18
in other words
july26
2011
Diggin’ In The Dirt: Got Wormy Roots?
Chip Bubl
Oregon State University Extension
Service Columbia County
Extension presence at Vernonia’s First
Friday event
For those of you who haven’t
been, the First Friday Art event (next
one is August 5th from 5-8:00 pm) is a
great place to be. Lots of talented people
are there with interesting things to sell
and many wonderful stories. The OSU/
Columbia County Extension office has
had table there for the past two years. We
sell nothing but hopefully provide good
information and conversation. Local
Master Gardener volunteers are often
there along with myself. If you have a
plant question, weed sample, or anything
else garden or farm related, stop by.
Harvesting potatoes
Early potatoes should be ready
in the next couple of weeks. When the
vines have died, the potatoes are ready
for harvest. Dig carefully to avoid
bruising or cutting the skins. Potatoes
can be brushed off or washed to remove
dirt. They should be dried completely
before they are put into storage.
lays its eggs at the base of a developing
plant. The maggot hatches and dives into
the soil where it starts feeding on roots.
Young plants are the most affected and
can be killed by extensive feeding.
Radishes and turnips are
none too appealing with fat cabbage
maggots in them. Cauliflower seems
to be especially vulnerable to this pest.
Nearly mature plants will suddenly wilt
even though the garden has been well
watered. When the roots are examined,
there won’t be much to see. Most fine
feeder roots will be gone.
The carrot rust fly has a smaller
maggot but the damage is significant.
The maggot burrows into the carrot
causing holes that often proceed to rot.
The maggot also seems to stimulate the
formation of “hairy” roots, again an
unappetizing appearance on carrots or
parsnips. The carrot rust fly seems to get
“Wormy” vegetable roots
Maggots bother carrots, parsnips worse the longer you leave the carrots in
and the cabbage family. Now maggots, the garden.
The best control strategies are:
of course, are the larval stage of flies.
Each of the vegetable families has their
own fly. For carrots and parsnips, it is the • Plant early (before the fly emerges)
carrot rust fly. For the cabbage family, it or plant late.
• Grow the plant well to outrun the
is the cabbage root maggot.
The cabbage root maggot adult maggots.
• Cover the developing plants with row
covers to exclude the female fly.
• Harvest carrots quickly after they
mature.
• Some gardeners have had luck putting
a barrier of wood ashes around the base
of a cabbage family transplant but this
has not been consistently effective.
• Insecticides available to the home
gardeners for carrot rust fly and cabbage
root maggot are marginally effective
Potatoes should not be exposed
to light. If they develop extensive
“greening”, they should be discarded.
It is not the “green” itself, which is
chlorophyll, but the alkaloid solanine,
which accompanies the greened up cells.
It is difficult to store potatoes for
an extended period of time. Our winter
temperatures are not cold enough for
good storage. I have seen people use
small garbage cans with potatoes placed
in layers and covered by sand or sawdust.
Some store them in a box with a tight
fitting lid. The most important advice is
to eat the potatoes fairly quickly. They
will sprout as the winter progresses.
Sprouts from one potato encourage
sprouts in neighboring spuds. Check the
potatoes at regular intervals to remove
sprouts and rotten tubers.
VERNONIA
PHARMACY
Better Service, Less Wait, Same Co-Pay
We take Pride in our
Quality, Personal service
Come on in for your flu shot
at best. New products that contain
“spinosad” may be the best option.
There are organic and conventional
forms of this product derived from a
fungal fermentation.
A caterpillar in your cabbage
The most common butterfly
around the garden is the white winged
species known as the imported cabbage
worm. As the name implies, this insect is
not native to North America but comes,
as cabbage does, from Europe.
The butterfly winters over as
a chrysalis and emerges as an adult in
May. The females lay yellow eggs on
the undersides of the leaves. A female
can lay as many as 200 eggs on many
cabbage family plants. The caterpillars
hatch and start eating. Sometimes they
are hard to see within a broccoli head
before cooking but disgustingly obvious
afterwards.
The best controls are floating
row covers and the microbial insecticide
Bacillus thuringiensis. Make sure you
buy the form for caterpillar control. B.t.
has virtually no mammalian toxicity and
only kills larvae in the butterfly/moth
family. B.t. does not migrate off target.
It needs to be applied when the larvae are
small to be most effective and should be
reapplied periodically, especially after a
rain or overhead irrigating.
The Extension Service offers its
programs and materials equally to all
people.
Free newsletter
The Oregon State University
Extension office in Columbia County
publishes a monthly newsletter on
gardening and farming topics (called
County Living) written/edited by yours
truly. All you need to do is ask for it and
it will be mailed to you. Call 503 397-
3462 to be put on the list. Alternatively,
you can find it on the web at
http://extension.oregonstate.edu/
columbia/ and click on newsletters.
Call now to Transfer Your Prescriptions!
503-429-0591
Check out our website:
www.vernoniarx.com
*ONLINE PRESCRIPTION REFILL
*PERSONALIZED E-MAIL NEWSLETTERS
*DRUG ALERTS AND INFORMATION
*AND MUCH MORE
Hours of Operation:
Mon.-Fri. 9:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.
Saturday 9:00 a.m.- 1:00 p.m.
Closed Sunday
Contact
information
for
the
Extension office
Oregon State University Extension
Service – Columbia County
505 N. Columbia River Highway
(across from the Legacy clinic)
St. Helens, OR 97051
503 397-3462
Email: chip.bubl@oregonstate.edu
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