6
in other words
june19
2014
Diggin’ in the Dirt: Three Questions
By Chip Bubl
Oregon State University
Extension Service - Columbia County
Food preservation and food safety
Want to learn how to safely preserve produce
from your garden this summer? The OSU Extension
Service in Columbia County offers food preservation
information and resources. Here is a list of services
that we provide:
• Free Printed Publications and Safe Canning Recipes
• Online Publications and Recipes: http://extension.
oregonstate.edu/fch/food-preservation
• Free Pressure Canner Gauge Testing (call ahead
before bringing in your gauge)
• Food Preservation and Food Safety Hotline from
July 14 through October 17, 2014, 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Monday- Friday. 1-800-354-7319
• A list of our hands-on canning classes can be found on
our website: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/columbia
or call our office at 503 397-3462
Jenny Rudolph, MPA
OSU/Columbia County Extension Educator
2014 Home Food Preservation Class Series Offered
in Scappoose
Have you thought about learning to preserve
fruits, vegetables, fish or game this summer? Are you
an experienced canner who would like an update on the
latest USDA recommendations? Then plan to attend one
or more of the canning classes offered by the Oregon
State University Extension Service this summer. Class
sessions will be held at the Scappoose Grace Lutheran
Church, 51737 Columbia River Hwy, Scappoose,
OR 97056. Each class will cost $25.00 or $90 if you
sign up for all four. Some scholarships are available.
Participants will receive instruction and hands-on
experience with safe methods of food preservation.
Class size is limited, so sign up today. Pre-registration
and pre-payment of class fees are required.
• Thursday, July 31st 3:00 to 6:00 PM – Canning Fruits
and Pie Fillings
• Thursday, August 7th 3:00 to 6:00 PM – Pickling and
Fermenting Vegetables
• Thursday, August 14th 3:00 to 6:00 PM – Pressure
Canning Meat, Fish and Vegetables
• Thursday, August 21sr 3:00 to 6:00 PM – Canning
Tomatoes, Sauces and Salsas
For more information and to register for
classes, please call or visit the OSU Extension Service
office at: 505 N. Columbia River Highway, St. Helens,
OR. 503-397-3462
Three Questions
Number one question: What’s up with all those
Western tent caterpillars? Around Rainier and toward
Vernonia, trees were inundated with them. That is less
true in Scappoose and St. Helens. There are a couple of
general take home messages. Tent caterpillars rarely kill
or even significantly damage trees unless the trees are
already weak or very young. They eat through a bunch
of leaves and then drop to the ground and pupate. The
moths emerge from their cocoons and mate in about
another 6-8 weeks and lay eggs on tree branches that
provide next year’s crop of caterpillars. Those limbs
that had their leaves stripped off push new leaves and
often it is hard to tell that tent caterpillars were even
there a couple of months after they finished eating. It
makes no sense to prune out the “tents” unless it was a
pruning cut you wanted to make anyway.
The volume of Western tent caterpillars rises
and falls in long cycles. There is nothing that you can
do on your own property that will make an ounce of
difference to what you see next year. Even if the whole
infested area was sprayed (a very bad idea since it
would be very expensive, biologically damaging,
and targets an insect that does no real harm), you still
wouldn’t alter their ebb and flow significantly. So
while they may be irritating, the
best strategy is to relax and wait for
the natural predators (birds, small
wasps, viruses) to take their toll and
subdue the wave for 8-10 years.
Number two question: What is
causing the holes in flowering
plum, cherry, and laurel leaves?
The big surprise is that it is not an
insect. It is one of two diseases,
either cherry leaf spot or coryneum
blight. Both diseases are called
“shothole” fungi due to the
appearance of the infected leaves.
When a fungal spore infects a leaf,
the plant walls it off and creates a
circular dead zone around it. The
walled off tissues drop out and to
the ground creating that “shothole”
appearance.
This disease is common in
spring but not when we get to
the drier weather of summer. Air
circulation around the tree plays a
NOW RECRUITING
current EMTs and
EMT students for volunteer
positions in Vernonia
big role in how much disease is seen. Air-flow near the
top of the tree is usually good enough that the disease
isn’t significant there. But look into the middle and
lower part of the tree canopy and you will see that the
disease is much more evident. Severe infections will
drop many of the leaves off the tree.
Part of the solution to these diseases is to prune
to open up the tree. Flowering plums (purple leafed)
tend to get very twiggy in the middle of the tree.
Remove much of that and any large branches that might
impede air movement. There are some sprays that can
be applied but it has to be done after you have cleared
up the circulation and before you see all the holes. This
year, mid-April would probably have been ideal for
the first spray with other following if it a wet spring.
An alternative would be to remove flowering plums.
Because of our spring climate, they are not all that well
adapted to this area. There seem to be a few clones that
resist the disease but they are not identified as such and
you can’t go out and buy a shothole resistant flowering
plum, at least that I have seen.
Question three: Is there any hope for controlling
slugs? What would spring be without slugs? They are
the consummate recyclers, turning your new transplants
into fertilizer for the next transplant you put in its place.
So, I favor the hoe. A quick chop and it is all over. That
said, you have to get up early and spend some time
looking for them. Put a board down for them to hide
under and you can increase your efficiency. I have had
good luck with the pet safe iron phosphate slug baits
(Sluggo and others). But this year, my wife noticed that
a towhee was harvesting the slug bait, leaving the slugs
to munch the plants. A modest solution was to cover
the transplants and slug bait with pieces of row cover
but that is not a long-term solution. Nature is ever so
resourceful.
Plant an extra row for the food bank, senior center, or
community meals programs. Cash donations to buy
food are also greatly appreciated.
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.
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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