- Author: Rosie D
Are you ready for autumn to begin and be done with the heat of the summer? I am looking forward to the fall and it can start anytime in my book! However, looks like we are (still) in for warmer than “normal” temperatures for the foreseeable future.
So, what to do in the rose garden this month? Towards the middle of the month, you can lightly prune your roses. This is not the major pruning you will do in February. Instead, you can cut any spent flowers or hips to the next set of leaflets that have either five or seven leaves. (Some roses have five leaves on their leaflets and other varieties have seven.)
This is a light trim only. Prune by cutting ¼ inch to ½ inch above an outward-facing bud eye. What is a bud eye? It is the small bump found where the leaf meets the stem/cane on the rose bush. If any canes have died during this summer (hint - they are black all the way to the soil), clip those off at the base. Only trim a maximum of 1/3 of the overall size of the bush.
If you see that by trimming the bush, there will be very little foliage left on it, don't trim it at all. Leave it alone and see how the rose bush looks in the spring. Having no foliage on your rose bush is the quickest way to kill it. What typically happens is that, when a rose is cut back with no foliage on it during this time of year, the canes will turn black and the plant slowly dies. I learned this lesson the hard way, when I first started growing roses many years ago. The safest thing is to leave your roses alone if trimming them will leave no foliage on them at all.
Again, always make sure your pruning shears are sharp and clean. Wipe with an alcohol wipe between each rose bush. Don't use bleach on your pruning shear blades as it can damage them. The alcohol wipe won't, and it will kill any diseases on the blade so they don't affect your rose bushes.
If your roses are on drip irrigation, run your system in the early morning or evening (on the days we can water) to give your roses a chance to thoroughly hydrate. Check your irrigation system to see that it is operating correctly and none of the emitters are clogged. If an emitter is delivering more or less water than the other emitters on the line, change it out for a new one. That one emitter can affect the whole system. Replace it when there is a problem.
If you grow roses in pots, make sure that they are getting enough water. If the soil has pulled away from the pot, water can run through the pot but not hydrate your plant. Make sure your potting soil allows water to get to the plant. You should re-pot your roses every couple of years. The longer the soil is in a pot, the less porous it becomes in the root zone. New soil would be in order. Don't do this now. Wait and put this on your spring chore list when your rose is dormant.
Towards the middle of the September, it is time to feed your roses. You can use a rose food (8-10-8), liquid fish or seaweed fertilizer and alfalfa meal. If the fish fertilizer smells like fish and you have a lot of neighborhood cats, you may want to use the seaweed fertilizer instead.
Alfalfa meal (not the pellets which contain sugar/molasses and can attract rodents) contains a chemical called triacontanol. It will stimulate new growth in your roses. Make sure you water the bushes before you add the alfalfa meal. Add about a cup of alfalfa meal to the soil for large, established roses and about a ½ cup for large, established mini roses. Water again afterward. Never fertilize a dry or stressed plant.
If you are using an organic rose fertilizer, apply the recommended amount (it is on the label), after the 15th of the month. You can also put down some compost. Make sure you water after putting down the fertilizer. If you wish to use liquid fish/seaweed fertilizer, mix according to the package directions. You can do this every other week up until the middle of November. Then it will be time to start giving your plants a rest for a nice bloom next spring. You should have lovely blooms for Thanksgiving, and I even have had lovely blooms for Christmas (depending on the weather).
It is still important to watch out for spider mites. You can hose those off with a good blast of water and make sure to blast the underside of the leaves as well. It is still too hot to use horticultural oil. You will burn your plants.
Pumpkin Patch roses
Until next time . . . "Autumn leaves don't fall, they fly. They take their time and wander on this their only chance to soar." - Delia Owens, "Where the Crawdads Sing"
- Prepared by: Terry Lewis
“A garden is a thing of beauty and a job forever” ~ Richard Briers
Tasks
- Despite a few last very hot summer days, fall is rapidly approaching with shorter days and cooler nights. Adjust irrigation timers, as your garden requires less water.
- The cooler weather is perfect for working in the garden. Start fall cleanup.
- Deeply water fruit and nut trees. Ideally, mature fruit trees should be irrigated to a depth of 3 feet.
Pruning
- Prune and shape photinia now to avoid removing the attractive new, red foliage. Photinia can be pruned aggressively if the plant has grown too large.
- Finish dividing iris. Replant while conditions remain warm and dry, and share extra rhizomes with friends and neighbors.
Planting
- Bulbs that do not need chilling may be planted beginning this month.
- Plant winter and spring annuals and cool-weather vegetables from cell packs.
- Annuals: snapdragon (Antirrhinum), English daisy (Bellis perennis).
- Perennials: Alstroemeria, Bellflower (campanula), chrysanthemum morifolium, Geum.
- Fruits and vegetables: beets, carrots - plant from seed.
