Horticulture Wish List: by Tom Butzler

My kids had a chance to visit Santa last week and asked for a multitude of toys and games. Although too old (or maybe it is really too heavy) to sit on Santa, I also had a wish list that would fulfill my horticultural needs. Below are several items that I would love having for next year’s growing season.

A Normal Growing Season
One of the first items on my list is a growing season where we get adequate rainfall and good growing temperatures. This year will go on record as the wettest year in many areas of Pennsylvania. Just to give you an idea how wet the year was, the Williamsport area broke the old record of 61.27 inches back in October and are still getting more moisture. Just a bit to the west of Lock Haven, it has been a little drier around State College as it has only been the third wettest year on record.

Contrast the details in the previous paragraph to what happened over the summer where it was hot and dry for several weeks. At one point the thermometer hit 100 degrees in Lock Haven on July 22. This dry patch put a crimp on several agronomic crops such as corn.

Late blight in tomatoes occurs
when the disease organism is present
with wet, cool conditions.  This disease
will wipe out a tomato patch
in a matter of dasy.
Click on photo to enalrge

Please Santa, give me enough rain that I don’t get blossom end rot (caused by low soil moisture) on my tomatoes next year but not too much that plant diseases run rampant.

A Reprieve From Invasive Insects
The United States has always had to deal with foreign organisms throughout history and many of them made their way into our area such as the gypsy moth (from Asia) and dandelions (from Europe). In the past several years, it seems we have opened the doors to Pennsylvania and welcomed the likes of the emerald ash borer, viburnum leaf beetle, brown marmorated stink bug, and spotted wing drosophila.

Santa, it would be nice to send us an insect or two that would be helpful in the garden. Maybe one that would eat just weeds?

A Solution to the Honeybee Decline
Fruits and vegetables should be a huge part of an everyday diet and many of these fresh eats come about when insects ensure proper pollination. We do have native pollinators but honeybees are used in large growing operations to provide enough pollinators for that short flowering season. The problem we have is that honeybees are dying off in large numbers due to a variety of reasons such as stress, pesticides, diseases, and mites. From the 2010/2011 winter season, losses from managed honey bee colonies nationwide were 30 percent according to the annual survey conducted by the United State Department of Agriculture.



Honeybees are facing many problems
such as exposure to pesticides, stress,
diseases, and mites which are leading to colony
collapses throughout the Unites States.
Click on phto to enlarge.

Santa, could you give the local mosquito population the gift of stress, pesticides, diseases, and mites and give the honeybee a break next year?
I hope everyone enjoys the holiday break with family and friends and I look forward to writing about the horticulture world in 2012.

Beekeeping For Beginners – Virtual Webinar Series

Here is a great Christams present to a family member or friend that has an interest in learning about the exciting world of beekeeping.  Penn State Cooperative Extension is conducting a virtual Beginner Beekeeping Class starting in March 2012. The webinar course is designed to create a foundation of beekeeping knowledge in order to confidently help beginners manage honeybees.



Horticulture educator,Tom Butzler,
 talking to a beekeeping class
about hiving a swarm


Webinars are web-based seminars which delivers training through the Internet directly to your computer. You are able to view the presentation via your home/office computer and listen to the audio portion of the presentation through your computer’s speakers. These are interactive and will allow the participants to ask questions and communicate with the presenters. If you can’t join the session or would like to review a certain topic, sessions will be recorded and available to participants until the end of the year

The Beekeeping for Beginners is a two month course that will include the following:

1. An eight part live webinar series (all sessions will be recorded and available until December 31, 2012)

2. Virtual Beekeeping Field Day

3. Accessibility to instructors through: 

• Virtual office hours
• Discussion forum

Registration and agenda information can be found at: http://agsci.psu.edu/beekeeping-for-beginners

The agenda for the course can be found here.

Mistletoe, Myths and Mysteries! by Tina Clinefelter

As we rapidly approach the Christmas season, I feel an in-depth look at one of our staple decorations is in order, namely mistletoe.

