May 15, 2002

Dear Editors:

It’s certainly been an interesting weather year so far. Who knows what the summer will bring? One thing you can count on – the summer edition of the lawn and garden packet. Timely topics for June, July and August include watering and fertilizing lawns, a gardening project for kids (a pizza garden), conserving water in the landscape, harvesting sunflowers and planting peonies. The Garden Corner is also on hand, as usual.

Though I haven’t done my spring planting yet, I’m already thinking about the fall packet, so now would be a good time to suggest story topics or questions for The Garden Corner. Other comments are welcome, too. It’s good to hear from you!

Sincerely,

Leslie Johnson
Extension Lawn & Garden Editor
ANR Communications
312 Agriculture Hall, MSU
East Lansing, MI 48824-1039
517-432-1555

LKJ/bl

LAWN AND GARDEN RELEASES FOR JUNE, JULY AND AUGUST

THE GARDEN CORNER

BEANS: EASY TO GROW AND PRODUCTIVE

CRITTERS WILL HARVEST SUNFLOWER SEEDS IF YOU WAIT TOO LONG

DESIGN LANDSCAPE TO CONSERVE WATER

HELP KIDS PLANT A GARDEN THEY CAN REALLY ENJOY

LANDSCAPING CAN AFFECT HOME ENERGY USE

LAWN FERTILIZER PROGRAM CAN AFFECT WATER QUALITY

LAWN IRRIGATION PRACTICES CAN AFFECT WATER QUALITY

MAYFLY ABUNDANCE REFLECTS IMPROVEMENTS IN WATER QUALITY

MULCH HAS MULTIPLE BENEFITS IN VEGETABLE, FLOWER GARDENS

PESTICIDE RESISTANCE MAKES PEST CONTROL MORE DIFFICULT

PROPER MOWING ESSENTIAL FOR HEALTHY LAWN

PROPER PLANTING BRINGS SUCCESS WITH PEONIES

PROTECT AGAINST CUCUMBER BEETLES

START GATHERING PLANTS FOR DRYING IN SUMMER

USE FERTILIZER CAREFULLY TO PROTECT GROUNDWATER

5/15/02

Contact: Leslie Johnson

THE GARDEN CORNER

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Summertime is gardening time, and that means lots of questions for Extension lawn and garden experts at Michigan State University.

I want to reduce the amount of insecticide I use in my flower beds and vegetable garden. What can I do?

One of the best ways to help manage plant-damaging insects is to attract predators and parasites of those insects to your garden. Predators eat other organisms; parasites feed in or on other living organisms, consuming all or most of their tissue and eventually killing them. Many of these beneficial insects tend to be relatively small, and most rely on pollen and nectar from flowers for energy to produce healthy fertilized eggs. You can attract them to your garden by planting perennial and annual plants with clusters of small, shallow flowers. Choose from plants such as angelica, anise, caraway, chervil, coriander, dill, fennel, blazing star, chamomile, cosmos, marigold, sunflower, yarrow, sweet alyssum, broccoli, candytuft, mustards and scabiosa. A selection of plants that provides blooms throughout the growing season is best. The more diverse the plant selection, the greater the variety of natural enemies it will attract. Mulching garden plants enhances the survival of ground-dwelling predators such as spiders and ground beetles by adding hiding places for the predators and attracting other invertebrates that serve as food when plant-damaging insects aren’t present.

Yuccas are supposed to be care-free plants, and I have to admit that mine have grown well and not had any problems in the several years since I planted them. They also haven’t had any flowers. They’re in a perennial bed where they get full sun and regular water and fertilizer.

Yuccas flower best in poor, infertile soil. They need lots of sun but not much water. If you want yours to flower, you need to change the way you care for them. The easiest way to do this might be to move them away from perennials that appreciate TLC and ignore them for a while.

Are baby vegetables immature versions of standard varieties or cultivars with genetically small edible parts?

Yes. Some baby vegetables, such as finger-sized zucchini, are simply standard-sized vegetables harvested at a very immature stage. Others, such as Jack Be Little pumpkin or Super Sweet 100 tomatoes, are simply small fruits. Plants may or may not be smaller than standard varieties.

What’s the point of putting straw on recently seeded lawn areas?

A light mulch of straw slows the evaporation of water and so helps to keep germinating seed and seedlings moist longer between waterings. Grass seed needs a constant supply of moisture to germinate and get established. Without a mulch, you could be out there watering several times a day. With a mulch, you may be able to get by with once-a-day watering.

Is there any reason not to use black plastic mulch around broccoli and cabbage plants?

Plastic mulch will discourage weed growth, but it will also warm the soil. Cabbage family crops grow better under cool conditions, so an organic mulch -- straw, shredded leaves, compost, etc. -- would be better.

How can some insects walk on water?

Water striders, pond skimmers and other such insects move across the water without breaking the surface tension -- the tendency of the water molecules to cling to one another. Unless someone dunks them with a stone or a splash of water, they stay dry while they glide around in search of other insects, newly hatched tadpoles and other prey to feed on.

My neighbor always fertilizes his garden around July 4. Is this necessary?

This is one of those "it depends" questions. It depends on what crops are in the garden, whether fertilizer was broadcast on the garden spot before planting and what the soil type is. Sandy soils have little ability to hold onto plant nutrients, so crops growing in them may need regular light applications through most of the growing season to prevent nitrogen deficiency. Some crops don’t need a lot of nitrogen, and if you tilled in a complete fertilizer in the spring, that should be sufficient. This is particularly true of quick-maturing crops such as lettuce and spinach and radishes. Legumes -- peas and beans -- can utilize nitrogen from the air, so they don’t need a midseason nitrogen boost. Sweet corn, on the other hand, along with onions and winter squash, which take most of the summer to grow and mature, and the cabbage family crops are considered heavy feeders, and they will benefit from a fertilizer boost or even two to prevent nitrogen deficiency. If you tilled large quantities of organic matter into your soil before planting -- last year’s mulch, for instance -- soil microorganisms breaking this material down may tie up available soil nitrogen and make it unavailable to crops until decomposition is complete.

Are there any alternatives to herbicides for killing weeds in cracks and seams in sidewalks, driveways and patios? I can vouch for the fact that digging them out isn’t an option.

Try pouring boiling water or salt water on these weeds instead.

