275 Spittlebugs, and More Yucky Questions

Show Transcript

275 TRANSCRIPT Spittlebugs and Other Yucky Questions

Farmer Fred  0:00

Garden Basics with Farmer Fred is brought to you by Smart Pots, the original lightweight, long lasting fabric plant container. It's made in the USA. Visit SmartPots.com slash Fred for more information and a special discount, that's SmartPots.com/Fred.

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.

SPITTLEBUGS!

Farmer Fred  0:38

No, those aren’t little white flowers on your woody perennials and shrubs. Look closer. What is it? It’s not a flower. It looks and feels like a wad of spit!

That would be the cocoon for the aptly named spittlebug. What’s a gardener to do about this pest which can be found throughout North America?

America’s Favorite Retired College Horticulture professor, Debbie Flower and myself tackle that and more of your garden questions today, including should you eat green potatoes? Why does my boxwood shrub smell like cat urine? What is all this white mold I’m finding around the roots of my plants?

It’s all in today’s episode, number 275, Spittlebugs and more of your Yucky questions and answers.

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!

Farmer Fred

Perhaps you're walking down the street and you notice a plant with a pretty little white flowers on it. I've seen it on rosemary and lavender here. You get a little closer and you recoil and think, “who's been spitting on this plant? It looks like a gob of spit!”

Sorry about that. But that's what it looks like. It's from the spittlebug. How aptly named. Debbie Flower is here. America's favorite retired college horticultural professor.  Debbie,  this spittlebug, it seems, is in all 50 states. It's in Canada. In fact, I think I sent you a PDF of about 90 pages long, entitled “The Spittlebugs of Canada”, which I always thought would be a great name for a band. But spittlebugs. I think it looks worse than it actually is.

Debbie Flower  2:14

I agree.  It is pretty gross looking. Especially because it looks just like somebody recently spit into your plant. Yeah, and that's no fun.  It does look kind of slimy.

Farmer Fred

what's inside that spit?

Debbie Flower

the insects, the nymphs. So this is an insect that is sucking feeder, it punctures the plant and gets into the xylem of the plant where the sugars are being transported. It absorbs that and uses that for its own nutrition. And the adult lays eggs. And the eggs hatch and they have several instars, or stages of growth, where they just get a little bigger and get a little bigger and get a little bigger. And in the second instar they cover themselves with spittle, and it's a protection they do get because they have natural enemies in the plant world. Other insects that are known for being beneficial we call them beneficial insects, such as  assassin bugs, minute pirate bugs and Syrphid fly larva. They will eat them. But with the spittle around them,  they're less desirable. And so what you do as the proud owner of a plant with spittlebugs, is you just spray the plant with water and wash the spittle off of them. They have the ability to make it again. And so you'll have to come out tomorrow and check for those spittlebug masses again and spray it off. But by washing it off, you're exposing that insect to natural predators that will potentially come and eat it.

Farmer Fred  3:45

And you're not harming the natural predators with a jet of water. Right?

Debbie Flower  3:49

And you're not harming the plant either.

Farmer Fred  3:51

Yeah, and you're cleaning the plant.

Debbie Flower  3:53

Yes. And in a dry climate like ours, the plants are usually appreciative of that. If they could talk.

Farmer Fred  4:00

Spittlebugs, I could see how they could be confused with leaf hoppers.

Debbie Flower  4:04

It’s a very similar body. Yes, the head is wider than the tail, it comes to sort of a point at the tail. I read although I've never heard anybody say that they're sometimes called frogs head. Because they lift their heads above their rears when they're in a resting position.  A leafhopper tends to be more straight horizontal, but really the identifying characteristic is that spittle.

Farmer Fred  4:31

I guess in certain crops spittlebugs can vector certain plant pathogens, like the one that causes  Oleander leaf scorch. Also, Pierce's disease of grapes, which is a serious problem with grapes, but then, most leafhoppers do distribute Pierce's disease. But again, this is slightly different than a leaf hopper.

