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OSU Extension Service Columbia County 505 N. Columbia River Hwy, St. Helens OR 97051 Phone: 503.397.3462 Email: [email protected] Office hours: Please call to check availability To visit links to external articles, please view this newsletter online at our Website: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/columbia/

June 2021 Programs for you . . .

Listen to the Gardening Spot on KOHI (1600 am) radio: Every Saturday, 8:05 to 8:15 a.m.

rd Columbia County Beekeepers Virtual Meeting June 3 at 6pm. “Honeybee Queen Ph eromones,” a guest presentation by Ana Heck from Michigan State University. Email for login information: [email protected]

th Columbia County Household Hazardous Waste Collection Event June 12 , 8-2pm At the county transfer station: 1601 Railroad Ave in St. Helens. Next one: Aug 28th

OSU Wildfire Wednesdays These online webinars continue June 2nd & 16th and past recordings are available. For more details and links to recorded webinars and resources, check the “Fire Aware. Fire Prepared.” program website. Also, be sure to read our introduction to our new Regional Fire Specialist on the back page!

Farmers Markets Opening! Use the “farmers market finder” to find one near you!

OSU resources & publications: https://catalog.extension.oregonstate.edu/

Chip Bubl, OSU Extension Faculty, Agriculture Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources, Family and CommunityIn the Health, garden 4-H Youth, Forestry & Natural Resources, and Extension Sea Grant programs. Oregon State University, United States Department of Agriculture, and Columbia County cooperating. The Extension Service offers its programs and materials equally to all people.

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In the garden material to plant. See comments below. The bulbils will take two years to produce a good quality bulb. Talk to me if you want more Soils are really dry information on this process.

During our water year from October 1 through While garlic varieties can mature at different September 30th, we normally get 43 inches of times from late June through mid-July, my sense water. At the end of May according to the is that we are ahead of things this year. National Weather Service, we stand at 28 inches for the water year in Scappoose. In a normal But now to the bad news. There are more year, June would add about 1.5 inches, with July problems with growing garlic over the last 10 at .6 inches, August with 1.1 inches, and years than I have seen in the past. The least September with 1.8 more inches. In a normal common problem is white rot. This devastating year, this would add 5 inches to our current May fungal disease has to get to your garden from total of 28 inches giving us 33 inches total for infected planting stock. Mostly, it comes with the 20-21 water year. This is about 10 inches bundled onion plants that are grown in soil in short of normal or about 75% of normal rainfall some other part of the country. If the soils have for the water year. These numbers should be white rot, it can infect your purchased proportional for other county locations. The transplants. Once put in your garden, it spreads. forecasts aren’t optimistic for reaching even You will never be able to grow an onion those numbers. It is dry and this follows several (Allium) family plant again. It is a very unkind dry springs in a row. Those of you on wells may disease. Luckily, it isn’t too common. Onion find them run short or worse. Pay attention to starts grown from seed in a greenhouse in keeping your most important plants watered and potting mix are not a risk. use mulches for water management. And start thinking about what your landscape should look like in the future if this continues.

Garlic harvest…. And problems

The weather has been good for garlic though, if you haven’t watered yet, you should deep water once as soon as possible. The hardneck garlic varieties are pushing out their floral stalks. These need to be removed to keep carbohydrates going to bulb growth. The most common problem is very tough but The only possibly manageable. This is another fungus reason to called Fusarium basal plate rot. It is carried allow those asymptomatically in garlic cloves. During wet bulbils to springs, especially on poorly drained ground, it form on the explodes. The bottom of the bulb rots and stalks (there shouldn’t be used for planting or cooking. is no true Commercial growers look to source stock from seed) is if eastern or central Oregon. That works most of you are having disease or mite issues and want the time but they can also have bad years. to recover some uninfected or un-infested

