8
in other words
october23
2012
Diggin’ in the Dirt: The Demise of the Yellow Jackets
By Chip Bubl
Oregon State University Extension
Service
- Columbia County
For last minute food preservation ques-
tions, you can call our local OSU Ex-
tension office at 503-397-3462 to get
answers and to get your pressure canner
tested. In addition, there are a number
of great OSU publications on food pres-
ervation free for the download at http://
extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/ and
then click on “nutrition and foods.”
Fall Topics:
Demise of the yellow jackets
Fall is not a good time to be a
yellow jacket worker. The colony is
in transition and will soon collapse.
A protected class of females (“queens
to be”) is fattened up since they alone
will carry the colo-
nial genes through the
winter. They emerge
from the colony, mate
in air with the males,
and then seek a pro-
tected place to winter
over. It isn’t uncom-
mon to find these fat queens in stacks
of firewood or under boards in an open
garage. Next year, they start a new nest
by themselves, tending the larval brood
until enough workers are present to take
over.
The males, after the reproduc-
tive dance is done, quickly fall to earth
and perish. The worker caste goes
through a slow decline. Early in the year,
they fed the new yellow jacket larva pro-
tein from caterpillar juicy bits and the
larva, in return, made them sugary treats.
But the queen produces fewer larvae to-
wards the end and the workers turn to
sugar-rich fruits outside. The colony is
in a death spiral. The workers eventu-
ally start departing the nest one by one,
never to return. The queen for this year
also departs to die alone and untended.
The remaining larva die as the nest is de-
stroyed by rain and wind and sometimes,
skunks who relish brood.
Storing garden produce
The wonderful sunny days in
September gave a great boost to our gar-
dens. Now the weather has turned.
Many vegetables will last for
some months if stored properly. Advice
common to all fruits and vegetables is to
only store produce that is in good con-
dition (“one rotten apple can spoil the
box”). In addition, check periodically to
see if sprouting or rot has
developed after initial stor-
age. Finally, freeze or can
produce where that makes
sense. I covered potatoes
in detail in the last column.
Here are some tips on other
storable vegetables:
Onions and garlic: Hard, pungent on-
ions store the best. If they are still in the
ground, dig them now and bring them
under cover to cure. Remove the roots.
Some gardeners keep the tops on for a
while as the onions dry. The onion tops
should be removed when the bulbs are
bagged for final storage unless you are
braiding them.
Onions and garlic both need to
be stored in dry conditions. Some out-
buildings are too moist in the fall/win-
ter and in those conditions, onions and
garlic will start to sprout. You will have
better luck storing them in a warm, dry
room inside. If your garage or outbuild-
ing is dry, that area will be fine. Onions
last nicely in paper bags. Some air circu-
lation is important, as is darkness. Sweet
onions (Walla Walla types and others)
should be eaten right away as they have
very poor storage ability. Look through
your onions and garlic often to remove
bulbs that start to sprout or decay. A
well-cured pungent onion should last
at least four months in a proper storage.
Garlic can last until late spring or even
longer.
Winter squash: Winter squashes are
also easy to store. Harvest them before a
frost. When rainy weather sets in, squash
are done growing and will only rot if left
outside. Butternut and Hubbard squash
store for six months or more if well-
cured. Acorn squash are best used within
four months of harvest.
Clip the squash from the vine
leaving a stem end. Wash the dirt from
the squash and let them cure in a warm
room on a counter or table for a week.
Check for any signs of rot. Then put
them into a dry room on a shelf or a
shallow box. Best storage temperature is
about sixty degrees. Check periodically
for decay.
Other root crops: Carrots, parsnips,
and beets develop better flavor if left
in the ground until a frost. However,
if the meadow mice find them, all you
will have are carrot/parsnip/beet stubs
with cute little teeth marks. In addition,
if you had problems with the carrot rust
fly (also a problem on parsnips but not
beets), their tunnels will decay faster if
the carrots are left in the ground. The
roots are best stored like potatoes in
sawdust in the dark. Horseradish can be
left in the ground to be dug and grated
later. The roots develop greater pungen-
cy when it gets colder. Mice don’t seem
to like them.
Share your extra fruit and vegetables
with the Food Bank. What you can of-
fer is really important.
The Extension Service offers its pro-
grams and materials equally to all peo-
ple.
Free newsletter
The Oregon State University Extension
office in Columbia County publishes a
monthly newsletter on gardening and
farming topics (called County Liv-
ing) 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/colum-
bia/ and click on newsletters.
Contact information for the Extension
office
Oregon State University Extension Ser-
vice – 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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