What are those onion-shaped swellings in the stems of last year’s goldenrod plants?

Those are plant galls. They are the plants’ response to irritation caused by the larvae of a fly that laid its eggs inside the stems. More slender stem swellings are caused by caterpillars. Both the maggots and the caterpillars are prized by woodpeckers and by fishermen, who use them for live bait.

What causes an onion plant to form seed rather than a bulb?

Warm temperatures early in the season followed by cool temperatures in June when onions are at about the five-leaf stage will cause plants to form seeds rather than bulbs. The earlier in the season that transplants and sets reach this vulnerable stage, the greater the likelihood that cool temperatures will occur and cause plants to bolt.

What can I do to avoid bee and wasp stings?

Aside from the obvious step of staying away from nests, you can avoid wearing anything that might cause stinging insects to mistake you for a flower. Wear long-sleeved shirts and pants in white, gray or tan rather than brightly colored flower prints, and avoid the use of heavily scented soap or shampoo, perfume, cologne, aftershave, hairspray, and other lotions or cosmetics. Avoid eating outdoors. If a bee or wasp hovers around you, don’t panic. Try to avoid rapid movements that might provoke an attack. Instead, slowly raise your arms to protect your face and stand still or move slowly away. If a stinging insect lands on you, brush it off rather than smack it against your skin.

#lkj#

ANR Communications                                 Contact: L. Johnson or M. McLellan
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY               Telephone: 517-432-1555 or 353-3774
East Lansing, MI 48824-1039                     5/15/02

BEANS: EASY TO GROW
AND PRODUCTIVE

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- One of the easiest garden vegetables to grow is also one of the most productive: beans.

They’re also versatile.

"You can eat them fresh or can or freeze them for later, grow them in narrow or wide rows or on poles or in pots," says Mary McLellan, Extension Master Gardener program coordinator at Michigan State University. "Seed catalogs offer a host of varieties, so you can grow green snap beans or yellow wax beans or beans with purple pods that turn green when you cook them, plus wide, flat Italian-type beans."

Beans are quick to produce when sown as seed in the garden after the soil warms in the spring, and they can be planted several times at 10- to 14-day intervals for successive harvests well into the fall, she points out.

The bean family includes not only the snap bean and its variations but also a host of beans usually grown for their dried seeds rather than their pods. You can grow kidney, pinto, navy, fava, Great Northern and mung beans in your garden, or even soybeans for sprouts. Because you’re allowing the pods to mature and harvesting just the seeds, you must dedicate quite a bit of space to achieve a sizable harvest, so these crops are usually not recommended for small gardens.

Edible-podded beans, however, are very productive, giving a high return for the space allotted to them, McLellan notes.

Some beans, such as limas and dwarf horticultural beans, can be eaten fresh when seeds are immature, or allowed to mature for harvest as dry beans.

Also in the bean family are novelty beans such as the scarlet runner, a climbing vine that produces striking red blossoms followed by edible pods, and yard-long or asparagus beans, another climber that produces large crops of long bean pods.

What all these crops have in common is the need for warm soil and air temperatures and plenty of sunlight, McLellan says. Bean seeds placed in cold, damp soil will rot, and bean plants at any stage of growth are sensitive to frost.

If your garden is on high ground and the soil dries out and warms up early in the spring or you warm the soil by covering it with plastic, you can get the jump on the season by planting beans a week before the average frost-free date.

"It’s a gamble, however, because the average frost-free date is just that -- an average, and a late frost could wipe out an early planting," McLellan points out. "If you decide to try this, it’s a good idea to make a small planting that you can afford to lose and hold off planting your main crop."

The best site for beans has loose, well drained soil that’s not extremely acid and receives full sun.

Whether you plant bush beans or pole beans is one of those "it depends" questions. Pole beans need sturdy supports -- poles, trellises, fences, stakes and wires, etc. They keep growing and producing all summer but take up more space, so they may be more difficult to work into a small garden. Bush beans are more compact and don’t need to be supported. They can be grown in single or double rows or in wide beds or even containers. Wide rows give more yield per square foot. The main consideration is row width: you need to be able to reach all the beans at harvest time.

Beans don’t have a lot of insect or disease problems, McLellan notes, but it’s still a good idea to plant disease-resistant varieties and avoid planting beans in the same part of the garden year after year. The most common insect pest of beans is the Mexican bean beetle, a black and orange, hard-backed insect that feeds on the leaves. Persistent hand picking may provide sufficient control. If beetles become too numerous, look for a garden insecticide labeled for control of bean beetles on beans and apply following label directions.

Beans are most sensitive to dry weather when seeds are germinating and seedlings are getting established and again when plants are producing pods, McLellan says. One thorough soaking per week during dry weather should be sufficient.

Harvest snap beans, Romano beans and baby limas while pods are young and tender. Pods left on the plant too long will get tough. Dry beans have to stay on the plants until seeds dry and pods turn brown. Pods left too long will split and the seeds will drop out.

#lkj#

ANR Communications                                         Contact: L. Johnson or M. McLellan
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY                       Telephone: 517-432-1555 or 353-3774
East Lansing, MI 48824-1039                             5/15/02

CRITTERS WILL HARVEST SUNFLOWER
SEEDS IF YOU WAIT TOO LONG

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Sunflower seeds for baking, snacking and bird feeding are easy to grow. If you’re late to harvest them, however, you may find that the neighborhood birds and squirrels have gotten there first.

"Timely harvest is the key," says Mary McLellan, Extension Master Gardener program coordinator at Michigan State University. "Gardeners need to harvest when the backs of the flower heads turn yellow."

Commercially, sunflowers are grown mostly for the oil in their seeds. Bird food and the snack market take smaller shares of the harvest.

The wide variety of sizes and flower colors available in sunflowers just about guarantees them a spot in any sunny garden, McLellan observes. Sunflowers tolerate some frost when they’re small and germinate in cool soil, so they can be planted earlier than most warm-weather garden crops. They also grow quickly, so they can be planted after spring cool-weather crops are harvested.

The large size of the seeds, quick germination and dependable, sometimes spectacular results make sunflowers a favorite for children’s first gardens, McLellan notes.