Debbie Flower  4:55

Correct.

Farmer Fred  4:57

The good news is spittlebugs are one of the favorite foods of birds.

Debbie Flower  5:04

And you as you said, they're seasonal. Yeah, the people freak out, “What's all over my plant in spring?” I would say is is their season and you spray them down and they get eaten.

Farmer Fred  5:18

I like to leave some spittlebugs on a plant just to see which beneficial insects are attracted to it. Besides the birds going after the adults, the nymphs are attacked by assassin bugs minute pirate bugs, and Syrphid larvae. And if you got kids, and you want to teach them about the good bugs, it helps to have a problem plant, where you might see the good guys swarming. I've been using my milkweed plant lately as a good example of that. The miilkweed attracts the golden aphid, but there's a lot of ladybugs there. There's a lot of the juvenile ladybugs, the larvae, that looks like an alligator in a San Francisco Giants warm up jacket, sort of black and orange. It seems the juvenile is much longer than an adult ladybug and much faster moving, too, but at least then you can get a good idea of who the good guys are.

Debbie Flower  6:12

Yes, yes. You got to learn what they look like. There used to be a poster you could get from California ag and natural resources of the good guys.Yeah, I emphasized that in teaching because  there are actually more good guys. But you need to know these good guys, you don't kill them. Very important.

Farmer Fred  6:38

It's called Know Your beneficial insects. It’s a poster, and you can download it from the internet, and I'll have a link to that.  I have one hanging above the freezer in the garage.

Debbie Flower  6:47

All right, perfect place. Anytime you go out to the freezer. You get to learn something.

Farmer Fred  6:51

Exactly, Yeah. So this spittlebug, then, it can be controlled easily with a blast of water because you're doing in the young. I think once they fall off, they don't come back, much like aphids in that regard. And you may not have to go out every day, either. I've found by going out every two or three days and looking for those little white flowers to appear.

Debbie Flower  7:16

When the new eggs hatch, and they've gone through their first stage  first. Then they get into their second stage. That's when they can produce  the spittle.

Farmer Fred  7:24

And then again, if you live in a warm climate, as the weather warms, they will disappear. Yes. So spittlebugs are interesting to see. Not a big threat.

Debbie Flower  7:36

Really, unless  they carry one of those diseases and you have one of those crops.

Farmer Fred  7:40

If if you love your oleanders you might want to take action.

Debbie Flower  7:44

Not a lot of us, and by that I am talking about the whole country, have access to oleanders

Farmer Fred  7:49

Yeah, it's more of a USDA zone nine and 10. Right. It’s a screening shrub.

Debbie Flower  7:56

It’s a freeway median here.

Farmer Fred  7:57

It used to be, anyway. The University of California says you can ignore spittlebugs or wash the nymphs off of the plants with a full stream of water. Spittlebugs are more likely to become abundant on woody plants when they migrate from nearby herbaceous hosts. Cut down spittlebug-infested weeds in the spring before the insects mature and spread. That’s a good idea.

Debbie Flower  8:22

Right. That's a good idea for many things. Cut the weeds down. Because a lot of the insects that are pests in our garden, spend some time there early in the season, and then they move into our herbaceous crops.

Farmer Fred  8:35

The bad bug demilitarized zone, as I like to call it. Have an area, if you have a big enough garden, to have maybe a 15 foot wide swath of clearing of weeds so that  whatever pests may be in the taller weeds and at your neighbors. If they try to come over, they might get picked off by a bird.

Debbie Flower  8:51

right. Or it's such a long distance. They don't fly very well or they don't walk very far. They can't get there.

Farmer Fred  8:57

Right. Alright. Spittlebugs. We will have a picture and a link to more info about it in today's show notes. Thank you, Debbie.

Debbie Flower  9:01

You're welcome Fred.

SMART POTS

Farmer Fred  9:06

You’ve heard me talk about the benefits of Smart Pots, the original, award winning fabric container. Smart pots are sold around the world and are proudly made, 100%, here in the USA.

