Statewide Pesticide License Training for Private Applicators

Do you use or supervise the use of pesticides for producing an agricultural commodity on property owned or rented by you or your employer?

Do you apply pesticides on property owned by another person, without compensation other than an exchange of personal services?

If you answered “yes”  to any of these questions, the State of New Hampshire requires you to have a private applicator’s pesticide license. UNH Cooperative Extension will be conducting training sessions for individuals who are not presently certified to apply pesticides and those whose private applicator licenses have expired due to lack of required re-certification credits.

This training is free, thanks to New Hampshire Department of Agriculture’s IPM Grant Program, although participants will need to purchase a manual in order to study for the state exam. Please note: no re-certification credits will be issued for attending this workshop.

Register for training and order your study materials online
Just click on the link below for your county’s training session, or contact Rachel Maccini, Pesticide Safety Education Program Coordinator at 629-9494 ext. 130.

All trainings take place over two consecutive days: Fridays, 4:00 pm – 9:00 p.m. and Saturdays, 9:00 a.m. – noon.

Date	County/Location
December 15 & 16, 2006	Belknap & Carroll Counties Remick County Doctor Museum & Farm 58 Cleveland Hill Rd. Tamworth, NH
January 12 & 13, 2007	Merrimack & SullivanCounties Merrimack Farm & County Store 103 Main Street Bradford, NH
January 26 & 27, 2007	Cheshire & Hillsborough Counties Learning Center, Shieling Forest Old Street Road Peterborough, NH
February 9 & 10, 2007	Rockingham & Strafford Counties Rockingham County Nursing Home 113 North Road Brentwood, NH
February 23 & 24, 2007	Coös & Grafton Counties North Country Resource Center 629 A Main Street Lancaster, NH

                                                   

Presenters include Bill Lord, retired UNH Cooperative Extension fruit specialist; Becky Grube, sustainable horticulture specialist, and Amy Ouellette, agricultural resources educator in Belknap County. In most cases, county Extension educators will lecture at their home county training sessions.
                                               

Poinsettias light up the dark season: Come see the display!

Hundreds of beautiful poinsettias in a huge array of colors await visitors to the first Poinsettia Trials Open House at the University of New Hampshire Research Greenhouses December 6-8.

This collaborative event brings more than 80 poinsettia varieties developed by breeders to New Hampshire growers and the general public. If you visit, you can help researchers by recording your favorites from among many new and different varieties, including some that aren’t yet available for sale and are being shown for the first time.

The Poinsettia Open House will begin on Wednesday, December 6 and run through Friday, December 8. Hours will be 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Wednesday and Friday, and from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Thursday. A broad selection of the many poinsettia varieties will be available for purchase on all three days.

Metered parking will be available at the UNH Visitor Center across from the greenhouses. Please join us in celebrating the season by exploring the amazing diversity of poinsettias.

More from the Garden than Food

People who come together to tend a vegetable garden produce much more than food. They get the camaraderie of work, a sense of community, a bond to the land, food for the soul and a lower weekly grocery bill.

This has definitely been true for the 12 Somali Bantu, Sudanese, and Meskhetian Turk families who have been coming together weekly since early May to tend their plots in the Brookside International Community Garden in Manchester.
           
Started in 2005 on the initiative of Master Gardener Riekie Sluder and I, the garden has thrived. This year it almost doubled in size, to 4500 square feet. In August the families harvested as much as 150 pounds of okra, beans, tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, eggplant, peppers, cabbage, cauliflower, herbs, and flowers. That’s amazing, considering that this was the most difficult growing season in several years.

The community garden is a partnership between Brookside Congregational Church, the International Institute of New Hampshire and UNH Cooperative Extension. For the church, which contributes the land and water, it’s about community outreach. For the Institute’s Anne Sanderson, “it’s about helping immigrants become integrated into American life. They learn about scheduling, punctuality and arranging for transportation. They get a chance to grow foods from their native homeland. They begin to understand that there are people trying to help them adjust to life in America.” And that last item sends a powerful, positive message indeed.
           
For the UNH Master Gardener volunteers, it’s all about the people. It’s about bridging cultural differences, about learning to communicate with sign language, smiles and body language. It’s about the pleasure of working in a garden with others on a sunny summer day. It’s about teaching, But, most of all, it’s about joy.
           
The experiences shared within this disparate group of gardeners build memories that will last a long time. Some are fabulous, some humorous, some bittersweet. Some are poignant, like the day a church member and her mother paid a visit to the garden. They had been arranging the funeral of the church member’s grandmother. The member’s mother, grieving and tearful, was able to connect with Romena Fatkulina, a young Turkish mother who speaks some English, and who had lost her own mother recently. The visitors stayed to work in the garden for a while. They found the experience healing and said they’d come again.
           
The week after planting, the refugees and Master Gardeners cooked a meal for each other in the church kitchen. Each group prepared dishes they would be cooking from the vegetables they hoped to harvest. The Master Gardeners prepared a vegetable omelet, two salads and mint tea. The Africans cooked a delicious casserole using goat meat and vegetables. The Turks made a stir-fry using potatoes, green vegetables and what they thought was chicken, but which turned out to be pork—forbidden by their religion. Apparently, the specified ingredient got lost in translation to the shopping list. But once the mistake was revealed, the gardeners good-naturedly traded dishes and enjoyed themselves despite the confusion.

All these immigrant groups have close relationships within large, extended families. At one time or another, most of the gardeners bring some of their children with them. The children generally learn to speak more English faster than their parents and often become their interpreters. Children will ask for the English names for common objects used in the garden. Then they try to teach the Master Gardeners the words in their native languages. You can guess which group is more successful!
           
Here’s a conundrum for you: Romena asked one day, “Why are American grocery stores full of boxes? Don’t Americans know how to cook?” Apparently her apartment building houses seven Turkish families, some Sudanese and one American family. The Americans, she noted, always eat convenience food. That’s food for thought.
           
As the season winds to a close, the gardeners will be harvesting butternut squash and cabbage to provide some food this fall. We’ll clean up the garden and begin planning for next year, incorporating some of what we’ve learned and chuckling over other parts.

In 2004 the city of Manchester alone helped to settle more refugees than settled in 23 other states. Because of the generosity of donors, the partners and volunteers, Brookside International Community Garden has helped to create a warm welcome for a few of these refugee families. If you’d like to donate to the garden, please contact Margaret Hagen or phone (629-9494).

By Margaret Hagen, Hillsborough County Agricultural Resources Educator

Watch out for Wild Parsnip!

The wild parsnip (Pastinaca sativa L) is a fairly common roadside plant in New England. A mature plant can grow about 45 inches tall. It’s considered the same species as cultivated parsnip and is also closely related to the wild carrot (Queen Anne’s lace). The parsnip has yellow flowers and Queen Anne’s lace has more feathery foliage and white flowers.
 
Some species in this plant family, including wild parsnip, can cause a painful, blistering rash if you cut or break the foliage, get the sap on your skin, and then get exposed to sunlight. The skin discoloration can last for months after the rash subsides. The term for such skin reactions is phytophotodermatitis. Many local physicians are unaware of this plant-caused skin reaction and attribute the problem to poison ivy.

The chemicals that cause this reaction are called furocoumarins, and occur in the leaves, stems and seeds. A related plant, giant hogweed, can cause even more severe burns.

The picture here is of a roadside plant in Lee taken August 1.The flowers have mostly gone by, but the seeds are highly visible. Apparently this plant is more common in northern parts of New Hampshire than in the seacoast, where I live. A colleague suggested I experience the dermatitis myself to get first-hand photos of the injury. No thanks!

If you want to eliminate wild parsnip plants on your property, you have a couple of options. Just mowing or cutting them down won’t eliminate them, because they usually re-sprout from the roots. (Plus it might expose your skin to the sap.) Cutting off the taproot just below the soil line with a shovel is an easy method if you have only a few plants. Wear gloves, long pants and long sleeves to protect your skin if you choose this approach. Dispose of the plants in the trash to ensure the seeds won’t get carried off by small animals or the wind to sprout somewhere else.

If you have a lot of wild parsnip plants, chemical controls might be appropriate. Spraying the foliage with the herbicide glyphosate (Roundup, Kleenup and other brands) is one effective alternative. Be sure you follow label directions and precautions when using this (or any other pesticide).

But remember, chemicals may not be appropriate in some situations where special restrictions apply. Check state and local regulations before you spray near wetlands or surface water bodies and highway rights-of-way, for example. Also, if your home drinking water supply relies on a shallow (“dug”) well, you may want to avoid spraying any pesticide (or other chemical) within a 100-foot radius of the wellhead.

By Alan Eaton, UNH Cooperative Extension Entomologist and Pest Management Specialist

New Hampshire's Best Kept Secret? - State Forest Nursery

This spring about a thousand New Hampshire landowners will slice the newly-defrosted ground to create thousands of welcoming holes for tree and shrub seedlings bought from the State Forest Nursery.

Howie Lewis, nursery forester, calls his nearly 40-acre nursery one of New Hampshire’s best- kept secrets. Lewis says the nursery produces a unique product. “We provide something nobody else does – tree and shrub seedlings native to New Hampshire, with seeds picked from specimens grown right here in the state. When you buy from the state forest nursery, you know the plant is suited to grow here.”

In operation in Boscawen since 1910, the nursery grows more than 50 species of trees and shrubs for reforestation, Christmas trees, and wildlife, and sells them at affordable prices. Seedlings, sold on a “first come-first served basis” include conifers, such as white, red and Scotch pine, Norway, blue, red, and white spruce, concolor, balsam, fraser and douglas fir, and hemlock.

The nursery offers many other species, including arrow-wood, crabapple, fragrant sumac, grapes, highbush cranberry, dogwood, rose, nannyberry, beach plum, elderberry, winterberry holly, bayberry, hazelnut, red oak, cedar, sugar maple and white ash. Special “packages,” each containing an assortment of 25 shrubs and/or trees, include a Christmas tree sampler and special wildlife-and-songbird, wetlands, native species, and winter survival packages.

Besides being one of his best sellers, balsam fir is Lewis’ personal favorite. “I’ve worked with this species the most. I follow seedlings from the parents in the seed orchard through to watching them grow in the seedbed.” Balsam fir is a customer favorite because it has that classic evergreen smell. Seedlings sell out, so nursery staff suggest you order early.

Ordering starts in January and ends March 30. “When you are in the nursery business, spring starts a different time each year,” says Lewis, “So we ship to a county pickup point in late April or early May, whenever the seedlings can be lifted from the ground.” Customers receive a card in the mail announcing the pick up dates. “We work throughout the year getting ready for the spring shipment and hope we have many new customers this year.”

Lewis is enthusiastic about his trees and shrubs and hopes “New Hampshire’s best kept secret” is known by all.

By Karen Bennett, UNH Cooperative Extension Forest Resources Specialist

More information:

• To receive a catalog, contact the N.H. State Nursery, N.H. Division of Forests and Lands, P.O. Box 1856, Concord, NH 03302-1856, or call 603-271-3456.
• View the State Nursery catalog and order online.
• Planting and Care of Tree Seedlings
• Establishing the Christmas Tree Plantation

Welcome Spring '06! Garden Symposium
The Lure of Gardening: Find What Brings You Joy and Go There

Dreaming of a better garden? Love to mingle with fellow gardeners? Do we have a day for you!

The New Hampshire Master Gardener Association and UNH Cooperative Extension invite you to the 4th annual Welcome Spring! Garden Symposium, Saturday, March 25, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Courtyard by Marriott Grappone Center in Concord.

