Tried & true plants named All-America Selection winners
The 2012 All-America Selections (AAS) have been announced. AAS is a non-profit organization whose mission is to promote new garden seed varieties with superior garden performance judged in impartial trials.
Each year, judges visit trial gardens across North America. Judges look for improved qualities such as earliness to bloom or harvest, disease or pest tolerance, novel colors or flavors, novel flower forms, total yield, length of flowering or harvest and overall performance.
There are two AAS winning flowers and two vegetables for 2012. All grow best in well-drained soils, and full sun.
‘Black Olive’ is a pepper (Capsicum annuum Black Olive) but won in the flower category. The AAS Judges said this entry was a standout, especially in southern gardens where heat is always a major factor. The dark purple to black fruit, which appear in small clusters along the stems, matures to red as summer progresses. If you can’t find this one, nor start it yourself from seeds, look for the similar ‘Pretty in Purple’ or ‘Black Pearl’. And yes, the fruit of ‘Black Olive’ is edible and fiery hot.
‘Summer Jewel Pink’ salvia (Salvia coccinia Summer Jewel Pink) is the other winning AAS flower for this year. Summer Jewel Pink salvia is a dwarf-sized, compact plant that is notable for its prolific production of spikes of delicate pink flowers throughout the growing season. The plants grow to be about 15 to 20 inches tall and about 10 to 15 inches wide. The foliage is an attractive mid-green and is slightly fuzzy. The flowers are rich in nectar, and the hummingbirds love pink just as much as they do red!
‘Cayennetta’ pepper (Capsicum annuum Cayennetta) is one of the award-winning new vegetables. It is a chili-type pepper, with spicy fruits that reach three to four inches long. The tapered and elongated fruit start green and turn red as they mature. It grows upright and branched, requiring no staking which makes it perfect for a container or patio planter. A unique character of this variety is that it has good cold tolerance. This is important for gardeners planting as early as possible in spring and a good characteristic for late-summer plantings for fall production. Also notable is the dense foliage cover that protects the fruits from sun scorch. And it handled extreme heat very well.
‘Faerie’ is the other winning vegetable for 2012. ‘Faerie’ is a non-traditional watermelon in that it has a creamy yellow rind with thin stripes yet still yields sweet pink-red flesh. The fruit averages between four and six pounds and has a high sugar content and crisp texture. Vines are vigorous yet only reach about ten feet in spread, making them good for smaller spaces. Another bonus to this selection is its tolerance to insects and diseases.
To learn about more recent winners and to see past winners, visit the All-America Selections website (www.all-americaselections.org). They even provide a spreadsheet of seed sources for the winning plants.
For other articles of interest go to: http://santarosa.ifas.ufl.edu.
Make resolutions to help the environment
New Year’s is often the time for resolutions, and gardeners shouldn’t shy away from making a few of their own. Resolve to nurture your gardens in 2012 by working to keep the environment healthy.
Whether you are new to Florida or have lived here all of your life, learn how to protect Florida’s environment. Get started in your own back yard by implementing the nine principles of Florida-friendly landscaping. Learn to landscape and garden the smart way to grow!
1) Right Plant, Right Place: Not every plant can thrive in any place. Select plants that match your site’s soil, light, water, and climatic conditions. Think about buying native plants when possible, and select a variety of trees, shrubs, groundcovers, and flowers. Resolve to research the mature size of your plants prior to purchase and plant them in locations that will accommodate their full size.
2) Water Efficiently: Efficient watering is the key to a healthy lawn and landscape. Even plants in the right place will sometimes need supplemental watering. To water efficiently, group plants with similar water needs together. Watch for signs of wilt and irrigate when needed. Resolve to check your irrigation system regularly to make sure it’s zoned correctly and that you’re watering plants, not the sidewalk.
3) Fertilize Appropriately: Fertilizers add nutrients to the soil for plants, but they can do more harm than good if not used wisely. Less is often best. Over-use of fertilizers not only wastes money but the practice can be hazardous to your yard and the environment since the excess may seep into our water systems. Resolve to get a soil test done on your lawn to determine the type of fertilizer that is needed.
4) Mulch: Maintain two to three inches of mulch to help retain soil moisture, prevent erosion and suppress weeds. It also gives your landscape a neat, uniform appearance and is a Florida-friendly choice for hard-to-mow slopes and shady spots. Resolve to avoid “volcano” mulching where mulch is piled up around tree trunks.
5) Attract Wildlife: Plants in your yard that provide food, water and shelter can conserve Florida’s diverse wildlife. Select plants with seeds, fruit, foliage, flowers, or berries that animals can eat. Supply water, such as a rain garden or bird bath. Leave snags (dead trees) for birds to perch and nest in. Resolve to reduce wide-spread insecticide use to encourage beneficial insects.
6) Manage Yard Pests Responsibly: Unwise use of pesticides can harm people, pets, beneficial organisms and the environment. Remember that many insects are beneficial and should be allowed to stay in your landscape. Resolve to research and implement integrated pest management (IPM) practices.
7) Recycle: Grass clippings, leaves and yard trimmings composted and recycled on site provide nutrients to the soil and reduce waste disposal. Resolve to start a compost pile—it’s fun and easy.
Reduce Stormwater Runoff: Water running off your yard can carry pollutants, such as fertilizer, pesticides, soil and debris that can harm water quality. Reduction of this runoff will help prevent pollution. Resolve to add a rain barrel or a rain garden to your landscape.
9) Protect the Waterfront: Waterfront property, whether on a river, stream, pond, bay or beach, is very fragile and should be carefully protected to maintain freshwater and marine ecosystems. Resolve to protect water bodies by maintaining a ten-foot-wide buffer zone of native plants along the water’s edge. Don’t mow, fertilize, or use pesticides in this area.