Flower heads are made up of 1,000 to 2,000 individual flowers joined together at the base and surrounded by individual ray flowers (the petals). Flower heads follow the movement of the sun until the plants mature -- then they droop and face the ground. Seed development starts at the outer edges of the flower and moves toward the center. It usually takes about 30 days from the time the last flower is pollinated until seeds are ready for harvest.

To harvest the seeds, cut off the entire flower head, McLellan advises, and place it in a net bag or tie a piece of cheesecloth around it before hanging it upside-down in a warm, dry place with good air circulation for about three weeks. Seeds will drop out as they dry. Thresh the remaining ones from the dry head by knocking it against a table or counter. Seeds for bird food need no further processing.

Seeds for human consumption can be hulled and eaten raw or used in baked goods, McLellan suggests, or hulled and fried or roasted. They can also be roasted in the shell.

To roast in the shell, soak fully dry seeds overnight in a strong saltwater solution (2 quarts of water and ¼ to ½ cup salt). Then drain, place the seeds on cookie sheets, and roast 3 hours or until crisp at 200 degrees F. Or mix them with butter and salt -- about 1 ½ tablespoons butter and 1 teaspoon salt per 2 cups of seeds -- and roast for about an hour at 250 degrees. Shake or stir occasionally so they roast evenly.

To dry roast, spread dry seeds in a single layer on a cookie sheet and bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes. Seeds are ready to eat when they begin to swell and the seedcoats crack.

To deep fry hulled seeds, allow ¼ cup cooking oil for every cup of seeds. Cook at 360 degrees until seeds are golden brown. Drain on absorbent paper, and store tightly covered.

To hull dried sunflower seeds, begin by breaking them up with a rolling pin, hammer or food chopper. Then drop seeds and hulls into a large container of water and stir vigorously -- kernels will sink to the bottom and shells will float. Dry kernels before roasting or storing.

Hulled raw sunflower seeds provide protein, vitamins and about 150 calories per ounce, most of which come from polyunsaturated fat. They can be used in muffins, cookies, bread, homemade granola and other baked goods in place of nuts, and sprinkled on salads or cereal.

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ANR Communications                                         Contact: L. Johnson or M. McLellan
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY                       Telephone: 517-432-1555 or 353-3774
East Lansing, MI 48824-1039                             5/15/02

DESIGN LANDSCAPE
TO CONSERVE WATER

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- If gardeners could order summer weather, they’d probably ask for rain about once a week (preferably not on the weekend), providing enough water to meet the needs of the garden and landscape plants and keep the lawn from turning brown.

Reality is usually less accommodating -- lots of rain in spring, not much at all in summer, especially July and August. Lawns get parched and go dormant, flower and vegetable plants wilt, and water-loving landscape plants may need irrigation to survive. Whether you get your water from a municipality or from your own well, those gallons of water poured on the ground add up.

So what’s the solution? A water-conserving landscape.

"The key is efficiency of water use," says Mary McLellan, Extension Master Gardener program coordinator at Michigan State University. "If you’re building a landscape from scratch or adding new plants, choose hardy plants that are well suited to your growing conditions and that won’t need a lot of supplemental watering after they’re established. Often this will mean native plants or plants that evolved in areas with similar soils and climate."

If some plants high on your wish list have moderate to high water needs, you can still use them in the landscape -- just group them together. This will make meeting their water needs easier and more efficient.

If you’re working with an established landscape, creating large areas of low water use can be a little more challenging. One approach is simply to stop irrigating and wait to see which plants survive. Plants that can’t adapt can be replaced with less demanding ones that offer similar desirable traits. Another approach is to move demanding plants together in one part of the landscape.

Whenever you add plants, include drought tolerance in your list of desirable characteristics, McLellan suggests. Make that trait the tie-breaker when you’re choosing between species or cultivars that have the other traits you want.

Because root systems at planting time are limited, most landscape ornamentals will require supplemental watering during the first growing season or two, McLellan notes. Mulching not only newly planted landscape plants but established trees and shrubs, annuals and perennials, and vegetable gardens will conserve moisture and reduce the need for watering.

Another way to make more efficient use of water is to select a watering method that applies water directly into the root zones of plants rather than throwing it through the air, McLellan says. Using soaker hoses or drip irrigation to apply water where it’s needed is much more economical than overhead sprinkling, which is subject to evaporation losses and applies large quantities of water to foliage, soil between plants and garden rows, driveways and other surfaces to apply small amounts to plants’ root zones.

The aim of watering is to moisten at least the top 6 inches of soil without runoff. If water puddles or trickles away, you’ve applied too much water too fast. This is most likely to occur on fine-textured clay soils. Water percolates much quicker through sandy or sandy loam soils.

The best time to water depends on your watering method, McLellan notes. If you use overhead watering, evaporative losses will be highest during the heat of the day. You don’t want to water in the evening, however -- this will leave plant foliage wet for long periods and may contribute to disease development and spread. With drip or trickle irrigation, watering time is less critical. Early morning is probably the best time overall because it sends plants into the hottest parts of the day well watered.

#lkj#

Outreach Communications                                         Contact: L. Johnson or M. McLellan
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY                               Telephone: 517-432-1555 or 353-3774
East Lansing, MI 48824-1039                                     5/15/02

HELP KIDS PLANT A GARDEN
THEY CAN REALLY ENJOY

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Want to get your kids excited about gardening? Then take a tip from the 4-H Children’s Garden at Michigan State University and plant something they really like to eat -- pizza!

Of course, you can’t grow pizza plants -- but you can grow some of the ingredients, points out Mary McLellan, Extension Master Gardener program coordinator at MSU.

"Every garden needs a plan," she notes, "and the kids’ garden is no exception. To get into the pizza theme, you can help them plan their garden on the cardboard circle from a frozen pizza. Divide the circle into six wedge-shaped pieces. Then find pictures of pizza ingredients -- tomatoes, green peppers, onions, basil, oregano and parsley -- and have or help the kids cut them out and glue them into the wedge-shaped sections."

Pick a sunny spot in the vegetable garden that’s tilled and smoothed and ready to plant. Use a string tied to a stake to draw a circle 6 or 7 feet in diameter and divide that circle into six "slices". Then help with or supervise the planting of bell pepper and Roma tomato transplants, onion sets (yellow, white or red), and seeds or transplants of the herb plants according to the master plan.