Radio/ TV personality and gardening humorist C.L. Fornari will deliver the keynote address, offering ideas on garden design and how to use concepts from other gardens in your own landscape.

A dozen workshops presented by UNH Cooperative Extension horticulture staff and outside experts include: For Meat and Medicine: A Look at Herbs and Their Uses; Orchids are Easy; Daffodils 101; Water Gardens; Great Lawns for Less Money; and Shade Gardening “Beyond Hosta.”

The cost is $38 for NHMGA members, $48 for non-members and general public includes refreshments, buffet lunch, displays, books and a chance to bid on items in the silent auction.

Participants must register by March 18. To register, download this brochure. To receive a brochure in the mail, contact Karen Firmin at (603) 279-0763.

Buying Topsoil

Topsoil. Some biologists call it the most precious stuff on earth. It takes nature 500 years to make an inch of it.

In the past 30 years topsoil has become a hot commodity in New Hampshire, removed by land developers and sold to meet the swelling demand from homeowners and businesses looking to establish or improve lawns and gardens.

Land scarcity in many areas, combined with new building techniques, allows construction on steep, rocky sites once considered unbuildable. This makes importing topsoil the only option for home or business owners who want a lawn or garden on those sites.

The soil you buy might have come from recently-cultivated farmland, from a recently clear-cut tract of forest land, or from a long-abandoned field. It might contain herbicide residues that could inhibit germination of some of the plants you want to grow. It might be full of roots and rocks or undesirable weed seeds.

A vendor might even have adulterated the original topsoil with a lot of additional sand, adding commercial wood ashes to darken the final product. On the other hand, some topsoil vendors manufacture a superior growing medium, amending native topsoil with just enough wood ashes to bring its pH into the optimum range for lawns and gardens, then adding compost to boost the soil's water- and nutrient-holding capacity.

Like most states, New Hampshire has no regulations defining quality standards for topsoil or governing its sale. To protect yourself, experts suggest learning as much as possible about the soil you plan to buy before you buy it. Consider it worth your time. After all, you can't take this product back to the store!

This list of guidelines from experts will help boost your confidence that the topsoil you buy will grow good vegetables, fruits, flowers, or a nice lawn:

• Know your supplier and ask about the source of the topsoil he or she sells. If a vendor has advertised an "amended" product, ask for the 'recipe'-in writing.
• If you plan to buy your soil from a garden or landscape supply center, ask the vendor for the product's test data. If the vendor hasn't had the product tested, ask for a small sample and have it tested yourself. Call the UNH Cooperative Extension Info Line (1-877-398-4769, Monday-Friday, 9:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m.) for information about soil testing.
  
  At the very least, soil experts say, the soil analysis should include pH (a measure of the relative acidity of the soil) and soil texture class (a classification based on the relative percentages of sand, silt and clay particles in the soil).
  
  While you can raise or lower a soil's pH and add nutrients, you can't realistically change a soil's texture. Look for a texture classification of loam or sandy loam. Soils with a high percentage of sand won't hold water or nutrients well, while high-clay soils won't drain well and can become extremely difficult to work.
• If you haven't seen the topsoil, ask if the vendor has screened the loam to remove rocks and roots. For the right price, you might find yourself willing to rake them out yourself if the price is right, but it's definitely something you'll want to know about up front.
• Don't buy a product that has a chemical smell or other off-odor. Vendors might have adulterated the topsoil with petroleum-contaminated soils or other potentially toxic waste products.
• Occasionally, topsoil stripped from former farmland may contain herbicide residues that could hinder crop germination. If you have concerns about residues, take a soil sample home, plant a few seeds in it and see if they germinate well. Herbicide residues can affect some crops but not others, so plant a variety of different seeds, especially if you plan to plant a vegetable garden in this soil. The process of test-germinating seeds will also help a prospective buyer determine if the soil is infested with difficult-to-control perennial weeds, such as quackgrass or thistles.

Whatever its source, the topsoil you buy may lack organic matter, important for holding moisture, improving soil structure and retaining plant nutrients. Add plenty of organic matter in the form of compost and animal manure. Make sure to compost manure before adding it to soil that will grow food crops, or plant a cover crop and turn it under before planting vegetables.

Finally, make sure to incorporate both the organic matter and the purchased topsoil into the existing soil, rather than simply spreading the new soil on top. Plant roots grow best in a single zone of topsoil.

By Peg Boyles, UNH Cooperative Extension Master Gardener

Worming Your Way To Rich, Black Compost

Worm composting (or vermicomposting) is a natural and efficient way to recycle your organic kitchen scraps. And it sure beats plowing through knee-high snowdrifts to the compost pile in the middle of winter! Worm bins really require very little in the way of maintenance and care. You can keep them anywhere the temperature will not go down to freezing such as a basement, insulated garage or under the kitchen sink. The best temperature range is 55-77 Fahrenheit.

This is a great project to do with kids; it's easy to make compost using worms as long as you have the right container, bedding material and the right worms. And the finished product, consisting mostly of worm castings, can be used with perlite to make a houseplant potting mix, added to planting holes when transplanting seedlings, or simply incorporated into flower or vegetable beds.

You can either make your worm bin yourself or order it from a number of different sources (listed later). Common materials for a do-it-yourself project are opaque plastic storage boxes and wooden boxes built from exterior-grade plywood. A basic design would be 1 foot high, 2 feet deep and 3 feet wide with aeration holes in the bottom. Depending on the size of your container, you'll need to drill 8 to 12 holes (1/4-1/2 inch in size) in the bottom. A simple cover can be made from a sheet of black plastic. A cover will help conserve moisture and provide darkness for the worms. A box this size will accommodate about 6 pounds of kitchen scraps a week (the average amount from a family of 4-6). You will need to keep the bin elevated at least an inch off the ground for air circulation. Place a tray underneath to capture excess liquid which can be used as liquid plant fertilizer.

The bottom of your bin will need to be lined with a 2 to 3 inch layer of bedding material. Cellulose-based materials like shredded newspaper, corrugated cardboard or coarse sawdust are best. Tear newspaper or corrugated cardboard into 1 to 2 inch-wide strips. Before putting bedding material into the bin, dampen it with lukewarm water until it has the same moisture content as a wrung-out sponge. Adding a little garden soil or leaf mold to the bedding will provide microorganisms for the composting process and grit for the worms' gizzards. Check your bedding at least once a week to make sure it stays damp. Add water if necessary by misting with a spray bottle.

After spreading the bedding over the bottom of the bin, you're ready to add worms! What worms do you buy? Of the 17 species available in North America, you want redworms or red wrigglers. You can buy them at a bait shop or through mail order. You want redworms because they can process large amounts of kitchen scraps, don't mind confined spaces, reproduce well in culture and tolerate a wide range of temperatures. For the bin described above, you'll need about 2 pounds (about $25-$35). You'll get between 600 and 1,200 worms per pound. They will be red and from 2 to 4 inches long. Put your worms on top of the bedding and watch them quickly burrow to escape light.

Now comes the fun part, feeding your worms. Put leftover kitchen scraps into the bin: vegetables, fruit rinds and peelings are great. Bread, coffee grounds, cereal, crushed eggshells, pasta or rice and houseplant clippings are also okay. Food should be cut into small pieces and buried in the bedding every few days. By covering food waste with a few inches of bedding, you avoid odors and pests (like fruit flies). Rotating the burial places in the bin will provide your worms with a balanced diet of kitchen scraps and bedding. As with outdoor compost, you want to stay away from meat, bones, oils and dairy products.

After 6 or 8 weeks of feeding the worms, most of the bedding should be gone and a dark, crumbly soil-looking material should be in its place. Now it's time to harvest. Do this by pushing the nearly finished compost to one side of the bin. Put fresh moistened bedding with some fresh garbage in the vacant side. Over the next few weeks the worms will migrate to the new bedding, and you can harvest. Take the finished compost out, and put fresh bedding in, starting the cycle all over again.

On occasion, unpleasant odors may waft from your bin when it is overloaded with food waste. If this occurs, gently stir up the entire contents to allow more air in. Stop adding food waste until the worms and micro-organisms have broken down what is in the bin. If that doesn't solve the problem, check the drainage holes to make sure they are not blocked. Drill more holes if you need to. If the moisture level seems right, the bedding may be too acidic due to a lot of citrus peels and other acidic foods. Adjust by adding a little lime and cutting down on acidic wastes.

Discourage fruit flies by always burying food scraps and not overloading the bin. If flies persist, move the bin to a location where the flies will not be bothersome.

If you're interested in more information on worm composting read Mary Apelhof's book, Worms Eat My Garbage (1997) or check out the Worm Digest.

The following are sources for composting supplies and worms:

• Flowerfield Enterprises-10332 Shaver Road, Kalamazoo, MI 49002.
  (269)327-0108
  
  
• Gardeners Supply Co.-128 Intervale Rd., Burlington, VT 05401
  (800)833-1412, minimum 2lb order-available mid-March to November
  
  
• Vermico, Peter Bogdanov - 4425 Galice Road, Merlin, OR 97532
  (541)476-9626
  
  
• Willingham Worm Farm-Route 1, Box 241, Butler, GA 31006.
  (478)862-5545, e-mail: wworm@gnat.net
  
  
• Worm World - 26 Ihnat Lane, Avella, PA 15312-2106. (724)356-2397

Financial Help for Farmers and Woodland Owners - February 17, 2006 Deadline for Federal Cost Share Programs

The USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) has money to help New Hampshire farmers and woodland owners with 70 different conservation practices, through the national Environmental Quality Incentive Program (EQIP) and the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program (WHIP).

UNH Cooperative Extension and NRCS are working together to see that the conservation goals of the funding are met.

For farmers, EQIP funds nutrient management plans, animal waste storage facility, cover crops, composting facilities, contour farming and feed management practices; WHIP pays for field restoration, brush cutting, release of fruiting trees and shrubs, and other practices that improve wildlife habitat.

For woodland owners, EQIP and WHIP fund forest stewardship plans, access roads, site preparation, tree planting, forest stand improvement, and stabilization of roads, trails and landings.

NRCS State Conservationist Tessa Chadwick says the financial and technical assistance programs can “help farmers and forest landowners address resource concerns on agricultural working lands, promote environmental quality, address challenges in water quality and quantity, protect prime farmland and grazing land, and protect valuable wetland ecosystems and wildlife habitat on private lands.”

The deadline for signing up for the cost-sharing programs is February 17, 2006, though we encourage landowners to apply immediately. If you are interested, contact your local NRCS or UNH Cooperative Extension office today.

 

By Karen Bennett, UNH Cooperative Extension Forest Resources Specialist

 

Additional Resources:

• Learn more about federal cost-share programs for landowners

Veggie Volunteers Complete 2nd Successful Year

A team of 93 community volunteers organized by Carroll County Extension Master Gardeners picked, washed, boxed 12,500 pounds of surplus vegetables from Sherman Farm in East Conway and distributed them to food pantries and senior meal programs throughout the county last summer.

Their generosity served more than 23,000 vegetable meals valued at more than $15,000 to residents of Carroll County who might not otherwise have had access to fresh vegetables.

Organized last year as an Extension Master Gardener initiative, the Veggie Volunteer Program (VVP) links volunteers with Sherman Farm, a diversified dairy, livestock and vegetable farm whose community-spirited owners had long wanted to find a way to get their crop surpluses to people in need.

In addition to the fresh food it distributes, the VVP offers important educational benefits. “Volunteers from the community get to see a working farm in operation,” said Carroll County Extension agricultural and environmental stewardship educator Tina Savage. “Many people are unfamiliar with how and where vegetables grow. Visiting the farm helps them develop an understanding of the value of working farms, local food and open space.”

