Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:22):
Welcome to Dakota Growing. I'm Kelsey Deckert, your horticulture agent
here in Burley County in the Radio Access studio, joined
by my co host Tom Cobb, DSUO Extension horticulturist. How
are we doing.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Everything's good, Chelsea.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
We're at the end of June. Fourth of July is
around the corner, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
That's right? These are good days.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Those are good days.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
You know. Weather's not too not too one and not
too cold and getting good rains. Everything's green outside, it rains.
It's kind of cool a little bit now a little bit,
but it's kind of me. I was just thinking, my
Irish jeans are happy. It's kind of misty outside and cool,
(01:06):
just the way I like it.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
So remind you of the Motherland.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
That's right. Where's the guinnis?
Speaker 1 (01:13):
No? Just kidding, that's right?
Speaker 2 (01:14):
But yeah, I think these are great days. So got
anything great to tell us today about gardening?
Speaker 1 (01:21):
We're gonna start a little negative what Yeah, you know,
we better talk about last week? And it is Friday,
and I hear maybe some weather on the horizon tonight.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Oh storms, storms?
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Yeah, how was it last week? So I wasn't even
I wasn't here. I was out in Montown.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
I have ye. Of course it was really windy. I
remember there's some newly planted trees. I was going on
forty third and man, you're like at a forty five
degree angle, they're just like those are like yeah, but
they didn't they didn't pull up. But man, there's there's
some pretty vicious winds.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
But thankfully no local tornadoes.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Yeah. I don't worry about tornados really no. That's good
because when I was raised, we had a tornado war
in Minnesota. We had to commit tornado warning every week.
Just about it got to the point where we just
go outside and look for it, you know, kind of yeah,
let's go out. Why are we going to go on
a basement. It would come from across the lake. So
(02:32):
I said, let's let's go, let's go look, let's go
look for it. I mean, I'm not like in a
car or anything. Let's go out in the backyard and
out in the porch. And I still do that, and
there there's bad weather, I like to go out in
the porch and kind of sense it a little bit.
Or or man, I remember I used Taiwan. We had monsoons. Man,
(02:52):
just like literally buckets of water falling down on your
head side, just like I just go outside and like, wow,
it's like the ultimate hour. So cool as long as
i'm I know, I'm gonna survive it. Yeah, I love
extreme weather. Nature is powerful. Yeah, mother nature. I respect
that lady. She is powerful.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
I was, I'll be honest, I was a little nervous
what we were going to come home to because here
we are sitting out in Bozeman, Montana at a rodeo,
of course, and our phones kept digging with our cameras
going off outside and stuff, and you could just see,
like I was watching my flag pole and I was like, man,
how many things Luckily we don't have. We have trees planted,
(03:36):
but they're so young. I was like, I don't have
to worry about trees out in our place. So anyways,
we came back and the only thing that was blown
was the girl's playhouse. But there's been less wind and
that has blown a few feet away before. So okay, yeah,
so should we talk about some storm damage. Did he
(03:59):
get calls this week or anys not on that? Okay, Well,
let's let's take a look today. I do want to
say special thanks to our NBSU extension forrester Joza Lesnik.
I know he talked about at our weekly meeting that
I wasn't able to be at this week, but gave
me some uh PowerPoint slides to add in today to
(04:20):
just kind of really cover it in the basics. So
this was Monday, when I got back in the office,
I had this call right away and these pictures sent
in a little bit later in the day. So this
was here in Bismarck. If you look at that left
photo there, you can see that large limb that had
(04:42):
broken away, and then that right photo actually shows that
he had cut you know, what was hanging over the
neighbor's fence off and stuff. So that doesn't look too great.
Here's a couple other examples of some you know, storm
damage where limbs broke or strip off. My in laws
definitely had large trees down, and other neighbors too had
(05:07):
definite damage. So when it comes to trees, just to
start out, I would say, our first and foremost priority
is safety. So if you have trees by power lines,
you need to stay away from those. We really do
need to evaluate the area. So how close are these
trees that are damage close to like other structures, whether
(05:29):
that's garages, houses, As you're evaluating, are their potential for
branches to be falling down on you under there? You know,
think of all those things. And then if you are
looking at, you know, doing some pruning or removal of
damage branches, make sure you know how to use those
tools properly and you are also wearing the correct ppe.
(05:51):
So anyways, safety first, safety first, so kind of first
thoughts that go through as people, as you know, you
assess the damage, and from what I gather in the
amount of calls, I was expecting Monday to be a whirlwind,
but I think the city of Bismarck did a pretty
good job of being out there and telling people to
(06:13):
bring branches and stuff out to the curbs and get
them hauled away. But just some questions to ask yourself
would be, you know, like when we look at considering
keeping a tree, so I would consider keeping a tree
if you have a younger, smaller tree and maybe it's
just uprooted. I did have that call this week too,
where the client described that newly planted trees only a
(06:37):
few weeks old, but basically it's like the soil around
them kind of sunk and they went a little deeper
into it. So just kind of talk to her about
pulling them back up to that subtle soil line and
making sure that we packed that around there. Smaller trees
with like an intact leader and scaffold branches. Again, those
(06:59):
are young trees. They can they can rebound off of
a lot of that. Uh, where should we really remove?
We should look at removing trees that have other issues,
whether like that first one we've seen, you know, the
real blackening of the trunk. Would you be concerned about that?
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Yeah, right, there's the rotten it's right near the neighbor's fence, right,
and you know that's that tree isn't a structurally sound exactly,
and it's it's the term is hazard. That's to be careful,
but it's kind of there are consequences if that tree
falls down. You know, it's not like in the middle
(07:39):
of the prairie, who cares if that falls down? You know,
it doesn't matter. But if your neighbor's house is right there,
or your house for that matter, then that's a that's
another factor to consider absolutely.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
So kind of like Tom said, that poor health, even
if we see like insect or disease damage. Sometimes maybe
your tree just now has an unattractive form to it
too that you might consider removing it. Those larger trees
that are uprooted or are leaning really good, probably look
at removing those. And then any trees with major limbs
(08:14):
that are broken or the central leader is broken, those
are ones to consider. I just say one in doubt,
call an expert. We have a lot of local arborous
along with ourselves, NDS Extension being a good source of
resources and information to kind of help guide you with that.
So how much damage is too much damage? And so
(08:36):
there's really no hard and fast rules, just a lot
of guidelines, you know, first question to ask is fifty
percent or more of that crown intact? Take a look
at that overall. So I'll show you a couple of
pictures that are from the National Arbor Day Foundation. So
if we look at this one, this picture, there's a
(08:58):
lot of the crown left to recover. There. We have
some lower branches that have broken off, but plenty for recovery.
Here we look at a tree that's probably a little
bit younger. Again, very small branches, few branches, limbs that
have been broken out, lots of recover. Now, if we
look at this photo, this one is going to show
(09:18):
you where that central leader has been broken. We got
some major limbs. We have very little the crown left
over too to look at. So this is definitely a
remove situation. Uh this next one too, got a larger
tree leaning over and that leader has snapped off with
(09:38):
the majority of that canopy. Quhen, are you having issues
on your end? Nope, okay, slides aren't advancing on our end.
