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By: Daniel E. Mullins
Extension Horticulture Agent
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Storm cleanup continues for many residents. Once the most critical issues such as hazardous trees and structural damage has been taken care of consider doing some fall gardening. It is not only timely, but serves as a healthy diversion and a needed change of pace.
Focus on a few jobs that you would normally do, or had planned to do at this time of year. Following are some suggestions.
■ Prepare beds and plant some cool season flowers. Choose only those that thrive during the winter in our area. These include petunia, snapdragon, pansy, stock, delphinium (including larkspur) and statice. These species and others are now available at local nurseries and garden centers.
■ Plant a fall vegetable garden. There are many different kinds of vegetables that perform well when grown during the winter. Plant seeds of beets, carrots, kohlrabi, leek, mustard, parsley, radish, spinach and turnip. Purchase transplants and establish broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage, collard, lettuce, onion, and strawberry.
■ Prepare to move potted tropical plants indoors for the winter. Make certain that they are pest free prior to the move by controlling scales, mealy bugs and mites. A spray solution of insecticidal soap helps to control these and other pests. This should be done before the night temperatures drop into the mid-forty degree Fahrenheit range.
■ Get ready to apply horticultural oil emulsion spray on shrubs next month. This is a relatively non-toxic way of controlling over-wintering pests such as scales and spider mites. Often sold as dormant oil, this product is a petroleum based oil including an emulsifier that allows the oil to be mixed with water. It controls insects by suffocation – by plugging up their breathing pores, rather than by poisoning. Follow label directions carefully.
■ Select and plant new shrubs and trees. Fall is considered an ideal time to plant woody ornamentals in our region. Relatively mild soil temperatures during the winter allow root growth to occur. Fall planted shrubs and trees are therefore well on their way toward establishment before the demands brought on by hot weather begin in late spring.
■ Many of us with previously shady landscapes suddenly have areas that are now receiving direct sunlight due to tree loss. This is a good time for shifting shade loving established shrubs and small trees to new locations if necessary.
■ Take another look at large hurricane damaged trees left in the landscape and determine if additional maintenance work is required. If the services of a professional are required choose someone who is licensed, bonded and insured.
Question of the Week: In an earlier column, you mentioned root trauma as it pertained to storm damage of trees. Please explain what you meant by root trauma.
Answer: Trauma is defined an injury caused by an external agent. In this case, I was referring to root injury brought on by the effects of high wind. This injury occurred in various ways. In some cases, trees were blown completely out of the ground, breaking all or most roots. In other cases, trees were partially blown over and a portion of the root system was destroyed.
A third kind of trauma is less easy to define. Violent rocking and shaking of the top portion of some trees resulted in a separation of root contact with the soil. Though many of these trees are left standing, they too have experienced severe damage and time will be needed to grow more roots and re-establish close contact with soil particles.
Pardon the pun, but we are not out of the woods yet! Latent symptoms are sure to show up on some over the next few months and years. Only time will tell how many of our more mature trees will completely recover from the effects of Hurricane Ivan.