Trivia Hoedown #7 July 14, 2007

1. Plants that are drought tolerant in the landscape can be extremely wilty in containers, so much so that they’re difficult to keep alive during the hot months.

2. The distribution map for Phytophthora ramorum bears a striking resemblance to the distribution map for marijuana cultivation on the west coast.

3. When a one-gallon plant costs upwards of $15, that’s usually because a royalty to the breeder or person who discovered the plant is being passed on. It can run as high at $3.00 per plant sold, which adds up when one nursery produces 2,000 of them at one location, and they’re being produced all over the country.

4. Processed manure or compost at that friable, good smelling stage is called “cake”. Mmmmm.

5. If you buy a plant and put it in your landscape with all the right conditions and it lives but doesn’t grow, it has likely been treated with plant growth regulators to keep its compact shape. Some PGRs can take nearly a year to fully metabolize out of the plant.

6. I wish I could tell you about the amazing machinery Famous Wholesale Nursery has invented and fabricated to do various jobs around the nursery. But they are so secretive about them, they are stored and parked in hidden spots and never left in the field when visitors come. So I cannot. Trust me, they’re awe inspiring.

7. I am low on trivia this week, but high on bruises (7), weird chafing injuries (2), broken toes (1), and cuts (14).

Helping gardeners get off the bench and out onto the field July 12, 2007

Garden Coaches in the New York Times. What a great idea. I actually did this job once, but I was called a Landscape Consultant in those days. It was fun, meaningful work.

I’m glad to see that there are hort-minded folks who want to see it take off. I’ve missed working with clients, standing around in their gardens talking about their frustrations and aspirations.

I’m going to do a little research. Remember I said I was tired tonight? I’m over it.

Midweek Mouth-breathing July 12, 2007

All I have the energy for is Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life and a little Supertramp. I’m just biding my time until I can pee the dogs and go to bed.

I do want to say that columnar Juniper + Cordyline = no.  I don’t care if that’s what’s on the plan-o-gram; you’re out of your mind.  That duo makes me want to throw up right into my Felco holster.

Report from the Field: IPM course has unexpected effect July 8, 2007

All set to learn how to identify and murder insect pests this last spring, I took copious notes in class, printed out each slide presentation, downloaded articles and bookmarked ID sites. I made an insect collection, went scouting, set elaborate live catch traps. I memorized families and orders, made flash cards, practiced forecasting from biofix dates and weather data. I wrote a proposal for an undergraduate research project to study native bees.

Now it is summer and my own garden is buzzing with insect life. On a shelf in the shed sits my tiny arsenal of pest control products: neem oil, sulfur powder, and a bottle of Sevin – all untouched this year.

First, I gave myself permission to not interfere because I needed the insects for my collection. When the term ended, I waited a little longer because the ornamental plum, which was teeming with aphids and thrips, was also raining lady bird beetles, larvae, and pupae. A couple weeks ago I saw the first telltale signs of coming mantids in their cracking egg case under the kitchen window. Yesterday I saw my first young Osmia, electric blue in the mid-morning sun and satisfying confirmation since I’d been noticing the cut leaves on the lavatera. I stood in the rose garden last night pelted with impatient Bombus and Apis traveling back and forth to the lavender and the mallow. Trying to catch a glimpse of another Osmia and picking through the shrub rose with a hands lens, I saw cucumber beetles, minute pirate bugs, crab spiders, crane flies and wasps.

And I decided. For the time being, any insect pest control efforts are over in my garden. I am willing to part with perfection – or am I? This feels like perfection. This feels alive: ground beetles under my feet and cinnabar moths flying into my forehead. Jumping spiders on my pants leg and Swallowtails levitating above the dogwood. Dragonflies and Halictids hovering in my peripheral vision.