Just a FYI, do you have me to come look
at it much? We can continue if if you think
(10:01):
we'll just continue, I see too much crowd loss, remove
the tree of a leaning tree, Okay, okay, we'll just continue. Okay,
So okay, jumping back, you know again looking at that.
Like I said, if you have more than fifty percent
of the crown is intact, that's a really good sign.
(10:23):
Mentioned a little bit earlier, those younger trees can take
a little bit more damage. And then, like we asked too,
is that leader intact or could another branch easily take over?
Because we can train other leader or other branches to
be leaders a lot of times as well.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Right, what I learned is that the leader the branch
it becomes the leader will be that it is the
tallest one, the farthest one from the tallest one up
from the ground that developed special oxens or hormones that
develops the leaders, the leadership qualities. I guess you'd call it. Oh,
so that's when like, so you might have to use
(11:00):
a splinter something for a side branch and bring it
more vertical so it's the highest point of the canopy,
and that will be your new leader. So easily trainable,
good when they're young. Easily trainable.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
But get each old dog's new tricks right. Okay, So
in this picture you can see here too, we have
way too many leaders that have been broken out. This
one's not really a good sign. Do you see anything
that would be trainable.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
I don't see many branches there. It's not much of
a unless I'm trying to grow sticks. Then I don't
know what's the point of that tree.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
And gustly. This picture is not recently or anything. This
would be probably after the winter, as we haven't We
don't have any buds unless one or leaves. So just
kind of continuing about how much damage is too much.
We already talked about those leaders the other thing is
is like tear outs, and so we've seen that expect
(12:00):
with that large limb on that first one. But kind
of again, you want to look at more than third
of the circumference of that stem to be intact, you know, less, sorry,
less than that. I said that wrong. But if you
get to one third to half, then we're starting to
get a little questionable on that.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Yeah, the trunks of the main stem, yeah, not.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
So much the length right right up the trunk.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
But around the ring. Yeah, yep, that makes sense. It
has to do with this structure integrity of the tree. Yep.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Right, So right here, you look at this one. This
one again, like I said, this is from our NDSU Forrester,
and so he said on this one, this one may
or may not recover. So one thing too, like people
also should understand is you always have the choice to
wait and see too, right, Like, you can wait and see,
(12:53):
but I would definitely take a look and assessment of
like what are some potential risks within your yard? Well,
with these trees are broken limbs.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Again, I like your point about getting a certified ar
burst out there so that you have a knowledgeable person
help you make your decision and you know, because if
it is weak, you just can't keep waiting forever. It
will topple. And if it, you know, if it topples,
that could be a problem.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
I can tell you what is interesting though, looking at
storm damage. So, like I said, my in laws had
big trees down and stuff. But what's really interesting is
they have a very long driveway completely healthy trees, large
limbs broken off, old dead trees just still standing after
(13:45):
Friday storm, which just it's amazing, isn't it to see
some of that. Okay, So let's just talk a little
bit about proper pruning if you are going to go
ahead and do some pruning within limbs of storm damage trees. Okay,
So proper pruning, and I know, Tommy, you've talked about
this when we've talked about pruning apple trees and stuff
(14:07):
like this. So we want to make sure we're cutting
at the nodes. And when you look at this photo,
got you where those nodes are. You got to know
that those nodes are basically branch connection points. So sometimes
they're off you know, other branches. Sometimes they connect directly
to our main stem. So when we do do any
(14:28):
types of pruning, we want to make sure we're cutting
at that node. I have a picture coming up here
to just show you a diagram, but our removal cuts
should be at the branch collar. If you're doing any
type of reduction cuts the remaining branch at least one
third of diameter of the cut stem. You want to
(14:51):
leave branch bark ridge intact. And again we're going to
show this in the next one, but in proper pruning
can result in weaker and dangerous branch and stem attachments.
Definitely never look at topping a tree. Okay, so right
here this diagram I really like this that Joe shared
(15:13):
with myself here really shows you. If you look at
this that A and B that's your point of contact
of cutting that and having that branch collar still there,
C and D that would be if you would cut
that directly down, you're looking at a flush cut and
you don't want to do that. And then just looking
(15:33):
at the rest of the diagram, the point of C
toe is where we talk about that branch barkridge and
of course you don't want to leave any stubs on
there as well. Any comments on this.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Diagram, that's good, you don't like, Yes, a lot of
times people leave stubs and stubs don't seal properly, they
can invite diseases. So but again, you don't want to
go totally flush to the trunk in this case because
you expose more tissue, expose more tissue drug that's been
(16:09):
wounded by your pruning. So lead that little branch, color,
that little swelling in the trunk that bring branch bark ridge.
I don't I don't know what that's all about. But
sounds good.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Sounds good to be too, okay, So just fine.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Yes, that's the short version.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
So final reminders to just one should be considered a professional.
If a ladder and a chain sawe needed in a combination,
probably maybe think about considering a professional if you need
a crane or larger equipment to remove branches or even trees,
if you have that potential for property damage as you
(16:54):
are removing limbs, if you have bent or twisted branches
that could possibly crack under pressure, and of course if
the tree is of great financial value or sentimental value,
I would just say went and out reach out. How
about that?
Speaker 2 (17:11):
I like that? And Uh, the City of Bismarck, they
have a on their website. They have a list of
licensed arbors. Yes, them.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
We have a lot in our local area, so there's
a lot of profedionals that you can reach out to. Okay,
I want to switch over a little bit and talk
about what I am going to call the show stoppers
of June. Do you have anything just outstanding in your
yard right now?
Speaker 2 (17:41):
No?
Speaker 1 (17:41):
No, that's okay me neither. I came home and I'll
tell you what last night, I think I spent probably
forty five minutes weeding out my flower beds in my
garden after being gone for a week. But what I
will say is, man, my soil is definitely very saturated,
and I haven't done any supplemental watering, Like I've gone
(18:03):
plenty of rain throughout this season so far.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
You know, I did a house call a few days
ago and it was in a well to do neighborhood.
And and I will say, I drove by a house
and I just saw some red white white gila's. They
were just spectacular. Man. I had to stop and you know,
(18:30):
take a picture. I'm sure that guy was kind of
thinking I'm a spy or something on his house, Like,
who's this strange guy taking a picture of my shrugs?
But man, those red white gelas. They were loaded with
bright red color. I've just I've just never really noticed
that before.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
Yeah, so I will say my little weak vacation last week.
One thing that I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed
seeing around Bozeman and stuff is like, this is a
at your rade here that I'm showing out there. I
don't obviously love that rock mulch, but they have so
much like native pollinator type plantings throughout their their city scapes.
(19:13):
Like you don't go like we even went to the
Museum of Rockies and stuff and you get going up
the steps, they're raised. Beds aren't like these perfect little
organized you know, here's petunias with nothing. It's just a
lot of native flowers and stuff and perennials that I'm like,
this just looks outstanding, Like whatever whoever is the on
(19:37):
that city in zoning out there planning and zoning to
do that throughout the throughout Bozeman. It looks really nice.
So this is no I'm not moving, you know what.
I'll tell you. This is the other takeaway I had
from my vacation. The people who have like the desire
to be like, oh I love the mountains. I could
(19:57):
live out there.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Not me.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
I think I'm probably that true North Dakota.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Do you like a prairie way to a mountain?
Speaker 1 (20:04):
Trees?
