Pesticide Poisoning? Clean Up When You're Done!

My dog, Lily, is all mutt pup. Not quite a year old, she runs the farm (literally and figuratively). Having had a very calm and slightly handicapped dog before (Emmylou had no right front paw) who passed away last year, I knew what I was in for with a puppy. But you know, you really never do.

Sunday morning she came in the house with tremors all over. She was also heavily salivating. I took her to the doggie ER. They suspected some sort of pesticide poisoning, either a permethrin or an organophosphate (like Sevin).

Although we could find no evidence of any pesticide jug that she had gotten into, it's a good time to bring up the issue of putting away things when you're done with them, especially pesticides if you have animals or kids around.

Lily had to spend the night at the vet but she's home and well now. Animal Care Center and Dr Hall, THANKS!

Bagging Apples

Ever heard of this? Apple bagging is simply placing individual apples inside bags while they are still on the tree. Bags are put on when fruit is about quarter-sized. Bags remain on til about 3 weeks before harvest. Bagged apples will not color up properly, so taking them off well before harvest is a must.

Why, why, oh why would anyone do this? Well, apples get plenty of disease and insect pests. Most backyard fruit growers do not want to apply lots of pesticides. So....by bagging fruit we are physically keeping the pest off the fruit without having to spray. An organic pest control method.

In addition to using the Japanese apple bags (from the website above), a UK entomologist gave me some nylons. Yes, there is anecdotal evidence that nylons (like what women slip on when trying on shoes) can work to deter pests.

I grow Liberty apple which is very disease resistant, but no apples are insect resistant. Here are my photos of bagged, nyloned, and not-bagged apples.



Pretty cool. But let me tell you, putting bags on apples is dang time consuming, especially the Japanese apple bags. Most of the bags I had put on had fallen off mid-season. The nylons were much easier to put on and did not tend to come off with bad storms and weathering.

The bagged apple was the biggest of the 3, shown below. And you can see what covered each of the 2 bagged apples.

Lovely Artichokes

Nope, artichokes are not my favorite food. Nor are they something we grow in Kentucky.

But....they are such cool-looking plants!


The leaves look like they would feel rough but it's just the opposite. The long, downy hairs on the leaf make it very soft.




They'll never make an artichoke but I could care less. They are beautiful!

Late blight hits...in a personal way

Late blight of tomatoes has hit home. Literally. A half-acre of my husband's tomatoes that were intended for fall sales has succumbed to this aggressive disease. The weather has not been helpful at all in reigning this monster in, either. Fog, rain (or even just a spritz of rain) and cooler weather have all contributed.

Here are some pictures -- and it ain't pretty.






Late blight is in Pulaski Co. FYI.

Cukes -- DONE

Last week, I had observed that my 'Diva' cucumbers were starting to get diseased. Specifically, I thought it was downy mildew that had come to visit. I was out-of-town on Friday and not at the office, obviously, over the weekend. Upon my return today - KABLAMO -- cukes were finished.


Although I didn't weigh them all, these 4 little plants put out a nice harvest of cucumbers this year. And we've had horrendously bad disease pressure this year, so I feel like I got all I could out of them.

Get to Know the Emerald Ash Borer

Emerald ash borer is a nasty, nasty bug. It hasn't been confirmed in Pulaski County but you can bet, we'll be one of the first 10 to 20% of counties in KY to get this insect. It's moving rapidly due to renegade campers moving infested ash firewood to their camping locations. And folks, we have many, many tourists from Ohio -- Ohio has had this pest for a good year or better.

A program dedicated to the emerald ash borer will be held on September 24 at 6pm at the Pulaski Co Extension Service office. Jody Thompson from the KY Division of Forestry will be here to lead the discussion.

There may be some little knick-knacks to giveaway as well. So... come! And bring your questions.

Dominant Weeds in 2009

Everybody knows weeds since we all curse/hate/want to mangle them. But have you noticed some that have done exceptionally well this year? Here at the Extension office, I have noticed 2 that have really gotten my attention.

Virginia Copperleaf

My Weeds of the Northeast book lists this weed as a summer annual, reproducing via seed each spring. It says it can tolerate all moisture conditions. But as anyone living here knows, it's been a rainy year. This weed has always been at the office, but it's population has seemed to skyrocket and the dang things are BIG.

Virginia Buttonweed -- I see a pattern here....

The book says this is a perennial with thick stems growing prostrate. It can root at the nodes (like large crabgrass or bermudagrass). And get this -- this thing is supposed to produce flowers UNDERground!!! My reference says 'little is known about the belowground flowers'. And it seems this one does prefer moist areas. I don't remember seeing any of this last year, but it's come and decided it likes it here.

Weeds are definitely over-the-top this year.