- Trees, shrubs, vines: abelia, acacia, horse chestnut (Aesculus), strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo).
Enjoy now
- Annuals and perennials: alstroemeria, yarrow (Achillea), aster, begonia.
- Bulbs, corms, tubers: canna.
- Trees, shrubs, vines: barberry (Berberis), bougainvillea, butterfly bush (Buddleia davidii).
- Fruits and vegetables: almonds, beans, corn.
- Fall color: maple (Acer), cotoneaster.
Things to ponder
- A thick layer of mulch acts as insulation. If applied while the soil is still warm (55°- 65°) it can help extend the fall growing season.
- In the absence of soaking rains, continue to deep water trees and large shrubs at least once a week.
- Author: Michelle Davis
Up and coming: The UCCE Master Gardener Fall Plant Exchange, Saturday, September 28, 2024, 9 AM to 12 PM.
Fall is a great time to plant, not just for the plant's health for the gardener's as well. The soil is warm, but the air temperature is usually a little cooler. Fall planting encourages plant roots to branch out, take root and stockpile nutrients over fall and winter. Come spring, fall-planted transplants will have stronger roots, contributing to hardier plants that are more drought-tolerant and heat-resilient. Fall planting also usually doesn't require as much watering after the first month or so - air temperatures decrease and rain usually takes over the job. Mulching is still important during planting at any time to help keep the moisture in the ground and in plant roots.
Our last plant exchange was in April. Here are some of my observations and suggestions gained from that event. Some of the first plants to get picked up to get rehomed were squash starts grown by Julie S. I brought them for her and no sooner than they were placed on the table they were gone. Seeds can be started now indoors for arugula, beets, bok choy, broccoli and brassicas, collards, kale, lettuce, spinach and Swiss chard. All can be transplanted when day temperatures are around 80-90 degrees, usually perfect for October in Solano County!
California Natives were big hits. If one of these is going to go from a container into the ground, the time to do that is before the first rain for the roots to grow. Again, don't forget to apply mulch. If you are the one thinking of taking the native home, check https://calscape.org to see if it will do well in the location you're envisioning. This website of the California Native Plant Society has been recently revamped and it is excellent. With exceptional photography, it includes all the requirements your prospective plant needs and all the pollinators it will attract. If you want to propagate your native and need the steps, check this webpage for more information: https://ucanr.edu/sites/MGsSMSF/files/388232.pdf. For successful transplanting techniques, another excellent website is from the Alameda County Master Gardeners https://acmg.ucanr.edu/Over_the_Fence/Planting_California_Natives/.
Many gardeners brought succulents. Most were not potted and that's not a problem at all. Take a healthy leaf or two from a stem. Let it sit for at least two days up to a week in a warm spot out of the direct sun, checking for a scab to form where the leaf had been attached to the stem. Once the scab is formed, you can dip the end in rooting hormone (or not) and then stick the scabbed end into potting soil upright or lay it flat on the potting soil in a shady space, no direct sunlight. Mist, don't water, the leaves and then whenever the soil feels dry. In our area, that may be every day. Your baby succulent and roots will emerge in anywhere from just a few weeks to a few months depending on the plant. When the mother leaf starts to wither, transplant the baby to its own pot in the shade and cut off the withered mother leaf. Mist the baby when the soil feels dry. Gradually and slowly move the new plant to a sunnier location, decreasing watering while the succulent matures.
Geranium cuttings of all types were also abundant. If you are bringing a cutting, using sterile shears, cut a few inches of stem off the flowering end of the plant. If you are the taker, it will need to sit out for about 3 days to develop a scab or callus. Then put the calloused end in the ground or potting medium. Letting the stem ends callous helps prevent fungi from attacking the root system. I learned this propagation method from my dad who has many containers of geraniums in his yard. The first geranium cuttings to be snatched up at the plant exchange were the Martha Washington (AKA regal geranium).
Many more drought-tolerant plants that had been potted were snatched up, as well as seed packets and bulbs. There were gardening books and magazines and plant containers and vases that many people took. Towards the last hour of the sale, friends of a Master Gardener who had recently died brought her container plants to the exchange. They were readily picked up as she had had some rarer plants that were recognized as such. I thought that was a fitting tribute – new homes for her well-loved plants. I HOPE – Have Only Positive Expectations - for these special plants.
If you are bringing any plants to the exchange, all plants will be given a check for bugs/disease. If there are any, the plant will be discarded, not composted. All plants, seeds, bulbs, books, magazines and containers are FREE. Come one, come all!
- Author: Ben A Faber
Statewide citrus bearing acreage relatively stable for past three seasons
The Pacific Regional Office of the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) conducts an acreage survey of California citrus growers as funding is available. The purpose of this survey is to provide bi-annual citrus acreage, which includes information on new plantings and removals. It is the continuation of a long series of industry-funded Citrus Acreage surveys.
This report consists of two parts:
- Table 1 shows estimated statewide bearing acreage for the 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons.