Speaker 2 (20:05):
Wait, matters, too many trees.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
When you get into the thick of the mountains, I'm like,
you can't see anything. It's like I want to look
for you know, this.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Or that tornado come two miles away.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
And then I first like my other thing is as well.
You know, we ride horses. It's like I'd be so
lost trying to ride out here. You couldn't see anything.
I have no desire to live out in the mountains.
So I guess I like my prairie.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
I just want Yeah. I think about Botsman. I think
about it's like a rich community right to the university committy.
It's us. Yeah, it's kind of I bet there's a
lot of taxes there. I think that's why I got
that grounds keeper makes a good one. Maybe, so I'll
take bismarking Day over Bollman. Same my kind of people.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
My kind of people is right, Okay, so let's get
back on track.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
You talk about yeah, alls the yuppies there, you go,
all r ice smoking weed right now.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
They probably were out there, that's right. But we did
do a lot of sight seeing and like I said,
I did enjoy the beauty. So one thing I think
that is doing well out there and back home here Salvia.
I think Salvia is just a beautiful, easy, low maintenance,
great garden bed performer. They're going to do well in
(21:28):
that full sun, well drained soil, kind of have a
variety of colors, whether it's that bluish purpleish pink. You
can even find it red, white, and yellow. The great
thing about these guys they don't have really any pest
or disease issues and they are a great pollinator plant.
So I see this right now in gardens even like
(21:49):
my mom's got this and everything looking great. I think
it is a showstopper of June. The next one Dianthus,
there's more than three hundred speed season hybrids that exist
out there. A lot of them are going to come
in those shades of like the whites and the pinks,
but you can also find yellow and red, and they're
also going to have different shapes and markings, especially with
(22:12):
their petals and everything. It's an excellent choice for a
garden border rock beds, and they are very fragrant, fragrant
once you have these, you can divide these every few
years any at your place.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
In the past, I had Dianetus as there's annual kinds
of and the thing about that flower is I just
thought it was so brilliant. The contrasting colors on the
petals were, yeah, spectacular, just one of a kind. So
that was that was always part of my flower plantings
(22:51):
that were almost as good as once in Bozeman.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
There you go, all right. I think our ornamental grass
is like I have to talk about these right now
in June two. A lot of different varieties out there.
Really you're not seeing well. I think they add a
lot of texture.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
Like I said, sure you look at that stuff.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
I know, they're easy to maintain. They look great all
all year. You know, can be winter interests. You've talked
about that. Almost no past problems, so they're great. I
think they looked great again. I've seen these and a
lot of the city scapes out in Bozeman. I know
again again, but they looked great. Some choices that you
(23:37):
could have that maybe you would think about. I think
you could talk about little blue stem adding in carl
forrester switch clups. Yeah, even feather reed grass are good choices,
so some to consider if you want to go with
some of that native perennial type plantings. All right, this
(23:59):
one I did have this picture right outside that museum
there in Bozeman, Columbine.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
You think, yep, that's uh, well it's a showstop or
definitely because the it's got some of the combine is bluish,
which is uncommon color, so I say special. And it's
got very distinct flower shaped to it. You know, it's
not common ornmental grass for example, like carl forrest, So
(24:29):
what's special.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
You can find wild columbine too, that's got more of
that red in it. But yeah, I think it's uh like,
like I kind of put in here for those watching this,
you know, more of a short lived perennial, but that
wild columbine can recede and it also could spread. It's
gonna be great for hummingbirds and other pollinators. A few
(24:53):
few problems. You may see a little bit of insect
issues such as aphids or spider mites or even lea
miners on that, and then you get a little bit
of a variety of color, and yeah, a lot of
us strive for some of those blues and violets within
our landscape. All right, I'm gonna talk my last showstopper
(25:13):
before we turn it over to you, but I cannot
talk about June without showing a Japanese tree lilac. They
what's so good about it? Do you not enjoy just
driving down like Divide right now seeing them on the boulevard?
They are outstanding, just beautiful.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
Well, it's the worst snow and lilac. I know.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
Their beauty outrages their stig.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
As long as you're driving them by, you don't snow them. Yep,
I agree, I'm just kidding.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
They're beautiful. They bloom after our cobbon lilacs. They can
tolerate that higher pH you know, they're noted to be
possibly the most trouble free lilac. And they're resistant to
powdery mildew, so that's great. They work good, they're tolerant.
They're hardy, hardy trees.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
So yeah, it's it's really a tough tree. And it's
one of, if not the most pop the most pop
your small tree in North Dakota. Now, it's right out
there with the crab apple. And for the features that
you had, it's very easy to grow and it tolerates
urban conditions very well along the streets, and so it's tough,
(26:28):
and it has its special time this time of year,
so it looks nice. Yep, it's one of my favorite trees.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
Agreed. I pronted a couple a few years ago. They're
just babies, so I don't have blooms yet, but they
keep growing and I just keep baby at them because
someday I just strive for that beauty when they actually happen.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
There vibe, that's right. So that tells me. This is
what the great Dale Herman, a tree specialist, taught me.
He said, Uh, when's the best hid to plant a tree?
Speaker 1 (27:03):
It's always yesterday four years ago?
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Right, So the sooner your plant, the better. Otherwise you're
never going to enjoy the flowers in this case, So
plant the trees now.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Okay, we'll switch it over to you're gonna continue on
this high or are we gonna dive down?
Speaker 2 (27:20):
Well, it depends how we how we want to approach this,
you know, one per but yeah, we're talking about problem. Sorry,
because chets.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
We don't get called about the good stuff.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
Right, we've talked nobody, Nobody ever contacts me, he says, Tom. Look,
at my spinach. It looks so great. Did you see, Tom?
What's wrong my tree? It's dying?
Speaker 1 (27:43):
Right.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
So I'm gonna talk about some problems and I'll try
to put a positive vent. I'll use my psychiatrist, uh
persona here like Lucy on peanuts and uh so let's
talk to some good news could do good news like
the white area on this map, this drought map means
(28:04):
no drought. So be that central North Dakota looks great,
great lots of green out there. However, with this good
rains comes problems. And this is this is the most
common problem I think of the last week. Here is
murkmandan and that's apple or crab apple scab disease where
(28:27):
you see these little blurry olive green spots developing on
the leaves and then the spots spread and the leaves
fall down. And that's when people notice it and then
they start calling Tom the psychiatrist to try to help them.
There you go, So there's some more this is uh
actually this isn't from Devil's Lake. Same problem. You see
(28:50):
that those blurry olive green spots and this is a
yellow leaf too, So this the tree's got a lot
of issues. But that scab disease and it will fall.
It will develop on the fruits too later, but they're
superficial so they don't penetrate in but they make that
fruit very undesirable. So the thing about apple scabb But
(29:11):
I try to tell them to be the positive doctor
that I am. It is a premature defoliation, but don't
worry about it. The tree is gonna be fine. And
I try to be positive with the person. You know what,
you're such a good person. The tree is so fortunate
because you're so caring, but unfortunate you're in there more
(29:33):
stress and the tree is so just let's all calm down.