Smart Pots is the oldest, and still the best, of all the fabric plant containers that you might find. Many of these imitators are selling cheaply made fabric pots that fall apart quickly. Not Smart Pots. There are satisfied Smart Pot owners who have been using the same Smart Pots for over a decade, actually approaching 20 years.

When you choose Smart Pot fabric containers, you know you’ll be having a superior growing experience with the best product on the market.

And your plants will appreciate Smart Pots, too. Because of the one million microscopic holes in Smart Pots, your soil will have better drainage, and the roots will be healthier. They won’t be going round and round on the outside of the soil ball, like you see in so many plastic pots. The air pruning qualities of Smart Pots create more branching of the roots, filling more of the usable soil in the Smart Pot.

Smart Pots are available at independent garden centers and select Ace and True Value hardware stores nationwide. To find a store near you, or to buy online, visit smart pots dot com slash fred. And don’t forget that slash Fred part. On that page are details about how, for a limited time, you can get 10 percent off your Smart Pot order by using the coupon code, fred. f-r-e-d, at checkout from the Smart Pot Store.

Visit smartpots.com slash fred for more information about the complete line of Smart pots lightweight, colorful, award winning fabric containers and don’t forget that special Farmer Fred 10 percent discount. Smart Pots - the original, award winning fabric planter. Go to smart pots dot com slash fred.

========================================

Is It OK To Eat Green Potatoes?

Farmer Fred

We like to answer your garden questions here on the Garden Basics podcast. Debbie Flower is here, America's favorite retired colleague horticultural professor. And Don from Wisconsin sends us a note and says, “Is it okay to cut off the green portion of a potato and use the rest of the potato? Or should the entire potato be disposed of? I remember my mom telling my sister and I not to eat the green on potatoes so I didn’t. But as time went by and I got smarter in my own mind, I just assumed that was an old wives tale and began to eat this green. Now I didn't seek out the green potatoes, but while cutting up potatoes I encountered some green. I just tossed it in the pot with the rest. Am I a ticking time bomb, saturated with toxins? Seriously though, am I? And what is an acceptable manner to throw away the potato? The compost pile?” signed, Don.

Well, Don, according to the University of Idaho Cooperative Extension, and they should know something about potatoes, potato tubers are specialized stems of a potato plant and tubers that are exposed to light will naturally turn green. The green is nothing more than chlorophyll, a harmless compound found in all green plants. However, when potato tubers turn green, there is usually an increase in the glycol colloid compound, called solanine. Consequently, it is important to store potatoes in the absence of light to prevent greening. Tubers with a high concentration of solanine will taste bitter and can be harmful if eaten in large quantities. To be safe, it is best not to eat the green part of tubers. Your thoughts?

Debbie Flower  12:42

Yeah, the green part is chlorophyll. We eat lots of chlorophyll. Celery has chlorophyll, it’s full of chlorophyll. Any green vegetable, such as broccoli, is full of chlorophyll. But it's when it's bitter and has a solanine buildup in it, and potatoes have solanine in them anyway to some level. And it's becomes more increased and more active. When they start to green up they make chlorophyll and become metabolically active. He also asked about how to dispose of the parts that you don't want anymore. A compost pile works just fine. Be aware that if it isn't a hot compost pile, and they don't break down, even little pieces, especially the little green pieces, can begin to grow in the inactive portions of a compost pile. And once you have a potato bed, you have potatoes growing there forever, because the little pieces of roots underground don't decompose. And you don't harvest them all. And so you they just keep growing every year. But yes, definitely you can put them in the in the compost pile, the worm bin, something like that. They are an organic that will break down.

Farmer Fred  13:52

Well now you've created another question. That potato that is growing in a compost pile from that discarded green portion of potato. Can you eat the potatoes that are formed by that new plant in the compost pile?

Debbie Flower

Sure. All right.

Farmer Fred

Okay, so this, this solanine stuff is not something that's going to be spread from generation to generation.

