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December 2024 We entered December with more seasonable weather than November. As I stated last month, the cooler temperatures helped our satsuma crop develop fantastic flavor. The cooler temperatures have also allowed our cool-season weeds to germinate and take hold. If you missed the pre- emergent herbicide application, remove the existing weeds before applying. If you applied a pre- emergent back in September, you will need to make another application later this month in order to remain weed-free for the rest of the winter months. NOAA predicts the following long-range weather trend: Temperatures – likely above normal Precipitation – leaning to below normal With the prediction of below-normal precipitation, keep in mind that if you plant anything in the next 3 months, have an irrigation plan. We are in year two of a drought. Though we did get some significant rain in November, our soil moisture is still in a deficit state. Most established plants will be ok, but some newly planted plants or those planted last year may suffer. The damage can range from wilting, stunting, tip dieback, to death. To reduce the risk, you will need to irrigate regularly to maintain consistent soil moisture. Applying or renewing mulch can help conserve soil moisture and regulate soil temperatures. You can also use mulch as a temporary protection for frost/freeze. Temporary, meaning you will cover the base of the plants with the mulch up the main trunk 18” to 24”. Once the threat of frost/freeze is gone, remove the excess mulch returning it to the normal level. Here are the chill hours as of December 1st: Brewton: Old Model - 19 Modified Model - 0 Fairhope: Old Model - 37 Modified Model - 22 Mobile: Old Model - 43 Modified Model - 23 Pascagoula: Old Model - 0 Modified Model - 0 Now is the time to submit soil samples for your landscape. If you have already done so and received the results, you should go ahead and apply the lime according to the recommendations. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Enjoy the outdoors! November 2024 Happy Thanksgiving Month! The current weather trend is making it tough on the cool-season vegetables I planted in late September and mid-October. The above-average heat stresses the cool-season plants significantly enough to trigger bolting (premature flowering) in some vegetables. The drought conditions require more irrigation. Under current weather conditions, I irrigate my vegetables every other day. It is important to irrigate long enough to wet the soil down to 4” – 6” deep. Leafy vegetables may lose more water through the leaves because of the larger surface area of the leaves. I planted my turnips and mustards in late September and harvested some the last weekend in October. I planted collards and broccoli in mid- October. The collards & broccoli are struggling from the heat and drought, wilting 2 days after irrigation. Hopefully, they will be harvestable for Thanksgiving. Until conditions change, we need to be dedicated to irrigating our newly planted plants, annuals, and vegetables. With the dry weather and soil, cool season weeds are not germinating much unless you are irrigating. If you are not irrigating delay your application of pre- emergent herbicide until we get some rain. If you are irrigating, you can apply pre-emergent herbicide according to the label to control the winter weeds. This is the time to plant as I stated last month, but with the current weather trends, you may want to delay planting if you have a planned trip that will keep you from irrigating at a frequency that is longer than 2-3 days. You may have a reliable friend who can keep your plants hydrated while you are away. November is a perfect time to plant strawberries. You can order crowns online or find a few varieties at your favorite garden center. I suggest planting at least 2 varieties until you decide which is your favorite and does best in your garden. Local satsumas are beginning to ripen. They are coloring up nicely and the flavor is really good under the drought conditions. A couple of weeks of cool nights will really make the sugar-to-acid ratio peak and enhance the flavor. Enjoy the outdoors! October 2024 Fall is for planting. Now is the time to plant woody, fruits, strawberries, other perennial plants, spring bulbs, and hardy annuals. Fall is also our dry season so it will be important to have a plan to irrigate. Even plants that are drought-resistant will need to be watered after planting for a while. Water your plants daily after planting for a couple of weeks, then reduce the interval to every other day for a couple of weeks, then every 3 days for a couple of weeks, and so on. Once you get to once a week you can skip an irrigation event if we get a decent rain. A closing note do not apply fertilizer until we get into the growing season next spring. I spoke with a few farmers the last week of September. Most of them are paying close attention to the weather as we are in hurricane season. As I write this, we have been fortunate to have not been too badly affected by the last couple of storms. Many folks may not think about the effects of storms on agriculture, but storms can