I'm Seeing Spots

Cedar apple rust on an apple tree

One of our new apple trees has cedar-apple rust.  I first noticed these spots in late May and did some reading.  I found this excellent fact sheet from the University of Arkansas.

Here's a quick rundown:

Cedar-apple rust is a fungal disease with a lifecycle requiring both cedar trees and apple trees (or crab apple).  It forms very interesting looking baseball sized orange galls on cedar trees, but doesn't really hurt them.  The problem arises in late spring, when it infects apple trees with the leaf spots seen in the picture above.  It causes early leaf drop and can also infect the apples themselves.

So what do you do about it?  The best answer appears to be to only plant cedar-apple rust resistant varieties.  The fact sheet I linked to above has a list of resistant varieties.  Our Pixie Crunch tree is not on that list.  We could treat the tree with a heavy duty fungicide like Daconil, but it would just get infected again and I don't like to use chemical fungicides anyway.  We will treat this tree with Serenade, an organic treatment containing a microorganism that eats fungi.  If the tree doesn't respond, we may have to just get rid of it and be more aware of this disease when we select our new varieties.

It had to happen

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Tomato Problems?

Early blight; tomato plants too close together

If you're having issues with your tomato plants, here's a recent article from the University of Arkansas that might help:

http://www.uaex.edu/news/june2011/0620Tomato_Tips.html

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Tales from the Chicken House

The difference between meat breeds and egg laying breeds

The cornish/rock cross meat chicks are fast outgrowing the egg layers.  This is expected of course, but it's still amazing to watch.  These birds are the same age and have been raised in the same conditions with the same food.

Bloody tail, a result of pecking injury

Chickens naturally peck at things.  When they are cramped into too close of a proximity, they peck each other, sometimes to death.  As I reported earlier in the week, the chicks were getting too crowded in their half of the hen house and the telltale bloody spots on wings and the base of the tail began to appear on some chicks.  So I gave them free run of the entire upper portion of the hen house.  This solved the issue and the spots began to heal.  Unfortunately, it also cut the hens off from access to the nest boxes.

Temporary nest "boxes"

I set up these two temporary nest "boxes" in the bottom of the house for them.

Buckets strewn about

The hens inspected the new nesting "boxes" and promptly scratched out all of the straw and pushed them around.  The displeasure was obvious.

Mislaid egg

To further state their point, one of them laid an egg nearby.

Wired in place with a large rock placed in front

I removed one bucket and wired the remaining one in place.  I replaced the straw and placed a large, flat rock along the front to keep them from scratching the straw out.  As you can see, they emptied the bucket again.  They are laying the eggs somewhere else in the yard, but darned if I can find where.  I assume the dogs are probably eating them.  Something had to be done to give the hens access to the nest boxes again.

Dogs put up in the garden area

I penned the dogs into the garden area to allow the chicks and hens to meet and see how they interacted before introducing the dogs to the chicks.  The dogs have done great around the full sized hensfor the last two years, but I was concerned that the smaller, more active chicks would trigger the killing instinct in the dogs.  They had killed a few a couple of years ago when I first got these chickens, before they got the message that these were not to be eaten.  I wanted to take that introduction slowly.  It turned out that I had nothing to worry about.  I placed a couple of chicks in front of them and the dogs wanted nothing to do with them.  To enforce the point, I held one near each dog's face and growled deeply to let them know that I was protecting these chicks.  They turned their heads and wouldn't make eye contact with the chicks.  Mission accomplished.

Hen poking her head into the hen house

Soon after opening the top back up, one of the hens climbed the ramp and poked her head in.  When she saw the chicks, she retreated to the ground.  After a minute or two, she climbed back up and went into one of the nest boxes.

Two hens in the nest boxes

Within minutes, another hen joined her.

After one of the two emerged, she was pretty vocal about the whole thing.  That's about as noisy as the hens ever get.  The chicks still haven't ventured out of the top of the hen house.  The hens, in the short time they spent travelling to the nest boxes, ignored the chicks entirely.

Eggs

The hens rewarded me with three eggs by the end of the day.  No more Easter egg hunt!

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A Dispatch from the Insect War Front

Homemade NeemII

Blasting them off with water slowed the aphids down, but they were still there today.  In addition to the squash vines, bean vines, and blueberry bushes, I also found them on the new growth of my apple trees.  I didn't find any squash bugs on the squash vines, but I know they are there.

