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Tuesday, August 18, 2020

August 18, 2020- Slimy Slug Stories

Hi Gardeners

I wish every summer day was as nice as this one.  It’s mostly sunny and 75 degrees with a light breeze.  My idea of wonderful weather. I took a walk outside to get some pictures, even though it’s a bit windy.  You know how it is when you get a nice flower centered in the lens and the wind starts blowing it around, blurring the picture.

The milkweed pods are almost ripe, and the goldenrod is almost blooming signs that summers end is near. Still there are plenty of flowers in the garden and the rain we got this weekend perked them all up. New flowers in bloom this week are the hardy hibiscus and ligularia.

I am picking lots of tomatoes, but my sweet corn is not looking so great, the ears are quite small this year.  I love fresh corn, so I hope we get some to eat even if it’s small.

It’s time to order those spring blooming bulbs. Don’t delay. If you need some online catalogs to browse see this article.

http://gardeninggrannysgardenpages.blogspot.com/p/have-youreceived-any-garden-catalogs-in.html

It’s also time to look for bargains in the stores- please wear a mask- on garden items and décor.  You may also find bargain plants -but make sure you are getting hardy perennials and not left over annuals or tropical plants you won’t be able to over winter.  It’s a good time to get deals on mowers and other equipment and tools too.

Potted mums are showing up in front of the stores. Even if they say they are hardy or garden mums, don’t expect them to return next year, even if you promptly plant them into the ground. Use them for decorative accents and filling in where color is gone in the garden. Most of these mums will not return next year because they don’t have time to establish and acclimate well before winter. If you want to try though, promptly plant them into the ground, don’t let them sit in pots. And keep them well watered through fall. Don’t cut them back until spring, mums do better if stems are left on over winter.

If you want mums that will return every year start with small mum plants in the spring. Keep them well watered the first year. Newer mum varieties for garden use are compact and don’t require much pinching back or fussing with. You can find mums hardy to zone 4 but some are less hardy than others so check the hardiness before you purchase them.

Jewel weed

Gardeners looking for interesting native plants that will grow in partial shade may want to plant some jewelweed. It is a favorite of hummingbirds and bees too.  But beware, this plant is an aggressive spreader.

Jewelweed (Impatiens capensis) is an interesting native wildflower that grows in shaded to partially shaded, moist areas.  Jewelweed usually begins flowering in July and can continue until frost.  It is found in swampy woods, marshes, ditches and wet fields.  It will happily grow in most gardens that are regularly watered.  It grows taller in partial shade, but will survive full sun if kept moist.

As a member of the Impatiens family the jewelweed leaf is very similar to the leaf of the impatiens we plant in our yards.  They are large, broadly oval, thin, and have toothed edges.  Jewelweed grows much taller than garden impatiens, with stems up to 8 feet in height if conditions are good.  The stems are very succulent, can become as large as a pencil or larger, and have prominent swollen joints.

The flowers of Jewelweed begin as small clusters of whitish buds coming from a stem and leaf junction. They are on top of the leaves as they begin but by the time the buds open the leaves will have grown and the pretty yellow and orange flowers will dangle beneath them on slender stalks.

The flowers are yellow and funnel shaped ending in a narrow, curled tube called a spur. There is a flare of petals at the lower side of the opening that are usually orange.  The yellow throat of the flower is speckled with orange and brown. There is another species of Jewelweed that has flowers that are entirely pale yellow. The flowers vary from 1/2 inch to an inch long. 

The tiny flowers don’t look as if they would have much to offer but hummingbirds and bees will linger long over a patch of jewel weed, exploring each flower eagerly. Since they are late blooming they help hummers and bees prepare for migration or winter hibernation.

 

The flowers turn into long rounded seed capsules and the plant gets another common name, Touch-me-not, because the capsules explode at the slightest touch, throwing the hard, dark seeds far from the plant. The plant is an annual and grows from seed each year. Once planted and allowed to go to seed you will always have some around.  In fact, you may find it taking over shade areas so be careful where you plant it.  It is easy to pull though.

Gardeners who want to try the plant can either start with small plants in the spring or collect seeds to scatter in the fall. Just sprinkle seed on the ground where you want it to grow, don’t cover the seeds. Some wildflower nurseries sell plants in spring.  