This year the VVP expanded to include an after-school program, called the Sprouts. “Children in the program learned about human nutrition, plant nutrition, food safety, and the food guide pyramid,” said Savage. “The Sprouts finished up with a trip to the farm to help with the harvest and tour the whole operation.”

Future plans for the VVP include writing and publishing a how-to manual that will help other counties and other states develop similar programs.

Donating food in New Hampshire

The New Hampshire Food Bank, which expects to distribute nearly 4 million pounds of food in 2004 to emergency food pantries and soup kitchens throughout the Granite State, can provide information about where to donate food in your community. Call 669-9725.

Hunt for the Hungry
The Food Bank also manages a program that accepts donations of whole or processed game animals. Call 669-9725 for information.

Test that Soil!

Dear Cooperative Extension,

First I tried planting them pointy side down, roughly two inches deep, watered them faithfully, waited a week--but nothing came up. So I bought another dozen, and this time I planted them the rounded side down, gave them the same care, an even threw in a few handfuls of 10-10-10 fertilizer. It’s been two weeks now and still none of my eggs has germinated. I‘ve wanted to raise chickens ever since I was a small child growing up in the city. Please tell me what I’m doing wrong.”

The reply came in the next day's mail: Sorry, we are unable to determine the nature of your problem until you’ve had your soil tested. Please find enclosed the required form, which includes sampling and mailing instructions.

Generations of county extension educators across the nation have shared this “true story.” While it’s good for a chuckle, it also illustrates just how serious (some would say fanatical) we in Cooperative Extension feel about soil testing.

Whether you tend a postage-stamp backyard garden or lawn, or a large acreage of food or forage crops, having your soil analyzed by the UNH Analytical Services Lab is a bargain you can’t afford to pass up. For the price of a couple of hamburger meals you’ll receive a detailed soil analysis from a state-of-the-art testing facility, along with crop-specific recommendations of what to do. Following through with these recommendations will save you money, help you grow a better crop, and improve your soil environment.

We suggest fall as the ideal time to have your soil tested. Because the lab is less busy in fall than in spring, you’ll probably get your results faster. If your test indicates a need to raise your soil pH, remember it can take three to twelve months for a lime application to produce the desired change. A fall lime application gives you a head start on the process. Although you can also apply compost in fall, wait until spring to apply fertilizers to avoid the possibility of nutrient leaching and runoff.

To get all the information you need to submit a soil sample for testing, visit the Analytical Services Lab. Each of the following downloadable forms contains information on how to take a representative sample and get it to the lab:

• Home gardeners: Vegetables, Lawns, Small Fruits and General Landscaping Form
  
• Commercial Fruit, Vegetable, Turf, and Landscaper Form
  
• Corn, Forage, Pasture, Biosolids Spreading
  
• Greenhouse and Nursery Form
  
• Understanding Your Soil Test Results
  This fact sheet will help you interpret the report you receive from the lab.

By Steve Turaj and George Hamilton, UNH Cooperative Extension Agricultural Resources Educators

Test That Soil! Round 2

Whether you tend a postage-stamp backyard garden or a large acreage, having your soil tested is a bargain you can’t afford to pass up.

For the price of a couple of fast-food meals you’ll receive a detailed soil analysis from a state-of-the-art testing facility, along with crop-specific recommendations for amending or fertilizing your soil. Following through with these recommendations will save you money, help you grow a better crop, and improve your soil environment.

The lab gets busiest in spring, so get your sample in as soon as your soil thaws enough to sink a spade into it.

To find all the information you’ll need to collect and submit a soil sample for testing, visit the Soil Testing Web page or visit your county Extension office in person.

 

Master Gardener program seeking applications for fall training

If you love both gardening and sharing your gardening experience with others, consider becoming a Master Gardener volunteer. Extension Master Gardeners are trained volunteers who share their enthusiasm for gardening with the general public. After completing a 10-week program that covers basic botany, soils, pest management, home lawns, growing vegetables, small and tree fruits, annual and perennial flowers, and more, participants give a minimum of 45 hours of volunteer service.

To date, we’ve trained more than 600 Master Gardener volunteers who have provided thousands of hours of volunteer service to their communities through a variety of activities coordinated through local county Extension offices and our Family, Home & Garden Education Center in Manchester.

Applicants can choose one of three Master Gardener trainings:

• The County-based Master Gardener program. Participants in this program take part in a variety of county-based community horticultural projects. Please note that Hillsborough County Applicants must intern for the Info Line before participating in County based projects.
  
• UNHCE's Manchester-based Family, Home & GardenEducation Center program. Master Gardeners participating in this program will staff the toll free Info Line to respond to a variety of questions related to growing things (families as well as gardens).

• A special North Country class. This year, we’re offering a special evening class in Lancaster for North Country residents. This class will feature local instructors.

Volunteer training will be held in the fall of 2005. The county based class will meet in Concord on Thursdays, from September 29 to December 1. The Family, Home and Garden Education Center class will meet in Manchester on Tuesdays, from September 13 to November 29. Both sets of classes run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The Lancaster class runs from mid September to the end of October.

The cost of the Concord and Manchester trainings is $175.00; the Lancaster class costs $100. Scholarships are available based on need.

To download an application, visit the Master Gardener Web site. If you have questions about any of the three Master Gardener programs, call Pam Doherty at 629-9494, ext.120.

Time for a Soil Test? New & improved reporting system

Savvy farmers and gardeners consider regular soil testing the most cost-effective crop insurance available.

For the price of a couple of fast food meals, a home gardener or commercial grower can receive a detailed soil analysis from a state-of-the-art testing facility, along with crop-specific recommendations for what to do. Following through with these recommendations will save you money, help you grow better crops, and improve your soil environment.

You may have heard that the UNH College of Life Sciences and Agriculture will close its Durham testing lab soon. It’s true. But, as we’ve done for more than a century, UNH Cooperative Extension will continue to provide a comprehensive soil testing service to New Hampshire farmers and home gardeners.

Logistically, nothing will change for you. Sampling and mailing procedures remain the same. Costs won’t change. When you send your samples to UNH, Extension staff will forward them to a state-of-the-art laboratory at Pennsylvania State University for analysis. Based on the lab’s analysis, Extension soil experts will make recommendations specific to New Hampshire’s climate and soils.

New, improved reporting system

Not only will Cooperative Extension continue making soil recommendations, we’ve improved our reporting system.

• The new system reflects new research findings, including the latest research on environmental risks from nitrogen and phosphorus movement.
• Home garden reports will contain the results of a lead screening test, with guidelines for minimizing risks to children.
• We’ve improved the readability of our reporting format.
• Each report will refer you to the latest fact sheets related to the crops you plan to produce.
• The new system gives you the option of receiving your report and recommendations by email. Those who don’t wish to receive their results online can still choose to receive results by U.S. mail.

We’ve posted new forms and more detailed information about our soil testing services

 

You can also request copies of the forms and information you need by calling or visiting your local UNH Cooperative Extension office.

For more information about the soil testing program, contact Cheryl Estabrooke at 603-862-3200.

Information for home gardeners:

• Understanding Your Soil Test Results
  
  
• Home Gardening Fact Sheets
  
  
• Information for Commercial Growers
  Click on general category of interest at left side of page to find specific information and fact sheets

Coos County Conversation Emphasizes Collaboration between UNH and Local Partners

More than 60 Cooperative Extension Advisory Council members, educators, legislators, county commissioners, business owners, and community members turned out September 20 to hear a panel of Coos County residents talk about their relationship to the University of New Hampshire and Cooperative Extension. The afternoon program was followed by remarks from UNH President Ann Weaver Hart and a discussion designed to generate ideas for further collaborations between UNH and Coos County. Attendees included.

Hart called Cooperative Extension “one of the greatest resources that our American culture has ever had,” noting not only the distinct partnership between the land-grant university and county, state and federal governments, but also its ability to change with the times to address critical issues facing individuals, families and communities.

While Hart’s daylong visit focused on Cooperative Extension, she talked about several partnerships between UNH and people living and working in Coos County—from an undergraduate research project on moose habitat in Milan to an upcoming project with UNH’s Carsey Institute and the Androscoggin Valley Partnership Project that will explore workforce development in the region.

Hart also noted with pride that about 340 students from Coos and Grafton counties attend UNH. Of those, 142 were named to the Dean’s List last semester.

This was Hart’s fifth county visit, having previously visited Merrimack, Rockingham, Strafford, and Grafton counties.

Panelists describe long-time ties to UNH and Extension

Most of the panelists had some connection to UNH Cooperative Extension as members of 4-H clubs when they were children. John Scarinza of Randolph highlighted the breadth and scope of what Cooperative Extension offers. Scarinza has tapped the expertise of Extension educators for his work on the Randolph Planning Board, his membership with the tree farm program, and his work with the New Hampshire State Police, when Extension educated him on timber harvesting laws. He noted that Cooperative Extension keeps current with changing times and technologies, pointing out one of its publications, How Not to Get Lost Using GPS.

“Extension is an invaluable resource to myself and the communities up here,” Scarinza said.

Michelle Pimental of Berlin talked about how an Extension program called LEAP— Lifeskills for Employment, Achievement and Purpose— turned her life around, enabling her to strike a balance between work and family, manage her time, and find and take advantage of community resources.

Describing Cooperative Extension the “front door to the university,” community leader Bill Joyce of Stark called Extension a true partnership. “The staff works with you, and I’ve never been disappointed.”

When Clare Hinkley Valley arrived in Berlin 21 years ago, she soon connected with UNH and was hired as an adjunct professor of nursing so that she could educate nurses in the area on the latest research and techniques. “UNH has been instrumental in the success of nurses in the North Country ,” she said, adding that she feels excited about new collaborative research between UNH Nursing Professor Susan Fetzer and area hospitals.

Fred Sullivan, owner of Sullivan’s Greenhouses in Lancaster, the largest greenhouse operation north of the Lakes Region, has been connected to UNH and Cooperative Extension since he was a small boy, earning the distinction of having the best 4-H garden in New Hampshire when he was 10 years old. “The advice we give to our customers has come from the expertise and programs at UNH,” Sullivan said, noting in particular the information on greenhouse management and the use of micronutrients, the latter applying the research of UNH Professor Paul Fisher.

County Conversation generates new ideas and concerns for the future

The conversation that took place after the panelists spoke covered a range of topics, from providing better North Country access to New Hampshire Public Television, to more connections to high-speed Internet access for residents.

Several people asked Hart and others to consider using Coos County as “a learning lab,” using the 10,000-acre Randolph Community Forest as an example.

Issues that are facing the region, according to attendees, include the out-migration of young people who leave and don’t return, the lack of spare time opportunities for youth between the ages of 13 and 20, and the in-migration of families in need of social services the county can’t provide.

Earlier in the day, President Hart traveled to Gray Mist Farm in Groveton, where Nancy and Gordon Gray operate a diverse family farm operation that works closely with Extension agricultural specialists and field educators.

by Kim Billings , UNH Media Relations

The New Hampshire Organic Processors and Handlers Certification Program

This program means that a New Hampshire company grinding organic grains into muffin and pancake mixes, producing organic yogurt or cheese, or turning organic maple products into a line a line of maple-flavored organic salsas can have its processing operation certified in-state and its products bearing a New Hampshire certification label.

Richard Uncles, supervisor of DAMF's Bureau of Markets, said organic processors themselves came forward to help develop and push the enabling legislation, "on the grounds of affordability and a desire to maintain a strong New Hampshire brand identity for their products."