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Raised beds help. Raised beds with drip Horseradish is rarely sold freshly harvested irrigation and tight-to-the-bed black plastic with since, unless kept chilled and humidified, it holes punched to plant the cloves seems almost loses quality quickly. But there are probably a miracle cure. The disease may not completely 4,000 acres grown for disappear but can be kept to a very low roots to make incidence. horseradish products. And there are many The third problem people passionate about shows up when horseradish as a beautiful garlic is condiment for harvested but during sandwiches and other drying and afterwards in dishes such that the storage, cloves and market for those whole bulbs shrivel and products is quite good. Photo of horseradish cut roots: dry up. This is caused Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison by two mite species. It Horseradish evolved and was brought into kind of snuck up on cultivation in Russia and Eastern Europe. It is everyone but is now something of an epidemic. an herbaceous perennial plant (top dies back in Treatment either at time of planting, during the the winter) that propagates both by root pieces growing year, or after harvest are unclear. This and seed. The root is the valuable part in is a problem that I have. I treated the cloves cooking and medicine. before planting last fall with sulfur dust (mites generally don’t like sulfur) and plan to sulfur The plant got the spray by the time you get this newsletter. I will English name separate out the best cloves for replanting, dust horseradish from a them with sulfur, and refrigerate them until they possible mis-translation are planted. At planting, I will dust with sulfur of the German word again. For eating garlic, we freeze the cloves meerrettich, which and bring them out as needed. They hold up means “sea radish”, well in the freezer. Research is ongoing appropriate for where it regarding cures and management. It isn’t even grew in Europe. clear what alternate hosts exist and how these Pronounce “meer” as Photo of horseradish plant: North mites spread. Maybe we will know more next “mare” and the horse Carolina State University year. So far, garlic rust, common in the jump was easy. Willamette valley, doesn’t seem to be in Columbia County much. Horseradish is in the cabbage/mustard family of edible roots (with radishes, rutabagas, turnips, Perennial vegetables: Horseradish etc.) and gets its “kick” from oils common, in varying amounts, to all members of that very Horseradish doesn’t have the broad culinary extended family. To do well, horseradish must interest as artichokes, asparagus, or even have winter. It is listed as a zone 2-9 plant. rhubarb that were covered earlier in this Freezing stimulates oil production and newsletter. Nor does it have the garden horseradish is best harvested after at least one landscape appeal of those plants since it is rather freeze, and even better after two. Frost kills the boring with escapist tendencies. leaves. In areas with dry, cold winters, the roots

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can stay in the ground and be harvested as Horseradish is allelopathic, which means some needed. other plants aren’t comfortable around horseradish. Exudates from the plant can stunt Horseradish likes deep, rich soil with good or kill germinating seeds and slow roots that are drainage and full sun to partial shade. It will in its “zone of control”. disappear in deep shade. It is a husky plant with leaves, either smooth or wavy depending on Horseradish can spread by root pieces and seeds variety, two feet high in a rosette that can be a in gardens. Plant in one area that isn’t rotating to foot and a half wide. Typical farm spacing is 15- other plants. It can be planted in containers 24 inches between plants within a row and 30 to successfully. 36” between rows. Root pieces (3/8 to 3/4 inches wide and 8 to 14 inches long) are cut The complex chemicals are released when the with the top straight and the lower portion at an cell vacuole is punctured. Clever insects have angle so you plant them in the correct direction. found a way to get nourishment from We want no confused roots! The roots are laid horseradish without stimulating the insecticidal in a 3 to 5 inch deep furrow at a 45-degree compounds the plant produces. They know their angle. Cover the furrow and water. way around the “cells of death”.

