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JULY 2018

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Organic Management Options for Japanese Beetles at Home Gardens

Introduction

Japanese Beetles were accidentally introduced to the east coast in 1916 in a shipment of iris bulbs. Since then they have slowly and steadily made their way westward. The Japanese beetle has become a major pest of crops, lawns, and ornamental plants in Missouri. In fact, 2017 was the year when the highest populations were recorded thus far. To control this invasive pest, many people are interested in using less or no insecticides, and other control options that are safer for home-owners and also compatible with organic production.

Feeding Frenzy

Feeding on plant tissue by adult Japanese beetles causes the release of plant volatiles from the damaged sties, and of additional phero-mones from females. This results in aggregations of beetles, triggering a feeding frenzy. If you are able to prevent beetle aggregations by dislodging or killing the first arrivers, you may be able to limit the dam-age. Conversely, if a feeding frenzy starts, it will be difficult to remove the beetles unless insecticides are applied.

Hello Master Gardeners. Thank You to Judy Price for the Pony Bird update and the photographs. So, we have had enough rain to keep my rain barrels full most of this season. Only one barrel went empty before the next rain. According to my local calcula-tions we have had 4-1/16 inch of rain for June. With the average being 5½ inches of rain. So, that puts us at 1-7/16 of an inch below normal. However, the 5½ inch number is for the whole Region 10. I am going to start using the University of Missouri weather data to compare to my own. There is a weather station in Festus that the NOAA uses for their calculations (National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration). Remember to record your volunteer hours. There is an officer’s election in January so be thinking of who you may want to nominate.

Happy gardening - Tom

Inside this issue

Coordinator Update ................. 3 Climatron Beauties .................. 3 What is it? ................................ 3 By the Garden Gate.................. 4 Calendar of Events ................... 5 July Gardening Calendar .......... 6

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Jefferson County Master Gardener JULY 2018

Seasonal Activity of Japanese Beetles

In mid-Missouri, significant numbers of Japanese beetles begin emerging in mid to late June, the population peaks the second week of July, and declines by early August. The timing of the onset and end of Japanese beetle adult activity may vary by a couple weeks depending on weather. For in-stance, if warm, humid conditions occur – they will emerge earlier. If it is cold and rainy, they may not become active until late June.

Daily feeding behavior is also subject to weather. If you are checking your plants, you might not see any bee-tles on a cold, rainy day – but don't assume your pest problems are over! Thousands of Japanese beetles may burst from the ground on the very next day if it's warm and sunny. Feeding damage to plants can hap-pen within 48 hours. Your pest management strategy should be "proactive" not "reactive." Don't wait to see catastrophic damage before acting.

Biological Control

Japanese beetles are not native to the US, so there are very few natural enemies that could keep them in check. Some species of parasitic wasps that attack Japanese beetles in the grub and adult stages have been introduced into the country, but they are not commercially available. However, there are some pathogens (organisms that cause diseases) that attack the grubs in the soil. One naturally occurring bacterium that is commercially available is called Milky Spore®, which is an option for controlling grubs in the soil that damage the lawn. When spores of Milky Spore are ingested by Japanese beetle grubs, they die and in the process they release billions of new spores into the surrounding soil. One example of a commercially-available formulation of Milky Spore is produced by St. Gabriel Organics. Cost to treat 2,400 square feet is about $30. This product is most effective when applied in early- or mid-August, when the grubs are actively feeding. The soil must be above 65 degrees F. It works best to apply it just be-fore rainfall, or consider watering in lightly after application to soak into soil. The number of applications recommended by the label should be considered, applying Spring, Summer, and Fall for two consecutive years (six total). While this significantly increases the expense, it is claimed to give faster control, for up to 20 years. The picture shows Japanese beetle larvae killed by Heterorhabditis bacteriophora next to two healthy larvae. Picture by Whitney Cranshaw, Colorado State University, Bugwood.org.

There are also several species of nematodes (tiny round worms) that attack Japanese beetle and other soil-dwelling grubs. NemaSeek® consists of live beneficial nematodes that actively search for grubs in the soil. Cost to treat 1,600 square feet is about $30. Nematodes need to be mixed with water to apply using a back-pack sprayer. Usually, two applications—7 days apart, are recommended. Soil temperature needs to be at least 44 degrees F and it needs to stay moist (water every 3–4 days). Nematodes mostly die in winter so they will need to be reapplied annually.