 Jewelweed is one of the noted native and folk remedy plants. The leaves and stems contain an astringent and a fungicide. The juice of crushed plants is boiled with soft fat or lard and applied to hemorrhoids. The plant juice is said to heal poison ivy rash and insect bites and is used to cure athlete’s foot.  It often grows close to poison ivy since the plants prefer the same conditions. The plant should not be taken internally.

While it can be a bit messy looking and spreads far and wide, jewelweed is a unique native plant you may want to try in a shadier corner of your garden.

Slimy Slug Stories

I went out late at night last week to look for meteors.  When I turned on the light by the deck it was like a horror movie, slugs were crawling everywhere, the big yellow slugs that seem to prefer my garden now. They were crawling across the deck, they were on plants, they were on the bench and way up on the railing.

Like most gardeners I have noticed the damage to the leaves of some plants, big holes chewed in them. But when you are out in the sunshine enjoying your garden you rarely see the culprits who do this.  (Well you might see another culprit- the Japanese beetle- but if you aren’t seeing lots of beetles, chances are your problem is slugs.)

Slugs are snails without shells. Truly, there are closely related species of slugs and snails, with the only difference being a shell. And even though many gardeners consider them to be insect pests, they are definitely not insects, they are mollusks. They are related to clams and oysters.

There are hundreds of species of these slimy creatures in the US, some native and some introduced. Because until recently slugs weren’t studied much, researchers don’t even know how many species exist here- or anywhere. Some common species are known and named but researchers are now trying to identify and name the rest of the slippery creatures roaming our country.

Like most creatures, slugs have a place in the ecological web. They clean up decaying plant matter and sometimes decaying creatures too.  They feast on living plants but also fungi and lichens, animal manure, and sometimes on each other.  Many species are omnivorous, meaning they eat whatever fits in their mouths.  And other species of living things eat slugs: frogs, toads, snakes, fish, birds and small animals. In some places people even eat slugs, although that might not be a good idea as I will explain later.

Slugs can do a lot of damage in the garden, especially if the population is high. They eat numerous species of plants, and they also eat holes in soft fruits like strawberries and make eating a salad without carefully inspecting the greens unpleasant. Not only do slugs make plants unattractive, constant heavy feeding can kill some plants.

Slugs can also transmit diseases like downy mildew and botrytis between plants too.  Gardeners with lots of slugs will want to control them, but you need to understand their biology and behavior first.

Slugs prefer thin leaved, juicy plants over plants with thick, rough or hairy leaves. They are quite fond of hosta, but some varieties of hosta can handle the damage better and attract fewer slugs.  The heavy, wrinkled leaved types resist slugs.

 

                                                 Slug damage on hosta leaves


Slug biology

Most slugs look like a fat worm with a flared-out, flat, bottom side. The flared-out area is called the foot. They can stretch themselves out – up to 4 inches or more in some species and then contract. These contractions move the slug along the ground, and even allows it to climb. While a slug moves fairly slowly it can cover a lot of ground for a small creature. Some slugs travel 40 feet a night.

Slugs live in moist conditions. They love gardens with lots of debris or mulch. If they dry out too much they will die. That’s why they are nocturnal feeders, they avoid the sunlight.  You’ll sometimes see them outside on a rainy day, but generally to see them you’ll need to go outside at night, or search in the dark hiding spots under things on the ground or garden litter during the day.

To make it easier to glide over the rough ground the slug produces a thin “slime” on the bottom of the foot. The slime protects the soft underside of the slug. It also helps it stick to surfaces like plant stems it wants to climb. Most of this bottom slime is clear, but some species of slugs produce a milky white or yellow slime. As they move slugs leave trails of slime which glisten in the light. This is another way to identify whether you have slugs, look for slime trails.

Since slugs don’t have shells to hide in when threatened, they cover themselves with a heavier mucous like slime for protection. This body slime also helps keep slugs from drying out. When threatened they contract into the tightest ball that they can, and the slime helps prevent predators from picking them up.  Some slugs have slime that tastes bad too. Others have slime that has anesthetic properties, which causes a predator’s mouth to feel funny.  

Slugs have two sets of tentacles, little “antennae” on the head with knobs on the end. The top set serve as the slug’s eyes, with light detecting cells on the ends. The lower set are the slug’s nose, they have scent detecting cells. Both sets of tentacles can be retracted into the slug’s skin.

