July 6, 2021 Nude recreation week is here

 Hi gardeners

It’s National Nude Recreation week and it’s a fine week to shed clothes, that much I can say.  This weather is like a sauna.  I am hoping for more rain today – although I know some people don’t need any more.  I have had to water the veggies in their grow bags and all of my containers a couple times in the last few days. And I see some wilting out there in the garden, but we are supposed to have good chances of rain now through the weekend.

It is a colorful time of the year. Asiatic lilies, coreopsis, echinacea, beebalm, daylilies, hosta, shasta daisy, lavender, rocket ligularia, astilbe, and lots of annuals are in bloom. The sprawling clematis ‘Heather Herschell’ I planted last year is blooming as are several other clematis. I already have ‘Only the Lonely’ (woodland nicotiana) in bloom.

I saw a couple of Japanese beetles this week- just a few. I’m hoping it stays that way. Our grape vines are loaded with grapes this year and it would be nice to actually harvest some for a change. The last couple of years the lousy Japanese beetles have ruined them.

Usually, the Japanese beetles start showing up when the Golden Glow, Rudbeckia laciniata, starts blooming.  Its yellow flowers seem to attract them, which might be a good reason to get rid of them. The other reason I’m thinking of getting rid of them is that they grow 8 feet tall and then flop over on the ground.

About 2 weeks ago I chopped the stalks in half in the front of the clump.  I see it didn’t harm them too much since they now have buds but are only back up to about 4 feet. Maybe they won’t flop over, and I will appreciate them better. I’m hoping the shorter stalks in front will hold up the few taller ones I left in back.

Speaking of Japanese beetles don’t try spraying them with anything, it doesn’t work. They seem immune to all types of pesticides. They have years when the population in an area is large and then years when they aren’t a problem. When they are numerous, they can make plants look bad and destroy soft fruits.  But they go away by the end of August and plants recover.

If you try a Japanese beetle trap- which are being promoted everywhere, put it far away from plants you want to protect. Otherwise, you just attract more to the area and not all of them are caught.

I was outside this weekend and decided to spray paint the seed heads left by alliums. I have seen many people doing this now and I had some left-over spray paint. I went a little nuts, and not only did I spray paint the allium heads were they stood but I pulled some and made an impromptu arrangement with some curly dock and valerian seedheads and spray painted it all.  I stuck those in a pot in a spot where I thought color was needed. I’ll see how long they last outside.

 Look for pollination problems with hot weather

Bees may die or stop working in very hot weather and this will affect plant pollination. Some plants like tomatoes and peppers like warm weather for growth, but warm weather at night can cause pollination failure.  No fruit will set until conditions improve. Partial pollination and imperfect pollination caused by heat can lead to deformed fruits and early fruit drop in tomatoes, peppers, melons, squash and other fruiting plants.

In fact, warmer than normal temperature at night is usually more harmful than hot weather in the daytime for plants. Just like people, being able to cool down at night reduces plant stress and allows normal life processes to continue. Temperatures above 75 degrees F at night can trigger problems in many plants.

Bird disease

There is a new disease of wild birds that has shown up in some states. If you are in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, DC., Maryland, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, or Florida you may have heard messages from the DNR in your state asking you to take down bird feeders. 

Researchers aren’t sure what is causing the disease. They have ruled out avian flu and West Nile virus and most other known bird diseases.  Birds appear with crusted infected eyes, which causes them to go blind and act erratically.  They may have seizures, tilt their heads back in an odd way or act in other ways which suggest there is a neurological aspect to the disease. They eventually die and in some areas large numbers of dead birds are being found. Young birds are affected more than older adults.

The birds that seem to be most affected are our common songbirds, blue jays, robins, cardinals, bluebirds, wrens, house finch, English sparrows, starlings, grackles, and chickadees. These birds are commonly seen around homes and feeders.  It may be that other species are affected, but not as likely to be found in distress or dead.

