© Okaloosa County Master Gardeners!

…for discerning weeders

A Newsletter of the Okaloosa County Master Gardeners Association –– October 2010

Ferns, Gymnosperms and Angiosperms Lynn Fabian

A number of us (veteran MGs) have been sitting in on the 2010 MG Training class. Review of the basic MG training is a lot like religion...it does a body good to go to a revival occasionally.

Dr. Lionel Leon’s class on Botany contains so much information for a four hour class, it is im-possible to hold it all with only one hearing. In Dan Mullins class on Fruit Production, he asked several times if the class remembered some-thing from the Botany section. Seems it all keeps going back to the basics.

This month’s Compost Pile will touch on plant life in broad groups: ferns, gymnosperms and angiosperms. We won’t delve into the algae an-

ces tors f rom which plants as we know them grew.

Fossil records s h o w f e r n s were the first plants present

on earth, appearing about 435 million years ago. Ferns have no seed and no way to reproduce that does not involve moisture, otherwise the re-productive cell dries out.

Gymnosperms appeared a few million years later during the Carboniferous period. The ferns were still growing and the gymnosperms were the new kids on the block.

Gymnosperms include the conifers, gingkos, cycads and others and have seeds and pol-len. Major advance-ment (for the plants and the planet) was possible because the gymnosperms did not need water to repro-duce. It was during this time, mammals began to develop.

Remember!!! MG Meeting is at Shalimar Baptist Church, October 6th, 9:00

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Ferns (outside of bars)

The angiosperms are our flowering plants, ap-pearing first in the early Cre-taceous period 150 million years ago. Flowering plants have a flower (of course!) and an enclosed seed.

UF research by the Florida Museum of Natural History has contributed to finding these first flowers.

Fossil records of early angiosperms are not readily available.

For a long time, most of the land masses on Earth were barren. Life was limited to the low-land, wet areas in temperate to tropical climes.

Some 435-420 million years ago the first seed-less vascular plants (non-flowering) appeared. The first of these were large, tree sized. The need for water to complete the fertilization process limited the range of these plants. No water/moisture, no new plants. Today’s survi-vors in the fern category have reduced in size and are much smaller than their ancestors.

For an easily read explanation of the reproduc-tive life of a fern, go to The Backyard Nature Web-

site at http://www.backyardnature.net/ferns.htm. This not a UF website but the article is good.

The fossil records show these plants grew into vast forests somewhere around 385 million years ago. As the plants died and fell, the or-ganic material left behind was the source of our v a s t c o a l d e p o s i t s . http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/pciesiel/gly3150/plant.html. Montana, Illinois and Wyoming are our top coal producing states. Now think about it. Those areas had to have a lot moisture and a lot of ferns many million of years ago to have that coal now.

The ferns and the dinosaurs lived during the same time, 300 million years ago Unlike the

dinosaurs, the ferns survived to live on to today and still prefer moist, open, shady areas.

If you have a fern you want to identify, check out http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/uw217 “An Overview and In-formal Key of the Ferns of Florida”. Florida has more species of ferns than any state other than Hawaii. There are an estimated 123 native fern and fern-like species and 21 exotic species (es-timated). Considering Florida is temperate to subtropical and we have abundant water, our state is a natural for the fern. Hurricanes and tropical storms have brought their share of spe-cies to Florida from the Caribbean islands.

The Sword fern shown above is a Florida na-tive.

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Boston Tea, not Fern edis.ifas.ufl.de/ag120

“Tuberous sword fern (Nephrolepis cordifolia) (Figure 3), not native to Florida, was found growing on a roadside in Sumter County, Flor-ida in 1933 (Ward 2000) and in cultivation in

Floral City, Florida in 1938 (Ward 2000). It is now found naturalized in pine rocklands, flat-woods, marsh edges, and hammocks of con-servation areas of south Florida and as far north as Georgia (Langeland and Burks 1998). It was included on the Florida Exotic Pest Council's (FLEPPC) "1995 List of Florida's Most Invasive Species" in Category I, which means that it is invading and disrupting native plant communi-ties in Florida. Tuberous sword fern is sold in the nursery and landscape trade, which may contribute to its further spread into native plant communities. The Florida Nurserymen and Growers Association (FNGA) and FLEPPC, in a

1999 joint decision, encouraged phase-out of tuberous sword fern from the growing and land-scape market (Aylsworth 1999). Asian sword fern (Nephrolepis multiflora), also not native to Florida, was found growing and “driving out all other plants” on Sanibel Island, Lee County, Florida in 1954 (Ward 2000) and in Boca Chica, Monroe County, Florida in 1965 (Ward 2000). It was included on the Florida Exotic Pest Coun-cil's (FLEPPC) "1993 List of Florida's Most In-vasive Species" in Category II and moved to Category I in 1999.