When it occurred to me, I smote my own forehead. What have I been thinking? Of course this is how it should be for me. I’ve never liked sanitized looking gardens, beds that dare a weed to grow or an ant to enter. I’ve never minded a 75 or 50% harvest because insects ate the rest. I plan for that reality when I plant crops I know are in high demand among the birds and the bugs. There’s no food shortage: I can share. And there’s no beauty shortage in my garden: I can spare some buds and leaves and flowers. The insects ensure there is no shortage of wonder.

I’ll feed and water and prune everyone as always to help the plants be robust and tolerant. I’ll ensure no standing water, because I draw the line at welcoming mosquitoes. But that’s it. This season and for the foreseeable future, I’m doing homegrown biodiversity research.

Maybe we shouldn’t leave her alone with the liquid nitrogen July 8, 2007

Science Scout Merit Badges

I do hereby declare: I have frozen stuff in liquid nitrogen for the sake of scientific curiosity.

On Friday, they left me alone in the lab doing sample prep for DNA extraction, and I have never been able to just buckle down and work in the presence of liquid nitrogen. It’s too compelling. I had to splash it from hand and hand and throw some on the floor to see the dust bunnies spin, then I froze some random stuff.

Samples that could conceivably be relevant:

branches and central leader segments from Acer sango-kaku
leaves from same
soil sample
Osmocote
water
the mortal and pestle

Samples that could not:

the cap of a highlighter
a latex glove
the corner of my fingernail
several hairs from my head (awesome by the way)

I spent a moment regretting that I am without warts. It was the best time I’ve had in weeks.

I remember in high school they wouldn’t let us near the liquid nitrogen, but they broke a thermometer in chemistry class and let us pass the mercury around. Excellent.

I have cloned something: new plants in vitro from cultures of somatic cells.

I have eaten what I study and I’ll do it again: plants!

In my research I have to wash my hands before I use the bathroom. Your personal bits are vulnerable you know.

I have used the safety shower in my lab. And more than once.

I work with acids.

Arts and Crafts: you can make some cool stuff with epitubes and Parafilm.

I blog about science.

I bet you a cup of tea it’s Pythium July 7, 2007

I’m not going to hoedown on schedule this week because most of what I’m learning at Famous Wholesale Nursery is how to tolerate abject misery. It’s hot, my feet hurt, and my enthusiasm is waning. Nevertheless, on I trudge. I keep thinking wistfully about people who intern in offices and stay cool all day.  But I can also picture the slot on my resume with this summer’s experience.

My stint in the research section of the nursery has extended into extra days here and there, and for this I am most grateful. I owe my mentor at school for preparing me with bench techniques and knowledge of conversions which have set the stage for my being invited back. Really, I should send him a fruit basket or something. Working with the cool burn of liquid nitrogen is far preferable to being bent over all day pruning 1-gallon Echinacea or removing by hand the liverwort from 3,000 tiny Lilacs.

Yesterday I learned DNA extraction and ELISA testing for Phytophthora and Pythium. I have a new respect for how long DNA testing takes: the extraction alone, with sample prep, incubation time, spinning and changing substrates, took over 6 hours. That doesn’t even include the PCR or sequencing that will have to wait until next week (when I will hopefully be invited back again). The ELISA testing was also no slouch, taking about 4 hours to incubate and finally win my bet: the orchid die back was Pythium which was my guess going in.

The person I work with in the lab likes to bet what results will be before we run tests. “What do you think the fresh weight to dry weight ratio will be?” “Which of these samples do you think will test positive for Phytophthora?” “I know what the leaching fraction will be – want to bet me?” I have generally been losing these bets with my very limited experience in these matters, so my Pythium bet was a sweet win. Pythium really does have a distinct appearance, like a tiny mower came in and bit off all your plants at the soil level, leaving the stems black and water logged. For once, I knew what it was as soon as I saw the plants.

