Vol. 13, No.1 January/February 2009 University of Illinois Extension, Pike County Horticulture Newsletter Pike County 1301 E. Washington St. Pittsfield, IL 62363 Phone: (217) 285-5543 Fax: (217) 285-5735 If you need a reasonable accommodation to participate in any program we offer, please contact University of Illinois Extension, Pike County at 217-285-5543. Articles in This Issue: Upcoming Events ................................................. 1 2009 Gardener’s Palette ...................................... 1 Winter Woes and Icy Trees .................................. 2 Remember When Winter Was Fun? ................... 2 Resolve to Garden in 2009 ................................... 3 Fooling Mother Nature ....................................... 4 Propagating Grapes ............................................. 4 New Container Gardening Website ..................... 5 Miniature Roses Make Nice Valentine Gifts....... 5 Just What is Dormant Oil? .................................. 6 Warm up with Hot Peppers ................................. 7 Move Over Iceberg............................................... 8 Diagnosing Houseplant Problems ....................... 8 The Master Gardener’s Plot ................................ 9 Upcoming Events Upcoming Winter Horticulture Telenet Series Spring Flowering Shrubs for the Home Landscape - February 10 at 1:00 p.m. Registration Details Each session is $5. Handout materials will be in color. Advance registration is needed one week before the program you attend. If you would like a CD of the program, add an addition $2. For More Information or to register, contact the Pike County Extension Office at 217-285-5543 Upcoming Seasonal Horticulture Telenets: Spring - Warm Season Vegetable Gardening; Buy Local, Eat Healthy; Building a Basic Water Garden Summer - Turfgrass Diseases; Don’t Blame the Plant; Landscaping on the Wild Side Fall - Tree Maintenance; Poisonous Plants; Bonsai Watch upcoming newsletters for more details!! Registration Deadline: Friday, February 6 Would you like something besides forsythia and lilacs for your spring landscape? Expand your flowering shrub palette with many different types of springblooming shrubs. 2009 Gardener’s Palette Catch the Wave of Ornamental Grasses February 24 at 1:00 p.m. Registration Deadline: Friday, February 20 For all-season interest in the landscape, you can’t beat ornamental grasses. Available in a wide range of shapes, colors, and sizes, there is a grass for almost every garden. Get re-introduced to old favorites and discover what’s new at the garden center. Gardener’s Go Green is the theme for this year’s annual gardening conference. Attend this fun workshop to sweep away the winter ‘blues’. Expect to be inspired. Fourteen interesting sessions will be presented by Horticulture educators and speakers from across the Midwest. Seven sessions feature environmentally-friendly ‘green’ topics. The fee March 7, 2009 - 9:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. Paul Heath Center, JWCC, 1301 S. 48th St., Quincy $40/person Deadline for advance registration: Friday, Feb. 27. Pike County Down To Earth Newsletter includes your choice of workshops, lunch and beverage, coffee and morning snacks, a folder containing written materials from all classes, and vendor fair with the latest lawn and garden products. Sessions include choices of: Midas Touch, Herbal Beginnings, Plant Propagation, WaterSmart Gardening, Hot Herbal Trends, Ferns in the Garden, Water Gardens and Fountains, A Year in the Rose Garden, Ornamental Grasses, Black Gold-Urban Composting, Late-Summer and Fall-Blooming Perennials, Local Flavors-Preparing Spring Greens, Plant Propagation II, Organic Lawn Care-Are You Brave Enough Contact the Adams/Brown Extension Unit at 217-2238380 or go on-line to register at: www.extension.uiuc.edu/adams Winter Woes and Icy Trees At first glance trees encased in ice have a magical quality. The magic quickly vaporizes once damage becomes evident. About the only thing to do once trees are covered in ice is to hope for warmer weather. Some branches may be propped up with boards until the ice melts. If branches are not broken, most trees will slowly regain their original shape. Many of our upright evergreens such as arborvitae have multiple trunks that are susceptible to breakage from ice. Damage can be prevented or reduced by tying the trunks together with soft material such as pantyhose. If necessary, support can be secured while arborvitaes are covered in ice. Be sure to remove the ties in spring. Trees with broken branches require evaluation. A certified arborist may be needed. Any trees with broken branches that may be a danger to people and property should be pruned as soon as possible by a professional. Damaged branches should be removed by cutting back to a side branch or the trunk. Do not top trees or leave branch stubs. Unfortunately ice damage often rips branches from trees leaving ragged wounds. First decide if the tree is