273 Spotted Lanternfly, Q&A

Show Transcript

GB 273 Spotted Lanternfly, Q&A TRANSCRIPT

Farmer Fred  0:00

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Welcome to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast. If you're just a beginning gardener or you want good gardening information, you've come to the right spot.

Farmer Fred

It could be one of the prettiest insects you’ll ever see. It could also be one of the most voracious insects to find in your garden or on your farm. And right now it’s spreading throughout the eastern United states and into the midwest. It’s the spotted lantern fly. What does it look like? What crops can it overtake? How do you control this pest that is spreading rapidly across the country?

Today, it’s all about the Spotted Lantern Fly.

And, Debbie Flower and I tackle more of your garden questions, such as how do you plant in mulch? Carefully. Is there a trick to successfully planting carrot seeds? Yes.  Can I add teabags to my compost pile? Maybe. And, i gave up my peach tree for dead. Now, there’s new branches growing from the trunk near the ground. Will this peach tree make it? It depends.

We’re podcasting from Barking Dog Studios here in the beautiful Abutilon Jungle in Suburban Purgatory. It’s the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast, brought to you today by Smart Pots and Dave Wilson Nursery. Let’s go!

THE SPOTTED LANTERNFLY

Farmer Fred

Just like we always say all gardening is local. Another thing all garden pests are local to. Have you heard about the spotted lantern fly? Well, if you live in the mid Atlantic States or anywhere in the northeast and going into the Midwest, you know what the spotted lantern fly is it's a very invasive species, and invasive species have the potential to cause high levels of economic damage when introduced into new environments. And this is a fairly new pest. The Spotted lantern fly was first detected in Pennsylvania back in 2014. It spread to New York, Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia. It originated in northern China, also found in Vietnam, Japan and South Korea. It's been spotted in other states as well. West Virginia, Virginia, Rhode Island, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, other states as well. It is a plant hopper. It's a plant sucker and it is very voracious on a wide number of plant species throughout North America. Here in California. We haven't had that invasive spotted lantern fly get established here yet, but the state Food and Agriculture Department is intercepting it at several airports and other locations throughout Northern California. So it cannot get established here. It is a threat to some major crops throughout the United States, not the least of which are grapes and walnuts and stone fruits. What do you want a metal is two hops, and it lives on the Tree of Heaven. That is his preferred species of choice. Debbie Flower is here. Native of Long Island, New York. You've seen pests there, that you haven't seen here, correct? I'm thinking of the Japanese beetle.

Debbie Flower  3:31

Japanese beetle and gypsy moth.

Farmer Fred  3:35

Yeah. And both of those  are intercepted in California. So far thwarted. We have a very vigorous inspection service here.

Debbie Flower  3:42

We do. And I was just in the east, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut and saw nothing of the agricultural inspection that I readily submit to when I enter or leave the California borders in my car. I drove around all those states cross borders, nobody stopped me. Nobody checked me or my car to see if the spotted lantern fly cases were on my vehicle which is one of the ways. They call it the hitchhiker bug because it hitchhikes on anything, any smooth surface, on vehicles. I read about how it came into the US. It was on stone that was imported from China.

Farmer Fred  4:24

I have heard that as well. And the adult is very obvious. It's a very colorful, very pretty insect, and it has lots of spots. The juvenile versions of the spotted lantern fly though, of course, are much smaller. They do have spots, but I think they could easily be mistaken for ladybugs.

Debbie Flower  4:42

Do you? The way they have that protruding nose?  Large mouthparts? I'm not sure what it is. Makes it look different to me that the dots the black, the youngest instars it has incomplete metamorphosis meaning it hatches from an egg and then it goes through several stages that all look somewhat similar but somewhat different from each other, shedding its skin, becoming a new one. And the youngest ones are black with white dots, which remind me of the dots on a monarch butterfly.

Farmer Fred  5:12

Oh, yeah, they do. I mean, the spots are very obvious. We had a email from Charlie in Brooklyn who has a plot in a community garden there. And his job these days is being the head of the war on spotted lantern fly, as far as capturing the young ones, the instars. And basically, they are using sticky tape.

Debbie Flower  5:35

It's traps. Yes. And there was an article in a recent edition of the New York Times about the spotted lantern fly. And another gentleman Neil Weissman, who was president of Roosevelt Island Garden Club. And he also uses traps. He sets traps like you mentioned, but he also uses a vacuum, which you have suggested, a small vacuum, to suck them up, and then dispose of them properly. You don't want them to get escape at that point.