Tuberous sword fern, as the name implies, sometimes produces tubers, and it is the only one of the four species that is capable of pro-ducing them. Therefore, if tubers are present on the plants, this alone is a positive identification f o r t h i s s p e c i e s . ”

Everything has its beauty but not everyone sees it.Confucius

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Gymnosperms! Various

Nature does nothing uselessly.Aristotle

Gymnosperms - produce seeds but not true fruits since they have no ovary; such seeds are said to be naked and are borne on the inside of the scales or cones, but in plants such as Juni-perus spp. (junipers) and Podocarpus spp. (po-docarpus) they are embedded in a fleshy fruit-

l i k e o r g a n , k n o w n a s a n a r i l . http://floridagardener.com/misc/fruitsandseeds.htm

(I don’t know why I thought this subject would be cut and dried. Gymnosperms are the cone bearers. Right? Pines! Great example.)

Looking further...we have the Ginkgo (one spe-cies), the Cycads, the Conifers and the Gneto-phytes.

The first three are fami l iar enough and mos t o f us have seen an examp le o f the first three species. It is that last one, Gnetophytes, that causes me to pause.

T h e r e a r e t h i r t y - f i v e Gne tophy te s p e c i e s (wor ldw ide ) and twelve in the USA, ac-cording to The

G y m n o s p e r m D a t a b a s e , http://www.conifers.org/ep/ep/index.htm, They occur in semiarid and arid areas. The Gnetophytes are shrubs or vines with erect, procumbent or climbing stems. The branches are jointed and much branched. The seeds are produced in cones. Good! We are back to cones.

Maybe that semi-arid comment should be a clue...not much of that in Florida. The photos of these plants did not show well so I chose not to use one here.

PodocarpusGingko! ! Fabian

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Angiosperms

Coming Events !

–MG General Meeting Wednesday, Oct 6th, 9:00a SHALIMAR BAPTIST CHURCH

–Hobo Festival, Oct 9th–Volunteers needed–October Board Meeting TBA Oct 20th, 9:30 a–MG State Conference, Oct 25-27, Sandestin Hilton–Plant Clinic, Wednesday, Oct 27th, 10a-1p–Nursery Workday, Last Friday of the month, 10a-2p

It took a few million years, but finally the flower-ing plants began to appear on Earth. What a revolution! It no longer required water or wind to pass along the genetic properties of a plant. The birds and the bees took over that task.

Once the plant world moved through the gym-nosperms to the angiosperms, there would eventually be some 400,000 angiosperm spe-cies. Flowering plants provide many of the things that are needed to help mammals sur-vive.

Unfortunately the early angiosperms did not leave many clues as to what they looked like or how they evolved. The UF"s Florida Museum of Natural History has been working to discover the genetic switches that produced the first flower.

A study published in 2009 provides insight into how the first flowering plants evolved from pre-existing genetic programs found in gymno-

sperms and then developed into the diversity of flowering plants we see today. http://www.innovations-report.com/html/reports/life_sciences/university_florida_study_insight_evolution_flowers_1

32891.html

The spread of the angiosperms paved the way for the forests that provided habitat for the mammals that came after.

“Angiosperms occupy every habitat on Earth except the highest mountaintops, the deepest oceans and some polar regions” according to Pamela and Doug Slotis. www.flmnh.ufl.edu/museum/FLMNH_LifeOnEarth.pfd

Pam Soltis is a Distinguished Professor and Curator of Molecular Systematics and Evolutionary genetics at the Florida Museum of Natural History. Doug Soltis is a Distinguished Professor in UF’s Depart-ment of Biology and has a joint appointment at the Flor-ida Museum of Natural History.

Can we conceive what humanity would be if it did not know the flowers?!

~Maurice Maeterlinck

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Seed Storage for Viability Ed Smith

The Jan. 2010 issue of the Compost Pile con-tained an article on the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, which raised the question of long term seed viability. Long term being relative to the need of the user. In the case of most Master Gardeners long term narrows appreciable to the range of 1 to 5 years.

Some of us become inveterate collectors with little thought concerning proper storage for maintaining viability. Small packets of our col-lected treasures find their way to the back of drawers, glove compartments and yes, even the vegetable bin of the refrigerator. Possibly the next evolutionary step of a plant withers away in a long forgotten hideaway. When you collected these packages of life, you assumed the responsibility for their germination. I’ll bet you never thought of that.