It's gonna be fine. But let's rake those fallen leaves,
get that disease out of there so it doesn't infect
the tree next year, because that's what happens, right, And
this winter on a nice day, we're gonna poune the
trees so we get more air and sunlight in the
canopy because diseases like humidity, so't we want more sun
(29:56):
and air. And we can use fund to sides as
a prevent But there's no fund inside now that will
cure the problem. So there's no reason, there's no real
reason to spreak because it's not really a severe prom
The tree is not going to die from it. It
has to like have major defoliation, like lose twenty five
percent or more of its leaves for like three straight
(30:18):
years before the tree gets under any type of significant stress.
So everything's cool. Let's just rake up the leaves. Everything's
gonna be fine. Got it?
Speaker 1 (30:28):
It was positive?
Speaker 2 (30:29):
I am positive today. Go and here's a pictures came
from Bismarck. Actually, yeah, and so you see that that
scab again going on there. But then when I really
look carefully look at that, and the person didn't really
notice about those spots. They said, my tree is so
thin this year?
Speaker 1 (30:45):
Why is that?
Speaker 2 (30:46):
And so I said, look at that trunk man. Look
at that funky trunk man.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
That is super funky. That's why we contact the apple
ex Well.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
I think, what has somebody mode over that tree a
long time ago? And if farm like all those sockers
coming up and they're all intertwining among each other, So
this tree is not structurally sound. And you see when
branches start growing and rubbing against each other, that's an
area where wounds occurring diseases enter. And sometimes when you
(31:17):
have these multi trunk trees that can develop like almost
like a funnel where the rain goes right into the
center portion of the trunk and that leads to rot.
So there's a lot of rock going on inside the tree.
And I just know this tree when I look at
the trunk, it's gonna collapse, it's gonna split open. And
(31:37):
so the best days of this tree are behind it,
that's for sure. Yeah. So here's another interesting tree. Since
we're talking psychiatrist, this is what do you call it?
A schizophrenia tree. On the right side, it's leafy and beautiful,
but on the evil less side it's got problems. Doctor
(31:59):
jack Oldon, you got that right. There's another close up.
One side's good, the other side's bad. Why is that
same tree?
Speaker 1 (32:07):
We'd oh, yeah, I'd like to see see here.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
Look on the right, big leaves and fruits. On the left,
everything shriveled up and tiny.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
I was gonna say, where's our trunk. That's what we
got to look.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
At, you train will, so looking at the trunk. One
thing to keep in mind is that the way the
the water and nutrients flow through a tree, it flows
through like vertical tubes. So, for example, the roots on
the west side of a tree feed the branches with
(32:42):
the water on the west side of the tree. Okay,
the west roots and the west branches are all connected
to each other. And so in this case, I would
this problem was on the southwest side of the tree
where the mister Hyde was not Doctor Jet. Doctor Jet
goes the good guy, mister Hide is the bad guy.
Is that right? There's the other way, doctor tackle, mister
(33:04):
mister Hide is the evil.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
You're making me question it?
Speaker 2 (33:06):
There you go? Okay, So if I look at that
side of the tree where the where the damages, I
look at the way that bark is scraped at the
base of the tree. So the most precious word would
of a tree is just beneath the bark. That's where
all the new growth comes from. And then in the
newer rings beneath the bark where a lot of the
(33:27):
water nutrients flow. So there's this this is a significant
This is this is damage, and this is restricting the
flow of water and nutrients within the tree. And then
also if you look on the tree, it looks like
on that side like concave. It's like a little it's
like kind of pinched in on that side, and that
suggests there's a wound there and uh it kid has
(33:50):
some rot there. And so this on the southwest side,
it probably happened from winter injury sun scald when and
this happens on a lot of fruit trees and maples
and lindens which have thin bark, they get exposed to
the warm rays of the winter sun on an afternoon
and then they get so warm, so hot there that
(34:12):
the cells break their dormancy. And then all of a sudden,
the winter sun goes down, gets freezing, and all those
cells that were activated freeze expanding, burst open, creating those
vertical cracks in the southwest. So this guy's got bark
damage at the base and winter injury on the southwest side,
(34:32):
and that's causing that's causing the leaves on the southwest side.
They're not getting the water they need from the roots,
and so it's just a bad situation. Nothing really can
do about this stage. So please mulch around your trees,
keep the lawnmowers and weed whackers away, you know, use
the old rule of three three three. Every tree should
(34:55):
have at least a malt ring of three feet or
more in diameter in three inches thick, and have no
melt within three inches of the trunk because otherways the
volsal nest there. So three three three, please use shredded
bark melting. That's the best melting. Okay. Sometimes when I
(35:16):
see one on a tree where one side is really suffering,
it's because there's a there's a root that's wrapping around
that side of the tree and choking it. So you can,
if a tree should flare out at the base, flare
out naturally. But if the tree is going in straight
like a telephone poll or in this picture, actually being
(35:39):
pinched in at the base, that's the suggestion there's a
root that's strangling it. And again, once you're at this age,
there's very little to nothing we can do about it,
just the way it goes. Okay, last thing about apples.
I want to let you know that apple maggot flies
they're waking up now for the first time, just like
(35:59):
my son is right now summer time. That's uh, it's summer,
so he sleepslate and these apple maggot flies they sleep
all spring. Now they're just waking up and they're the
number one past the North Dakota and they create these
dimples and inside the late the lay eggs that create
these trails. So if you want to know, there's a
good time to put up apple maggot traps. And we
(36:21):
put a sticky tangle foot uh product on it, and
these traps are available online. You put about five in
a tree and that way you can see whether or
not the flies are active. If the if the flies
are active, then you should consider spraying your tree. Okay,
So now the time make sure you get your apple
magat traps. So if this has been a continuous problem
(36:42):
for you, now's the time to take action. Okay. Another
problem that came across my psychiatrist desk this year this
week was this person had all these little brown spots
in their yard with little holes in there, and uh
just it's we think that was just caused by grackles. Grackles.
(37:02):
I've seen huge flocks of grackles this year and they
and if and if the lawn's wet and they're poking
around looking for grubs and beetles and worms, they can
cause a little bit of damage. But don't worry about
the law can easily recover from this. And it's hard
to it's hard to control those grackles. Man, they're just
sometimes they just want to be there.
Speaker 1 (37:22):
Get a dog.
Speaker 2 (37:24):
Yeah, that's you know what, that's a that's a good idea.
Or speaking of how about this idea? Oh as like
a beat It looks at a B two bomber. Huh
coming at the grackles.
Speaker 1 (37:33):
Is that I've been knowing we had a robo mowers? Huh?
Speaker 2 (37:38):
Yeah, actually this is Uh. I got this picture from
Benson County this week and they think the person saw
this actually mowing their lawn. So how about that that's
the future. It's happening. You know, looks like I thought
I saw. Elon Musk was saying that, Uh, every house
is going to have a robot before you know it,
(38:00):
it's gonna be. It's just gonna be as common as
a car.
Speaker 1 (38:04):
There you go, what's gonna be your first robot?
Speaker 2 (38:07):
I don't mind af to mow my lawn. I don't mind. No,
I'm I'm probably not gonna do that. Just yeah, we'll
see what happens. You got this from someone in Garrison
last week and they were in a panic because their
beans were being eaten, all these holes in it, and
they said, please, I gotta I gotta go to Bozeman,
(38:29):
you know, next week, So I gotta do it right now.
Give me a practice will work right now, and it's
low risk. And these are caused by being leaf beetles.