Farmer Fred  5:58

No, you just can't throw them in the trash can. That way you would have to bag them, I would think, twice.

Debbie Flower  6:05

Bagging them or putting them in soapy water is often good for killing insects because they breathe through their skin. You put a little oil in it too. And those things mess up their breathing apparatus.

Farmer Fred  6:14

We'll have a picture of the spotted lantern fly just because it is so gosh darn pretty, with today's podcast. But the spotted lanternfly: what is about it that makes it so hazardous to crops?

Debbie Flower  6:27

Well,  it's a hopper. It's a sucking insect. So it pierces. It  feeds by piercing plant tissue and sucking the contents of the cells out. We have lots of hoppers that are pests in this country. If you walk through a lawn, often things are flying out, little bugs are flying out of the lawn. And those are often hoppers of some sort, but this one has no enemies. And so it it seems to thrive in all kinds of environments. You and I have been speculating based on the states that it has infiltrated in the US. Temperature doesn't seem to be a limiting factor in where it lives. And we have a lot of its favorite host, especially in the East. When I would take the train from Oyster Bay, New York into New York City, the rights of way on either side of the train are full of Tree of Heaven, Ailanthus altissima.

Farmer Fred  7:22

And the insect spreads pretty easily. the insect lays its eggs on plant and non plant items like stones or pallets, outdoor furniture, railway cars, firewood and vehicles, which means it can spread quickly. The Spotted lantern fly has at least 40 host species, including probably the most valuable agricultural crops in California are among them. Grapes, walnuts, almonds, and all the other stone fruits.

Debbie Flower  7:51

Yes. When it gets older, when it's young, the part of the plant that it attacks is the new growth. The young, the egg mass, when it's first laid, is clear. And the female puts a white liquid over it, which ages to pink and then to tan. And  as it ages, it even cracks, and so it looks like mud. So the the egg mass just looks like a smear of mud on something. And then when the young hatch, they can only feed on the soft tissue. They don't have very developed mouthparts yet, and so they climb up the trunk of the tree to the soft plant parts. And that's where the traps are most effective because you catch them on the sticky band on the tree trunk as they're making their way up to the top. But the adults, once they have gotten into the adult phase, their mouthparts are strong enough to go right through the bark of the tree.

Farmer Fred  8:45

Wow. And now the job, especially since it's hatching time for Spotted lanternfly, is I guess, between April and June. There's a lot of sticky tapes being distributed and wrapped around these Tree of Heaven trees. By the way, that Tree of Heaven does not only just support an invasive insect, the spotted lantern fly here in California, we're very familiar with another pest that likes the Tree of Heaven. And that's the brown marmorated stink bug.

Debbie Flower  9:11

Yes, I had forgotten that.

Farmer Fred  9:13

And we've been attempting to control it. I don't know if we've just accepted it now here as an ongoing pest to be the case.

Debbie Flower  9:21

I don't know the answer to that either. But if we have it, it's a very low population.

Farmer Fred  9:26

Yeah, well, I don't think we have the Tree of Heaven population that is back east either.

Debbie Flower  9:31

No, we don't. We don't. You don't see them near as much as you see them all over the though sort of wastelands of the East. New York City. Yes, it's got a lot of concrete and asphalt but it also has, you know, little corner lots. The Tree of Heaven can grow almost anywhere and it can grow as a colony. So if you've got a big tree or a tree somewhere, it can send plant parts underground and come up beyond walksway and still be attached to that same plant.

Farmer Fred  10:02

It spreads by seed as well. The female trees can produce something like 300,000 samaras, which is a seed holding structure that is sort of shaped like a propeller, which means it can get airborne and fly a great distance. That's spreading the tree even more. My feelings about the Tree of Heaven are the same as my feelings about possums. What are they good for? Absolutely nothing.

Debbie Flower  10:29

No, possums are good for eating lots of fleas and things like that.

Farmer Fred  10:34

From each other, maybe. That's what the Tree of Heaven is, it's a weed tree.