In school, we are told over and over how the measure of your competence as a horticulturist will be made by the accuracy of your diagnoses. This is alarming, because any one symptom can be representative of a number of different things. Take yellow, burnt looking leaves. That could be nutrient deficiency, nutrient toxicity, wilt, overwatering, salt burn, sun burn, chemical burn, fungus, insect, virus, bacterial infection, chilling injury. Granted you have some hints in what the weather has been like, what the cultural conditions are, and knowledge of the plant and the area, but suffice it to say, it’s difficult to pinpoint a novel crop problem at a glance. The methodical approach works, but it takes some time. And time wise, it’s not terribly efficient to do bioassays and gene sequencing every time you have a problem.

That’s time I have though: I’d be happy to work in the lab every day until my last day at Famous Wholesale Nursery. I’ve laid some heavy hints. We’ll see if it flies.

Excuses July 6, 2007

I have posts a’percolating, but I’m just too tired to write. I’m not too tired to prowl the internet though.

Seeker of germination information for Dietes iridioides: place seeds between sheets of wet paper towel and keep them moist about 2 weeks. Normally, I’d recommend a sunny south facing window as well, but use your judgment based on the weather in your area. I think a little supplemental heat is helpful. My germination rate was about 25-40%, and they seem to like strong light as soon as their leaves are out.

Rachel Carson July 1, 2007

Over on Bug Girl’s Blog, there’s an excellent primer on DDT, Rachel Carson’s legacy, and the junkscience movement to discredit her.

Check it out.

Pesticides and the People #1: a pesticide primer July 1, 2007

In the year since obtaining my pesticide applicator licenses, I’ve learned a lot about different classes of chemicals and their associated risks. Prior to my training, I had been a very modest user of chemicals in the garden, but I had sold quite a number of products, and I’d done both of these activities with scant knowledge.

Pesticides refers to treatments targeted at any pest: rodents, insects, fungus and fungal plant diseases, weeds, birds, et cetera. They may be acaricides for mites and spiders, fungicides for fungi, vespicides for wasps, herbicides for weeds, rodenticides for rats or mice; all of those are considered pesticides. Mothballs are considered a pesticide.

All pesticides have signal words on the label.

Caution: For these chemicals, technically no protective gear is needed, but you still wouldn’t want to eat or drink eat them. They should be treated like strong household cleaners you have great respect for.

Warning: Basic protective gear needed is needed for these chemicals, such as a filter mask for granulated or powdered chemicals, gloves for liquids, or eye, nose and mouth protection for mists. They should be handled very carefully.

Danger: Feet, do your stuff. Pesticides in this class are generally only available to licensed applicators, but there are some exceptions, particularly if you have chemicals circa 1976 in your garage. They are toxic and can kill you in very small doses.

Despite the fact that a license is required to even purchase many of the more fearsome chemicals, there are some products on the market that demand your respect and your undivided attention when using them. Systemics are such a product. These are pesticides that are applied to the roots of plants to ward off diseases and insects from the inside out. These products should never be applied to anything you might eat (ever), and you should wear gloves when handling granules and protect yourself from inhaling the dust or fumes of these chemicals. At the nursery I worked at previously, none of the employees would use systemic in our gardens, though we sold a good bit of it. If you use these chemicals, read the directions carefully and do not underestimate their potency. Just because something is available to the general public does not mean it is not potentially toxic or even lethal to you.

Reading the directions and following them to the letter is good practice regardless of the product you use. The label will tell you the signal word, the recommended protective measures to take, the best time to apply the chemical, the associated environmental risks, the signs of poisoning. I never apply a chemical without knowing what to look for in the event that I am poisoned by it.

Pesticides work in a variety of ways: nerve poisons, stomach poisons, contact poisons, growth regulators and inhibitors, deterrents. By reading the label and knowing how the chemical works, your application can be most effective.

The associated environmental risks are an area where your responsible use of the product can mitigate the detrimental effects of the pesticide on animals, ground water, pollinators and people. For example, you don’t spray contact poisons in the warm hours of the morning or the early evening because that’s when bees are foraging. You don’t spray anything, ever, when it is windy, because you can poison yourself and others all while negating the effect of the chemical.