- Tables 2, 3, 4 and 5 show detailed acreage data by type, variety, and year planted -- as voluntarily reported by citrus growers and maintained in NASS' database.
With perfect information, the estimated statewide bearing acreage and the detailed acreage data would be the same. Generally, this will not be the case for the following reasons:
- A voluntary survey of approximately 5,000 citrus growers is unlikely to ever attain 100 percent completeness.
- It is difficult for USDA/NASS to detect growers who are planting citrus for the first time.
Click here for a larger image.
Click here to read the full report.
Source: ccqc.org/wp-content
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It's an exasperating experience. You go to the nursery, pick out a flowering plant, shrub, or tree and bring it home only to have some critter damage or destroy it within the first week. Pests cause damage and waste time and money. The most common pests in the home landscape and garden are voles, moles, and gophers. By knowing what you're dealing with, it will be easier to eradicate the problem.
Voles are active both day and night and do not hibernate. They are shy creatures and build complex tunnels under dense ground cover such as lawns, grasses, and meadows. They live in colonies, spending most of their lives underground. Voles have an extremely short life cycle, living just three to six months, but females can become pregnant at three weeks old. The gestation period for female voles is sixteen to twenty-four days. A typical litter is five to eight baby voles. Young voles become self-sufficient after several days, at which time the mother vole moves on to find another partner to mate with. Because of their rapid reproductive rate, one mating vole pair can be responsible for producing one hundred voles (offspring, offspring of offspring, you get the picture) in a year. Even a single pair of voles can rapidly become a vole kingdom.
Modifying the habitat can be effective in controlling vole populations. Keeping the yard cleared of dense vegetation, any lawn mown, and shrub branches trimmed up off the ground can deter voles. Circling tree trunks with guard mesh is also helpful. Voles often thrive underneath weed cloth put down to prevent weeds from growing around ornamentals, and beneath mulch used to keep plant roots cool in the summer. Removing both is a deterrent tactic. It is also helpful to remove bird feeders, or control birdseed spillage. Keeping birdseed off the ground reduces food for voles.
Exclusion, repellants, and traps are more effective means of controlling voles. Hardware cloth (with one-quarter inch or smaller mesh) can be a useful barrier. The cloth can be fashioned into a fence at least twelve inches high and buried three inches in the ground to surround flower beds. Baskets can be made or purchased to protect trees and shrubs. Because coyote and fox urines are stressful to voles, application encourages them to move on. Coyote urine and fox urine can be purchased online. Repellants containing capsaicin (and active component of chili peppers) and thiram (a fungicide) have also proved to be effective on ornamental plants, but remember that repellants often wash away with rain and need to be reapplied. Although bait is not required, peanut butter mixed with oatmeal can be smeared on trap triggers when using mouse traps to eradicate voles. Two to three traps need to be set by each hole or runway. Baited traps need to be covered with a box or PVC pipe to deter other critters such as birds and squirrels. Make sure the box has a one-inch hole cut out in order to allow the vole to reach the trap.
Gophers. Like voles, pocket gophers are rodents and herbivores. They prefer the fleshy underside of plants and roots. Called pocket gophers because of their furry cheek pouches that carry food and nesting materials, these critters are larger than either moles or voles, ranging from six to ten inches long. Gophers have long, yellow-orange front teeth, small eyes and ears, and short tails.
Gophers can wreak havoc on a row of plants by pulling entire plants down into their tunnels. They use their sense of smell to locate a source of food, preferring herbaceous plants, shrubs, and trees. Gophers will also gnaw on drip irrigation tubes and hoses.
Gophers reach sexual maturity at one year. Females produce up to three litters a year, with an average of five to six offspring per litter. Gophers live alone in their burrows except when females are caring for their young or during mating system. Since gophers can live up to three years, a gopher colony can become quite large over time.
Voles, moles, and gophers can wreak havoc in the garden but they can be managed using various methods to control, deter, or eradicate. Consider your natural environment, whether children and pets can be harmed by deterrents, the expense of the deterrent method, and your commitment to the program of eradication when choosing a plan to deal with these pests.
For further information, see Kim Pokomy, Moles, voles and gophers dig the garden | OSU Extension Service (oregonstate.edu).
For in-person help in dealing with these critters (including a demonstration on exactly how to set a gopher trap), attend our free workshop on gophers, moles, and voles October 9th, part of the Master Gardeners' Fall 2024 Workshop Series. For details, and to register, visit our website.
UC Master Gardeners of Butte County are part of the University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) system. To learn more about us and our upcoming events, and for help with gardening in our area visit our website. If you have a gardening question or problem, email the Hotline at mgbutte@ucanr.edu or leave a phone message on our Hotline at 530-552-5812. To speak to a Master Gardener about a gardening issue, or to drop by the MG office during Hotline hours, see the most current information on our Ask Us section of our website.