Home BYGL 2011 Text Only Contacts Search Site Map ENLT Presentations Lead Editor: Curtis Young Contributing Authors: Pam Bennett, Joe Boggs, Cindy Meyer, Jim Chatfield, Erik Draper Dave Dyke, Gary Gao, Tim Malinich, Bridget Meiring, Amy Stone and Curtis Young Buckeye Yard and Garden onLine provides timely information about Ohio growing conditions, pest, disease, and cultural problems. Updated weekly between April and October, this information is useful for those who are managing a commercial nursery, garden center, or landscape business or someone who just wants to keep their yard looking good all summer. BYGL June 2, 2011 Thursday, 02 June 2011 17:25 This is the 9th 2011 edition of the Buckeye Yard and Garden Line (BYGL). BYGL is developed from a Tuesday morning conference call of Extension Educators, Specialists, and other contributors in Ohio. In This Issue: 1. PLANTS OF THE WEEK: Annual (Impatiens); Perennial (Baptisia); Woody (Black Locust); Vegetable (Eggplant); and Weed (Wild Parsnip). 2. HORT SHORTS: Growing Degree Days (GDD); What Happended to my Daggone Strawberries?; Kudzu…in Ohio?; and From Plant to Plate - Simple Gardens, Simple Recipes, Simply Good. 3. BUG BYTES: Bagworm Egg Hatch; Honeylocust Horrors (Honeylocust Pod and Honeylocust Plant Bugs); Ailanthus Wonders (Ailanthus Webworm); and Thistle Tortoise Beetle Taking Down Thistle. 4. DISEASE DIGEST: Vascular Wilts of Landscape Trees and Download Vegetable Disease Diagnostic Posters. 5. TURF TIPS: Black Cutworm Update; What are Those Reddish Threads in my Lawn? (Red Thread); and Black Medic Blooming in Turf. 6. INDUSTRY INSIGHTS: Potato Leafhoppers have Returned. 7. WEATHERWATCH. 8. COMING ATTRACTIONS: School Integrated Pest Management Seminars Scheduled. 9. BYGLOSOPHY. APPENDIX - ADDITIONAL WEBSITE RESOURCES. 1. PLANTS OF THE WEEK. *ANNUAL - IMPATIENS - (Impatiens walleriana). Now that the weather is finally cooperating, gardeners are planting lots of impatiens in shade gardens around Ohio! This easy-to-grow shade-lover does best in well-drained soils and in shade ranging from light to heavy. The more sun these plants get, the more water required to keep them healthy. Most of the newer cultivars don't require pinching to make them bushy or deadheading (removing the dead blossoms). Plants grow anywhere from 6" (pixie varieties) to 12-15" tall. Flower colors are red, pink, orange, salmon, white, purple, and bi-color. The newer double cultivars are loaded with blooms compared to varieties from the past! Impatiens are relatively pest-free; however, it is a good idea to rotate them out of a flower bed every few years to avoid the potential for Verticillium wilt. For more information, see: Missouri Botanical Garden Kemper Center for Home Gardening information on Impatiens walleriana Clemson Cooperative Extension Home and Garden Information Center on Impatiens *PERENNIAL - BAPTISIA, FALSE INDIGO (Baptisia spp.). This durable, long-lived North American native perennial likes to be planted and left alone! Therefore, select a sunny site that has normal Midwest soil and give this plant a permanent home. Plants grow to around 2 1/2-3/1/2' tall and around 3-4' wide in a rounded mound, depending upon the variety or cultivar. It is relatively pest-free and has great heat and drought tolerance. Blue false indigo also has great foliage that appears bluish-green. The lupine-like flowers appear on spikes in late May and early June. The seed pods that develop are also quite attractive and last into the fall. The seed pods can be used in dried arrangements. If the plants are grown in light-shade or fertile soil, they tend to get tall and floppy. Many breeding programs around the country have introduced new cultivars with great features, including 'Purple Smoke'. This was discovered at the North Carolina Botanical Garden, Chapel Hill by curator Rob Gardner. It is a hybrid of B. australis and B. alba and is loaded with smoky violet flowers on charcoal gray flower stems; it has smaller leaflets than B. australis and gets around 2-3' tall. For more information, see: University of Kentucky Plant information on Baptisia australis Missouri Botanical Garden Kemper Center for Home Gardening information on Baptisia australis var. minor *WOODY - BLACK LOCUST (Robinia pseudoacacia). Michael A. Dirr writes in the "Manual of Woody Landscape Plants" that, "Europeans have grown, appreciated and selected superior forms of this tree while Americans treated it as some pedestrian weed." While many may think this way, there are some great qualities to this plant. This tree is a common sight in many natural growing areas and is a suitable candidate for even the toughest of growing conditions. While it may not be suitable for the home landscape or as a specimen tree it could be considered a tree for highway or reclaimed stripped- mined areas. It is currently blooming in the northern part of Ohio and has a white, fragrant, pendulous flower. Individual flowers