worth saving. If a tree is grossly disfigured or has lost several major branches it may be best to remove the tree. 2 If the tree is determined to be salvageable, the best course of action is to remove the branch completely than remove the jagged edges from the wound with a sharp knife. Try not to remove much of healthy, tight bark. Tree paints for wounds are not needed or recommended. Check out this website for more information on repairing ice damaged trees. http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/icedamage/ Pruning trees on a regular cycle will reduce a tree's susceptibility to damage by removing deadwood and structurally weak branches. A good tree framework starts with proper pruning and training early in a tree's life. Remember When Winter Was Fun? Ice, sleet, and freezing rain. Slip sliding our winters away. Do you remember the fun? On the first day of winter my true love said to me, "Isn't it nice I don't have to mow the lawn." On the second day of winter my true love said to me, "I love the change of seasons". I could never live anywhere without it." On the third day of winter my true love said to me, "The air feels so crisp. Let's go for a hike in the woods." On the fourth day of winter my true love said to me, "Oh look it's snowing. Let's make snow angels." On the fifth day of winter my true love said to me, "Hey the pond is frozen. Let's go ice skating." On the sixth day of winter my true love said to me, "How long can I wear the same long johns?" On the seventh day of winter my true love said to me, "Hey my nose is frozen. Do you think it can break off?" On the eighth day of winter my true love said to me, "Oh drat it's snowing again. How many days are there ‘til spring?" Pike County Down To Earth Newsletter On the ninth day of winter my true love said to me, "I'm so tired of skating down the sidewalk. Do you think we can move the mailbox closer?" On the tenth day of winter my true love said to me, "I think I see frozen angels stuck in the snow." On the eleventh day of winter my true love said to me, "Is there a reason for the change of season? Do you think Dad's extra bedroom in Florida is available?" On the twelfth day of winter my true love said to me, "Will I ever get to mow the lawn again?" Resolve to Garden in 2009 It's January and I find myself contemplating the germination potential of the poppy seeds atop my bagel. As much as I tire of winter, I love gardening in Illinois. Every spring is a required "do over." Gardening is the opportunity to reinvent our yards, but also ourselves for a healthier and happier 2009. For many of us January 1 marks our renewed commitment to exercise more, eat more nutritious food and have a healthier lifestyle. What if I told you there is an activity that can provide strength and cardio training and increase flexibility. Plus the activity can relieve stress and provide nutritious food. You get all that and you don't have to buy an expensive towel rack to do it. No surprise this wonder activity is gardening. Still not convinced? Consider these reasons for adding a gardening season in 2009. Gardening provides the regular physical exercise listed in the prevention of heart disease, obesity, adultonset diabetes and high blood pressure. It also provides the strength training important in the prevention of osteoporosis. Put a gallon sprinkling can full of water in each hand and you got your 8 pound dumbbells. Finish off with lifting a wheelbarrow and you got your bicep workout. If watering cans and wheelbarrows are too much, no problem; gardening can fit any lifestyle. With any physical activity it's best to learn proper techniques. Check with your doctor for any specific concerns. Gardening provides fresh local fruits and vegetables and the encouragement to eat them. Once you are blessed with a bushel basket of tomatoes you will 3 have new found interest in recipes requiring tomatoes. A mother once commented that her son would never eat peas on his dinner plate, but he would eat them right out of the garden. A strawberry picked from your garden tastes sweeter. In addition when you grow your own food you have control over what pesticides or fertilizers are used. Fresh herbs are also a bonus from the garden. Herbs enhance the flavor of foods thereby reducing the use of salt and sugar. Most herbs are very easy to grow and herb growing is one of the best ways to jump into gardening. Gardening requires you to use your head and your creativity. The time spent planning the garden and researching different plants is a great brain workout. Gardening gives us a chance to be creative. Let your personality shine through in your garden. Gardening connects you with people. It's like walking down the street with a new puppy. Everybody talks to a gardener. It's also a great activity to do with kids. Give them a section of the garden all their own. Some of the best lessons can be learned in the garden such as delayed gratification and don't leave a rake on the ground