Debbie Flower  10:39

Also it’s from China. The pest and the tree are from China. But China would have the natural pest of the lanternfly that could control it, but we don't have that. So the eggs are laid between about September and November. Between the first freezes, each female lays up to two masses of 30 to 60 eggs which are in rows, but several rows, tight rows, and then covered with the white fluid that ages to pinkish Gray, and finally to 10 with cracks and looks like mud. Then the nymphs arise and you know, depends where you are. But between about April and October, they're fast moving, but they cannot fly. And they actually hatch between April and June. But the nymphs of the various stages are around as late as October. And then the first ones are very small. They're only an eighth of an inch, so they're black. Eighth of an inch, very small, with the white dots. But they grow up to four stages, instars they are called. So there are four stages of young growth. And the fourth one is about a half of an inch long. And then it becomes an adult, the adult looks like a moth. And when it is at rest, its wings are closed. It looks basically gray with black dots. It's not very colorful at that. But when it opens those wings, it's pretty. So it's gray and white and red and dotted, very colorful display and the moth is only about an inch long. They can fly. They don't fly very smoothly, and they don't fly long distances. And those are the adults. Those moths, the adults, can drill right into the trunk of a tree. You're looking at a picture that.

Farmer Fred  12:24

Right now I am looking at a picture of a mass of spotted lanternfly instars that are on, I believe,  on a Tree of Heaven. I'm not sure of that. But they could mass and swarm on any sort of inanimate objects as well: telephone poles, pallets, outdoor equipment.

Debbie Flower  12:43

Oh, I think the insect itself will mass on its hosts, the things it's going to eat from. It's got one job, and that's to reproduce. It only has one generation per year, but it has to keep itself healthy and well fed. And it does that by feeding on the tree trunk. And in that picture, there is no bark visible. It is just all the moths. Yeah. So it's a very gray picture.

Farmer Fred  13:06

Yeah. So what's a gardener to do?

Debbie Flower  13:09

Well keep an eye out. Look for these insects. If you don't know what it is, you think you do, but you don’t, put it in a plastic bag. I would take it to the local nursery or the Master Gardeners. Master Gardeners would probably know. I think they have been educated, at least in Sacramento County, about the spotted lantern fly. But you could also go to your County Cooperative Extension or your ag commissioner's office and take it to them even if it's dead. Don't smash it at that point. But even smashed maybe they can idea if that's it. I’ll have to think about that. Get it identified, write down where you got it, when you got it, and what plants you got it from, if possible. If not, I mean the location alone would be helpful.

Farmer Fred  13:51

I haven't read anything about chemical controls.

Debbie Flower  13:55

Neither have i. They are just saying “smash and report”. That is the recommendation. I've gone to many different state websites to see what they all say. And they all say the same thing: Smash and report

Farmer Fred  14:09

I guess you can get them to hold still for a while with the sticky tape.

Debbie Flower  14:12

Right. There are probably some reasons pesticides aren’t recommended. Number one is they haven't been tested. And in the US they need to be tested and labeled before they can be used. Even an off-label use. Then you have to have a license to apply it. So that process is not instantaneous. I'm sure that somebody's working on it somewhere.

It is a leaf hopper. They move very quickly. Leaf hoppers, in general, we don't treat with pesticides either, because they do move quickly and with pesticides they have to touch the pest. A systemic insecticide in the plant is really iffy, which the insect would then absorb through its feeding practices. But if it's on grapes, which is something California is very afraid of, or stone fruit or walnuts, it could get into the fruit and then that destroys the crop anyway.

Farmer Fred  15:03

Or almonds.  Boy, yeah, we could be in big trouble here. Yeah. So if you're talking grapes and almonds, that's the big dollars of California agriculture. Yes, that would be dangerous, especially when you're preparing for summer and fall holidays and you're going to be bringing in things that are new to the house. Check outdoor items, especially for Spotted lanternfly egg masses. Scrape the egg masses into a plastic zippered bag filled with hand sanitizer. Then zip the bag shut and dispose of it properly. Inspect your trees and plants for signs of this pest, particularly at dusk and at night. When the insects tend to gather in larger groups on the trunks or stems of plant, inspect trees, especially the Tree of Heaven, as well as brick, stones, and other smooth surfaces for those egg masses.

Debbie Flower  15:51

Like your car, your boat, your trailer, items that sit outside, or spend time outside. You don't necessarily sit out all the time but enough time in the fall, September through November. When those eggs are laid, you want to make sure you find them before moving them to another location.

Farmer Fred  16:09

Plants that ooze or leak or have a fermented odor is a possible sign you might have spotted lanternfly, or a sticky buildup of fluid sometimes called honeydew on plants, or on the ground beneath the plants. Or sooty mold, which is the result of  dried honeydew on leaves that has picked up wind-borne pathogens.