The reason that bird feeders should be taken down where the diseased birds have been found is that researchers believe close contact with other birds spreads the disease. It may also spread from contact with dirty feeders. Bird baths should either be taken down or dumped and emptied, then cleaned with bleach, daily.  Birds will be fine without feeders or birdbaths this time of year.

Many blind birds have been taken to wildlife rehab but the prognosis is grim, almost all birds die. It’s recommended that you simply leave the birds alone and not handle them. Bury dead birds deeply or wrap in a garbage bag and dispose of in the trash.

If you handle dead birds use disposable plastic gloves. Do not let pets eat or touch the dead or dying birds. It’s unknown if the disease could infect humans or pets. Do not try to treat the birds, you can contact a bird rehab but it is actually illegal to hold songbirds whether your intentions are good or not. Some rehabs no longer take birds infected with this since treatment is of little use.

If you have chickens in areas where the dead birds are being found it’s recommended you feed the birds inside the coop and make every effort to exclude wild birds from getting inside.  Since chickens that are free ranging may eat dead birds they find, it would be best to not let poultry free range for now.  It’s unknown if the disease could infect poultry.

In places where the disease has not been found yet keep an eye on bird feeders and remove them immediately if sick birds are spotted.  Keep feeders and bird baths clean.

If you spot sick or dead birds, especially if they have crusted over eyes, you should contact your states DNR or USDA animal health office. (If you know how the bird died, such as in a window collision, you don’t need to report it.) Areas close to places known to be infected, like Michigan counties just over the Indiana/Ohio border should be especially vigilant.

 

Tomato fungal diseases

If your tomato plants have yellow curling leaves at the bottom of the plant, brown dead leaves hanging in the plant, spotted leaves, and fruit with spots and sunken areas, you probably have one of many tomato fungal diseases. Welcome to tomato reality.

From all the pictures people are posting online of their tomato plants it seems that tomatoes are being hit early and hard this year with fungal diseases. It’s very common for tomatoes to get fungal diseases.

Fungal and other diseases of plants often are related to weather conditions. Some diseases prefer one set of conditions, others prefer another. Hot, wet conditions, cool wet conditions, hot dry conditions and cool dry conditions, we’ve had them all this year, so it stands to reason that we may experience a tremendous surge in plant fungal diseases.

(Another common disease is blossom end rot, which causes a rotted dark area on the bottom of fruit. That’s caused by water problems and is not a fungal disease. I talked about it last week in my blog.)

I used to try and identify what exact disease tomatoes had, but over many years I’ve learned that identifying the precise disease isn’t that helpful, except in one case- that of late blight.

And there’s another problem with diagnoses. Tomato plants can have several diseases at the same time. Most of the diseases are handled the same way, so identification of the exact disease isn’t always helpful.

Let’s talk about the worse case scenario first, late blight. Late blight affects both potatoes and tomatoes. Since large commercial fields are destroyed by the disease, most states monitor conditions favorable for late blight and look for late blight spores in the air. When any spores or cases of the disease are found, there’s rapid notification of big growers in the area, but home gardeners may not be aware of the problem.

Symptoms of late blight include a blackened, water soaked or greasy look to leaves, stems and tomato fruit or potato tubers, with rapid wilting and death of the plant within a few days. The blackened areas may look brown at first, and often have white fuzzy looking growth (fungus) on them. Check the backs of darkened leaves to look for white fungal growth.  

Late blight
Photo USABlight.org

Tomato fruits that are green or ripe can be affected with hardened brownish black spots. Most other tomato diseases take a long time to kill a plant and the plants keep putting out new growth. Late blight kills plants quickly, within a few days after symptoms start.  Late blight also spreads from plant to plant very quickly so in warm, wet weather home gardeners should check their plants daily for symptoms.

There is little home gardeners can do to prevent late blight other than to begin spraying your potatoes and tomatoes with fungicides before the plants are affected. This is why commercial growers are notified by the state, so they can begin fungal prevention sprays. If you do hear late blight is in your county you should protect your plants immediately. 