Remind the young gardeners about the importance of watering and weeding, and help them watch for destructive pests.

When the ingredients are ready for picking, all you need to add is a pizza crust (or English muffins for individual mini-pizzas), tomato sauce and cheeses of your choice. Pour the sauce over the crust, thinly slice the vegetables, sprinkle with herbs, top with cheese and bake.

A variation on this idea is to grow a spaghetti garden. To the vegetables and herbs above, add a hill of spaghetti squash. Bake or microwave the mature squash fruits, scoop out the seeds and stringy fibers, and serve the flesh, separated into spaghetti-like strands, with a sauce made of the other ingredients topped with Parmesan cheese.

"Planting, tending, harvesting and eating foods that they like from their own garden spot can begin an interest in gardening that can be with kids throughout their lives," McLellan says. "It’s a chance to teach them gardening principles with a goal that they can relate to -- eating pizza! Even if they never grow another garden, they will have a better understanding of where food comes from."

#lkj#

ANR Communications                                         Contact: L. Johnson or M. McLellan
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY                       Telephone: 517-432-1555 or 353-3774
East Lansing, MI 48824-1039                             5/15/02

LANDSCAPING CAN AFFECT
HOME ENERGY USE

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Landscape plants make your home more attractive and even increase its value. They can also reduce heating and cooling costs.

"Landscaping decisions can be energy-saving decisions," says Mary McLellan, Extension Master Gardener program coordinator at Michigan State University. "The decisions you make about plants and where you plant them can reduce energy use for heating and cooling."

To reduce heat gain and the need for and cost of air conditioning, plant trees where they will shade the house in summer, she suggests. Shade all day maintains overall cooler temperatures longer and causes the temperature to drop faster as the sun goes down. Afternoon shade -- from trees on the southwest and west sides of the house -- reduces afternoon heat gain as the sun goes down. Trees on the east side protect against morning sun.

The same deciduous plants that shade the house in summer will let the winter sunlight through in the winter, she notes.

In the cold months, a windbreak can reduce the heat loss from the home by intercepting or deflecting cold winter winds. In Michigan, prevailing winds are from the north and northwest in winter, McLellan notes, so a windbreak needs to be on the north and west sides of the house.

How high a windbreak should be depends on the height of the structure it’s being planted to protect. A two-story house needs a taller windbreak than a ranch-style home. How far from the structure you should plant depends on the mature height of the plants -- wind speed reduction occurs at a distance two to four times the mature height of the windbreak plants.

"While you’re waiting for your windbreak to reach its mature size, there are some things you can do to start benefiting from it before then," McLellan says.

One is to plant the largest plants you can afford. Planting them close together and transplanting every other one as they begin to crowd one another will also make the windbreak start working for you sooner. Planting in staggered rows so that the plants in one row fill in the spaces between the plants in the next row and mixing quick-growing deciduous species and slower growing evergreens are other ways to get quicker results from a windbreak planting, she notes.

If you don’t have a yard large enough to accommodate a full-sized windbreak, you can still benefit from one or two rows of plants on the windward sides of the house, McLellan says. The dead air space between the plants and the house will reduce the effect of prevailing winds.

To minimize dampness and possible mildew problems and to make home maintenance chores easier, plant so that there will be room to walk between the house and the plants when plants reach their mature size, she suggests.

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ANR Communications                                         Contact: L. Johnson or R. Calhoun
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY                       Telephone: 517-432-1555 or 353-3275
East Lansing, MI 48824-1039                             5/15/02

LAWN FERTILIZER PROGRAM
CAN AFFECT WATER QUALITY

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Whether you want The Perfect Lawn (and are willing to put time, effort and money into maintaining it), a patch of green growing stuff that you can mow but otherwise ignore, or something between these extremes will determine to a great extent how you fertilize your lawn.

"The first step in developing a fertilizer program for your lawn is to identify your objectives for the lawn," says Ron Calhoun, Extension turfgrass specialist at Michigan State University. "A formal, manicured lawn is a high-maintenance lawn with relatively high fertilizer and irrigation requirements. If your objective is to spend as little time and effort on your lawn as possible, you can pare maintenance activities down basically to mowing and an occasional fertilizer application. A medium maintenance program is somewhere in between."

What you do to the lawn area also has environmental implications, Calhoun notes, especially if you live beside a lake, stream or other body of water. The fertilizer nutrients you apply and the clippings that come off of turf areas can degrade water resources and cause unwanted aquatic plant growth.

Phosphorus is the nutrient with the greatest impact on aquatic weed growth, he points out. When applied to lawns, phosphorus binds tightly to soil, so it usually enters the water as a result of erosion. Nitrogen is water soluble and may leach through the soil or run off. Potassium, the other nutrient in lawn fertilizers, is not usually a problem.

A soil test is the best guide to lawn fertilization, Calhoun says. Using a guide such as the one provided in Extension bulletin E05TURF, "Fertilizing Home Lawns to Preserve Water Quality," you can determine the fertilizer schedule needed to achieve your objectives for your lawn.

When applying fertilizer, it’s important to keep it off of paved surfaces and out of curb and gutter areas that lead to storm drains. Sweep fertilizer granules into grassy areas, he advises, so the nitrogen isn’t carried by rain or irrigation water into storm water drainage systems -- these usually lead directly to surface water.

A 5- to 10-foot buffer strip of plants -- lawn areas or ornamentals -- adjacent to any water body where no fertilizer is applied will filter nutrients moving from the rest of the lawn toward the water and reduce the potential for soil erosion.

"Choose a fertilizer with no phosphorus unless your soil test results show your lawn needs phosphorus, and with 25 to 35 percent of the nitrogen content in a slow-release form," Calhoun advises. "This and a buffer strip near the water will go a long way to keeping fertilizer nutrients in the lawn and out of the water."

For more tips on fertilizing your lawn to protect water quality, contact your county MSU Extension office for bulletins E05TURF and E11TURF, "Fertilizing Home Lawns to Preserve Water Quality" and "Maintaining Waterfront Turf to Preserve Water Quality," respectively.

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LAWN IRRIGATION PRACTICES
CAN AFFECT WATER QUALITY

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- If you want a high quality lawn that’s green all summer, you have to water it during the hot summer months. Otherwise, the grass plants will do what they have to do to survive dry weather: they’ll go dormant and the lawn will turn brown until fall rains promote another growth period.