Landscaping this way means having a beautiful landscape that could save you time, energy, and money while protecting the environment.
For additional information and other articles of interest go to: http://santarosa.ifas.ufl.edu
Take some time off from lawn care
Many areas on the Gulf Coast have experienced some cooler weather and some have even seen a frost. This means that warm season lawn grasses are going dormant for the winter. December and January are months to take a break from lawn care unless you have overseeded with ryegrass.
Centipede, St. Augustine, zoysia, bahia and Bermuda grass are called warm season grasses because they grow during the warmth of summer but go dormant during the cool of winter. When grasses slow down and go dormant, they should be allowed to rest until environmental conditions exist to stimulate their growth.
During the winter, nitrogen fertilization should not be applied on home lawns unless they are overseeded with ryegrass. Nitrogen fertilizer on dormant turfgrasses can lead to increased chance of winterkill and fungal diseases such as large patch. Nitrogen applications during this time also have a greater potential for movement into groundwater.
Homeowners who overseeded their lawns in October and November should follow recommendations on ryegrass fertilization. The University of Florida/IFAS recommends the first fertilization should follow the second mowing. Apply a lawn fertilizer at a rate of no more than one pound of nitrogen per 1,000 sq ft of turfgrass. For more information on fertilizing, please refer to Figuring Out Fertilizer for the Home Lawn (http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ep221). A second fertilizer application can be made approximately 60 days later. Always follow best management practices when fertilizing to reduce any potential nonpoint source pollution from the misapplication of fertilizer.
Large patch disease can come and go throughout the winter if the weather is mild. This is common on St. Augustine lawns along the coastal areas in Northwest Florida where the lawns go into partial dormancy only. Damage from large patch will slow spring green-up, and affected areas will remain unsightly until warmer spring weather conditions allow for turfgrass recovery.
To reduce the damaging effects of fungal diseases, be sure adjust your irrigation for dormant conditions. From the time the grass growth significantly slows in the fall until the time it begins to grow in the spring, approximately mid-November until the end of February, be sure that the grass is irrigated every ten to 14 days, absent sufficient rainfall.
Although many home lawns do not require regular mowing now, be sure to keep the leaf litter off the turfgrass. Leaves capture moisture between themselves and the turf that may create insect and disease problems. Once raked up, you can always use the leaves or needles as mulch in the shrub or flower beds. Two to three inches of mulch over the plant’s roots will also help prepare your plants for cold weather.
Wait until spring to establish any permanent, warm season turfgrass from seed. Sod can be laid during winter if absolutely necessary, but remember to keep it moist to prevent it from drying out and dying. Establishment is best left until midspring, well after spring green-up.
Warm-season turfgrasses may show signs of green-up in by early to mid-March in some areas. Do not push turfgrass growth with fertilizer. Fertilizer applied too early will feed the winter weeds, and fertilizer applied too heavily will result in lush growth that is more susceptible to injury from late frosts or large patch disease.
Let the grass green up gradually, and do not fertilize until after two or three mowings in early spring.
For additional information and other articles of interest go to: http://santarosa.ifas.ufl.edu.
Be in the pink by adding Dianthus to the garden
There is a proverb that states, “Tell me the facts and I’ll learn. Tell me the truth and I’ll believe. But tell me a story and it will live in my heart forever.” I’m amazed by the number of plant stories. And, it’s true; I do tend to remember the stories better than I do the facts.
This is a story about a group of plants with simple little flowers that many people call “pinks.” Pinks are not called that because of their color, although many are pink colored. All pinks have a similar-looking flower. If you look closely at the edge of each petal, it looks like it has been cut with “pinking” shears—those scissors that produce a zigzag edge.
The fact is that a group of flowers known scientifically as Dianthus has the common name of pinks. From the carnation to the sweet William, pinks are a diverse group with new species and new hybrids being introduced annually.
D. barbatus is often called sweet William and honors William, the duke of Cumberland, who crushed an uprising by Bonnie Prince Charlie. Sweet William is a true biennial, requiring it to go through a winter before it flowers. After it flowers, the plant will die. Fortunately, it self-sows so easily that the plant seems to be a constant in the garden.
The annual pink is D. chinensis. The fragrant small flowers are beautiful. Because this group has little tolerance to heat, they should be used as a cool-season annual. Plants will often melt after a few hot spells in the spring.
There is now an explosion of hybrid pinks created by crossing D. chinensis and D. barbatus. These hybrids offer far better performance in the garden. Some of the new hybrids are taller-growing and have potential as cut flowers.
There are many hybrid series that include a variety of colors. For example, the Super Parfait series includes ‘Raspberry Super Parfait’ which is crimson with dark eyes and ‘Strawberry Super Parfait’ has scarlet flowers with dark eyes.
The Telstar series was chosen as a Louisiana Select plant. These delightful plants give outstanding colors in scarlet, pink, purple, salmon and purple picotee, meaning that the edge of the flower is a different color than the flower’s base. In addition to their cheerful colors, they also have an enticing fragrance.
New cultivars are constantly being introduced. Some new varieties are being grown to provide some height to landscape beds. These include the new additions to the Devon Cottage series of ‘Amethyst’ and ‘Waterloo Sunset’. Four varieties have been added to the Scent First series. These include ‘Romance’, ‘Sugar Plum’, ‘Passion’, and ‘Devon Flavia’.
Pinks perform best in full sunlight but also do well in some filtered afternoon shade. Flowerbed soils need to be loose, well-drained and fertile. They do well at a soil pH that’s slightly acid to slightly alkaline. Pinks will not tolerate wet soil conditions, so it is important to adequately prepare a landscape bed and irrigate properly.