This hemi-parasitic, wild tangle of greenery growing on branches and twigs of oaks and apples (preferably) is a small, viny shrub providing some of its own nutrition via photosynthesis in its evergreen leaves, but snitching water and minerals with its root-system implanted in the host tree. This explains its hemi-parasitic designation. The name ‘mistletoe’ is derived from the Anglo-Saxon word ‘mistel’ meaning ‘dung’, and ‘tan’ meaning ‘twig’, and this explains its propagation method: birds eat the berries, birds sit on twigs, birds leave a deposit and as the seeds are sticky they do not fall upon the ground but germinate on the twig – ingenious eh?

Mistletoe used to be regarded as a pest and indeed, a heavy infestation can kill a host tree, but this rarely happens. Now mistletoe is recognized as an important food supply for many birds and animals, with the dense growth providing shelter and roosting/nesting places for many species including the Northern Spotted owl.
There are many different species of mistletoe, and from research I have found varying opinions concerning the toxicity of the plant, but I also found that American Indians used a tea for epilepsy, headaches, hypertension, and many other complaints. It seems that eating the white, waxy berries may pose the greatest hazard so keep it well out of the reach of pets and children and, no, the poinsettia is not poisonous!

On the historical side of this issue, the Druids regarded mistletoe as a sacred plant, endowing it with the power to heal diseases, protection from witchcraft, and a potent aid in human fertility; harvesting mistletoe was done with a golden sickle, dropping it into a white sheet (it must never touch the ground) and hanging in the home until the next yearly harvest to protect the house from lightning. Handy stuff – mistletoe! Somewhere in this harvesting ritual a couple of white bulls were sacrificed, but where they got two white bulls from on a yearly basis I have no idea…Let’s hope the steaks didn’t go to waste!

The Vikings believed that mistletoe had the power to raise the dead – makes me wonder when they realized it wasn’t working, but it was another Norse legend that originated our custom of kissing under the mistletoe. In a very confusing tale with lots of unfamiliar names, I gather a Norse goddess had a problem with a son, mistletoe helped solve the problem and she kissed everyone in sight in gratitude. Now – proper etiquette for using the mistletoe requires that the gentleman remove a berry for each smooch, and the smooching will cease when the last berry is plucked! I’m not certain how to regulate the use of plastic mistletoe…

In closing I want to note that mistletoe is the Oklahoma State Floral Emblem (not the State Flower) and that a young man by the name of Justin Beiber has a current song on the market about mistletoe, but I bet it will never be as popular as Jingle Bells!
Please note that I do not wish to be kissed under any more mistletoe as fertility is not in my future! Merry Christmas!!

Time to ‘Get Educated’: by Tom Butzler

Regardless if you are a vegetable grower, landscaper, or home gardener, the winter season is a bit slow as outdoor work is reduced compared to the growing season. This slowdown doesn’t mean that you are done working as this is a great time to ‘get educated’.

For vegetable growers, the marquee event is the four day Mid-Atlantic Fruit and Vegetable Conference in Hershey toward the end of January. As always, it will be several days of very educational talks and workshops attached to a great trade show. If it can be grown in Pennsylvania, chances are there is a session or at least a talk centered on that crop from asparagus to zucchini. There are some interesting topics between A to Z such as the growing of hops for beers and brussels sprouts production (what, everyone doesn’t eat brussels sprouts?).

Of course, travel or cost may be an issue so there are plenty of local, smaller vegetable meetings throughout Pennsylvania. This might be a good time to visit Penn State Extension’s new Vegetable and Small Fruit Production website at http://extension.psu.edu/vegetable-fruit to find out where local meetings are occurring. In addition to meeting and events, it is a starting point to finding production guides, fact sheets, and newsletters.

If travel is a big impediment, then visit a meeting from your home computer. Penn State Extension’s Vegetable and Fruit Team is running a series of webinars to provide convenient access to timely updates in vegetable and small fruit production. For those not familiar with the technology, a webinar is a live interactive learning opportunity involving multiple locations using the internet. The next several webinars will cover resources for organic vegetable growers, disease management, and new insect pests. Information on these webinars can also be found at the Vegetable and Small Fruit Production.

The green industry is not as organized as the vegetable and fruit folks. At this time, there is no state-wide meeting to showcase flowers, trees, and shrubs. That is not to say there are meetings across the state addressing green industry needs. Penn State Extension’s Green Industry Team is holding a series of meetings January through March on a variety of topics such as plant selection, updates on invasive insects, and pesticide selection to preserve beneficial insects in the landscape.

