts are involved, they can be tramped off, placing the nut with husk on a hard surface and rolling it under a heavy foot. Light hammer blows will remove the husk; the nut can even be hammered through a hole in a piece of wood forcing the hull off. Nuts can also be driven over with an automobile to crush the soft hulls. The use of a small trough-shaped box under a jacked-up automobile wheel is satisfactory for small quantities. As the nuts are forced between the turning wheel and stationary trough, the husks are rubbed off. An open box or bangboard at the back of the car will catch the nuts.” (1)
I don’t use any of those methods, and I consider them quite hilarious, to put it kindly. But then, I am dealing with a very large nut by comparison with many of the other cultivars. My method requires the following tools: a lightweight pair of plastic gloves rated for solvents (such as the Edmont Solvex glove), a jackknife with a 3 1/2” blade, a vise fixed to a workbench, a trash container for the hulls, and a 5 gallon bucket half-full of water. As with most other aspects of life, timing is everything. Husks which don’t dent easily with a thumbnail are too hard to process by this method, and should be set aside for a few more days to soften.
The first procedure I describe is much too dangerous to recommend to most people, so I will follow that with an safer alternate.
This is what I do, and to be safe, it must be done in the absence of distractions such as telephones and other people: First, clamp the knife horizontally in the vise so that the blade edge is on top. (Do not attempt this yourself if you do not keep your mind in the same place as your brain.) Score through the husk to the shell by rolling the nut from the front of the knife blade to the end. This is to be done in the widest portion of the nut at a point halfway between the ends of the nut. Once the husk has been cut through, the two halves can be rotated since they are loose about the shell. Just turn them off, and drop them into the trash, while dropping the nut into the bucket. You should be able to strip the husks off at least 5 nuts per minute. Nothing gets stained with walnut juice except your gloves and the knife blade. Do not be turned off by the presence of husk fly maggots. They do not harm the nutmeat, and drown immediately when landing in the bucket.
I prefer to process 200 nuts every day until finished. It takes 35 minutes to remove the husks, 15 minutes to scrub and rinse the nuts two times (and clean the driveway), 2 hours to dry in the sun, 24 to 36 hours to dry internally in my herb drier, and about 4 weeks for the nutmeats to cure. This is not a big deal, even if your procedures require more time.
Here is an alternate procedure to use when more than one person is involved or when absolute safety is paramount: First, dispense with the vise. With the knife in one hand, cut through the husk by rolling the nut on a newpaper covered hard surface. Then, you have to drop the knife in order to turn off the husk halves. It is the same procedure, but much slower because of the extra step, and your knife may get messy. The problem with my preferred method is the potential for injury as you run some part of your body onto the fixed blade during distractions. There is some evidence that bloodshed will interfere with your ability to garden.
When finished removing husks for that day, take the knife out of the vise first. Rinse your gloves in the bucket with the nuts. Remove the gloves. Wipe off the knife blade. I made a paint type stirrer from 3/8” threaded rod and a flat plate fixed to one end. The plate has been twisted to increase stirring action. Insert the stirrer in an electric drill with 3/8 or 1/2 inch chuck, and agitate the nuts until all of the remnants of hull matter have been removed. Or, you can find an old broom handle, and agitate the nuts in the bucket by stirring vigorously. “Remove and discard any nuts that float for those have not filled out well.” That is another old wives tale that I do not believe. Only about one out of four floaters are not well formed. Pour off the water in the street gutter. Fill the bucket to the same level and repeat the agitation in order to clean the nuts of any excess husk debris. Do it again for a third or even a fourth time if necessary. Do not pour off the water onto any portion of your land, as any earthworms under the runoff area will be killed at once. For the same reason, do not attempt to compost the husks, although there will be no juglone left when fully composted. See the note on toxicity.
Air dry the nuts on a screen in the sun for several hours. Northern gardeners should then put the nuts into an unlit gas oven on cookie sheets for 24 to 48 hours in order to dry the nuts inside and out and prevent any mold that might form inside the nuts while they are being cured. The pilot light will usually keep gas ovens at about 110ºF, which is perfect for drying most things except fruit leathers. I prefer to use my herb dryer because excess moisture is carried off much more efficiently. To cure the nutmeats, place the nuts in an onion sack or mesh bag, and hang up in a ventilated indoor area for 4 to 6 weeks. The nutmeats should be extracted immediately after curing. If that is not possible, the nuts can be stored in air-tight gallon jars. Southern gardeners may have enough sun and warmth to eliminate excess moisture levels out of doors.
In the early years, I used to further clean the nuts under a wire wheel. But I have since found that vigorous stirring in the rinse water with the drill and paint stirrer method eliminates almost all of the husk materials, and that subsequent cracking and extraction processes are not messy.
Extracting the nutmeats:
“Walnuts should be placed in hot tap water and let stand for 24 hours. Drain off the water and replace with hot water. After a minute drain off water and let surface of nuts dry. When cracked the kernels will not shatter because they have picked up enough moisture to be somewhat flexible. The extracted kernels should be spread out to dry overnight.” (1)
That is ridiculous. Most solid metals are more flexible than black walnut shells. This type of pre-conditioning is unnecessary if you have a good vise.
“There are many types of nut crackers. The universal nut cracker owned by everyone is the hammer and anvil (the anvil often being a block of hard wood, the flat surface of a vise, or a rock.)” (1)
I consider that procedure to be unsafe; it is wasteful of your time picking up the scattered projectiles. In addition, many good nutmeats will be crushed into uselessness because this method can only be applied to the side of the nut. This is archaic, if not actually barbaric, and does not really produce food, in my opinion.
Here is my method: while holding the widest part of the nut between middle finger and thumb, place the the nut (end-to-end) between the near end of the vise jaws Note that I do not plan to crack the shell at the sides. Place the thumb above the nut and four fingers below the nut. Apply pressure until the shell only just breaks, then put the shells into another container. I prefer to catch all the parts and pieces in the hand which is under the nut, but the process would not harmed by letting everything fall into a container under the vise. However, unless your thumb covers the top of the nut as well during the cracking process, pieces will fly everywhere, and there will be nutmeat losses too. Using this method, you should be able to crack 100 nuts in eight minutes. Compare that to the time involved in using any of the heavy duty commercially available nut crackers, and you will see that the vise is the only way to do the job. One needs only to have a vise large enough and I suggest that a 4” vise be regarded as the minimum acceptable size. With a 3” vise, or smaller, there would be no way to get your hand under the nut while cracking the shell.
After cracking, 25% of the nutmeats are completely free of the shell of small nuts, but only about 5% with the largest nuts. That is because larger nuts have expanded lobes at each end of the quarters, and the nutmeats are not easily freed by exposing only one end of the chamber. Extracting the balance from the shells is easy, but time consuming.
I never pick or force out the nutmeats as that leads to too many massacres and mutilations. I prefer whole pieces. The openings in black walnut shells are too small to make picking and prying feasible. I use electrician’s diagonal wire cutters to cut the shell at the strategic point which releases the nutmeats in whole solid pieces into my hand (see note below). Half of the shells require but one strategic cut, and others perhaps two or three. After the first ten minutes, you will discover that certain kinds of cuts never work. All of the shells are constructed similarly but when cracked open, they break differently. For each piece of shell, you will soon learn that there is exactly one cut which should always be performed first. Half of the time, that first cut is sufficient to release the nutmeats intact. When second or third cuts are needed, you will soon learn where they are to be made for each type of shell piece. Most of your cuts will be to the outer portion of the shell from the blunt end of the nut. Don’t waste any time at the pointed end of the nut. Small nuts are very easy to work with as the nutmeats practically fall out when one end of the chamber is exposed. Larger nuts require quite a bit more work because of the odd lobe shapes. Because of my arthritic hands, I can extract only about 50 large nuts per day, but I can do 100 of the small ones, as they are so easy. I have mostly large walnuts, so it is a struggle to finish by Christmas.
Note: I have recently switched to the use of a wire cutter made by the SevenStrand Company. It is a heavy duty instrument, some 9 1/2 inches long with rubber grips, and capable of applying more pressure than standard wire cutters. The SevenStrand Company manufactures fishing wire and compression sleeves, so this tool is easily special ordered from your local fishing tackle shop. I find it much easier on the hands. This device is also available from American Fishing Wire,
1-800-824-9473, but they sell only to dealers. The stock number of the 8 1/2” version is TPCRP8.5 at $18.27, and the 9 1/2” version is TPCRP9.5 at $24.99.
As the nutmeats are released, toss them into a container which is at least two feet away from you so that little bits of shell and shell powder clinging to your hand are either too light weight or too heavy weight to follow the same path, and both end up in the discard bin immediately below. No one likes to find bits of walnut shell in food. I like to vibrate the nutmeats on a screen to be sure to eliminate small debris prior to storage. And, while on the #8 screen, I check them very carefully to make sure that no bits of shell remain (#8 means eight squares to the inch in every direction.) This step is very important because I find at least one small bit of shell in every batch, despite my best efforts.