"New Hampshire processors had discovered it was a very expensive proposition to hire an outside certifier," Uncles said. "With the new program, we'll provide certification as a service, charging only enough to cover our costs.

"Also, New Hampshire processors wanted to maintain their own state identity with a New Hampshire 'brand' label," said Uncles. "They told legislators it looks kind of strange to have to market products bearing another state's organic label."

Meeting national organic standards
"This is not a food safety program," Uncles said. "It will simply ensure that a grower or processor meets the federal standards as 'organic' under the federal rule."

After 10 years of public deliberation, the National Organic Rule went into effect in October 2002. It specifies in detail how growers must care for their soils, grow their crops, and care for livestock if they want to label their products "organic." The national program also established rules for processing and handling operations: livestock and poultry slaughtering, grinding, canning, pickling, freezing, packaging and other means of processing food labeled organic.

NH DAMF had developed and managed its own organic certification program for nearly a decade before becoming accredited as a certifying agency under the federal rule. But until now, DAMF has only certified raw agricultural products, such as vegetables, fruits, eggs and meat. "We had a dilemma," said Uncles. "We couldn't take on an open-ended responsibility for certifying processing and handling operations without some means of funding it."

Program may help organic growers
Uncles said the new certification program will also benefit the state's organic growers. "It's critical for some producers of raw agricultural products that there be certified processors out there," he said. "Say you're producing an organic maple product. If you can sell to a processor making maple popcorn and selling it as certified organic, it adds value to your own product."

New Hampshire currently has approximately 110 certified organic producers raising a wide variety of crops, including vegetables, herbs, eggs, poultry, beef, maple products and ornamentals. Strong consumer demand for organic and locally produced foods provide strong market niches new farmers can exploit, Uncles said.

More information about organic certification:

• NH Organic certification program
• The National Organic Program Homepage
• Move out from here to find information on organic standards, news updates, and consumer. You might want to begin with the Questions and Answers page.
• National Organic Standards
• 2008 New Hampshire certified organic producers' directory

Updated September 23, 2009

Got "outside" questions? Call us! (1-877-398-4769)

Help! I found my pot-bellied pig chomping down on some exotic-looking plant in the barnyard this morning. I hope you can help identify it. The plant seems to have sprouted up from nowhere. It looks like some sort of exotic tropical specimen, with huge, heart-shaped leaves, spiny stems, bright yellow, trumpet-shaped flowers, and fleshy, dark- green seedpods about four inches long. I’m worried they might have poisoned him!

Now that spring has finally arrived in force and folks have headed outside to take stock of the natural world, people who raise pigs or chickens or vegetables, people with lawns and lilac bushes and perennial flowerbeds, or people just curious about snakes, or bats, birds, wild turkeys, or insects, will start calling us with questions. (The pot-bellied pig question arrived early one August morning.)

Yes, adventures in the great outdoors, even adventures that take place just outside your kitchen door, can stimulate a lot of questions. But where can you turn for answers?

If you’re smart, like the caller concerned about her pet pig, you’ll call the UNH Cooperative Extension Info Line at 1-877-398-4769. Trained volunteers linked to an extraordinary network of professionals with expertise in a wide variety of subject matter areas answer the phones Monday through Friday, from 9:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m., dispensing practical, environmentally-sound, research-based information tailored for New Hampshire conditions. People who can’t call during business hours can email questions.

Some days the calls come so fast and furious our phone staff can barely catch their breath between calls:

Can humans get roundworms from dog droppings on the lawn?
Where can I get my chickens tested for bird flu?
How long will homemade pickles last on the shelf?
Can I bury my dog’s ashes under the rose bush I want to plant as his memorial?
How can I banish a family of skunks from under the front porch?
How do I get my well water tested?
Do you have plans for a bat house?
The grass on the front lawn looks yellow and sparse. What can I do?
How can I tell if the tick I just pulled off my son’s leg is the kind that transmits Lyme disease?
How can I get more potassium into my diet?

At the end of the day, an elderly gentleman wants to know why his zucchini flowers aren’t developing into zucchinis. We tell him the likely reason is that the female flowers aren’t getting pollinated during this wet spell, give him a lesson in hand-pollination, and close down our phone lines for the day.

Over the past five years, volunteers staffing the Info Line have fielded almost 50,000 questions on gardening and landscaping, lawn care, food safety, food preservation, backyard livestock, water quality, wildlife, household pests, composting, tree care and so much more.

Few of us have extended families and neighbors these days with the knowledge and experience to advise us what to do when the chickens start pecking each other, or explain the advantages of removing suckers from the tomato plants. Most of us are at least two generations removed from folks who grew their own food, kept livestock, and knew which tree species produced the longest-lasting heat.

Most questions that come to the Info Line are uncomplicated and easy to answer. Chances are, the Info Line staffer you talk to has answered similar questions already, had the experience him/herself, or knows someone who has. And when they don’t have the answer at their fingertips, our staff will do the research to get you the information you need or refer you to someone who has it.

One more thing about the Info Line volunteers: without exception they’re very curious. They sign up for the 70-plus hours of training and commit to many hours on the job because they revel in the chance to learn something new as they research answers for you.

Oh, about that “exotic tropical plant” with the heart-shaped leaves, trumpet-shaped flowers and “fleshy seedpods” the caller’s pet pig enjoyed so much?

Because the woman—a recent transplant to rural New Hampshire—had to dash off to work to deliver a presentation, we suggested she put on gloves, pull up the plant, and bring it to her veterinarian’s office after her presentation, while we continued using our botanical “keys” to track its identity.

Turns out she didn’t need further advice from us—or her vet. She called ten minutes later from work to thank us and to say that her coworkers had identified the plant immediately—as a zucchini!

By Margaret Hagen, Director, UNH Cooperative Extension Family, Home & GardenEducationCenter

More from the Family, Home & Garden Education Center

• Do you like to learn through fun, hands-on classes or workshops? Visit our calendar of events to look

• If you want information oriented towards how to grow, build, diagnose or raise almost anything, check out the more than 150 Home & Garden Information Fact Sheets.

• Take a look at some of the New Hampshire Outside columns, mostly written by Extension volunteers with a personal story to tell about life in New Hampshire’s outdoors.

• WMUR-TV (Channel 9) also features a weekly UNH Cooperative Extension spot called “Grow It Green” which airs at noon Tuesdays and during Saturday morning’s early news. The spots highlight topics of seasonal interest.

 

 

Hogweed or look-a-like?

Dr. Alan V. Tasker, who manages the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Noxious Weed Program, says in states like Pennsylvania where authorities have inaugurated vigorous public awareness and hogweed eradication programs, “Most reports of giant hogweed turn out to be cow parsnip, angelica, hemlock or some other member of the carrot family.”

 

To learn more about the differences between hogweed and its close relatives, consult this excellent Penn State publication http://weeds.cas.psu.edu/hogweed.pdf

 

People who suspect they might have seen giant hogweed should call Cooperative Extension’s Family, Home & Garden Education Center Info Line, Monday - Friday, from 9 AM to 2 PM , prepared to describe the plant and its location. Do not touch the plant while trying to identify it.

 

If you believe you’ve made a positive identification of giant hogweed, please notify Doug Cygan, New Hampshire ’s Invasive Species Coordinator, at 271-3488.

Grow your own

I called my old dog Zonker my “kale-hound.” After a heavy December or January snowfall, when I’d say, “Let’s go dig some kale,” Zonker would charge from the dooryard, plowing through shoulder-high snow up the hill toward the garden, sniffing frantically until he came to the precise spot where I’d planted kale the previous spring. Then he’d begin digging furiously until he’d uncovered enough of the hardy greens for supper.

I’ve grown kale in my garden for 35 years and find it among the easiest crops to cultivate. Kale packs a nutritional punch no other cultivated crop can match. Rich in vitamins A and C, it contains ample supplies of iron, potassium and other minerals. Its calcium level rivals that of dairy products. Kale also contains high levels of heart-protective, cancer-inhibiting sulfur compounds, as well as pigments scientists believe that may protect human eyes against cataracts and macular degeneration, the leading cause of adult blindness.

Kale prefers rich soil with a pH between 6.5 and 7.0. I grow three or four varieties each year, sowing seed directly into the ground anytime from early May through early July. To discourage flea beetles, I cover the planting with a polyester row cover. Cabbageworms rarely bother kale, although aphids love it, especially the puckered-leafed Toscano and the sweet-tender Red Russian varieties, so I keep those varieties covered throughout the entire growing season. (I recently learned that taxonomists don’t classify my favorite Red Russian as a kale, but as a variety of rutabaga, grown for its leaves instead of its roots. Recently research at the University of New Hampshire has found that of all the commonly-available kale varieties, Toscano has the highest concentration of the phytonutrient lutein, which among its many health benefits, may protect human eyes against the harmful effects of solar radiation.)

Woodchucks love kale, so if you garden in a woodchuck-prone area, you’ll need to take the usual precautions: a tall, sturdy fence set deep in the ground to prevent the ‘chucks from digging under, a good woodchuck dog, a gun (check local ordinances to make sure it’s legal to discharge a firearm in your jurisdiction) or a trap. Wildlife biologists recommend shooting a woodchuck caught in a Havahart trap, rather than releasing the captured animal in a wild spot a few miles down the road, as some older gardening manuals suggest doing. Biologists say woodchucks generally can’t find food and shelter in their new surroundings, leaving them vulnerable to predators or consigning them to a slow death by starvation.

I usually make several succession plantings of kale from mid-May through mid-July, keeping my salad bowl supplied with the small, tender thinnings throughout the summer months. The flavor of kale improves markedly after a frost or two, and most kale varieties will keep well left right in the ground all winter long, especially in years when a few inches of snow fall early in the season to insulate the plants. (If you don’t have a kale-hound, make sure to mark the rows or beds of kale with a tall stake tied with a colorful streamer.)

I prefer harvesting kale in the dead of winter, since I can just take my colander into the garden and crumble the frozen leaves into it, avoiding the need to chop them.

Don’t pull those tough, woody kale stems out of your garden in the spring, either. Most years, the stems will sprout a new crop of sweet, tender leaves for salads long before the spinach and lettuce get big enough to harvest. I usually pull the kale stems out in early June and plant green beans in the empty space.

I add chopped kale liberally to soups, stir fries, quiches and omelets. But I’ve also learned to love it straight-up, cooked like this: Chop and lightly sauté a clove or two of garlic in olive oil in a large frying pan or wok. Add a quart or more of chopped kale to the pot with a little water, cover, and steam until the kale becomes tender. Grate a little pepper or nutmeg over it, dress with a bit more oil (vinegar optional), and toss with a handful of chopped toasted walnuts or almonds. You can make a main dish by using the kale as a bed for grilled salmon, chicken or marinated tofu, stuffed portabella mushrooms, or chopped hardboiled egg.

Peg Boyles

Growing a Green Generation
Children's gardening curriculum now online

“Young children love to dig in the dirt, pick flowers, and pull up plants to see how they grow. They have a fascination with bugs, beetles and worms,” says Extension program coordinator Dot Perkins.

 

“The Growing a Green Generation children’s gardening curriculum takes advantage of that fascination, using a gardening environment to teach basic skills and foster a love of nature.”

 

For three years, Perkins has helped develop, evaluate and refine the gardening curriculum, a project begun in 2000 as a collaboration between the UNH department of plant biology and the Child Study and Development Center.

 

Growing a Green Generation offers parents and teachers a storehouse of information and child-tested activities that introduce children to basic botany, soil science and a full sequence of gardening tasks, from measuring the garden area, to planting, weeding, watering, fertilizing, mulching and harvesting. It offers instructions for creating eight different theme gardens, numerous garden-related arts and crafts activities, garden-related experiments, snacks, songs, games and trips, as well as useful tables and references for teachers.