Debbie Flower  14:11

No, it is in the plant. It's in all the plants in the solanaceae family. Eggplant, tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, tobacco, all have solanine in them. And they have different levels. Some people are particularly sensitive to solanine. my husband happens to be one of those. My sister is another one of those people. It exacerbates his arthritis. And there is a whole book written about that by a professor that I had at Rutgers. For some of us it isn't a bother. So all poisons, all toxicity, has to do with the amount. So it's only when you're going to have a large amount of solanine that it's a problem.

Farmer Fred  14:51

And the USDA also says you don't need to discard the green potatoes. just peel the skins, shoots, and any of the green color because that's where the solanine is concentrated. So Don, go ahead and enjoy those potatoes and just toss away the green portion. you'll be just fine. And congratulations on living so far.

DAVE WILSON NURSERY

Farmer Fred

Are you thinking of growing fruit trees? Maybe you already are, but you want to know more about them. Well, you probably have a million questions. Like, which fruit trees will grow where I live? What are the tastiest fruits? When is harvest time? How do I care for these trees? The answers are nearby.  Just go to dave wilson dot com, click on the Home Garden tab at the top of the page. Also in that home garden tab, you’ll find a link to their fruit and nut harvest chart, so you can be picking delicious, healthy fruits from your own yard from May to December here in USDA Zone 9. And you’re just a click away with the informative You Tube video series at DaveWilson.com. And as part of that video series, they will walk you through the simple process of using the Dave Wilson website to find their trees, either at a nearby local nursery or a mail order source. That's Dave Wilson nursery, the nation's largest grower of fruit trees for the backyard garden. They've got planting tips, taste test results, and information about their revolutionary backyard orchard culture techniques, which explain how you can have a cornucopia of different fruit trees in a small backyard. Your harvest to better health begins at DaveWilson.com.

WHAT IS THE WHITE MOLD ON MY PLANT ROOTS?

Farmer Fred  16:38

We like to answer your garden questions here on the Garden Basics podcast. Debbie Flower is here, America's favorite retired college horticultural professor. She's got the knowledge for this kind of stuff. And we get a question from Georgia, from Sam, who writes in: “I planted some carrots, beets, kohlrabi, in early spring and when I went to harvest them, I noticed something strange. Most of the beets were missing the roots. Some had developed a nub of a root with soil caked on them and a mold that was a white substance on the caked soil. The same with the carrots, the ones that did develop or stunted with that same caked soil with white mold. I discarded all the material, added some Plant Tone, topped the beds with compost, and went on to plant my summer garden. At first the garden seem to be thriving, but slowly, crops started dying off. My scarlet runner beans went from vibrant green to a yellow color; the bell peppers that were doing so well are now exhibiting the same yellow discoloration. The indeterminate tomato started wilting overnight. I've already discarded my sweet 100 tomato, and I'm seeing the same thing happened to my Sungold tomato. Most recently the marigolds planted in the raised bed which seemed healthy and were flowering also wilted. And when I pulled up the marigold, I noticed the root mass had this white fuzzy mold, reminiscent of what was on the stunted spring root crops. The raised bed that I garden in has an Eastern exposure and drip irrigation.” Well, there's a question that raises more questions, Debbie,

Debbie Flower  18:08

It certainly does. there's a lot of information there in that question. One is the variety of the species of plants that were affected by the problem. Another is it went over different seasons. It wasn't just spring when it might have been just cold and, and crappy weather; or summer when it's hot and maybe too dry. And then the white growth he saw. Now white growth isn't always bad. If you have a lot of compost, sometimes you can even open a bag of compost and there's some white growth right there. White growth is fungus growing on plant parts. Maybe they're breaking down plant parts, like in a compost pile, or maybe they're actively growing plant parts and they're different funguses that will attack live stuff versus dead stuff. But it's not always bad. But the damage he was seeing, the lack of thriving in his crops was amazing.

