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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 18, 2008)
Page 8 The INDEPENDENT, December 18, 2008 Can You Dig It? By Schann Nelson OSU Master Gardener I use label directions first to identify the least toxic control for the pest or disease I have identified as requiring intervention, and second to find out what plants I do NOT want to get product on. The timing recommendations, however, I view as more of a guideline. Terms such as leaf fall, after harvest, pre- or post- bloom, and dor- mant are more helpful. After last month’s column about unwelcome guests in your home, I realized I probably didn’t provide enough explanation about how to keep them out or get them out. One reason I like long-acting, contact insecticides is that I can apply them in the fall when there is still lots of good air circulation, and they remain effective through the winter when I wouldn’t want to apply poisons (either chemical or ‘organ- ic’) in my house. I have found it very effective to thoroughly spray behind furniture, along baseboards, in the back of cupboards and other such places to reduce the number of carpenter ants. I use the ants as an indicator species for when its time to reapply. It’s a bonus that these products are effective for a wide range of insect pests, including fleas. It remains true that cleanliness is important, especially to con- trol fleas and lice. Really good vacuuming of carpets and furniture is an essential step to removing both the insects brought into the house and their eggs. Be sure to vacuum slowly enough to PUUL- LL stuff out of the carpet and into the bag. Beds can also be vac- uumed. If you want to apply an insecticide to a mattress, start ear- ly in the day to allow plenty of time for it to dry and then flip the mattress so that you will not come into contact with it. This is a pretty extreme method but may be what it takes to eliminate fleas or lice. A less extreme method is to use a very hot steam iron over the entire surface (after vacuuming). Don’t freak out! Anybody can get head lice! Almost everybody will at some point in their life, especially if you have kids in school. It’s not about you or how clean your house and children are. These are highly evolved insects adept at sur- vival and spread. An effective insecticide shampoo is available with a doctor’s pre- scription. Manual removal of egg cases (nits) from hair is tedious but essential. Use the time to get closer to others in your life. Other hints: Don’t forget to treat the car – or anyplace else you rest your weary head. Freezing suspected hideouts like pil- lows, stuffed animals, shoes, hats and wool blankets is effective if you leave stuff in long enough – at least a week – but takes up a lot of space. WASH everything you can in HOT water and dry in a HOT dryer. Still time to plant spring bulbs or garlic. Don’t delay! If the lawn is frozen, stay off it! Wrap paper around newly planted trees to avoid sun damage. Check stored bulbs and vegetables for rot and fungus, get rid of any showing signs. Remember not to let them get too dry. Bring the fragrant tree inside and enjoy the closing of the year. I hope your holidays are filled with good food and good friends. Imagine my surprise and delight when I read in the exten- sion newsletter, Country Living, that I could use part of a long article I wrote in September about spraying for fungal dis- eases, NOW. “Peach Leaf curl finds its way into the buds on your peach tree this month and in January. Prevent the prob- lem by spraying completely and often with lime sulfur or cop- per. Four separate sprays are ideal. Temperatures should be well above freezing when you spray. Two to three hours of drying time is ideal. With copper fungicides, use a spreader- sticker if the label calls for one. While you’re at it, spray your apples, cherries, blueberries and boysen/marion berries. Both sprays are consid- ered organic”. Though incredibly hard to figure out based on reading labels and publications, I believe most of our gardens would benefit from an application of fungicide. The ob- ject is to interrupt the life cycle of the wide variety of fungi-based diseases we are blessed with. I say blessed because they play a huge role in turning the growth of summers past into soil. However, some of the fungi make ugly fruit and some will kill your trees if left untreated. Applying fungicide can dramatically reduce fungal diseases like black