Debbie Flower  16:31

That sooty mold is basically plant sap. When an insect punctures into a plant cell with its mouthparts the pressure inside the plant that is pushing the fluid into the insect is so high it can't eat all of it. And so some comes out the other side of the pest. We see this with aphids and with scale. You've parked under a tree in some parking lot, and when you come out, your windshields all spotted. That is honeydew. Then if it falls on something that's hangs around, like the leaves below where the infestation is, then funguses come in and lay there. Spores germinate on the honeydew and they grow on it and the blackness and it can be dirt, too. Obviously the blackness then cuts off the light to the plant and the plant can't grow.

Farmer Fred  17:17

One good website that is a clearinghouse for a lot of spotted lanternfly information is run by the USDA, their APHIS division, which is short for Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. And if you do an online search for USDA and spotted lanternfly, this page will come up because not only are there great pictures of the pest, there are also links to every state that has them and where, if you live in that state, you can take the pest or inquire about the spotted lanternfly. So check that out. We'll have a link to that USDA site in today's show notes as well. Spotted lanternfly is definitely nothing to ignore. So watch your plants.

Debbie Flower  18:05

And, squash and report. Praying mantises and spiders have been observed eating spotted lanternfly, but they don't make a dent on the population. So they're not going to be our long term control.

Farmer Fred  18:16

So like you say, it's up to us to do the smashing. smash and report. the spotted lanternfly. Watch out for this one. Thanks, Debbie.

Debbie Flower

Yeah, thanks, Fred.

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Q&A: PEACH TREE SPROUT

Farmer Fred

We like to answer your garden questions here on the Garden Basics podcast. A lot of ways you can get your questions in. You can use speakpipe.com/garden basics and just talk to your computer. And your question will get to us. You can give us a call, as well. We have numbers: 916-292-8964, 916-292-8964. Debbie Flower is here to help us answer these garden questions. And we get a fruit tree question from Gail, Debbie.

Gail  21:02

Hi there. My name is Gail. And last year, I planted a peach tree and promptly killed it by not watering it enough. However, I noticed about three months ago that there were these little red stalks that were coming up from what I thought was the dead part of the peach tree. I'm wondering, can I go ahead and grow the peach from that? Or is it better to start anew?

Farmer Fred  21:28

Start anew.

Debbie Flower  21:30

Well, now certainly, that’s the easiest thing to do.

Farmer Fred  21:33

However, there is a chance that those new sprouts are coming from the scion, not the rootstock. Mm hmm. Explain the difference.

Debbie Flower  21:47

Many, many woody plants are grafted. They're even some herbaceous plants that people graft. iI you buy a tree, and it has a name in quotes, such as “Alberta” peach tree, for instance, then it has been grafted. So peach trees are started from seed. And it's unknown what the parents of that seed were. And it's just to develop a nice root system. And then a piece of an Alberta, in the case of my example, the peach tree is grafted onto the young peach tree that started from seed. And the plant, as it grows, is handled such to favor the Alberta part of the plant for the top, and the rootstock part for the roots. And so many, many, many fruit trees for sure, as well as just ornamental trees, that have these, what we call ‘cultivar’ names, have been grafted. And the top part is called the scion. And the bottom part is called the root stock. And very occasionally, you'll have something called an inter-stock. If you look, that would be a piece between the cyan and the rootstock. And the inter-stock somehow controls the growth. Generally, it dwarfs it. That is what an inter-stock is used for. And the root stock is chosen for the location: the soil type, the climate, amount of water, that kind of thing. When you look at the trunk of a grafted tree, you will see a change in the bark where that graft has happened. In commercial production, the graft has happened very close to the soil line. In fact, I had a peach tree that I didn't like. The arborists were in my year at the time. I didn't like the scion, I didn't like the cultivar. The arborists were working in my yard and I asked them to chop it down just to the graft, so I could retain the root stock. And then I grafted onto what I thought was the root stock. Now I'm trained at looking at this stuff, right, none of the grafts took and i have grafted many things before that have been successful. It was because they did not cut it down low enough. And I was grafting into the scion of the previous type of peach, I needed to get to the root stock. So I let it alone and I have the same thing happening. Lots of stems coming from what i nowI know is the rootstock. They're coming actually from below the ground. And I've looked more carefully and found the graft line which is very close to the soil line. So I know that this is the rootstock and I will graft something onto that to make a new scion and a new tree. Maybe more than one thing. So if you know that the shoots are coming from the scion above the graft, then yes, let it grow and you will have the peach that you purchased. But if they're growing from below the graft line, you've just got rootstock and if you want to retain it now that it's developed, it's got a root system you don't have to worry about watering it again when you first plant it, which is a  big job when you first plant something like that. You need to water very regularly. So if you do know that it's coming from the rootstock and can graft, then you can get a piece of of peach or any of the other stone fruits from it. So that would be a Nectarine, Plum etc. Graft onto that and have a new tree.