The area directly behind the tentacles is called the mantle. It may be thicker than the rest of the slug body, which is called the tail by the way. On one side of the mantle, generally the right side, is an opening called the pneumostome.  It’s how the slug breathes.

The slugs mouth opening has a radula, a structure like a jaw with small teeth. Its what the slug uses to “chew” or scrape holes in your plants or to attack other slugs or even earthworms.  Slugs eat voraciously, many times their weight each day. The teeth on the radula are replaced as they get dull or break.

On the underside of the mantle the slug also has reproductive organs. Every slug is a hermaphrodite, they have both male and female sexual organs, but in most cases, they need to mate with another slug to produce fertile eggs. To mate they wrap around each other and stick their penises into each other.

 

Slugs often fight each other at mating time. I have never seen slugs fighting and it’s hard to imagine, but researchers say they can be quite aggressive with each other. Some slugs suspend themselves with a strand of slime from some object as they mate. And some slug species either bite or break those penises off when they finish mating and separate. All that kinky sex going on right in your garden is amazing, right?

After mating slugs produce round white or yellowish eggs, either deposited into the ground or under debris singly or in clusters. They may reproduce several times a year. Generally, it is the eggs which overwinter in cold climates, although some species of slugs do bury themselves deeply in the ground to overwinter.

How slugs can harm humans

Contact with a slug won’t hurt you. However, you do want to avoid eating them accidently or otherwise.  In 2018 a story was widely circulated in the press about a young guy in Australia who ate a slug on a dare. In 2010 he ate the slug and shortly after was diagnosed with eosinophilic meningitis, which was caused by a rat lungworm parasite that slugs carry. He suffered for 8 years before dying. Don’t eat slugs on a dare!

Slugs are intermediate hosts of several parasites, including roundworms and lungworms. They can also carry E.coli.  People can be infected with these sometimes deadly parasites when they accidently consume slugs in a salad. Greens or vegetables that have been fed on by slugs may also transmit E. coli if not properly washed. Also, there are some people who cook and eat large slugs, like banana slugs.  If they aren’t properly cooked the gourmand eaters may get these parasites.

Don’t let pets eat slugs either, because they too can be infected with parasites. It’s probably not a good idea to deliberately feed them to chickens, but chickens will eat slugs if they free range. Your chickens may need to be treated for roundworms, but they won’t pass the parasites to you through eggs or meat.

One type of roundworm (Parelaphostrongylus tenuis) infects whitetail deer with “brainworm”.  They get it when they eat slugs on vegetation. Deer have evolved some resistance to the worms and often don’t die from it.  However, as deer move north now due to climate change, they are infecting moose, elk and caribou, which are killed by it.

Controlling slugs

So now that you know more about slugs how do you control them in the garden?  A key to controlling slugs is knowing that they need moist conditions to survive. If you are experiencing lots of slug damage in the garden, you may want to remove mulch under the plant canopies away from the bases of plants. Also remove debris like fallen leaves and garbage, old boards, logs, even garden art that sits on the ground.

Elevate plant containers off the ground or deck surface by an inch or so to remove a hiding place for slugs in the daytime. An inch of clearance allows good air flow and dries the spot under the pot out. Plant foliage should be kept from touching the ground or other surfaces so slugs can’t crawl up it and get into pots/containers to hide. They can still climb pot sides but elevating the pot helps stop that.

People who put things like rocks, crushed plastic bottles and Styrofoam chunks in the bottom of pots for drainage make good places for slugs to hide. They crawl into drainage holes and have a nice moist hiding spot among the crevices of these things.

Slugs will hide under things like melons and cucumbers where they rest on the ground and they will often start eating holes in them there too. Try to trellis these plants if you can. For melons you can slip an overturned mesh basket under them, or anything that won’t provide an additional hiding place. Make a stand for melons with a plastic pop bottle cut in half.

 

You can handpick slugs and drown them in water but that’s a time-consuming task best done at night using a flashlight. Tongs or tweezers make grasping the slimy slugs easier. Maybe you can pay some kids to hunt them.

Many gardeners know that slugs can be trapped with beer. Take a plastic carton with a lid, like a cottage cheese carton, and make a few holes in the sides just under the lid. Fill the carton with beer up to the holes.  A mixture of yeast and water will work just as well as beer.  Put the lid on the carton and bury it in the ground up to the holes. Slugs will crawl into the holes and drown in the beer. You’ll need to empty the traps every few days.