spot and powdery mildew. This is a personal choice you need to base on your tolerance for these disease problems and what methods you are willing or able to effect. There are several products on the market suitable for application by organic farmers, including botanical oils (such as neem and jojoba), copper mineral powder and lime sulfur. If you begin in the fall, wait until after fruit is harvested. When spray- ing, be sure to coat as much of the leaf surface, top and bottom, as possible. This late in the season there aren’t many leaves to coat, but be sure to get coverage on ALL surfaces. Spraying leaves left on the ground is somewhat effective and will also help control moss (if you are using copper). Oils, including dormant oil, are not compatible with sulfur. Spraying with an oil-based product should be separated by at least two weeks from spraying a mineral product. Repeat application of fungicide, an application of dormant oil or combination products con- taining insecticides and fungicides will help provide control. Some deadly and resistant diseases (such as peach leaf curl mentioned above) require multiple sprays to be effective. As always, follow safety directions carefully regarding applica- tion of ANY product. Labels will tell you which plants you MAY apply a particular product to/on and if it is toxic to others. However, the labels also try to tell you what month or season to apply some products as in ‘apply in the sec- ond week of February and again in early March’. We may well be having a false spring at the specified time! Even a few consecu- tive days of 60 degree sunny weather will make sap start to rise and buds to break in many plants, long before freezing weather is over for the year. It’s almost dependable that we will have a cou- N EHALEM V ALLEY B IBLE C HURCH ple of nice weeks of lovely weather in February. Application of a Gary Taylor, Pastor dormant product at that time could exacerbate problems created Grant & North Streets, Vernonia by premature growth. 503 429-5378 Unfortunately, it can be very difficult to assign a specific date to Sunday School 10:00 a.m. any given season, or a season to any given date for that matter, Morning Worship 11:00 a.m. in our little corner of the planet. It was hard for me to determine Nursery available when my trees were fully dormant. There were leaves still at- Wednesday Service 7:00 p.m. tached to the top tips of branches when I decided it was time to dormant spray and begin pruning in February last year. I apolo- V ERNONIA F OURSQUARE C HURCH gize for being vague but we can, and do, have warm days in win- Carl Pense, Pastor ter and cold, wet days in summer, sometimes for unseasonably 850 Madison Avenue, Vernonia long stretches. 503 429-1103 Church Directory State Farm ® Providing Insurance and Financial Services Home Office, Bloomington, Illinois 61710 Bunny Girt, Agent 1229 N. Adair PO Box 543 Cornelius, OR 97113-0543 Bus 503-357-3131 Fax 503-357-9667 bunny.girt.b71g@statefarm.com Sunday Worship Service: 10:30 a.m. Children’s Sunday School C HURCH OF J ESUS C HRIST OF L ATTER D AY S AINTS Marc Farmer, Branch President 1350 E. Knott Street, Vernonia 503 429-7151 Sacrament Meeting, Sunday 10 a.m. Sunday School & Primary 11:20 a.m. Relief Society, Priesthood and Young Women, Sunday 12:10 p.m. S EVENTH D AY A DVENTIST F IRST B APTIST C HURCH Gary S. Walter, Pastor 2nd Ave. and Nehalem St., Vernonia 503 429-8301 Morning Worship, 11:00 a.m. Sabbath School 9:30 a.m. 359 “A” Street, Vernonia 503 429-5190 Sunday School 9:45 a.m. Sunday Worship Service 11:00 a.m. Wednesday Prayer Meeting 7:00 p.m. A SSEMBLY OF G OD S T . M ARY ' S C ATHOLIC C HURCH Wayne and Maureene Marr 662 Jefferson Ave., Vernonia, 503 429-0373 Sunday School 9:45 a.m. Morning Worship 11:00 a.m Rev. Luan Tran, Administrator 960 Missouri Avenue, Vernonia 503 429-8841 Mass Sunday 12:00 Noon Religious Educ. Sunday 10:30 a.m. V ERNONIA C HRISTIAN C HURCH V ERNONIA C OMMUNITY C HURCH Sam Hough, Evangelist 410 North Street, Vernonia 503 429-6522 Sunday School 9:45 a.m. Morning Worship 11:00 a.m. Every Wednesday: Ladies' Bible Study 9:30 a.m. Ladies’ Worship 10:00 a.m. Children’s Choir 3:00 p.m. Family Bible Study 7:00 p.m. Grant Williams, Pastor 957 State Avenue, Vernonia 503 429-6790 Sunday Breakfast 9:00 a.m. Morning Worship 9:45 a.m. Children and Nursery 10:00 a.m. Youth Group 6:00 p.m. Preschool Mon. & Wed. 9:00 a.m. Wednesday Prayer 6:00 p.m. Tues. & Fri. Adult Volleyball 7:00 p.m.