Farmer Fred  25:13

There is some hope, Gail, however. There are three very popular rootstocks used on peach trees. Nemaguard, Lovell and Citation. Citation is usually used for dwarf peach trees. Nemaguard is an excellent root stock for well drained soils, and the Lovell is a vigorous root stock that's more tolerant of wet soils. Some people like the taste of a a Lovell peach. So if you have the Lovell rootstock, there's a chance you might like the peaches it produces. They may not be to the size that you want. I've heard complaints about the skin and the pit. But you know, if you're just  slicing up a peach for ice cream or whatever, it might be a good choice.

Debbie Flower  25:59

How would she know if she's got Lovell rootstock?

Farmer Fred  26:03

Call us back in seven years, Gail? And let us know what you found. Because it may take five to seven years for that rootstock to come to fruition.

Debbie Flower  26:11

Yeah. Another is did you keep the tag? Sometimes it will say on the tag, what the root stock is. And the other is some peaches. Some peach cultivars can only be put on, let's say a Lovell root stock. And so if you know the cultivar or would it be at Dave Wilson nursery?

Farmer Fred  26:33

Yeah, if you want to  go to Dave wilson.com, you can look up the rootstocks that they use on their fruit trees. So if it was a Dave Wilson fruit tree, then you're in luck. If not, who knows what it might be on. This is why, I'm holding in my left hand here, my personal garden calendar, my garden diary for 2023. You write down everything that you plant and everything you know about it. Usually when you buy a peach tree or any fruit tree, there are two labels on it. One is the scion, one is the rootstock. Copy down both pieces of information, because I'm guaranteeing you, those garden gnomes that you have scattered through your garden, they come alive at night. They're gonna go to your fruit trees and rip off those tags.  And the snails will help them carry it away.  So write it down. Yep, very important. You do that?

Debbie Flower  27:25

I do. I have a different system. But I do have a spreadsheet. And then I have a folder with pages in it that are dated.

Farmer Fred  27:35

If we were creatures of the 21st century, there would be pictures, too.

Debbie Flower  27:40

Yes. attached to those. Yes, yes.

Farmer Fred  27:42

I tried that once. And they are too much work. It is a lot of work. Yes. All right. So Gail, the choice is yours. Although the the expedient solution might be get another peach.

Debbie Flower  27:51

Right, they're generally going to bear sooner. And as long as you do that establishment irrigation of watering whenever it needs water for the first six weeks of its life, and that in a hot climate, can be daily, and you're watering the media it came in, the container media, and then the field soil once a week.

Farmer Fred  28:11

The amazing part also about living in the 21st century, there's all these nifty water timers out there that you can hook up to a faucet or even as part of your main irrigation system that will turn on the water based on a pre existing schedule. Or because you have soil sensors that can sense the moisture and know when to turn on the water itself. That's really high tech,  but it's out there.

Debbie Flower  28:33

It's out there. Yeah, when I go on vacation, if I've planted something new in the field that gets regular irrigation, I will add a timer to the hose bib and run out of just a hose and emitter of some sort that will spray and put that on a different calendar for the time that I'm out of town.

Farmer Fred  28:53

So the people in that house right over there. 30 feet away from where we're looking out the window here in the abutilon jungle, they're on vacation. But the guy is an internet technology guy. Oh, so they're off somewhere in America. I don't know where. But if he gets a message on his phone that the soil is dry, he can turn on the irrigation system.

Debbie Flower  29:20

Cool. I'm gonna tell my son about this. My son is  a techie.

Farmer Fred  29:24

There are systems available that are Bluetooth connected and can relay all this information to your phone. So wherever you are, you can turn on the irrigation system.

Debbie Flower  29:36

A friend of mine has one of those setups. So it's out there. Yep.

Farmer Fred  29:41

If you're willing to learn, right? That's the hard part. All right, Gail. Good luck with the peach tree. Yeah.