"Summer irrigation is part of a high-maintenance program for lawns," says Ron Calhoun, Extension turfgrass specialist at Michigan State University. "If you don’t have a reliable irrigation system or you don’t want to invest the time, effort and money in watering and fertilizing your lawn, you can expect the lawn to stop growing and go dormant during hot, dry periods."

Homeowners who don’t aspire to a perfectly green, manicured lawn may welcome the summer dormant period as a relief from mowing. Those who value such a lawn as the backdrop for their homes need to understand that, once they begin irrigating, they need to continue it through the summer hot period. Abruptly stopping irrigation during the heat stress period can harm the turf, Calhoun explains.

In some parts of Michigan, dry weather in recent years has resulted in limitations or outright bans on lawn watering, so anyone thinking of committing to summer irrigation would be wise to check on local conditions before the weather gets hot.

Another factor in water needs is soil type. Sandy soils hold less moisture than loamy or clay soils, so the turf dries out faster, Calhoun explains. Low-volume, frequent applications are best for turf in sandy soil -- they guarantee that water doesn’t move past the root zone, carrying with it fertilizer nutrients that can enter and contaminate surface or groundwater.

Soils with more clay or silt than sand take up water more slowly but hold more, also, and so may need watering less often. Compacted soils do not take up water readily, and applying too much water too fast can result in runoff, especially on sloping sites.

"The goal is to match the delivery rate of irrigation with the infiltration rate of the soil," Calhoun says. "Think of Goldilocks and the three bears and trying to find the amount of water that’s ‘just right’."

How much water your lawn needs depends largely on the weather. Lawn turf generally requires ½ to 1½ inches of water per week from rain and/or irrigation. Water requirements go up in hot, dry, windy weather. Light, frequent applications of water are generally preferable to heavy applications once a week. Depending on soil type, heavy irrigation can result in water moving below plant root zones or running off. In either case, the water isn’t available to the grass plants.

"MSU research has also shown that certain turf diseases and insects damage lawns less when light, daily irrigation is used," Calhoun notes. "It may take less than ¼ inch of water per day to provide the amount needed."

The best time to irrigate is in the morning or early afternoon, before the hottest part of the day. Evening or nighttime is the worst time because leaf blades are slow to dry then, and the presence of moisture for long periods can promote foliage diseases.

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ANR Communications                                         Contact: L. Johnson or T. Ellis
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY                       Telephone: 517-432-1555 or 355-8478
East Lansing, MI 48824-1039                             5/15/02

MAYFLY ABUNDANCE REFLECTS
IMPROVEMENTS IN WATER QUALITY

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Mayflies, those delicate-looking, here-today, gone-tomorrow insects that appear in great swarms around lakes and rivers in June, are considered a nuisance by some people, but to entomologists and others interested in ecological relationships, their increasingly large numbers are a cause for celebration.

"Larval mayflies, which live in mud flats in lakes and in various stream habitats, are very sensitive to chemical pollutants and eroded sediments," explains Tom Ellis, Extension entomologist at Michigan State University. "By the late ‘60s, pollution and erosional deposition had caused the great flights of mayflies to disappear in many places throughout Michigan. The fact that they’re making a comeback is a good sign."

Mayfly larvae are an important part of the food base of most freshwater food chains, he notes. They break down and process plant matter in aquatic systems and serve as food for fish, amphibians, waterfowl and other organisms. When mayflies decline, the whole ecosystem suffers.

"Mayflies are a pretty good indicator of the general health of certain zones in our lakes, streams and wetlands," Ellis says. "The return of the great flights of mayflies reflects the success of environmental protection efforts in Michigan over the past 20 years. Once again, we are getting complaints about large numbers of ‘fish flies’."

There are many species of mayflies in Michigan (more than 600 species live in the United States and Canada). Size and color vary, but the general shape -- from the tear-drop-shaped wings held vertically above the body to the long, slender abdomen with its twin "tails" -- is the same. Another similarity is the short time that the various mayfly species spend in the adult stage -- they have only a very few days to find mates and lay eggs before they die. Their scientific name reflects this, Ellis notes -- they belong to the order Ephemeroptera, which translates roughly as "short-lived insects with wings".

Adults that emerge early or late don’t find mates, so the great majority tend to take wing at the same time. The results are huge numbers of mayflies where there were none or only a few a day or two previously; great clouds of mayflies fluttering around outdoor lights at night; fish, birds and mammals stuffed with mayflies; and then, suddenly, only dead mayflies.

"Huge swarms of these harmless insects may be a temporary nuisance, but they’re gone as suddenly as they arrived," Ellis notes. "Their return is a welcome indication that we’re doing a better job of protecting our water resources."

The Great Lakes basin contains two-thirds of all the fresh water in North America and one-fifth of the fresh water in the world, Ellis notes. Everyone in Michigan has a stewardship responsibility for that water, he suggests, and the return of the fish flies suggests that we are taking that seriously.

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MULCH HAS MULTIPLE BENEFITS
IN VEGETABLE, FLOWER GARDENS

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Weeding the garden is a lot like house-cleaning -- no matter how good a job you do, you have to do it again before long.

That’s where mulch comes in.

"Mulch suppresses weed growth," says Mary McLellan, Extension Master Gardener program coordinator at Michigan State University. "A sheet of black plastic, several thicknesses of newspaper, broken-down cardboard boxes, old carpet, and organic mulches such as straw, spoiled hay, ground corncobs and wood chips discourage weed growth while offering a variety of other benefits."

Black plastic, for instance, can be used to warm the soil in early spring to get seeds and transplants off to a quicker start. (Clear plastic also warms the soil, McLellan notes, but it doesn’t discourage weed growth.)

Organic mulches, on the other hand, tend to maintain the soil at whatever temperature it was when you applied them, so they’re good for keeping cool the roots of cool-season crops such as broccoli, shade-loving annuals planted in sunny areas and ornamentals such as clematis, which prefer to grow in full sun but do better if the roots are shaded. In the spring, they will tend to keep the soil from drying out and warming up, however, so it’s a good idea to remove them from garden areas that you want to till in the spring.

