eGarden © 2004 Ed Mues

From The Garden of Ed. Submitted for publication in The Towne Crier on January 28, 2004

A Common Thread:
Pine Cones, Collards, and 99 Cents Stores.

You may think it's a stretch, but these are just a few of many items in the new horticultural update. It has been over four months since I have provided one. They are varied, fascinating to me, and I hope of value and interest to you readers.

Coming soon to a neighborhood near you, the periodical 17 year cicada, aka. Brood X. They will make their presence known throughout the eastern U.S. by either enchanting or annoying local residents with their mating calls. It's the males seeking females. You either love the raucous noise, sunup to after dark, or you hate it. Hey, it' s once every seventeen years. Enjoy it, let it entertain you, perhaps invigorate you. It's a song. Expect to hear it from mid- May maybe into early July, as long as there are females who haven't laid eggs yet. They don't bite, sting, or seriously damage much in the way of plant material. They all die after they've mated. Their young newly hatched nymphs fall to the soil, dig in, and spend the following seventeen years under ground. They are not locusts (grasshopper relatives and voracious plant eaters), but rather, related to, believe it or not, aphids and mealy bugs with sucking mouth parts, not chewing parts.

Dollar stores are becoming ubiquitous in the Northeast as well as around the country. In the Nov. 2003 issue of GMPRO (Greenhouse Management and Production) page 49, and on its website GreenBeam.com, David Kuack, Editor, interviewed Dick Saklad, vice president of corporate development at 99 Cents Only Stores. With 151 stores in California, Arizona, Nevada and Texas, total sales in 2002 were over $ 714 million. Of this, more than $ 10 million were in sales of live plants, 60 percent of which were contract grown. No. 1 sellers were 4" tropical plants. The diversity of plant material for sale included 65 different types of indoor foliage, 40 varieties of cactus and succulents, mums, fuchsias, various annuals, perennials and vegetables. All of these at 99 cents each.

A Garden Writers Association survey in 2003 reports that 81% of Americans participate in some form of gardening and yard care, with more than half claiming relaxation as the chief motive. More than half weeded by hand. Flowers, fruits, vegetables, herbs and shrubs were grown for personal use and satisfaction, and to be shared with friends. The desire for superior flavor and pesticide free produce were strong incentives, too.

For the past fifty years the soil fumigant of choice for strawberry, vegetable, and nursery growers was methyl bromide. Farmers could control a variety of pathogens from nematodes to damaging soil borne fungi, weeds and insect pests. This fumigant will soon be banned. It is an ozone depleter and kills beneficial soil macro and micro organisms. Scientists from the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at University of Georgia are conducting research using members of the brassica family (collards, mustard, turnips, etc.) to replace the 21,000 tons of the chemical used each year. A grant from the Agricultural Research Service, the in-house research arm of the USDA is funding the studies.

On Dec. 12, 2003 the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced a national recall of pine cones originating in India. These may have been purchased separately or in potpourris from Frank's Nursery, K-Mart, Target, Walmart, Jo Ann Fabrics, Lowe's, Dollar Tree and Safeway nationwide. Two pests were found: one a wood boring insect native to India, and a second unidentified species. Neither is known to exist in the United States and it is not known if our native conifers are potential hosts.

Sullivan County's Cornell Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners are sure ahead of the curve. Two years ago, Tony and Martha M. gave me a Japanese Painted fern for my shade garden. Athyrium nipponicum 'Pictum" has performed beautifully (in the literal sense) for me. It's a true ornamental without being gaudy. It has silvery blue-gray fronds with purplish-red veins. Now I read the Perennial Plant Association has just named it the 2004 Perennial Plant of the Year. It's a winner.

"Better insect control" are the words used in a recent release from Cornell's N.Y.S. Ag. Experiment Station. On the minds of many a citizen, not just researchers, is the growing fear that as we manipulate genes and create new pest resistant plants, might we not also be providing the same pests the opportunity to evolve to become more resistant themselves? A ten year long project using a process known as gene pyramiding has yielded extremely important results, both economically and environmentally. Two scientists from Plant Breeding, Ithaca (Jun Cao and Lisa Earle) and two from Entomology, Geneva (Tony Shelton and Jian-Zhou Zhao) have demonstrated that insect resistance evolution is delayed when the host plant expresses two different Bt toxins. Twenty-four generations of diamond back moths, major insect pests around the world, were raised to feed on transgenic Bt broccoli. Worldwide more that 36 million acres are planted with Bt crops, with corn and cotton leading the way.

For the love of plants? On December 18, 2003 the Department of Justice filed criminal charges against Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, Inc. and Wesley E. Higgins. It involves a new species of tropical lady slipper orchid smuggled into Florida from Peru. They were charged with violating the Endangered Species Act. Turns out they assisted in the original discovery in 2002. By admitting to unwitting guilt and apologizing, the MSBG paid a $ 5,000 fine for a misdemeanor violation of the Endangered Species Act, considerably less than the $ 100,000 fine and jail time that could have ben imposed. The orchid, by the way, was returned to Peru. You have two more weeks to catch it. Feb.16, 2004 is the last day to see "A collectors view of American botany and horticulture" at the New York Botanical Garden.

A new disease of tomatoes made its appearance in the summer of 2003. It is called "Bull's-eye leaf spot, is promoted by prolonged leaf wetness and lengthy rainy periods, is believed to have originated in nearby forested areas, and was first reported in Lackawanna, Luzerne and Wyoming counties in Pa..

Plum pox virus (PPV), first identified in 1999 as attacking stone fruit trees, mostly in south central Pa. has decreased an astounding 97% in 2003. Diligent removal of infected plants and material within a 500-meter radius, expanding the quarantine zone to include a small portion of Manallen and Butler townships in Adams County, and increased monitoring and vigilance all contributed to this success.

On December 3, 2003 the USDA through the above mentioned APHIS announced its establishment of a new Biotechnology Regulatory Service. As a compliance and enforcement unit of APHIS it will regulate the introduction, importation, and release of genetically engineered (GE) plants. An unusual fungicide developed from cayenne peppers, CAY-1, was patented by the Agricultural Research Service a couple of years ago. Studied as an effective fungicide is a variety of human health issues, researchers are now looking at its application to combat molds and fungus issues in vegetable and small fruit crops. This natural and powerful extract may have widespread applications and industry has already begun conducting a variety of studies geared toward commercial use.

There is always more news than there is room to include, so until my next update, I leave you with a little tidbit. I recently read about a study that verified the following: Wet summers are followed by snowy winters more that 85% of the time. Snowfall totals appear to be more closely related to wetness or dryness than temperature.

From The Garden of Ed. Submitted for publication in The Towne Crier on January 28, 2004

Page Up