Nutmeats that are to be used in the next few months can be stored in plastic bags or mason jars. The nutmeats from 250 small nuts will easily fill a quart mason jar, whereas those from 150 large nuts may not easily fit into the same jar. Long term storage requires freezing of the nutmeats to prevent rancidity — remember they are filled with oil.
The methods described above have been employed by me for processing as many as 2,000 nuts per season. Above that amount, the use of mechanical equipment (or a larger family) might be preferable, though I am not aware of any commercial processor of black walnuts.
The flavor of black walnuts is about five times stronger than that of the carpathian walnut meats you purchase at the supermarket. One teaspoonful of these nutmeats can usually flavor an entire cake — at first. As you get addicted to the flavor, you will begin putting them into cookies, then salads, and desserts. I once found a recipe for champagne and black walnut salad dressing, and it was delicious. Call the Nursery, you are going to need more trees.
Footnotes: In the year 2001, I harvested 2660 nuts from one tree. That quantity put all of my procedures to the extreme test, successfully, and I must say that I have no wish to explore other methods. For those who find the use of a vice a bit tricky, check out the Crackerjack Nutcracker http://www.nutsncorks.com/ from England. They are not responding to inquiries or orders from the USA (last checked in 2002).
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I read somewhere that a full sized black walnut tree close to your house will attract lightning away from your house better than any other type of tree.
For a list of plants which will grow under black walnut trees follow this link. http://tomclothier.hort.net/page43.html
http://tomclothier.hort.net/page43.html
The following is excerpted from Ohio State University Extension Factsheet HYG-1148-93
Black Walnut Toxicity to Plants, Humans and Horses
Richard C. Funt
Jane Martin
The roots of Black Walnut (Juglans nigra L.) and Butternut (Juglans cinerea L.) produce a substance known as juglone (5-hydroxy-alphanapthaquinone). Persian (English or Carpathian) walnut trees are sometimes grafted onto black walnut rootstocks. Many plants such as tomato, potato, blackberry, blueberry, azalea, mountain laurel, rhododendron, red pine and apple may be injured or killed within one to two months of growth within the root zone of these trees. The toxic zone from a mature tree occurs on average in a 50 to 60 foot radius from the trunk, but can be up to 80 feet. The area affected extends outward each year as a tree enlarges. Young trees two to eight feet high can have a root diameter twice the height of the top of the tree, with susceptible plants dead within the root zone and dying at the margins.
Not all plants are sensitive to juglone. Many trees, vines, shrubs, groundcovers, annuals and perennials will grow in close proximity to a walnut tree. Certain cultivars of “resistant” species are reported to do poorly. Black walnut has been recommended for pastures on hillsides in the Ohio Valley and Appalachian mountain regions. Trees hold the soil, prevent erosion and provide shade for cattle. The beneficial effect of black walnut on pastures in encouraging the growth of Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.) and other grasses appears to be valid as long as there is sufficient sunlight and water.
Gardeners should carefully consider the planting site for black walnut, butternut, or persian walnut seedlings grafted to black walnut rootstock, if other garden or landscape plants are to be grown within the root zone of mature trees. Persian walnut seedlings or trees grafted onto Persian walnut rootstocks do not appear to have a toxic effect on other plants.
Horses may be affected by black walnut chips or sawdust when they are used for bedding material. Close association with walnut trees while pollen is being shed (typically in May) also produce allergic symptoms in both horses and humans. The juglone toxin occurs in the leaves, bark and wood of walnut, but these contain lower concentrations than in the roots. Juglone is poorly soluble in water and does not move very far in the soil.
Walnut leaves can be composted because the toxin breaks down when exposed to air, water and bacteria. The toxic effect can be degraded in two to four weeks. In soil, breakdown may take up to two months. Black walnut leaves may be composted separately, and the finished compost tested for toxicity by planting tomato seedlings in it. Sawdust mulch, fresh sawdust or chips from street tree prunings from black walnut are not suggested for plants sensitive to juglone, such as blueberry or other plants that are sensitive to juglone. However, composting of bark for a minimum of six months provides a safe mulch even for plants sensitive to juglone.
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Damping-off
The single term used to describe underground, soil line, or crown rots of seedlings due to unknown causes is damping-off . The term actually covers several soil borne diseases of plants and seed borne fungi.
Rhizoctonia root rot (Rhizoctonia solani) is a fungal disease which causes damping-off of seedlings and foot rot of cuttings. Infection occurs in warm to hot temperatures and moderate moisture levels. The fungi is found in all natural soils and can survive indefinitely. Infected plants often have slightly sunken lesions on the stem at or below the soil line. Transfer of the fungi to the germination room or greenhouse is easily accomplished by using outdoor gardening tools inside or vice versa. The germination room should not be used for mixing potting soils or transplanting seedlings as a general rule.
Pythium Root Rot (Pythium spp.) is similar to Rhizoctonia in that it causes damping-off of seedlings and foot rot of cuttings. However, infection occurs in cool, wet, poorly-drained soils, and by overwatering. Infection results in wet odorless rots. When severe, the lower portion of the stem can become slimy and black. Usually, the soft to slimy rotted outer portion of the root can be easily separated from the inner core. Species of Pythium can survive for several years in soil and plant refuse.
Phytophthora root rot (Phytophthora spp.) are usually associated with root rots of established plants but are also involved in damping-off. These species enter the root tips and cause a water-soaked brown to black rot similar to Pythium. These fungi survive indefinitely in soil and plant debris.
Black root rot (Thielaviopsis basicola) is a problem of established plants. It does not occur in strongly acid soils with a pH of 4.5 to 5.5. It usually infects the lateral roots where they just emerge from the taproot. The diseased area turns dark brown, and is quite dry. The fungi survive for 10 years or more in soil.
Miscellaneous fungi causing similar symptoms include Sclerotinia (white mold), Sclerotium rolfsii, Macrophomina phaseoli, some species of Botrytis (gray mold), Aphonomyces, Fusarium, Cylindrocladium, and others. Hence the need for the collective term known as damping-off.
Symptoms of Damping-off:
Seeds may be infected as soon as moisture penetrates the seed coat or a bit later as the radicle begins to extend, all of which rot immediately under the soil surface (pre-emergence damping-off). This condition results in a poor, uneven stand of seedlings, often confused with low seed viability. Cotyledons may break the soil surface only to whither and die or healthy looking seedlings may suddenly fall over (post-emergence damping-off). Infection results in lesions at or below the soil line. The seedling will discolor or wilt suddenly, or simply collapse and die. Weak seedlings are especially susceptible to attack by one or more fungi when growing conditions are only slightly unfavorable. Damping-off is easily confused with plant injury caused by insect feeding, excessive fertilization, high levels of soluble salts, excessive heat or cold, excessive or insufficient soil moisture, or chemical toxicity in air or soil.
Above ground symptoms of root rot include stunting, low vigor, or wilting on a warm day. Foliage of such plants may yellow and fall prematurely starting with the oldest leaves. The roots of a diseased plant will have some shade of brown or black and evidence of water-soaking. Healthy roots are fibrous appearing and are usually white or tan in color. These symptoms are easily confused with severe mite, aphid, scale infestations, or root-feeding by nematodes or insect larvae. Environmental factors such as accumulated salts in the soil, insufficient light or nitrogen, potbound roots, cold drafts, etc. can be eliminated only by examination of the roots.
Damping-off diseases can be prevented:
* Purchase disease free plants and seeds. Know your supplier. Do not be afraid of fungicidal coatings on seeds which will be direct sown out doors in cold soils, such as corn and peas. Seed borne disease can also be avoided by soaking the seeds for 15 minutes in a bleach soak (one teaspoon per quart of water) prior to sowing.
* Use sterile well drained soil mediums. See article on soil mixes. Try to maintain a soil mix pH at the low end of the average scale, i.e. 6.4 pH is less susceptible to root rot than a pH of 7.5. Commercially prepared germination mixes usually have a pH around 5.5. As you water the seed pots and your seedlings with tap water (which in many municipalities is quite alkaline), the pH in your pots gradually increases as does the susceptibility to damping-off diseases. Know the pH of your tap water, and condition it if necessary to maintain a lower pH while the plants are still in the germination room. I prefer the use of vinegar at the rate of one tablespoon per gallon of water.
* Plants must not have their crowns below the soil line. Seeds must not be covered more than 4 times the thickness of the seed.
* Use plant containers with drainage holes, water from the bottom only, and avoid excess watering. Do not allow pots to stand in water as excess water cannot drain and the roots will be starved for oxygen bringing all growth to a halt.
* Avoid overcrowding and overfeeding of plants. It is important to maintain constant levels of growth through proper lighting and complete control of the growing environment.
* Avoid working with plants (taking cuttings or transplanting) when the soil is wet. Do not use water from ditches or drainage ponds or rain barrels in the germination room.
* Avoid spreading soil from infested areas or tools which have been used out of doors. Disinfect tools and containers with one part bleach in four parts water or with 70 percent rubbing alcohol (isopropyl).