with the head pointing upwards. Gardening connects you with nature and the rhythm of life. Gardening requires you to live in garden time. We all could use a lesson in slowing down. Studies have revealed just viewing a garden or nature has healthy psychological benefits. Gardening can be especially beneficial for people with special needs or those recovering from illness. Gardening promotes an increased range of motion, develops eye-hand coordination, improves motor skills and increases self esteem. Over the past few years special tools and garden designs to make gardens more accessible have become readily available. Have fun gardening. Relax and remember your garden doesn't have to be picture perfect. Resolve to have a garden this year. Whether it's a window box or an acre garden, you will be healthier for it. Never underestimate the multiple powers of gardening. I read somewhere that "gardening is a labor of love. A treadmill is just labor." Pike County Down To Earth Newsletter Fooling Mother Nature A clap of lighting and a stern matronly voice proclaims, "It's not nice to fool Mother Nature." According to the TV commercial from several years ago Mother Nature doesn't like it when her butter is replaced with margarine. With our recent winter weather I'm thinking she is ticked off about something beyond margarine. As gardeners we are always trying to fool Mother Nature. We want tulips in January or tomatoes in December. It may not be nice to fool her, but it sure is fun when it works. We often modify the growing environment of our plants. We add sulfur to the soil for acid loving plants and lime to the soil for alkaline plants. We add organic matter to the soil in the form of compost to improve drainage and add nutrients. We build boggy areas and ponds for the water loving plants. We build raised beds and berms for the plants needing "dry feet." We suffer from zonal envy so we grow plants beyond their winter hardiness zone. We use winter mulches of leaves or rose cones. Some gardeners go to extremes with elaborate contraptions of chicken wire and carpeting to protect tender plants. We adore pushing the envelope of what we can grow. Gardeners also love to extend the season. A quick indication of our obsession is the spontaneous blossoming of bed sheets billowing across landscapes with the first fall or late spring freeze warning. Some gardeners have graduated from bed sheets to floating row covers. This is spun polyester of polypropylene material that transmits light, air, and water. Row covers can keep plants 5-10° warmer than outside air temperatures. They are also used to slow water evaporation, prevent wind and rain damage and as an insect barrier to keep out nasties such as Japanese beetles. Cold frames are more advanced forms of this season extending obsession. Cold frames can be used year around, but they do take management and forethought. In spring use them to start seedlings, grow early crops or harden off seedlings. In summer cold frames can be used as nursery beds for fall crops or perennials. In fall they can extend summer crops and grow cool crops into winter. In winter cold frames can be used to force bulbs, store root vegetables or to propagate trees and shrubs. Gardeners are also obsessed with having flowers out of season. We manipulate light so poinsettia, chrysanthemum and Thanksgiving/Christmas cactus will 4 have 13 hours of dark per 24 hours to bring them into bloom. This time of year we can trim branches from forsythia, redbud, crabapple or pussy willow to have them bloom early indoors. We force spring flowering bulbs into bloom by storing them in the refrigerator for 12-13 weeks just so we can see the first tulip of the year. Often perennial plant seeds need a cold period before they will germinate. Enter the gardener's Mother Nature fooler - the refrigerator. Fooling Mother Nature? I'm not sure we ever really fool the old gal. I think she just humors us for a while. Just when we think we have it all worked out, she gives us thunder in December or tornadoes in November. It's enough to keep a gardener humble. Propagating Grapes If you want to start a grape vine, you should know most grape vines in Illinois will root from dormant cuttings. This method of starting new vines is relatively easy to do. Start by taking cuttings from a healthy vine growing in full sunlight. Dormant cuttings are taken from plants after leaves drop through early spring before buds swell. Take the cuttings from one year old wood which is the new growth from this past summer. Each cutting should have three to five buds. To prevent confusion in terms of which end to plant while taking cuttings, cut the end closest to the trunk at a diagonal. The other end or growing tip should be cut straight. Store your cuttings in a well drained site by digging a trench 12 to 18 inches deep. Fill the trench with three inches of sand. Place the cuttings flat in the trench; cover them with two more inches of sand. Now cover them with soil