A new IPM guide is making it easier to grow five common southeastern shrubs. Growing five southeastern shrubs is now easier thanks to a free, new IPM resource from the Southern Nursery IPM Working Group.
IPM for Shrubs in Southeastern U.S. Nursery Production is a compilation of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) information for five major shrubs in nursery crop production in the southeast. This 175 page book covers sustainable management for insects, mites, diseases, and weeds for these shrubs, as well as nursery production information. This IPM resource was developed for nursery growers although professional landscape managers and collectors of these plants also will find the information valuable.
Individual chapters cover abelia (Abelia spp.), camellia (Camellia spp.), shrub rose (Rosa spp.), blueberry (Vaccinium spp.) and viburnum (Viburnum spp.). Each chapter provides comprehensive information on the species, primary cultivars and their nursery production. Major pests, diseases, weeds and abiotic disorders are presented for each genus along with sustainable management methods and tables listing labeled pesticides and fungicides by mode of action and site. An additional chapter discusses weed management in shrub production. Future volumes covering additional shrubs are anticipated.
Edited by Clemson University’s Sarah A. White and University of Tennessee’s William E. Klingeman, this free guide was developed by the Southern Nursery IPM Working Group, including University of Florida NFREC’s Gary Knox and Mathews Paret. The award-winning, multi-disciplinary group is composed of experts from universities across the southeast. This group formed in 2008 to develop and deliver educational programming to the southern U.S. nursery industry and Extension personnel. The team recently won the 2014 Bright Idea Award from the Friends of Southern IPM and Southern IPM Center.
This resource joins the tree IPM book previously released by this group, IPM for Select Deciduous Trees in Southeastern US Nursery Production. The tree IPM book is similar to the new resource in that it contains IPM information for insects, mites, diseases, and weeds of nine major tree crops as well as production information. Individual chapters cover birch (Betula spp.), cherry (Prunus spp.), crapemyrtle (Lagerstroemia spp.), dogwood (Cornus spp.), chinese elm (Ulmus parvifolia), magnolia (Magnolia spp.), maple (Acer spp.), oak (Quercus spp.) and redbud (Cercis spp.).
Both books can be downloaded free through iTunes (http://www.apple.com/itunes/) or each chapter is available as a free pdf through the Southern Nursery IPM Working Group website, http://wiki.bugwood.org/SNIPM. A limited number of hardcopy books were printed and distributed to authors. Thanks to the Southern Region IPM Center for their generous support to make this resource possible!
We all seem to have this dilemma: A desire to re-landscape or just add a few plants to an area, but not knowing what would be the best choice. Plants need to be compatible with their location. The right plant should be chosen for the right place. Many have particular light, moisture and zone requirements in order to do their best. The ultimate size of the plant is also an important consideration; if you want to avoid constant pruning, choose plants that only grow to size you would like to ultimately have. Some great resources are provided below to get you the information you need.
UF IFAS Extension has a brand new app for your mobile device or web! The app contains a database of over 400 Florida-friendly plants is searchable by plant name, type, shape, native status, light requirements and more. The yearly subscription is only $1.99 to have great info on the go.
UF’s Florida Yards & Neighborhoods maintains a searchable Florida-friendly Plant Database. Make choices based on region, plant type, light and moisture quantity, soil texture salt tolerance.
In this age of tablets, smart phones, and whatever they come up with next, even the gardener can benefit from new technology. Although gardening and landscaping to beautify our surroundings is a way to connect with the past, there are many new tools that are ready to help! Here are a few web sites and phone apps that may prove useful to the gardener.
Sod Solutions has made it easy to know how much sod you need to order by using a mapping system to create overlays that measure square footage. Measuring square footage can prove tough for irregularly shaped beds or turf lawns. This website can help measure accurately so one can also apply the correct amount of herbicides, pesticide, or fertilizer. The website can be difficult for the technology challenged among us. An easy solution is to find anyone under the age of 15 and they should be able to help!
The Smartirrigation Turf app is designed to help homeowners with automatic irrigation systems in scheduling their watering times correctly. This app takes everything into account from soil type to local weather conditions. For example, you set a watering schedule for Zone X of 15 minutes every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Then, it does not rain for an extended period of time. Because your lawn does not get the supplemental rain that was predicted, the app may tell the home owner to change the setting to 25 minutes. To read more about using the app correctly, click on the link above.