They're active right now. And again, just like my kid,
you just just like my school kiddie, bean leaf beetles
like to sleep all morning and they show up in
the afternoon. So that's when you look for him about
(38:52):
one o'clock. You see the bean leaf beetles on the underside,
and you see they're kind of yellowish kimmy orangish with
the dots on the side, and they eat holes in
the leaves.
Speaker 1 (39:01):
So so what do you sit there with? What kind
of weapon?
Speaker 2 (39:04):
Well? What I you get two weapon toolprob. You can
go organic like spin O sad it's a probably the
best organic product out there. Or if you just want
to take no prisoners, I really zata psypermethro in A seven,
the new seven, that's and seven. You know, I don't
know why they spell it that way. It's very confusing.
(39:27):
That person was a brilliant scientist but couldn't spell. So
it's sev I and and and then Bonnite has a
product very similar that they call eight and so they're
just trying to there you go. But these are pyriethrids
are synthetic, and so they're a little bit more toxic.
But you know, I would just say all these kind
of products are they're low risk if you if you
(39:48):
apply them properly, and you know they wouldn't be at
a garden center. If they were higher risk, you know
they'd be under it. You'd have to be trained, get
a restricted use pesticide license. Those are those are the
ones who really got to worry about. But if you're
needing media kill a synthetic pyres where like seven'll just
kill them just like that Spino sad is it's organic.
It's a little bit safer, but Spino said takes a
(40:11):
couple of days to work, so that's less. But maybe
you like the torture the bug have its Like with
spin a sad you spare it gets spasms for two
days and then it dies. So maybe that's a nice
way to torture your bugs. Cora potato beetle. Look out
for that, and this is the beetle. A lot of
a lot of people look at that. That's the beetle.
(40:31):
But when it's most damaging is when it's this stage
before it's an adult, well, you know, it probably doesn't
think you're that attractive where you know, just the way
it is. You know, I'm sure some colreadeo petite other.
But there's a colredde potato beetle for everyone. You know,
he'll find or she'll find a many time, sir, But
not yet because they're just eating. Now.
Speaker 1 (40:56):
I'm going to fill their bellies.
Speaker 2 (40:57):
That's right. And then when they get this stage, that's
when they start mating. See they're probably dating right now.
You're on a date right now, looks like so we'll
see what happens. But one thing you want to say
is when they are younger and they're soft, that's when
they're most sensitive to insecticide. And just what we said before,
Spino said, or the new seven are very effective against
(41:18):
cut out of potato beets. Or you can just pick
them off if you want. Some people do that, just
throw them in a pail of soapy water.
Speaker 1 (41:26):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (41:26):
Too much work for me. Last dang is I got
my first incidence of herbicide injury on a tomato. You
see the curled lees, curled and twisted leans. And when
we found out more about this. We found out that
this was nearby a pasture that was recently sprayed, and
an even part of this garden was pasture last year.
(41:48):
So in those herbicides that sprayed on pastures can be
very persistent and toxic. And so even this could have
been exposed from a herbicide that was sprayed last year
and then they and was still present in the land here.
And so here's this is a different situations in the container.
But I show this just to indicate that that this
(42:14):
was a tomato that's got that curving that you see.
That's a herbicide injury. And they got this herbicide from
the straw of a pasture. So that's how this tomato.
It wasn't pesticide drift. It was the straw. So you
have to be careful using straw from pastures or even
grass clippings because they can carry the herbicide with them
to the plant. So those are the problems that doctor Thomas.
Speaker 1 (42:38):
Seen any slugs out there yet?
Speaker 2 (42:42):
Oh I haven't had. I've had nobody confirmed slug damage.
How about you?
Speaker 1 (42:49):
No confirmation either. I got I got some pictures this
morning that looked like it. I asked them if they've
seen any slugs.
Speaker 2 (42:56):
So how can you tell if it's a slug damage.
Speaker 1 (42:58):
Well, I'm hoping they'll see the inside what.
Speaker 2 (43:01):
Miss because they're really active and they're more active like
at night. Sometimes they can hit leave like a trail
behind them a little bit. Or if it's hostage, just
thinking a little bit. There's zenos xenius and slucks because
because zenias generally really like the heat and slugs like
(43:22):
it like shady and moist. Yeah, depends.
Speaker 1 (43:26):
The photo looks again, kind of like my raised beds
pretty saturated.
Speaker 2 (43:31):
Looked, so good time. Yeah it is, Well, maybe we
can share those photos at our next episode. There growing
any That's what I got.
Speaker 1 (43:43):
No, that's that's our positive twist of the problems, Doctor Tom.
Speaker 2 (43:50):
Just saying you know, maybe you I should say again,
people only contact me when there's a problem and the
phone is not really ringing off the hook. So that
means that almost everybody's having a great time hearing up
for the four and we're okay, I'm all for it. Yeah,
like fireworks, but that's still hey, coma, that's still waste, waste,
(44:13):
So but uh, one week you're already thinking about four
to day. Yeah, good for you.
Speaker 1 (44:18):
Yeah, you bet, good for you. That's my platter inside,
but you know, yeah, sure, we're so different.
Speaker 2 (44:26):
I'm thinking about what I'm going to do this afternoon,
and you're thinking about what you're going to do in
two weeks from now, so you're way ahead of me.
Speaker 1 (44:34):
As usual, well, I think we got a lot of
information out there for audience today, and as always, we
just say thank you for joining us on today's episode,
and we hope that you continue to listen and know
that we are available on all major podcasting platforms out
there as well, so maybe you want to work in
(44:55):
the garden and get a little bit educated while you're
in there. As always, we just say thank you and
we hope to see you on our next episodes. Dakota
Growing is a gardening show brought to you by Dakota
Media Access and NDSU Extension. We discuss a variety of
timely topics pertaining to your landscape, along with giving you
(45:18):
tips and advice for your lawn, garden and trees. If
you have questions, call seven oh one two two one
six eight sixty five or email NDSU dot Burley dot
Extension at NDSU dot com. Dakota Growing airs on Radio
Access one O two point five FM, Community Access Channel
twelve or six twelve HD, or online at FreeTV dot
(45:41):
org
Welcome to Dakota Growing. I'm Kelsey Deckert, your horticulture agent
here in Burley County in the Radio Access studio, joined
by my co host Tom Cobb, DSUO Extension horticulturist. How
are we doing.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Everything's good, Chelsea.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
We're at the end of June. Fourth of July is
around the corner, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
That's right? These are good days.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Those are good days.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
You know. Weather's not too not too one and not
too cold and getting good rains. Everything's green outside, it rains.
It's kind of cool a little bit now a little bit,
but it's kind of me. I was just thinking, my
Irish jeans are happy. It's kind of misty outside and cool,
(01:06):
just the way I like it.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
So remind you of the Motherland.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
That's right. Where's the guinnis?
Speaker 1 (01:13):
No? Just kidding, that's right?
Speaker 2 (01:14):
But yeah, I think these are great days. So got
anything great to tell us today about gardening?
Speaker 1 (01:21):
We're gonna start a little negative what Yeah, you know,
we better talk about last week? And it is Friday,
and I hear maybe some weather on the horizon tonight.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Oh storms, storms?
