Use compost, not chemicals

This is the second post in this series following concepts and information from UC Master Gardeners of Napa County presentation, “Soil is the Solution, healing the earth one yard at a time,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqA8DqBtRuo . The presentation describes practices we can learn and implement about soil to help slow and ultimately reverse the damage humankind has done. The first post was May 24, 2021.

What happens when we use chemical pesticides? For every targeted pest, up to 120 beneficial organisms can be killed, including the microorganisms in the soil that are working to revive it. If the targeted pest is impacted at all, 90% of the application is still spread to the surrounding area. We need to learn to use organic methods of insect and weed control. Integrated pest management, or IPM, has been developed to do just that. Instead of eliminating the pests we see in front of us, using IPM means considering environmental factors that affect the pest and its ability to thrive. Armed with this information, we can create conditions that are unfavorable for the pest. IPM uses strategy, not just brute force, and is an ecologically sound way to deal with insect and plant pests, which is our focus here.

Using a military analogy, a reconnaissance mission is our first task. Once a pest has been properly identified, determine the number of pests and the extent of damage they are causing. Next, deploy a combination of biological, cultural, mechanical, and chemical management tools into combat. IPM almost always uses a combination of management techniques instead of dependence on only one method. While one of the goals of IPM is to reduce chemical applications, there are times where the best strategy involves the use of pesticides, but careful timing and the amount applied is critical to reduce the impact to non-target species and environmental degradation. For more complete descriptions of IPM's management tools see http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/

The use of chemical fertilizer gets us nothing as we endeavor to improve our soil. We might get plants that we can liken to a weightlifter pumped up on steroids, but take that away and we have some mediocre to sickly looking plants. Plants grown in healthy soil sustain themselves. It can be argued that on a molecular level, the primary nutrients of nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P) and Potassium (K) are the same in both chemical fertilizer and in natural fertilizer. True, but if we leave out the fundamental operation that healthy soil provides to plants, (remember we get healthy soil by applying compost, whose organic elements nurture microorganisms,) we short circuit the natural process that mother nature has used for millennia. Instead of feeding plants, we need to feed the soil. From there, what nature intended will take over and the soil will feed the plants.

In the presentation, a convincing example illustrated how composted soil is the best nourishment plants can have. The experiment showed the biomass of root systems of borage plants grown using different methods of fertilization. The first example was the control, plants grown not using any product, had a root system that looked pretty good. Example two used synthetic fertilizer and there was almost no root system at all. The third example used an organic product; its roots looked about the same as using nothing at all. The fourth example was grown in composted soil. This plant's root system was the lucky winner. The roots formed an impressively large, healthy looking mass. That's what nature intended.

Master Gardeners are following recommended social distancing guidelines that keep everyone safe, Napa Master Gardeners are available to answer garden questions by email: mastergardeners@countyofnapa.org. or phone at 707-253-4143.  Volunteers will get back to you after they research answers to your questions.

Visit our website: napamg.ucanr.edu to find answers to all of your horticultural questions.

Resources:

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/

Photo credits: UC IPM video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJeEVQm-9uE

 

by Mel Kendall

Last year we removed our pool and put in a free form garden.  It was lots of work but we feel it was well worth the effort.  In choosing the trees for the main anchors of our new landscape we wanted larger mature trees so we would have a sense of establishment and maturity right off the bat, but we really weren't sure of which trees to select. We now feel the smoketree or smoke bush tree was one of the best “seat of the pants” decisions we ever made for our garden.

The smoketree/smoke bush Cotinus coggygria ticked off all of our desirable tree boxes.  It's very tolerant of poor soil, it's waterwise, insect and disease resistant, likes full sun, is deciduous and it is easy to care for.  The tree is actually from the cashew family and will grow to around 15 ft. tall with a 10' to 12' canopy spread. Since this plant can be trained as a tree or as a bush the only maintenance we have had to do is remove suckers from the base to prevent it ‘bushing' out. All of these positive attributes are wrapped up in a stunningly colored package. The leaves start out as hot pink shoots and, as they mature, the color ranges from purplish green to a light or deep purple depending on the sun exposure. In the fall they will turn into beautiful shades of orange and yellow. 

