Cooperative Extension Service

Washington County 211 Progress Avenue Springfield KY 40069 (859) 336-7741 Fax: (859) 336-7445 www.ca.uky.edu/ces/washington/

The Hoe Truth Newsletter Helping You Dig Up Gardening Ideas

Volume 8 Issue 11 November 2013

To Do List 2

Apples Continued 3

November Calendar 3

A Note From Dennis 4

Recipe of The Month 4

Inside This Issue

LEXINGTON, Ky., (Oct. 23, 2013) – Apple trees are popular additions to home landscapes because of their fruit production. However, many home gardeners are not prepared for the onslaught of diseases that bombard the trees every year. To minimize risk of disease and reduce reliance on preventative fungicide applications, home gar-deners may consider se-lecting disease resistant cultivars, said Nicole Ward Gauthier, exten-sion plant pathologist with the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Envi-ronment. “Although backyards do not have the immense disease pressure experienced in com-mercial orchards, a proactive disease-control program is still essential,” Gauthier said. “Apple production requires a dedicated gardener and often a preventative spray schedule, which could include 10 or more fungicide applications through-out the growing season. With-out some type of preventative

program, disease loss will be extremely high.” Some of the most destructive diseases affecting apples in-clude fire blight, apple scab, cedar apple rust and powdery

mildew. Fire blight and cedar apple rust are the most preva-lent. Fire blight causes twig and branch dieback, which can result in death of the entire tree within two to three years. Cedar apple rust causes leaf drop and fruit infections. In-fected fruit are inedible, and leaf drop for three years in a row may stress a tree to the point of death. “It is safe to say that nearly every homeowner will see some damage from those two diseases on a regular basis,” Gauthier said. “In years with

warm, rainy springs, trees can become severely damaged.” Selection of disease-resistant apple cultivars will provide some disease resistance in Kentucky and reduce numbers of required fungicide applica-tions. Gauthier recommends Enterprise, Liberty, Priscilla and Winecrisp. A full list of disease-resistant cultivar rec-ommendations for Kentucky is available on Gauthier’s blog at http://

Disease resistant apples first line of defense for home orchardists

By Katie Pratt

*Any trees or shrubs that you still have in containers should either be planted or hilled in. This simply means the pots can be buried in soil or mulch to protect the root balls from freezing. *You can plant most tree seeds now. The cold winter weather will satisfy their dormancy re-quirements and they will sprout next spring. If they don’t have an extremely thick seed coat such as Ken-tucky Coffee Tree. Trees seeds such as these should be filed down a lit-tle to break the seed coat. This will allow the seed to uptake water and ger-minate. *If you see any bagworms hanging on your shrubs go ahead and pick them off and step on them. Each of these bags could contain up to 1000 eggs ready to hatch and munch on your landscape next spring.

Fruit *Don’t prune or fertilize fruit crops now, wait until Febru-ary. *Remove all dried and shriv-eled fruit. These are called mummies and will serve as a source for disease next year. *If you have tame blackberries and raspberries remove any wild blackberries growing nearby. They will have a high-er risk for orange rust which will attack tame berries as well.

*After leaf drop spray peach, nectarine, and plum trees with Ferbam, Bordeaux mixture, or daconil 2787 to control peach leaf curl and plum pockets dis-ease next spring. *Black knot galls on branches of plum and cherries should be pruned out 4-8 inches below the gall. Destroy of by burn-

ing. *Remove all grass and weeds from around your fruit trees to discourage nest-ing of mice and voles. They will gnaw the bark in the winter and could girdle the tree. Wrap-

ping the trunk with tree guard will help discourage rodent feeding.

Ornamentals *Roses should not be cut back until we have temperatures down into the low 20’s and the leaves are burnt and or drop-ping off. Some years this oc-curs in November and some years in December. After the leaves drop rake them up and compost them. Don’t apply this compost to your roses next year unless you are sure the temperature got up to 130 de-grees in the pile. *Cut hybrid tea and grandiflo-ra roses to 8 to 12 inches, shrub roses such as knockouts and most floribundas by 1/3, and leave climbers until spring and then prune out any dead or overgrown canes. *When the ground freezes

mound soil or mulch over the bud union of your roses to keep them from freezing out. This isn’t necessary if you have ros-es on their own root meaning they weren’t grafted. *Apply 3 inches of mulch to your perennial bed after the ground freezes to prevent them form heaving out of the ground when it freezes and thaws. *Plant any spring flowering hardy bulbs now. *All tender bulbs such as can-nas, calla, elephant ear, dahl-ia, etc. should be dug and brought indoors for the winter. These are freeze sensitive and rot prone during the winter. You should store them in a cool dark place above 32 degrees. *If you have had trouble with deer digging an eating your hardy bulbs plant alliums, au-tumn crocus, grape hyacinth, hyacinth, daffodils, and galan-thus. They don’t like these as much and are less likely to feed on them. In fact autumn crocus is poisonous.