When you harvest, dig the whole plant. You will Horseradish was first viewed as a medicine long find the main root and side roots that you will before it was used in cooking. Medicinal use to replant. That said, many people just qualities that horseradish may have include anti- assume they have left root pieces when they dig cancer properties, circulatory improvement, as the big root and they are usually right. You can an antibiotic for some bacteria, management of harvest fall through spring. I could find no fatty liver issues, and others. It is not indication that voles eat horseradish over winter recommended for people with low thyroid no matter how bad conditions are. function (hypothyroidism). None of these medical indications have been proven and no Horseradish root flavor diminishes with storage. dose/response information has been confirmed. So to, do preparations of horseradish. So Horseradish should not be taken as a horseradish is often harvested and prepped medicine without consulting your physician. every month or so to maintain a high quality flavor profile. Finally, here are some horseradish links that you might find interesting: Some other horseradish info: https://www.herbsociety.org/file_download/inline/ Wasabi is also in the cabbage family and 00a657ad-4bfa-4db8-945f-526586c09c2f This is a produces a similar but somewhat more complex great summary of horseradish info. flavor. It is very hard to grow since it requires cold, running water. Commercial “wasabi” https://horticulture.oregonstate.edu/oregon- powder is made from powdered horseradish, vegetables/horseradish-0 some flavoring, and green colorant. https://extension.oregonstate.edu/sites/default/file Horseradish will blacken silver spoons. s/documents/8836/sp50793horseradish.pdf

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Weed (?) of the month: Western wild lacking. The plant may be pollen self-incompatible, thus requiring cross pollination. The oval fruit is cucumber (Marah oreganus) green and fleshy (about the size and shape of a small avocado), usually with gentle spines in our Wild cucumber is a native plant found mostly west range. The ~4 seeds at maturity are oval, quite large of the Cascades from British Columbia into central (1+ inches and brown to tan), flattened to about California. It is an herbaceous one-quarter inch or less thickness, perennial plant (i.e. its stems, and hardened. The fruit ruptures at leaves and fruits appear over the maturity, releasing the seeds. It is spring and summer and then die not clear how these seeds are back to ground level). Other dispersed. Best guesses are names for this plant are rodents, birds (only large seed- “manroot” or “old man in the eating birds need apply), or ground”. These names come from moving water. the large, fleshy root underneath the vines. I have seen roots that The seeds have an odd have been five feet long and over germination cycle. The shoot emerges from the seed a foot wide near the top (brought in by a couple of and grows down. It then splits and a new lobe forms paddlers on the Nehalem who found it on a cut- that grows upward to become the initial vine shoot. bank). A small root is the size of a basketball. Large roots can weigh over 200 pounds! The plant has a long history of medicinal use by native people, most commonly as external skin The wild cucumber prefers somewhat open ground treatments. There is some research interest in this at the edge of a forest, along fence rows, or in plant and other bitter cucumber species for anti- dappled shade. It can tolerate fairly dry sites but viral and anti-cancer compounds. does well where there is a creek or riverbed nearby. The vines emerge from the perennial It is hard to confuse this plant with buds in the early spring and really other vines when the fruits form. We take off in May. Individual vines can are on the lookout for kudzu (so far it be 20+ feet long. Vines climb up into has not been found in Columbia trees and shrubs, covering the plants County) and the early growth of wild but not killing them. It is not clear if cucumber is similar to kudzu. covered plants are even stunted. In dry summers, the vines will Perhaps you can tell that I don’t complete their growth and die back really consider this plant a weed. by mid-late August. Leaves are large There is some indication that some of (4-6 inches wide) and lobed. They the large roots could be hundreds of look a bit like grape leaves. The years old. And we have little leaves, stems, or fruits appear not to be eaten much indication of its role in the native landscape but it by livestock, deer, or even many insects since all appears to do no harm. I know there are people above-ground parts of the plant are quite bitter. bothered by the rampant growth of the vines, especially apparent after a wet spring. But my The flowers emerge fairly early and are largely instincts are to leave the plant alone where you can. white. Like most plants in the cucumber family, If you feel you need to control it, give me a call and there are male and female flowers on the same we can talk about effective options. plant. The male flowers start first and continue as female flowers open. It is assumed they are insect- Photos: R. Carr, EWU and Wikipedia pollinated (native and honey bees) but details are