After symptoms begin spraying won’t help that plant. It should be pulled and put in a plastic trash bag including all fruit and leaves that fall off.  Tie the bag tightly and send it to the landfill or let it sit in the sun for several weeks and then burn the residue.

If you have plants that still seem healthy you can spray with preventative fungicides. The only preventative sprays effective that homeowners can easily get are those with chorothalonil and some copper-based fungicides. Look for a garden fungicide, check the ingredients and make sure it lists late blight as being controlled. Follow the label directions exactly. Also, water early in the day so foliage dries before nightfall. Don’t eat tomatoes or potatoes with late blight lesions or can them.

There are no home remedies or even organic remedies for late blight prevention. Researchers have tested a number of these things and found they do not work.  Do not try things like baking soda, neem oil, milk and so on. They won’t work and in the meantime the disease is spreading. If the plant has late blight, it must be destroyed. Prevention can only be achieved with certain commercial fungicides.

Many other tomato diseases have similar symptoms and home gardeners may have a hard time deciding if their plants have late blight or a less serious fungal disease. But if a plant dies completely in a few days with blackened leaves, chances are good it’s late blight.

Since late blight is a serious threat to agriculture you may also try calling your state agricultural department. If they know late blight is in the area, they will tell you and someone may even come out to look at your plants or you may be told where to take a sample.

The other diseases

It is hard for home gardeners to find somewhere to get a good diagnostic report done on a sample of your plants.  If your county still has an Extension office with a horticulture department you can try there. For accurate diagnoses the sample must be picked fresh, with symptoms showing on foliage and or fruit and brought to the lab within a few hours.

There are several other fungal diseases of tomatoes that cause problems but aren’t as deadly as late blight. Early blight and septoria leaf spot are two very common fungal diseases. Both start at the bottom of plants, producing yellow spotted, then brown leaves. The leaves may look curled.

These two diseases seldom kill plants outright, leaves die at the bottom of the plant, but the plant continues to put out new leaves and flowers at the top. However, this makes the plants weak and keeps them from producing the best fruit. Often the fruit sunburns because so much foliage is missing.

In early blight the round spots are brown or black with concentric rings on the leaves.  There can be spots on stems and fruit too. Early blight usually begins in hot, wet weather when leaves stay wet for long periods of times.

Septoria leaf blight also begins in warm wet weather, usually after the first fruit begins to form. The spots in this disease are smaller dark spots than early blight with a lighter tan center, that can turn white. The center can contain tiny black raised dots, which is where fungal spores are produced. The spots can appear on stems and flowers but appear on fruit only rarely. Eventually the spots will run together, producing large, blackened areas.

Septoria

Other fairly common fungal diseases of tomatoes are verticillium wilt and fusarium wilt.  With fusarium wilt the leaves yellow and wilt on one side of the plant from bottom to top. If the plant isn’t infected by another disease, there won’t be spots on the leaves. If you split a stem there may be brown streaks running up and down inside. Fusarium wilt occurs in warm, wet weather.

With verticillium wilt there is first a yellow V shaped area on lower leaves with a bit of brown around it, between a vein and leaf edge. Then the leaves turn yellow with brown veins, there can be brown spots too. Verticillium affects all of the plant. At first the plant may wilt during the day and recover at night. Fruit is stunted. This disease is more common in cooler weather. It is also worse in poorly drained soil- or after soil has been flooded. 

Verticillium wilt
Photo- WSU

The above tomato fungal diseases are so similar that even with pictures, gardeners often misidentify them. And that’s ok.  All of these diseases are basically treated the same way.

What to do

Remove all spotted, yellowed or brown leaves as soon as you spot them. If a stem has spots remove it too. Remove any leaves that touch the ground. Remove all weeds around the plants. These leaves and weeds should be put in a trash bag, not thrown down near the plants.