If you have racoons, skunks, or bears around they may empty the beer out for you even with a lid on the carton. Those animals can do even more damage to your garden so you may want to abandon beer traps if they show up. But the lid will keep pets from getting drunk. Put your traps under overhanging plants in shady moist places.

Crushed eggshells do not prevent slugs from crawling over them. There are many videos online that can prove that. Diatomaceous earth only works as long as it’s dry, and when sprinkled outside that condition doesn’t last long. Fine gravel, like chick grit, used as a mulch may have some benefit. Yes, salt will kill slugs, but you can’t surround plants with salt or the plants will die too. Never spray plants with salt either. I suppose you could chase slugs with a saltshaker.  Good luck with that.

Copper bands will discourage slugs from crossing them. They get an electrical reaction when they crawl over copper and they avoid it.  Copper is expensive though and is best used to band containers of favorite plants.  Some people have had success with rings or borders of fine metal screen.  But I have seen slugs crawling up metal railings so I’m not sure that would be totally effective. 

Remember if there are already slugs hiding in a container or your protected area or there are slug eggs in the soil, a barrier won’t help.  Also plant foliage can’t touch the ground on the outside of the barrier or they will use it as a bridge.

If slug damage is extensive you may want to try a pesticide.  Carbaryl and methiocarb/ metaldehyde and iron phosphate are chemicals that kill mollusks and there are several commercial snail and slug pesticides with these ingredients. Iron phosphate bait is marginally safer. Follow label directions exactly and remember these baits can be dangerous to kids and pets.

Spraying a copper sulfate solution on plant foliage won’t kill slugs but it does repel them. These sprays are usually sold for fruit tree protection and are mixed with water. Don’t use them if you use baits or traps because they will keep the slugs away from those.

Parasitic nematodes (Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodita) of slugs are sometimes used in organic commercial crops to control slugs.  They are applied to the soil and take a while to become effective controls. They are rather hard for home gardeners to find.

Don’t get upset if you see a few slugs in the garden. It’s impossible to completely eliminate them and many times the damage is slight. How much slug and snail damage you tolerate before moving to controls is a personal decision.  Do however, avoid eating slugs in your salad. LOL

More reading

https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/native-land-slugs-of-north-central-and-south-america

https://www.npdn.org/system/files/WPDN%20Slugs%20of%20Kentucky.pdf

https://www.insider.com/australian-man-died-from-eating-garden-slug-2018-11

 

How to make chocolate better

Dark chocolate is good for you, it has high levels of antioxidants.  Yet some people don’t like the taste of dark chocolate and prefer milk chocolate. But milk chocolate is not so great for you, it has lots of fat and sugar and fewer antioxidants. But what if we could make milk chocolate as healthy as dark? And using a common food processing waste product would be a bonus.

Researchers found that the red papery skins of peanuts also contain antioxidants in high amounts.  In many types of peanut processing, such as making peanut butter, the skins are removed and discarded, thousands of tons of them each year. Researchers think they have found a good use for them, improving the antioxidant levels in foods- like milk chocolate.

The skins are ground into a fine powder and the antioxidant compounds removed with ethanol. The extracted antioxidants are then mixed with maltodextrin, a safe and common food additive. They are then added to milk chocolate at about .8 % concentration. At this level the peanut skin product is undetectable to the taste and still gives the milk chocolate an antioxidant boost, comparable to or better than dark chocolate.

The skins of peanuts should not be a concern for those with peanut allergies because they don’t contain the peanut allergens that trigger the reactions in some people. But because tiny bits of peanuts could possibly get mixed in, the enhanced milk chocolate would have to be labeled as a possible peanut allergy inducer.

The healthier milk chocolate is not available yet on the market, but someday you won’t have to feel quite as guilty when you sneak a bit of your favorite chocolate treat. I like dark chocolate and use the excuse- “it’s good for you”- quite often.

Researchers also found they could remove antioxidants from other food waste such as coffee grounds and tea bags. (Maybe in the future there won’t be piles of coffee grounds left at your local restaurant for gardeners to grab.)  Anytime we can reduce food waste it’s a win-win situation.