and straw to protect them through the winter. Plant the cuttings in early spring before growth starts about one foot apart. Remember the diagonal end goes into the ground first. Two to three buds should be in the ground and one to two buds should be above the ground. Now keep the cuttings watered throughout the year. You can expect that at least half of the cuttings will not survive. But for those that do they may be moved next year to a permanent location. The location should be in full sun with good drainage because grapes do not like wet feet. Now you have a plant that will always remind you of Grandpa. He would have been proud to know you cared. Pike County Down To Earth Newsletter New Container Gardening Website Transcending the barriers of time and space is one attraction of container gardening and University of Illinois Extension has launched a new website to help create special gardens to fit any situation. "Successful Container Gardens" The website can be found at http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/containergardening/ In a world of limited time and space, container gardens seem to make more and more sense. Containers allow you to enjoy growing plants in places that might be thought of as impossible or unthinkable. Poor soil or no places to put plants in the ground are no longer excuses for not being able to enjoy the simple pleasures of gardening and the popularity of container gardening has "exploded." In Europe, container gardening has become almost an art form as gardens show up in window boxes, balconies, and decorative pots filled with flowers, vegetables, and herbs on the most modest of properties. The new website discusses choosing a container, selecting soil mixes, choosing and combining plants, fertilizing, watering and grooming basics. It also includes special containers including water gardens, hanging baskets, and topiaries as well as creating whimsical containers. A special section, Blueprints for Building Containers, shows plans for creating specific containers. The website includes several videos to demonstrate the various techniques and concepts. With appropriate containers and proper handling, anything that can be grown in the ground can be grown in a container. Several of the videos will be posted on the new U of I Extension YouTube site (at http://www.youtube.com/UIExtension) 5 Miniature Roses Make Nice Valentine's Day Gifts Roses share a colorful history with people. They have been symbols of love, beauty, war, states and nations. Roses were in such high demand during the seventeenth century that royalty considered roses or rose water as legal tender. Roses were also an important symbol in meetings. If a rose was hung from the ceiling at a meeting, all those present were vowed to secrecy. Garden cultivation of roses began some 5,000 years ago, probably in China. Roses have been grown not only for their beauty but for cosmetics, fragrances, medicines and for making rosaries. Roses have their own day of celebration – Valentine's Day. Roses and chocolate tantalize all your senses. Valentine's Day not only brings out bunches of long stemmed red roses but also pots of miniature roses. Miniature roses are indeed miniature, miniature flowers, leaves, thorns and plants. Miniatures range in height from 3 inches to 18 inches. Flowers are about the size of a quarter. Most are continuous bloomers and very adaptable in sunny gardens. Unfortunately most have little or no fragrance due to their lineage from a single dwarf China rose called “Rouletii.” "Cinderella" and "Sweet Fairy" are among the more popular ones that do have fragrance. Miniatures were very popular with Chinese gardeners long before they became popular in the United States just after World War II. Miniature roses make nice gifts. They can be grown indoors this winter than transplanted outdoors once frost is unlikely. Most miniatures are very winter hardy. Few miniatures are grafted. So even if the top dies back or gets eaten by rabbits, the plants will send up new stems. Miniature roses are excellent outdoors in containers, borders, rock gardens, and other small spaces. Plus your sweetie can remember you and your thoughtfulness for years to come. Once you get your mini home, make sure it is well watered. If the soil is really dry, soak the pot for about an hour in a dish of warm water. Tiny miniature roses are often marketed in tiny miniature pots. They are definitely going for the cute factor. For the rose it's like us wearing shoes two sizes too small. It's best to repot the roses into 4 or 6 inch pots with drain holes. Pike County Down To Earth Newsletter These pots can then be set into a decorative pot. Soilless mixes are good potting mixes since they retain moisture well but also drain well. Roses are sun loving plants so indoors they will need a south or west window. Supplemental lighting will keep them blooming longer. A combination of cool white and warm white fluorescent bulbs about three inches from