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Yeah, how was it last week? So I wasn't even
I wasn't here. I was out in Montown.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
I have ye. Of course it was really windy. I
remember there's some newly planted trees. I was going on
forty third and man, you're like at a forty five
degree angle, they're just like those are like yeah, but
they didn't they didn't pull up. But man, there's there's
some pretty vicious winds.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
But thankfully no local tornadoes.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Yeah. I don't worry about tornados really no. That's good
because when I was raised, we had a tornado war
in Minnesota. We had to commit tornado warning every week.
Just about it got to the point where we just
go outside and look for it, you know, kind of yeah,
let's go out. Why are we going to go on
a basement. It would come from across the lake. So
(02:32):
I said, let's let's go, let's go look, let's go
look for it. I mean, I'm not like in a
car or anything. Let's go out in the backyard and
out in the porch. And I still do that, and
there there's bad weather, I like to go out in
the porch and kind of sense it a little bit.
Or or man, I remember I used Taiwan. We had monsoons. Man,
(02:52):
just like literally buckets of water falling down on your
head side, just like I just go outside and like, wow,
it's like the ultimate hour. So cool as long as
i'm I know, I'm gonna survive it. Yeah, I love
extreme weather. Nature is powerful. Yeah, mother nature. I respect
that lady. She is powerful.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
I was, I'll be honest, I was a little nervous
what we were going to come home to because here
we are sitting out in Bozeman, Montana at a rodeo,
of course, and our phones kept digging with our cameras
going off outside and stuff, and you could just see,
like I was watching my flag pole and I was like, man,
how many things Luckily we don't have. We have trees planted,
(03:36):
but they're so young. I was like, I don't have
to worry about trees out in our place. So anyways,
we came back and the only thing that was blown
was the girl's playhouse. But there's been less wind and
that has blown a few feet away before. So okay, yeah,
so should we talk about some storm damage. Did he
(03:59):
get calls this week or anys not on that? Okay, Well,
let's let's take a look today. I do want to
say special thanks to our NBSU extension forrester Joza Lesnik.
I know he talked about at our weekly meeting that
I wasn't able to be at this week, but gave
me some uh PowerPoint slides to add in today to
(04:20):
just kind of really cover it in the basics. So
this was Monday, when I got back in the office,
I had this call right away and these pictures sent
in a little bit later in the day. So this
was here in Bismarck. If you look at that left
photo there, you can see that large limb that had
(04:42):
broken away, and then that right photo actually shows that
he had cut you know, what was hanging over the
neighbor's fence off and stuff. So that doesn't look too great.
Here's a couple other examples of some you know, storm
damage where limbs broke or strip off. My in laws
definitely had large trees down, and other neighbors too had
(05:07):
definite damage. So when it comes to trees, just to
start out, I would say, our first and foremost priority
is safety. So if you have trees by power lines,
you need to stay away from those. We really do
need to evaluate the area. So how close are these
trees that are damage close to like other structures, whether
(05:29):
that's garages, houses, As you're evaluating, are their potential for
branches to be falling down on you under there? You know,
think of all those things. And then if you are
looking at, you know, doing some pruning or removal of
damage branches, make sure you know how to use those
tools properly and you are also wearing the correct ppe.
(05:51):
So anyways, safety first, safety first, so kind of first
thoughts that go through as people, as you know, you
assess the damage, and from what I gather in the
amount of calls, I was expecting Monday to be a whirlwind,
but I think the city of Bismarck did a pretty
good job of being out there and telling people to
(06:13):
bring branches and stuff out to the curbs and get
them hauled away. But just some questions to ask yourself
would be, you know, like when we look at considering
keeping a tree, so I would consider keeping a tree
if you have a younger, smaller tree and maybe it's
just uprooted. I did have that call this week too,
where the client described that newly planted trees only a
(06:37):
few weeks old, but basically it's like the soil around
them kind of sunk and they went a little deeper
into it. So just kind of talk to her about
pulling them back up to that subtle soil line and
making sure that we packed that around there. Smaller trees
with like an intact leader and scaffold branches. Again, those
(06:59):
are young trees. They can they can rebound off of
a lot of that. Uh, where should we really remove?
We should look at removing trees that have other issues,
whether like that first one we've seen, you know, the
real blackening of the trunk. Would you be concerned about that?
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Yeah, right, there's the rotten it's right near the neighbor's fence, right,
and you know that's that tree isn't a structurally sound exactly,
and it's it's the term is hazard. That's to be careful,
but it's kind of there are consequences if that tree
falls down. You know, it's not like in the middle
(07:39):
of the prairie, who cares if that falls down? You know,
it doesn't matter. But if your neighbor's house is right there,
or your house for that matter, then that's a that's
another factor to consider absolutely.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
So kind of like Tom said, that poor health, even
if we see like insect or disease damage. Sometimes maybe
your tree just now has an unattractive form to it
too that you might consider removing it. Those larger trees
that are uprooted or are leaning really good, probably look
at removing those. And then any trees with major limbs
(08:14):
that are broken or the central leader is broken, those
are ones to consider. I just say one in doubt,
call an expert. We have a lot of local arborous
along with ourselves, NDS Extension being a good source of
resources and information to kind of help guide you with that.
So how much damage is too much damage? And so
(08:36):
there's really no hard and fast rules, just a lot
of guidelines, you know, first question to ask is fifty
percent or more of that crown intact? Take a look
at that overall. So I'll show you a couple of
pictures that are from the National Arbor Day Foundation. So
if we look at this one, this picture, there's a
(08:58):
lot of the crown left to recover. There. We have
some lower branches that have broken off, but plenty for recovery.
Here we look at a tree that's probably a little
bit younger. Again, very small branches, few branches, limbs that
have been broken out, lots of recover. Now, if we
look at this photo, this one is going to show
(09:18):
you where that central leader has been broken. We got
some major limbs. We have very little the crown left
over too to look at. So this is definitely a
remove situation. Uh this next one too, got a larger
tree leaning over and that leader has snapped off with
(09:38):
the majority of that canopy. Quhen, are you having issues
on your end? Nope, okay, slides aren't advancing on our end.
Just a FYI, do you have me to come look
at it much? We can continue if if you think
(10:01):
we'll just continue, I see too much crowd loss, remove
the tree of a leaning tree, Okay, okay, we'll just continue. Okay,
So okay, jumping back, you know again looking at that.
Like I said, if you have more than fifty percent
of the crown is intact, that's a really good sign.
(10:23):
Mentioned a little bit earlier, those younger trees can take
a little bit more damage. And then, like we asked too,
is that leader intact or could another branch easily take over?
Because we can train other leader or other branches to
be leaders a lot of times as well.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Right, what I learned is that the leader the branch
it becomes the leader will be that it is the
tallest one, the farthest one from the tallest one up
from the ground that developed special oxens or hormones that
develops the leaders, the leadership qualities. I guess you'd call it. Oh,
so that's when like, so you might have to use
(11:00):
a splinter something for a side branch and bring it
more vertical so it's the highest point of the canopy,
and that will be your new leader. So easily trainable,
good when they're young. Easily trainable.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
But get each old dog's new tricks right. Okay, So
in this picture you can see here too, we have
way too many leaders that have been broken out. This
one's not really a good sign. Do you see anything
that would be trainable.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
I don't see many branches there. It's not much of
a unless I'm trying to grow sticks. Then I don't
know what's the point of that tree.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
And gustly. This picture is not recently or anything. This
would be probably after the winter, as we haven't We
don't have any buds unless one or leaves. So just
kind of continuing about how much damage is too much.
