Want to meet Mike? Mike will tell you everything you need to know to enjoy your best-tasting tomatoes ever, and answer all your growing questions in a free lecture and Q&A from 1:30 to 3 p.m. at Behnkeās 5th Annual Garden Party event on Saturday, June 6. for details.
Who spit on my shrubbery?Ā
Gwen in Middleburg sent us a photo of a healthy looking plant with a big mass of frothy white material between two of the branches and asks, āCan you ID this nasty stuff on my Moonbeam Coreopsis?ā
Yes Gwen, that big glob of spit-like stuff is the nursery of the āspittlebugā — or at least thatās what you call this life stage of a fascinating group of insects with virtually unpronounceable Latin names (Philaenus spumarius for the common meadow spittlebug). That soap-bubble-like froth is concealing a whole bunch of little creatures in the insectās nymphal stage. They are sucking some juice out of the plant, but generally itās not enough to cause any harm.
If you let them mature, theyāll grow into , a really cool jumping bug that is the best leaper in the insect world relative to its body size. But if you donāt care to watch the high jump, thereās no need to reach for a chemical spray. Iām not even sure that sprays can reach the little buggers in there. The best way to eliminate the little spits is to spray the bugs off your plants with very sharp streams of water ā the sharpest, most laserlike spray your nozzle can deliver.
Snake-nado: Get those snakes on a plane
There was a great story on Ā鶹¹ŁĶų earlier this week about a family suing because the home they recently purchased on the Black rat snakes, to be specific. And they claim there was a seven footer in the basement.
Rat snakes can achieve a good length, but odds are good that like the fish that got away, a seven-foot snake will likely have shrunk down to around four feet by the time itās captured.
As the story noted, these kinds of snakes, although scary, donāt hurt humans. But they do dine almost exclusively on rats, mice and other vermin ā which had to be in abundance in that home or the snakes wouldnāt waste their time there. I donāt know about you, but Iāll take a couple of snakes in the house over a family of rats any day.
Outdoors, itās an even easier choice to not freak out at your free vermin control. Hey ā I wonder if they ever take evil squirrels out to lunch?
Itās still safe to prune late bloomers like goldenrod
Beth in Silver Spring writes: āIs it possible to trim the long stalks of the Solidago named “Golden Fleece” that I planted last year to try to keep them from getting too tall and leggy? They’re only supposed to get about 18 inches tall but they’re that size now and still going. I’d like to keep them small if possible. But if I trim them now will I lose the flowers?ā
Well Beth, your āfleece of goldā is a highly ornamental goldenrod cultivar, and all goldenrods bloom in late summer. So you can cut it back a bit now and youāll still get flowers on time.
But your āfleeceā is also a re-bloomer, so if you leave it alone now, you can cut the first run of flowers to bring inside for display and the plant will produce a second set of blooms shortly afterward. Your choice.
Oh, and although it gets a bad rap, goldenrod does not trigger fall allergies. Itās heavy pollen is carried by bees, not the wind.
Mosquito control advice: Yes, yes and point of information
Ā鶹¹ŁĶųās own this week about outdoor mosquito control around the home, quoting a spokesman for the American Mosquito Control Association who wisely advised against the outdoor misting systems that constantly pump pesticide into the air and those old-school bug zappers that have long been shown to only fry moths and good bugs, not the little blood suckers. Excellent advice.
But then the spokesman cast a vote against the natural mosquito repelling sprays like garlic oil, cedar and oil of clove ābecause theyāre not EPA registered.ā
Thatās splitting hairs. All three products fall under the EPAās ā25 Bā category, meaning that their ingredients have been around a long time, are naturally derived and āgenerally recognized as safe.ā Products that fall into this category are exempt from registration and are 100 percent legal.
Will Montgomery County fly a ādonāt spray on meā flag?
All eyes will be on the Montgomery County Council a week from Monday as members once again debate bill 52-14, legislation that seeks to restrict the use of ācosmeticā pesticides on Montgomery County lawns.
And no, cosmetic doesnāt mean applying lipstick to your fescue or giving your bluegrass a tummy-tuck. It means herbicides like Roundup, which has an active ingredient recently designated a āprobable human carcinogenā by the World Health Organizationās International Agency for Research on Cancer, and 2-4, D, which is under similar review right now.
Bottom line: Chemical herbicides are ineffective and unnecessary methods of weed control. Weeds will always appear in poorly cut, overfed lawns, and all the chemicals in the world canāt prevent it.
The only real and sustainable way to control weeds is to cut your lawn at the right height (thatās 3 inches for the predominant cool-season grasses in our region) with a sharp blade (duh) and feed it gently at the correct times of year ā which is spring and fall only for cool-season grasses, never, ever in the heat of summer.