 

“We’ve designed the activities to engage all the senses: sight, sound, smell, taste and touch,” says Perkins, “We’ve included sections on container gardening for situations in which children don’t have access to a plot of land,” says Perkins. “The projects use recycled and inexpensive, commonly-available materials. Yes, you can buy a $30 root view—that’s a device with a window that lets you look at what’s going on with the plant below the soil surface—but a recycled soda bottle works just as well.”

 

“Our main goal for the project was to create a curriculum that would allow pre-school and kindergarten teachers, day care providers, and parents who’ve never planted a seed to have a successful experience with young children in the garden,” says Perkins. The project receives financial support from the Anna and Raymond Tuttle Environmental Horticulture Fund.

 

Colorful icons accompanying each activity page provide a quick visual overview of the skills the activity helps develop and the plant knowledge children will gain from it. Each activity page tells how much time the activity will take, then moves on to list the learning objectives, materials needed, set-up instructions, sequence of actions, questions teachers can ask to stimulate children’s thinking about the activity, and a glossary of new terms the activity presents.

 

Teachers and children the CSDC and New Hampshire Technical Institute’s Child and Family Development Center have tried and tested all the activities; the curriculum appends a section of comments Perkins collected during the project’s evaluation phase.

 

“The curriculum will continue to grow and evolve as we try new things and get feedback from teachers and others who use it,” she says. “Please get out into the garden this summer, try out some of our activities, and help grow the next green generation. We’d like to hear from you!”

 

March 19: Growing a Green Generation

A conference on learning with young children through the joy of gardening

 

UNH Greenhouse Open House April 1 & 2

Enjoy a breath of spring with a visit to the UNH Greenhouse Open House. Cooperative Extension, the UNH College of Life Science and Agriculture and the Thompson School jointly sponsor the two-day event, which runs Friday and Saturday, April 1 and 2, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. All activities take place at the University greenhouses off Main Street on the west end of Durham. Free and open to the public, the Open House offers visitors a lot to do:

• Tour the greenhouse to see faculty and student research projects and learn how a greenhouse “works.”
  
  
• Browse displays that include the backwoods garden, Snackseed pumpkins, plant breeding, water recycling, UNH composting (U DOO), information on the N.H. Master Gardener program, and more.
  
  
• Hear talks on a range of topics, which include alternatives to invasive landscape plants, the journey of a botanist on the trail of Lewis & Clark, controlling damaging lawn insects, what to do when your plant is ‘sick’, and an ‘ask the expert’ session. Click here for a list of sessions.
  
  
• Buy plants and flowers.
  
  
• Get a professional diagnosis of your sick plant (bring your ailing plant along).
  
  
• Turn your children loose on a scavenger hunt.

 

This year's Greenhouse Open House coincides with the 2005 Seacoast Flower, Home & Garden Show at the Whittemore Center April 1-3. Shuttle buses will travel between the greenhouse and the Whittemore Center Friday and Saturday between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.

 

For more information call 862-3200.

Beware the Giant Hogweed!

Spectacular plant may cause nasty burns

 

When she saw the stately flowering plant growing at a plant nursery in Vermont a few summers ago, Lilly Barton had to have some in her own garden. “It was drop-dead gorgeous,” she recalls. The “hogplants” Barton grew attracted so much attention from customers at the greenhouse and greenhouse supply operation Barton operates with her husband in Langdon, “we decided to save the seed and propagate it for sale.”

 

One sunny August day, Barton cut some of the huge seedheads and set them to dry. She’d noticed “the juice from the thick, hollow stems came squirting out and onto my arms, but I didn’t think much about it. I sat down with friends to talk and have a cold drink.”

 

A few hours later, Barton broke out in deep, burning blisters that required intravenous antibiotics and cortisone shots and took a month to heal. “I still have purple scars all over my arms that look like cigarette burns,” she says.

 

A not-so-gentle giant

Consulting botanical texts, Barton’s husband identified the plant as giant hogweed, Heracleum mantegazzianum, a perennial member of the Umbelliferae family of plants that includes the common carrot, parsnip, celery, parsley and dill, as well as the wild Queen Anne’s Lace, the cow parsnip and the deadly hemlock species.

 

Giant hogweed soars to 15 or even 20 feet high, producing spectacular white umbrella-shaped flowers that measure as much as 36 inches across and leaves up to five feet wide. Dispersed by wind, water, small mammals or birds, giant hogweed seeds can remain viable for eight years or more. The clear, watery sap of giant hogweed contains a toxin that, when activated by sunlight, may cause severe blistering like Lilly Barton experienced.

 

Medical reports note cases of temporary or permanent blindness resulting from exposure to hogweed sap, including many cases of children blinded after using the thick, hollow stems as telescopes and peashooters. Veterinary literature also contains reports of grazing animals receiving painful mouth blisters after consuming hogweed.

 

Minor plant pest can pose a serious health threat

On June 1, the state Department of Agriculture, Markets & Food ( NHDAMF ) banned the sale, propagation and transplant of 18 invasive plants, including giant hogweed.

 

Although giant hogweed does not grow rampant and spread rapidly the way some invasive plant species do, Doug Cygan, Invasive Species Coordinator with the NHDAMF says, “It’s by far the worst plant pest when it comes to human health.”

 

Under a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Cooperative Agricultural Pest Survey, state officials have begun surveying and mapping sites where giant hogweed grows. So far, Cygan says they’ve found it in Grafton, Sullivan and Rockingham Counties, with unconfirmed reports of four injuries from hogweed sap this summer.

 

Cygan warns property owners and others who think they’ve encountered a giant hogweed to stay away from these plants, keep pets and livestock from grazing on it, and make sure children and pets don’t play around the plants. Medical literature contains reports of people getting burned by playing with cats and dogs who’ve gotten the hogweed sap on their fur.

 

A seductive import

Originally imported by British gardeners from Eurasia in Victorian times, giant hogweed gradually dispersed throughout Europe and began showing up in North American gardens as early as 1917. The plant currently flourishes in the states of Washington, Oregon, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Maine, Vermont, and Massachusetts.

 

Dr. Alan V. Tasker, who manages the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Noxious Weed Program, says in states like Pennsylvania , where authorities have inaugurated vigorous public awareness and hogweed eradication programs, “Most reports of giant hogweed turn out to be Cow Parsnip, Angelica, or some other [member of the carrot family].”

 

Tasker says people can distinguish giant hogweed from other species of the carrot family, not only by its gargantuan size, but by its purple-splotched, hairy stems. “Cow parsnip stems have a more ‘furry’ look to them, whereas the hogweed has long, white hairs which are most pronounced at the base of the leaf petiole (stem). But the foliage of cow parsnips and giant hogweeds before they send up flower stalks is so similar it’s almost impossible to tell them apart.”

 

Giant hogweed prefers rich, moist disturbed soils and will establish readily in home gardens. But unlike many invasive plants, giant hogweed doesn’t spread rapidly unless it grows near water bodies: “Hogweed is a particular threat in riparian areas,” says Tasker. “The seedheads fall into the water and spread downstream, where they readily sprout and take root wherever they wash up.”

 

Gardeners “the worst offenders”

“Garden club members can be the worst offenders spreading giant hogweed,” Tasker says. “It’s so spectacular that they pass the seeds along to fellow gardeners.”

 

Even professionals fall for the majestic plants. Tasker says he’s spent time removing hogweed seedheads from the grounds of several foreign embassies in Washington . “The State Department hired a landscape architect who loves the plant,” says Tasker. “He got a bit huffy when he was informed it was on the Federal noxious weed list and would have to be removed.”

 

Have you seen the giant hogweed?

People who suspect they might have seen giant hogweed should call Cooperative Extension’s Family, Home & Garden Education Center’s Info Line, 1-877-398-4769, Monday-Friday, 9 AM -2 PM, prepared to describe the plant and its location. People who have already made a positive identification should notify Doug Cygan of the NHDAMF at 271-3488. Cygan suggests that people not touch the plant while trying to identify it and await a state inspector before deciding on a control strategy.

For more information

• Giant Hogweed and Look-a-Likes
  This Penn State photo-fact sheet will help you distinguish between giant hogweed and its close relatives.
• USDA Giant Hogweed Fact Sheet
• USDA Giant Hogweed Poster
• Fact sheet from King County, Washington
• Hogweed sap burn
  A graphic photo—not for the squeamish.
• Images of giant hogweed
• Lyrics to Genesis’ 1971 recording of The Return of the Giant Hogweed
  A cult classic and testament to the near-mythic status of giant hogweed in Great Britain , where the plant has flourished and spread for more than 100 years.

 

For clinicians

These links may offer useful information for New Hampshire healthcare providers.

• Photodermatitis from Giant Hogweed
  An epidemiological publication of the Oregon Department of Human Services
• Vegetation, Vegetables, Vesicles: Plants and Skin
  From a British nursing journal. Look for information about giant hogweed under the heading Phytophototoxicity.
  
  

An Explosion of Farmers Markets

What local institution helps preserve open space, improve public health, create jobs, generate income that stays in the local economy, revitalize downtowns and foster a sense of community? A farmers’ market of course!

“Farmers’ markets are re-energizing and re-invigorating New Hampshire cities and towns” says Jack Potter, founder and director of the N.H. Farmers’ Market Association. “Markets are providing a highly valued social event that people look forward to each market day. They are bringing an awareness of the importance of local farms and food quality into the minds and kitchens of thousands of people throughout our state. On market days, people drawn to the markets also visit and buy from other community merchants.” 

According to Gail McWilliam Jellie, who directs the of Agricultural Development for the N.H. Department of Agriculture, Markets & Food Division 48 markets, “ will operate in cities and towns throughout New Hampshire this summer, with several more expected to open before the end of the growing season. When I took this job 11 years ago, there were only 11.”

McWilliam Jellie credits the federal Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program as the primary force driving the explosive growth of farmers markets throughout New Hampshire. The FMNP provides coupons that qualifying low-income families and seniors can redeem for fresh fruits and vegetables at farmers’ markets.

“A N.H. Farmers’ Market Association survey estimated that the state’s farmers’ markets grossed about $800,000 last year,” says McWilliam Jellie. “FMNP coupons accounted for nearly $200,000, or about one-quarter of gross receipts.”

McWilliam Jellie says a resurgence of interest in farming and local initiatives to revitalize downtowns also factor heavily into the growth of farmers’ markets statewide. “I’m wondering when the trend will peak,” she says, adding that the pilot program enabling market vendors to accept the electronic cards used by food stamp recipients “has the potential to expand farmers’ market activity even more dramatically.”

Although locally-produced fresh fruit and vegetables play the starring role, most markets also offer a broad range of products reflecting New Hampshire’s rural heritage: plants and flowers, eggs, poultry, pork, wool, honey and maple syrup, baked goods, handmade soap and crafts. Many markets offer educational programs, cooking demonstrations, live animals, music, activities for children and festivals.

Growers needed!

“Most markets need more growers,” says Nada Haddad, Extension educator in Rockingham County. “Fruits and vegetables sustain these markets. More and more people are shopping at farmers’ markets, and we’re getting more and more markets every year, so we will continue to need more growers.” Haddad suggests that interested producers call their county Extension office or contact the manager of their local market for information on how to get involved or attend the May 12 workshop described below.

For more information:

Selling at a Farmers’ Market Essential tips for people who sell agricultural products at N.H. farmers’ markets.