 

How to know when sweet corn is ready to eat

There is nothing better than eating sweet corn fresh from your garden.  Nothing compares to it and this is not an exaggeration. Sweet corn picked this morning and purchased at a local farmers market comes close but the stuff you buy in the supermarket- does not begin to compare with it.  And frozen corn?  Not even close.  No, the only way to get the best tasting, most scrumptious corn in the world is to get some water boiling, walk out the door to the garden, pick some sweet corn and husk it on the way in, boil it just a few minutes, then slather it with butter and salt. 

But to get that top flavor, you have to know when sweet corn is ready to eat.  The first time that gardeners grow corn it often takes them a few ears to learn when corn is just right. Here are a few tricks to know when sweet corn is ready to eat.


First look at the stalks. The ears should look large and plump and the silk at the top of the ear should look brown and starting to dry. Feel the middle of the ear.  It should feel firm and plumb. Corn varieties vary in the size of the ear, both in how long it is and how fat it becomes.  Many ears will not fill all the way to the top; kernels will not develop to the tip. This is usually because of incomplete pollination.  If the middle of the ear feels solid it may be ready.

Next gently pull down the husk to expose a bit of the corn. This won’t hurt the ear much if it isn’t ready, you will simply smooth the husk back over the corn. Take your fingernail and push it into a kernel of corn.  If the kernel oozes clear fluid, it’s not quite ready.  If the fluid is milky looking, it’s perfect.  If no fluid oozes out or it’s thick and doughy the corn is a little overripe. 

Under ripe corn will have little flavor and will taste “green”. If the corn has been left a little too long it will probably be edible, but it will be tough and not very sweet.  Actually, all the sweet corn we eat is not ripe.  If corn is truly ripe the kernels are dry and shriveled. 

In the old days sweet corn was called green corn and was immature field corn. Our modern sweet corn varieties are sweeter and tenderer than field corn.  But even sweet corn varies from variety to variety in taste.  Some people prefer very sweet tasting corn; others prefer that a bit of corn flavor actually be left in there.  There are yellow, white and bi-color sweet corns and even red and blue colored sweet corn.  You may have to experiment to see what variety of corn best suits your taste.

Try not to pick your homegrown sweet corn until just before you want to cook it. Corn will stay edible on the stalk for a few days. If for some reason you must pick it early, leave it in the husk, wrap with a damp paper towel and store in the refrigerator. 

If you are buying your corn at the farmers market ask the seller when the corn was picked.  Corn loses sugar and tenderness every hour after it is picked, and the best corn will have been picked that morning before it was brought to market. The husk will look green and fresh, not dry and wilted.

 

Corn and pepper relish

Do you have extra sweet corn? A way to preserve fresh corn is to pickle it as in this recipe. This recipe only needs a water bath canner as it contains acid in the vinegar. You’ll need the canner plus 5 clean pint jars and lids. The jars should be kept totally covered in a pot of simmering water until ready to be filled.

Ingredients

 

8 cups of corn kernels cut from the cob

3 cups vinegar

¾ cup packed brown sugar

1 tablespoon dry mustard

1 cup of finely chopped sweet peppers, use green and red for pretty relish

3 cups of finely chopped onion

2 tablespoons canning salt

1 tablespoon celery seed

¼ teaspoon red pepper

 

Put a couple tablespoons of the vinegar in a bowl and add the mustard, stir to make a smooth paste.  Put the rest of the vinegar, sugar and mustard paste in a large pot.  Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar and mustard. 

Add the corn, peppers, onions and spices to the pot.  Cover the pot and boil gently for 15 minutes.   The mixture will be thickened.

Remove pint jars from the hot water and drain.  Ladle the hot corn mixture into them to ½ inch from the jar rim.

Swirl a knife or stick through jars to remove bubbles.  Wipe the rims and add the lids. 

Place jars in water bath canner and process for 15 minutes for 0-1,000 feet in altitude, 20 minutes for 1001-6,000 feet, 25 minutes for altitudes above that.

 Cool, label jars and store.

 

 

 "Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability."

—Sam Keen

 

Kim Willis

All parts of this blog are copyrighted and may not be used without permission.

 

And So On….

 

Find Michigan garden events/classes here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/118847598146598/

(This is the Lapeer County Gardeners facebook page)

 

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