With that responsibility firmly planted in your mind let us consider storage options which are most likely to sustain seed life (yes, they are alive!) for a time appropriate to your needs. Trees, vegetables and flowers comprise the large majority of personally collected seeds. Even though some may not grow in our zone, we still collect them. Hope springs eternal.

Moisture reduction, absence of light and lower temperature are the fundamental considera-tions for extended storage. Moisture reduction can be provided by spreading clean seeds in a tray and exposing them to 100º for approxi-mately 6 hours. Do not use a microwave un-less you are trying for popcorn. Drying by sun-light may be suitable in some areas but it is un-predictable and seeds can easily be over-

heated. If sunlight is your choice, use a shade cloth with several inches of clearance for air circulation. Seeds should be allowed to return to room temperature before packaging. The use of a small desiccant may be added to main-tain the low moisture level. These are often found in medicine bottles.

Matching the container size to the quantity of seeds stored will also lower the amount of ex-cess air from which the seeds might attract moisture. This is one of the reasons you find cotton in medicine bottles. The storage con-tainer should be airtight and opaque. For best results you may want to test a container first by submerging it in water. Air bubbles will indicate it is not airtight. Old film canisters and clean medicine bottles have been used successfully but be sure to check for roughness at the seal-ing edge. Photo print shops usually have an excess of used canisters. Some drug stores will sell empty containers when you explain your usage.

A temperature of 40º F can easily be obtained in the “meat tray “ or “vegetable drawer “ of most refrigerators and this is low enough for most seeds. Storage in either of these areas will prevent temperature variations as the main door is opened. This area can also be used to provide the “chilling hours“ required of some seeds to germinate.

The longevity of seeds is highly variable ac-cording to the species, cleanliness, age when collected and health of the donor plant. Proper collection techniques are critical for highest germination rate. If you are storing particularly

To see the salvation of the world in a small seedAnd a heaven in a ripened fruit...

(a paraphrase of William Blake)

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valuable or rare seeds an online check with IFAS at UF or the Horticulture Dept. of any ma-jor university is advisable. Most seeds stored as described will still be viable in 3-5 years. Longer storage requires freezing and dehydra-tion to about 15% moisture. Tropical and flesh covered seeds may require special considera-tions.

When in doubt just remember, storage re-quires conditions opposite those for germina-tion. Makes sense to me.

For data verification I cross checked between our own UF IFAS publications, Colorado State University and University of Illinois.I wanted a good geographic spread.

Ed’s Sources:The most detailed article concerning seeds in general was at

http://www.nsl.fs.fed.us/wpsm/Chapter1.pdf which is the US Forestry Service Dept. of Agri-culture. It covered seeds from pollen through germination but in more detail than needed for a short storage article.

T h e r e i s a c o m m e r c i a l s i t e a t http://growingtaste.com/storage.shtml which provides a chart for vegetable seed storage and is very concise in its explanations.

A seed storage search at IFAS will provide at least a month of reading material.

When you start a “seed search it is like falling down the rabbit hole. I barely escaped !!

Book Review Klare Fox

Southern Herb Growing

By Madalene Hall and Gwen Barclay

Have you ever experienced the pleasure of strolling to the backyard, scissors in hand, to clip some rose-mary and thyme to add to your roast chicken? Or wa-tered a pot of peppermint and been rewarded with a whiff of its fresh fragrance? If not, you are missing out on one of gardening's

greatest joys, herb growing.

The mother-daughter team of Magdalene Hall and Gwen Barclay has turned a simple herb growing hobby into a family business, Hillside Herb Farm and Restaurant in Cleveland, Texas. They share their knowledge in this book filled with interesting and useful information on every aspect of successful herb culture in our topsy-turvy southern climate. Whether you want to try a potful of basil or plan an elaborate herbal gar-den, Southern Herb Gardening contains all the help you'll need to get started and beyond.

Divided into three sections, the book takes you from questioning why you should grow herbs in the first place to discovering the many delightful ways of using herbs in the kitchen. A recipe

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section includes favorites from the authors' own popular restaurant.

The center section provides an alphabetical re-source of individual herbs, their best season in the South and ways to use them, both for beauty and practicality. Color photographs of the herbs as well as many established herb gardens will inspire you to venture into the sensory expe-rience of growing your own.

Southern Herb Growing is available in the Oka-loosa County Public Library system, but with so much useful information packed into one book, you'll want to add a copy to your own bookshelf as a reference guide for years to come.

