Delaware County Master Gardeners

News for Delaware County Master Gardeners

Vol. 11 No. 6 June, 2006

The Taylor Greenhouse and Intergenerational Garden Committee spent many hours growing vegetables and annuals, repotting them to cell packs, and watering and transporting the plants to the garden in Chester. Thanks to the co-chairs, Darlene Delany and Ed Lyons who have been working with the project and organizing the activities since late January. They had a group of wonderful volunteers who helped to make this a most successful year. The May 20th Plant and Seed Pick-Up was attended by more than fifty families from several urban areas in Delaware County. Most of the plants raised were sent home with hopeful gardeners. Others are growing at Main Street School in Upland, and some are planted in the Teaching Gardens of Smedley Park. Thanks to this committee for making this a very rewarding project.

We had a huge number of requests for Speakers' Bureau presentations during the spring. Thanks to Joe Daniels and the committee for an extraordinary effort to honor these requests. (I think Joe had one free week-end day in May!) Projectors moved from one site to another to accommodate the speakers, and literature and brochures were toted throughout the county. The Master Gardener organization has greatly benefited from this committee's outreach efforts.

We were on hand at Linvilla Orchards to answer gardening questions and distribute information for the last five week-ends. Many thanks to Gordon Jungbluth for organizing this project and to all of you who came out to work with him.

I attended a Coordinator's Conference with our new state coordinator in May. We have an updated MG test and answer sheet. There is also a new financial policy and policy statement. Guidelines are changing for revenue generation, and will be completed soon. Albert Nakpil, designer of our web reporting system, asked for suggestions and input from the coordinators. He has promised some improvements in the reporting system. I'll let you know what the changes are when he has completed them.

We have ordered a display board for our organization. It has three panels, a carrying case, and is Velcro backed. If you anticipate needing the board, please let me know. It will be used for the first time at the Senior Expo at Neumann College.

The Gardeners' Selects trial plants have been planted in the Terrace Garden. The brochure mailed with your newsletter will give you some information about them. Carolyn Finelli and Lorraine Altrichter will evaluate the plants every two weeks. The information will be gathered from the 50 counties participating in the trials and compiled at State College.

Our Urban Gardening Committee from the class of 2005 have planted 5 trees in Chester at the YWCA site. They will also build and plant raised bed flower gardens. Students attending an after school program at the Y have been involved in the planting, and have had several lessons on tree care and how trees improve our environment from Master Gardener Deborah Hemphill. Several community groups have expressed interest and offered to help water and maintain the new plantings. Thanks to Wilma Irvin, the committee chair, and to all of the hardworking members.

Enjoy the beautiful month of June in your garden.

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In another week I am off to help a good friend with her garden in Minnesota, which is a Zone 4 . Having no experience with a zone twice removed from ours, I did some research regarding which plants would do well under those circumstances.

Quick info: Zone 4 on average has 110 days of frost free weather and in the winter it can get to -20 to -30 degrees. On the plus side, there is usually snow cover!

As usual I searched the internet and came up with lots of the same perennials and shrubs that I have used in my garden, so at least I would have the knowledge of their growing habits. Mulching is recommended (no surprise there) but cutting down plants after a frost is not recommended, unless their foliage had disease. (ie: monarda, peony)

There were websites from Northern Ontario and another from Norway run by a gentleman named Magnar Aspaker. He described his growing conditions as a cool, short summer that has 24-hour daylight days from May 24th through July 20th. Wow, wouldn't you be really tired after working in the garden all day there. He also mentions that he grows 1400 different perennials.

Anyhow, an excellent site is from a Minnesota Master Gardener (www. Northerngardening.com) who has an extensive list of Zone 3 and 4 plants. Just a few of the stalwarts are:

Agastache foeniculum, Aquilegia, Amsonia, Aruncus, Asclepias, Baptisia, Bergenia, Boltonia, Echinacea, Eupatorium, Geranium (certain varieties) Hermocallis 'Stella de Oro', Heuchera, Hosta, Limonium, Monarda Nepeta, Oenothera, Paeonia, Perovskia, Tiarella, Tradescantia. Grasses: Calamagrotis, Panicum, Deschampsia.

