8
in other words
november16
2017
Diggin’ in the Dirt: Where Were the Insects?
By Chip Bubl
Oregon State University
Extension Service - Columbia County
Master Gardener™ class signups be-
ing taken
The OSU Extension office in
Columbia County will be offering the
Master Gardener™ training again this
spring. The classes will be held on Mon-
days from 9 am - 4 pm for about 10
weeks starting on February 5, 2018. Cost
of the program is $95.00 which includes
a large resource book. Master Gardeners
are responsible for providing volunteer
gardening education to the community
as partial payback for the training. If
interested in the program, call the Ex-
tension office at (503) 397-3462 for an
information packet. Online registration
is now available at http://extension.ore-
gonstate.edu/columbia/master-gardener-
volunteer-program. We can also send
you an application that you can mail or
come into our office to sign up.
Cedar flagging and other conifer tree
concerns
Our western red cedars often
show a peculiar (and not totally under-
stood) condition that is called “cedar
flagging.” It appears not to harm the
trees. What you generally see are small
limbs/twigs scattered throughout the tree
that turn bright red-orange. Adjacent
small limbs are fine. There is some feel-
ing that dry summers and fall contribute
to this problem. Anyway, no one has
ever figured out how to manage it and no
disease appears to be associated with
it. Here is a discussion from our plant
disease handbook about the condition:
https://pnwhandbooks.org/plantdis-
ease/host-disease/cedar-cedrus-spp-ce-
dar-flagging. The condition is abundant
this fall.
There is another problem that is
more concerning. Douglas firs of vary-
ing ages (15 years or so on up) are turn-
ing red-brown and dying. This seems to
come on quickly. The current thinking
focuses on two possible causes, work-
ing in concert or alone. The first trigger
could be the unusually dry cycle these
trees experienced from March 2014
through November 2015. The year and
a half dry cycle is thought to have dam-
aged tree root systems and made them
more prone to the kind of heat events we
had this past summer. If the trees were
already somewhat compromised by root
rot (which we know occurs in patches in
our forests anyway), the problem could
have been compounded. There is no
way to prevent root rot and no way to
control it once it starts to move through
trees.
Bats gone
Our little brown bat should be
gone for the winter. They seek out cool
caves in the coast and Cascade ranges.
They lower their metabolism and try to
live off their reserves until spring and
the insects return. They then fly back to
our landscapes mid-March or so. If they
have been getting into your living quar-
ters, now is the time to tighten things up.
need to get serious, as a society, and do
something about it.
Rose care this month
Roses should be high-pruned to
about knee high this month. This keeps
roses from being wind-whipped as win-
ter storms roll through. Final pruning is
done in February. Roses benefit from a
spray of lime-sulfur after high pruning.
The treatment will help to reduce rose
diseases next spring. It also doesn’t
hurt to cleanup leaves that have fallen
as they are a disease inoculum source.
As a last step in your fall rose mainte-
nance, place mulch around the base of
the plants, covering the graft union in
case we have a serious cold snap.
If you have a shop, now is a great time
to build and install some bat houses.
There are a number of good plans out
there (Bat Conservation International is
a good source). Our Oregon bats need
heat in the summer, not cooling spaces.
So install your bat houses about 12 feet
above the ground on the warmest surface
you can find. Some people have attached
them to unused chimneys, which seems
to work quite well. Bat house picture
courtesy of Penn State University.
Where were the insects?
One concern of mine is that in-
sect numbers appear to be going through
a sharp decline. So many species from
salmon to bats to many birds, mammals,
and lizards depend on insects for their
sustenance. If this decline is real and
permanent, we are in big trouble as part
of a complex web of living things.
This concern has been growing for
several years as I sat outside on sum-
mer evenings or watched the bird and
insect diversity on coast outings. Few-
er swallows, fewer dragonflies, fewer
bats, fewer moths, and fewer coastal
birds deepened my concern. A recent
European study in one of the most
prestigious scientific publications am-
plified it. They found startling declines
in insects in natural areas adjacent to
farms. They saw insecticides as part
of the problem, and they may well
be. But they also saw climate change
and habitat loss as being major drivers
of the population crash. In Columbia
County few insecticides are used but I
am seeing the same thing. Forests are
changing. The weather patterns have
changed. Climate change is real. We
Many Extension publications avail-
able online
Are you putting up salsa, saving
seeds, or thinking about planting grapes?
OSU has a large number of its publica-
tions available for free download. Just
go to https://catalog.extension.oregon-
state.edu/. Click on publications and
start exploring.
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
Extension office in Columbia County
publishes a monthly newsletter on gar-
dening and farming topics (called Coun-
try 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/colum-
bia/.
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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