DAVE WILSON NURSERY

Farmer Fred

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Q&A: CARROT PLANTING TIPS

Farmer Fred  31:17

To the garden e-mailbag we go. Debbie Flower is here, and we get a question from St. Louis, USDA zone six. And Raul, who says, “no doubt you are probably getting several questions this time of year. I appreciate all of your help. I remember listening to a podcast of yours that helped to accelerate carrots from seed. I was trying to find the episode to remember what the secret was. Are you able to direct me to the correct episode?” No, Raul, I can’t. Because I don't think we've ever talked about that.

Debbie Flower  31:42

No, not I. We have talked about peppers.  Accelerating pepper seed germination by soaking them in hydrogen peroxide for 10 minutes.

Farmer Fred  31:53

That's right. And I get more and more converts to that, too. It works. It speeds it up. A pepper seed that usually takes three weeks to germinate, that hydrogen peroxide soak can get it down to less than two weeks. Right?

Debbie Flower  32:03

I've never tried it with carrots, it might be worth a try. Especially if you've got more seed then you know what to do with.

Farmer Fred  32:10

I think the big problem when it comes to carrots is planting them so that they're all not bunched together. Because the seeds are just so darn small. Right. And you had a student one time, in your career as a college horticultural professor, who actually came up with a rather ingenious idea.

Debbie Flower  32:23

He did. I was thrilled with that. He said, put the seeds out on a piece of paper in a small dish or something, use a chopstick, dip the chopstick in water and then touch the seeds. And you'll get one seed on the end. Sometimes you get two, I have to admit, but you get very few seeds on the end of that chopstick. And then you tap it to drop it into the soil.

Farmer Fred  32:47

Yeah, you wouldn't want to dip it into the soil because you’d come back with a stick full of dirt, right? All right, then that would work. And another tip that we've heard over the years, too, is because carrots takes such a long time to germinate, is to plant carrots alongside something that germinates quickly, like radishes. So you’ll remember where the carrots are  planted, right?

Debbie Flower  33:06

Yes, yes, radishes germinate very quickly. It's a good, good seed if you're working with kids, because it comes up so fast.

Farmer Fred  33:13

How far apart would you plant the radishes from the carrot seeds?

Debbie Flower  33:17

I've heard people say put them right over the carrots but I wouldn't do that because the root of the radish gets somewhat large and  it has fibrous feeder roots on it. So I'd probably go between. I'd space my carrots about  a foot apart and then I'd put the radishes down the middle so six inches from the carrot.

Farmer Fred  33:38

That way, when you pull up the radish, and unless it is some kind of Daikon radish that is gigantic, if it's a normal-sized radish, then you won't be disturbing the carrots. Right? Right. The timing of planting carrot seeds though is important. We have a very long planting season here in USDA zone nine for planting carrots. It’s several months a year, but definitely not in the heat of summer.

Debbie Flower  33:59

Right. They don't like the heat. They won't germinate when temperatures get over  70 in soil temperature.

Farmer Fred  34:03

Yeah, they don't like it very much when it gets warm. But I guess that brings up another question. Can you start them ahead of time in containers?

Debbie Flower  34:14

I would say no, but it's amazing what I see growing at the nursery in containers that people will buy. Yeah. And then you look online and you see people posting these pictures of these deformed carrots that look like humans walking down the street or whatever. And so typically,  if you do start them in a container and then move them into the garden, during the transplant process, we always do damage to the roots. And carrots are roots. And that's when you end up often with these odd shaped carrots. If you're okay with that, fine, you can get some odd shaped carrots just because you have a rock in the way too.

Farmer Fred  34:51

Which makes a great argument for growing them in a loose, friable soil like you'd find in a raised bed or a large container right? The container would have to be, I would think, for most carrot varieties, at least 12 inches tall.

Debbie Flower  35:05

Yes, because the carrots need a distance to go down. I've read online, I haven't tried this, something about priming carrots, seeds, which they say soak them in water an hour, about four days, three to four days, before you plan to plant them. I've never, I never plan that far ahead. So this may not work for me. And then wrap them in paper towels, put them in an airtight container so probably a plastic container with a snap-on lid and leave them at room temperature and this will allow them to absorb water that all seeds need. That's one of the first steps of seed germination. The seed has to imbibe. That’s  the word used in the textbooks, ‘imbibe’ water. So that it can start the chemical processes inside of the seed.