You can plant pinks from October through February on a 10- to 12-inch spacing to achieve a full landscape effect. At planting, or shortly thereafter, broadcast an application of a slow-release fertilizer over the entire bed. Depending on plant performance, a second light application may be beneficial in early spring.
Enjoy the colors of fall by planting the right trees
Travelers often journey north during autumn on a mission to see fall color. Some years they are rewarded with spectacular views. Sometimes the display is muted.
Have you ever wondered the basis of the beautiful colors? With the change in seasons, chemical processes that occur in tree leaves cause them to change color. It all centers on a pigment known as chlorophyll. If you remember your high school science, then you’ll connect chlorophyll with the process of photosynthesis. What you may not remember is that there are often other pigments, or colors, in a leaf. We don’t see these other pigments most of the year because they are masked by the chlorophyll pigment.
As the days get shorter and temperatures cool off, photosynthesis slows. Since the chlorophyll is no longer needed, it breaks down leaving the other colors visible. The yellows, oranges and reds that you see in the fall were really present in the leaves all along.
Temperature, water, light and chlorophyll residue all determine just how bright and striking the colors will be. These factors also determine how long the color will hang around. Sunny warm days, cool nights and occasional rains produce the best colors.
While the Gulf Coast isn’t known for its spectacular autumn leaf displays, we do have several wonderful trees that you can plant for great fall color.
• Red maple: This is a large native tree found throughout Florida. Its leaves turn yellow, red, orange or purple.
• Sweetgum: This proven native is a large tree with star-shaped leaves. The leaves can turn red, yellow, or purple.
• Bald cypress: (pictured) Its feathery foliage turns from soft green to a deep shade of gold or bronze before falling.
• Oaks: There are a number of dependable oaks for fall color. Shumard, nuttall and turkey are a few to consider. These oaks have fairly dark green deeply-lobed leaves during summer turning vivid red to red-orange in fall. The turkey oak is sometimes referred to as “scrub” oak and is quite common on our deep sandy soils. It is short lived as compared to most oak species, living for fifteen to thirty years before it starts to decline and die.
• Blackgum: This tree is a little slow in its growth rate but can eventually grow to seventy five feet in height. It provides a bright show of red to deep purple fall foliage.
There are other trees that provide us with fall color, but these you may want to avoid.
• ‘Bradford’ pear: These trees are known for their bright red color in the fall, but they often suffer from broken branches and are usually short-lived.
• Chinese tallow: Also known as the popcorn tree, this is one of the first trees to show color in our area. However, research has shown that the Chinese tallow is an invasive species, meaning that it grows and spreads rapidly, and it takes over natural areas. Birds eat the seeds and their droppings spread the tallow to other landscapes and natural areas. Seeds can also be carried to other new sites by water. Floridians can help slow the further spread of Chinese tallow by removing these hard-to-kill trees from their properties.
Start planting the right trees now, and you could be enjoying great fall color in years to come!
Colorful bedding plants can brighten up a winter day
Decreasing day length is a signal to start preparing for winter. Soon, deciduous shrubs will drop their leaves and the landscape will appear stark and less impressive. To keep the gloomy days of winter at bay, add cool season bedding plants to the landscape.
Bedding plants are those that are commonly used in residential and commercial landscapes to provide color and interest. No other group of plants can so quickly and economically create a colorful landscape.
Most bedding plants are annuals. These short-lived plants grow from seed, bloom and die within one growing season. The transient nature of annuals means that at the end of their season when they are no longer attractive, annuals are removed and replaced with new plantings.
Many flowering plants prefer a very specific season; therefore, bedding plants are classified into two groups based on the temperatures they prefer. Cool season bedding plants do best in the cold to mild temperatures of October through early May and generally tolerate typical winter freezes without protection.
According to a University of Florida/IFAS publication, bedding plants that can be added to the Gulf Coast landscape now include alyssum, baby’s breath, calendula, carnation, dianthus, dusty miller, foxglove, hollyhock, ornamental cabbage and kale, pansy (pictured), petunia, snapdragons and violas.
Most annual bedding plants prefer to be in a sunny location. Prepare the planting beds several weeks before planting. First, remove any weeds or other unwanted plants from the bed. Next, turn the soil to a depth of about eight inches. Spread a two- to four-inch layer of compost, rotted leaves, aged manure, composted finely ground pine bark or peat moss over the bed, and then evenly sprinkle a light application of an all purpose fertilizer. Thoroughly blend the organic matter and fertilizer into the bed, rake smooth and you’re ready to plant.
Gardeners are accustomed to (and even demand) that bedding plants be in bloom when they are purchased. Some cool season bedding plants, however, will provide far superior results if they are purchased when young and before the colorful display begins.
Bedding plants are typically planted to make a dramatic statement. To accomplish that, place multiple plants of the same kind in a bed. Bedding plants generally look best and the beds will fill in better when the rows are staggered. Lay out the first row of plants spaced properly. The second row is laid behind the first row at the appropriate spacing from it, but the plants are placed between the plants of the first row so that they form triangles with those plants.
Flower beds of colorful bedding plants add a lot to the landscape but require a fair amount of maintenance to stay looking their best. Keeping beds well weeded is critical. A two-inch layer of mulch will help considerably in keeping weeds from growing, and using preemergence herbicides (weed preventers) may help in some situations. However, always plan on having to do some hand weeding.