Finally, when you are disposing of pesticide containers, know what is required in your area.  The rules will be different based on where your water comes from (city or well).  Store containers safely away until they are removed from your property.

Clemson University has an excellent and comprehensive website here. You should know the basic information about any pesticide that you use, and you should also know that the EPA regulations apply to consumers as well as licensed applicators. Careful attention to safety is so important.

* Post edited for accuracy based on comments section – thank you!

Trivia Hoedown # 6 July 1, 2007

Let’s hoedown!

1. Japanese Wisteria and Chinese Wisteria twine in opposite directions: Japanese goes clockwise and Chinese counter-clockwise.

2. To stratify seeds that need cold treatment before germinating: place them in moist Perlite in a loosely tied plastic bag and place in the refrigerator. Towards the end of the stratification period, check them frequently because some species will germinate readily cold/moist conditions.

3. Juvenility in plants is often manifested in thorns and retention of leaves in the fall. In Pin Oak (Quercus palustris), you can see areas of relative juvenility by observing where the leaves are retained over the winter. This is helpful when taking cuttings or initiating tissue cultures.

4. Have we already had the peaches-nectarines conversation? Nectarines = hairless nectarines. Exact same fruit. Really.

5. Phytophthora ramorum, the pathogen responsible for Sudden Oak Death, was first noticed to affect Tan Oak in California in the mid-1990s (Lithocarpus densiflorus). Because this tree was thought of as a weed species, no one was excited about it, and it hadn’t yet been identified or described. Then the trees on George Lucas’ property began to die, and the rest…is history. The pathogen was identified at UC Berkeley, and the nursery industry and USDA have undertaken intensive efforts to eliminate it from nursery stock and particularly interstate shipments.

6. An interesting way to inoculate substrate with predatory nematodes is with the use of infected cadavers. While availability is currently very limited, it introduces a large number of already-feeding nematodes. And I like the idea of dead things in my plants on purpose.

7. Bloody cranesbill is named for the red sap that wounded roots exude and the beaked seed case that spirals and “pops” to jettison the ripe seeds.

8. You can make exceptional ice cream by using liquid nitrogen to flash freeze your frozen concoction. The nitrogen boils off quickly leaving the tiniest ice crystals and sinfully smooth ice cream.

9. I get asked about this often: people who have degrees in horticulture do not also need the Master Gardener designation. I’m going to leave it at that, but please note, I am smiling wryly.

10. The buff-tailed bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) has a favorite color: violet.

11. The relative size of blueberries is a function of the number of times each flower was pollinated. Larger blueberries = more visits from bees and more pollen deposited on the stigma of the flower. Blueberries can have as many as 40 seeds per fruit.

12. Nuts, coconut milk and the like are all referred to as endosperm, and most endosperm is triploid, having one set of chromosomes from the female gamete and two from the male gamete. This comes about from double fertilization which is a derived character of angiosperms, the flowering plants. Unlike gymnosperms, angiosperms make an investment in their offspring early in the process of creating embryos. Conifers and other gymnosperms don’t make the endosperm food source for their embryos until fertilization is complete and the ovate cones begin to grow. I think this means the gymnosperms are pessimists.

13. It’s probably an old wives’ tale, but it works for me: to avoid being stung when you’re in an area where there are a lot of bees foraging, don’t breath through your mouth and don’t wear leather watchbands or belts. I’ve only ever been stung when I accidentally crushed a bee, and I’m against mouth breathing as a matter of principle anyway.

14.  When a plant is genetically engineered with a gene from another plant that lends resistance or some other characteristic, it may also take on the allergenic properties of the donor plant.  So, if legume genes are used to modify another food crop, peanut allergic people could be in real danger.  Hopefully this possibility will be addressed when products like this enter the marketplace.

15.  Green Day has done an excellent cover of Working Class Hero, which I have designated this summer’s theme music for agricultural workers.