the plant work well. Even a desk halogen light will help. Light should be kept on 14-18 hours a day. Indoor temperature for roses is pretty much what we like. They are best at low 70's during the day and low to mid 60's at night. Roses do appreciate some extra humidity indoors. They can be placed on shallow dishes of wet pebbles. Miniature roses should be kept evenly moist, but not soggy. Just feel the soil to test for dryness. If the roses dry out too much, the lifetime of existing flowers will be reduced and any flower buds may fail to open. Spider mites can be a problem. The pot and soil can be covered with a plastic bag and the plant given a warm shower. Insecticidal soap is also effective against any of the soft bodied insects. For more info on roses: http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/roses Just What is Dormant Oil? During dreary winter days I envy a plant's ability to go dormant. I've considered putting a sign on my office door stating, "Dormant - do not disturb until spring." In March the plants may still be dormant, but gardeners aren't. This time of year we see the recommendation to spray dormant oil to control insects on everything from fruit trees to lilacs. But is it just any oil sprayed when the plants are dormant? Most commercial dormant oil sprays are refined from petroleum oil. A few are made from cottonseed oil. Unlike home remedies, commercial spray oils have an emulsifier added to allow the oil to mix with water. Many of the newer commercial oils are more highly refined than past 6 dormant oil products. The new formulations are labeled to also be used, usually at a reduced rate, during the growing season. These are generally listed as horticultural, ultrafine or summer oils. Read and follow all label directions for proper timing and rates. Oils kill exposed insects and mites by either suffocating them (covering up breathing tubes) or by directly penetrating the outside cuticle and destroying internal cells. Spraying trees with dormant oil after bud break and leaves have emerged will still control the pests, but it may kill the young leaves or cause leaf edges to turn black if the correct oil is not used at the proper rate. Dr. Phil Nixon and Dr. Raymond Cloyd in the U of I Extension Home, Yard and Garden Pest Newsletter outlined the benefits of making an application of dormant oil. Advantages include: (1) a wide range of activity against most species of mites and scales, including some activity on eggs; (2) minimal likelihood of insects' or mites' developing resistance; (3) generally less harmful to beneficial insects and mites than other pesticides (4) relatively safe to birds, humans, and other mammals. Disadvantages of using dormant oil are (1) potential plant damage if incorrect oil is used or used at improper rate during the growing season and (2) minimal residual activity to kill new pest infestations. Dormant oils are effective in controlling certain scales that overwinter as nymphs or adults such as cottony maple, euonymus, lecanium, and obscure scale. However, dormant oils provide minimal control of oystershell and pine needle scale because both these scales overwinter as eggs. In addition, eggs are generally stacked on top of each other, and the dormant oil may not contact the bottom layer. As a result, applications of summer oils after egg hatch are generally required. Accurate identification of the scale is important for proper control. Honeylocust mite, European red mite, and spruce spider mite are controlled with dormant oil sprays, because they overwinter as exposed eggs on plants. Dormant oil sprays do not kill two-spotted spider mite, as they overwinter on the ground in leaf debris. Summer oils are best used to control slow soft bodied insects. They do little in controlling pests such as white grubs, cabbageworms and apple maggots. Pike County Down To Earth Newsletter Dormant oil applications must be made when temperatures stay above freezing for 24 hours. Be sure to follow all label directions because oil sprays may damage certain plants, including Amur maple, Japanese maple, redbud, and sugar maple. In addition, the foliage (needles) of Colorado blue spruce can be discolored (change from blue to green) by dormant oil applications. In addition to oils other pesticides may require dormant application. Peaches should be sprayed now with lime sulfur if peach leaf curl has been a problem. Peach leaf curl appears as a thickening, curling and puckering of leaves. Fruits become swollen and deformed. This is the only spray that will control this disease. Lime sulfur may also be used on raspberries to control anthracnose. Be sure to read and follow all label directions. Warm Up with Hot Peppers Recently I declared how I enjoyed hot peppers now more than ever. Upon that statement, my ego balloon filled with feelings of my daring lifestyle and adventuresome attitude. Just as my balloon was about to soar into uncharted territory, a co-worker commented that actually