This morning I mixed up a sprayer full of an organic pesticide known as NeemII and treated the affected crops.  It's cheaper to buy neem oil and pyrethrin and mix them together on your own, but if you have a small garden it probably makes sense to buy the premix.  The pyrethrin is extracted from the seed cases of chrysanthemums.   It kills many insects on contact and biodegrades very quickly so its effects are not long lasting.  Neem oil is extracted from the seeds of the neem tree and is a perfect complement to pyrethrin.  While it may not have the quick killing power of pyrethrin, it lasts for up to a week and provides long term protection.

To make the mix, I follow the label instructions for each and dilute them in the same water.  Note that I am not a chemist and do not guarantee that this is safe or replicates NeemII exactly.  I just know it works well for me and other people.  I use a pump-up, quart-sized hand-held sprayer, which works great.  With traditional sprayers that require a trigger pull with each squirt, it can get quite tedious and tiring for a very large application.  Once mixed in the sprayer, I pump it up and spray the undersides of all the leaves that I want to protect.  Most insects hide out on the underside and since pyrethrin is a contact killer, simply showering it down on the leaf tops will not work.  I shake the sprayer often as I go to keep the ingredients mixed.  Even though the ingredients are organic, I wear cheap nitrile gloves when handling the concentrates and spraying the plants.  It should be fine, but I'm just cautious.

Weekly Gardening Outlook: Insect Fighting and Makeshift Nest Boxes

This will be a continuing series where we look ahead at the coming week in gardening for the Northwest Arkansas area.

Aphids on a bean vine

Aphids on a blueberry bush

I noticed an unusual number of ants on my bean vines, blueberry bushes, and squash vines.  I looked closer and found that aphids were beginning to infest my crops.  Aphids are small, soft bodied insects that suck the juices from plants.  In small numbers, they aren't a problem.  If not nipped in the bud early though, the population can explode and harm crops.  The reason the ants alerted me to their presence, was that ants are known to "farm" aphids.  The aphids secrete a sweet liquids from their anus' called honeydew, which ants feed upon.  In exchange, the ants protect the aphids from predators.  Quite the system.

A low tech, organic treatment is to spray the aphids off with a stream of water.  They are fairly immobile and if knocked off the plants, cannot return and will die in the soil.  I did that this morning.  If they continue to be a problem, a treatment of an organic pesticide called NeemII (Neem oil + pyrethrin) will take care of it.

Squash bug eggs on a butternut squash vine

While spraying the aphids off of my squash vines, I also found these squash bug eggs.  A stream of water and a scrape of the fingernail and they are gone too.

Squash bug on a butternut squash vine

The water causes any adult squash bugs present to climb to higher ground where I smashed them by hand.  This is a good way to flush them out.  If necessary, a treatment of the previously mentioned NeemII will knock them back.

Turnips

The turnips have finally poked up above the mulch.  They do quite well planted four per square foot, but we don't eat a ton of turnips so I planted only one per square foot.  As they get pulled, I will replace them by succession planting radishes.

Immature cherry tomatoes

Immature Roma tomatoes

Tomatoes are coming!  Can't wait.

Eggplant

The eggplants are doing fine.  Flea beetles have put a few holes in the leaves, but that won't hurt them.

Young okra

The okra gets a whole bed to itself.  These will grow into 6 foot tall plants with treelike stalks 2-3" thick at the base.

Serrano peppers

Jalapeno peppers

Onions

Yellow onions

Purple onion

The peppers and onions are ready.  I'm making salsa today with store bought tomatoes.  Can't wait for mine to start ripening.  Gotta have the salsa!

Ripening blueberries

While not nearly as numerous as the blueberries from the farm, these are a nice treat each morning in the garden.  An explosion of flavor as they're eaten straight from the bush.

Sweet basil

Thyme, oregano, and lemon thyme (left to right)

Coriander (cilantro seeds)

Herbs are just so easy.  Most originated in the Mediterranean area and will tolerate poor soils and somewhat dry conditions.  It's a lot of fun to bring in fresh herbs for cooking with.  There's no reason why a person shouldn't have them in the garden.  The oregano continues it's spread through the bed.  It will be time to harvest the coriander soon.