Farmer Fred  19:01

Yeah. And whenever I hear about something like that, I got to think okay, tell me about your soil, Sam. And I asked him that. Tell me about your soil.

Debbie Flower  19:08

Very good question.

Farmer Fred  19:09

And he said, “funny you should mention that. There's a company ( I won't name the company) that has recently gained a lot of popularity among some organic growers here in Georgia. Last year when I used their soil in my grow bags, my tomatoes and peppers got all gnarly, stunted and died. Turns out the soil was contaminated by aminopyralid. And we've talked about that before in terms of, I believe, it was horse manure.

Debbie Flower  19:36

Yeah, it's it's used on grass. And certain weeds. Yeah.

Farmer Fred  19:41

He says, “I got rid of all that grobag soil, reached out to the company. they refunded the cost of the compost and assured me that the problem was being addressed. This year, once again, naive me, I decided to give them another chance. That compost is really in the top couple inches of the raised beds, so maybe I could just scrape that top layer off maybe.”

Debbie Flower  19:59

So this year, he's got like an overgrowth. Yeah, he brought it in, it sounds like it came in with the soil, we have no proof. It's something that can be tested by a laboratory, I believe, after looking into the funguses, that would cause that kind of damage on those crops. I believe it is something called Phytophthora, which is there are many different species of Phytophthora that attack different kinds of plants. So that was one thing I took into consideration, the fact that very many different, unrelated plants were damaged by this fungus, the pattern of the fungus growing on the roots was another thing that I took into consideration. And as I said before, consider the different seasons, which is horrible, it's just horrible. Because you either have Phytophthora or you don't, it's very difficult to get rid of it. Solarization is something you recommended.

Farmer Fred  20:52

soil solarization in the summertime, with clear plastic, for six to eight weeks, can do in a lot of plant pathogens. But phytophthora, I’m not sure.

Debbie Flower  21:01

Right and has this soil moved on a tool, on a shoe, whatever, to another part of  the yard. Then wherever it goes, it's going to have an effect. I might consider scraping the stuff off the surface and driving it over to the company and leaving it on somebody's desk and asking for my money back again. But I would take some to a cooperative extension office or the ag commissioner's office and see if they will test it for you. If not, you might have to go to an agricultural lab and have it tested. I believe there's the Eliza test - is that the one that's used on Phytophthora? - I believe it can be tested for I should check that - by a laboratory. But once it has come in contact with your soil, with your tools, with your whatever, your raised bed, if it's a raised bed, it's there, you can't get rid of it easily at all. So there's Phytophthora resistance is what you're gonna have to look for.

Farmer Fred  22:03

That brings up another garden rule. You might call this Rule, “Debbie Flower gone crazy”. Because She recommends cleaning your tools after every use. Well, this would be clean your tools every time you stick it in the ground, before you move to another part of the soil. Because you might be spreading your own problem. Right now, there is a disease called white mold and usually the symptoms are soil that's too wet, and not enough air circulation between plants. Being it's drip irrigation, unless it's really heavy clay and yes, I know there is clay soil in Georgia. But if this is in raised beds, you probably don't have that clay soil in the raised bed. do you? And not enough air circulation between plants. He mentioned that he was practicing Square Foot Gardening.

Debbie Flower  22:46

Yes, so he was setting himself up for some fungal diseases and even insect diseases. When plants are too close together or plant parts are too close together and there's dampness, then you're setting yourself up for problems. The air can't get through the plant, it can't get dry.  And then fungus and bacteria, which needs six to eight hours of free water. So a free droplet of water will germinate their spores and infect the plant, and can go to town. Because the air can't get in there and dry it out. And insects such as aphids can get start going wild because their predators, the things that eat them, the things we call beneficial insects, can't get in there to attack them either. So you need to space the plants according to recommended spacing, which is on the seed packet, and is sometimes on the tag you buy it with. And it's in references.