Rusty looking citrus might mean citrus rust mites
Citrus grown in the home landscape can be attacked by a number of insect and mite pests. Some are large enough to be spotted early in their infestation. Others are so small that you can’t see them without magnification. Consequently, you don’t tend to notice their damage until it’s too late to do anything about it. One very small pest that delivers an unsightly punch is the citrus rust mite (CRM).
Mites are arachnids rather than insects making them related to spiders. While there are several different types of mites that affect citrus, CRM is perhaps the most common.
The citrus rust mite is found on all citrus varieties throughout Florida. Populations of CRM can develop quickly under ideal conditions with a female laying 20 to 30 eggs over a 20-day period. Although they can be found anytime of the year, their peak populations usually occur during June and July.
Rust mites have piercing-sucking mouthparts and feed on the outside exposed epidermal surface of fruit that is 1/2 inch or larger and on plant leaves and green twigs. Feeding destroys the rind cells and ultimately causes a very unappealing and alarming looking fruit.
The appearance and amount of damage depends on when the infestation occurs. When a fruit is injured in summer or fall, the injured surface is smooth and dark brown in color, commonly referred to as “bronzing”. Mites feeding on fruit early in the spring produce a peel referred to as “sharkskin” because of its rough, grayish color. Blemished fruit lose water faster than undamaged fruit and will be smaller and appear substandard.
Citrus rust mites prefer the fruit on the tree’s outer canopy that is exposed to sunlight. However, the mite itself will avoid the most sun-exposed portion of the fruit. This behavior results in a “sun spot” of undamaged rind on the sunny side of the fruit. This pattern of damage is helpful in the diagnosis of this pest.
Not all the fruit on a tree will be afflicted and not every citrus tree in the yard will have an infestation. Thankfully, this condition has no effect on flavor; it is strictly a surface blemish. It does make fruit un-saleable (and sometimes even hard to give away), but still good to eat. Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do for it once the fruit is damaged.
Since rust mites are not readily visible to the naked eye, by the time the damage has been observed, spraying would usually be too late to be worthwhile. Therefore, early scouting is critical to avoid fruit blemishes. Use a magnifying glass to look for the mites at the times when infestation is expected to commence. Mite populations usually begin to increase in April on new foliage and reach a peak in June to July. Depending on weather conditions and the occurrence of natural enemies, citrus rust mite populations usually decline in August and September, but increase again in October and November.
Pay special attention to trees recently sprayed with insecticides. The misuse of insecticides can allow an explosion of mites.
Horticultural oils can be used to control many pests that attack citrus, including mites, whiteflies and scales. These products work by suffocating insects and causing them to die. When applied properly, oils provide a very useful tool for controlling some citrus pests without damage to beneficial organisms but the sprays require careful use to avoid plant Injury.
In general, be sure to carefully read any insecticide labels before applying them to your citrus trees. Before you spray your citrus with any insecticide, make sure citrus is included on the label. Be sure the mites you would like to control are listed on the label.
Dividing pays dividends
After a few years in the garden, some perennial plants grow too big for their own good. When perennial plants become overcrowded they tend to bear fewer flowers and, in some cases, die in the center. When that happens, it’s time to dig them up, divide them, and replant the smaller clumps.
In general, it is best to divide perennials during their dormant or “off” season; divide spring bloomers in the fall and fall bloomers in spring. Don’t divide a plant that is in flower or is almost ready to flower. Instead, divide after flowering has stopped. Early fall is a great time to rejuvenate summer-flowering perennials.
Start three to six inches away from the outside-most stems of the plant and dig straight down about a foot; separating the whole plant from the soil all the way around the outside. You want to get sufficient root for the plant to thrive in its new location. If the plant is too large to easily lift the entire unit from the ground, cut down through the plant taking a wedge of healthy stems and root systems. Do this several times, as needed, keeping the healthiest parts of the plant and discarding the dead middle portion. Work quickly and out of the direct sunlight to protect exposed roots and minimize stress on the plant.
This process may seem as though the plant is being butchered, but in fact, this is a renewal and rehabilitation process that will benefit the plant.
Re-plant one of the new divisions in the center of the space from which you just dug, keeping your original perennial garden intact. Take the other plants and start new sections in your landscape.
This is also a great time to rework the soil in your perennial garden. To get your rejuvenated plant off to a great start next spring, add organic amendments such as compost or peat to the bed while you are replanting. After you have re-planted the bed, water and mulch the area appropriately.
Some common perennials that will benefit from dividing include:
• Beebalm (Monarda); Divide every three years to control its rampant growth in the fall or spring.
• Black-eyed Susan: Divide every three to four years in the fall or early spring.
• Daylilies: Divide every three to six years or as desired to increase the number of plants. The ideal time is after the bloom is finished. Be sure to divide the fleshy roots into segments that include roots. Divisions with three or more shoots will bloom sooner.
• Hosta: This plant rarely needs dividing and will reach its best form if not divided too often. They can be divided as needed for additional plants in early spring or early fall.
• Lily of the Nile (Agapanthus): Divide only when flowering slows due to crowding in fall. The fleshy clumping roots are large and brittle so avoid dividing unless it is needed to improve blooming.
• Ornamental grasses: Divide every three to four years to prevent center die-back. Spring is the best time to divide for most grasses since many grasses do not tolerate fall division. They tend to have very dense fibrous root system that may require the use of an ax or saw to divide.
• Tickseed (Coreopsis): Divide every year or two to maintain vigor in the spring or fall. Be sure to discard the weakened center portion.
• Yarrow: Divide every two or three years or when center dies out in the spring or fall.
For additional information about all of the county extension services and other articles of interest go to: http://santarosa. ifas.ufl.edu.