* In the germination room, sow all your seeds on the surface of the media, then cover the seeds to necessary depth with a material which is less likely to harbor fungi than the media itself. Use one or more of the following seed toppings instead of soil mix:
o milled sphagnum moss
o chick grit
o course sand or fine aquarium gravel
o composted hardwood bark (steamed)
* In the germination room, mist seedlings in communal pots or flats once or twice per day with water containing a known anti-fungal agent such as:
o Captan (or other approved fungicide) especially if walls or floors are damp, or
o Cheshunt compound, a copper/aluminum formulation, or
o chamomile tea, or
o clove tea, or
o a one-time light dusting of powdered cinnamon on the soil surface, or
o a one-time light dusting of powdered charcoal on the soil surface, or
o if stinging nettle is endemic in your area, make a fermented infusion to use like clove tea. These last five actions are suggested by sufficient anecdotal evidence to prove the existence of a low level of fungicidal activity. I would not hesitate to use them in germination environments which have no history of damping-off diseases.
* Rotate plantings on a 2 to 3 year schedule using plants from different families in order to starve out existing pathogens.
* Provide constant air movement not tied in with the light timer. Air should move freely 24 hours per day, but not directly aimed at the plants. This helps the seedlings to aspirate, and excess soil moisture to wick. If you do everything else right but do not provide plenty of air movement, you will still get damping-off.
So, what do I do? Answer: all of the above, all of the time.
Damping-off diseases can be controlled:
Fungicides may be applied as a soil drench after planting. They may be incorporated into the soil before planting as a dust. They can be sprayed in mist form on all seedlings as a precaution until they have been transplanted into individual pots. Once transplanted, only those seedlings known to be especially sensitive to damping-off need be misted with fungicide daily until the first or second seed leaves have emerged. The following chemicals are not recommended for use by the average recreational gardener, but may still be available for use (if not yet banned), providing the manufacturer’s instructions are followed to the letter.
Captan (sold as Captan) controls most pathogens, but not Rhizoctonia.
Metalaxyl (sold as Subdue or Apron) controls Pythium, Phytophthora, and Aphanomyces.
Iprodione (sold as Chipco) controls most pathogens, but not Pythium, Phytophthora, or Aphanomyces.
Etridiazole and Thiophanate-methyl (sold as Banrot) controls most all pathogens.
PCNB-etridiazole (sold as SA-Terraclor or Super-X) good general purpose fungicide.
PCNB-quintozene (sold as Terraclor, Fungi-clor, or PCNB) controls Rhizoctonia and Sclerotinia species.
Fosetyl-A1 (sold as Aliette) controls Pythium, Phytophthora, & Aphanomyces.
Well, you get the idea. There are too many to list, and they go on and off the market very quickly (mostly because they are very dangerous when used improperly, and some are too dangerous to have been put on the market at all.)
So, what do I use? Answer: Just enough Captan as needed.
The Future of Damping Off Control:
Biocontrol with microbial fungicides is being investigated in several academic labs. Typical targets are those plants being mass-produced in nearby commercial greenhouses. Early results indicate damping-off prevention comparable to that achieved with the use of standard fungicidal drenches like those mentioned above. However, there remain some notable drawbacks in biocontrol of damping-off.
First, microbial fungicides act against only one species of root or stem rot, and must be applied in advance. So, in order to prevent damping-off, you must know in advance which species of Pythium or Rhizoctonia or other fungi is likely to attack your crop. That limits their use to large production facilities.
Second, some formulations of microbial fungicides have been shown to produce substances that are phytotoxic to certain crops.
Finally, small changes in environmental conditions during test periods seem to cause significant differences in test results.
There is much work to be done in this area of biocontrol, not to mention the ultimate necessity of EPA approval. Use of biocontrol agents for prevention of damping off by home gardeners may well be decades away. For a list of those biocontrol products which have approval for controlling plant diseases, go to the USDA ARS Biocontrol Plant Diseases Laboratory at http://www.barc.usda.gov/psi/bpdl/bpdl.html
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Soilless Mixes & Amendments
Jump to: | Adjusting your mix | Seed sowing technique |
The basic component of soilless mixes is sphagnum peat moss. The various amendments added to each mix include , coir, vermiculite, dolomitic limestone, fertilizer, trace elements, perlite, wetting agents, gypsum, rock wool, calcine clay, and pine bark. There are several manufacturers who blend these materials together to produce a range of special purpose mixes for greenhouses, nurseries, and gardeners. These mixes are quite variable across North America because of shipping costs. That is, the constituents are variable in nature, and there use will be heaviest in the region of their origin. Some of the popular brands include Terra-Lite, Metro Mix, Sunshine, and Pro-Mix. Each mix comes in several grades, the difference lying in the percentage of each of the amendments. This article is directed to recreational gardeners who are sowing seeds indoors or in a hobby greenhouse, are looking for the best seed sowing medium and the latest technique.
Germination mix, plug mix, and starter mix are the terms applied to mixes formulated for seed germination. Other formulations include growing mix, rock wool mix, bark mix (high porosity), and bark mix (low porosity). For your suitability testing of product, stick to those mixes labeled germination, plug, or starter. These mixes usually include the peat moss/bark/coir mixture plus perlite, vermiculite, dolomitic limestone, and a wetting agent. Some germination mixes will also include some fertilizer and trace elements. Fertilizer and trace elements are not required for seed germination. I prefer a mix without them, however I do use a weak fertilizer solution at initial sowing. The characteristics of a germination mix include a high water capacity (about 86%), an air capacity of 12 to 15%, and a Ph about 5.8 From this basic mix, you can custom make your own formulation.
Bark:
Southern pine bark and Northern softwoods are usually employed to increase bulk density and increase air space. In addition, bark will slightly reduce the water holding capacity of the mix, and there is some evidence that bark imparts some disease resistance. Bark is usually described as aged bark or as composted bark. Insufficient aging or composting could result in excessive heating of the mix or draw excessive nitrogen, but these materials are usually tested thoroughly before use by reputible companies. The fertilizer level of these mixes are usually amended with additional nitrogen. I do not use bark mixes for seed germination, but find them attractive for potting-on in several cases.
Coir:
(pronounced “choir” as in church choir) Coir dust is a by-product of the coconut fiber industry and is used in mixes to lessen the amount of peat required. It has a high air and water holding capacity. Its nutrient-holding capacity is a bit less than peat, but it does contain significantly higher levels of soluble salts. The use of coir dust as a component of germination and plug mixes is dictated by the high cost of shipping peat down South.
Perlite:
Perlite is a natural heat expanded volcanic mineral that is chemically inert, and will not alter the nutrient quality or the Ph of the material with which it is mixed. The particles provide excellent drainage, while trapping air and water on their irregular surfaces. Perlite is usually sold in 4 cu. ft. bags for less than $10 by suppliers to the greenhouse and nursery industries, most of whom will also sell at retail. Perlite is available in fine, medium, and coarse grades.
The higher the total porosity of the mix, the greater the potential for providing water and air. Oxygen is essential to healthy root activity, but not more essential than moisture. Practical boundaries are 75% perlite/25% peat moss for lowest wet bulk density and 25% perlite/75% peat moss for highest wet bulk density. Finer grades of perlite decrease porosity of the mix, while coarse grades increase porosity. For ease of transplanting tender seedlings, adequate levels of aeration and moisture, I have been using the coarse grade of perlite. It provides the additional benefit of maximum root oxegenation.
Added to your germination mix, perlite will improve drainage and may reduce the cost of the overall mix. Outdoors, perlite performs similarly to help hold nutrients from leaching in sandy soil and to improve aeration and drainage in heavy clay soils. It can also be used as an insulating winter mulch if covered with about 2 inches of soil.
Vermiculite:
Vermiculite is a mica-type material that is mixed and heated to cause the accordion like particles to expand. This expansion makes them capable of holding large amounts of plant available water and nutrients. As a seed covering, it helps maintain sufficient moisture at the growing medium surface for germination. Available in fine, medium, and coarse grades, I usually select the medium grade, but rarely have use for this material except in potted plants. Vermiculite is usually sold in 4 cu. ft. bags for less than $12. Caution: Vermiculite is available at home centers and building supply companies as an additive for plaster and insulation in walls and ceilings. Do not use these products for soil conditioning. Construction grades of vermiculite do not absorb water well and are not handled properly during the manufacturing process to maintain a sterile product. Make sure that the bag is labeled “horticultural.” There are three basic uses for vermiculite. Added to your germination mix, it will improve water retention and may reduce the cost of the overall mix. Finally, when added to sandy soil in the garden, water retention is greatly improved. I prefer to use this material in potted plants only or in situations where seedling development time is long, as in bulb forming plants.