New Hampshire Farmers’ Market Association A wealth of information for vendors and prospective vendors.

Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program Official pages on USDA’s Farmers Market Nutrition Programs for WIC recipients and low-income seniors.

USDA Farmer Direct Marketing Contains links to many information resources for vendors and consumers of farm-fresh products.

5 A Day Produce for Better Health Foundation Describes the health benefits of vegetables and fruits, contains links to fact sheets, recipes, research reports and more.

Master Gardener Course Offered in Lancaster

Popular home horticulture course moves to the North Country this fall

UNH Cooperative Extension will offer a Master Gardener course in Lancaster this fall. After completing the intensive course in home horticulture, Master Gardeners volunteer time in their communities, sharing their knowledge and their love of gardening with others.

Since 1993, this popular program has trained more than 700 Master Gardeners throughout New Hampshire, 500 of whom remain active as Master Gardener volunteers and take advantage of ongoing programs of continuing education.

Students in the program normally travel to Concord or to Manchester for classes. Coos County Extension educator Steve Turaj organized the Lancaster classes to ease the travel burden for North Country residents. Through an exchange program with the Vermont Master Gardener program, the Lancaster training program also welcomes Vermont applicants.

"The course isn't geared for beginners," says Turaj. "We're looking for experienced gardeners who want to increase their in-depth knowledge of home horticulture." Instructors will cover such topics as botany, soils, insects, plant diseases, plant propagation, indoor plants, fruits, vegetables, sustainable gardening, woody ornamentals, annuals and perennials, landscaping and more.

After graduation, the gardeners volunteer a minimum 45 hours during a year-long internship, extending to other gardeners their enthusiasm for gardening and the knowledge gained through the classes. After the intern year, full-fledged Master Gardeners remain active by continuing to volunteer a few hours each year.

The North County classes will meet a full day a week for eight weeks in the Granite State Room of North County Resource Center in Lancaster from late September to mid-October.

The eight classes will meet from 9 am to 4 pm, September 23, 28 and 30, and October 5, 8, 12, 14, and 19 (days of the week vary-check calendar). The program costs $175, which includes a reference handbook. Scholarships are available based on need.

For more information, or to receive an application in the mail, please call 788-4961.You can also download the application from our Web site. Please submit your application for the Lancaster program by August 31.

Apple IPM at 25

Teaching apple growers to monitor populations of orchard pests and use a variety of non-chemical controls before turning to pesticides—a practice called integrated pest management (IPM)—has saved New Hampshire growers at least $7.7 million in spraying costs over the past 25 years. Adopting IPM practices has allowed growers to cut the number of pesticide sprays in half, while increasing the percentage of high-value, unblemished fruit by 1.1 million bushels.

UNH Cooperative Extension entomologist and IPM coordinator Alan Eaton recently released a report that documents the extraordinary success of the apple IPM program he has coordinated for 25 years. From its beginnings in 1978, when a handful of growers agreed to test IPM techniques on a few trees in their orchards and compare results with conventional practices, the program has proven so successful that all of the 2500 acres of commercial orchards remaining in New Hampshire now use it.

Then and now

Twenty-five years ago New Hampshire boasted 5500 acres of commercial apple orchards. The standard apple trees of the day stood up to 30 feet tall and 35 feet wide at the crown. It took about 300 gallons of spray per acre and growers sprayed on a schedule to combat the numerous insect, disease and weed pests affecting apples. Even then, they found pest damage on 10 percent of their fruit significant enough to lower its value.

Today’s orchards feature plantings of much smaller dwarf or semi-dwarf trees half the size of the old standards. Expanding world apple production and other market factors have cut in half the acres of commercial apple production in New Hampshire and reduced apple production by half a million bushels. Most growers today market their apples and apple products directly to retail outlets or consumers.

Instead of spraying according to a pre-determined schedule the way they once did, growers using IPM techniques learn the life cycles of pests and the conditions that favor them, monitor the emergence of various pests by setting out a variety of traps and lures, scout their orchards for visual evidence of pests, and call to Eaton’s IPM hotline, updated weekly, so they can time their sprays accordingly. Despite the pesticide reductions, less than five percent of their apples show pest damage.

Although apple growers have cut the number of times they spray each season by half, Eaton says most of them probably spend about as many hours on the computer or out checking traps as the previous generation of apple growers spent preparing sprays and sitting on a tractor spraying their trees.

Building the program

To build the IPM program, Eaton and colleagues made site visits, wrote fact sheets, held winter workshops, organized on-site twilight meetings, and presented at grower meetings to recruit participants and disseminate information. Eaton says the IPM program has involved an intense partnership between Extension field staff, support staff, graduate students, summer assistants, private consultants and growers themselves, not only in New Hampshire, but regionwide.

He collaborated with specialists from throughout New England to produce the New England Apple Spray Guide (which grew from a 19-page spray schedule to the sophisticated 161-page guide that gets updated every two years). He promoted the introduction of nest boxes and perches for hawks and owls to reduce populations of mice and voles in orchards, and released populations of predatory insects and parasites that prey on apple pests.

Other benefits

Eaton says the apple IPM program has delivered benefits beyond the actual cost of fewer sprays:

• It has reduced the risk of adverse health effects from pesticides on farmers, farm workers and farm families.
• It has reduced the risk of pesticides contaminating ground and surface waters.
• Spraying less extends the life of expensive spraying equipment, lowering operating costs.
• It has increased populations of beneficial insects and parasites around apple orchards.

Eaton also knows of instances where he believes “IPM savings have been so substantial that it kept businesses afloat during difficult times,” thought he hasn’t tried to quantify jobs saved or growers able to stay in business.

He says his report serves as only “a rough look at the program and its impacts. It isn’t a complete economic analysis. For one thing, I haven’t ‘translated’ the dollar impacts from early years into 2004 dollars. For another, I haven't decided when to stop counting some impacts. 

“In response to the IPM work, growers cut their spraying by nearly one-third in the first five years of the program. Certainly no one would spray the old way today. Do we keep counting that as valid spray reduction this year? When do we stop counting? I don’t know.”

For more information  

• UNH Cooperative Extension IPM Program
• Northeast Region IPM Center website   Developed and maintained collaboratively by Extension IPM throughout the Northeast. Links to every Extension IPM program in the Northeast region..  You can also use the search engine on the site, to search only public IPM sites for information (and avoid a lot of sales pitches).
• Univ. Massachusetts Fruit Advisor Aimed at commercial fruit growers, it offers newsletters and publications  

Have a Better Backyard!

As if budding flowers, leaves and shoots this time of year weren’t enough, newspaper flyers, television commercials, and direct mail inserts catch our eyes and imaginations with promises of bright flawless lawns and perfect, colorful blossoms.

It’s easy to see how advertising of home and lawn care products appeals to our desire for beauty, convenience and ease. Couldn’t we all use a little more time, beauty and relaxation in our lives? What if we could have a low maintenance, beautiful yard AND protect water quality at the same time?

Are you willing to adopt a few new habits and make protecting water quality your priority? It may be easier than you think!

The Clean Water Act is more than 30 years old and has done a great deal to improve water quality in the United States . In fact, contaminants from industries are no longer considered the primary source of water pollution in the country.

According to the EPA, the “new” number one source of water pollution is nonpoint source pollution, also known as storm water runoff. As rainwater lands on our roofs, streets, fields, lawns, forests, construction sites, parking lots and driveways, it picks up materials and shuttles them down the nearest gutter or catch basin and into the local wetland, river, bay or lake.

The cumulative impact of runoff from many home and business landscapes is what gives this pollution source its number one position.

With a little forethought and a few changes in habits, we can reduce our contribution to water pollution and in many cases, make our home and lawn care easier! Major sources of water pollution in New Hampshire are excess nutrients, pathogens and toxic contaminants. Many contaminants come from sources in and around our homes. (Full Story)

Reduce Nutrients

All living things are made up of nutrients. When living things decompose, they break down into their component nutrients. When an excess of these nutrients, particularly phosphorus and nitrogen, are released into the environment, they cause excessive algae growth. Excessive algae growth leads to reduced oxygen levels in water that kills aquatic animal life.

There are many ways we can reduce nutrient inputs from around the home. Minimize or avoid fertilizer applications by testing the soil and then applying only the amount and type of fertilizer needed. Use slow release products.

Compost yard waste and prevent it from entering storm drains, rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, bays or marshes. Leave grass clippings on the lawn when mowing, they act as a light fertilizer. Replant bare areas quickly, especially on steep slopes. Eroding soils create pollution. Keep or plant a buffer of trees and shrubs between your property and any water bodies nearby. Plant native plants that require less fertilizer, water, and clipping.

Reduce pathogens

Disease-causing bacteria and viruses create pathogenic contamination in water. They typically indicate the presence of fecal matter and create health problems. In coastal areas, pathogenic contamination results in shellfish bed and beach closures. Pathogenic contamination usually comes from animal waste including waste from pets, wildlife, agricultural animals and humans. Human waste can enter water bodies via failing septic systems and waste water effluent.

There are a number of ways we can reduce our contribution to pathogenic contamination. Treating your septic system with care and pumping it out every 3-5 years helps reduce the likelihood the system will fail. Picking up pet waste and disposing of it in a toilet, the trash where allowed, or burying it, helps keep it from ending up in local waters. Conserving water at home and supporting a strong municipal wastewater treatment system help prevent overflows and accidental releases of minimally treated waste water.

Toxic Contaminants

Toxic contaminants are often what we think of when we think about pollution. These are compounds like heavy metals and pesticides. Toxic contaminants come from commercial, household and agricultural chemicals, automobile emissions, leaking underground tanks and historic sources. They don’t usually break down easily and they poison living things.

Household products can become toxic contaminants when they make their way into groundwater or the storm water system. Use less or nontoxic alternative products around the home. If you have some products you aren’t sure how to dispose of, contact your town office and ask about disposing of household hazardous waste. Many towns have a special collection once or twice a year.

Use common sense with pests. Most plants can tolerate some insect damage just fine. Minimize pesticide use. NEVER put anything down a storm drain. Automobiles and trucks release toxic contaminants into the air and onto the ground that eventually end up polluting runoff. Keep your vehicle in good working order. Use alternative transportation when you can. Wash your car at a carwash or over gravel to prevent the wash water from entering the storm water system.

Wherever possible, reduce runoff over impervious surface – pavement and compacted soils. These impenetrable surfaces prevent water from infiltrating the earth where soil helps filter out pollutants. Think about adopting a new way of thinking and a couple of new habits to minimize our contributions to polluted runoff.

By Julia Peterson, UNH Cooperative Extension Specialist, Water Resources

Health & Horticultural Research at UNH: Leafy Greens at the Leading Edge

Research scientists in the University of New Hampshire Departments of Plant Biology and Human and Animal Nutrition have teamed with Extension educators and New Hampshire vegetable growers to conduct research into the health-promoting benefits of plant compounds known as phytonutrients.

The UNH Carotenoid Project focuses on compounds called xanthopyll carotenoids, found in high concentrations in leafy green vegetables like kale and spinach. Health researchers believe that eating plant foods rich in these carotenoids may help protect people against macular degeneration, a leading cause of blindness in older adults.

The Carotenoid Project
Funded by an $800,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Initiative for Future Agriculture and Food Systems, the four-year Carotenoid Project features an interdisciplinary collaboration between assistant professor of plant biology Dr. Dean Kopsell and Dr. Joanne Curran-Celentano, an associate professor of animal and nutritional sciences with a longstanding interest in the role of carotenoids in human health.

Curran-Celentano’s team is studying how well humans who eat lutein-rich food or take lutein supplements absorb the carotenoids and deposit them into the macula lutea of their eyes.