not only destroy lives, structures, and infrastructure, but they can also destroy crops. A destroyed crop means no income for those families. Those I have spoken with recently reminded me that they are still feeling the financial losses from last year’s drought and spring freeze (March 2023) that resulted in crop loss. This year so far, the agricultural communities have recovered financially to some extent but still need to end this year with a good harvest. With that said, the pecan crop looks great, and some varieties will even be a couple of weeks earlier than normal. There may be a greater demand for our local products as a result of Helene’s destruction of crops to our east. Later this month we will begin harvesting the early varieties of satsumas. If you have satsuma trees in your landscape, I am sure you have experienced “Puffy” fruit. Puffy fruit has a thicker skin than normal and is looser, giving it a “puffy” look and feel. The flavor of puffy fruit is hit and miss, about 50% will be either bland or lack the normal amount of juice. Some years are worse than others. There are several factors that contribute to “puffy” fruit. Young vigorous growing trees or those over-fertilized seem to be more prone to producing “puffy” fruit. Also, major temperature swings during blooming, particularly warmer weather, can also influence this. Over the years “Owari”, a variety of satsuma tend to have more puffy fruit than others. Owari is a very productive and reliable fruiting variety as well as very cold tolerant. I would not eliminate this variety from my choice of planting based on “puffy” fruit. We do not currently have a solution for “puffy” fruit. Rarely will it affect the entire crop on the tree. The best you can do is keep your tree healthy, soil fertility up, and soil moisture consistent as much as possible, especially during blooming, fruit swell, and as the fruit begins to change color. There are some things that we need to address in our lawns, such as weeds and fallen leaves. As I mentioned last month, we are in a transition period. Our turf grasses are going dormant as are most of the common weeds. Some of the weeds are producing seeds. Keep them from going to seed by mowing, pulling, etc. If you choose to use an herbicide, this is a great time to get a large bang for the buck because the plant will translocate the product to their roots resulting in reduced winter survival and green up next spring. I received several calls in the last two weeks of September about Virginia Button Weed, a common weed in our area. This plant is low-growing, has white flowers, and can form a thick mat in weakened turf areas. Virginia Button weed will out compete your turf and some believe that the weed is killing the grass. It does not kill grass. Keep your turf healthy and it should out compete the weeds. The second item is leaf-drop. Fallen leaves can smother your desirable turf simply because the turf can’t receive the much-needed sunlight for photosynthesis. As long as the turf is green, it is conducting photosynthesis and putting energy into the root system that will help it green up in the spring. Remove leaves or anything that stresses your turf during this transition period. Enjoy the outdoors! September 2024 If you have been up early enough to catch a sunrise you surely have noticed a couple of changes in the weather. The sunrises are getting later, and the morning temperatures are getting lower even if it’s minute. A couple of other things I have noticed are fewer Bahia grass seed heads and foliar changes of my crape myrtles. The foliar changes range from yellow & red leaves to leaf-drop. The bottom line is, I like it! Toward the end of the month, some gardeners will start planting cool-season vegetables. I tend to plant mine in October through November, I encourage you to plant a new cool-season vegetable this year. In addition to the traditional lettuce, turnips, and collards, consider kohlrabi, Swiss chard, carrots, other root crops, and cool-season cover crops like ryegrass, clover, and wheat. Reminder: please continue to irrigate your garden/landscape. This is a transition period toward dormancy. It is important for the plants to go through the transition period stress-free. Going dormant under stress can result in poor green-up next growing season and/or winter survival. It is a good idea to change mowing directions and patterns throughout the year. This will help the grass growth and reduce compaction. Back in the day, it was recommended to change mowing heights as we approach the fall transition. I wouldn’t lower the height, but if you want to raise the height by a click, that would be okay. We are at a point in the growing season where we should not apply fertilizers that contain nitrogen. Applying nitrogen fertilizers this late in the growing season will promote growth that will be damaged during the first cool snap. It is also not a good idea to prune from now until mid-February. If you prune during this timeframe, you risk removing next year’s blooms/crop. A friendly reminder, our 2023-2024 Fishing license expired on August 31st, make sure to renew before your next trip. Enjoy the outdoors! August 2024 The daily rains are keeping me