Wetting agents:
This is where the commercial mixes become distinguishable, one from another. Wetting agents are water absorbing polymers available in gel, liquid, or powder form. The amount of wetting agent added to your germination mix determines the ability of the mix to absorb water from the bottom. Watering seedlings from the bottom is one of several techniques used to reduce the incidence of damping-off. Therefore, I make bottom absorption my number one criteria in evaluating a commercial germination mix, and do not have to add wetting agents myself. They can be purchased to improve homebrew mixes, and make an excellent additive in gel form when repotting indoor plants. Peat and bark progressively lose their ability to retain and uniformly distribute water and chemicals to the rootzone. Wetting agents available from your distributor may include:
Soax made by Oasis Grower Products, 800-321-8286
PsiMatric made by Aquatrols, 800-257-7797
Granite grit:
Sifted crushed granite is used as a feed additive to help birds and poultry to grind their food (since they don’t have molars). My feathered friends get theirs from the eave gutters where the grit from the roofing shingles tend to collect. It is sold in feed stores in three grades. Chick grit (or chicken starter grit) is the fine (smallest) grade. The bags are labeled “starter” or “fine”, hence the name Chick grit. This is the size used as a seed topping. The next larger size is labeled “grower” or “special pullet”. The largest size is about the size of a pea and carries the label “large” or “coarse” depending upon the supplier. Cost in the Chicago area is about $4.75 for 50 lb. bag. Chick grit is sometimes added to the germination mix to improve drainage, especially for alpines, but is usually used as a seed topping.
Other forms of chick starter grit are manufactured from oyster shell or calcium carbonate and can be used in the same manner, with some reservation as to longevity and the amount of long-term calcium release when the product is used for creating alpine soils. These are also offered in screened sizes and labeled in the same manner as granite grit. The “starter size” or “chick grit” of both of the above products is slightly smaller and lighter than granite grit, and therefore suitable for topping smaller seeds. Similarly, other products marketed under the names Terra-Green or Turface are inert sterile calcined mineral absorbent (high temperature processed ground up clay) which may be used as a seed topping or in mixes requiring “sharp” drainage. Certain grades of silica sand, bank sand, and kitty-litter are also used in these applications, but I would experiment with them very sparingly. A fine grade of aquarium gravel would be suitable too, but expensive. In some areas, granite grit may not be available due to freight costs, and you may find grit made from “quartzite”. This substitute has proven itself the equivalent of granite grit in my own operation.
Adjusting your mix:
The germination mix I use is Sunshine #5 which is called a “plug mix”. It contains sufficient wetting agent for excellent bottom absorption when watering. Regional distribution across North America may not be even. In every area, there will be at least one good brand which offers at least one formulation that will be satisfactory. Finding the best starter mix for you involves searching and testing. Many suppliers will release one lb. samples for this purpose.
Because these mixes are relatively expensive ($15 to $23 for 4 cu. ft. compressed bale) and because Canadian sphagnum peat moss is not a renewable resource, I prefer to cut the prepared mix with cheaper sterile additives which improve the mix to my needs while lowering the average cost, a little. I add four parts plug mix to two parts perlite and perhaps one half part vermiculite. Sometimes, the seeds have special requirements, and I will make up a special mix just for them. For example, when sowing Lisianthus, the seed company recommends three parts mix plus seven parts perlite. If I know in advance that a particular seedling is sensitive to damping-off (see the FAQ on seedling diseases), I will combine four parts mix with two or three parts perlite, and dispense with the vermiculite. Potted plants in the sun need more moisture retention, so I will increase the percentage of vermiculite, etc. Adjusting your basic mix is a matter of “feel” based on your experience. In some applications, I will add one or two parts of grit to the soil mix for plants requiring “sharp” drainage.
Seed sowing technique:
The fewer the number of seeds you plan to start, the greater the number of seed starting systems available for purchase. As you increase your seed starting plans over the years, more and more of those seed starting systems become inadequate. The pots and trays that I use are suitable to the scale at which I operate, that is, the sowing of 300 to 400 packets of seed per year. There are recreational gardeners sowing anywhere from 1 to 2000 packets of seed per year. At some point, you will discover the need to sow seeds in communal rather than individual pots, especially where considerable numbers of seed types need conditioning before germination. Therefore, the method I describe is peculiar to the scale of my hobby, and may not be suitable for many gardeners.
My communal pots are 3.5 inch square pots which are four inches deep. The pot is filled with mix to a 3 inch depth, and tamped down lightly. Nine to thirty seeds are sown on top of the mix, and covered with 1/16th inch to 1/4 inch of grit, depending upon the diameter of the seed. Larger seeds get the heaviest topping. Seeds requiring light for germination are sown on top of 1/8 inch of grit, and watered into the topping and covered thinly with a very light dusting of oyster shell. The “starter” or chick grit size of oyster shell is basically powder. It has the advantage over silica sand in that it never cakes up. The pots are placed in a tepid water bath until the topping is fully moistened. Since these pots are disposable types, they are labeled on the sides with a pressure sensitive label showing plant identification, germination temperature, and growing-on temperature. The seeds are sown from the palm of my left hand. That is, the seed stock is placed there, and with the blade of a tiny pen knife, I pickup a one to four seeds at a time so that they can be distributed in the nine imaginary sowing squares in each pot. To control the distribution of very fine seeds, it is important to me to pick up exactly the number of seeds to be dropped into each sowing area. I never broadcast sow.
After germination, the pots are moved to the proper location for growing-on temperature. As soon as the seedlings have their first or second set of true leaves, depending upon vigor, they are transplanted to individual 2 1/4 inch seedling pots. When the leaves of each plant begin to interfere with plants in adjacent pots, the seedlings are transplanted to 3 1/2 inch, then 5 inch, 6 inch, or 8 inch pots as necessary to maintain constant vegetative growth until it is time for setting out. Additional grit is applied as topping with each transplant to prevent the growth of algae and mosses, and to protect the crowns of the seedlings from excessive moisture. In climates where algal growth on the seed topping is excessive, you can use a product called Agribrom misted onto the topping at the rate of 15ppm. The additional medium added during transplanting to accomodate larger pots is the same germination mix through transfer to 3 1/2 inch pots. For transfer to larger size pots the additional medium added during transplanting is potting mix. My potting mix is composed of 1/3rd germination mix plus 1/3rd compost plus 1/3rd garden soil. There are many variations of this practice for seed conditioning and special requirements.
After the first transplant, the seedlings need nutrients and trace elements. The trays are watered from a solution which I make up in 1/2 gallon plastic bottles containing one half tablespoon of household vinegar and 1/8th to 1/4 teaspoon of general purpose fertilizer. The purpose of the vinegar is to make a slight adjustment in Ph since my water supply tests out at 7.6 on average. Again, there are many variations on this practice based on the Ph preference of each type of plant. Seedling trays are moved to protected positions out of doors, under the carport, in the greenhouse, on the patio, etc. as soon as possible.
The following is excerpted from the practice of a popular nursery owner in Southern Illinois:
“I use Scott’s Pro Metro Mix. I sift it for seed sowing to remove the large bark pieces through a 1/2 inch screen. Nothing added, unless I am doing alpines, in which case, I add 1/2 part grit. My transplant mix is one part Metro mix, one part peat, 1/2 part vermiculite, 1/2 part perlite, and one gallon of silica sand for each 3 cu. ft. bag of mix. For alpines, I add more perlite and some grit.
I use grit as a pot topping for seed growing. One of the main reasons is to control the various fungal diseases grouped under the general heading of damp-off. Seedlings come up through the grit easily, and since it dries quickly, and doesn’t hold much moisture, the incidence of damp-off is much less than when using moisture retentive substances such as vermiculit or sphagnum. It also helps to control the growth of lichen and moss under the lights. I also use it on cuttings. In addition, I use grit as a top dressing on those plants that dislike moisture around the crowns. Most of those are rock garden plants.
If the seeds need light, just cover the post with a very light layer of grit, just until you can’t see the soil. For very fine seeds, such as begonia or campanula, I sow the seeds on top, then use a fine mist sprayer to wash the seeds down into the grit. I also find it useful, when sowing like this, to sprinkle a very thin layer of white silica sand to help hold in moisture. Just as with other seed toppings, you can eventually tell by looking what pots need watering. The grit does not stay completely dry, and as with soil, changes color when the pots begin to get dry. I find that the watering is on a much more regular basis with grit as a topping. Almost all of the pots dry out in the same intervals. I end up watering indoor sown seedling pots about twice per month. I also mist them once a day with a mist setting on the hose sprayer to help break up the seed coats which sometimes prevent the cotyledons from getting free.”
The following is the sowing procedure described by a nursery owner in Michigan:
“We sow almost everything in Sunshine mix which we mix with perlite, one part sunshine to two parts perlite. We fill flats in advance and water before we sow the seeds. All seed is sown directly on the surface and covered with a layer of chick starter grit, this goes a long way to prevent damping-off problems. Sow on the surface and cover to several times the thickness of the seed with fine thick grit; with very fine seed, pots should be gritted first and the seed should be sown on top of the grit and watered down into it.
Keep moist but do not over-water. Fungicides are no substitute for good culture and in general it is best to avoid them. We rarely have damping-off problems and do not routinely spray fungicides to prevent it. Chick grit and care in watering is the best prevention. Be sure to use a thick enough layer to inhibit moss growth.
Difficult species are almost always best sown in a minimally heated white, not clear, poly-covered greenhouse. Easy species can be done under clear poly or fluorescent lights. White poly-covered cold frames should work well on a small scale, or better still build a small Nearing Frame. Seeds that need multiple 40-70 cycles are best placed in the refrigerator vegetable drawer in a ziploc bag with sunshine mix. This works better than baggies and towel for most species. We routinely extend the cycle time on the species Norm Deno lists as multicycle germinators. This is very helpful.