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The natural world Unlike carpenter ants, there are no mass nuptial Large ant hills flights. The winged males and females tend to emerge singly and mate, often not flying at all. I get a number of calls each year about large ant The female only accepts one male, unlike most mounds created by the western thatching ant. The ant queens. Then it gets more interesting. Often, mounds are created from plant debris consisting the fertilized queen will return to her nest and join in our area mainly of grass stems, fir needles, and the other queens in producing brood. Sometimes, small twigs. In my experience, most of the she is able to gather a group of workers of all mounds are constructed on the edge of a three castes and form a new nest nearby. Where forest/hedgerow and pasture. Sometimes, they ranges overlap, the queen can enter the nest of a can be found deep in a forest F. rufa or other related species, bite the but that is less common. The head off the queen and convince the western thatching ant workers by her chemical communication (Formica obscuripes) is skills to tend her brood. Ultimately, the responsible for all the work. nest converts to F. obscuripes. The mounds start small, as all great construction must, but The black bodied, red headed ants will can rise to significant stature. bite when provoked. Their strong We have one mound on the mandibles deliver a formic acid-laced edge of our forest that is jolt that can be quite painful. But that about five feet tall and at least response generally happens only when four feet across. This you mess with the nest. Otherwise, these particular colony is at least 15 clever ants are considered the garbage years old. Each colony may detail of the forest. They consume pests, contain as many as one recycle small carcasses, and capture million ants, though colonies are usually half that termite queens in August. There are hints, though or less. no definitive research, that thatching ants compete with carpenter ants for the same food The queens (yes, they often have more than one) sources and may reduce the carpenter ant colonies are kept deeply hidden in the structure. As the where they overlap with theirs. Thatching ants do weather warms, the large caste worker ants go not invade your house and chew wood like into high gear, collecting juicy bits from any stray carpenter ants. caterpillar or dead mouse in the vicinity. The middle caste ants are aphid ranchers, tending They are beneficial and unless they make the “their” aphids as they suck the sugars from plants mistake of putting their nest in a very like Canada thistle and a variety of trees and inappropriate place (like in the middle of your shrubs. In turn, the ants protect the aphids from garden) they should be left alone. With the lady beetles and wasps that want to eat them. It western tent caterpillar outbreak gathering steam appears that an ant has its own work site and will in parts of Columbia County, thatching ants will return to a given aphid-covered thistle stem every be feasting on the caterpillars and helping to day. The ants eat very small amounts of fresh contain their spread. In parts of Europe, you are plant material. The smallest ants tend the brood specifically asked not to kill the colonies since and queen. they are so important to forest health. Photo: Bubl

6 ~ JUNE ~

Garden hints from your OSU Extension Agent

Oregon State University Extension Service encourages sustainable gardening practices. Alwa ys identify and monitor problems before acting. First, consider cultural controls; then physical, biological, and chemical controls (which include insecticidal soaps, horticultural oils, botanical insecticides, organic and synthetic pesticides). Always consider the least toxic approach first. All recommendations in this calendar are not necessarily applicable to all areas of Oregon. For more information, contact your local office of the OSU Extension Service.

Planning ▪ Construct trellises for tomatoes, cucumbers, pole beans, and vining ornamentals.

Maintenance and Clean Up ▪ Prune lilacs, forsythia, rhododendrons, and azaleas after blooming. ▪ Fertilize vegetable garden 1 month after plants emerge by side dressing alongside rows. ▪ Harvest thinnings from new plantings of lettuce, onion, and chard. ▪ Pick ripe strawberries regularly to avoid fruit-rotting diseases. ▪ Use organic mulches to conserve soil moisture in ornamental beds. An inch or two of sawdust, barkdust, or composted leaves will minimize loss of water through evaporation. ▪ Blossoms on squash and cucumbers begin to drop: this is nothing to worry about. Cherries may also drop fruit: this is not a major concern. ▪ After normal fruit drop of apples, pears and peaches in June, consider thinning the remainder to produce a larger crop of fruit. ▪ Make sure raised beds receive enough water for plants to avoid drought stress. If a green lawn is desired, make sure lawn areas are receiving adequate water (approximately 0.5 to 1.5 inches per week from June through August). Deep watering less often is more effective than frequent shallow watering. Measure your water use by placing an empty tuna can where your irrigation water lands. ▪ (Mid-June): If green lawns are being maintained through the summer, apply 1 lb. nitrogen per 1,000 sq.ft. to lawns.