since I was getting older my taste buds were dying off and I could tolerate hotness better. I was crushed. With her reasoning, my exploits were more closely tied to bifocals than bravery. Whether you are chronologically gifted, brave or enlightened, peppers are easy to grow, attractive in the garden and a tasty way to liven up your meals. Peppers offer tremendous variety in shape, taste and color. Hotness or pungency of peppers is not gauged by the quantity of sweat or intensity of screams they produce, but in Scoville heat units. There are now more accurate ways to measure the amount of capsaicin, the main active ingredient in peppers, but Scoville units are still popularly used. The really hot part of a pepper is the white flesh inside. Hotness varies with varieties and growing conditions. In Scoville units bell peppers are rated 0, Anaheim chili types are around 150 to 2500, cayenne and jalapeño are 10,000 to 18,000, tabasco at 40,000 and habaneros at 300,000 Scovilles. Here are just a few of the more common groups of peppers. 7 Bell peppers are probably the most well known pepper in the United States. The fruits are large, blocky and like most peppers start green then turn red as they ripen. Most bells are sweet and not hot. Green bell peppers are popular, but red peppers are sweeter. If you grow green peppers, just let some of them ripen to red and see what I mean. However overall production will be less with red peppers. Some other colors in bell peppers include lilac, orange, yellow and creamy white. The fruits of the Anaheim chili group taper to a point. Most chilies are moderately hot except for the nonpungent paprika types. Paprika is the dried form of a non-pungent chili and not a particular pepper. Ancho chilies are a nice medium hot pepper stuffed for chiles rellenos. Anchos are called poblanos when fresh and anchos when dried. Cayennes, a subgroup of Anaheims, are more slender and irregularly shaped with wrinkled thin walls and highly pungent. Cayennes are used in pepper sauces and as a powdered spice. The highly pungent fruits of the jalapeño group are small, bullet shaped and smooth skinned often with a network of corky lines on the skin. One of the hottest peppers available is the habanero. Habanero 'Red Savina' is reported to be the hottest at 100 to 300 times hotter than jalapeños. Habaneros are small gnarly looking things that pack a punch. They need a long hot season to produce a fiery crop. Pepper plants are warmth lovers and will not tolerate extended periods of temperatures below 50°F. Don't even think about putting peppers in the garden until the soil and air has warmed in about mid to late May. Sweet peppers grow well at temperatures between 65 and 85°F, but hot peppers grow best at 75°F and above. High temperatures above 90°F may cause flower abortion in sweet peppers. However with hot peppers warm temperatures will increase fruit set. For best results start seedlings indoors about April 1 or start with transplants from garden centers. Be careful when handling seeds and seedlings of hot peppers. Use rubber gloves or wash hands thoroughly. In case your daring spirit out does your tolerance, relieve the fire by eating bananas, bread, pasta, yogurt Pike County Down To Earth Newsletter or potatoes but do not drink water. Water just moves the fire around. Move Over Iceberg Iceberg lettuce is a lot like a red delicious apple. True to its iceberg name it has a lot of crunch but not a lot of flavor. Thankfully for our gastronomical pleasure, salads have drifted far beyond icebergs. Arugula to radicchio all kinds of leaves are appearing in salad mixes. For growing most salad greens the trick is cool weather. Most thrive when the average daily temperature is between 60–70°F. At high temperatures growth is stunted, the leaves may be bitter and the unloved seedstalk forms quickly (called bolting). Early spring or late summer plantings are best. Beyond iceberg few vegetables are as attractive, tasty and easy to grow as lettuce. The diversity is amazing with colors and shapes of leaves. Seed packets often contain a mixture of varieties. There are five distinct types of lettuce. Leaf (also called loose leaf), Cos or romaine and butterhead are the most popular to grow in the garden. Crisphead varieties or iceberg types so commonly found in grocery stores are adapted to northern conditions and require the most garden care. Stem lettuce (also called asparagus lettuce) forms an enlarged seedstalk that is used mainly in stewed, creamed and Chinese dishes. Leaf lettuce is by far the easiest to grow. Some of the most popular varieties of leaf lettuce are the green leaved 'Black Seeded Simpson' and 'Oakleaf' and the red leaved 'Lollo Rosso,' 'Red Fire,' 'Ruby' and 'Red Sails.' Cos or Romaine lettuce forms an upright elongated head and is an excellent addition to salads and sandwiches. Popular varieties include 'Cimmaron' with a unique, dark red leaf and 'Green Towers.' The butterhead varieties are generally small loose heading types that have tender soft leaves with a delicate sweet flavor. Suggested varieties include 'Buttercrunch,' 'Nancy,' 'Summer Bibb,' 'Tom Thumb' and 'Merveille des Quartre Saisons.' 