Farmer Fred  23:35

Usually for your summer vegetables, or your annuals, like marigolds, the usual spacing depends on the eventual size, but it's usually for marigolds, maybe 12 to 18 inches, 24 for the really tall African marigolds. and for tomatoes, probably 36 inches; and for peppers, I would go at least 18.

Debbie Flower  23:57

I agree. And I was right. It is the Eliza test for Phytophthora. And so my plant pathology professor in graduate school should be proud because I got that answer wrong on the final.

Farmer Fred

But you wouldn’t hold a grudge

Debbie Flower

No, no, it was my fault. I have learned it now.

Farmer Fred  24:12

You would make a great Catholic. The guilt. Me, misspelling the word “thief” in the fifth grade Spelling Bee and losing to Lucile Gibb. It's never been a problem for me throughout the rest of my life.

Debbie Flower  24:28

And I bet you've never misspelled thief again.

Farmer Fred  24:29

I've never misspelled it again.

Debbie Flower  24:31

see, that's how we learned from our mistakes. Yeah,

Farmer Fred  24:33

I mean, she had it easy. I misspelled thief, and she got to spell it correctly. Because what are you gonna do? You're just gonna switch around the “i” and the “e”. Yeah. And then she never gave me the time of day again, but that's a different story. Anyway.

Debbie Flower  24:47

That impacted you.

Farmer Fred  24:48

it did impact me. Yes.

Debbie Flower  24:50

I'm sorry Sam.

Farmer Fred  24:52

I would try soil solarization.

Debbie Flower  24:55

I would try soil solarization. There is the Eliza test to get your soil tested. And move the bed. Leave it alone. Don't move the soil with it. I would be really mad at that company that showed you this stuff.

Farmer Fred  25:08

Don't buy it again. See?

Debbie Flower  25:10

Ya know.

Farmer Fred  25:14

Sam, Good luck.

HARVEST DAY

Farmer Fred

it's coming Saturday, August 5. It's harvest day at the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center. It's put on by the UC Master Gardeners of Sacramento County and harvest day features speakers, education tables, garden vendors, food trucks, and your chance to explore the beautiful 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 of vineyard, native plants, water efficient plants, and a lot more. Plus there are sections dedicated to composting and that includes worm composting on harvest day. Each area is staffed by master gardeners who are eager to answer your garden questions. At the dozens of educational tables. You're going to 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. And the speakers they're going to be talking about landscape trees, attracting pollinators, and oh yeah, myself and America's favorite retired college horticulture Professor Debbie flower will be 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. But you know, it's true. And best of all, it's free. harvest day at the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center. It's Saturday, August 5 8am to 2pm it's in Fair Oaks Park in Sacramento County. Check today's show notes for a link with more details and maps of harvest day. Hope to see you there.

BEYOND THE GARDEN BASICS NEWSLETTER/PODCAST

Farmer Fred

Here we go again. Another multi-day bout of triple digit temperatures is hitting somewhere in North America right nowhit us last weekend and beyond. This will be the case for the balance of the summer, possibly into early Fall. What should a gardener do if the plants in the outdoor vegetable and flower gardens start showing drooping leaves when the temperature tops 100 degrees? Or, 110 degrees. Or even higher? Plus we talk with Master Gardener and fruit tree expert Quentyn Young about ways to protect your fruit tree orchard during a heatwave.

It’s all in the current Beyond the Garden Basics newsletter and mini-podcast, “Drooping leaves versus Heatwaves”.

If you are already a Beyond the Garden Basics newsletter subscriber, it’s probably in your email, waiting for you right now. Or, you can start a subscription, it’s free! Find the link to the Beyond the Garden Basics newsletter and podcast in today’s show notes, or on the Substack app. Or, you can sign up at the newsletter link at our homepage, gardenbasics dot net.

DID CATS DAMAGE MY BOXWOOD SHRUB?

