in other words
july21
2016
Diggin’ in the Dirt: Tomato Topics
Garden topics
What a strange summer. Early
warm weather in May and June (brief-
ly near 100 degrees in south County)
pushed fruit and other crops like lettuce
to mature early. The recent cool weather
slowed everything down. Corn is behind
Walkers Take to
the Streets to Fight Suicide
Suicide is the tenth leading
cause of death in the United States, yet
suicide is preventable.
More than 500 people
throughout Columbia County are
expected to participate in the first
annual Columbia County Out of the
Darkness Community Walk. The
event is hosted by the Scappoose
Police Department and Columbia
Community Mental Health and will
be held at 11:00 am, September, 10,
2016 at the Scappoose High School.
This fundraising walk supports the
American Foundation for Suicide
Prevention’s (AFSP) local and national
education and advocacy programs and
its bold goal to reduce the annual rate
of suicide by 20% by 2025.
Suicide touches one in five
American families. The walk hopes to
FOR TOWING EMERGENCIES
IN AND AROUND THE
VERNONIA AREA
raise awareness about this important
mental health issue, reduce stigma,
save lives, and bring hope to those
affected by suicide.
The Columbia County Out of
the Darkness Walk is one of more than
375 Out of the Darkness Community
Walks being held nationwide this
year. The walks are expected to unite
more than 250,000 walkers and raise
millions for suicide prevention efforts.
With this walk being the first annual
Out of the Darkness Walk held in
Columbia County the Scappoose
Police Department and Columbia
Community Mental Health hopes
to achieve their goal and raise over
$7,500 with over 500 participants.
“These walks are about
turning hope into action,” said AFSP
CEO Robert Gebbia. “Suicide is a
serious problem, but it’s a problem we
can solve. The research has shown us
continued on page 17
Tomato topics
This isn’t the best of tomato
years but the plants seem to be holding
up well and should respond when we get
warmer weather.
We are continuing to have most-
ly cool nights. Lots of tomato variet-
ies don’t set fruit in cool temperatures.
Flowers will form and then drop off.
Many heirloom varieties or hybrids like
Big Beef need night temperatures above
60 degrees to reliably set fruit. The Ore-
gon-bred varieties (Oregon Spring, San-
tiam, Willamette, Siletz, etc.) will set in
cooler temperatures as will the Czech va-
riety Stupice. We needed more of them in
our tomato portfolio this year. The cooler
weather can also create strangely shaped
fruit due to incomplete pollination.
Wet weather accelerates tomato
diseases, especially Late Blight. That dis-
ease knocked out most Columbia County
tomatoes in the first two weeks of Sep-
tember about five years ago, just as the
fruit was really starting to mature. Our
unsettled weather pattern is still leav-
ing us vulnerable to the same scenario.
Watch the weather forecasts carefully
and if there is a predicted period of rain
or mist, spray a copper fungicide on the
foliage and fruit before the rains start.
Spray your potato vines as well. Make
additional sprays as needed. The rain
caused disease will take out some tomato
varieties but the spraying clearly assists
others to come through that wet patch.
The rule with this disease and a copper
treatment is that it has to be used before
the disease gets rolling. Many copper
products are considered to be acceptable
in organic growing programs.
So far, I have had few complaints
to date about blossom end rot, probably
due to the slow growth of the tomatoes.
This nutritional disorder causes a brown
patch on the bottom of the tomato. It
starts with a shortage of calcium and is
aggravated by rapid leaf/fruit growth and
inconsistent watering (and/or mole tun-
nels around the roots). Heavy fruit ripen-
ing is just starting so the problem should
be more common soon. Peppers are also
prone to the disorder.
Finally, here is an answer to a
question many had several years ago
about “puffy” tomatoes. These were to-
matoes with little weight and substance
for their size. There are several factors
that come into play. One cause can be
cool temperatures that lead to poor seed
count inside the fruit. That leads to little
“gel” in the seed cavity and less moisture
throughout the flesh. But cool tempera-
tures weren’t a problem two years ago,
high temperatures were. It turns out that
Vernonia
Dental
an
Hundreds of Walks Being Held
Nationwide Through December 2016
owl will have the last word.
e rm
Polife and County personnel are required
to use a rotation of available providers,
UNLESS YOU SPECIFICALLY ASK
for a servife by name.