8 Salad mixes often contain the red leaves of radicchio. Their unique, tangy flavored leaves have been grown in Italy for years. The heads are used in salads, as mixed greens or may be grilled. Although there are many colors and forms of radicchio, the tight heads of wine red leaves with white midribs are most often seen. Radicchio is not the easiest of the leafy crops to grow due to its cool weather requirement. Recommended varieties include 'Rubello,' 'Firebird,' Giulio' and 'Caesar.' Another favorite for salad mixes is arugula. As a spicy member of the mustard family it is also known as roquette, rocket salad and white pepper. Roquette was the common name until trendy producers decided arugula was a snappier name. It is commonly used in salad mixes, soups or as a cooked green. Unaccompanied the leaves have a biting peppery flavor that is a bit too much for most of us, but add a zest to otherwise bland foods. As cool season vegetables most salad greens can be planted anytime in the spring when the soil is dry enough to rake the surface, usually after March 1 and again in late summer as a fall crop. Whether you are a novice or experienced gardener, you are sure to appreciate all that growing your own salad greens has to offer. Check out UI Extension website http://web.extension.uiuc.edu/vegguide/ Also UI publication Vegetable Gardening in the Midwest is a great resource available online at https://pubsplus.uiuc.edu/ or phone 1-800-345-6087. Diagnosing Houseplant Problems Is there a film on your philodendron? Does your fern look fried? As the dull dreary days of winter droll on, our houseplants can look as forlorn as a gardener after the first fall frost. The dry air of our homes in winter along with the lower light levels can send our houseplants into a downhill spiral. Some plants are more tolerant to adverse environments. Philodendrons and pothos take all kinds of abuse before they show symptoms of decline. Other plants such as rosemary, ferns and gardenias are not as forgiving and may not survive even one episode of extremes in watering, temperature, and light. Do some homework to discover proper care for your particular houseplants. Pike County Down To Earth Newsletter The lower humidity of our homes in winter is also a problem for plants. To raise the humidity around plants use a humidifier, group plants together or use pebble trays. Plants can be kept on a tray of wet pebbles or sand. As the water evaporates, it will increase the humidity around the plants. Misting plants does little to increase humidity unless done continually throughout the day. Lower light levels can also be a problem. Supplemental lighting with fluorescent lights can help especially if they are within 8 to 10 inches from the plants. Even the addition of an incandescent light will help plants to make it through the winter in better health. With all due respect to Mr. Edison, fluorescent lights are a better choice. Incandescent lights are an inefficient light source with most of the energy given off as heat. Leaves can be burned if placed too close to the light. If your house is really warm during the winter, some plants will suffer. Rosemary and Christmas cactus prefer a cooler environment between 50 and 65 degrees F. However others such as African violets may not bloom at low air temperatures. If your houseplants are looking like they are on their way to the compost pile in the sky, you may have to play detective to come up with the cause. Is your husband emptying his coffee cup into the coleus? Are the kids leaving the front door open too long? Here are a few symptoms and the possible causes of unhappy houseplants. To really confuse us, notice over-watering and under-watering can show similar symptoms and a variety of symptoms. Leaves fall off quickly extreme temperature changes extreme changes in light root loss after transplanting over-watering under-watering exposure to your son's new hairdo Gradual leaf drop not enough light (common with weeping figs that vacationed outdoors over the summer) insufficient fertilizer over-watering under-watering wilting of entire plant exposure to cold excess fertilizer over-watering under-watering 9 exposure to cold thoughts, cold hearts and cold deeds Spotted leaves sunburn (distinct light tan spots) cold water on leaves (especially fuzzy leafed plants such as African violets) leaves touching cold windows bacterial or fungal disease (spots may have concentric rings or brown border) air pollution over-watering mite damage (looks like tiny yellow speckles) Leaf tips turn brown low humidity soil pH not correct air pollution water quality (some plants such as spider plants and dracaenas are sensitive to fluoride) not enough fertilizer too much fertilizer over-watering under-watering Dark bumps on leaves