Swiss chard

Chard is another one of those plants every garden should have as a spinach replacement.  Young, tender leaves are good in salads.  Older leaves are good for cooking anywhere you would use spinach.  It grows through the hot summer and well into the fall.  It will grow through the entire winter if surrounded by a cold frame.

Pole bean vines

The pole beans haven't been too affected by the aphids.  They are usually a big target of the Japanese beetle when it emerges.  They will be treated with NeemII when I see the first beetles of the year.

Chicken and Egg Report:

5 gallon buckets serve as makeshift nesting boxes

The chicks were getting crowded in their space and began pecking at one another leaving small, bloody spots.  To give them more room, I took the divider out and gave them free run of the entire top of the chicken house. The only problem is that that cut off access to the nest boxes for the hens.  Clean 5 gallon buckets are serving as temporary nesting boxes for the hens during the next few weeks.  We had been getting 4-5 eggs per day.  It will be interesting to see how the hens adapt to this change.  Generally, environmental changes will temporarily diminish egg production.

Weather Outlook:

-Cooling down, with highs in the mid 80's through the week.  30-40% chance of rain every day, with a 60% chance early next week.

-Watch the amount of rain received and water accordingly.  A popup rain shower, usually doesn't water the garden much.

-Ten day forecast

What's Being Harvested:

-Herbs

-Serrano and jalapeno peppers

-Green, yellow, and purple onions

-Blueberries

Visit to a Local Blueberry Farm

Ripe blueberry cluster

Yesterday, my boys and I went to a local farm to pick blueberries, because our homegrown crop isn't enough for our needs.  We've gone to Blue Heaven Farms in Goshen, AR in previous years and they've been fine to deal with.  However, when I was looking up their phone number, I came across information about Clear Creek Farms.  Clear Creek uses no pesticides on their farm and to me and my family, that's important.  It's out Wedington Road near Savoy with large signs clearly marking the entrance.  Prices were $10 per gallon if they pick the berries or $8 a gallon if you pick.  They were sold out of prepicked berries, but even though we are reaching the end of the season, there were still enough berries on the bushes to make getting a few gallons easy.

I used http://www.pickyourown.org/AR.htm to find the farms.  They have farm listings for every US state and many other countries.  Check and see what cheap, fresh, direct from the farm produce you can find in your area.  

Good clean fun

So we arrived and sunscreened up.  We got a one gallon bucket from the owner and went to work.  Blueberry bushes grow about 6 feet tall and were planted in long rows about 10 feet apart.  Leave the green and red berries on the bush.  What you want to look for are fat, dark blue berries with a frosted over appearance and if they are all in a cluster as shown above, that makes picking them easier and more efficient.  

Patented hands free bucket carrying device

I always loop the handle of the bucket through my belt to free up both hands for picking.  If you don't normally wear a belt, you might want to when you go picking.  When the bucket is full, take it to the owner and he'll put the berries in a bag for you to take home.

A few tips:

- EAT a few berries as you go.  It's expected by farm owners and is part of the experience.  It keeps kids happy and makes it less like work and more of a fun outing.  This is where picking at a pesticide free farm is helpful...

-Call ahead to make sure there are berries and that they are going to be open.

-Bring cash.  Most places don't accept checks or credit cards.

Wild blackberries

We found some bonus wild blackberries growing in one row.  Delicious!

Weekly Gardening Outlook: Growing, Composting, and Chicken Raising

This will be a continuing series where we look ahead at the coming week in gardening for the Northwest Arkansas area.

Cornish/Rock cross chickens

Mrs. A was given these birds as chicks, hoping that they may be egg layers.  As they grew, it became obvious that they were meat birds (most likely Cornish/Rock crosses).  She didn't want to process them, so she gave them to me.  In the week they spent in our backyard, they never associated with my six laying hens.  In the few times the two groups came into contact at the feeder, the much larger white chickens ran the hens off.

Black Australorp hens

The hens would have to keep an eye out and run in to grab a bite to eat while the white birds were out.  To the hen's relief, I put the white birds in the freezer this past weekend and things have returned to normal for them.  Look for a post on chicken processing soon. 

Tomato and strawberry plants

Tomato plant

The tomatoes are doing fantastic.  Whatever was eating them isn't bothering them now (knock on wood).  I have several small tomatoes forming.