Tackle winter weeds with a well planned offense
Avid gardeners tend to pay very close attention to the weather. Changes in the weather provide us signals on when to perform certain garden tasks. As the old saying goes, “timing is everything.” So, when I saw the forecast for some night temperatures in the 50’s on the Gulf Coast this week, it was a reminder to think about winter weeds.
Winter annual weeds, those that show up as young seedlings in the fall and become quite unsightly by late-winter, will be germinating soon. Some examples of common lawn winter weeds include annual bluegrass, chickweed, henbit and Carolina geranium. These weeds are most noticeable in February and March. Control, however, begins now.
The first and best method of weed control begins with proper management practices that encourage a dense, thriving turf. Be sure to follow mowing, watering and fertilization recommendations for your specific turfgrass. Remember that in Northwest Florida, we don’t recommend applying a nitrogen-containing fertilizer after September 15th. Fertilizing too late in the year may increase the lawn’s chance of winter-kill and encourage weed growth.
Even if all your management practices are perfect, a lawn can still have some weeds. If you were bothered by weeds last winter, think about applying a preemergence herbicide. A preemergence herbicide is a weed control chemical that is applied prior to weed seed germination. It can be a very effective offensive play against bothersome weeds. Not utilizing preemergence products automatically puts you in a defensive position when it comes to lawn weeds.
For preemergence control of winter annual weeds apply an appropriate herbicide when nighttime temperatures drop to 55° to 60°F for several consecutive days (early October for North Florida). For season-long weed control, a second application may be needed about nine weeks after the initial application.
There are many effective preemergence products. Some recommended chemicals include atrazine, pendimethalin (Pre-M® or Halts Crabgrass Preventer®), or dithiopyr (Dimension®). There are others – check with local garden supply stores or contact your local Extension office.
Preemergence herbicides may be purchased formulated as dry granules, wettable powders or water dispersible granules or liquids. Choose a formulation that is best suited for you and your turfgrass. ALWAYS READ THE LABEL for specific application instructions, weeds controlled, and safety precautions.
All preemergence herbicides must move into the upper portion of the soil to control weeds. Herbicides not washed into the soil are decomposed by sunlight or lost as vapors. Some herbicides are more susceptible to degradation than others. Therefore, the times varies that a herbicide can stay on the soil and still provide acceptable weed control. The sooner the herbicide is washed into the soil, the better the weed control will be typically.
A minimum of one-half inch of water should be applied shortly after the herbicide application to ensure that the herbicide is activated and moved onto the surface soil to form a uniform weed control barrier.
Not every lawn needs an application of preemergence herbicide this time of year. If your lawn has no history of winter annual weed problems, there’s probably no need to apply a preemergence herbicide to prevent non-existent seedlings from emerging. However, if you have persistent problems with winter weeds, remember to apply a preemergence herbicide at the right time.
It’s time to plant your onions
Onions are sold in every grocery store, served at most every meal and featured at sporting events across the United States. Onions are everywhere. If you’ve ever wanted to try to grow them, now is the time to plant.
Edible onions have been cultivated for so long that it is difficult to trace their origin. Onions were first introduced to America around the turn of the century when a retired French soldier brought some onion seeds from Corsica to the Walla Walla region of the Pacific Northwest. But it wasn’t until the farmers in Georgia realized what a special thing they had in the Vidalia onion and began spreading the news that the sweet onion finally got the attention it deserves.
Onions have different requirements as to the number of hours of daylight required for bulb formation. The types that require 15 to 16 hours of light daily are referred to as “long day” varieties and not adapted for the South. Types that grow best on the Gulf Coast are the “short-day” varieties. They must be started in the fall so that bulbing is induced by the short days of winter. However, the subsequent harvest of bulbs follows in the spring or early summer.
Onions are often grouped according to taste (mild and strong flavored), color (white, yellow, and red) and use (storage or freshly eaten). Some suggested bulbing onion varieties for Florida include Excel, Texas Grano, Granex, White Granex and Tropicana Red.
Yellow onions are gardeners’ most popular choices. Granex 33 is the early Texas hybrid grown in Vidalia, Georgia. Texas Grano 1015Y Aggie Sweet produces a large, mild bulb that is very sweet under the right growing and soil conditions. The Texas Grano 502 is well known for large, mild bulbs with fair storage potential.
Onions are grown either from seed, sets (tiny immature bulbs) or transplants. The planting method selected is based on cost, use, availability, and planting ease.
Onions grown from sets do not make the best bulbs, and are rather costly. Specific onion varieties are usually not available. They are sold simply as red, white, or yellow onion sets. Since the variety is unknown, the flavor, use, and keeping quality of onions grown from sets varies considerably. Avoid sets more than an inch in diameter, as they are likely to bolt. Late plantings are more susceptible to cold or freeze injury. Planting too early can result in increased seed stem production.
Growing onions from seed may be the most difficult planting method. However, it is the least expensive and offers the greatest variety. Germination may be sporadic and plant growth can be slow. Be aware that onion seed does not remain viable long, and should not be planted when more than one year old.
In North Florida, onions can be started between mid-September and mid-November. Onion seed can be planted directly in the garden or in flats. Sow eight to 12 seeds per foot of row ½ to one inch deep. If larger bulbs are desired, thin to a final spacing of four to six inches apart.
Set out transplants from late December through February. Plants should be about 6 inches high and about half the thickness of a lead pencil at the time of transplanting. Set plants with the bottom of the plant about 1 to 1½ inch below the surface of the soil. Transplants should be spaced 3 to 4 inches apart in the row.
Onions have a shallow, poorly developed root system, so regular fertilization and watering are essential. Inconsistent watering may lead to splits, doubles and small bulbs. Fertilize the crop monthly with a nitrogen fertilizer. Be sure to keep the fertilizer from contacting the plants directly.