busy in my yard. I have had to reduce my mowing frequency to every 5 days or less because I leave the clippings. If I stick to the 7 + day interval the amount of grass clippings will mat up or form windrows that are not only unsightly but can smother the grass underneath. Mowing more frequently results in smaller clipping/residue and quicker decomposition of them. If you bag your clippings, you can maintain the 7 + day interval. Another area of gardening that the rain has affected is citrus and tomatoes. I am seeing more split fruit as a result of heavy rains. There is no fix for this. Usually, you don’t see splitting if you water consistently but in cases with frequent heavy rains that is not effective. Remove the damaged fruit as soon as you can to prevent disease and insect spreading. Because of the rainfall this growing season, I would highly recommend having a routine soil test done this winter. The rain we have been getting will leach the soil nutrients below the plant root zone or offsite. The soil test will let you know how much lime and fertilizer you should apply. Last month I mentioned reducing the amount of fertilizer because of the high prices, but you don’t want to have your nutrient levels too low. A soil test will help you determine what your levels are and what actions you should take. I spoke with a couple of pecan and citrus growers the last week of July and they both bragged on how good those two crops look at this time. They agreed that the pecan crop is about 2 weeks ahead of schedule and individual nuts are larger than they usually are this time of year. I asked about the splitting citrus and they are seeing some but they feel that the amount of split fruit is minimal in the big scheme of things and don’t feel that it is a problem at this time. They were both very optimistic about the crops. This is coming on the heels of a great vegetable season. I will keep you posted on the local crops. If you have moss in your landscape, this year’s weather has kept it lush and green for the most part. Moss is usually found in the side yard or areas of the landscape where the turf grass is not growing as well as it could. Many folks will say that the moss is killing the grass. The truth is that grass is weak and allows the moss to encroach. The encroachment can be linked to many factors, but the common ones are compaction, low pH, and low nutrients. There are not many products labeled to control moss, but even using one that is, if you don’t address the factors that weaken the turf and favor the moss you are fighting a losing battle because the moss will return. Again, a soil test this winter will help you with a couple of those factors. Later this month, you can start planting your tomatoes, peppers, etc. for the fall. It is still a bit too hot for the cool-season vegetables. For the cool- season vegetables, I suggest waiting until late September through November. Enjoy the outdoors. July 2024 With the heat of the summer settling in, it can be difficult to find the motivation to perform gardening/landscaping activities. However, this is also the time that a lot of plants are in full bloom and attracting both pest and beneficial insects. The majority of the beneficial insects are pollinators. If you walk or sit in your landscape in the morning you will see the peak number of pollinators visiting your plants. Throughout the day you will see wasps, assassin bugs, and the like. In the late evening, you can see more assassin bugs and spiders. It is fascinating to watch how quickly they develop after hatching and how they set up territories. You can usually find them in the same landscape area every day. I highly recommend you sit and observe what goes on in your landscape at different times during the day. As much as I’d like not to have to think about hurricanes, the reality is that we must prepare for them. You can find lists of needed supplies for you, your family, and your home from various sources. What can or should we do for our landscapes? When planting trees and shrubs, planting them in groups will allow their roots to become intertwined resulting in a more storm-resistant planting. We can also prune to a more open canopy which will allow more wind to blow through resulting in reduced blowover and/or limb breakage. Newly planted trees and shrubs should be stabilized with staking to prevent blowover. Recently I read several articles about the benefits of house plants. Their air quality benefits are the most commonly known by most people. But there are more. They enhance air quality by absorbing toxins & producing oxygen, increase humidity, reduce noise levels, and create a more visually appealing and calming environment. Not to mention the feelings you get from taking care of them and the beauty they bring to your space. Here are some common fairly easy-to-grow plants to consider: Spider plant, Peace Lily, Rubber Plant, Snake Plant, Elephant Ears, various succulents & cacti, Ferns, Pothos & philodendron, English Ivy, and various herbs. Each of the plants and plant groups listed above has different light, soil, and watering requirements. For a successful experience choose your plant based on where you intend to put it and how