Farmer Fred  35:52

I thought you were gonna say scarification.

Debbie Flower  35:55

No, boy, no, never tried that.

Farmer Fred  35:58

Isn’t water considered scarification?

Debbie Flower  36:02

Yeah, it is. The seed coat softens the seed, right? I don't know that it's gonna buy you any time, because that's what would happen as soon as you put it in the ground. Yeah, but you can. Again because carrot seeds are so small and they can be difficult to work with. One year I made seed tapes using I think we used toilet paper, or it would be a very thin, cheap white coffee filter. Yes, I was gonna say paper towel, and make it into a strip. And then place the seeds at the spacing I want. And you can use flour mixed with water as a glue to hold them in place. And then roll them up in that. And again, use the flour mixed with water as a paste just  to close that seed tape. And then you just plant the whole roll. you can roll it out. See? No he's planted all this rolled up in the garden.

Farmer Fred  36:59

Yeah, that makes sense. I like that way. you can commercially buy seed tapes.

Debbie Flower  37:04

You can commercially buy seed tapes. You’d pay a lot for them. But yeah, but you can make your own.

Farmer Fred  37:09

Yeah. I guess the problem would be where do you keep it in the meantime?

Debbie Flower  37:14

Oh, we made it and planted it like that that day.

Farmer Fred  37:18

All right. Yeah, that solves that issue. Yeah, but I still like the chopsticks. That's a good idea. Yes, it is a good idea. All right. Hope that helps you, Raul, with planting carrots.

Q&A: MULCHING vs PLANTING

Farmer Fred

We're delving into the garden email bag on this episode of the Garden Basics podcast. Debbie Flower is here. And we get an a question or two or three or four from Rich in a suburb of Philadelphia. And he says, “This year I religiously placed a good layer of woodchips on top of my four raised vegetable beds a few months ago.” I'm not sure what placing woodchips religiously involves. Do  you have to dress up like an altar boy for the ceremony?  But he goes on to say, “You have covered mulching extensively. But I've never heard how to plant seedlings in the mulched beds. Should I scrape off the mulch temporarily, plant my seedlings, and then replace the mulch carefully around them?” Yes and no. Right. There, you go, Rich. Yes and no. Yes. scrape it away. Yeah, scrape it away. And when you push it back towards the plant, don't let it touch the plant.

Debbie Flower  38:27

Right. So if you're planting a plant that was in a container, you're going to do what's called, “Plant proud.” Which means a little bit of that container media is going to be above soil level. So when I do that, I just move my mulch and I have mulch in my vegetable garden,  up to the outside of the container media, which is raised above the field soil.

Farmer Fred  38:48

And then Rich asks, What about planting seeds directly into the mulch bed?

Debbie Flower  38:53

Yeah, yeah. Scrape it away. But  leave it scraped away. Until you've got that plant growing out of the ground. And don't even then don't push it up against the stump of the plant.

Farmer Fred  39:03

It's sort of goes against your religious experience of using mulch to deflect the pressure of falling water from the sky, rain, because you've mentioned in the past how falling rain can actually compact the soil.

Debbie Flower  39:17

Yes, it can. So it's great in Philadelphia, you could probably going to get snow you definitely get rain and in winter, assuming you're not gardening because it gets so cold that everything would die unless you've got a greenhouse or hoop house to put over it. I would definitely mulch the whole thing. So that when it rains, the water hits the mulch and slowly seeps into the soil and doesn't cause that compaction.

Farmer Fred  39:41

Rich. Thanks for the questions. Enjoy gardening there in Philadelphia. Thanks, Debbie.

Debbie Flower  39:45

You're welcome, Fred.

FLASHBACK EPISODE (#189), BEYOND THE GARDEN BASICS NEWSLETTER: TOMATO PROBLEMS

Farmer Fred  39:50

It seems backyard tomato growers have questions year round. In early winter, the question is, “ which tomatoes should I plant next spring? In late winter, the question is..Is It Too Soon To Plant Tomatoes?” In Spring, it’s Should I prune those first tomato flowers off? And in Summer, it’s the frantic tomato grower who asks, “What’s wrong with my tomatoes? There turning brown and soft on the bottom! That, of course, is blossom end rot.

And that’s today’s Flashback Episode of the Week, which was about thwarting blossom end rot of tomatoes, #189. By the way, the information in that Flashback episode goes along nicely with this week’s Beyond the Garden Basics newsletter,  6 Common tomato problems, which is also available now, you can subscribe for free.