Good weed control is a must. Since young onions are small and grow slowly at first, they can be taken over by weeds that reduce yield. Look out for diseases before they become established. Leaf blight diseases can seriously reduce yields. Monitor for insects twice each week, and use appropriate management techniques. Contact your local Extension Office for the latest information on pest management recommendations.
For additional information about all of the county extension services and other articles of interest go to: http://santarosa.ifas.ufl.edu.
Take care of yourself and the plants in this August heat
The sweltering heat of August makes it a tough month for gardening on the Gulf Coast. Many people will be tempted to stay indoors and avoid the heat; however, gardeners know that there is still plenty to do in the garden and landscape.
August can be a very active month in the vegetable garden. Many of our warm season vegetables can be planted in August including green beans, lima beans, cucumbers, southern peas, peppers, pumpkin, summer squash, winter squash and tomatoes. Be aware, however, that the late planted summer, or warm season vegetables are more prone to insect and disease problems than the same crops planted in the spring.
It’s also a great time to plan your fall vegetable garden. Many cool season vegetables can be planted in September. So now is the time to prepare the soil.
For a vegetable garden, select a well-drained site with at least six hours of direct sunlight. Have a pH test done if you have not done one within the last year. A pH test will tell you if lime is needed. Don’t add lime without knowing what your pH is currently–too much lime is as bad as not enough. Be sure to add a generous amount of organic material such as compost, animal manure or rotted leaves. It’s difficult to add too much organic matter to our sandy soils since the climate favors the rapid decomposition of organic matter. Allow at least three weeks between the incorporation of amendments and planting.
August is prime time for lawn problems. Be on the lookout for spittlebugs in centipedegrass and chinch bugs in St. Augustinegrass lawns. A few of these insects is usually not a problem. However, if you see noticeable damage to your lawn, contact your local Extension office for control options.
Various lawn diseases are also present at this time of year. Frequent summer showers, high humidity and warm temperatures provide ideal conditions for the development of fungal diseases such as gray leaf spot and take all root rot. Avoid contributing to a favorable disease environment by watering too often.
Consider adjusting your mowing height up a notch or two during the summer. The more top growth the plant has the more leaf area it has to harvest sunlight and ultimately grow roots.
Take the time to scout your trees and shrubs for problems. Look for the azalea defoliator caterpillar on azaleas. These are large black caterpillars that can strip the foliage very quickly. Pick them off by hand or remove the twig they are on.
Some of our flowering plants may need a little pick-me up. Annuals need deadheading and the perennials may need a haircut. Many straggly plants can be cut back and fertilized to encourage re-blooming in the fall. Some of these include begonias, coneflowers, impatiens, marigolds, salvia and zinnias. Limit the addition of new plants to those that are the most heat tolerant such as coleus, croton, lantana, melampodium, salvia and vinca.
If weeds have taken over your landscape beds, you will need to eradicate them before they start setting seed. A day or two after a good rain, when the ground has absorbed the water and softened a little, get out and do some hand weeding.
In addition to taking care of your plants, be sure to take care of yourself in this blistering heat. Slow down, drink plenty of water, don’t get too much sun and try to do your garden chores in the coolest part of the day.
Many factors can cause the sudden death of plants
You leave on vacation and everything in the landscape is alive and well. You return one week later to find a completely dead shrub in the midst of several other healthy ones. What happened?
Plants can die or severely decline surprising quickly. It happens more often in the summer months due to the increase demand for water. However, the cause may have been there for months or even years. There are a number of reasons why plants die suddenly and sometimes it takes a lot of investigation to find the cause.
Reasons why a plant, whether a tree, a shrub, a ground cover or bedding plant may suddenly die include cultural, environmental and physiological factors. Cultural factors are things applied or done to the plant that it doesn’t like. Physiological factors include things within the plant that causes or triggers disease or death.
Cultural and environmental factors are probably the most common causes of sudden death and include everything from water stress to a leaky gas line on the mower.
In a vast number of sudden death cases, the cause is either too much or too little water. Even the best gardeners loose plants to drought. Combine water repellant soils to irrigation problems and plants can die of dehydration. One way to investigate this cause is to dig down into the soil to a depth of roughly one foot and see how moist it is.
Incorrect fertilization can also lead to sudden death. Spilling or applying too much fertilizer results in a large, rapid buildup of soil salts around the roots and this effectively causes moisture to be sucked out of the plant, which can lead to death by dehydration.
Another reason for sudden death is root injury. If a large proportion of the roots are damaged by pruning to install fences, pools or driveways, plants can be severely damaged. If impervious paving is installed, it blocks moisture from penetrating and stops the soil from ‘breathing’. Plant roots need oxygen to operate, so if that’s cut off they can die. Normally one side of the tree or shrub declines much more rapidly than the other.
A more ominous reason of sudden death is mushroom root rot. This disease is caused by a mushroom producing fungus (Armillaria spp.) that feeds on dead and living roots and woody debris in soils. The fungus may remain alive for years on roots and stems, as parasites on living host tissue or as saprophytes on dead woody material.
While the best way to identify mushroom root rot is through the honey-colored mushrooms it produces, it is not the quickest. Mushrooms may take many months to emerge. In the absence of mushrooms, field identification of mushroom root rot is based on the presence of mycelial fans.
Mycelial fans are white mats of fungal material between the inner bark and wood. They tend to have a strong mushroom odor and often have a fan-like pattern. To see these fans, gently scrape off the bark at the base of the dead shrub or tree and look for a creamy layer of material.