Freezing is seldom necessary or helpful, it will crack seed coats but there are better ways to do it. Freezing in household freezers is much too abrupt and may rupture membranes killing the seed. If you must freeze, place seed in a coldframe outdoors in the fall. Seed can be stored in the freezer for extended periods but only if the moisture content is very low. In general this is not recommended. Remember for many species extended dry storage is actually beneficial with old seed germinating much better than fresh seed.
Seeds requiring GA3 can either be placed on coffee filters soaked in the appropriate concentration of GA3 (1000 ppm is a good place to start) and the seedlings pricked off as the radicle emerges, or sown in flats and misted with a one time application. You can also soak larger seeds until they swell and then sow out. Keep concentrations as low as possible to reduce stretch problems.
We fertilize young seedling with a soluble balanced fertilizer at every watering (250 ppm total nitrogen) which is higher than generally recommended but the plants thrive on it. No burn problems at all, with a bit more fertilizer most plants will be more likely to outcompete the mosses which generally dislike high fertility media. Water until runoff and let flats dry out between watering. Beware of high pH In the water. We killed a ton of stuff due to this. We now adjust our water pH to 5.6-6.0 by injecting battery acid directly into the irrigation water along with the fertilizer. Buy a portable pH pen – it’s well worth the investment, pH-induced iron chlorosis is an insidious problem. Plants weakened by it quickly fall victim to fungus gnats and aphids. Algae and fungus gnat problems are also less severe if flats are allowed to dry out a bit, it’s a very fine line.
Properly dry flats will be flattened when you water but show little sign of wilting before the water hits them, and will recover quickly with no tip burn. Be patient, the only thing to do with some species is to sow and wait for a couple of years. Don’t kill shade-lovers by placing in full sun. Be careful of high light levels, even sun-tolerant plants may be sensitive as seedlings and it’s easy to crispy the little ones. Many seeds will germinate immediately with the majority coming up a year or more later. Often the early germinators turn out to be the weakest plants. We often weed out the early stragglers to wait for the main flush of germination. Don’t throw away seed pots for at least four years on the long germinators. Before you trash a pot dig around and find a seed and cut it in half — if it hasn’t rotted then it will germinate eventually.
There are many formulas for success but the most important ingredient is patience. Don’t let your seed pot dry to dust, and don’t let them get soggy and moss covered — if they do carefully cut off the moss layer leaving the seed behind and regrit and wait some more. It in doubt about what to do, think about what would happen in nature and try to emulate it. This is a great help in determining whether to start cold or warm.” As the previous writer said, “there are many formulas for success.” I know of no existing literature describing the use of chick grit, and this article was written primarily to fill that void.
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Making your own soil
Gardeners have been exposed to unlimited explanations about the nature of soil and how to improve it with amendments. They have read volumes about compost, manure tea, bloodmeal, bonemeal and the mysterious greensand, and others whose spelling should include $ signs as the first and last letters.
But what is the gardener to do whose property is on 27 foot of sand. Soil amendments will disappear like money in a wishing well. Sand is a bottomless pit. Similarly, gardeners who live on clay or mostly rock have difficulty incorporating the standard formula for amending the soil because their soils are very hard to work and even harder to mix with other materials. My own property is yellow clay. In the spring, it is soft mud, because it will not drain. In the summer, it may as well be granite. Until the first of June, seeds and transplants alike must be placed on the surface of the soil, then mounded over to cover, in order to avoid immediate rot.
The answer for some of these poor drainage conditions, as we all know, is raised beds. We understand how they will drain better, and warm up faster in the sun, etc. Then, as we are wondering where the soil for raised beds is going to come from, the authors describe the hilling attachments on their garden tillers, and show nice photos of neat raised beds in their loamy gardens. If you have nice loamy soil to begin with, you would be able to produce decent crops without going to the trouble of making raised beds. For the rest of us gardeners, making a raised bed usually requires the construction of a frame to hold the soil we steal from elsewhere on the property (amended with compost, etc.) or have purchased from the local nursery. We fill the frames with expensive materials, only to watch with horror as the improved drainage includes the leaching away of our soil. Year after year, we fill up the beds again with dollars flying by like dancing butterflies. The soil does not wash out of my raised beds. Read on, and find out why.
For some time I had been getting truckloads of wood chips from my municipal public works department. I further ground these up in my shredder in order to get the wet green stuff (yard and garden waste) to go through the screens without gumming up. So, it was two corn stalks followed by one fork full of chips, and so on. The resulting mixture served as a great mulch around the shrubs, and a good fill for depressions, etc. I would never plant anything in it because all the magazines said that decomposing wood requires more nitrogen than the surrounding soil can supply, and there would be none for the plants. Further, they said you could not grow cucurbits and melons within a yard of wood chips, or they would shrivel up and die. Further, they said that you would never want to do this anyway because everone knows that wood chips create acid soil. I believe those adages to be incorrect, first, on a theoretical basis, and second from personal experience.
The theory that wood chips and pine needles and oak leaves create acid as they decompose has to have been invented by someone who is still confused by the chicken first, or egg first controversy. In nature, all decisions are based on natural selection over time. If the largest concentration of pine forests or oak forests happen to be found where the soil tends to be more acid than not, does that mean that the acidity was somehow formed by the trees? Of course not; when tree seeds are distributed by nature, those that land and germinate in areas which are favorable to their growth are going to thrive. So, as a general rule, plants of all description are going to do best in areas where they grow and reproduce the best, i.e., the plants selected the soil, not the other way around. It is just too easy to assume that because oak and pine trees prefer acid soils, that their decomposing leaves created the acidity in the soil. Those soils were acid before the trees got there, or the trees would not have thrived and created forests. Flying in the face of reported science, these opinions would probably not hold up to laboratory analysis in a test tube. But as a practical matter, your garden is your laboratory, and the results obtained there will determine what you prefer to believe. My experiments with soil amendments and Blueberry bushes indicate that changes in soil Ph can only be obtained with corresponding changes in the mineral content of that soil. Mulches composed of garden wastes, garden compost, leaf mold, composted wood chips, or any composted biodegradable materials found on your own property, will never create any significant long term change in the Ph of your soil.
One January, the public works department offered me a load of ground up Christmas trees. I accepted thinking that I could always use some more mulch. Some of it I put in raised beds that I had constructed, just to get it out of the way quickly. Some of it was put in large utility areas for storage. The rest, I used as pathways in my veggie garden. At the end of that summer, I noticed that my pathways had richer looking soil than my garden beds. As I had not run this material through my own shredder, the wood chips were large and prominent, and they made a stable path. So, that September, at garlic planting time in Chicago, I put all my garlic cloves in a four inch deep bed of this material which was sitting on Agrimat cloth, so there was no actual contact with the soil. In the following spring, I planted ornamentals in similarly situated beds as an experiment. I also planted some of each type of transplant in adjacent beds with my best garden soil, for comparison. To my surprise, the following July, I harvested the biggest garlic cloves I had ever seen. And the ornamentals in the good garden soil never attained the size, nor did they flower as early, as those planted in the composted Christmas tree soil. I measured the Ph at 6.5, not very acid, I thought. Take note that in the absence of soil, the decomposed pine needles and chips had a Ph very close to neutral. It turns out in fact, that there are few, if any, materials whose Ph differs from neutral when fully composted.
The following January, and every year since, I have obtained all of the Christmas trees that my city collected, then ground up. I run them through my own shredder to further reduce the size of the woody parts, immediately if the weather is nice, or later in the summer; it seems not to matter much. This material is then spread out at a depth of 18 to 30 inches, so that the water will not run off, and the pine needles can decompose rapidly. Weather permitting, this chore can be finished by February 15th as I only get about 12 cu. yards. As the years pass, I continually marvel at the improvement in every area of my gardens. The composted firs, spruces, and balsams create a loamy friable soil that holds moisture without being wet. Plants grown in this medium, with no fertilizer added, outperform their brothers and sisters grown in compost amended garden soil, in every category, from root structure to flowering to wind resistance. There is only one downside that I noticed. That is, the soil is so loose that medium sized top heavy plants which would normally not require staking in heavy soil, must be staked in order to remain upright in loose soil. During 1996, out of curiosity and perhaps as a public service, I grew lime loving brassicas and wood hating cucurbits (with excellent results) in Christmas tree soil to prove my point. That is, if you haven’t the good soil of the gardening magazine authors, make it yourself! And, if your soil is impossible to work with, don’t bother. Make your own soil and garden on top of the land.
Photo of Garden Compost. Photo of Christmas Tree compost.
If the photos were not labeled, could you tell the difference? The Xmas tree compost is looser (more friable); it drains faster, but will not dry out.
Photo of Seedlings in Xmas Tree Compost.Seedling perennials transplanted to Xmas tree compost grow faster, bloom earlier, and are very easy to lift next spring for transfer to their permanent location.