REQUEST TOWING SERVICE FROM
D
Shop Hours: Mon - Fri 9:00 - 6:00
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. r C
temperatures above 75 degrees at night
can do the same thing as cool tempera-
tures and lower the internal seed count.
That is what I think happened during our
extended heat wave in the 2009 summer.
There is some evidence that high nitro-
gen, low potassium soil levels can make
the problem worse. In addition, some
breeding lines that were developed for
stuffed tomatoes are more likely to show
the problem.
Food Safety or Food Preservation Ques-
tions? OSU Extension Service Has An-
swers.
Are you planning to preserve
food from your garden or purchased
from a farm this summer? If so, call or
visit the OSU Extension Service office
before you start canning, freezing, or
drying. Costly and potentially harmful
mistakes can be made by using outdated
canning recipes and instructions. You
can find free publications at the Colum-
bia County Extension office located at
505 N. Columbia River Highway in St.
Helens (across from the Legacy Clinic).
If you have questions, phone the office
at (503) 397-3462. You can download
for free all our food preservation publi-
cations at http://extension.oregonstate.
edu/fch/food-preservation. An additional
great resource is the National Center for
Home Food Preservation at http://www.
uga.edu/nchfp/.
Take excess produce to the food bank,
senior centers, or community meals
programs. Cash donations to buy food
are also greatly appreciated.
The Extension Service offers its pro-
grams and materials equally to all
people.
Free newsletter
The Oregon State University Ex-
tension office in Columbia County pub-
lishes a monthly newsletter on garden-
ing 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
sign up for email notification of when to
find the latest edition on the web at http://
extension.oregonstate.edu/columbia/.
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
D
Food Preservation Classes in St. Hel-
ens
Back by popular demand are our
summer food preservation classes. These
classes are great for both the beginner
and experienced canner. Classes will be
held in St. Helens at the Columbia Soil &
Water Conservation District building.
Class size is limited to allow for
hands-on involvement in the kitchen. The
classes will be on two Saturdays. The
first is on July 30, 9 am to 1 pm – Wa-
ter Bath Canning High-Acid Foods and
the second on August 27, 9 am to 1 pm –
Pressure Canning Low-Acid Foods. Cost
to attend is $30 per class. A small number
of scholarships are available. Payment
must be made in advance to hold your
spot. Contact the OSU Extension Service
– Columbia County office at (503) 397-
3462 to register or online at http://exten-
sion.oregonstate.edu/columbia .
and so are tomatoes and peppers. Cab-
bage and second lettuce and greens crops
are doing well.
You might not want to look too
closely at some of the berries you are
picking. The spotted wing drosophila
(SWD) had a very good winter and as
a result, females are laying abundant
eggs in small fruit such as strawberries,
raspberries, blueberries, and the black-
berry types. The eggs develop into tiny
maggots. It is most disturbing when you
start making jam and the surface of your
mixture is wiggling. But just skim them
off. For more information, go to the spot-
ted wing drosophila website managed by
OSU http://spottedwing.org/. The eggs
generally are laid in the ripest fruit so
spraying is complicated. There are some
products with spinosad (organic forms
are available) in them that have short
spraying to picking intervals. Removing
fallen fruit (often the birds will help) re-
duces the SWD population for next year.
Why are crows sometimes seen
chasing owls during daylight hours? A
roosting crow is quite vulnerable to night
predation by owls, so crows certainly
view them with a jaundiced eye. When
an owl is flushed from its roost during
daylight hours, the crows see it as a threat
and gang up to scare it away. The owl is
no good at aerial combat and so will flee
the irritated crows. But one suspects the
DM
By Chip Bubl
Oregon State University
Extension Service - Columbia County
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eu
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phone (503) 429-0880 -- fax (503) 429-0881
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