Although mushroom root rot disease is among the most studied diseases of trees in the world, the fact remains that, in many cases, we do not have an effective, practical means of reducing the disease. Remove the dead tree and shrub as soon as possible.
An amazing feature of Armillaria is that the mycelium, especially in actively decaying wood, is bioluminescent. Such glowing wood is known commonly as foxfire.
For additional information go to http://santarosa.ifas.ufl.edu
July is smart irrigation month
By Theresa Friday
According to the EPA, more water is used in July than any other month in most areas of the United States, and much of that water goes toward keeping lawns and landscaping green. For this reason, the Irrigation Association has named July “Smart Irrigation Month.”
Saving water doesn’t have to involve the cost and inconvenience of tearing up your yard to install a new irrigation system. It’s easy to save water and reduce your utility bills with simple changes to your landscaping and gardening routine.
Landscape to suit your lot
Choose grass or plants that have low water requirements and will thrive in your local climate. Consider your lot’s exact features, including sun and shade, dry and damp areas, plant size, and how you plan to use each section of your yard.
Keep soil healthy
Aerating your lawn and around trees at least once a year helps improve water penetration. When planting, turn and cultivate the soil and add compost or fertilizer to improve moisture retention and grow healthier plants that need less water to stay strong.
Mulch well
Using 2 to 4 inches of mulch reduces evaporation, moderates spikes and lows in soil temperatures, improves water penetration and helps control weeds that compete for water.
“Hydro-zone” your yard
Grouping plants with similar moisture needs in the same area makes it easier to make sure they get the water they need without overwatering. Separate plants from grassy areas, which have different water requirements.
Plant in spring or fall
Avoid summer, when hotter temperatures mean plants need more water to become established.
Grass is for functional areas
Plant grass in play zones and other areas where it will be used and enjoyed. Instead of planting turf on sleep slopes or other hard-to-water spaces, consider ground cover, perimeter plants or mulch.
Plant shade trees
The shade they cast creates natural “air-conditioning,” lowering air and soil temperatures, and reducing soil moisture loss.
Maintain your yard
A well-maintained yard requires less water, so weed, prune and mow as needed. When watering is necessary, be sure to apply it efficiently. In the landscape, watering at the right time of day is important. It is best to irrigate when the sun is low, the winds are calm and temperatures are cool. This will save water – as much as 30 percent – by reducing evaporative losses. The best time to water is from early morning a couple hours before sunrise.
Saturate the root zones
Roots are generally within the top 6 inches of soil. Let the soil dry between irrigations. Watering too frequently results in shallow roots, weed growth, disease and fungus.
More Water, but less often
Water in a way that runoff is reduced. It is best to irrigate at a rate so the soil can take in the water being applied. You don’t want irrigation water to go into the parking area or down the street. Water a couple times weekly instead of watering a little bit every day.
For more info, go to: http://santarosa.ifas.ufl.edu.
Black sooty mold is a sign of an insect infestation
At certain times of the year, particularly during the summer months, you might notice a plant or two in your landscape where the leaves are covered with a dark black coating. If the coating rubs off on your fingers, the culprit is most likely a type of mildew commonly known as black sooty mold.
Sooty mold is not considered a plant pathogen and does not directly harm the plant. It can, however, indirectly affect plants by shading the leaves which interferes with photosynthesis, potentially slowing plant growth and reducing the long-term vigor of the plant.
Where does it come from?
Sooty mold is actually a sign of an insect infestation. Sucking insects such as soft scales, mealybugs, aphids, whiteflies and treehoppers suck nutrients from plants by tapping into the plant’s vascular system with their thread-like mouthparts. They feed on the plant’s liquid and nutrients, thereby “starving” the twigs and branches that eventually shrivel and die.
These sucking insects filter out the nitrogen components of the sap and excrete the excess water and sugary components onto leaves, driveways and whatever is nearby. Their excretions are called honeydew because of the sticky nature of the fluid.
Honeydew seems like a strange name for a waste product that comes out the back-end of an insect. Nevertheless, it provides an ideal substrate for the black sooty mold to colonize.
Other insects, such as yellow jackets and bees, hovering around the affected shrub can also be an indication of a sucking insect infestation, as they are attracted to the sweet honeydew also.
What to do?
To successfully get rid of the sooty mold, your strategy should be directed towards the insect, not the mildew.
First, correctly identify the sucking insect and evaluate their population. Remember, having a few pest insects in the landscape will actually provide food for the beneficial insects. You never know, you may not have to do anything if the right types of beneficial insects are present. However, if the sucking pest population becomes overwhelming, you may need to treat.
Sprays of insecticidal soaps and/or horticultural oils can be very effective in controlling soft bodied sucking insects. Other products are also effective in controlling these insects. Always remember to read the label of the product you are using first. Try to avoid using broad-spectrum insecticides if possible since these kill beneficial insects that prey on pest insects. Contact your local Extension Office for help in determining the correct control option.
Ant management is a new twist when dealing with these plant pests. Ants like sweets and the more honeydew producers (think of the sucking insects as little candy factories) the better. Ants actually herd the sucking pests and move them to other plants and to start a new infestation. The ants guard the honeydew producers and fend off predators and parasites from attacking the defenseless and nonchalant plant sucking insects.
If ants are an issue, use ant bait stations, placed away from the house, but near the shrub beds to minimize ants setting up new “candy factories” on your plants by moving these little suckers around. Once there are no ants, the natural predators and parasites of the pest insects will be better able to keep the aphids, scale and whiteflies under control.
For additional information go to: http://santarosa.ifas.ufl.edu.
It’s time to prune gardenias and hydrangeas
Hydrangeas and gardenias are two of our most beloved shrubs in the South. They are revered for their flowers and are planted in large drifts throughout the Gulf Coast.