Do not confuse the manufacture of soil with the use of mulch. Composting wood chips, with or without leafy green matter, at depths of 6” to 36” creates conditions under which nothing will grow. Do not situate compost piles within the driplines of your trees, because you will be depriving your tree roots of oxygen. Put your compost piles in areas where there is full exposure to rain and sunshine in order to get faster conversion to soil.
Any wood chip mixture can be used as mulch, however, the depth of the material should not exceed 2 to 3 inches, as its only purpose is to prevent moisture loss from the soil. I do not recommend that plant crowns be covered with wood chip mulches at any time. Straw is a better covering for winter protection of tender perennials.
One caveat: the first time I approached the public works department for wood chips, they answered that they were grinding up tree prunings, some of which were diseased, and I certainly would not want that. The next time, the excuse was that their shredder passed the slim branches through without cutting them, and the material would be useless as mulch because I could not fork it, being such a tangled mess. The next time, the truth came out; they didn’t want to drive a dump truck onto private property because of the liability in the case of damage or injury. Finally, out of desperation, I wrote a letter to the mayor. I pointed out that they were spending a lot of my money taking this material to the landfill. Needless to say, the letter worked wonders. And, the Director of Public Works turns out to be a really nice guy. So, if you get those kinds of answers, you know what to do. It helps if you can mention that you have your own shredder, and that you will be combining this material with all of the land waste generated on your property, further saving the land fill from an early retirement.
If your public works department does not cooperate or does not grind up Christmas trees, you can collect them yourself from the curb between Christmas day and January 15th. You can load a sided 4 x 8 ft trailer with about 15 trees at a time, without having to tie anything down. When you are ready to process the trees, hack off the branches with a hand axe or a machete. Do not run the tree trunks through your shredder at this time. Save them to make bean towers or other vine supports. Grind them later when you need mulch rather than soil. It will take about 60 trees to make 2 cu. yds. of soil.
The advertisements for shredders show people grinding tree prunings and shredding leaves, etc. I don’t use my 7 hp chipper/shredder in this manner. During the growing season, I run garden and yard wastes through the shredder with the screen removed, so that no chips have to be added to keep it from jamming up with wet green stuff. This broken up material is then put in the compost pile(s). The following summer, the compost pile(s) contents are run through the shredder again, without screen. By fall, this material has composted well enough for spreading directly on the veggie garden, though I do screen it first. Leaves that are collected are put into the compost pile as they are, and they break down just as fast as shredded leaves in this situation. As for the tree prunings, why bother. I put them out on the curb for chipping by the city. Sure, I have the capability to chip them myself, but if I need wood chips, the city will deliver to me by the truckload, and I can fork them around a lot faster than running the branches through my own chipper one at a time.
The following material in support of my practice was discovered by Frank Teuton, and his excerpts are printed here with permission.
In Humus no. 20, July/August 1988, Edith Smeesters wrote an article entitled Une Mine D’Or:Le bois rameal fragmente, (A Gold Mine: chipped wood branches).
She extolls the virtues of chipped wood branches, especially bois d’ete, or summer wood, which in combination with its leaves can have a C/N ratio as low as 25 to 1.
(Heartwood from the main trunk can be as high as 300-600 to 1, and heartwood also has more of the chemicals wood makes to resist decomposition). We’re talking about branchwood of three inches in diameter or less.
A team in Quebec has been studying the use of wood chips since 1978, for the Ministry of Energy and Resources. They even have a patent on some of these uses, although not for economic reasons, it seems.
One point of interest is that wood chip mulch actually raised the pH in studies, contrary to the usual “Wood chips? Omygawd they’ll make yer soil too acid” sort of talk you hear in some circles.
A few other results:
Over a five year period in market gardens, increased yields of 50-300% from a single application of two inches of chips plus either hog manure or poultry manure;
Better tasting strawberries; more dry matter in potatoes;
Reduced aphid and nematode populations in strawberries;
Better root development and much more mycorhizal development;
Increase in pH and reduction in weeds.
The group doing this research consisted of:
Justin Brouillette of MMENVIQ, Antonio Gonzalez of the Center for Forest Research of the Laurentides, Edgar Guay of the University of Laval, Christian de Kimpe of Agriculture Canada, Lionel Lachance of the Ministry of Energy and Resources, Gilles Lemieux of the University of Laval and Harold Tremblay of the Ministry of Energy and Resources.
One of several studies cited is E. Guay, L. Lachance, A. Lapointe, G. Lemieux, Dix ans de travaux sur le cyclage biologique du bois rameal, MER, Quebec, 1987 [Ten years of work on the biological cycling of branch wood]
http://tomclothier.hort.net/page47.html
Warning: This is the humor section of larger site devoted to seed methodology and practice. If you are wandering about without your sense of humor, you are likely to find some of this material objectionable. It is just weedy herbiage, after all.
On the Interpretation of Garden Observations
We watch the behavior of plants and animals in our gardens every day. In time, these observations lead us to form logical interpretations which are related to a supposed causal relationship. The more often the observation can be related to the same cause, the quicker we form the interpretation. We pass them on to other gardeners in the form of plant nicknames, gardening advice such as siting preferences, anecdotal remedies, etc., and occasionally we even go so far as to request confirmation of our interpretation. When we ask people with formal training in biology, botany or horticulture, there seems to be no body of work from which they can form an explanation that fits our specific observation. Why is that? Does that occur only in the sciences, or does that phenomenon extend to all areas of human knowledge? The purpose of this note is to briefly explore the significance of “anecdotal evidence” now that the internet has made the dissemination of personal interpretation both rapid and world-wide.
A significant portion of the “advice” appearing in the gardening mail lists and newsgroups on the internet is presented as truism, but is merely opinion, repetition of what one has read, or faulty interpretation of what one has seen. Here are a few recognizable examples (all untrue):
* Goldenrod is the primary cause of hayfever.
* Such and such a plant is poisonous (when in fact, it is only toxic if ingested).
* Wood chip mulch sucks the nitrogen out of the soil.
* Oak and pine trees create acid soil.
* Composting oak leaves or pine needles results in acid compost.
* Using oak leaves or pine needles as mulch will provide the soil acidity required to grow acid loving plants.
* Don’t ever move a Christmas cactus in bud, because all the buds will fall off.
* Plant one horseradish root, and you will soon have horseradish all over your property.
You see these and hundreds of other “old wive’s tales” in print over and over again — so, one must conclude that they are surely true. Here is another well-known example from another field: Environmental writers at the Chicago Tribune newspapers and other sport magazines have reported the following lie for 30 years. “Coho salmon were planted in Lake Michigan in the late 1960’s for the purpose of cleaning up the excess alewives that were littering and stinking up the beaches.” After spreading this false statement for so long, there is not a writer in the world who does not repeat it, while believing it to be absolutely true. In fact, the biologists at the Michigan DNR planted the first 200,000 Coho salmon in 1965 in the hopes that they would survive in fresh water and ultimately provide a sport fishery. It was an experiment. Except for Perch, there was no sport fishery after the demise of the native Lake Trout. The alewife population at that time was less than 2% of the forage base in the lake, and the public did not even know they existed until two years later when the first of these fish began washing up on the beaches at the end of their life cycle. How do such lies get started? It is logic. They are the logical interpretation of the known facts (but only those facts which are known). Here are some facts:
* The alewife population ultimately became more than 70% of the forage base in the lake.
* All four states surrounding Lake Michigan planted greater and greater number of salmonids each year until finally, about 6 years later, stinking masses of dead alewives no longer washed up on the beaches in June.
Surely, you would come to the same conclusion if those were the only facts known to you. And, that is the whole point of this example. Being human, we must have a satisfactory explanation of every set of facts. For some reason we don’t seem to care that every set of facts is a subset of a more complete set of facts, or that a lie, once told, seems to live forever.
Gardeners too, readily pass on information they have received from other sources as though all gardening information is both true and universally adaptable. Yet, science is not much better if you are looking for absolute truth.
If knowledge is derived from the application of logic in selecting the best alternative from many choices, surely the number of choices available is limited by the totality of man’s experience, and so therefore, is his knowledge. And, as man’s experience is limited to but a few seconds of time relative to the life-span of this planet, his knowledge can be applied to only this time and space. That knowledge is incomplete, but it is the best we have; it is called “science”. What distinguishes science from other information is authoritative presentation of fact, supported by predictive repeatability, and the disproval of all other logical conclusions. It is “current knowledge” because it interprets the largest set of facts known today. Garden writers operate on a smaller set of facts. And, gardeners interpret their observations using an even more limited set of facts. As “science” filters down to the garden writer, fewer of the adages and “old wive’s tales” get repeated over time (too long to suit me). That period of time stretches through generations before gardeners stop repeating the earlier falsehoods they have learned. A falsehood in a book or magazine always outlives the book or the magazine.
My advice to garden writers is to confine their research to “current knowledge”, and ignore the writings of their counterparts, in order to speed up the cleanup.
My advice to gardeners is to believe what you see as temporal entertainment; a gift from nature. Do not pass on your interpretation as gospel. Do not seek interpretation from others. Remember how the lives of those who have seen a UFO has been lessened rather than enhanced by the experience, once reported. As usual, it is the interpretation which causes the problems. Share your own successful techniques, and try those reported by others once you have stripped them of their embedded adages.
