Showing posts with label emerald ash borer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label emerald ash borer. Show all posts

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Blog Action Day '09: Climate Change


CLIMATE CHANGE


In the early fifties my dad moved us from Port Chester, NY to Woodstock, Vermont. There were a number of reasons the move was not popular with me. There was no ocean in Vermont, people didn’t know what pizza was, there weren’t any chestnut trees and the climate was very difficult. Just like the Pilgrims needed the Native Americans, we needed the farmers next door and a nice community to make it through that first winter. Things did not improve for many more seasons to come.


My immediate reaction to Vermont was that the summers were short and cold, you could never buck up enough wood to keep warm, and growing seasons were unpredictable but you had to grow food to survive. When you were the kid weeding, picking, dusting and harvesting vegetables, milking a goat and feeding heifers, chickens and a couple pigs, you had to work hard at making it fun. Rarely was I successful.


Someplace in lost albums there are pictures of my dad, 6 feet 6 inches tall back then, shoveling snow over his head, building temporary corduroy roads to get us home from church or school or shopping, chopping ice and giant icicles off the roof, turning rivers of water out of the road before in ended up in the Ottauquechee River and spraying DDT on long rows of potatoes until the plants were all white to deal with potato bugs. These were responses to the climate back then. Winter snow was higher than the top of the ground floor windows by mid January and minus 35 degrees was common. Howling winds and snowdrifts only managed by the road grader were common.


Fast forward more than 55 years and changes are more obvious. It has not been -30 degrees here in Marshfield since our first winter in ‘89-‘90. Snow comes in various amounts but in the past five years, late winter storms have come few in number but deep in inches to the point that without the tractor and bucket, there would be no way to keep the driveways open. January thaws bring +50 degrees days—several of them, plus freezing rain, ice and downed power lines that are frequent around the state.


Animal life is interesting. Chickadees, the “everywhere bird” at Vermont birdfeeders in the fifties have moved further north where it is colder. Woodpeckers are abundant because of the demise of the hardwood and softwood forests. Pileated woodpeckers, representing America’s largest living woodpecker, are everywhere, especially on dying sugar maples. Cedar waxwings arrived in Marshfield perhaps five years ago and apparently are here to stay. Turkey buzzards from the south have moved to the north. Although they head slightly south each fall, they are noticeable in mid Vermont by the first of March.


Bald eagles nest in every state in the Continental US except Vermont but a recent restoration project is changing that. Peregrine falcons that were absent from Vermont were restored here beginning in 1979 and are doing very well. White and also rose breasted nuthatches, often described as territorial, approach the feeders in an abundance that contradicts their territorial label. Titmouse now visit each year but only briefly. Rufous Towhees have been seen here twice lately, kicking up maple leaves in search for food. Late spring storms have pushed in individual Scarlet Tanager couples, Indigo Buntings and Rose Breasted Grosbeaks. October eruptions of Pine Grosbeaks and Evening Grosbeaks prevail annually but always for different time frames as they stop to eat the seeds from crabapples like sargentii. Shrikes snatch small birds of winter from the feeders. Barred owls call often but are most noticeable just after New Years. Turkeys are well established over all of Vermont, having gone from nonexistent to “too darn many” along western farm fields, all in 30 years.


Vermont’s moose population continues to grow and move south. Moose have become a problem in the lower New England states as they check out new territory. I have personally witnessed two fine examples of Canada Lynx close by. A neighbor has recently seen and photographed a bobcat on her front lawn half a mile from here. Other neighbors are missing housecats, perhaps the result of bobcats but more likely due to fishers. River, lakes, ponds and streams see more otter now but mink in various color shades prevail. Black bears are appearing everywhere and often receive publicity for bad behavior. We have had many here at the house but none for the past month or so.


In almost twenty years at this house, skunks just did not exist. Parts of the lawn and adjacent fields are now full of Japanese beetle grubs and skunks have arrived to feast on them. They are willing to share their defensive scent with feral cats, sadly in abundance, the result of one way trips from urban areas, and Vermont poverty. Possums have made it to the western side of Vermont to Burlington and slightly north. Coyotes are everywhere and wolves are on the northern border. Bats of all type have succumbed by the thousands to white nose syndrome, a terminal illness of unknown etiology.


Insect populations have grown so quickly as temperatures have changed that almost every day from spring through fall you can spot a new insect you have not seen before. The greatest current threat is probably the Asian Longhorned Beetle. Vermont’s fine forests now occupy over 75% of the state but special tree species are gone or going. The emerald ash borer is taking out the ash trees, wooly adelgid is heading hemlock to extinction, balsam adelgid is wiping out large portions of our surrounding forest with trees dying within 5 years or less. A red ant I do not want to know about is building colonies beneath the long needle pines that coincidently are dying.


Beech trees are dying by the thousands as they are first attacked by beech scale and then a fungus follows the weakened bark. They stand pock marked, tall and partially leaved out for a few years while the vascular system fails and they die. Viburnums are attacked by beetles and they succumb in a single season. American elms can be found but not many have withstood the Dutch Elm beetle. Butternuts, precious for nut meats that go with maple fudge, are fighting butternut canker and are difficult to find now. They will be history in another 10-15 years, perhaps less. Even lilies including the wild L. canadense and L. superbum are being defoliated by the lily leaf beetle that over time will cause the demise of these favorite wildflowers.