Many people thin and prune tomatoes. If your plants develop a fungal disease, you should stop doing this, except to remove leaves touching the ground. The plants need all the foliage they can produce to replace that lost by disease. Early thinning of the center of the plant, to make a better airflow is fine if done before disease symptoms begin. Also pinching out the stem tips late in the season will help existing fruit grow larger and ripen faster.

While you won’t cure the plant, you can slow the spread of early blight and septoria up the plant by spraying plants with a good fungicide. The new leaves will be protected for a while and a plant needs leaves to produce food to make fruit and more foliage. Use a good garden fungicide that’s safe for food plants to spray infected plants. Check the label to make sure it says it will prevent these two diseases. Follow label directions.

Don’t bother with homemade mixes and remedies. Baking soda, milk, dish soap and so on don’t work. If you don’t want to use a commercial product that’s been tested and found effective don’t use anything. It can make the diseases worse.  There are some organic fungicides on the market, including Serenade, if that interests you.

Verticillium wilt is helped somewhat by removing infected plant parts. Spraying won’t help because the fungus is inside the plant. Fusarium wilt isn’t helped by much of anything, and plants will usually die before the season ends.

Spraying plants with fungicides to prevent diseases before symptoms begin is the best way to deal with these diseases. You must spray regularly and after it rains. Fungal diseases of tomatoes can also infect potatoes, peppers and eggplant.

Also, space plants so there is a lot of airflow around them. Water early in the day so the leaves dry before nightfall. Keep plants off the ground and use mulch around them.  Buy disease resistant varieties if you can.

Fungal spores can overwinter and become viable when conditions are right. But fungal spores can also blow in on the wind or be transported on animals, insects or equipment. There is evidence that some weeds, like nightshade, carry the disease. Septoria can be transmitted on infected seed.

Verticillium and Fusarium wilt are diseases plants get from the soil and the fungus remains in the soil a long time. You should not plant tomatoes or potatoes, eggplant and peppers in the same area for at least 4 years if you suspect you had one of these diseases. It’s best to rotate where crops are grown every year, just to make sure diseases aren’t in the soil.

The above fungal diseases are not all the fungal diseases tomatoes can get, just the most common. Tomatoes also get bacterial and viral diseases.

Can you eat the tomatoes?

Tomatoes that have a disease may not taste as well as tomatoes from a healthy plant. But they are safe to eat. However most experts say tomatoes from diseased plants should not be canned. They have a lower acidity than healthy tomatoes and bacterial growth could happen, especially in water bath type canning.

I suspect that plenty of tomatoes from plants with early blight and so on have been canned with no ill results. Pressure canning would make it safer, as would adding acid like vinegar or citric acid.  If the fruit itself has fungal spots or rotted areas I definitely would not can it, even if you cut off the spot. If you have questions consult with a food safety expert at your county Extension office.

Tomatoes are the most popular garden vegetable grown, but unfortunately there are a lot of diseases that can infect them. Plant breeders are working to breed disease resistant plants and gardeners who have a lot of problems with tomatoes should seek out those with the best disease resistance.

July almanac

The full moon in July this year is on the 23^rd.  It’s called buck moon because the buck deer’s antlers begin to show this month. Its sometimes called the Hay moon too.  The moon perigee is the 21^st.  Moon apogee is the 8^th.

This month’s flower is the sunflower- very appropriate and the birthstone is the ruby. It’s National Blueberry, Eggplant, Lettuce, Mango, Melon, Nectarine and Garlic month as well as National Hotdog and Vanilla Ice Cream month.  Why isn’t it National Cherry month?  The second week of July (5-11) is nude recreation week. That’s this week. National Nude Day however is July 14^th . Have fun.

The Delta Aquariids meteor showers begin mid-month and peak on July 27-30^th.  These meteors continue into mid- August and overlap with the Perseids meteor shower. Best viewing will be around 2 am for most of the US. Look to the south. 

 

 Hot July brings cooling showers, apricots and gillyflowers. 

– Sara Coleridge

 

Kim Willis

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