Kopsell and his team have examined the genetic, cultural and environmental factors that maximize the concentration of xanthopyll carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin in leafy greens like kale and spinach. They’ve modified the sulfur content of soils to moderate the strong flavors in kale that some people don’t like. Kopsell has also sampled and analyzed a wide range of vegetable crops grown at six New Hampshire farms for their carotenoid content.

The field research has focused primarily on kale.

More than just a pretty garnish
Although many people know kale primarily as that coarse ruffled leaf placed alongside the “real food” on a restaurant plate, nutritionists have long recognized the superior food value of this leafy crop. A rich source of vitamins A and C, dietary fiber, iron, potassium and manganese, kale also rivals dairy products as a source of calcium. And new research findings suggest that kale may also deliver a host of health benefits through its high levels of phytonutrients.

Among all vegetables, kale ranks highest in its concentration of the xanthophyll carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin, the yellow-orange pigments plants evolved to help protect their tissues against the harmful effects of excess solar radiation. Lutein and zeaxanthin concentrate in the macula lutea of the human retina, where scientists believe the phytocompounds may serve a similar function, absorbing and dispersing ultraviolet radiation to help protect against cataracts and macular degeneration.

Growing carotenoid-rich crops with improved flavor
Kopsell’s research involves studying the genetic, vegetable cultural and environmental factors that that favor high concentrations of carotenoids, and manipulating soil fertility factors to make these nutrient-dense crops taste better.

According to Kopsell, plants evolved carotenoids as “accessory pigments” for self-protective purposes. “Plants use only about one or two percent of the light energy falling on the leaf surface for photosynthesis,” Kopsell says. “In plants, lutein and zeaxanthin play a role in absorbing light outside the red and blue range and funneling it away, in essence acting as a chemical “sun black” that helps protect the pant from excessive radiation.” Medical researchers theorize that carotenoids play a similar role when they concentrate in the macula lutea, the region of highest visual acuity in the human eye.

Kopsell analyzed the carotenoid content of dozens of kale varieties, discovering the varieties with the highest concentrations had two and a half times the carotenoid levels of those with the lowest concentrations.

In greenhouse research, Kopsell found that manipulating the amount of sulfur in the soil could alter the flavor of kale without affecting its carotenoid content. “We thought if we could grow kale with a milder, less bitter, less acrid flavor, it would make it more acceptable to consumers,” Kopsell said. He found that soils with less sulfur produce greens with a milder, less pungent flavor, but no loss of carotenoids.

Last summer, Kopsell worked with Extension educators Steve Turaj in Coos County and George Hamilton in Hillsborough to bring his greenhouse research into the field. Three vegetable farmers agreed to plant three different kale varieties in test plots with three levels of sulfur added to the soil. Participants at well-attended twilight meetings in both counties heard about the research and sampled three different high-carotenoid kale varieties grown under three different levels of sulfur fertility.

“At one of our twilight meetings we had 150 people and more than half of them tasted the kale samples from the three different plots,” said Hamilton . “They couldn’t believe the difference between the high-, medium- and low-sulfur treatments.”

“People derive benefits from only those vegetables they’re willing to eat,” says Turaj with a laugh. However, Kopsell noted that some kale tasters in each group actually prefer the stronger-tasting kales grown in high-sulfur soil.

Human feeding trials
Last summer, co-investigator Dr. Joanne Curran-Celentano began work on the human nutrition component of the study, in which human volunteers will either consume spinach or lutein supplements over several months, then measure how much lutein gets absorbed into their bloodstreams and deposited into the macula lutea of their eyes.

Celentano’s team recruited 50 test subjects, divided into five groups. The control group receives a placebo. Two groups received lutein supplements, one with a higher, the other with a lower dose of lutein. The other two groups eat a prepared dish five days a week containing spinach grown at the UNH research farm. One group of spinach eaters gets the high-lutein 'Spinner' spinach variety; the other eats 'Springer' spinach, a variety containing 33 percent less lutein.

Curran-Celentano says the project used spinach instead of kale to make it easier to recruit volunteers, since more Americans eat spinach than kale. She and her team hope to complete the feeding trial and analyze the data this fall.

Kopsell recently accepted a position at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and will continue his carotenoid research there. “A lot of Americans look to professional health care to cure diseases. [Research like ours] is approaching health from the preventative side,” says Kopsell. “Some day not too far into the future, [nutritionists] may establish an RDA for lutein and other phytonutrients. As a plant physiologist, I want to know what genetic and cultural factors contribute to increasing the levels of those phytonutrients in food crops.”

A boost for local growers?
All this knowledge may translate into a little home-team advantage for local farms,” says Coos County Extension educator Steve Turaj. “Perhaps you’ve heard about the Country-of-Origin labeling law (COOL) passed by Congress as part of the 2002 Farm Bill. [Still working its way through the rulemaking process], the law will eventually require that fruits, vegetables, meat and fish sold in the U.S. include a label identifying the country where the food originated.”

“University studies show consumers favor the idea,” Turaj says. “ Wouldn’t it be terrific to say, ‘Yes it’s grown here and it’s superior to food from somewhere else. Here’s why.’”

by Peg Boyles, UNH Extension writer/editor, with help from Coos County Extension educator Steve Turaj

For more information

• About phytonutrients
• About carotenoids
• Descriptions of the various threads of carotenoid research at UNH
• USDA Nutrient Database - Learn about the nutritional value of the foods you eat by typing the name of the food in the “keyword” box.

A New Insect Pest Moves into New Hampshire

“In August of 2002, we received a frantic call from Campbell’s Scottish Highlands Golf Course in Salem. They reported caterpillars destroying thousands of sunflowers, marigolds, geraniums, and zinnias used to decorate the grounds,” says UNH Cooperative Extension entomologist Stan Swier.

Swier identified the caterpillar as the larval form of the sunflower moth, a pest not previously seen in New Hampshire. “The sunflower moth causes problems in the southern and western states, particularly where sunflowers are grown as a crop,” he says. “In the Eastern U.S, it hadn’t previously been reported north of New Jersey.”

Swier has also seen the sunflower moth in Durham and Madbury. “This moth must like New Hampshire, because it returned in 2003 and now again in 2004,” he says. “Originally, it blew up from the south and laid its eggs on late summer flowers. But this year we began seeing active larvae in late June. They’ve attacked nearly every plant on the golf course grounds.”

Swier hypothesizes the larvae may have overwintered in Salem and started a new generation this spring, leaving enough time for a second generation to mature before frost. “It could be here to stay, he says, “although it’s still too early to tell whether they really survived the winter or simply wafted up from the South on warm air currents generated by a freak spring storm.”

“The sunflower moth larvae are gregarious feeders. They’re striking in appearance, with dark brown and pale yellow stripes down their backs. You can find them feeding on undeveloped seeds in the flower heads,” says Swier. “Any pesticide labeled for caterpillars on outdoor flowers will control this pest. If caterpillars are small, the bacterial pesticide, Bacillus thuringiensis (B.t.) should work. Follow label directions.”

For more information

• Fact sheet on sunflower moth
• Photos of sunflower moths and larvae
• This fact sheet helps you identify which moth you have on your sunflowers

 

Leaf-Eating Caterpillars Chowing Down in the Granite State

Three varieties of leaf-eating caterpillars hit the Granite State in the last few weeks. Here's an update on what to look for, what to worry about and what not to worry about.

Eastern tent caterpillars are the most visible. They weave those unsightly webs, mostly in cherry trees, stripping the tree bare. They are more of a nuisance than a threat to trees, rarely killing healthy trees. They have nearly completed feeding and will soon pupate, emerging as moths in July. Expect defoliated trees to send out new leaves once the feeding stops.

Forest tent caterpillars are the "tent caterpillars" that don't make tent-like nests. They are active now, defoliating oaks throughout the state. They feed on other hardwoods including sugar maple. Like their relative, the eastern tent caterpillar, they don't cause irreparable harm to healthy trees.

Gypsy moth is also starting to feed. Because most of us remember the extreme defoliation this pest caused in the 1980s and 1990s, this caterpillar gets blamed for most of the work of the other two. Happily, a fungus introduced in the early part of the last century is preventing gypsy moth numbers from exploding. Though it is currently among us, it is unlikely the gypsy moth will defoliate as extensively as they did the past.

Populations of insects rise and fall with the controls in nature that keeps them in check. Insect parasites, predators, viruses, fungus, weather extremes, and even starvation when populations exceed the food supply, all help control them. There is little we can do to prevent them from attacking, though there are some effective treatments for specimen trees. For more information on appropriate treatments, call the toll-free Info Line at our Family, Home & Garden Education Center, 1-877-398-4769.

Trees have adapted to occasional defoliation and other stresses. No doubt, trees do better without being stripped of their leaves, but they are amazingly resilient and healthy trees recover as long as they aren't defoliated yearly.

 

By Karen Bennett, UNH Extension Forest Resources Specialist

Mother Nature Can't Do it for You

Hybrid roses so frequently fail to survive winters in New Hampshire that many gardeners have given up on them. These notes are written for the still-hopeful rose gardener. Although they are not fool-proof, they should help to bring your roses through the coming winter in good shape. Rose plants can be killed or injured during the winter in several different ways. These include: direct injury to tops or roots from extreme cold; root injury from drying-out as a result of plants being heaved out of the ground by alternate freezing and thawing; injury caused by animals such as mice; rapid variation of temperature-caused by warming of stems in strong winter sunshine followed by rapid freezing; and snow or ice breakage.

Injury from extreme cold can be avoided only by selecting the hardiest varieties available. Unfortunately, most hybrid roses have not been thoroughly evaluated for winter hardiness, so New Hampshire rose gardeners must be willing to experiment for themselves or rely on the experiences of other rose growers in the area. Generally, floribundas, hybrid perpetuals, shrub roses, and many of the "old-fashioned" roses prove more winter hardy than the hybrid teas and grandifloras.

Many gardeners have found that mounding mulch and soil around individual bushes is the most practical way to overwinter roses in this climate. The following procedure should be almost fool-proof. Prune your rose just enough to adjust the size of the plant to its winter covering. Tie the canes together with twine. Erect a cylindrical frame around the rose bush to hold mulch in place. Chicken wire, roofing paper, or any other sturdy material can be used. Fill the frame to at least 12 inches deep with a loose, porous mulch such as peat moss, vermiculite, pine bark or straw. If you have an especially tender rose you may first want to bring in enough soil to cover just the graft (usually 2-4 inches is sufficient). Oak or beech leaves can also be used, but leaves that tend to mat down when wet, such as maple, willow, and poplar, should be avoided as these can smother plants. The top of the frame can be covered with opaque (not clear) plastic or burlap to keep the mulch from blowing if necessary then mound soil to a depth of 10-12" around the base of the frame. If you have small plants you can also use the styrofoam covers sold by garden centers; then mound soil around the outside base of the styrofoam cover.

For climbing roses either of the following procedures can be used. If your roses are growing in a fairly protected area, out of harsh winds and extreme temperatures, wrapping with burlap or evergreen boughs will give sufficient winter protection. After the first hard frost of the fall, secure canes to their support and prune off long ends. Next wrap the canes in burlap, straw or evergreen boughs and tie with twine. Mound 10-12" of soil around base of the plant.

In extremely cold areas where winter damage is common, the best way to protect a climbing rose is to shield the entire plant with earth. After the first hard frost of the fall, detach the plant from its support and tie its canes together. Bend the canes to the ground arching them near the plant's base to avoid breaking. Pin the canes down with crossed stakes to heel in canes. Lay a piece of burlap over the canes to make the springs uncovering operation easier. Then mound the soil over the entire plant and drive a stake into the ground at each corner of the mound to mark the spot.