Planting/Propagation ▪ Plant dahlias and gladioli.

Pest Monitoring and Management ▪ Continue monitoring blueberry, strawberry, cherry and other plants that produce soft fruits and berries for Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD). If SWD are present, use an integrated and least toxic approach to manage the pests. ▪ First week: spray cherry trees for cherry fruit fly, as necessary, if fruit is ripening. ▪ First week: spray for codling moth in apple and pear trees. Continue use of pheromone traps for insect pest detection. ▪ Learn to identify beneficial insects and plant some insectary plants (e.g. Alyssum, Phacelia, coriander, candytuft, sunflower, yarrow, dill) to attract them to your garden. Check with local nurseries for best selections. See PNW550 (Encouraging Beneficial Insects in Your Garden) for more information. ▪ Control garden weeds by pulling, hoeing, or mulching. ▪ Control aphids on vegetables as needed by hosing off with water or use insecticidal soap or a registered insecticide. ▪ Watch for 12-spotted beetles on beans and lettuce and cabbage worms or flea beetles in cole crops (cabbage, broccoli, brussel sprouts). Remove the pests by hand or treat with registered pesticides. ▪ Spray peas as first pods form, if necessary, to control weevils. ▪ Birch trees dripping a sticky fluid from their leaves means that aphids are present. Control as needed. ▪ Use yellow sticky traps to monitor for cherry fruit fly. About 1 week after the first fly is caught, spray cherries at appropriate intervals. ▪ Last week: second spray for codling moth in apple and pear trees, as necessary.

Houseplants and Indoor Gardening ▪ Move houseplants outdoors for cleaning, grooming, repotting and summer growth. 7

Farm and livestock notes They spend the evenings in respiration, converting those sugars into structural products for plants and energy to power plant processes. Pinkeye season When hay is cut, rapid moisture loss slows respiration. When hay is cut in the evening, the Pinkeye is a complicated disease. It is caused by sugar production of that day is stabilized in the a set of bacteria (IBK is the main one) that are hay. brought to the eye by flies. Some cattle are more susceptible, genetically, to pinkeye than others. It also appears that domestic and wild animals Pinkeye is said to be the leading cause of prefer to graze forage in the early evening, economic loss in the cattle probably due to the improved sugar status of the forage that time of day. industry. Animals don’t die Some farmers are putting animals into from pinkeye but they do new pastures in the evening and poorly. reporting larger gains from the livestock. Preventing pinkeye depends on a total Pelleted lime management program that recognizes the complexity of the disease. Most soils in Western Oregon are acid. Most crops prefer soils that are close to a neutral pH • Vaccinate for pinkeye. Talk to your vet (6.5-7.0). Lime is used to correct acidity. Each about available products. calcium carbonate molecule in lime replaces • Reduce face fly numbers by knocking two molecules of acidity. Some people use less down manure piles and giving cattle lime when using lime pellets. This is a mistake. insecticide ear tags. While there might be a quicker spike in pH, the • Clip pastures. Eye irritation from tall acidity problem has not been corrected. Use weeds or grass can hasten infection. enough lime, whatever the source. • Treat infections as soon as noticed. Look at your cattle often. Soil test results and sampling depth Evening cut hay is sweet An OSU note is must reading for anyone who As I write this, there has been some good uses fertilizer in farming or ranching. Here are haymaking weather. With any luck, there will some of the highlights: be many good days to come. It is clear that maturity of the forage (the older it is the lower • The point of a soil test and the resulting the protein, digestibility and sugars) and the mix fertilizer recommendation is not to change of forage species (legumes have more protein the soil test but to supply the plants with than grass) have a lot to do with hay quality. nutrients. There is now evidence that time of hay cutting can affect forage quality. • A soil test taken after a successful crop has been harvested may show no change in a This makes sense. Plants spend the day certain element like P, Mg, K etc. because capturing sunlight and turning it into sugars. the crop use, fertilizer recommendation and