ISBN 0-940672-66-9

(Cleveland, TX is not too far over the Louisiana border, just north of I-10)

Old Dogs and New Tricks Lynn Fabian

On Fridays we have been attending the New MG Training sessions. A review is always good and it helps the memory to hear a subject restated, especially after ten years.

I have been taking calls and walk-ins on those days I was attending the training programs and recently was presented with two turf pests I have never seen. I’ll be the first to admit that recog-nizing ‘all things turf’ is not high on my list of things to know. I can tell you how to mow it and water it and I recognize many of the lawn pests. And now I have added two more ‘critters’ to my list of ‘things I’ll remember for a long time’.

A lady brought in two samples of turf: one of centipede grass and one of bermuda grass. The complaint about the centipede grass was that the two year old sod had never really taken hold and become vigorous. The turf was “spongy” when she walked across it. The color was pale green to yellow with some dead blades in the sample. The root structure was obviously less than desirable: short and weak.

The bermuda grass sample was coated with a white cotton-like material that was dry to the touch. Imagine a paper towel or tissue soaked on the ground and allowed to shred and dry.

The centipede sample had very short roots but I saw nothing to account for the sad state of the turf.

When in doubt, go with your strength. I asked Larry Williams to help with the ID and he quickly identified ground pearls in the soil of the centi-pede sample. In MG training ten years ago we heard about ground pearls but I had never seen them. If he had not pointed them out, I still

would not have seen them. I was expecting something the size of a small pea. These were tiny, head of a pin size. Larry said the ground pearls could account for the feel of the turf under foot and for the lack of vigor in the lawn. The insect will often be the size of a BB.

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Solution: There is no treatment. The ground pearls prefer centipede so changing the turf to St. Augustine may solve the problem.

The bermuda sample had Rhodesgrass mealy-bug and was much more heavily coated than this UF picture would indicate.

The IFAS document “Insect Pest Management on Turfgrass” http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ig001 indi-cates this is not very common but can cause damage.

In one day I saw two new insects that I hope I will be able to identify next time I see them.

Hope I can remember them if it takes another ten years!

News from the Front: the War on Weeds Marilyn Koser

(See The Compost Pile, September 2010, pg. 5 for Mar-

ilyn"s first article)

As I was preparing to start the [local] Master Gardener Celsius “trials”, I called the Bayer cus-tomer service line for clarification on the usage measurements for spot application. The Bayer website measurement guide indicated higher amounts than my calculations from the product label. As the customer service representative explained, the measurement guide on the web-site is correct because it accounts for the den-sity of the Celsius which my calculations did not. Celsius is sold in granular form not liquid and the proper conversion from dry weight to liquid requires knowledge of the density of dry ingredient. He stated the label was written for commercial applicators, but would probably be changed in the future if Celsius increased in popularity with homeowners.

Since I had Bayer on the phone and had waited for 15 minutes on hold to speak with the cus-tomer service representative, I wanted to learn as much as I could. The representative told me

the questions about Celsius have increased from 2 to 3 a week to 4 or 5 a day, as word got out about Celsius so my second question was, “What are other callers asking”? Some of the key points he reiterated with me are: 1) Celsius can be used at temperatures well over 80 de-grees with no harm; the application at high tem-peratures is what has made the product so popular in Florida. 2) Use a non-ionic surfac-tant rather than dish soap because Celsius is very pH sensitive. It performs best at a pH be-tween 6 and 8 and the non-ionic surfactant will maintain it in this range. 3) Mix only the amount to be used in one day as prepared Celsius can-not be stored. 4) After use, clean the tank with 1% ammonia. While probably not a big problem for homeowners, deliberately or accidentally mixing Celsius with other lawn products is dicey in part because of the narrow pH range of effec-tiveness. 5) Apply a second application after two weeks, if the weed being treated is listed on the Celsius label with an asterisk. This second treatment, if a second spot treatment, will not exceed the annual maximum that can be ap-

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plied. The danger of exceeding the annual maximum application comes when Celsius is broadcast.