For both milky spore and nematode ap-plications, be cautious with your expectations! Reduced numbers of adult beetles emerging in 'your' yard doesn't prevent them from flying in from areas that aren't treated.

Options for Japanese Beetles at Home Gardens (continued from front page)

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Jefferson County Master Gardener JULY 2018

Master Gardener Coordinator Update

Pineapple

The Volunteer Sites Committee has been meeting and created a draft application for volunteer site locations. They will be having a “pre” meeting be-fore the July Bimonthly MG Meeting to gather member input before the full meeting. It will start at 6 pm in the Viking Cafeteria. Start thinking about your executive committee. Tom Christmas, President, and Jeri Schmidt, Secre-tary, have decided not run for second terms. If you have ideas and are willing to run for either position let them know.

Three upcoming events might be of interest to you:

Thursday, Aug 9th – Twilight Tour of Urban Buds City Grown Flowers, $20

Saturday, Sept 8 & 15 – Pollinator Stewardship Program, $100 (12 advanced hours)

Sept 28-30 – Missouri Master Gardener Conference, Branson, MO, $200, https://momg18.org/

The guest presenter for the July Bimonthly Meeting will be on “Perennials - What's New, What's Rediscovered, and What WORKS in Lower Midwest Landscapes” with Bill Ruppert, owner of National Nursery Products. Bill will present an il-lustrated program featuring "benchmark" perenni-al selections proven to offer the best results for landscapes enduring the environmental rigors of the lower Midwest. This has been an odd weather year for gardening. We have had the coldest April on record followed by the hottest May on record. With the heat, it seemed to take forever for my tomatoes to retain their blossoms and actually start growing fruit. Hopefully, the rest of the summer will settle into a normal pattern (whatever that may be nowadays!)

Happy Gardening!

Find the answer somewhere in this newsletter

At my recent visit to the Botanical Gardens a few weeks ago, I found some fascinating plants in the Climatron that I knew how they grew but had not seen them personally. I thought I would share these with you in this section.

Climatron Beauties

Cacti do not just grow in the desert. The cacti of the rainforest are quite different from their temperate and desert cousins. They grow in the canopy as epiphytes instead of in the soil. Tropical cacti do not have spines. They have long, succulent leaves for light absorption instead of for water retention like other cacti. The most common tropical cacti are the leaf cacti (Epiphyllum spp.)

Banana

Bunch

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Jefferson County Master Gardener JULY 2018

By the Garden Gate by Paula McBurnett, MG

Book Review:

The Roots of My Obsession, edited by Thomas C. Cooper, Timber Press

The Roots of My Obsession is a compilation of writings by well-known gardeners from around the world. These “thirty great gardeners reveal why they garden.” I love a good gardening book with lots of commentary and asides and personal experiences, and I enjoyed this light bedtime reading including gardeners, bloggers, authors, business owners, current and former garden magazine editors, etc. Here are a few of my favorite segments from the book. I’ve included web links to some of their websites and blogs… “…My father gave me my first bit of a garden when I was a young child. Along with it came bean seeds and strawberry and tomato plants and the encouragement to do whatever I wanted. He also included me in his own gardening efforts. I was close to the ground, so I was in charge of finding the cutworms curled around his tomato plants. With every cutworm I found, he would whoop and holler; I felt like I had saved the family from starvation. He pointed out the first butterfly of the season and talked about composting and how things live on in a different form. Life truths were shared, and when you’re one of four children and you get your dad to yourself, it’s a special time….” Excerpt from Chapter “Taste Testing” by Rosalind Creasy, garden and food writ-er, and landscape designer with a passion for beautiful vegetables and ecologically sensitive gardening. http://www.rosalindcreasy.com/ “…To be a gardener is to come face to face with powerlessness, and to cultivate patience as actively as you do plants….The heavens will fail to provide manna in the form of rain and send violent, leaf-shredding hail in-stead. The neighbor’s dog will piss on the treasure you grew from a cutting, and it will perish. Where’s my vin-ing aconitum? you wonder out loud, feeling vaguely ill; the mow-and-blow guys (if you can find anyone who will mow a tricky place like this—I cannot) will say they thought it was a weed, lady, and therefore whacked it (and very thoroughly at that: well done…). The garden is where there’s no pretending that living things don’t die. Whatever you don’t kill makes you stronger, though…” Excerpt from Chapter “Saving Graces” by Margaret Roach who has been writing about gardening for more than 20 years. She was the first garden editor and later editorial director of Martha Stewart Living magazine. https://awaytogarden.com/ “…Plants adopted me, I think. My parents did their best, but with six kids and their own drinking problems, I was up for grabs. Plants led me into a series of successful plant-related businesses. They steered me away from university and wisely so. Plants decided to use me, I think. Or was it the other way round? I hope not….” Ex-cerpt from Chapter “It All Began with an Oxygen Mask” by Thomas Hobbs, whose private garden has been fea-tured in many prominent magazines and who runs Southland Nursery, Vancouver, Canada. https://www.thatbloomingarden.com/blog/ “…Every day I would play outside, mostly with the gardener’s children, but suddenly this was stopped—I lat-er understood this was to prevent me from picking up a local Scottish accent. At that time I also realized I was only girl, and although the eldest, with two younger brothers, I could never inherit our family’s lands or title. It was hard to accept the idea that girls are irreversibly second rate. I took refuge in the little patch of garden I had taken over. There was a winter jasmine and a few polyanthus, which I thought were quite wonderful. I also loved wandering down to the greenhouse, where I’d started a collection of regal pelargoniums that I still grow here in Dublin. Another place where I could find calm during the upheavals of a somewhat turbulent childhood was the clearing in the woods where wild daffodils grew….” Excerpt from Chapter “There Lies Peace” by Helen Dillon, who has been hailed as Ireland’s foremost gardener.

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Jefferson County Master Gardener JULY 2018

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In 2016, when she was 78 and her husband 80, they put their home and gardens at Sandford Terrace, Ranelagh, Ireland, up for sale. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/aug/20/gardens-plants-to-take-or-leave-when-moving-house-helen-dillon “….Why do I garden? It is a valid question. Am I cra-zy? I don’t really have a choice. The only way to avoid the pangs of withdrawal from an addiction like garden-ing is to garden more. This is one habit I have no inten-tion of breaking….” Excerpt from Chapter “Island Life” by Ken Druse, a celebrated lecturer, and an award-winning author and photographer, who has been called “the guru of natural gardening” by the New York Times. http://kendruse.com/ “….Gardening engages me on many levels…. speaks to my nurturing instincts; I marvel at the magic of germinating seeds and newly struck cuttings. Handling plants often reminds me of old friends and associa-tions, or transport me to other worlds. Verbascum olympicum takes me two thousand meters up on the slopes of Mount Uludag in the western Pontic Alps; Cyperus papyrus floats me down the Nile; ‘Roi des Balcons’ pelargoniums set me wandering the narrow cobbled streets of Paris; Phlomis tuberosa lands me on the Great Hungarian Plain. Every time I encounter castor oil beans, I flip back through the pages of Ian Fleming novels; every time I prune Rosa ‘Mrs Oakley Fisher’, I think of Vita Sackville-West, who gave Christo-pher Lloyd a cutting many years ago. The resulting plant still thrives at Dixter and has given rise to hundreds of new progeny…. Gardening is my passion, the garden my home and the plants my extended family….” Excerpt from Chapter “Turkish Delights” by Fergus Garrett, head gardener and CEO at Great Dixter (Christopher Lloyd), East Sussex, United Kingdom. He works full-time, hands-on in the garden, as well as writing and lecturing extensively across the world. https://twitter.com/fergusgarrett These are just a few of the stories that spoke to my inner gardener. The other 24 chapters are just as interesting and inspiring as these! I heartily recommend The Roots of My Obsession.