Vegetables *Cool season vegetables will be good in the garden until the temperatures get down into the low twenties. *Extend harvest of cool season vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, radish, turnip, beet, lettuce, spinach, etc. by covering them with remay fabric or tobacco canvas. *Cut back asparagus tops after they have frozen back. Apply a fresh layer of mulch after the ground has frozen. *It’s not too late to plant a cov-er crop of winter wheat or rye.

To Do’s For November

nicolewarduk.blogspot.com/2012/01/disease-resistant-apple-cultivars.html, in the UK plant pathology fact sheet titled Simplified Backyard Apple Spray Guides at http://www2.ca.uky.edu/agcollege/plantpathology/ext_files/PPFShtml/PPFS-FR-T-18.pdf and in the Midwest Home Fruit Production Guide at http://www2.ca.uky.edu/agcollege/plantpathology/ext_files/PPFShtml/HomeFruitB591.pdf.

While many of the recommended cultivars are disease resistant, they have little resistance to insects. Home gardeners wanting to minimize insecticide applications may want to bag indi-vidual fruit when they are roughly an inch in diameter. Ric Bessin, UK extension entomolo-gist, authored a fact sheet on how to bag fruit. ENTFACT 218: Bagging Apples: Alternative Pest Management for Hobbyists is available online at http://www2.ca.uky.edu/entomology/entfacts/ef218.asp.

Information also is available in UK extension publication ID-21: Disease and Insect Control for Homegrown Fruit in Kentucky, Including Organic Alternatives at http://www2.ca.uky.edu/agc/pubs/id/id21/id21.pdf.

All UK publications are also available through offices of the UK Cooperative Extension Ser-vice.

Writer: Katie Pratt, 859-257-8774 UK College of Agriculture, Food and Environ-ment through its land-grant mission, reaches across the commonwealth with teaching, re-search and extension to enhance the lives of Kentuckians

Disease Resistant Apples First Line of Defense Continued

November 4, at 6:30 P.M. the Lincoln Trail Beekeepers meet at the Extension Office. Dr. Ric Bessin from U.K. will speak on pest management in the hive. November 8, District Leader Forum in Taylor County (Agents Out of Office) November 13, District Staff

(Agents Out of Office) November 19, Wheelbarrow Series Class on Amaryllis, Cost $10.00 class starts at 10:30 A.M. November 21, Wheelbarrow Series Class on Landscape Plants For Holiday Decoration. Class starts at 6:00 P.M., Free

November 28, Thanksgiving! Office Closed. November 29, Extension Office Closed for Thanksgiving Holi-day.

November Horticulture Calendar

Join Us at Washington County

Horticulture!!!

A Note From Dennis Well the growing season has officially ended with the hard freeze recently but I do have a few things left in the garden such as dried beans and turnips that I can harvest. I will most definitely harvest the beans but the turnips will probably just be a cover crop. I like most every vegetable but I just don’t or can’t eat turnips, the greens are fine but cooked turnips taste like dirt to me. It’s Halloween week and the kids are excited about dressing up, Gabby is going as a vam-pire and Tori is going as a cat. It should be interesting to say the least! Last week they both won the book character contests in their rooms for best costumes, thanks to their Mother of course! Gabby was Pinkalicious and Tori was Angelina Ballerina...you should check the books out for some great reading for your daughters and grand daughters. The Wheelbarrow Series is slowly coming to an end with just three classes left: amaryllis, landscape plants for holiday decoration, and wreath making. There will be changes to the 2014 Wheelbarrow Series with regards to number of classes and times etc. so be on the look out! If you have any topics you would like to see covered give me a call.

Recipe of The Month Bourbon Braised Turnip Greens

3 Large Bundles of Turnip Greens washed

4 Slices of chopped bacon

1 Medium Onion

3 Cloves of peeled smashed garlic

1/2 Cup light brown sugar

3 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1 Pinch Chili Flakes (optional)

4 Cups chicken broth

1/2 Cup bourbon (Makers Mark)

Salt and Pepper To Taste

Remove stems from greens and discard. In a large pot over medium heat, add bacon, onion

and garlic. Render bacon until crisp and onion is tender.

Stir in brown sugar, vinegar, broth, and bour-bon. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to a

simmer and stir in turnip greens.

Cover and cook on low for 1.5 hours or until ten-der and soft.