From the Help Desk of the
UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County
UC MGCC's Help Desk Response: Thank you for contacting the UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County regarding the remaining roots after removal of your large trees.
Based upon our research about invasive tree-root problems, there seems to be no real difference between ash or elm trees in the strength of their roots. Many other types of trees' roots are much more aggressive.
Regardless, these trees do have extensive roots that will try to live on reserve sugars for awhile. The roots will send up shoots as long as they are able, about a year or so, and if the leafy shoots find sun, they will try to grow. However, without sun, water and an unimpeded growing space, the weakened roots will eventually fail. To eliminate the trees from your garden, do not allow the shoots to succeed as that will create new sugars via photosynthesis from sunlight exposure.
You will have to be vigilant for a year or two, cutting back the shoots and sprouts as they pop up. Those severed roots under the foundation & walkways cannot live after their food reserve is gone.
Below is a a link to the University of California's Pest Note about woody weeds - which includes tree roots. It explains various methods to keep those tree shoots down and out.
http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74142.html
Please do not hesitate to contact us again for garden assistance.
Help Desk of the UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County (MKW)
Don't miss our 2016 Great Tomato Plant Sale:
http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/EdibleGardening/GreatTomatoPlantSale/
Note: The UC Master Gardeners Program of Contra Costa's Help Desk is available year-round to answer your gardening questions. Except for a few holidays, we're open every week, Monday through Thursday for walk-ins from 9:00 am to Noon at 75 Santa Barbara Road, 2d Floor, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523. We can also be reached via telephone: (925) 646-6586, email: ccmg@ucanr.edu, or on the web at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/Ask_Us/ MGCC Blogs can be found at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/HortCoCo/ You can also subscribe to the Blog (http://ucanr.edu/blogs/CCMGBlog/).
/span>/span>- Author: Shannon Wolfe
This Saturday, April 2, from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm at Our Garden (corner of North Wiget Lane and Shadelands Drive in Walnut Creek) is the 5th Annual Great Tomato Plant Sale! This is THE plant sale of the season. Come early on Saturday to get a hold of some of the best, and rarest tomato plants in Contra Costa County. Yes, the line may look long, but believe me, there are dozens of Master Gardener Volunteers happily working away to help you find your plants, find the checkout line and get back to your car!
And there is so much more than just tomato plants for sale. The whole family will enjoy walking through Our Garden and picking out tomato plants, vegetable seedlings and even flowers!
For all the details on the sale, please go here. For a shopping guide, please go here.
Don't forget your bags, boxes (or wagon, yes, wagon!) and your sun hat, and we will see you on Saturday!
Advice from the Help Desk of the
UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa
Help Desk Response: The spotted wing drosophila (Drosophila suzukii) is a relatively new pest of cherries and other soft fleshy fruits (strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, etc). Unlike other vinegar flies that attack rotting or fermenting fruit, the spotted wing attacks maturing fruit. The name spotted wing drosophila comes from the single black spot at the tip of each wing of the male adult. Don't think though that you will be able to identify this fly by those markings without magnification because these adults are small, really small. The female is able to penetrate the skin of the fruit to lay her eggs and this act creates a small depression (“sting”) on the fruit surface. The eggs hatch and the maggots develop and feed inside the fruit, causing the flesh of the fruit to turn brown and soft.
An alternative to malathion with fewer negative environmental effects would be spinosad (e.g., Monterey Garden Insect Spray and see http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/TOOLS/PNAI/pnaishow.php?id=65); h
Since spotted wing drosophila attacks ripening fruit it is often not noticed in home garden situations until the fruit is being harvested. Sprays at this time will not protect the crop because maggots are already in the fruit. If only some of the fruit are infested, you can salvage some of the crop by harvesting immediately and sorting the fruit, removing any with “stings” on the surface. It is recommended that all infested fruit be removed from the tree and picked up from the ground. It should then be placed in a sealed plastic bag and disposed of in the trash or buried. Do not put the infested fruit in your compost pile as it may not get hot enough to destroy the eggs and larvae still in the fruit.
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This blog was originally written by Emma Connery, Retired Master Gardener Program Coordinator, for publication in the Contra Costa Times April 2, 2011. Slight changes have been made to the original for this blog and are the full responsibility of the blog editor.
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Help Desk of the UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County
Come to the UC MGCC Program's Great Tomato Plant Sale
Walnut Creek 4/2&9, Richmond 4/9, and Antioch 4/16
Click for locations and plant lists!
Dozens of heirloom tomatoes & vegetables chosen especially for Contra Costa
Note: The UC Master Gardeners Program of Contra Costa's Help Desk is available year-round to answer your gardening questions. Except for a few holidays, we're open every week, Monday through Thursday for walk-ins from 9:00 am to Noon at 75 Santa Barbara Road, 2d Floor, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523. We can also be reached via telephone: (925) 646-6586, email: ccmg@ucanr.edu, or on the web at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/Ask_Us/ MGCC Blogs can be found at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/HortCoCo/ You can also subscribe to the Blog (http://ucanr.edu/blogs/CCMGBlog/).