Right now, the tree is “smok'n” as the name suggests. Having planted this tree last summer we had not experienced the reason for the smoketree moniker. All I can say is wow!  After a bare winter the tree produced three inch plus rounded hot pink leaves turning to deep purple in late March early April. Then, just this week, some magic happened.  Around the canopy is an aura-like bubble of tiny yellow flowers, but the small-scale flowers aren't the focus, it's their long, wispy stems that gives the illusion of smoke. As the flowers mature they drop, but the long, fine pink stalks remain. They form a deep pink cloud around the canopy of the tree.  Any wind movement will cause motion in these thin wispy stalks and trick your eye into thinking it is the ‘smoke' that gives this tree the smoketree name.

Our new garden is fresh, exciting and fun.  Every day brings new discoveries and as our garden matures and the various plants settle in. We are looking forward to enjoying many more years of this beautiful carefree smoketree's ever changing display.

 

Master Gardeners are following recommended social distancing guidelines that keep everyone safe, Napa Master Gardeners are available to answer garden questions by email: mastergardeners@countyofnapa.org. or phone at 707-253-4143.  Volunteers will get back to you after they research answers to your questions.

Visit our website: napamg.ucanr.edu to find answers to all of your horticultural questions.

Photo credits: Mel Kendall

 

References:

NC State Extension-Cotinus coggygria https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/cotinus-coggygria/

Missouri Plant Finder-Cotinus coggygria

https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=c390

by Melody Kendall

There are programs on TV about hoarders and the perils involved in living in a house with such an ailment.  Well, I have come to the conclusion that I am an "outdoor" hoarder.  While this malady is not as limiting or as unhealthy as an indoor hoarder there are many similarities. 

• I just can't throw away any plant containers, be they the flimsy plastic ones the new plants come in or a terracotta pot with a crack on one side.  If a clay pot breaks, I put the pieces in a container because I might just want to create a mosaic at some point.  

• Then there are the garden implements.  Walking by the gardening tool section at my local hardware/nursery always results in a purchase of some tool that I need. My tool corral has turned into a tool pasture. 

• I must have twenty pairs of gloves — leather, gauntlets, stretch and plastic.  In fact, I recently put on a pair of gloves that I had had for so long that they just cracked and fell apart when I put them on!  

• Gardening hats of multiple sizes and styles adorn my upper shelves.  I mean I only have one head and can only wear one at a time. Same with gardening shoes … why do I need so many?  

• I've never passed up the chance to acquire used bricks.  When the earthquake happened a few years ago and some of the chimneys in the neighborhood fell down I was there with my wheelbarrow helping clean up their yard and bringing the bricks to mine.  I now have quite a stack ready for some future as yet decided on project 

• How about garden art?  That is really a sticky wicket.  Thank goodness with the recent shutdown craft fairs have been nonexistent.  Inevitably upon returning from one of those dangerous events I have a new glass wind chime or a metal art flower on a stake or a cute watering can or an angel for the deck railing. The list goes on.  

• Don't get me started on new plants. Not only can I not avoid purchasing new plants when going anywhere remotely resembling a nursery but friends and family seem oblivious to my malady and are constantly giving me plants and cuttings to grow.  

• I even ‘dumpster dive' to a certain extent. When I see someone in the neighborhood has thrown away something that might make a neat plant stand or a cool piece of art, I haul it home.

On many occasions I've walked blocks with my arms full of a great find.  

This situation came to a head when I was putting in some new drip irrigation lines and I uncovered an entire drawer of just bits and pieces of ½ inch and ¼  inch drip lines.  Some of these ‘bits' were only 4 inches long!  What was I thinking when I saved those?  I found a hose bib compression attachment that had a 3 inch length of ½ inch hose still attached.  I don't know if you've tried it but it is virtually impossible to remove a drip line from a compression connector. Once the hose is pushed on the compression connector it is there for eternity. Everything I've ever tried, pliers included, that piece of hose isn't coming off that compression attachment. So, this begs the question, why did I save it?  

