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About Vernonia's voice. (Vernonia, OR) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (June 21, 2018)
8 in other words june21 2018 Diggin’ in the Dirt: It’s Really Dry By Chip Bubl Oregon State University Extension Service - Columbia County Soil crusting Some seeds really have to strug- gle. Carrot, lettuce, dill, beet, and chard all have to work to get through soils that have formed a significant crust. Given our standard clay-based soils and any rainfall or sprinkler irrigation, crusting is a fact of life. The enterprising gardener will plan for crusts. Sensitive seed should be sowed in furrows and covered with potting mix instead of the soil. Floating row covers, which are useful in keeping the carrot rust fly out of the carrot patch, also intercept the drops of rain and allow the water to float softly to earth, slowing the crusting process. It is really dry We have a rain gauge at the Ex- tension office. The total for May is less than two tenths of an inch. This is almost an inch and a half less than normal. The recent June rains helped but from Janu- ary to the present, we are still about four inches short. I recently had to dig a hole about two feet deep. There was much less moisture in the lower levels than I expected. What will this mean for gar- deners? Trees and shrubs planted this spring or last year will need water soon. Overwintering crops like garlic, which rarely need water in the spring, will need some. Transplants like tomatoes, squash, cabbage, and peppers will need lon- ger irrigations to move moisture lower. Blueberries should be watered from now until fall. Blackberry varieties like Mari- ons, Boysens, and Logans are deeper rooted but still will need water soon. So will apples on some of the more “dwarf- ing” rootstocks. Garlic looks good Garlic generally benefits from drier springs. There are far less leaf and bulb disease issues. One watering now should carry garlic through until har- vest in July. For those of you that grow “hardneck” garlic, the flower scapes are starting to show. There are two reasons to remove them. First, they take energy away from bulb growth. Early scape removal will give you larger bulbs at harvest. Equally important, scapes are great. Chefs in Portland love scapes and they are sold for quite a bit of money as a seasonal food. As they mature, the scape stems become fibrous and are less ed- ible. With drier conditions, some garlic might be ready a bit earlier than usual. Start looking closely at the end of June. Elephant garlic could easily be ready in the last week of June. Normal harvest for regular garlic is mid-July but that might be bumped up a week or so this year. Flea beetles active – guard your cabbage and tomato family crops Flea beetles sometime show up in bunches. This seems to be one of those years. Flea beetles are small, dark bronze to black jumpers that chew pin- hole sized holes in your crop leaves. Their larva also have chewing mouth- parts and they feed underground, gnaw- Need more room? See us for the lowest prices GUARANTEED! Debit/Credit now accepted 5x10 $39 10x10 $69 10x20 $99 RV Storage $149 Outside storage available Totally fenced and gated Padlocks available 58605 Nehalem Hwy South • P.O. Box 292 Vernonia, Oregon 97064 (503) 429-7867 10-6 Tue-Sat 12-4 Sun ing away the fine and not so fine roots. Larva do significant damage to potatoes. Flea beetles are most damaging on seed- lings and transplants. They are quite ca- pable of eliminating an entire planting almost overnight. Flea beetles are very mobile and are capable of migrating to better crops (from their standpoint) by smell and a great deal of enthusiasm. There can be one (cabbage flea beetle) to three (potato flea beetle) generations per summer. Adults overwinter and start feeding and mating as the weather warms in mid to late spring. With hungry mobile adults and larva that feed on seedling roots, you can probably guess they are hard to manage. Crop rotation can help but that is less true for gardens where everything is in closer proximity than commercial farms. Row covers can help if they are tightly fitted to the ground and aren’t covering an area where there was flea beetle dam- age last year. There is some evidence that loose straw mulch laid between the crop rows, can harbor predatory insects and spiders, and might help. Commer- cial organic growers are using cabbage family varieties that cabbage flea beetles really love as a trap crop to either di- vert their attention or concentrate them where they can be sprayed with an or- ganic spinosad-based insecticide. The same insecticide has been used as a crop protectant directly with decent results. For more information on flea beetles see http://cru.cahe.wsu.edu/CEPublications/ PNW640/PNW640.pdf and http://www. maine.gov/dacf/php/gotpests/bugs/fact- sheets/flea-beetles-oreg.pdf What are those small red “cones” that covered my roof, deck, and driveway? I got a number of calls the last several weeks about papery, small (1/4- 1/2 inch), red-brown cones covering roofs and driveways. Most callers sus- pected they were from Douglas fir trees and they were right. What we have seen is a prodigious number of “pollen cones” coming off fir trees. Douglas fir is one of those plants that have male (pollen shed- ding) and female (pollen receiving and where the egg is fertilized) flowers on the same plant. This is not at all uncom- mon in the plant world. It is found in the Vernonia’s Voice is published twice each month on the 1st and 3rd Thursday. Look for our next issue on July 5. squash family, hazelnuts, alders, birches, and a number of other species. The amount of pollen cones is determined by the conditions for growth the previous spring. If you remember, it rained a lot in April and May last year, prime time for the growth of new Doug- las fir shoots. The better the conditions, the more pollen and seed “cone” buds are produced. They develop slowly and don’t shed pollen, or for the females, get fertilized until the following spring. In tough conditions, the cell structures that had been programmed to become cones convert to shoot growth. That increases the light capture and helps the tree grow more shoots and roots. Anyway, condi- tions for cone initiation were very good in the spring of 2017 and thus, we had an extraordinary number of male cones blown off by the wind recently when their work of shedding their yellow-or- ange pollen was done. There should also be a heavy seed cone crop this fall. The total process from cone initiation to seed ripeness takes about 17 months. Douglas fir usually doesn’t start flowering (cone making) until they are 12-15 years old. 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 FOR TOWING EMERGENCIES IN AND AROUND THE VERNONIA AREA VERNONIA C H I RO P R AC T I C C L I N I C, I NC. VernoniaChiro.com Joseph Dombek, DC (971) 248-4055 Now Accepting New Patients 610 Bridge Street • Vernonia, OR 97064 • Kitchen & Bathroom Remodels • Finish Carpentry • Ceramic Tile Work • Custom Home Construction • Additions • Commercial Tenant Improvements Jim Morrison, Jr. General Contractor CCB# 112057 Ph: (503) 429-0154 MorrisonRemodeling@hughes.net Vernonia, OR 97064 • Licensed • Bonded • Insured Police and County personnel are required to use a rotation of available providers, UNLESS YOU SPECIFICALLY ASK for a service by name. REQUEST TOWING SERVICE FROM