Of all the flora and fauna on earth, it is only man that desires or needs rules. We crave categorization and predictability. Formal training consists of learning the rules. Scientific advance consists of making new rules and refinement of the old ones. But in nature, there are no rules. Yesterday, today, and tomorrow are all the same in nature; only time passes. This is why today’s rules are often disproved by tomorrow’s scientists. There is nothing about which all the facts are known. Our lives are so short, that we are not disturbed by these changes. When you become elderly, the differences that occur between your formal training and what you observe (cognitive dissonance) become more noticeable and more frequent, but are rarely disturbing since you have forgotten much of your formal training anyway. Across several generations however, the rules changes are disturbing indeed. In the big picture, it is easy to conclude that, like nature, we really don’t have any rules. That will never be more true than in gardening where there is no adage, no rule of thumb, and no absolute truth that you can rely upon all of the time.
http://tomclothier.hort.net/page39.html
When Mole Hills Become Mountains
Bob Stewart
stewart@gardenright.info
An adult mole only weighs four ounces, and an average population density is only three to five moles per acre, and yet these small furry creatures can incite rage and despair in gardeners and defy all and every attempt to neutralize their activities. Scalopus aquaticus is the eastern mole and the primary culprit among the dozen or some mole species found in North America. Although similar in appearance to mice, moles are classified as insectivores, and are more closely related to shrews and bats than to rodents. They eat meat, primarily in the form of insects, spiders, and earthworms. In this aspect of their lives they could be considered beneficial to gardeners, since they destroy a number of important soil insect pests. However, it’s how they obtain their food that’s at the bottom of their constant dispute with gardeners. Moles dig blindly through the soil and eat whenever they happen upon food. They have a very high metabolism and must eat a lot, often an amount of food equal to their body weight each day. To eat that much they have to find a lot of food and that means a lot of digging. In average garden or lawn soil a mole can dig at the rate of 12 to 15 feet per hour. The tunnels moles dig in search of food are just below the surface and the digging of these tunnels severs plant roots and causes grass and other plants to decline. In addition to their surface feeding tunnels moles also dig deeper tunnels, called runways, in which they make their nests and travel throughout their territory. The soil excavated from these runways are deposited on the surface in the form of mounds of loose soil called mole hills. An active mole or two can lay waste to a well tended lawn or garden in short order. In the long run their digging may actually improve the soil but in the short term they cause ugly, serpentine yellowing of the grass, ground that sinks as you walk over it, and the loss of prized perennials and bulbs.
A life underground has it’s rewards and moles have few natural enemies. The gardener and landscaper have tried desperately to be a potent mole enemy but have seemingly failed in every attempt. Such a failing record however has not been due to lack of trying. Over the years we have thrown everything at the mole, probably including the kitchen sink. Listed below, with a bit of tongue and cheek narration, are some of the control measures than have been tried.
*Poison baits: These are generally uneaten because the mole is a carnivore and doesn’t care for peanuts, the most often used bait.
*Tunnel flooding: Moles can run fast and have many escape routes. In nature however floods are a major mole killer.
*Tunnel gassing with cartridges and mower engine exhaust attachments: The soil absorbs gasses relatively quickly and the mole tunnel complex is so extensive there is always an escape route.
*Moth balls in tunnels: Moles avoid treated tunnel and dig new ones, remember 15 feet of new tunnel in one hour!
*Soil vibrating devices, pin wheels and ultra-sonic types: Any strange smell or vibration may initially scare or irritate the mole but they quickly adapt and if your yard is where the food’s at, they’ll be back, and soon.
*Mole repelling plants: These plants only affect a small area, the root zone of the plant and would have to be planted in large number throughout the yard to be really effective.
*Traps utilizing knife blades and harpoons: These are the most consistent control measures but they take time and practice to use properly. Most traps are placed in feeding tunnels, where they won’t catch anything, rather than runways)
*Live Traps (same as above)
*Killing soil insects in an effort to remove food supply: Controlling beetle grubs has been a standard mole control recommendation for years but in most yards there is usually enough non grub food remaining to keep mole happy. If anyone’s interested I have a copy of a study that examined the stomach contents of 100 moles to find out exactly what they were eating.
*Shooting: You’ve got to be very good and usually it’s not legal.
*Chewing gum in tunnel: Moles don’t chew, remember they’re carnivores not bubble gummers; how juicy fruit gum got to be a mole control is a funny story but basically was a hoax that caught on.
*Crushed glass in tunnel: Moles aren’t that stupid.
*Gasoline in hole followed by lit match: I hope YOU are not that stupid.
*Stepping on tunnels: This doesn’t get rid of moles but alleviates their damage.
*Wire barriers: Moles can’t get through, but usually, you end up fencing the moles IN the yard.)
*The Pitch Fork Method: Moles can be killed by conducting a mole watch, but it is prone to accidents and such activity can frighten the neighbors and small children.
*Cats and dogs: Can be very successful but entirely depends on the nature of the pet. Some cats and some dogs are great molers, others could care less.
*The Pet Inevitability Phenomenon: Have the kids name the mole, fall in love with the mole, and within a short time the mole will run into the road and get hit by a car. This seems statistically to work as well as the other. :-)
*Others: Please list your mole control idea. I’m always on the lookout for new ideas to thwart the mole.
I’ll end with a note about castor oil extract or Mole-Med. Castor oil does seem to be a repellent to moles and it can be applied in liquid form over a large enough area to be practical. The problem is in it’s residual qualities, which seem very limited. Two or three rains seem to negate the beneficial effect of the castor oil. Obviously the hope is that when the moles leave the area the first time they will take up residence in another yard and stay there, but there no guarantee this is going to happen and the moles will usually return to the original yard. The most consistent control method continues to be trapping. This can be developed into almost an art form.
Tom Schmidt is probably the world’s foremost mole catcher, in fact he’s known as “The Mole Man.” He’ll teach you how to catch moles with his video “Moles Make Lousy Pets.” Video available from: The Mole Man, 2533 Orland Ave, Cincinnati Ohio 45211, (513)662-3017. I understand that this professionally produced video, with 50 minutes runtime, is also sold on several online locations for about $55. ppd.
http://tomclothier.hort.net/page40.html
Favorite Plants of Hummingbirds
* Abelia grandiflora— Glossy Abelia (shrub)
* Aesculus sp.— horsechestnut or buckeyes (tree)
* Agave americana— century plant
* Albizzia julibrissin— silk-tree or “mimosa”
* Althea sp.— marsh-mallow, hollyhocks
* Anisacanthus thurberi— taperosa (shrub)
* Aquilegia sp.—columbine
* Begonia sp.
* Beloperone californica— chuperosa
* Beloperone guttata— shrimp plant
* Buddleia sp.— butterfly bushes (shrubs)
* Campsis radicans— trumpet vine
* Canna generalis— canna
* Caragana arborescnes— Siberian pea-tree
* Cestrum purpureum— purple cestrum
* Citrus sp.— orange trees
* Cleome spinosa— spider flower
* Crataegus sp.— hawthorne or thorn-apple
* Delonix regia— royal poinciana
* Delphinium sp.
* Dianthus sp.—pinks; sweet Williams
* Erythrina cristi-galli— cockspur coral-tree
* Eucalyptus sp. esp the scarlet-flowering types
* Fouquieria splendens— ocotillo
* Fuchsia sp.
* Gilia sp.
* Gladiolus sp.
* Grevillea robusta and thelemanniana— silk oak
* Hamelia erecta— scarlet bush
* Hemerocallis sp.,—daylilies
* Heuchera sanguinea— coral bells
* Hibiscus sp. (shrub)
* Impatiens balsamina— garden balsam
* Ipomoea sp.— morning glory family of plants (my favorite is Ipomoea quamoclit)
* Ipomopsis rubra — standing cypress
* Iris sp.
* Jasminum sp.— jasmine
* Kolkwitzia amabilis— beautybush (shrub)
* Lantana sp.
* Lilium sp.— lilies
* Lupinus sp.— lupines
* Malvaviscus drummondi— Texas mallow, or Spanish apple (shrub)
* Monarda sp.— beebalm, oswego tea, bergamot
* Nepeta cataria— catnip
* Nicotiana glauca— tree tobacco
* Nicotiana sanderae— flowering tobacco
* Parkinsonia microphylla— Palo verde
* Pedicularis sp.— wood betony, lousewort
* Pelargonium sp.— geraniums
* Penstemon sp.— beard-tongue
* Petunia sp.
* Phlox sp.
* Poinciana gilliesi— bird of paradise
* Quamoclit sp.— cardinal climber (Ipomoea coccinea)
* Rhododendron sp.— azaleas, rhodies
* Salvi sp.— sages
* Saponaria officinalis— bouncing bet
* Scabiosa sp.— pincushion flower
* Tecomaria capensis— cape honeysuckle
* Tritonia sp.— red-hot poker
* Tropaeolum majus— nasturtium
* Verbena sp.
* Vinca major— periwinkle
* Vitex agnus-castus— chastetree
* Weigela sp.