Availability and ease of handling are two factors in choice of mulch. Some mulches, such as large sheets of plastic, are easier to put down before you plant and must be anchored so the wind can’t get under them. A shredded or ground mulch such as compost or ground corncobs is easier to apply around rows of seedlings or individual plants than a coarser material such as oat straw.

Plastic, old carpeting and other such materials have to be removed, McLellan points out, whereas organic materials can be plowed under to increase the organic matter in the soil. Eventually, they decompose and return their nutrients to the soil. Until that happens, however, available soil nitrogen may be tied up by the microorganisms doing the work of decomposition. Extra nitrogen fertilizer may be necessary to prevent deficiencies.

Among the benefits of mulching is that mulches slow the evaporation of moisture from the soil. In dry weather, this means that mulched plants need watering less often than those growing in bare soil.

Mulch also offers shelter for beneficial insects such as ground beetles, which come out at night to hunt various plant pests. On the other hand, it also provides shelter for slugs, which can be very destructive, and earwigs, somewhat creepy-looking insects that rarely do damage in the garden but can hitchhike inside with harvested produce.

Mulch doesn’t usually contribute to plant disease problems unless a gardener recycles diseased plant parts as mulch, McLellan says. Mulching peony crowns with peony tops, for instance, can carry over botrytis and other diseases from year to year.

A compost pile that reaches temperatures over 130 degrees will kill plant disease organisms, she notes, but such a pile will require active management to achieve such temperatures. Merely raking crop debris into one corner of the garden in the fall and distributing it the next spring as mulch is likely to reintroduce last year’s disease problems.

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PESTICIDE RESISTANCE MAKES
PEST CONTROL MORE DIFFICULT

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- If the pesticide that you’ve relied on for years isn’t working so well anymore, don’t blame the chemical -- it’s probably the pests that have changed.

"Using the same pesticide repeatedly on a particular pest eventually creates a population of pests that can’t be controlled with that chemical," says Tom Ellis, Extension entomologist at Michigan State University.

Let’s say you have a Colorado potato beetle problem in your garden. You spray with Old Standby and kill 98 percent of the beetles. Hooray! But the 2 percent that survive mate and lay eggs. Other beetles migrate into the garden, also. Another spray kills off most of the beetles again, but this time a few more survive. These are primarily offspring or descendants of the survivors of the first application.

As one generation follows another, the proportion of insects able to survive an application of that particular pesticide increases. Eventually, the majority of the population may become resistant.

One way to prevent or at least slow the development of resistance is to use other controls whenever possible and use pesticides only as a last resort, Ellis suggests. When you use pesticides, make no more than two consecutive applications of the same chemical to the same site, crop or pest.

"Alternating chemicals that work in different ways makes it more difficult for pests to become resistant," Ellis points out. "Pests that survive an application of Pesticide A are wiped out by Pesticide B and so don’t have a chance to become the dominant type in the population."

Pesticide resistance isn’t the only cause of pesticide failure, he notes -- using the wrong product, mixing errors, unfavorable weather, poor timing of application and failure to identify the pest are among the possible factors in poor control.

Home gardeners are less likely to run into resistance than commercial growers, Ellis observes, because they have control options available to them that aren’t practical on a large scale.

"For a commercial potato grower with several hundred acres of potatoes, handpicking isn’t an option, but a home gardener with 25 row feet of plants and time to devote to examining plants and removing beetles, larvae and eggs can achieve very good control that way," he suggests.

Traps, such as saucers of beer or boards laid between crop rows to attract slugs; cutworm collars to protect young transplants, and other mechanical or cultural controls that would be too labor-intensive on a commercial scale can give adequate control for a minimal outlay of effort in the home garden, Ellis observes.

Perhaps the bottom line is that home gardeners may be willing to tolerate more pest damage. Slight imperfections that would make produce unmarketable may seem like a small price to pay for home-grown freshness and produce grown without chemical inputs.

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PROPER MOWING ESSENTIAL
FOR HEALTHY LAWN

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- For some homeowners, lawn mowing is drudgery; others look at it as exercise and fresh air; and still others enjoy manicuring the turf to make it the perfect setting for the home and landscape plants.

Turfgrass experts at Michigan State University see mowing in another light: as the critical practice in maintaining a healthy, dense lawn.

"Density is important because a dense turf prevents soil erosion and resists invasion by weeds," explains Ron Calhoun, Extension turfgrass specialist. "Removing leaf tips induces plants to form new sprouts and so increases turf density."

Lawn health relates to the height of cut, he points out.

Turfgrasses are well adapted to frequent mowing, but mowing too short -- also known as "scalping" -- reduces the amount of green surface the plants can use to manufacture food. There is a direct relationship between cutting height and the size of the grass plant’s root system -- lowering the mowing height reduces the size of the root system and so limits the plant’s ability to absorb water and nutrients.

"In recent years, the recommended mowing height has been going steadily upward," Calhoun observes, "from 1.5 inches to the current recommendation of 2 to 3.75 inches. Higher cut lawn grasses are more stress tolerant. Tall, dense grass also shades the soil, and this shading reduces the germination of weed seeds, particularly crabgrass. Fewer weed problems, in turn, mean less need for herbicide use."

The rule of thumb for lawn mowing is to remove no more than one-third of the total leaf surface at any one mowing. This may mean mowing every four to five days when lawns are growing rapidly in spring. (This is probably not news to homeowners with lawns, Calhoun notes.) The higher the cutting height, the longer the time that may elapse between cuttings.

"So, if you don’t like to mow, here’s a way to reduce how often you have to do it and have a healthier, more stress-tolerant lawn in the bargain," he says.

Letting the lawn grow tall and then cutting it back severely may remove most or all of the green portion. This decreases the grass plants’ ability to support their underground structures. Severe injury and loss of individual plants can follow, especially if dry weather or insect damage is already stressing plants. This opens the way for invasion by weeds.

Regular mowing that removes just the leaf tips also makes it possible to return clippings to the lawn, Calhoun notes. Infrequent mowing during growth periods tends to result in clumps of clippings that may smother grass plants if not removed. Recycling clippings reduces the annual nitrogen needs of a lawn. Reducing the lawn’s fertilizer need saves money, time and effort, and it helps preserve groundwater quality by reducing the quantity of nitrogen applied to turf areas.

