Maple Seed, Growing Fruit and Milky Spore

#1 - Tips of the Week

Sungrown Perennials and their Info

04/12/12
Newsletter Topics

#2 -

Clematis

Mulch

#3 -

Maple Seed, Growing Fruit, Milky Spore

Info taken from the BYGL (Buckeye Yard and Garden onLine)
Lead Editor: Curtis Young; Contributing Authors: Pam Bennett, Joe Boggs, Julie Crook, Jim Chatfield, Erik Draper Dave Dyke, Gary Gao, Tim Malinich, Cindy Meyer, Amy Stone, Marne Titchnell and Curtis Young.

A Seedy Start to Spring
Throughout the state BYGLers reported a strange look and color to many maple tree canopies. Upon closer inspection the cause is clearly due to most maples having a very seedy appearance! Due to the incredible warm, dry weather this spring, maple flowers were fully pollinated, which in turn means every single MAPLE SAMARA or winged seed, whirligigs or maple helicopters, is currently under development. This extreme seed load and their subsequent development and ripening, is expected to result in sparse, dinky foliage development on maple trees this spring. Normal leaf development is slowed and reduced by the quadrillion maple seeds ripening, using most of the stored resources of the tree. The seeds mature, turn brown and then fall off to cover every square inch of the earth, easily filling and plugging all rain gutters. However, the anxiety is most intense after the seeds fall because there is no apparent reason for the "thinning canopy" and lack of leaves. Many will be concerned about the overall health of their trees, while others erroneously associate heavy seed production with the last hurrah of stressed, dying trees.

Home Fruit-Growing Resources from OSU.
Gary Gao reported that blueberries, currants, and gooseberries were in full bloom at OSU South Centers in Piketon during the first week of April. Peaches were in full bloom during the last week of March. Blackberry and raspberry shoots were 2-3" long.

Many gardeners have questions about growing fruit. Ohio State University Extension (OSUE) has several good bulletins available and one of them is "Midwest Home Fruit Production Guide," OSUE Bulletin 940. It is an excellent general reference for home gardeners, garden center employees, and anyone who wants to grow fruits on a small scale. More than 3,800 copies have been sold since 2009!

Another good bulletin is OSUE Bulletin 780, "Controlling Insects and Diseases in Home Fruit Plantings." This bulletin has lists of pesticides labeled for various fruit crops in Ohio and their spray schedules, in addition to cultural management techniques. These bulletins can be purchased from OSUE offices in Ohio. Follow this link for a list of OSUE offices and their contact information [ http://extension.osu.edu/locate-an-office ]. Another way to order the OSUE bulletins is through OSUE eStore at [ http://extension.osu.edu/locate-an-office ].

The following info was taken from The P.E.S.T. Newsletter (Pest Evaluation and Suppression Techniques)
Editor: David Shetlar (The BugDoc) Landscape Entomology Extension Specialist, The Ohio State University Extension

Milky Disease of White Grubs
Most species of white grubs in North America are attacked by specific bacteria that cause milky disease. These bacterial strains cause the

insect blood to turn a milky white before the insect dies from the infection.

Unfortunately, almost all the known strains are weak pathogens, generally killing less than 25% of a grub population. The commercial formulations of milky disease are made solely with the Japanese beetle strain, so if you have masked chafers, this will be useless.

Most importantly, I have personally observed milky Japanese beetle, masked chafer, and May-June beetle grubs everywhere I have dug them. This means that the disease is found everywhere already, so adding more won't really change anything.

So, bottom line, milky disease is a weak pathogen and is probably already established, so why waste money on applying more bacteria in the hopes of increasing infection.