We already talked about those leaders the other thing is
is like tear outs, and so we've seen that expect
(12:00):
with that large limb on that first one. But kind
of again, you want to look at more than third
of the circumference of that stem to be intact, you know, less, sorry,
less than that. I said that wrong. But if you
get to one third to half, then we're starting to
get a little questionable on that.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Yeah, the trunks of the main stem, yeah, not.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
So much the length right right up the trunk.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
But around the ring. Yeah, yep, that makes sense. It
has to do with this structure integrity of the tree. Yep.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Right, So right here, you look at this one. This
one again, like I said, this is from our NDSU Forrester,
and so he said on this one, this one may
or may not recover. So one thing too, like people
also should understand is you always have the choice to
wait and see too, right, Like, you can wait and see,
(12:53):
but I would definitely take a look and assessment of
like what are some potential risks within your yard? Well,
with these trees are broken limbs.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Again, I like your point about getting a certified ar
burst out there so that you have a knowledgeable person
help you make your decision and you know, because if
it is weak, you just can't keep waiting forever. It
will topple. And if it, you know, if it topples,
that could be a problem.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
I can tell you what is interesting though, looking at
storm damage. So, like I said, my in laws had
big trees down and stuff. But what's really interesting is
they have a very long driveway completely healthy trees, large
limbs broken off, old dead trees just still standing after
(13:45):
Friday storm, which just it's amazing, isn't it to see
some of that. Okay, So let's just talk a little
bit about proper pruning if you are going to go
ahead and do some pruning within limbs of storm damage trees. Okay,
So proper pruning, and I know, Tommy, you've talked about
this when we've talked about pruning apple trees and stuff
(14:07):
like this. So we want to make sure we're cutting
at the nodes. And when you look at this photo,
got you where those nodes are. You got to know
that those nodes are basically branch connection points. So sometimes
they're off you know, other branches. Sometimes they connect directly
to our main stem. So when we do do any
(14:28):
types of pruning, we want to make sure we're cutting
at that node. I have a picture coming up here
to just show you a diagram, but our removal cuts
should be at the branch collar. If you're doing any
type of reduction cuts the remaining branch at least one
third of diameter of the cut stem. You want to
(14:51):
leave branch bark ridge intact. And again we're going to
show this in the next one, but in proper pruning
can result in weaker and dangerous branch and stem attachments.
Definitely never look at topping a tree. Okay, so right
here this diagram I really like this that Joe shared
(15:13):
with myself here really shows you. If you look at
this that A and B that's your point of contact
of cutting that and having that branch collar still there,
C and D that would be if you would cut
that directly down, you're looking at a flush cut and
you don't want to do that. And then just looking
(15:33):
at the rest of the diagram, the point of C
toe is where we talk about that branch barkridge and
of course you don't want to leave any stubs on
there as well. Any comments on this.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Diagram, that's good, you don't like, Yes, a lot of
times people leave stubs and stubs don't seal properly, they
can invite diseases. So but again, you don't want to
go totally flush to the trunk in this case because
you expose more tissue, expose more tissue drug that's been
(16:09):
wounded by your pruning. So lead that little branch, color,
that little swelling in the trunk that bring branch bark ridge.
I don't I don't know what that's all about. But
sounds good.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Sounds good to be too, okay, So just fine.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Yes, that's the short version.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
So final reminders to just one should be considered a professional.
If a ladder and a chain sawe needed in a combination,
probably maybe think about considering a professional if you need
a crane or larger equipment to remove branches or even trees,
if you have that potential for property damage as you
(16:54):
are removing limbs, if you have bent or twisted branches
that could possibly crack under pressure, and of course if
the tree is of great financial value or sentimental value,
I would just say went and out reach out. How
about that?
Speaker 2 (17:11):
I like that? And Uh, the City of Bismarck, they
have a on their website. They have a list of
licensed arbors. Yes, them.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
We have a lot in our local area, so there's
a lot of profedionals that you can reach out to. Okay,
I want to switch over a little bit and talk
about what I am going to call the show stoppers
of June. Do you have anything just outstanding in your
yard right now?
Speaker 2 (17:41):
No?
Speaker 1 (17:41):
No, that's okay me neither. I came home and I'll
tell you what last night, I think I spent probably
forty five minutes weeding out my flower beds in my
garden after being gone for a week. But what I
will say is, man, my soil is definitely very saturated,
and I haven't done any supplemental watering, Like I've gone
(18:03):
plenty of rain throughout this season so far.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
You know, I did a house call a few days
ago and it was in a well to do neighborhood.
And and I will say, I drove by a house
and I just saw some red white white gila's. They
were just spectacular. Man. I had to stop and you know,
(18:30):
take a picture. I'm sure that guy was kind of
thinking I'm a spy or something on his house, Like,
who's this strange guy taking a picture of my shrugs?
But man, those red white gelas. They were loaded with
bright red color. I've just I've just never really noticed
that before.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
Yeah, so I will say my little weak vacation last week.
One thing that I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed
seeing around Bozeman and stuff is like, this is a
at your rade here that I'm showing out there. I
don't obviously love that rock mulch, but they have so
much like native pollinator type plantings throughout their their city scapes.
(19:13):
Like you don't go like we even went to the
Museum of Rockies and stuff and you get going up
the steps, they're raised. Beds aren't like these perfect little
organized you know, here's petunias with nothing. It's just a
lot of native flowers and stuff and perennials that I'm like,
this just looks outstanding, Like whatever whoever is the on
(19:37):
that city in zoning out there planning and zoning to
do that throughout the throughout Bozeman. It looks really nice.
So this is no I'm not moving, you know what.
I'll tell you. This is the other takeaway I had
from my vacation. The people who have like the desire
to be like, oh I love the mountains. I could
(19:57):
live out there.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Not me.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
I think I'm probably that true North Dakota.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Do you like a prairie way to a mountain?
Speaker 1 (20:04):
Trees?
Speaker 2 (20:05):
Wait, matters, too many trees.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
When you get into the thick of the mountains, I'm like,
you can't see anything. It's like I want to look
for you know, this.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Or that tornado come two miles away.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
And then I first like my other thing is as well.
You know, we ride horses. It's like I'd be so
lost trying to ride out here. You couldn't see anything.
I have no desire to live out in the mountains.
So I guess I like my prairie.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
I just want Yeah. I think about Botsman. I think
about it's like a rich community right to the university committy.
It's us. Yeah, it's kind of I bet there's a
lot of taxes there. I think that's why I got
that grounds keeper makes a good one. Maybe, so I'll
take bismarking Day over Bollman. Same my kind of people.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
My kind of people is right, Okay, so let's get
back on track.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
You talk about yeah, alls the yuppies there, you go,
all r ice smoking weed right now.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
They probably were out there, that's right. But we did
do a lot of sight seeing and like I said,
I did enjoy the beauty. So one thing I think
that is doing well out there and back home here Salvia.
I think Salvia is just a beautiful, easy, low maintenance,
great garden bed performer. They're going to do well in
(21:28):
that full sun, well drained soil, kind of have a
variety of colors, whether it's that bluish purpleish pink. You
can even find it red, white, and yellow. The great
thing about these guys they don't have really any pest
or disease issues and they are a great pollinator plant.