much the plant needs fit into your schedule or lifestyle. In the vegetable garden. At this point in the summer squash, cucumbers, and tomatoes have pretty much played out. Some heat-tolerant and cherry tomatoes are still holding on but for the most part, the heat is taking its toll on them. With other vegetables, you have to scout regularly for insect pests. The insect population is continuing to increase resulting in more feeding damage to your plants. Read the label of the insecticide you intend to use carefully. There have been many changes made to products that can affect their effectiveness and injure your plants. READ THE LABEL! Enjoy the outdoors! June 2024 Hello June! June being the start of hurricane season reminds me to do some pruning to increase the wind resistance of the trees in the landscape. You can selectively prune, removing excessive limb growth. When performing this type of pruning, make cuts at the base of the shoots/limbs you wish to remove. Step back and view the plant from different angles between pruning cuts to make sure you keep the plant’s overall structure and symmetry. Also, while performing this pruning, remove dead wood and branches rubbing & crossing the canopy. Last month, I went to a local garden center to purchase some fertilizer and boy did I get sticker shock. I usually buy enough to last a year or two when it is on sale. That being said, I have not bought any in a couple of years. I was surprised at the price of fertilizers. The very basic fertilizer that I usually purchase was 3 times what it was the last time I bought it. Fertilizers with an insecticide or herbicide was 3 to 5 times more than that. Wow! There are a few ways to cope with this. Option 1: reduce the amount of product you apply. You can reduce the rate by ½ to ¾. Option 2: reduce the number of applications you make during the growing season. Option 3: if you have been fertilizing regularly for the past 3 plus years, you can skip fertilizing this year. Another observation I made while in the garden center is the absence of fire ant baits. I made visits to several garden centers in the area. I did find some fire ant bait, and the selection was very limited. The stores that did have it only had small quantities and only one brand. If you have or plan to purchase fire ant bait, pay attention to the label of what is on the shelf. The majority of the products on shelves now are fire ant killers. There is a difference. The fire ant killer products are fast action compared to the fire ant baits. I reached out to some of my former Extension coworkers to see if they knew what was going on in the industry that would result in this change in product availability. None of them had heard or read anything that supported the change. Some of them did say that fire ant baits can still be purchased online. As much as I like to support, and buy locally, that will have to suffice. What’s in store for us in June? I have been asked several times since May, “when will local melons be available?”. Some local melons will be available mid-month, but the majority of the melons will be available late June through the 4th of July. Local cantaloupes should be available the first week of the month. The above-average temperatures have slowed my tomato harvest down to a crawl. When the night temperatures are 78° and above the pollen of tomatoes becomes sterile and will not be as productive. My peppers on the other hand are looking great and are in full production. Historically, I have not been very successful growing bell peppers. This year, I have the best bell pepper plants and crop I’ve ever had. I purchased all my plants from the horticulture programs of local high schools. One of my simple pleasures in life is to sit in the landscape in the morning and listen to the birds sing and watch the bees travel from bloom to bloom on my squash plants. It is fascinating to watch how they interact with each other and on misty mornings how they hide out in the blooms until the weather clears. June is the month of Father’s Day. In addition to all the gift ideas I’ve shared in the past, gift cards are a great option. Not just any generic gift card. Gift cards to local garden centers and equipment dealers are good for those who like very specific items. Enjoy the outdoors! May 2024 The last rain of April really encouraged the fire ant mounds in my yard to expand and enlarge. If you are like me and missed the April fire ant bait treatment, you can apply the bait this month. As with any pesticide, always follow the label directions. In mid-April, I noticed mole cricket activity in some sandy areas of my yard. At this point they are adults and not feeding much if at all. They are focused on mating. What does this mean? Insecticide treatments are not very effective on them at this stage of the life cycle. The time to target them with a treatment is the end of June/First of July through September. Here is a link to a more detailed article on them: https://www.aces.edu/blog/topics/lawn- garden/biology-and-control-of-mole-crickets/ The last week of April I picked army worms off my vegetable plants. The bad news is they were there and fairly large. The good news is they were parasitized by