Okra

All but three of the okra have sprouted.  I replanted the three open spaces and they are all breaking the soil surface now.

Flowering cilantro

This is the volunteer cilantro that was the result of last year's plants going to seed.  It is now flowering and will produce seed of its own.  The neat thing about cilantro is that it is two herbs in one.  You may know the seeds by the name coriander. 

Pepper plants

First pepper of the year (serrano pepper)

All seven pepper plants are covered in blooms and small fruit.  Should be a good year for peppers.

Lady beetle on mint

I've noticed a lot of lady beetles in the garden this year.  They are voracious aphid eaters, so I was concerned that the large numbers of lady beetles meant there must be a lot of aphids around for them to eat.  A close examination of my plants reveals no aphids.  Perhaps the lady beetles are keeping them cleaned out.

Green bean (purple podded pole) seedlings

The green beans are getting the first true leaves.  The vines will be 6 feet long in the blink of an eye.

Butternut squash seedling

I found a couple of mature squash bugs in my beds.  Both were immediately smashed and I haven't seen any more.  I'm sure I will though.  I'll hit them with a mixture of organic insecticides, neem oil and pyrethrum (aka NeemII) when they show their faces again.

(Left to right) Thyme, oregano, and lemon thyme

Lemon thyme flowering

The oregano is taking over, forming a thick carpet of vegetation.  I love it!  The lemon thyme has a few tiny, almost imperceptible flowers on it.

Eggplant seedling

I had a couple of open spots in the garden where I removed the cilantro, so I planted two eggplants in the spaces.  All seems to be well.  The flea beetles haven't found them yet.

Purple and yellow onions

Yellow onions

Purple onions

What's not to love about onions?  So easy and low maintenance.  As long as they get some water and enough sun, they thrive.

Swiss chard seedlings

I over planted the Swiss chard.  I thinned them down to one plant per hole after this picture was taken.  I ate the culled seedlings right there in the garden.  Very good.

Turnip seedling

I've grown turnips when the weather was cool before.  Now I'm trying them in the heat of summer.  So far so good.

Potted blueberry bush

Blueberry cluster

The blueberries are much the same.  The first picture is of the surviving plant that hasn't put on fruit.  As you can see, it has a lot of new growth.  The berries on the other bush seem to be slow to mature.  Blueberries have been available locally for over two weeks.

Sunchokes (aka Jerusalem artichokes)

Back in the wild part of the yard, the sunchokes are doing their thing.  I look forward to the multitude of yellow flowers they will soon bear.

Mulberry tree growing over the fence

A ripening mulberry

I was walking the back part of the yard and noticed a tree I had overlooked.  More specifically, I noticed the berries.  It's a mulberry tree!  It produces blackberry-like berries that are good to eat if I can get to them before the birds do.  It may not get to full size, because the electric company won't let it get into those powerlines above.

Poison ivy

Boo! Hiss!  Poison ivy has gained a foothold in the back part of the yard.  Only three solutions I know of:  Spray it (not gonna happen), wear rubber gloves and pull it after a rain (futile effort), or mostly ignore it (that's my choice).

Homemade roosting bars

To make room for the chicks I had to pull the roosting bars out of the hen house.  Someone asked for a better picture, so here you go.  Right now they serve as a set of steps that allow my 4 year old to climb up and look at the new chicks.  Multipurpose!

Dial thermometer

Compost up to 115 degrees after 2 days

I use a cheap dial thermometer to keep up with how hot my compost pile is getting.  It should get between 110 and 160 degrees to kill weed seeds.  Mine was at 115 degrees just two days after adding the chicken litter and water.  It should stay this hot for one to three months, depending on how often I turn the pile.

Chicken and Egg Report:

Egg production is getting less predictable as the hens get older.  We are getting two to five eggs a day from our backyard flock of 6 hens.  The chicks are growing fast.  The meat chicks are twice the size of the laying pullets.  It's amazing what selective breeding has done.  I lost one of the meat chicks last night.  No external wounds or apparent cause of death.  One downside to these meat birds growing so fast is that they are fairly fragile. 

Weather Outlook:

-Hot and dry.  Getting into the upper 90's late in the week.  Very little chance of rain.
-Keep your garden well watered.  The high winds and temperatures will dry the garden out.

-Ten day forecast

What's Being Harvested:

-Herbs
-Serrano peppers
-Green onions