Farmer Fred  28:21

Debbie Flower is here. We like to delve into the email bag that you send your questions to at the Garden Basics podcast. You can send them to Fred at farmerfred.com You can go to GardenBasics dot net and fill out the contact box with your question. And of course you can call us: 916-292-8964. 916-292-8964. Or, speakpipe.com/garden basics where you can leave the question via your computer. Or if you send it for whatever reason to the Lodi News Sentinel newspaper, since I've written a column for them, a garden column, a weekly garden column for them, for longer than most Americans have been alive. Like 40 years. Somewhere between 30 and 40 years anyway. So this comes from Sunny in Lodi, and Sunny says, “I have read your garden column in the Lodi home and real estate section for years. It's very informative. I just love the “things to do in the garden this week” section.” Well thank you. She reads it to her husband every weekend. She points out though, “our low boxwood hedge along our pathway right next to our lawn is having a problem with cat urine. My husband does not want to put poison because of the lawn and lawn watering. Is there any home remedy we can try?” Sunny, you don't point out if you saw the damage or you smell the damage. Usually with cat urine, it's a “smell the damage” situation. I'm always amazed at what I learned from readers questions. I had not realized that the odor of cat urine is similar to the smell of English boxwoods when they're in bloom in springtime.

Debbie Flower  29:53

I didn't know that either. Yeah.

Farmer Fred  29:55

I’ve always been used to the bad smell of blooming pear trees. And I always thought, “oh, it's bee vomit.” But I guess it's actually just the smell of the flowers on the pear tree.

Debbie Flower  30:03

bee vomit.

Farmer Fred  30:08

But English boxwoods, when they're in bloom in springtime they smell like cat urine. if it is, indeed your nose, not your eyes. That's just an issue with the smell of the flower. Well, I wrote that back to Sunny and she wrote back and says, “These are Japanese boxwoods which, by the way, don't have that smelly problem. And there are patches of dead spots on top. My husband has seen cats on top of them, but never dogs. My husband has not noticed any smell.” Congratulations to those cats that can balance on top of a boxwood, right.

Debbie Flower  30:39

And I’ve had cats all my life, I don't think a cat would sit in the place where it would urinate in that place.

Farmer Fred  30:49

It'd be a very tough balancing act to to do that. I mean,  wouldn’t it fall into the bush? Right?

Debbie Flower  30:56

They like to dig a hole. And although some cats, the territorial ones, will back up to things and spray them.

Farmer Fred

That is true, too, for males.

Debbie Flower

Yeah, yeah.

Farmer Fred  31:06

Yeah, they'll do that. But then you wouldn't see the damage on the top, it would be along the side?

Debbie Flower

Yes, it would.

Farmer Fred

So that takes us to another spray, and that would be errant herbicide spray. And I'm wondering if there was drift. If at some point in the last year, somebody applied something that contained glyphosate, for example, to control weeds nearby, and yes, your boxwood was downwind from that. And you notice branches dying back and what do they look like? Unfortunately, we don't have a picture of it because for instance, with roses when there's glyphosate damage on rose bushes, it is a twisted gnarled mess when the new growth comes out the following spring.

Debbie Flower  31:46

Right. And when I worked for Cooperative Extension, I was actually called out. it was summer, late spring, I guess, to an area of of gnarled blackberry bushes. And they were just coming out of bud. the new growth is heavily damaged, and I thought it was Roundup. Alright, and boxwoods would have most of their growth, I would think, off the top at the ends of the branches. Yes. So she does say that the low boxwood hedge is along their pathway. We don't know what their pathway is made of. But many people here and in Lodi, have pathways made up of decomposed granite into which weeds will grow. And herbicides are commonly used to control those weeds.

Farmer Fred  32:33

Or if it's next to a lawn.

Debbie Flower  32:36

the lawn, Yes.

Farmer Fred  32:38

we have somebody killing weeds on the lawn. Was there some sort of post emergent herbicide used on a windy day? If you're going to be using glyphosate to kill weeds and the weeds are near your plants that are desirable, get a spray device that basically has sort of a funnel on the end or a cup, where you can just basically cover that weed and spray it.