Invasive plants are abundant and grow in number annually. Wild parsnip, garlic mustard, giant hogweed, and Japanese knotweed are four of the most important. The knotweed gets my vote for doing the most damage as it proliferates along streambeds although it can be found practically anywhere. It is shallow rooted but grows in masses, tall and quick, and shades out any vegetation underneath its leaves. When streams rise, there is nothing to hold the banks and they fall into the rivers and move slowly to Lake Champlain or the ocean via The Connecticut River. There are a variety of terrible aquatic plants clogging St Albans, Shelburne and Missisquoi Bays and Lake Champlain below the Crown Point Bridge. Inland ponds and lakes are noticing similar levels of intrusion by weeds and the zebra mussel haunts Lake Champlain by the trillions.


Climate change may have an obvious impact although this past summer the temperature was colder than usual and the month of July saw more than 15 inches of rain. Weather conditions have brought on more precipitation both during summer and winter seasons. This is not new and it will not go away. Many of these problems cannot be erased and those that can be erased must take a second seat to human protection. Climate change is like a book of many pages. It may be a long read, but we cannot save the ending until later.


George Africa

The Vermont Gardener

Vermont Flower Farm

Blog Action Day 09


Sunday, May 20, 2007

Hostas on the Rise


Sunday, May 20, 2007

A very dark morning here on the mountain.....with a sky so dark that it's difficult to believe that the thermometer, standing at 52.8, could possibly be right. The heavy rains of the past few days have encouraged all the trees to spring forth with new leaf growth in various shades of green. I never thought I'd say I was happy to see leaves but there is a very tall green ash tree by the edge of the foundation garden. The emerald ash borer has been killing trees right and left here in recent years and this tree is too nice to lose. Last year it lost a section at the top and although I couldn't find any "D" shaped borer exit holes, I suspected that was the problem. Once the borers are in your neighborhood there is no hope they will leave. It's not a good thought and some agencies try chemical attacks which to my way of thinking just slow the inevitable. There are so many new insects in the gardens this year that even an entomologist would have to work over time.

The hostas jumped out of the ground this week with all the rain after two weeks of hot, dry weather. I'm trying to learn them from their spring display but this is not an easy task, with leaves rolled tightly and grouped closely. Pacific Blue Edger, pictured above is a very nice hosta at about 12" tall. Whiskey Sour, pictured next, is one I picked up from the New England Hosta Society last June. Its spring display is an eye catcher for sure as is Golden Scepter which comes next. Probably the one that has caught gardeners eyes for years how is Sea Fire. I have to keep buying it in because the interest for it between now and mid July is always strong and greater than the speed with which I can reproduce it.


When the hostas break though the ground I begin a fertilizing regieme which works for me. First I take the hand spreader and lime everything. The soil around here is some of the most acid I have encountered and lime helps us get through another year. Since we water the hostas a lot, there is a degree of lime loss to other parts of the garden. A new soil test would be good but I just don't seem to get to that.

After the lime, I spread on commercial 5-10-10. I don't get carried away as too much fertilizer can do your garden in quickly. The little Scott's hand-held plastic spreader set on opening number 5 does just right. Once in a while it stops spreading as a coagulated piece of fertilizer clogs the exit port but all in all it works fine for this task. Something like $12 at the box stores.

Finally I give each plant a good drink of Epsom salts and water. This is magnesium sulphate and a great addition to stimulate root growth. If you looked around the stairs to the cellar of about any old farmhouse in Vermont you'd likely find a discolored box squirreled away someplace. In the old days when it was cheaper, it was used on all the corn fields but in the home it was used to soak feet in tubs and people in their baths to ease the physical stresses of difficult farm chores.

I like magnesium sulphate because it stimulates root growth, doesn't affect the soil ph long term, is easy to use and and enhances leaf color nicely. A competition rose grower told me about it several years ago. My very unscientific distribution format is one heaping handful in a 5 gallon of bucket of water, stirred a couple-three times until it dissolves and then dumped on liberally to each plant. If you want to experiment, buy a carton in about any store's drug section. It comes in little pint and half gallon milk carton sized boxes. Usually in that format it's in crystal form and the crystals take a while to dissolve. It's also more expensive. I buy from the agriculture stores like Agway, Blue Seal and Oliver Seed. 50 pound bags have run about $16-$18 and that's more than enough to carry me through the year. It can be used on anything you grow and the results are significant.

My last fertilizer is fish/seaweed emulsion. I mix 3 ounces in a 5 gallon bucket and again dump some on each plant. It's $14 to $25 a liquid gallon but worth the price because of the inert minerals which come from the sea. All this mixing and lugging and dumping is not easy but it's a worth it. If you can't get through the task yourself and want a real challenge, find a school kid and try to assure them that this is a good job for them to help with.

Hostas in spring are fun to watch. They grow quickly and after they're up, the warm days encourage the leaves to unfurl and grow in size. As you walk your gardens in spring, keep in mind your younger days when you folded a piece of paper and made snowflakes. When you unfolded the paper, the cuts repeated themselves. In spring look for freshly opened leaves and look for repetitive holes of the same size and shape on the same leaf. This could be the sign of insects or worms eating into your hostas at ground level when they started to rise. Take appropriate action and try to eliminate the culprits early on.

There are thousands of hostas available now and the best have yet to be released to gardeners. We have a good 165-175 different varieties for sale this year from minis to extra large. If you like hostas, stop by any time now and you'll get to see unfolding beauty on the mountain above Peacham Pond.

Have a nice Sunday! Garden walks bring peace and a to-do list at the same time.

George Africa
http://vermontflowerfarm.com
http://vermontgardens.blogspot.com