Winter protection should be applied in late fall. If protection is applied too early in the fall, it interferes with the natural development of winter hardiness in the plant. Roses that are covered before mid-November may be more susceptible to winter injury than ones left unprotected.

Before mulching or mounding, fall cleanup should be completed, removing all plant debris and diseased parts. Even with these treatments, tip dieback can occur. This is not usually serious, as the canes should be pruned back at least 12 inches next spring and the injured tips will be removed at that time.

Fall pruning of roses should be restricted to removal of only tall, lank growth. It is important to remember that most varieties of roses will generally die back several inches during winter months. The degree of such dieback will determine the severity of next spring's pruning. Such dead wood should then be cut from the plant an inch or so below dark colored areas. Other pruning in the fall often results in canes that are too short next spring.

If you don't get a chance to mulch your roses, your only alternative is to depend on Mother Nature to mulch the garden herself. You know how snow is, it always falls where and when you lease want it.

If you would like more information on anything mentioned here please feel free to visit our web site or call UNH Cooperative Extension's Family, Home & Garden Center's Info-line (tollfree) at 1-877-398-4769. Trained volunteers are available to answer your questions Monday through Friday 9:00am to 2:00 p.m.

Welcome Spring! '05 - NH Master Gardener Association Spring Symposium April 16

Do you have (or wish you had) a green thumb? Do you want to learn more about garden design, growing vegetables organically, running a successful plant sale, or using stone in the garden?

 

The NH Master Gardener Association (NHMGA) invites gardeners and aspiring gardeners to the 3rd annual Welcome Spring! Garden Symposium April 16, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:40 p.m. at the Courtyard by Marriott Grappone Center in Concord .

 

Timed to coincide with the greening of lawns and the sound of the first spring peepers, the conference opens with a keynote address by garden designer and author Penelope O'Sullivan speaking on this year's conference theme, Inspiration and Design for NH Gardens.

 

Workshops presented by UNH Cooperative Extension horticulture staff and outside experts include Designing with Perennials, Attracting Wildlife with Native Plants, Gardening with Children, Water Gardens, and Ornamental Grasses for New Hampshire.

 

“Don’t forget the social benefits,” says NHMGA president Marianne Earhart. “The symposium is a wonderful opportunity to meet and talk to with fellow gardeners from Zone 3 to Zone 6. You’ll learn from others what works, what doesn't work for them, and pick up tips on what you might want to do differently for this gardening year.”

 

The cost, $35.00 for NHMGA members, and $45.00 for nonmembers and the general public, includes refreshments, lunch, and a chance to bid in the silent auction.

Participants must register by April 8. Download a brochure and registration form, or contact Karen Firmin at 279-0763 to receive a brochure in the mail.

 

Links

• UNH Cooperative Extension Master Gardener program
• New Hampshire Master Gardener Association

 

 

Getting the Dirt on Soil

What's the difference between dirt and soil? Old-timers were fond of saying "that's good black dirt." For them, it wasn't soil-it was dirt, with its full meaning of humus, mineral matter and decaying organic matter. It is the dirt of the old-timers that we call soil today, full of living things, decaying leaves, plant litter and even dead creatures. These are the things that change rock particles into that "good black dirt". Think of soil as a thin, living skin that covers the land, for soil is very much alive. To grow healthy, productive plants, you need healthy, productive soil. It is this living soil that provides the food plants need, when they need it and how they need it.

Have you ever planted seeds in soil and watched with amazement as tiny sprouts emerged and gradually grew into healthy, viable plants? Are you aware that in addition to water, which is very important, the type of soil that plants grow in and what actually goes on in that soil will determine how well plants grow?

When the old-timers referred to black dirt, in effect they were referring to the physical properties of the soil - it's color, texture, structure, drainage and depth. For it is these features that determine the suitability of soil for planting certain crops and its eventual productivity.

• Color - surface colors of soil vary from very light to shades of dark to black. Light colors indicate low organic matter content, while dark can indicate higher organic matter content.
  
  
• Texture - New Hampshire soils, fairly young as soils go, (10,000 years) contain sand, silt and clay and usually fall into the categories of loam, sandy loam and clay loam.
  
  
• Structure - soil structure relates closely to air and water movement within the soil. Good soil structure allows for movement of air and water more freely, while poor structure slows it down. Proper tillage or plowing and the addition of adequate organic matter can promote good soil structure.
  
  
• Drainage - is the amount and rate of water movement in the soil. Simply put, too much water and plants suffocate; too little water and plants will wither and die - in the end, the result is the same. Water moves fastest through sandy soils, silt holds more water and clay holds the most.
  
  
• Depth - soils that are deep (30-36 inches or more) and well drained, with desirable structure and texture, are best suited to good plant growth.

It is the physical soil properties that most heavily influence the suitability of soil for growth. Fertility, although important, can be readily changed and managed. Proper tillage increases the amount of air and water in soil and can enhance the rate of organic matter decomposition. Too much tillage exposes the soil, leaving it open to erosion by water and wind.

The way soils form varies depending upon parent material, topography, climate, vegetation and time, yet all basic soil contains mineral matter, organic matter, water and air. Further, the amount of mineral and organic matter in soils will vary in any given area, depending on the types of crops grown, frequency of tillage and soil drainage.

Soil can be enhanced by the addition of organic matter to produce humus (the end product left from decaying leaves, manure and other living and dead materials). Build the soil with these materials and the earthworms will come, says William Bryant Logan in his thoughtful collection of essays titled " Dirt: The Ecstatic Skin of the Earth ". More than any other creature, worms are the essence of good topsoil. Soil that is rich in organic matter is ingested through one end of the bodies of these amazing creatures and comes out the other end, enriched and well mixed as "castings", Logan explains in one essay about earthworms.

If you are unsure about the suitability of your soil for certain crops or want to know more about its ability to promote healthy plant growth, a soil test can help. Soil tests can be done with a kit from a garden center or by a soils lab. When you collect soil for a test, be sure to take the sample from the root zone (about 6 inches down), collect small amounts from at least 5 spots in the area to be tested, mix them up in a bucket, and then pull a representative sample for testing. Following this procedure will give you the best results.

UNH has a soil testing laboratory which does a basic test (pH, texture, calcium, potassium and phosphorous levels) for $12.00. For $5.00 more you can find out the % of organic matter in your soil. The Analytical Services Lab, located in the Spaulding Life Science Center on the UNH Campus, tests soil samples for researchers, homeowners, farmers, commercial growers, and golf courses.

The Home Grounds and Gardens soil test form includes information on taking a good representative soil sample.

The laboratory staff will analyze your soil sample for pH and nutrient content using the latest instrumental techniques and provide computer generated lime and fertilizer recommendations for specific crop needs. Most samples are analyzed and the results are reported during the next two working days following submission to the lab. If you supply them with an e-mail address, your test results will arrive on the same day they are completed!

For further information contact the Soil Testing Lab at the Analytical Services Lab, Spaulding Life Science Center, 38 College Road, Durham, NH 03824, telephone: 603-862-3210 or at Soil.Testing@unh.edu or at the UNH Cooperative Extension web site . The lab is open M-Th, 8:00-12:00 and 1:00-3:00 except on recognized UNH holidays.

Soil and plants play a very vital role in the well-being and survival of both humans and animals. Soil helps protect plant roots from the sun's heat and filters pollution from rain and water runoff. And soil is what plants need to grow and be supported in as they grow. It is used for food, fabric dyes, medicines, beauty products and building materials, to name but a few uses.

For more information call the UNH Cooperative Extension's Family, Home & Garden Education Ce nter's Info-Line toll free at 1-877-398-4769 for "Practical Solutions to Everyday Questions." Trained volunteers are available to answer your questions Monday through Friday from 9:00am to 2:00pm.

Nancy P. Adams, Master Gardener, UNHCE, Hillsborough County

Horse Shopping?

Your child wants a horse – now what?

It happens to most parents at one time or another. Your child comes to you and asks for a pet. For many, cats, goldfish, hamsters or dogs become a relatively easy addition for most families to make, and owning an animal is great for teaching responsibility and compassion. However, if the animal your son or daughter really wants is a horse, the impacts are much greater.

First, consider your child’s age and stage of development. Is your child old enough and big enough to physically handle and ride a horse? Does he/she have the mental development to observe his/her surroundings and make quick decisions with respect to the animal’s behavior?

If your child wants to own a horse, they will need to learn a lot about basic care and safety, as well as how to ride. Riding lessons or a 4-H Horse Club are excellent introductions and the cost is quite nominal compared to an outright purchase of an animal.

In addition to teaching, many basics required of a successful horse owner, these activities give you and your child a chance to try the activity out before making a long-term commitment.

There are many good riding stables in New Hampshire. You’ll find advertisements in local papers or through the New Hampshire Horse Council. Be sure to ask a potential riding instructor about their experience teaching youth and make sure you ask for references.

Make sure the riding instruction takes place in a safe arena and that your child wears a properly fitted and approved safety helmet. Ask the riding instructor if the lesson includes instruction on how to care for horses as well.

If your child is serious about horses, he/she must realize there is a lot of work involved, including feeding, cleaning stalls, grooming and maintaining equipment. There are many 4-H Horse Clubs and Pony Clubs in New Hampshire as well. Contact your local UNH Cooperative Extension office for information about 4-H Horse programs.

Some stables offer a lease agreement for a horse. The agreement might call for you to pay all or a portion of the animal’s feed, care and upkeep in exchange for your child’s opportunity to ride and show the horse as much as they want.

Be sure to ask questions about who pays for veterinary and feed costs, when and how you can get out of a lease or whether you can transport the horse off grounds for shows. Get a written lease that clearly outlines the cost and responsibilities of both parties.

If you do decide to buy a horse for your child, prepare to educate yourself as much as possible prior to a purchase. You’ll need to have an appropriate facility, at either your home or a boarding facility. As with a lease situation, be sure to get a boarding agreement in writing. In addition to a shelter and exercise area, you will need space to store hay and feed and a plan to dispose of the manure your horse will create.

Selecting the right horse for your child is very important. Matching your child’s size and skill level to the size, temperament and training of the horse is critical to a positive experience, as well as the safety of your child.

Match a young, novice rider with an older, well-trained animal. Never buy a young horse for a new rider to “grow up with.” You should also consider what your child is interested in doing with the horse. Some horses are much better suited to pleasure and trail riding, while others are better for showing or jumping. Consult with a trusted and experienced person who owns or manages horses and don’t hesitate to ask a veterinarian to check a potential purchase for health problems.

The costs of horse ownership can be very expensive. The cost of buying a horse varies greatly, and the cost of boarding could run $200 or more per month. Consider both the costs of feed and bedding, which can be quite high, as well as the purchase of tack and equipment. You’ll also need a horse trailer (and the vehicle to pull it) if your son or daughter wants to take their horse to shows or events.

There are great benefits to horse ownership. Gaining skills in horse care and riding give a youth greater self-confidence, coordination and agility, and they will learn about responsibility and compassion as well.

Many people who ride regularly do so for exercise and relaxation, and the common interest in horses introduces you to many new people with similar interests. Horse ownership, however, is a great responsibility. Consider the decision carefully. This article outlines some important considerations you must make before buying a horse. Do your homework before you buy a horse; it’s very important. Consult horse professionals, reputable web sites or books, and contact your county UNH Cooperative Extension office for more information.

By Lisa Townson, Extension Specialist, 4-H Youth Development – August, 2004