Other apps that might prove useful are:
NCSU Lawn Care App – An App by North Carolina State University all about lawn care.
SoilWeb for Iphone – Produced by The California Soil Resource Lab that will tell you what kind of soil you are standing on.
Leaf Snap – Developed by Columbia University, University of Maryland, and Smithonian Institution. The app uses visual recognition software to identify plants by taking pictures of its leaves.
Ben Hill Griffin Stadium or “The Swamp” – http://www.gatorzone.com/facilities/?venue=swamp&sport=footb
Generally as Extension Agents we do not write interest type articles for this newsletter, but I thought I would mix it up this week and write on two of my favorite things and how they relate. My first love growing up in north Alabama was college football. I would spend hours reading statistics about my favorite players and watching old recorded ball games when there was not a live game on. I was always a small guy so playing the sport I became enamored with as a child was not an option unless I craved pain, which I did not.
One of the greatest attributes of college football is the traditions that each school have formed along the way. This is where my education and discipline come into play. Horticulture is the major I chose in college. I did not have much experience in Horticulture prior to this decision, but I always enjoyed the outdoors and found it a satisfying thought to work there in the future. The way that college football and horticulture work together is more than just the care of the perfectly manicured athletic turf fields that are so commonly found in major college football. Horticulture is deeply ingrained into the traditions of college football and here are a few of my favorites.
The Ohio State Aesculus glabra‘s
Ohio State is one of the only college teams I know who’s team name is named after a species of tree. The tree of course being the Ohio Buckeye or Aesculus glabra. Settlers of Ohio found the tree to be the only one they were unfamiliar with in the forest. Although it may seem strange that they have named athletic teams after a tree the explanation is pretty good.
…in general, the trees and their nuts are of little practical use: the wood does not burn well, the bark has an unpleasant odor, and the bitter nut meat is mildly toxic. Still, the tree has grit. It grows where others cannot, is difficult to kill, and adapts to its circumstances. Daniel Drake, who gave a witty speech on behalf of the buckeye at a well attended dinner in Cincinnati in 1833, said, “In all our woods there is not a tree so hard to kill as the buckeye. The deepest girdling does not deaden it, and even after it is cut down and worked up into the side of a cabin it will send out young branches, denoting to all the world that Buckeyes are not easily conquered, and could with difficulty be destroyed.”
Tailgating at the Grove – http://www.olemisssports.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/gameday-thegrove.html
Tailgating is as much a part of the Southeastern Conference is the actual football games. College football is an all day experience not just a 3-4 hour event in the south. From what I understand Ole Miss takes it to another level tailgating in the historic Grove. The Grove took some foresight by a Chancellor named Robert Fulton. Apparently Chancellor Fulton took much pride in the aesthetics of the University and when the library was built on the outer edge of campus in 1892 he extended the campus some ways to the railroad with plantings of trees and a privet hedge around what would be known as “The Grove”. Now on game days in Oxford, Mississippi the Grove will be found with hundreds of tailgating tents with fine china and chandeliers. This is a spectacle I have yet to see in my time as college football enthusiast, but I imagine it would be quite a sight for the horticulturist.
The Grove has 40 species according to the University’s map. An arboretum is what the grove is and it is a shame that Ole Miss does not have a degree in horticulture because this would be the ultimate outdoor classroom.
Under the Live Oaks that once stood on Toomer’s Corner – http://family.auburn.edu/profiles/blogs/president-jay-gogue-accepts-plan-to-plant-new-toomer-s-oaks
I am partial to this tradition and its significance as Auburn University is my Alma Mater and the college football team I loved as a child. I have great memories celebrating big wins at the corner of College St. and Magnolia St. throwing toilet paper into the Live Oaks that once graced the corner. Of course if you are not a fan of college football you may not know the story of how the beloved oaks were destroyed I will let you read elsewhere on how this occurred.
I have talked to fans and others associated with other colleges and they told me how the Toomer’s Oaks weren’t what they expected. The legend of Toomer’s corner has been spread far and wide by the media and when opposing fans come to see the corner where the University meets the town they found two Live Oaks that are not the most healthy looking trees and not near the size they imagined in their heads. Well the fact is that the Live Oak is not the best selection for a tree in Auburn, Alabama. Live Oaks are better adapted to coastal areas. Majestic large live Oaks can be found in Mobile, New Orleans, and Savannah; and that is probably why fans of visiting teams were somewhat disappointed by the Live Oaks that were so legendary. Although not the best selection those trees did hold a special place in many Auburn people’s hearts, but I am sure their replacement will be adored just as much once reaching mature size. Hopefully a better suited species will be chosen.