The new year will also see the launch of the Penn State Extension’s green industry e-newsletter. This will feature events, spotlights on landscape plants, and pests that are on the move.

This is only a glimpse of the educational material available to horticulture lovers in the form of meetings and reading material. Take the time this winter to read, listen, watch, and learn about your garden and landscape. It is an exciting world!

Nutty as a Fruitcake!: by Tina Clinefelter

The late, great Johnny Carson joked that there was ever only one fruitcake and it was just passed around to a different recipient each year, but I tend to disagree with him as I know a number of people that have actually eaten some and liked it!

I like it too if it contains NO candied fruit peel, and has been well cured with brandy!

As you might suspect, the Romans had a hand in the birth of fruitcake which they whipped up during the Saturnalia celebrations; their recipe consisted of a mix of raisins, pine-nuts and pomegranate seeds in a barley mash base. Progress was made in the Middle Ages when honey, dried fruits and spices were added to a bread dough and through the years our modern fruitcake has emerged in many differing guises; textures can range from light to dense, fruits may vary to what is readily available, and the amount of fruit used results in ‘cake with fruit’ or ‘fruit with cake’.

A typical recipe for fruitcake contains some, most or all of the following ingredients: butter, sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder, chopped nuts, chopped, dried fruit (apricots, figs, cherries, raisins, currants, cranberries etc.) and brandy. Using a heavy-duty mixer (the batter is very difficult to mix by hand), combine all the ingredients, pop into the oven and bake for a very long time at 300 degrees.
After the cake cools, it is stored, up-side-down in an airtight container and is ‘fed’ brandy once a week until Christmas (you need to make the fruitcake in early November). If anyone is interested in attempting this seasonal delicacy for next year, I have a much more detailed recipe at hand and will be delighted to share.

Now for some more fun-filled facts about Christmas cake, as the English call it:
In parts of Europe, in the dim past, the making of fruitcake was restricted, by law, to Christmas, Easter and weddings. I’m not sure what the penalties were for possessing and consuming fruitcake at non-legal times of the year, and I’m equally not sure how they checked on the citizenry to bust a chap for nibbling on fruitcake out of season – fruitcake cops? I wonder if the law is still on the books…

The English Christmas cake is made in a round pan (not a loaf-pan), and is upholstered in marzipan (almond paste) before being completely covered in royal icing. The marzipan was to prevent the icing becoming discolored by the cake. I detest marzipan so it became necessary to peel off the icing, and scrape off the almond junk before I could devour the icing which I adore. I once made a proper Christmas cake – it took me months – first the cake, then a lengthy search for marzipan, then days making pink royal icing roses. I proudly presented the family with my creation only to discover that nobody liked fruitcake – must have been a genetic abnormality…

I’m thinking of trying it again next year – twice in a life-time would be a personal best!

You may have noticed that this column is not about gardening – I’m all gardened-out for this year – so I will close with another non-gardening comment:
Why is it that so many people have not heard that, by law, one should turn on one’s headlights when one turns on the wipers? Guys in pick-ups are the worst offenders! Thanks for letting me get that off my chest!