Garden Advice from the Help Desk of the
UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa
(minor correction October 31, 2016)
Client's Request: How can I get rid of oxalis in my yard? I pull it out and think I've got it all, but it just comes back with more gusto the following year. It's annoying, to say the least!
Homeowners and gardeners wishing to eradicate Bermuda buttercup face a tenacious, prolific weed which has devised many successful survival strategies. Each year, after the first seasonal rains, and sometimes before in a dry year, about a dozen ovoid bulbils develop along the length of the threadlike, underground rhizome. These readily detach from the rhizome to replenish the soil seed bank.
Another survival technique of Bermuda buttercup is that, after initial removal by hand, new plants will grow from broken off stem segments left in the soil. Several passes at hand weeding may be necessary to completely remove this new growth. Discouraging survival of Bermuda buttercup can usually be accomplished by gently pulling on the plant and removing all of it just as it is about to flower. By this time, the parent bulb energy reserves are exhausted. The parent bulb should be completely dried out and most young bulbils are too immature to survive disturbance.
Though prevention is the best control method, soil solarization can reduce the bulb population. To be effective, solarization using a clear plastic tarp treated with an ultraviolet light inhibitor must be in place for no less than 4 consecutive weeks during June, July, or August. The sun's rays will heat up the soil to temperatures that are lethal to Bermuda buttercup bulbs (and most everything else in the top several inches). Some researchers investigating approaches for controlling Bermuda buttercup also suggest covering it with stiff cardboard and applying a thick layer of mulch. The goal is to weaken the bulbs and deprive the plant of sunlight, causing an inability to photosynthesize and eventual death by starvation. Chemical control can affect the top growth but is ineffective in preventing bulb germination.
The lack of movement of water and air between compacted clay soil molecules promotes the survival of Bermuda buttercup bulbils. Adding nitrogenrich organic matter will loosen existing soil particles and benefit soil structure by increasing porosity and improving drainage.
While complete eradication is practically impossible to achieve, following strict noncontamination practices, mulching, solarizing, improving soil structure and drainage are all steps gardeners can take to create an environment unfavorable to the establishment and survival of Bermuda buttercup.
For further information on managing this pest, visit www.ipm.ucdavis.edu and download UC's free Pest Notes publication 7444 entitled “Creeping Woodsorrel and Bermuda Buttercup.” (http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7444.html)
UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa's Help Desk (CG)
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This is an updated article authored by Chantal Guillemin, UC Master Gardener, and originally published in the March 19, 2011, Contra Costa Times. The HOrT COCO blog editor takes all responsibility for the above updated version.
A minor error was corrected Oct 31, 2016 to reflect, per the Pest Note above that woodsorrel can be a pest in nursery container-grown plants, while Bermuda buttercup isn't. See the Pest Note referenced abov for the specifics..
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Come to the UC MGCC Program's Great Tomato Plant Sale
Walnut Creek 4/2&9, Richmond 4/9, and Antioch 4/16
Click for locations and plant lists!
Dozens of heirloom tomatoes & vegetables chosen especially for Contra Costa
Note: The UC Master Gardeners Program of Contra Costa's Help Desk is available year-round to answer your gardening questions. Except for a few holidays, we're open every week, Monday through Thursday for walk-ins from 9:00 am to Noon at 75 Santa Barbara Road, 2d Floor, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523. We can also be reached via telephone: (925) 646-6586, email: ccmg@ucanr.edu, or on the web at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/Ask_Us/ MGCC Blogs can be found at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/HortCoCo/ You can also subscribe to the Blog (http://ucanr.edu/blogs/CCMGBlog/).
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- Author: Shannon Wolfe
Thousands of heirloom tomato and other vegetable plants will be on sale at the Fifth Annual Great Tomato Plant Sale - which is actually four sales in three locations: Walnut Creek, Richmond and Antioch!
Saturday April 2, 10am-3pm and April 9, 10am-2pm at Our Garden in Walnut Creek - North Wiget Lane and Shadelands Drive (off Ygnacio Valley Road).
Saturday April 9, 10am-3pm at the Richmond Public Library - 325 Civic Center Plaza.
Saturday April 16, 10am-3pm at the Mangini Agricultural Museum - 1201 West 10th Street in Antioch.
What makes the Great Tomato Plant Sale so special?
We base our selections & recommendations on the local experience of UC Master Gardeners field-testing & growing these tomato varieties in their own Contra Costa gardens and in Our Garden. Many of our varieties are only available locally through these sales.
What can I find at the Great Tomato Plant Sale?
More than 70 varieties of heirloom tomato plants will be for sale, including 24 new varieties for 2016, hailing from Russia, Japan, Italy, Mexico and, closer to home, West Virginia and Kentucky. In addition, we'll offer 30 varieties of peppers, many unusual and hard-to find—from sweet and juicy to hot and spicy, plus a wide variety of eggplants and tomatillos.
Plants will cost $3 each (cash or check only, please!), and the income will support the community education work of the UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County.
For more information on the Great Tomato Plant Sale, including the list of plants available for sale, please visit the UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County website.
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