or stems scale insects sticky spots on leaves and sometimes even on the floor around the plant aphids scale insects After perusing all that can go wrong with houseplants you may be thinking silks are a better choice. Studies have affirmed the calming effects real plants have on us in our environment, indoors or outdoors. You can't get that from an "artificial botanical." Check out http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/houseplants The Master Gardener’s Plot by Duane Lanchester Gardeners, take heart! The days are getting longer; the traditionally coldest day of the year is past; a month from now you can scatter lettuce seed on top of the snow for an early spring crop - and it might even grow! Spring is sure enough coming, but what do we do in the meantime? (Actually I would be content to sit by the fire with a cup of tea and a good book. But here are some things I ought to do.) Pike County Down To Earth Newsletter 1. CLEAN UP FROM LAST SUMMER - My tools are filthy - probably have crud from a couple seasons. I could get the dirt off and sharpen them up. Our potting shed is a mess; like the world in Genesis 1:2, it lacks order or distinctiveness. All sorts of stuff in there but I can’t find anything, 2. PLAN FOR NEXT SUMMER - I already have a garden area where I can plant tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, etc., because I didn’t grow any tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, etc. there last summer. It is really, really good to rotate your crops. I should look at some garden catalogues and plan what to plant this spring; do I want to start seeds or just get seedlings from nurseries? 3. WORK IN MY MINI-ORCHARD BEFORE THE SAP RISES - I could easily spend ten full days pruning, mulching, planting and just working on my orchard. (In the middle ages an acre was not measured in feet but in how much land one man could “work” in a day. By that standard my orchard gets larger every year.) I should also trim our ornamentals, but I can postpone that until after they bloom. That’s enough things to keep me either busy or feeling guilty all though February and March. 10 I shared the recipe in this column last winter - and the winter before. Remember? Well, here it is again. (So try it already!) 1. One pound of lard (Do not try to substitute vegetable oil.) and one cup of peanut butter melted together over low heat. 2. Half a cup of flour, half a cup of cornmeal, and one cup of sugar mixed together and added to lard mixture. 3. Bread crumbs to absorb all the liquid. This might take quite a lot; perhaps half a loaf. (You can substitute other bread-like things: old doughnuts, left-over pancakes, stale buns, etc.) 4. An apple or other fruit chopped in small pieces and - if you really love those birdies - half a cup of pecans. 5. Pour it all into a 9X5 inch bread pan and keep it in the refrigerator. When you need a slice to put in your suet feed, just slice it off the end. It doesn’t make neat slices like butter, but it is easy to load into your feeder because it is malleable - and greasy. And for mid-winter enjoyment there are house plants (My wife has a magnificent Christmas or Easter cactus blooming here halfway between the two dates.) And birds. We have a crab apple tree outside our kitchen window where birds sit and watch our birdfeeders and while we watch the birds. Half a dozen or eight bright red male cardinals perched in the lower limbs of that crab apple look like something Mary Engelbreit might have drawn. This winter we have fed only black-oil sunflower seeds. I agree with “Southern Living Magazine” that Nyjer is “worth the price” as a finch feeder, but I stored the finch feeder in our potting shed.... Minnesota Department of Natural Resources recommends black-oil sunflower and cardinal mixes. Cardinal mix is sunflower, safflower and peanuts. They also suggest if you want to avoid the mess of sunflower seed hulls, try sunflower hearts. For the last three years we have supplemented seeds with a faux-suet that is popular with woodpeckers as well as the cardinals and some smaller birds. (Also some years, blue jays and (sob) grackles.) The articles in this newsletter have been provided for you by University of Illinois Extension, Pike County office. The following have contributed articles to this newsletter: David Robson Sandra Mason Martha Smith Greg Stack Ed Billingsley Horticulture Educator Horticulture Educator Horticulture Unit Educator Horticulture Educator County Extension Director Compiled and Designed by Cheryl Westfall, Secretary If you have any questions or comments regarding the issue of “Down To Earth”, please contact University of Illinois Extension, Pike County, at (217) 285-5543. Jennifer Mowen, County Extension Director University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences United States Department of Agriculture • Local Extension Councils Cooperating University of Illinois Extension provides equal opportunities in programs and employment.