Gardenia shrubs are evergreen and produce shiny, dark green leaves. They are known for their waxy, creamy white flowers. The flower’s aroma, adored by many gardeners, is powerful and pleasant.
Hydrangeas are deciduous shrubs and produce coarse, light green leaves. Their large leaves will fall off after a freeze. Although you are left with bare sticks during the winter, the summer blooms are well worth the winter bareness. While there are many different types of hydrangeas, the mopheads are probably the most recognizable. Their large inflorescences are usually blue on acid soil, pink on alkaline soil and a dirty white on neutral pH soil.
Even though these shrubs are different in many aspects, the one thing they have in common is when they “set” their flower buds. Both shrubs develop flower buds on old (mature) wood of the previous year and open in early summer of the following year. Flower buds are formed at the terminal end of stems and, if not killed by cold or removed by inappropriate pruning, provide the showy floral display the next year.
The best time to prune gardenias and hydrangeas is after they finish flowering for the season. Pruning them at the incorrect time of the year, such as winter, will remove the flower buds.
Your pruning program should be purposeful. First, remove all diseased, weak and dead wood. It will be important to disinfect your pruning equipment after removing suspect branches. Pruning shears, loppers and saws can be dipped in a weak bleach solution to prevent spread of disease between plants.
Once all the problem branches have been removed, then think about thinning the plant. Shrubs are often thinned to reduce a top-heavy appearance or to open up a dense canopy. To thin, simply remove some of the oldest branches by pruning them down to the ground. Remove about a quarter to a third of the branches, selecting the oldest ones for elimination. When thinning, take care not to damage the nearby younger stems and foliage.
Next, cut back branches that are excessively long. Prune back to a lateral branch that is six to twelve inches below the desirable plant height, removing no more than a third of the stem. Cut each branch separately to different lengths with hand pruners. This will maintain a neat informal shrub with a natural shape. Plants sheared into various geometric shapes produce a formality not suitable for many modern, natural landscapes. Making pruning cuts down inside the canopy instead of on the outside edge will also hide unsightly pruning cuts.
Within the last several years, reflowering hydrangeas have found their way into the marketplace. Reflowering hydrangeas produce an initial flush of flowers followed by sporadic flowering or later flushes of flowers in the same growing season.
Endless Summer® Hydrangea is a reflowering hydrangea. It is very forgiving and will not suffer if left unpruned or pruned at the wrong time. In fact, young, recently planted shrubs are best left alone. Unlike other hydrangeas, your Endless Summer® will bloom on both old and new wood, branches that grew last year and the new branches from this year. Another unique feature is that this hydrangea will continue to set buds and bloom throughout the season. Deadheading, or removing the spent flowers will encourage continual blooming.
Watering wisdom
Dry weather is persisting across much of the South. Below normal rainfall and record-breaking heat is taking a toll on local landscapes. Because of the Gulf Coast’s sandy soils, drought-sensitive plants may experience water stress after only a few days without rain or irrigation. Because water is a valuable resource, it’s crucial that irrigation be delivered properly to ensure plant health and conserve water.
How often we need to water varies, depending on such factors as temperature, rainfall, humidity, season, plants and light intensity. Proper watering is a function of applying the right amount of water at the appropriate times. It is important to get water to plant roots efficiently and effectively and to keep the moisture in the root zone area.
• Irrigation Frequency – Many gardeners tend to water lightly every day during dry weather. Light frequent watering doesn’t get the water deep into the soil. Because roots only grow where there is adequate moisture, this practice results in a shallow root system. Shallow-rooted plants are unable to tap reserves of water deeper in the soil and are prone to drought stress in even brief dry periods. Eventually, your plants become dependent on you to water them constantly.
Established trees and shrubs typically do not require frequent irrigation. For established plants, apply enough irrigation to wet the soil at least 8 to 12 inches deep rather than light amounts that wet only the surface. Deep watering provides water to a larger portion of the root system. A thorough watering should not be necessary for established landscape plants more often than once a week.
University of Florida guidelines call for watering lawns on an “as needed” basis. Lawns that are in need of water will show specific signs. These signs include the leaf blades folding in half, the grass showing a blue gray tint or your footprints remaining visible long after being made.
• How Much to Water – To irrigate thoroughly, enough water should be applied to penetrate about 8 to 10 inches into the soil. Applying ½ to ¾ of an inch of water to medium-textured soils generally will accomplish this. To figure out how long to leave your sprinkler on to apply the recommended amount of water, first, place several empty cans in the spray pattern of the sprinkler. Turn on the sprinkler and check the time. When about a ½ inch of water has accumulated in most of the cans, check the time again. That’s how long it takes your sprinkler to apply a ½ inch of water – and about how long you should leave it on to thoroughly irrigate an area. The best check of how thoroughly an area has been watered is to go back about 15 minutes after watering and dig into the soil with a trowel. Find out if the water penetrated deep into the soil. Check several places. This procedure also works to calibrate an installed irrigation system or hose-end sprinklers.
In some situations, such as on slopes and heavy clay soils, the water may need to be added more slowly to reduce runoff. It takes water longer to penetrate heavy clay soils than light sandy soils. Run the sprinkler on for 10 to 15 minutes and off for 15 to 20 minutes until you’ve applied a ½ inch of water.
• When to Water – Water early in the morning. Less water is lost to evaporation and wind drift in the morning because of cooler temperatures and less wind.
• Final Thought – In the long run, organic matter in landscape beds helps to maintain soil moisture. For best results, mulch all landscape beds twice a year. Pine straw and pine bark are excellent mulches along with hardwood mulch.