Having gotten this clarification from Bayer, the Niceville Master Gardeners went ahead with the Celsius trial. Against Bayer guidance, we used dish soap and cleaned our tanks only with soap and water. To date, most of us have had our application out at least 3 to 4 weeks and the results are mixed. I’m pleased with the work of Celsius. The chamber bitter in my yard is yellow and brown. It has not grown and is weak and dying. The rate of “necrosis” is not uniform, but there is no doubt that the Celsius has done its job. The Alyce clover in my yard is also yellow or white so even though not listed on the Celsius label, it is killing that weed, too. My Virginia buttonweed will need a second application, as indicated on the Celsius label. Bill B. is less pleased with his Celsius trial. He estimates the Celsius has killed 90 percent of his spurge and 25 percent of both his chamber bitter and dichondra. Judy F.

thinks the results she’s seeing do not warrant the cost of the Celsius. Her dollarweed and dichondra are both yellowing, but she has not applied the recommended second application for these difficult weeds, as they are growing in a naturally wet area of her yard. All of us agree that our grass has not been damaged. The bottom line is that we all will use preemer-gence next spring. But, I plan to also use Cel-sius in my personal war on those stray weeds that pop up in mid-summer.

References:

Backed by Bayerhttp://www.backedbybayer.com/bayer/cropscience/backedbybayer.nsf/id/EN_Lawn_Labels_MSDS

This article is presented for informational pur-poses and is not an endorsement of Bayer Company or their products by the University of Florida/IFAS or the Okaloosa County Extension Service or the Okaloosa County Master Gar-deners.

President"s Message ! Mike Crow

October i s he re and

autumn weather has ar-rived. The time of season when we can venture out and work in our gardens more often. Summer heat is declining and planting is on many of our to-do lists. I enjoy this time of year. Dayt ime temperatures moderate. The air is crisp and winds are breezy. Night temps allow the opening of windows and better sleep patterns. New plant life emerges in our landscapes.

Autumn also brings more opportunities to share our knowledge with our residents. We had one just recently at the 2010 Fall Home and Garden show. We partnered with the Wal-t o n a n d O k a l o o s a County Building Indus-try Association to edu-cate the public and in-crease the local economy for many businesses. The inaugural event was well received and at-

Greetings Master Gardeners

Shari Farrel

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Last Word Lynn Fabian

Learning to ID plants and insects in the garden is only accomplished with practice, practice, practice.

Ed and I have been fighting an aphid population on a podocarpus plant we grow as bonsai. This aphid is lavender due to the juice it sucks from the podocarpus. We alternate between oil and insecticidal soap and still have not rid the plant of the pest. But it is improving.

About a week ago, an-other podocarpus (bon-sai) began to sport tiny orange insects. Hurrah! We had a predator be-ginning to assert itself. U n f o r t u n a t e l y t h e predator was on an-other plant. Being in a pot, we just moved the two plants together and hoped for the best.

Now I am having serious doubts about the line-age of our “predator” insect. The leaf footed bug and the assassin bug start out as nymphs

that look very much alike. The tiny orange nymphs have not yet begun to look like the par-ent that left them on the plant so we have no idea which one this is.Lynn Fabian

At first a few of the nymphs moved to the aphid infected plant but the next morning they were all back on the original plant.

tendance was high. Thank you to all who were involved with this event and our recent

Encore Azalea activity. New MG trainees at-tended both of these activities and had the opportunity to see you all in action. You truly

shined! Our nominating committee has been busy contacting our members inter-ested in serving on the 2011 MG Board. Think about how you can be involved next year. Candidate’s names will be announced at our meeting this month and elections will take place in November. Thank you for con-sidering your involvement. 2010 has been a busy and exciting year for our association. Our association has enjoyed many suc-cesses. The 2010 MG Conference is a few weeks away, 25-27 October in San Destin. Hope you can attend. Thank you for all you do and continue to do for Okaloosa County. Temps d'automne remplissent l'air. Quelles sont les plantes nouvelles verront le jour? See you in Shalimar

Ed Fabian

Lynn Fabian

Lynn Fabian

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About Us

The Compost Pile is a publication of the Okaloosa County Master Gardeners Association.

Okaloosa County Master Gardeners Association is a volunteer organiza-tion sponsored by Okaloosa County Extension and the University of Florida IFAS.

The Foundation for the Gator Nation...an equal opportunity institu-tion.

Lynn Fabian, EditorEd Fabian, First ReaderMarg Stewart, Web Site Coordinator

One of the clues to predator or pest can be how much the critter moves about. Predators are usually on the hunt and keep moving. Pests (at least the sucking variety) find a spot and dig in. Predators are equal opportunity feeders. They will eat their young and their siblings.

These nymphs move around a great deal but they are still practicing communal living. So far none of the leaves are showing signs of dis-tress if the insects are feeding.

It is a wait and see game. I hope the next in-star of the insect will indicate which parent left them on our plant.

If it is pest, they won’t be leaving a next gen-eration.

See you in Shalimar on Wednesday

Lynn

P.S. Michael’s translation: “Time to fill the autumn air. What are the new plants [that] will emerge?”