something. When I picked them up, they didn’t move, and they were very dark, almost black. I removed them from the plant and set them to the side so as to not destroy whatever beneficial took care of them for me. The moral of the story is that not every insect sighting warrants an insecticide treatment. I encourage you to pay attention to the activity of the insect and investigate the life cycle and the natural enemies. Current weather trends are drier than we usually are this time of year. According to NOAA’s website, we should not be in a drought between May and July. The long-term forecast states we will have a hotter than normal summer. The key to gardening success during a time of climatic stress is to plan ahead. Develop a watering plan and maybe in extreme conditions provide temporary shade. Shade cloths can be purchased in small sheets or rolls to fit every landscape need. Being a self-proclaimed momma’s boy, I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge this month is Mother’s Day month. If your special lady is a gardener, consider giving her one or more of her favorite plants. If she has enough of those, ask your garden center what would be a great companion plant for it. You can even take a few photos of her landscape to show the garden center worker for a more accurate plant selection. This year the free fishing date for Alabama is June 8th. You have time to plan a trip to any of the many bodies of water we are blessed with to enjoy fishing without the expense of the license. Here is a link for more information: https://www.outdooralabama.com/fishing/free-fishing- day Enjoy the outdoors! April 2024 Ready, Set, Garden! Gardening activities are in full swing. On Good Friday, I visited a couple of garden centers and the owners of both shared the same sentiment, Good Friday, and the Saturday immediately after it are the 2 busiest days of the year for them. Well, I along with most gardeners in the area purchased some of my favorite plants to attract butterflies and hummingbirds along with some vegetable transplants. One of the chores for this transition period is to pull weeds out of my raised beds to prep for planting. I will also apply an herbicide to some areas to kill the existing weeds. When planting plants for color, plant them in fairly large numbers to create a mass of color to maximize the wow effect. I have also learned to use the same theory for pollinator plants, for a more attractive draw for your target pollinator(s). I have also spoken to several local produce farmers in the area, and they are excited about a successful growing season this year, especially following a very tough 2023 that consisted of a devastating frost/freeze in March of that year and a severe drought during the summer and fall. This year the peach, plum, and citrus crops look great so far. This may even be a year when gardeners and growers may need to thin fruit to allow them to produce larger fruit and reduce the stress of carrying more fruit than the tree can support. What should we be doing in the landscape? • Fertilize your St. Augustine, Bermuda, Zoysia, and Bahia. • Put out fire ant bait. • Plant your warm-season vegetables, herbs, etc. • Apply herbicide to actively growing weeds. • Scout for insects and treat once identified. I would like to encourage you to share seeds and plants with your family, friends, and neighbors. This can be done by purchasing more seeds/transplants than you can use and/or sharing cutting. Enjoy the outdoors! March 2024 For those of you who grow citrus, unless you protected the tree(s) a few weeks back when we had a major freeze event, the trees suffered some damage ranging from defoliation to stem dieback to total tree mortality. Now is the time to really assess the damage. I examined mine the last week of February and noticed some bud swell on some and new leaves developing on others. That was a welcomed site. I did not have a crop this past season due to the March frost/freeze last year. I don’t expect a crop this year either. I will fertilize them in April and June and make sure they are irrigated during dry periods. I know the warm weather is encouraging gardeners to get active in the landscape. Garden centers are getting new plants in, and advertising is compounding the desire to get out in the yard. If you select and plant sensitive warm-season plants now, have a plan for cold protection in mind. I like to get a jump start on squash plants as soon as the soil temperatures are close to suitable. This allows me to get a head start on squash vine borers. Sometimes I have to replant them due to cold injury. The last week of February, I mowed my lawn. I was mowing weeds and not the turf. The weeds that have become large enough to mow are winter weeds and are approaching or in the reproductive stage of their lifecycle. It is important to keep the weeds from flowing and developing seeds. Using an herbicide now will be a waste, as the weeds will die as the weather continues to warm, but the herbicide will not prevent the production of seeds at this point. Another benefit to mowing the weed is reducing the habitat of the cranefly. Craneflies can be a nuisance, but they are harmless. The larva stage feeds on organic