"The key to a quality cut is using a well adjusted mower with sharp blades," Calhoun advises. "Dull, poorly adjusted equipment tears rather than cuts the blades, leaving a ready site for disease invasion and giving the lawn a frayed, brownish look. For best results, mow when the lawn is dry -- this eliminates clumping -- and vary the mowing direction from time to time to reduce wear patterns."

Information on mowing, fertilizing and other lawn care topics is available at your county MSU Extension office in a bulletin series called Turf Tips.

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ANR Communications                                         Contact: L. Johnson or M. McLellan
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY                       Telephone: 517-432-1555 or 353-3774
East Lansing, MI 48824-1039                             5/15/02

PROPER PLANTING BRINGS
SUCCESS WITH PEONIES

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- The dramatic blooms and marvelous scent of peonies can be yours for years to come if you plant properly in an appropriate site.

"Peonies are herbaceous perennials, which means that the top parts of the plants die down to the ground each year but the underground parts survive from year to year," explains Mary McLellan, Extension Master Gardener program coordinator at Michigan State University. "The keys in planting them are to pick a well drained site in full sun and plant the tubers at the proper depth."

Peony tubers are not bulbs but underground stems that store food produced by the leaves. New growth develops from buds, or eyes, on the tuber. Tubers should have three to five eyes -- plants grown from these bloom sooner than those from tubers with fewer than three eyes -- and be planted in a well chosen and well prepared site in late summer.

Full sun and good drainage are critical, McLellan says. More than two or three hours of shade a day may prevent flowering. Poor drainage can also prevent flowering.

Prepare the site two to four weeks ahead of planting by spading organic matter into it and adding a handful of a complete garden fertilizer to the soil. Planting holes should be 18 inches deep and 18 inches in diameter for each tuber. Space holes 3 feet apart.

Place the tuber in the hole so the uppermost eye is no more than 3 inches below the surface.

"Planting too deep may prevent flowering," McLellan points out. "Tubers planted too shallow may be pushed up out of the soil as it freezes and thaws during winter."

After filling in around the tuber with soil, water to settle the soil and finish filling the hole. Then water as often as necessary to keep the soil damp while the plant establishes its root system.

A winter mulch helps prevent root damage due to frost heaving; a summer mulch helps conserve moisture.

Fertilizing peonies tends to increase flower size. Fertilize first-year plants by working a handful of fertilizer into the soil around each plant before new shoots emerge. In later years, fertilize when flower buds are pea-sized.

Peonies have few insect problems, but they are susceptible to a number of plant diseases. Cutting the plants to the ground in the fall after the foliage turns brown and removing diseased parts or failing plants as soon as you notice them will help control plant diseases, McLellan notes.

In a good site with adequate spacing and regular fertilization, peonies may grow 10 to 15 years before they become overcrowded and need dividing. A reduction in flower size indicates that it’s time, she explains.

Division is done in late summer. Dig plants carefully to avoid damaging the taproots, which may be 12 to 15 inches long. Wash the soil off the tubers with water and use a sharp knife sterilized in flame or alcohol to cut them into sections with three to five eyes and a taproot and no signs of disease. Then replant at the appropriate depth.

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PROTECT AGAINST
CUCUMBER BEETLES

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- High populations of adult cucumber beetles can defoliate cucumber and melon seedlings, but direct damage from their feeding is less a threat to crops than the bacterial disease that they carry.

"Cucumber beetles transmit the bacteria that cause bacterial wilt disease as they feed," explains Tom Ellis, Extension entomologist at Michigan State University. "The bacteria multiply and clog the plant’s water-conducting vessels. When part or all of a cucumber or melon vine suddenly wilts, it’s usually an indication that cucumber beetles have been at work in your garden."

The only cure is prevention -- you must protect the vines from the beetles. Once vines are infected, all you can do is remove them so they don’t serve as a source of the disease-causing bacterium.

Cucumber beetles come in striped and spotted versions. The striped cucumber beetle is yellow to greenish yellow with three black stripes that run lengthwise down the wing covers. It’s about ¼ inch long. The spotted cucumber beetle is a little bigger and greenish yellow with six black spots on each wing cover. Both feed and lay eggs on cucurbit plants such as cucumbers, melons and squash. When the eggs hatch, the larvae feed on plant roots.

Protecting crops against cucumber beetles means spraying with a home garden insecticide labeled for that purpose. To minimize harm to bees visiting cucumber flowers, Ellis advises spraying at dusk, after bees have quit working for the day, and keeping chemicals off of flowers as much as possible.

Cucumber beetle adults overwinter in plant debris in and around the garden, Ellis points out. He recommends a fall garden cleanup to remove and destroy plant debris, which can harbor both insects and diseases.

"Removing or composting garden plant debris at the end of the season is always a good idea," he adds.

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ANR Communications                                         Contact: L. Johnson or M. McLellan
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY                       Telephone: 517-432-1555 or 353-3774
East Lansing, MI 48824-1039                             5/15/02

START GATHERING PLANTS
FOR DRYING IN SUMMER

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Fall is a good time to collect dried plant materials for crafts and projects. But if you wait until fall to start collecting, you may miss out on some fine materials.

"Collecting and drying throughout the growing season gives you a greater variety of high quality plant materials for your projects," observes Mary McLellan, Extension Master Gardener program coordinator at Michigan State University.

Seed pods from poppies, lilacs and other spring-flowering plants will be gone or deteriorated by fall, she points out. Likewise, the cones of many evergreens will have better color if you collect them before they are weathered by rain and stained by soil and fallen leaves.

Various weeds and grasses mature all summer, and ripe grain left behind at harvest time can be the raw material for projects and arrangements.

If dried flowers are the focus of your interest, you can be harvesting and drying annuals and perennials from spring through fall, McLellan says.

Flowers maintain their color and shape better if they’re harvested before they’re completely mature, she points out. Colors fade and petals drop as flowers age.

Strawflowers, globe thistle, cockscomb, allium, statice, salvia, marigold, zinnia, ageratum, baby’s breath, coneflower, lavender, pansy and viola, Queen Anne’s lace, chrysanthemum, yarrow and a host of other flowers can be harvested as they’re available and dried for use later.