* Yucca sp.— Spanish dagger
For more information, the following sites are recommended:
http://www.wildbirds.com/feeding_hummers.htm
WildBirds.com has answers for backyard birders about feeding, attracting and watching wild birds. You will also find sections on helping injured birds, photographing birds and identifying the birds in your area.
http://tomclothier.hort.net/page37.html
Short Dictionary of Specific Epithets
Excluded are epithets referring to person or place. Included are epithets referring to structure, form, habit, color, habitat, and other descriptive terms. Still the list is hardly begun after 702 items. I feel some resistance to continue, because you should have no need to discover these meanings if you accept my argument that plant names are just names. What is important is that those names be unique. Unfortunately, it is too much to hope for them to be unchanging. Be sure to note reference #10 on the previous page.
[A sample]
acaulis, e , = without a stem (acaulis, acaule)
acer, acris , = acrid
aculeatus, a, um , = prickly, thorny
acuminatus, a, um , = tapering to a long point
acutifolius, a, um , = with sharp leaves
adscendens , = ascending
aduncus, a, um , = hooked
aestivalis, e , = summer-flowering
affinis, e , = related
aggregatus, a, um , = clustered
alatus, a, um , = winged
albescens , = becoming white
albicaulis, e , = with white stems
albidus, a, um , = white
albiflorus, a, um , = with white flowers
albococcineus, a, um , = white and scarlet
http://tomclothier.hort.net/page33.html
Weeds
All plants have a relationship to other living organisms in the garden, field, roadside, or waterway. Whether a plant is undesirable because it is out of place, or it has bad habits, or is successful at defeating eradication, it still performs many useful functions, not the least of which is the preservation of nature’s delicate balanced ecosystem. Wherever man wishes to alter that balance to suit his own purpose, the judgement of desirability versus undesirability is the first step towards taking control of his property. It is the infinite number of such judgements which denies us the economy of using a single word like “weed” to describe plants that “everyone” doesn’t want. There are noxious plants, poisonous plants, toxic plants, invasive plants, and destructive plants. And, each of them benefits our lives in some way.
Some are valuable crops in themselves, yielding oils, potherbs, salad greens, condiments, drugs, and ornaments for man, forage crops for animals, seed food for birds and small creatures, and shelter for beneficial insects. Many are valuable soil conditioners whose vigorous roots penetrate deeply into the subsoil, transporting nutrients and minerals to the surface. They improve the soil structure through aeration and control of erosion. Their presence (or absence) serves as indicators of poor soil conditions. Many have a beneficial relationship with soil organisms which help the gardener, or with other plants, giving them increased vigor, taste, or greater resistance to insects and disease.
My intent is to persuade you to grow some of these plants on purpose, and to seek to control the spread of others you consider undesirable without resorting to a program of total annihilation.
Good Soil Improvers:
Annual goldenrod
Nightshade
Sunflower
Sow thistle
Lamb’s quarter
Ground-cherry
Wild lettuce
Good Companion Plants:
Nettle and Yarrow give greater aromatic quality to herbs
Jimson weed is helpful to Pumpkins.
Lamb’s quarter and Sow thistle help melons, squashes, and cucumbers.
Lupine helps corn and many other crops.
Small amounts of Yarrow and Valerian give vigor to vegetables.
Wild mustard is beneficial to grapevines and fruit trees.
Dandelions stimulate fruits and flowers to ripen quickly.
Stinging nettle makes neighboring plants more insect resistant. And the iron content of nettle helps plants withstand lice, slugs, and snails during wet weather. Mint and tomatoes are strengthened in their vicinity. Nettle deters fermentation, keeping fruit trees free of mold.
Redroot pigweed loosens soil for root crops such as carrot, radish, beet, and potatoes. It makes tomato, pepper, and eggplant more resistant to insect attack.
Lamb’s quarter gives vigor to zinnias, marigolds, peonies, and pansies.
Purslane conditions the soil around roses thus encouraging healthier root growth.
Cheatgrass brome replaces plants that are host to beet leafhoppers, thereby benefitting beets, beans, and tomatoes.
Hosts to beneficial insects:
A list of 49 special plants for attracting beneficial lacewings, ladybugs, hover flies, parasitic mini-wasps, tachinid flies, spiders, minute pirate bugs, damsel bugs, and big eyed bugs includes fifteen species which are considered by some to be invasive plants. That is almost one third of the list. Is there any wonder why your garden plants are attacked by insects? The average gardener spends about $30. per year on herbicides and insecticides, and the use of either one increases the absolute necessity to use the other. I cultivate 38 of the beneficial plants on my list, large stands of them in some cases, including 14 of the 15 invasive plants. That in combination with my Army of Groundskeepers reduces my need for herbicides and insecticides to zero. Rather than eradication of plants which are out of place or invasive, it would be better to learn how to manage the better ones to your advantage.
Invasive plant management:
There are about 400 or so common plant species on the list of invasive plants. In addition to the 14 special plants which are host to beneficial insects, I cultivate another 50 species on the list (by actual count). Huh! Why? Many are on my list of plants of interest to bumblebees which is a special interest of mine. Many more are simply attractive in their own right. Managing 64 species of invasive plants on purpose must seem to some people like slow suicide by overwork. Here is my formula for management of these plants; note that it is little different from managing all the rest of my growing collection.
Plants which spread by underground runners (Tansy, for example), I plant in single species beds which are surrounded by lawn. The lawnmower is my agent of control.
Plants which spread by above ground runners (Peppermint and Spearmint for example), I plant in nursery pots which are sunk halfway into the soil. The runners are easily seen, and therefore easily clipped once per year in late summer.
Plants which spread by vigorous self-sowing (Teasel for example), I deadhead persistently to insure that no seeds ripen after the flowers cease to be of value to my pollinators. In the case of Nicotiana, I simply grow these in pots in the parking lot surrounding my front door. Most seeds won’t germinate on concrete.
Plants which spread by bird droppings (European buckthorn for example), cannot be controlled. The seedlings must be clipped with the weed wacker once in June and again in August.
Plants which spread by wind-blown seeds (Chinese elm, Catalpa, and Maple for example), I pull out by hand from garden beds, and they don’t survive in the lawn.
Plants which spread by small mammals (Oak and Walnut trees for example), I pull out by hand from garden beds, and they don’t survive in the lawn.
Plants which spread by exploding seed pods (Euphorbia lathyris for example), I dead head before seed pods develop.
Plants which spread mysteriously despite constant pulling (Purslane for example), I continue to hand pull and will have to do this forever.
Now, is that so hard to do? If your Monarda gets out of hand, just dig up the plant; cut out a fourth of the root ball for replanting and compost the remainder. Invasive plants have become so through lack of management. It only takes a few minutes every week to take stock of problem areas, and a few more minutes to eliminate the problem in those situations where their spread cannot be prevented. Where prevention is easy, you will have no excuse. And, those that you grow on purpose are no longer weeds.
http://tomclothier.hort.net/page29.html
Slugs and Snails
After battling slugs for many years, though I have not won all the battles, I feel that I have certainly won the war. The ultimate solution is hand picking. For every one that you remove from your garden today, you eliminate the need to remove 20 or more of their progeny in the next few months. After three short years of conscientious effort, the population of birds that you nurture on your property will be hard pressed to find many slugs or snails.
Tools needed: At first you will need a flashlight, an empty coffee can, and a few short lengths of lumber or stepping stones.
Hand pick in the evening, dropping the critters into about 2 inches of water in the can. During the day, turn over the boards or stepping stones, which function as traps, and dispose of the slugs in similar fashion. That means, that twice per day, you need to spend just a few minutes policing your property. Before each episode, empty the can of drowned slugs onto your compost pile, and refill the can with 2 inches of water. In the event that your slugs turn out to be excellent swimmers, a teaspoon of salt or liquid soap or vinegar or household ammonia added to the water will induce permanent sluggishness. Note that slugs do not regenerate from each half when cut through. That is worth remembering when you encounter the adults while doing other chores; just snip them, stomp them, smash them; anything to separate head from tail.
After the first year, you can probably dispense with the flashlight and the evening hunt. Simply collect the slugs from your traps every morning. Relocate the traps from time to time or when the collection becomes sparse. That’s all there is to it in most areas. My raised beds are composed entirely of soil derived from composting xmas trees. I have never seen a slug on these beds and do not place traps there any more. A good mulch can deter slugs. An exception occurs in the Pacific Northwest which has populations of giant slugs that travel long distances, so good control takes more vigilance and longer time. Techniques described here work well in my Midwestern vegetable garden. My ornamental gardens require no controls for this pest.
There are many other methods of control which require less “hands on” involvement, but they are much less effective, and will attract other critters in some cases. A complete list of these anecdotal methods can be found in the Slug and Snail FAQ http://homepage.powerup.com.au/~swimskins/slug_snail_FAQ.html maintained by Margaret Van Emmerik. If that link no longer works, do a search on Ms. Emmerik’s name. I do not have snails, but include them in the title so that the reader with snail problems will find this link to the snail FAQ. Happy hunting!
http://www.yerindi.com/cat_and_dog_anecdotes.htm
Couple of Australian Dog stories, funny and enjoyable.
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