Now that I've written all this down, I'm a little embarrassed.  Maybe my husband won't notice that I just brought home a geranium plant that someone had thrown, pot and all, in the gutter alongside the sidewalk. I'll make sure to water it once I have repotted the poor little thing in one of those saved terracotta pots.  Hmm, maybe I'll move that craft fair angel to another location so that the rescued geranium can sit on the deck railing ...

Master Gardeners are following recommended social distancing guidelines that keep everyone safe, Napa Master Gardeners are available to answer garden questions by email: mastergardeners@countyofnapa.org. or phone at 707-253-4143.  Volunteers will get back to you after they research answers to your questions.

Visit our website: napamg.ucanr.edu to find answers to all of your horticultural questions.

Photo credits: Mel Kendall

Reference links:

UC IPM-Geranium http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/GARDEN/FLOWERS/geranium.html

UCMG Marin County-Repotting container plants http://marinmg.ucanr.edu/?story=1214

 

 

 

Humans have been stripping mother earth of her verdant, life supporting cloak for a long time, but the damage has shot up to a critical stage during recent years. To extend the metaphor further, earth has been stripped so bare that ecological systems are out of balance. Global warming is a reality, extreme weather and climate situations are causing drought, wildfire, increased land/sea temperature differences, wet areas are wetter and dry areas are drier. We need to help mother earth regain her cloak and soil is the fabric of her cloak.

Following are excerpted concepts and information from UC Master Gardeners of Napa County presentation, “Soil is the Solution, healing the earth one yard at a time,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqA8DqBtRuo . The presentation describes practices we can learn and implement about soil to help slow and ultimately reverse the damage.

One teaspoon of healthy soil has millions of microscopic and larger organisms in it. This occurs in the first two inches of soil, the topsoil. What has happened to earth's soil, among other things, is that tilling the soil, a seemingly innocent practice, has released large amounts of carbon into the air and damaged soil structure ruining its complex system of relationships of microorganisms and rendering soil largely lifeless. Ironically, the natural process of photosynthesis, the ultimate focus of tilling the soil in the first place, draws carbon out of the atmosphere. Watching a time-lapse video of earth's atmosphere showing large amounts of carbon released early in spring when tilling occurs and before plants start to grow is proof. The situation improves as plants grow and draw a significant amount of carbon back out of the atmosphere. As plants decline in fall and winter months, carbon again increases. The obvious conclusion we can draw from this information would be to not till the soil, have plants growing in more places year-round and somehow increase life in the soil.

Natural processes have been doing this on their own for thousands of years. Increasing soil organic matter is the first practice from the presentation to make healthy soil. Elegantly simple, to increase life in earth's over-tilled and compacted soil we can add compost. Other ways to help add organic material to the soil are using mulching mowers, letting fallen leaves decompose, and implementing a chop and drop system as you groom your garden.

Soil management is key to maintaining healthy aggregated soil. Even one application of compost helps to decrease the carbon level in earth's atmosphere and it creates nutrient-rich humus that is a natural fertilizer. Compost greatly benefits plant growth and water is maintained in the soil longer helping to conserve it. It also adds microscopic organisms that work to aerate the soil, break down organic materials and fight off plant disease and insects. Another benefit is your compostable trash will be kept out the landfill, helping to reduce methane gas.

Regenerating the soil is a natural, inexpensive way to reduce greenhouses gases and is right under our feet. Next up: Use compost, not chemicals.

 

Master Gardeners are following recommended social distancing guidelines that keep everyone safe, Napa Master Gardeners are available to answer garden questions by email: mastergardeners@countyofnapa.org. or phone at 707-253-4143.  Volunteers will get back to you after they research answers to your questions.

Visit our website: napamg.ucanr.edu to find answers to all of your horticultural questions.

Photo credits: USDA NRCS (CC BY-SA 2.0)