Book Review

The Roots of My Obsession by Paula McBurnett, MG

Calendar of Events JULY

10 – Bimonthly Meeting, Viking Room on Jefferson College Campus, Hillsboro, MO

11 – Registrations due for County Fair Exhibits. Call 636-797-5391

12 – Flower Arranging with Native Plants, Shaw Na ture Preserve, Grey Summit, MO. Call 314-577- 5140 (Level II class)

AUGUST

9 – Twilight Tour: Urban Buds City Grown Flowers, St. Louis, MO. Register at 636-797-5391 (limited to first 30 paid registrants), $20

9 – Pondscaping with Native Plants, Shaw Nature Preserve, Grey Summit, MO. Call 314-577-5140 (Level II class)

SEPTEMBER

8 & 15 – Pollinator Stewardship Program, DeSoto MO. Call 636-797-5391, $100

11 - JCMG Bimonthly Meeting, Viking Room, Hillsbo-ro MO.

28-30 – State Master Gardener Conference, Chateau on the Lake, Branson, MO. Register now at https://

momg18.org/

What am I? - I’M COCOA!

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-Missouri Botanical Garden-

July Gardening Calendar

Jefferson County Master Gardener JULY 2018

Ornamentals

Weeks 1-4: Provide water in the garden for the birds, especially during dry weather. Remove infected leaves from roses. Pick up fallen leaves. Continue fungicidal sprays as needed. While spraying roses with fungi-cides, mix extra and spray hardy phlox to prevent powdery mildew. Newly planted trees and shrubs should continue to be watered thoroughly, once a week. Fertilize container plants every 2 weeks with a water soluble solution. Keep weeds from making seeds now. This will mean less weeding next year. Keep deadheading spent annual flowers for continued bloom. Perennials that have finished blooming should be deadheaded. Cut back the foliage some to encourage tidier appearance.

Weeks 1-2: Plant zinnia seed by July 4th for late bloom in annual border. Spray hollies for leaf miner control. Prune climbing roses and rambler roses after bloom. Apply final treatment for borers on hardwood trees.

Week 1: Apply no fertilizers to trees and shrubs after July 4th. Fertilizing late may cause lush growth that is apt to winter kill. Hot, dry weather is ideal for spider mite development. With spider mite damage, leaves may be speckled above and yellowed below. Evergreen needles appear dull gray-green to yellow or brown. Damage may be present even before webs are noticed.

Weeks 2-3: Fall webworms begin nest building near the ends of branches of infested trees. Prune off webs. Spray with Bt if defoliation becomes severe.

Week 2: Divide and reset oriental poppies after flowering as the foliage dies. Don't pinch mums after mid-July or you may delay flowering.

Weeks 3-4: Semi-hardwood cuttings of spring flowering shrubs can be made now. Summer pruning of shade trees can be done now.

Week 3: Powdery mildew is unsightly on lilacs, but rarely harmful. Shrubs grown in full sun are less prone to this disease.

Week 4: Divide bearded iris now. Lawns

Weeks 1-4: Water frequently enough to prevent wilting. Early morning irrigation allows turf to dry before nightfall and will reduce the chance of disease.

Weeks 3-4: Monitor lawns for newly hatched white grubs. If damage is occurring, apply appropriate controls, follow-ing product label directions.

Vegetables

Weeks 1-4: Blossom-end rot of tomato and peppers occurs when soil moisture is uneven. Water when soils begin to dry; maintain a 2-3 inch layer of mulch. Cover grape clusters loosely with paper sacks to provide some protection from marauding birds.

Week 1: To minimize insect damage to squash and cucumber plants, try covering them with lightweight floating row covers. Remove covers once plants flower. Prune out and destroy old fruiting canes of raspberries after harvest is com-plete. Blackberries are ripening now.

Weeks 2-3: Apply second spray to trunks of peach trees for peach borers.

Week 2: Dig potatoes when the tops die. Plant fall potatoes by the 15th.

Weeks 3-4: For the fall garden, sow seeds of collards, kale, sweet corn and summer squash as earlier crops are har-vested. Set out broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower transplants for the fall garden. Early peach varieties ripen now.

Week 3: Sweet corn is ripe when the silks turn brown. Keep cukes well watered. Drought conditions will cause bitter fruit. Harvest onions and garlic when the tops turn brown.

Week 4: Sow seeds of carrots, beets, turnips, and winter radish for fall harvest. Thorn-less blackberries ripen now.