Debbie Flower  33:00

Instead of broadcasting it everywhere.

Farmer Fred

Yeah, getting the herbicide on everything or carry a big piece of cardboard around with you.

Debbie Flower

I’ve see that done commercially.

Farmer Fred  33:08

The other problem with spraying glyphosate, a weed killer, one brand of glyphosate is Roundup. One other problem they have with that is okay, you may know not to spray on a windy day. But even if the air is still in the winter, and it's a foggy day, the droplets from the glyphosate can remain suspended in the air and slowly drift towards other plants. the humidity level plays a part in that as well. So you're gonna have to ask yourself, Okay, when was the last time you used a weed killer, or your lawn service used a weed killer, or your neighbor was using a weed killer? And you may have to really wrestle through the brain to come up with that answer. I've had similar questions like that, where, you know, months later, I'll get a replay. Oh, that's right. I had somebody out spraying around the yard, you know, on the back of an ATV.

Debbie Flower  34:10

Yeah. And she says the cats are sitting on top of the bushes and that they notice broken branches on top. Well, that goes together.

Farmer Fred  34:22

Yeah. Yes. Why are they on the top Are they trying to jump over and they couldn't make it?

Debbie Flower  34:28

I have a cat that likes to jump on top of the mounding grasses or like deer grass, ornamental grasses that bends under you, right?

Farmer Fred  34:38

Unless that boxwood has been trimmed so many times. It's basically just a slate of green.

Debbie Flower  34:46

well that went through my mind. A slate of green on top. Or that they trimmed it too far if you get down into old wood. I think boxwood will regrow. boxwood regrows.

Farmer Fred

but not junipers.

Debbie Flower

yeah, it takes time and it may have been pruned very low. There are dead spots on top. But they just haven't had a chance to grow new leaves yet.

Farmer Fred  35:08

So I'm wondering what would happen if you just cut off the dead parts, the damaged branches.

Debbie Flower  35:10

I would want to check that they're dead first.  Which would mean taking a thumbnail and starting near the broken tip and working backwards and scraping the side. And if it's alive, the bark comes off pretty easily and you see green underneath. If it's alive, then I just leave it alone and let it grow back.

Farmer Fred  35:29

Could you do the bend or break test on those little branches as well, where you just gently bend it, but if it snaps, it's dead.

Debbie Flower  35:35

It depends how old they are. If they're very young, yes. If they're older, they're harder to bend and they may not break, even if you do bend them if they're dead.

Farmer Fred  35:45

How's that for an answer?

Debbie Flower  35:47

Send pictures.

Farmer Fred  35:51

However, I will have a link in today's show notes  from the University of Minnesota with pictures of herbicide damaged boxwoods. So you can take a look at those pictures and see if it looks like what you're seeing.

Debbie Flower  36:04

Yeah, she says there are patches of dead spots on top. That's the only symptom. So I think it's either broken because the cats are sitting on top of it or that it was pruned so low they got into leafless wood.

Farmer Fred  36:25

Check the show notes for that link to herbicide damaged boxwoods from the University of Minnesota Cooperative Extension. Debbie Flower, thanks for your help on this.

Debbie Flower  36:35

Yeah, you're welcome Fred.

FLASHBACK EPISODE 266: CUCUMBER BASICS

Farmer Fred  36:39

Today’s Garden Basics  flashback episode is the most listened to episode ever. And it has to do with America’s second favorite garden-grown vegetable, cucumbers. It is #266 Cucumber basics. Gardeners love their cucumbers, and we delve into the best techniques for growing and caring for them, including troubleshooting cucumber problems. Leading our journey will be self-admitted cucumber aficionado, as well as being America’s favorite retired college horticulture professor, Debbie Flower.

Check out this week’s Flashback Episode: Number 266, “Cucumber Basics”. It’s from last May. Find a link to it in today’s show notes, or at the podcast player of your choice. Or, look it up at our home page, garden basics dot net.

Farmer Fred  37:30

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.