Georgia – “Between the Hedges”
Former UGA Football Coach and Horticulture enthusiast, Vince Dooley – http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4552978
“Between the Hedges” is a tough place to play football if your team is not named the Georgia Bulldogs. Sanford stadium in Athens, Georgia is the home field of the University of Georgia. When the stadium was being built Charlie Martin, an athletic department official, wanted to beautify the stadium with rose hedges like he had seen at the 1926 Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. Martin was given advice by several Horticulture professors that Rose hedges did not stand a chance in the climate that Athens, Georgia endures. The alternate was Chinese Privet, which most people would consider a weedy shrub. After a team comes into Sanford stadium and wins a big game it has become customary to clip off a piece of the hedge to take home.
One last tradition I would like to introduce you to that I find interesting and has a little bit of Horticulture inspiration is Kansas University’s “Waving the Wheat”. Just watch the video:
What are some traditions that have horticulture involved that I may have missed? Leave a comment below!
Have you tasted the great local blueberries available this season? Want to start your own Blueberry garden? Now that Blueberry harvest is in full swing in the Florida Panhandle, it is a good time to discuss blueberry culture.
Blueberry plants in garden centers lure us in with bell shaped flowers or especially if already setting fruit. Before you take one home, make sure your site is suitable. Doing your homework before you plant is important, but especially so when you want to grow a plant with specific cultural requirements such as blueberries. Blueberries require well-drained acidic soil that contains organic matter, a minimum of 4-5 hours of sunlight daily, and space away from competing roots. Chill hour requirements and bloom time vary by blueberry types.
Soil in the Florida Panhandle has a wide pH range (measure of acidity) and can vary greatly even within a half-acre site. Having your soil tested prior to planting is critical to growing blueberries successfully because it is very difficult to lower pH if your soil is higher than the target range. Blueberries need acidic soil (pH 4.2-5.5) to be able to use micro-elements in the soil such as iron and zinc. As the pH increases, these nutrients become less available to the plant even if they are present in the soil in adequate quantities. Nutrient deficiency leads to weak plants and loss of vigor. Plan to test your soil before you purchase plants to ensure your site has the ideal pH range, visit your local UF/IFAS County Extension Office to obtain a soil test kit. For more details about how soil pH affects your landscape, please see EDIS SL256: Soil pH and the Home Landscape or Garden.
Sandy soils commonly found in North Florida tend to be low in organic matter. Incorporating soil amendments directly into planting beds or using mulches that decompose (such as pinestraw or wood mulch) will help increase organic matter in your landscape. Peat moss or pine bark can be incorporated into beds planned for blueberries or pine bark can be used as mulch. Adding organic matter will help retain soil moisture, which is beneficial to blueberries that have shallow root systems.
Retaining soil moisture is valuable to blueberries, however, the site does need to drain well to a minimum depth of 18 inches. Areas that remain wet for long periods of time increase the risk of Phytophthora root rot damage. If an otherwise ideal site does not drain well, consider building a raised bed or changing the location.
Four to five hours a day is the minimum sunlight needed for good blueberry production. Make sure your sunny site is at least 20 feet from building foundations and competing tree roots. Blueberry plants can get large, over ten feet in height and width! Plan to give them room to grow; with pruning they can be maintained around 7’x7’.
There are two main types of blueberries that grow well in Florida: the southern highbush and rabbiteye. Among those types, there are specific cultivars with low chill requirements that perform better in Florida than in other southern states. Rabbiteye blueberries are recommended for areas north of Ocala, southern highbush for central and south Florida. When choosing cultivars, you need to plant at least two different cultivars within the same type (rabbiteye with rabbiteye) and make sure that bloom time overlaps so that cross pollination can take place.
Rabbiteye cultivars recommended for the Panhandle are: Early season
• ‘Beckyblue’
• ‘Bonita’
• ‘Climax’ Mid- to late-season
• ‘Brightwell’
• ‘Powderblue’
• ‘Tifblue’
• ‘Woodard’
• ‘Chaucer’
• ‘Bluegem’
A new IPM guide is making it easier to grow five common southeastern shrubs. Growing five southeastern shrubs is now easier thanks to a free, new IPM resource from the Southern Nursery IPM Working Group.