Another reason for this research is that I have had several Bergenia in a planter for three years now and they have not been bothered at all by the cold. They are a Zone 3 plant so that may explain it. I intend to try to over winter more Zone 3-4 perennials in planters so that way it will cut down on annuals. Bergenia retains its foliage year round as well as grasses, giving you some winter interest.

My trusty garden fork is going with me (in checked baggage; don't want to give security a heart attack) and hopefully we can find some great nurseries with equally great plants. Hope all is well with your garden.

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There's No Need to Release Butterflies -- They're Already Free

by Jeffrey Glassberg (president of NABA); Paul Opler (author of Peterson Field Guide to Eastern Butterflies); Robert M. Pyle (author of Audubon Society Field Guide to Butterflies); Robert Robbins (curator of Lepidoptera, Smithsonian Institution) and James Tuttle (president, (Lepidopterists' Society)

Most fifth graders can tell you how the magnificent Monarch butterflies migrate thousands of miles every autumn from the United States and Canada to a few small mountain tops in Mexico. There they find the right environmental conditions that allow them to survive the winter. With the advent of spring, they begin their return journey. This migratory phenomenon is truly a wonder of nature that sparks the imagination.

Now imagine tens of thousands of mixed-up Monarchs unable to find the way to their overwintering grounds. This depressing image may become a reality if the rapidly-growing fad of releasing butterflies, including Monarch butterflies, at weddings, state fairs, and other public events continues to spread. Because the released Monarchs may have come from California, for instance, where they do not migrate to Mexico, their offspring may not be able to orient properly. Because the Monarchs were raised inside under unnatural conditions, it is possible that their delicate migratory physiology may not have been turned on.

Public interest in butterflies is increasing dramatically. We hope and expect this greater involvement with butterflies will eventually lead to much-needed support for butterfly conservation and studies, but the release of live butterflies is the dark side of this increase in popularity. Although this practice is understandable to naïve newlyweds-to-be (what could be more beautiful than adding butterflies to the environment?) it is really a particularly long-lasting form of environmental pollution.

Butterflies raised by unregulated commercial interests may spread diseases and parasites to wild populations, with devastating results. Often, butterflies are released great distances from their points of origin, resulting in inappropriate genetic mixing of different populations when the same species is locally present. When it is not, a non-native species is being introduced in the area of release. At best, this confuses studies of butterfly distribution and migration; at worst, it may result in deleterious changes to the local ecology. The Hollywood Jurassic park message, "Don't fool with Mother Nature," has scientific foundations. Recently a high profile report in Science magazine found that even the careful introduction of species for biological control often causes unexpected negative results.

In addition, these releases create a commercial market for live butterflies (currently about $10/apiece), with the result that, for example, the Monarch overwintering sites in Mexico and on the California coast are now targets for poachers.

Currently, the interstate shipment of live butterflies requires a permit from the U.S. Department of Agriculture but this law is not usually enforced. In general, the Dept. of Agriculture may issue a permit for shipping any of the following species: Monarch, Painted Lady, American Lady, Red Admiral, Giant Swallowtail, Gulf Fritillary, Zebra (Heliconian), and Mourning Cloak. Shipping Red Admirals, Giant Swallowtails, Gulf Fritillaries and Zebra (Heliconians) is particularly inappropriate because they are not naturally found over much of the United States.

A solution that better serves the public interest with less regulatory burden is to ban the environmental release of commercially obtained butterflies (we would exempt education institutions, although even here we would encourage schools to keep commercially obtained butterflies within the confines of the school). The intentional release of native birds was outlawed in 1947. The time has come to do the same with butterflies.

In addition to the above, many wedding planners now avoid butterflies at weddings because they not infrequently arrive dead, or half-dead. (See the recent article in the New York Times "Festive Release of Butterflies Puts Trouble in the Air" on page F4 of the Sept. 15, 1998 edition). Even if alive, they often will soon die because they are released at the wrong time of year, or at the wrong locality to survive.