Most of these can be air dried -- hung singly or in loose bunches upside-down in a cool, dark, well ventilated place for three weeks or so. Avoid direct sun, which will fade flowers, and insufficient air circulation, which may permit mold to grow. points out. "Those that do must be dried in a supportive material that will remove moisture while retaining the shape of the fresh flower."

Silica gel -- available from florists, garden centers, and hobby and craft shops -- is expensive but lightweight, so it can be used to dry delicate flowers that might be crushed by other drying materials. It tends to work faster than other materials, also, and quick drying translates into better color retention. When the crystals turn from blue to pink, they need to be dried in a warm oven (250 to 275 degrees F) for a few hours. When they’re blue again, they’re ready to use. Store in an airtight container.

A less expensive desiccant (drying material) is a mixture of 2 parts borax and 1 part fine sand plus 3 tablespoons of uniodized salt per quart. The mixture works better than any of the ingredients alone, McLellan says -- it’s lighter weight than sand and preserves color better than borax alone.

To use a desiccant, pour about ½ inch in the bottom of a sturdy container. Place a layer of flowers on the material without overlapping. Place flat-faced flowers such as pansies face down; others should be arranged face up. Then gently pour the drying material around the flowers, being careful to maintain their natural shape and keep petals in their natural positions. Keep adding desiccant until flowers are totally covered. Then cover the container and do not disturb it for several days. Then carefully check for dryness. Remove the flowers when the petals are crisp and dry but not brittle.

Microwave drying uses a desiccant but cuts drying time from days to minutes, McLellan observes. Plant materials dried in a microwave also tend to look fresher and more colorful than those dried by other methods.

After making sure that the container is safe for microwave use, follow the same procedure for covering flowers with desiccant. Leave the container uncovered, and always set a cup of water in the microwave before starting to prevent overdrying. Drying time may vary from 1 minute to 6 or 7 minutes, depending on the sizes and numbers of flowers and their moisture content. It may take some experimenting to get consistent results, McLellan notes.

"It’s a good idea to make notes of how long you dried various flowers and the results," she suggests, "and to start with more material to be dried than you think you need so you can experiment a bit."

Allow flowers to remain in the desiccant for 24 to 36 hours after microwaving to complete drying and cool off, she advises. To remove them from the desiccant, gently pour off the drying agent and use a soft brush to remove any remaining drying material.

However you dry them, drying is complete when flowers are crisp and dry but not brittle. To preserve dried flowers, you can spray them with ordinary hairspray, aerosol lacquer or sprays sold strictly for use as dried flower preservatives. Place dried flower arrangements where they’ll be protected from breakage and where they won’t be exposed to the fading action of direct sun, she suggests.

Some plant materials are available only in late summer and fall, such as goldenrod, milkweed pods, dried teasel, water lily seed pods, dried fern fronds, Osage oranges, acorns, sweet gum seed pods, gourds and Indian corn. Cattails can be harvested then, but they last longer indoors if they’re collected earlier, before they turn brown, McLellan notes. If you wait until fall to collect them, they’re likely to break open and scatter cattail fluff through your house.

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ANR Communications                                         Contact: L. Johnson or D. Warncke
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY                       Telephone: 517-432-1555 or 355-0210
East Lansing, MI 48824-1039                             5/15/02

USE FERTILIZER CAREFULLY
TO PROTECT GROUNDWATER

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- The aim of fertilizing lawn, garden or landscape plants is to provide nutrients for plant growth. Careless use of fertilizer, however, can result in problems ranging from scorched turf to contaminated groundwater.

The best guide to fertilizer use around the home is a soil test, says Darryl Warncke, Extension soils specialist at Michigan State University.

"Following soil test recommendations for fertilizing lawns, vegetable gardens, flowers or landscape plants should promote optimum plant growth and reduce the chance that fertilizer nutrients will end up in surface or groundwater," Warncke says.

How you apply the fertilizer is key, he notes. He offers these tips:

** Before fertilizing your lawn, make sure your fertilizer spreader is calibrated properly so you apply no more than the recommended amount. Apply fertilizer only to turf, not to driveways, sidewalks and streets, where rain would wash it into storm sewers or, in rural areas, roadside drainage ditches. Sweep fertilizer from these surfaces back into the lawn. If your property borders water or wetlands, leave an unfertilized buffer strip between the water and fertilized areas.

** Divide the recommended amount of fertilizer into two or more applications.

** Apply fertilizer when plants are actively growing so they take up nutrients before they can be leached or eroded away.

** In the vegetable or flower garden, try banding fertilizer 2 or 3 inches away from and a little below rows of seeds rather than broadcasting it before tilling the garden. After plants are growing, band or side-dress nitrogen alongside rows or around individual plants.

"Putting nutrients where plants will soon take them up is more efficient than broadcasting, which applies nutrients equally to areas that will be vacant space between rows," Warncke points out. "It uses less total fertilizer and reduces the likelihood that nutrients will move out of the plant root zone and into surface or groundwater."

In addition to fertilizer recommendations, soil test results also include the pH, a measure of the acidity of the soil. Most plants prefer slightly acid soil with a pH in the range of 5.8 to 6.8 (7.0 is neutral; anything above 7 is alkaline). Acid-loving plants such as rhododendrons and blueberries require an even lower pH.

"If the pH is outside the desirable range, certain nutrients won’t be available to plants, even if they’re present in adequate quantities," Warncke notes. "If soil test recommendations include amendments to change the pH, that’s a key step. Without it, plants can’t use the nutrients you provide, and nutrients will be free to leach or erode from the site into groundwater or surface water."

A long-term strategy for nutrient management is improving soil structure by incorporating organic matter. Decaying organic material eventually returns nutrients to the soil, Warncke says, but it’s more important in improving the water-holding capacity of sandy soils and so preventing fertilizer nutrients from leaching away. Adding organic matter to clay soils improves soil structure and allows water to soak in rather than run off and so helps prevent fertilizer nutrients from being carried away to surface water. It also helps improve soil aeration. In either case, adding organic matter helps plants grow better and so make better use of the nutrients you apply.

"Homeowners may compare the relatively small amounts of fertilizer they use to the amounts used in commercial agriculture and conclude that their fertilizer management practices can’t make much difference," Warncke observes. "But when you consider the number of home lawns and gardens, you can see that the impact of better backyard fertilizer management can be significant."

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