Thank Goodness for Google!: by Tina Clinefelter

Today, I’m writing an article on a subject I know nothing about, with the exception of its name – Kohlrabi - a funky, freaky outer-space kind of vegetable, so let’s fire up Google and see what information is available…
First – the name: ‘Kohl’ is the German word for cabbage and ‘rabi’ means turnip; thus we have ‘cabbage-turnip’, and while kohlrabi belongs to the cabbage family it tastes more like a turnip. Very aptly named don’t you think?
Many people mistakenly think of kohlrabi as a root vegetable but in reality the plant produces a swollen stem just above the soil level and this, plus the young leaves are the edible parts. I’m told the flavor is mild and sweet, much like broccoli stems, cabbage hearts or raw turnips, and the texture is crisp and moist.
Most times the vegetable is eaten raw, peeled (if necessary) sliced or diced, and maybe dipped, but I found many recipes for roasting, barbequing, and stir-frying and the leaves may be chopped and added to green salads or steamed like spinach.
Kohlrabi is low in calories, high in dietary fiber, high in potassium and a good source of Vitamins A and C, folic acid and calcium. Yum!
Now for the history lesson – yes, the Romans ate kohlrabi but it was Charlemagne the Holy Roman Emperor, somewhere around 800 AD, who ordered that kohlrabi be grown in his Empire, and as he lived in what is now modern-day Aachen, therefore the German name!
One thing I forgot to mention when buying (or growing) kohlrabi, select or harvest the smaller ones (no bigger than 2 ½ inches in diameter) as the larger ones get woody and fibrous. Kohlrabi has a good shelf life of about 30 days and this piece of information led me to understand how one of our local vegetable gurus could exhibit the same huge kohlrabi in three different local County Fairs and win three times. The judge probably didn’t know it was totally inedible…but really big…
Now, who wants to grow kohlrabi? First, it is a cool weather crop, so spring or fall is the season to try. Setting out transplants is the best way to go, so start seeds indoors four weeks before the last frost date and plant out when they have five leaves. This vegetable prefers a near neutral soil (pH 7) with good fertility and regular watering. Space 4-6” apart. If we get a blistering hot spell in spring shade the plants if possible. Harvest by slicing off at the base when the stems are the size of a tennis ball.
Recipe for roasted kohlrabi:
1 ½ lbs fresh kohlrabi, thick end trimmed off, peeled if desired and diced.
Toss in a bowl with enough olive oil to cover; season with a little garlic powder and salt to taste. Roast in a 450* oven on a jelly-roll pan for 30-35 mins stirring often to prevent burning. Sprinkle with vinegar at the table.
I don’t have a good photo of a kohlrabi but I’ve heard it described as follows:
Imagine a hot-air balloon – the thickened stem is the basket, the long leaf-stems are the wires, and the leaves themselves are the balloon – got the picture?
If not – go to Google!

Vegetable Production Webinar Series

Click to enlarge

Nature’s Hitchhiker: by Tom Butzler

The weather was beautiful two weekends ago and so I took my two younger kids out hiking on a Sunday. I picked a hiking trail off of the Pine Creek Rails to Trail as it was an easy hike for my travelling partners and dog. About five minutes into the hike, I saw a tick on my daughters light colored sweatshirt and stopped to brush it off. While removing that tick, I noticed she was covered with them as was the dog. I looked at my own clothing and I too had ticks all over me. Needless to say, the hike stopped and we turned around and skedaddled back to the car.

I have read Penn State’s factsheet on ticks numerous times and one paragraph always stood out to me. ‘Hunters and hikers increase their risk of encountering a blacklegged tick by following deer trails.’ Later in the paragraph it also states that ‘adult ticks more often are collected from narrow forest trails than from general sites throughout the forest, and they are more prevalent in high, brushy vegetation.’

On our retreat out of the forest, we stopped numerous times to see why the literature emphasizes narrow trails and the vegetation that crowds those trails. My son and I checked many of the branches of small shrubs that were protruding into the trails walking space and we found them. Those tiny ticks were at the very tip of the branches, just waiting for a warm blooded animal (human or deer, they don’t seem to mind) to come by.

Adult blacklegged ticks become active
in fall – this ‘questing’ female has
raised her front legs to sense suitable
wildlife hosts as they pass by.
(Image provided by Graham
Hickling, University of
Tennessee.) Click on picture to
enlarge       

This ‘hanging out’ on the plant tip is called questing. A tick crawls to the tip of vegetation and waits for a host. Certain triggers such as heat, movement, and carbon dioxide from a passing host cause the front legs of the tick to extend and grasp on a creature as it passes by.

We did checks on our clothing, bodies, and dog throughout the rest of the day and we probably removed close to one hundred ticks. Even then, we missed one that had just started to embed itself into my daughters scalp.

Of course the concern in with ticks in our neck of the woods is Lyme Disease. The Center for Disease Control describes the typical symptoms of the disease to include fever, headache, fatigue, and a characteristic skin rash. If left untreated, infection can spread to joints, the heart, and the nervous system.

The hunting season is upon and people will be interacting with tick habitat over the next several weeks. Precautions can be taken by using an insecticide on exposed skin and clothing and checking the body every day. I suppose I could say wear light colored clothing as it makes the ticks stand out for identification purposes but I don’t know of to many hunters that will wear whites, yellows, and light blues into Pennsylvania’s woods.