A truly beautiful and environmentally friendly way to celebrate a wedding is to throw rose petals. You can even use outdated roses from your florist.

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A few words ABOUT Pennsylvania's I.P.M.

They took all the trees
And put them in a tree museum
And they charged all the people
A dollar and a half just to see 'em
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot.

Hey farmer farmer
Put away that D.D.T. now
Give me
Spots on my apples
But leave me the birds and the bees
Please!
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot."

Big Yellow Taxi (by Joni Mitchell)

Recently I found myself singing along with a new version of this song and like a slap in the face, I realized- how true, how true. Thought I'd share my realization with my fellow MGs and also that it is a good time of the year to take (and give) some gentle reminders.
Editor

Pesticides are substances that kill or physiologically inhibit pests, be they insects, weeds, vertebrates such as rats, mice and certain birds, disease-causing organisms, molds or other living "pests". Consequently, pesticides include a large array of chemical types that exhibit many different biological effects (modes of action). By their nature, pesticides are designed to negatively impact various life processes. How toxic a pesticide is to humans is a complicated determination that must include several immediate "acute effects" and multiple long-term "chronic effects". Due to the difficulty of actually identifying and quantifying these effects, it is a good idea to limit exposure to pesticides of all kinds. There are 3 main ways to limit exposure:

1. Use alternatives to pesticides
2. If you use pesticides, choose less toxic products
3. Always read the entire label and follow all instructions exactly (see the Pesticide Education Program)

Less toxic strategies include:

• Preventing pests and making the home harder to invade and less desirable for indoor pests by caulking cracks & holes, removing water sources (leaky faucets, etc), and keeping surfaces clean
• Selecting the best plant for the best location and maintaining plant health
• Tolerating low levels of pest infestation instead of treating every small nuisance Using the least toxic product that will only kill the targeted pest

How to choose a least toxic product:

1. Packaging and formulation:
   - Choose products that are packaged in a child-friendly way. Ant baits are a good example because the poison is enclosed. Be sure products don't look like food or drink and never repackage a pesticide--kids can't tell the difference if it's in an unmarked bottle.
   - Limit your exposure by avoiding products in liquid, concentrate and aerosol form. These linger on surfaces and air and might easily be absorbed through the skin or lungs. See the pyramid below for an illustration.

Less dangerous formulations are in the green=go level.

2. Active ingredient: Available pesticides come with many different active ingredients (poison component).

Read the label and look at active ingredients listed before you buy a product! You can look up pesticide active ingredients on the web to learn their toxicity.

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Less-Toxic Pest Controls
(adapted from Chesapeake Bay Foundation)

This is a list of some of the product types that are considered less toxic for home and garden pests, however, this is not a complete list and specific brand name product endorsement is not intended.

Some of these may not be available in your store. Ask your retailer about adding additional less toxic products to their pest control product selection. With increased consumer interest, new pest control products that trap or repel pests or use environmentally benign active ingredients are becoming available.

Saferbrand.com is a supplier of many different least toxic products

Traps, Barriers, and Other Physical Controls
Pest Control

Ants - Sticky barriers
Cockroaches - Sticky trap, or sticky trap with pheromone attractant

• Fleas -Flea comb for use on pets, place fleas in soapy water
• Flea traps
• Steam clean carpets
• Strong vacuum (seal vacuum bags and put in freezer before disposing)

Flying pests - Yellow sticky trap

General garden pest control - Floating row cover

Kitchen & pantry pests-Pantry light trap

Slugs & snails-Copper barrier, copper flashing

• Beer/yeast trap - Place a low container on the ground and fill with beer or yeast/water solution. Slugs go in to drink and then drown. Must be emptied each morning.
• Board - place a board on the ground in the garden, flip over every morning and remove the slugs that have collected there overnight

Weeds - Asphalt crack filler

Yellow jackets - Yellow jacket trap

For more information on I.P.M.-use this link: http://paipm.cas.psu.edu/alternatives.html

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