So, if you’re a frustrated tomato grower right now, check out this week’s Flashback Episode: Number 189, “Stop Tomato Blossom End Rot Now Before It Starts”. It’s from spring of last year. Find a link to it in today’s show notes, or at the podcast player of your choice. And look for a  link to the Beyond the Garden Basics newsletter in the show notes as well, or find both at our home page, garden basics dot net.

Q&A: CAN YOU COMPOST TEA BAGS?

Farmer Fred  41:22

Let's delve into the garden email bag here on Garden Basics. Debbie Flower is here. Don from Wisconsin writes in and says, “I just retired at the end of last year. And one of the items on my list to do in retirement is to create or maintain a backyard wildlife refuge with a focus on pollinators. So gardening is a real interest to me.” He goes on to say, “My wife and I love sweet tea, we brew at least one pot per day, maybe two in the summer. What can we do with all those used tea bags? In one of your podcasts I've listened to so far, a listener asked about incorporating the silica or keep dry bags from shipping packages in the soil to improve water retention. I don't know about that. The response was if it doesn't say on the label to spread around your garden then don’t.” Hey, that sounds like something I'd say. Yeah, “but what about tea bags?” Donald asks.

Debbie Flower  42:15

Well,  I drink a lot of tea. I drink a whole pitcher myself every morning with three tea bags in it. And I always buy organic tea and I have a kitchen waste compost bin in my backyard and when I'm done with the tea I put the tea bags into the compost. And when I spread the compost there for the most part, they're gone. However, my husband like this certain brand of green tea, and when I spread that batch of compost, all the tea bags still existed. They were open. They were empty. But the bags themselves still existed. Somebody didn't like them. Yes, I suspect they were made of something like polyester maybe. I don't know what they were made of. Apparently you can check that online. I had a cousin tell me this, what your tea bags are made of and  I checked the brand that I use. And I don't remember where I went. But it was made of something that is compostable.

Farmer Fred  43:13

So Don, I hope that helps you out about what you can do with those old tea bags. compost them

Debbie Flower  43:18

Compost some. Yeah. All right.

HARVEST DAY, SAT. AUG. 5

Farmer Fred  43:23

Coming Saturday, August 5, It’s Harvest Day at the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center. Put on by the U.C. Master Gardeners of Sacramento County, Harvest Day features speakers, education tables, garden vendors, food trucks, and your chance to explore the one acre garden that is designed for you, the backyard gardener, to take home ideas that you can use in your own yard.

The Fair Oaks Horticulture Center was built and is maintained by Sacramento County Master Gardeners. It features areas dedicated to growing berries, herbs, fruit trees, vegetables, a vineyard, native plants, water efficient plants and a lot more. Plus there are sections dedicated to composting, including worm composting.

On Harvest Day, each area is staffed by Master Gardeners who are eager to answer your garden questions.

At the dozens of education tables, you’ll get information from professional nursery people, irrigation specialists, the Audubon Society, soil experts, the Master Food Preservers, local garden clubs, water experts, honeybee and native bee specialists.

Vendors will include northern california nurseries, exotic plants, cactus and succulents, mushroom growing kits, and more.

The speakers include talks about landscape trees, attracting pollinators, and, oh yeah…Myself and America’s Favorite Retired College Horticulture professor, Debbie Flower talking at 830 that morning about Tips for Saving Time, Money and Water in the Garden.

Someone once said, It’s the best garden event in Northern California! Oh wait, I said that. It’s true. And it’s free.

Harvest Day at the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center, Saturday, August fifth, 8am to 2pm. In Fair Oaks Park in Sacramento County. put on by the UC Master Gardeners of Sacramento County. Check today’s show notes for a link with more details and maps of Harvest Day! Hope to see you there!

Farmer Fred  45:24

The Garden Basics With Farmer Fred podcast comes out once a week, on Fridays. Plus the newsletter podcast, that comes with the Beyond the Garden Basics newsletter, continues, also released on Fridays. Both are free and are brought to you by Smart Pots and Dave Wilson Nursery. The Garden Basics podcast is available wherever podcasts are handed out, and that includes our home page, Garden Basics dot net. , where you can also sign up for the Beyond the Garden Basics newsletter and podcast. That’s Garden Basics dot net. or use the links in today’s show notes.  And thank you so much for listening.