matter in the soil. The adults don’t feed, their sole purpose is to mate and reproduce. They do serve as a food source for other insects, spiders, and birds. No treatment is recommended, just manage the habitat. Remember there are local schools with horticulture programs that need your support, and they have great plants to choose from. They usually have a good selection of ornamental plants and vegetables. Enjoy the outdoors. February 2024 If you have not sat and dreamed up a plan for your landscape, I highly recommend that you take the time to sit and dream. You can even visit some public gardens and landscapes for inspiration. Let’s talk about hydrangeas. You can manipulate the color of the hydrangea flowers by changing the soil pH. Blue hydrangeas need a pH between 5 and 5.5, while soil with a pH of 6 to 6.5 produces pink flowers. Lowering the soil pH is only part of the story. Aluminum is also required to produce blue flowers. To make pink flowers turn blue, dissolve 1 tablespoon of aluminum sulfate in a gallon of water and drench the soil around the plant in March, April, and May. To make blue flowers turn pink, dissolve 1 tablespoon of hydrated lime in a gallon of water and drench the soil around the plant in March, April, and May. A word of caution, do not increase the amounts of the color change additives. Aluminum in high doses will harm hydrangea plants. You can learn more from this Extension publication: http://extension.msstate.edu/.../hydrangeas-for... The middle of this month is the time to start pruning most of our woody plants. Start by pruning out the damaged material, then start thinning cuts. In some instances, you may need to do a renewal prune, cutting plants back close to the ground and retraining the new growth to replace the dead material. As of January 30th, the chill hours are: Brewton, AL – 651 hours Old Model; 575 hours Modified Model Fairhope, AL – 435 hours Old Model; 410 hours Modified Model Moss Point, MS – 500 hours Old Model; 434 hours Modified Model February is the month to apply pre-emergent herbicides for warm-season weeds. Make sure the product you select is labeled for the type of turfgrass you have. Also, avoid “Weed & Feed” type products as it is too early to fertilize. Enjoy the outdoors! January 2024 Happy New Year! It appears that we are on course to match the long- range weather forecast. From December through February, NOAA predicts wetter-than-average conditions for northern Alaska, portions of the West, the southern Plains, Southeast, Gulf Coast, and lower mid-Atlantic and drier-than- average conditions across the northern tier of the U.S., especially in the northern Rockies, High Plains and near the Great Lakes. “An enhanced southern jet stream and associated moisture often present during strong El Nino events supports high odds for above-average precipitation for the Gulf Coast, lower Mississippi Valley and Southeast states this winter,” said Jon Gottschalck, chief of the Operational Prediction Branch of the Climate Prediction Center. NOAA forecasters, in collaboration with the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS), continue to monitor extreme, ongoing drought conditions that have persisted through the southern and central U.S. and worsening drought in Hawaii. Temperature • Equal chances for below-, near-, or above- average seasonal mean temperatures. Precipitation • Wetter-than-average conditions are most likely along the Gulf Coast and the Southeast. Drought • Drought conditions are expected to improve across the Southeast and the Gulf Coast (including the lower Mississippi Valley due to the expected wetter-than-average forecast. As of Dec. 30th, our local chill hour numbers are: Pascagoula: Old Model - 210 Modified Model - 201 Fairhope: Old Model - 172 Modified Model - 147 Brewton: Old Model - 343 Modified Model – 267 If you plan to plant Irish potatoes and sugar snap peas, you have all of January to prep the area you intend to plant. Rough out existing plants, add the desired soil amendments, etc. February is the month to plant them, but you must plan and prep the area ahead of time. Potatoes and other root crops need a loose high organic matter soil for the best production. Sugar snap peas need the same, but they do not need as much nitrogen as other vegetables, so limit the amount of nitrogen in the fertilizer you use on them. As I drove through town the last couple of weeks of December, I noticed several landscapes where folks have started pruning. It is still too early to prune. Pruning now will reduce the cold tolerance of your plants and possibly result in cold damage during the next frost or freeze. Hold off until mid-February. In the meantime, stock up on alcohol to sterilize your pruners, sharpen, and oil your pruners so you will be ready when the time comes. Start looking for new varieties to try in your landscape. I like to try something new every year. That something new can be a totally new to you plant, category, or new varieties of plants you’ve planted in the past. One suggestion is to keep good notes on how they perform and pest problems. Apply lime according to your soil test results now. Here’s to a prosperous gardening New Year! Enjoy the outdoors!