have the typical look of a legume or bean family member to which it belongs, and creates a great spectacle mid to late May into June. This tree averages 30-50' in height and 20- 30' in width. It does have a few problems including locust borer, leaf spots and powdery mildews. For more information, see: Ohio Department of Natural Resources - Ohio Trees Guide *VEGETABLE - EGGPLANT (Solanum melongena). The eggplant is a native of India and a relative of tomato, potato and pepper. It can be started early indoors, but most gardeners set out transplants from the garden center. Space plants 18" apart with 2-3' between rows. To properly rotate crops, do not plant in the same space occupied by tomato, potato or pepper the previous two years. Eggplants love heat. With proper irrigation they will continue to develop and produce fruit throughout the summer. Use a complete fertilizer at planting and make a second application after the first harvest. The most common problem with eggplant are flea beetles which eat tiny holes in the leaves. Too small to hand pick, the beetles are easily controlled with insecticides labeled for use in the vegetable garden. Use pruning shears to harvest the fruit. The stems are tough; twisting and pulling to harvest will only damage the plant. Plan on harvesting when the fruit is still small, about 6-8", and the skin is shiny. Over mature fruit with dull skin and a spongy interior should be discarded. 'Black Beauty' is a standard color and shape. 'Ichiban' is long and thin, and 'Casper' a white-fruited variety. For more information, see: OSUE FactSheet on Growing Eggplant in the Home Garden *WEED - WILD PARSNIP (Pastinaca sativa). As a member of the carrot family, wild parsnip is a biennial. It spends the first year growing vegetatively then blooms the following year. Individual flowers are borne on a compound umbel atop of the 2-5' tall plant. Leaves are large, up to 18" long, and oddly pinnate. The actual flowers are about 1/8" across and have tiny yellow petals. The blooming period may last 2 months from late spring until mid-summer. Flattened, winged seeds are spread by wind to produce the next generation of wild parsnip. Wild parsnip is one of the weeds commonly mistaken for GIANT HOGWEED (Heracleum mantegazzianum). However, giant hogweed is much larger, up to 15' tall, and has white flowers and a very thick reddish purple, spotted stem. For more information, see: Wildflowers of Illinois - Wild Parsnip 2. HORT SHORTS. A. GROWING DEGREE DAYS (GDD). GDD is a measure of the daily maximum and minimum temperature and directly relates to growth and development of plants and insects. The GDD of any zip code location in Ohio is estimated using the GDD of ten OARDC weather stations and available on the web at: http://www.oardc.ohio-state.edu/gdd/ . The range of GDD accumulations in Ohio from north to south is 421 to 841. Following is a report of GDD for several locations around Ohio as of June 1, 2011: Painesville, 421; Cleveland, 462; Toledo, 537; Canfield, 525; Findlay, 558; Van Wert, 575; Wooster, 613; Coshocton, 704; Columbus, 823; Springfield, 763; Dayton, 766; Cincinnati, 803; Ironton, 810; Portsmouth, 813; and Piketon, 841. To put these GDD accumulations into perspective, the following is an abbreviated listing of plant and insect species with their respective phenological event and average GDD accumulations at which these events occur. Due to variations in weather, temperature, humidity, etc., these events may occur a few days earlier or later than predicted by the average GDD. By looking at a city, town, or village nearby on the above list, or visiting the above website, one can see what is taking place in the landscape. Black cherry, full bloom, 419; Miss Kim Manchurian lilac, first bloom, 422; locust leafminer, adult emergence, 437; doublefile viburnum, full bloom, 444; black locust, first bloom, 467; common ninebark, first bloom, 478; oystershell scale, egg hatch, 497; smokebush, first bloom, 501; arrowwood viburnum, first bloom, 534; American yellowwood, first bloom, 546; bronze birch borer, adult emergence, 547; black locust, full bloom, 548; American holly, first bloom, 556; mountain laurel, first bloom, 565; potato leafhopper, adult arrival, 568; juniper scale, egg hatch, 571; common ninebark, full bloom, 596; American yellowwood, full bloom, 599; arrowwood viburnum, full bloom, 621; multiflora rose, full bloom, 643; northern catalpa, first bloom, 675; black vine weevil, first leaf notching due to adult feeding, 677; Washington hawthorn, full bloom, 731; calico scale, egg hatch, 748; greater peach tree borer, adult emergence, 775; rhododendron borer, adult emergence, 815; northern catalpa, full bloom, 816; mountain laurel, full bloom, 822; dogwood borer, adult emergence, 830; oakleaf hydrangea, first bloom, 835; and cottony maple scale, egg hatch, 851. For more information, see: Growing Degree Days and Phenology for Ohio Understanding and Using Degree-Days B.