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ultimate application rate were calibrated another farmer. Or they may involve smaller well together. rural residential sites that are affected by spray drift. Farmers and foresters do not want these • Fertilizer is often broadcast on existing conflicts or problems. There are several steps pasture stands. Some nutrients, like that can be taken to minimize conflicts. First, phosphorus, move slowly through the soil assess vulnerable plantings that could profile. When a standard 8” soil sample is conceivably be affected by inadvertent spray taken, it may under-represent the amount of drift. Are there some products and/or timings P available to the grass/clover since P may be concentrated in the top 2-3 inches. that would be less potentially harmful and yet still effective in protecting your • In certain situations (older crop? If so, use them. pastures that are top-dressed annually), a “stratified” sample, Know the products that cause more i.e. one broken up into a 0-3” problems. Among the herbicides, sample and one 3-6” deep may ester formulations can be more give you valuable information. volatile. This has been a common problem with smaller farms spraying Crossbred cows last longer blackberries with Crossbow, an herbicide formulated with two ester active Some years ago, a study out of Nebraska ingredients. The sulfonoureas can blow away in showed that crossbred cows outlived dust if it gets dry and windy enough or move in straightbreds by an average of 1.36 years. wind when the spray mixture is applied at too high a pressure. Both can cause serious damage Cows were culled for emaciation, prolapse, to neighboring crops or landscapes. cancer eye and being open. Longevity ranking, from the longest to the shortest, gave the Weather plays a role. Temperatures nearing 80 following order: crossbreds, Angus, Herefords and Shorthorns. degrees F or more (even several hours after the spray application) can increase ester volatility. Open (unbred) cows accounted for 45% of the Very still days may lead to an inversion which culling. An interesting finding showed that can cause a cloud of spray to form and then crossbreds had better teeth (both longer and move offsite. A gentle breeze of 2-9 mph is straighter) over time. That could well affect cow considered the best time to spray. nutrition and thus body condition, disease and infertility. Use drift control nozzles and /or drift retardent adjuvants as the label and the situation Spray drift recommends.

Spray that goes off target doesn’t make for good For more information, see Preventing Herbicide neighbor relations. Despite the considerable Drift and Injury to Grapes for some examples of success of land use laws in separating natural problems and solutions to spray drift: resource uses from rural residential ones, there https://catalog.extension.oregonstate.edu/sites/c still are conflicts. They may involve farmers atalog/files/project/pdf/em8860.pdf whose crops are damaged by the actions of

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505 N Columbia River Hwy St Helens OR 97051

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Welcome to Aaron Groth, one of several new OSU Regional Fire Specialists!

In January, Aaron Groth began the position of Regional Fire Specialist and Assistant Professor of Practice for the Coast Fire Service Area, based in Astoria. Aaron joins us from the University of Texas at Austin’s Department of Geography and the Environment, where he is working on his Ph.D. degree in Geography, focused on landscape ecology and management, forest conservation, biogeography, and integrated watershed studies.

Aaron is a former Peace Corps Volunteer, where he worked in the areas of agroforestry and reforestation in the Andes Mountains of Peru during 2006 – 2008 and then continued on working for the Peace Corps in a professional Profile Photo Credit: Yesica Quispe capacity as Environmental Management Volunteer Coordinator for two years and as a Community Conservation Specialist for the Upper Amazon Conservancy (Peru). His work in Peru in the Andes and Upper Amazon spanned 15 years, where we worked for a variety of organizations in variety of environment and conservation related positions. Aaron holds a B.A. degree in History and International Studies from the University of Wisconsin and an M.A. in Geography from the University of Missouri. Aaron holds graduate certificates in Conservation Biology and Geographic Information Science. Aaron has extensive experience working with indigenous communities and is fluent in Spanish. Join us in welcoming Aaron to OSU Extension Services!

Oregon State University Extension Service offers educational programs, activities, and materials without discrimination based on age, color, disability, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or veteran’s status. Oregon State University Extension Service is an Equal Opportunity Employer. OSU Extension programs will provide reasonable accommodation to persons with physical or mental disabilities. Contact the Columbia County Extension office at 503-397-3462 to request reasonable accommodation. This publication will be made available in accessible formats upon request.