So I see this right now in gardens even like
(21:49):
my mom's got this and everything looking great. I think
it is a showstopper of June. The next one Dianthus,
there's more than three hundred speed season hybrids that exist
out there. A lot of them are going to come
in those shades of like the whites and the pinks,
but you can also find yellow and red, and they're
also going to have different shapes and markings, especially with
(22:12):
their petals and everything. It's an excellent choice for a
garden border rock beds, and they are very fragrant, fragrant
once you have these, you can divide these every few
years any at your place.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
In the past, I had Dianetus as there's annual kinds
of and the thing about that flower is I just
thought it was so brilliant. The contrasting colors on the
petals were, yeah, spectacular, just one of a kind. So
that was that was always part of my flower plantings
(22:51):
that were almost as good as once in Bozeman.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
There you go, all right. I think our ornamental grass
is like I have to talk about these right now
in June two. A lot of different varieties out there.
Really you're not seeing well. I think they add a
lot of texture.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
Like I said, sure you look at that stuff.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
I know, they're easy to maintain. They look great all
all year. You know, can be winter interests. You've talked
about that. Almost no past problems, so they're great. I
think they looked great again. I've seen these and a
lot of the city scapes out in Bozeman. I know
again again, but they looked great. Some choices that you
(23:37):
could have that maybe you would think about. I think
you could talk about little blue stem adding in carl
forrester switch clups. Yeah, even feather reed grass are good choices,
so some to consider if you want to go with
some of that native perennial type plantings. All right, this
(23:59):
one I did have this picture right outside that museum
there in Bozeman, Columbine.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
You think, yep, that's uh, well it's a showstop or
definitely because the it's got some of the combine is bluish,
which is uncommon color, so I say special. And it's
got very distinct flower shaped to it. You know, it's
not common ornmental grass for example, like carl forrest, So
(24:29):
what's special.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
You can find wild columbine too, that's got more of
that red in it. But yeah, I think it's uh like,
like I kind of put in here for those watching this,
you know, more of a short lived perennial, but that
wild columbine can recede and it also could spread. It's
gonna be great for hummingbirds and other pollinators. A few
(24:53):
few problems. You may see a little bit of insect
issues such as aphids or spider mites or even lea
miners on that, and then you get a little bit
of a variety of color, and yeah, a lot of
us strive for some of those blues and violets within
our landscape. All right, I'm gonna talk my last showstopper
(25:13):
before we turn it over to you, but I cannot
talk about June without showing a Japanese tree lilac. They
what's so good about it? Do you not enjoy just
driving down like Divide right now seeing them on the boulevard?
They are outstanding, just beautiful.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
Well, it's the worst snow and lilac. I know.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
Their beauty outrages their stig.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
As long as you're driving them by, you don't snow them. Yep,
I agree, I'm just kidding.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
They're beautiful. They bloom after our cobbon lilacs. They can
tolerate that higher pH you know, they're noted to be
possibly the most trouble free lilac. And they're resistant to
powdery mildew, so that's great. They work good, they're tolerant.
They're hardy, hardy trees.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
So yeah, it's it's really a tough tree. And it's
one of, if not the most pop the most pop
your small tree in North Dakota. Now, it's right out
there with the crab apple. And for the features that
you had, it's very easy to grow and it tolerates
urban conditions very well along the streets, and so it's tough,
(26:28):
and it has its special time this time of year,
so it looks nice. Yep, it's one of my favorite trees.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
Agreed. I pronted a couple a few years ago. They're
just babies, so I don't have blooms yet, but they
keep growing and I just keep baby at them because
someday I just strive for that beauty when they actually happen.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
There vibe, that's right. So that tells me. This is
what the great Dale Herman, a tree specialist, taught me.
He said, Uh, when's the best hid to plant a tree?
Speaker 1 (27:03):
It's always yesterday four years ago?
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Right, So the sooner your plant, the better. Otherwise you're
never going to enjoy the flowers in this case, So
plant the trees now.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Okay, we'll switch it over to you're gonna continue on
this high or are we gonna dive down?
Speaker 2 (27:20):
Well, it depends how we how we want to approach this,
you know, one per but yeah, we're talking about problem. Sorry,
because chets.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
We don't get called about the good stuff.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
Right, we've talked nobody, Nobody ever contacts me, he says, Tom. Look,
at my spinach. It looks so great. Did you see, Tom?
What's wrong my tree? It's dying?
Speaker 1 (27:43):
Right.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
So I'm gonna talk about some problems and I'll try
to put a positive vent. I'll use my psychiatrist, uh
persona here like Lucy on peanuts and uh so let's
talk to some good news could do good news like
the white area on this map, this drought map means
(28:04):
no drought. So be that central North Dakota looks great,
great lots of green out there. However, with this good
rains comes problems. And this is this is the most
common problem I think of the last week. Here is
murkmandan and that's apple or crab apple scab disease where
(28:27):
you see these little blurry olive green spots developing on
the leaves and then the spots spread and the leaves
fall down. And that's when people notice it and then
they start calling Tom the psychiatrist to try to help them.
There you go, So there's some more this is uh
actually this isn't from Devil's Lake. Same problem. You see
(28:50):
that those blurry olive green spots and this is a
yellow leaf too, So this the tree's got a lot
of issues. But that scab disease and it will fall.
It will develop on the fruits too later, but they're
superficial so they don't penetrate in but they make that
fruit very undesirable. So the thing about apple scabb But
(29:11):
I try to tell them to be the positive doctor
that I am. It is a premature defoliation, but don't
worry about it. The tree is gonna be fine. And
I try to be positive with the person. You know what,
you're such a good person. The tree is so fortunate
because you're so caring, but unfortunate you're in there more
(29:33):
stress and the tree is so just let's all calm down.
It's gonna be fine. But let's rake those fallen leaves,
get that disease out of there so it doesn't infect
the tree next year, because that's what happens, right, And
this winter on a nice day, we're gonna poune the
trees so we get more air and sunlight in the
canopy because diseases like humidity, so't we want more sun
(29:56):
and air. And we can use fund to sides as
a prevent But there's no fund inside now that will
cure the problem. So there's no reason, there's no real
reason to spreak because it's not really a severe prom
The tree is not going to die from it. It
has to like have major defoliation, like lose twenty five
percent or more of its leaves for like three straight
(30:18):
years before the tree gets under any type of significant stress.
So everything's cool. Let's just rake up the leaves. Everything's
gonna be fine. Got it?
Speaker 1 (30:28):
It was positive?
Speaker 2 (30:29):
I am positive today. Go and here's a pictures came
from Bismarck. Actually, yeah, and so you see that that
scab again going on there. But then when I really
look carefully look at that, and the person didn't really
notice about those spots. They said, my tree is so
thin this year?
Speaker 1 (30:45):
Why is that?
Speaker 2 (30:46):
And so I said, look at that trunk man. Look
at that funky trunk man.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
That is super funky. That's why we contact the apple
ex Well.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
I think, what has somebody mode over that tree a
long time ago? And if farm like all those sockers
coming up and they're all intertwining among each other, So
this tree is not structurally sound. And you see when
branches start growing and rubbing against each other, that's an
area where wounds occurring diseases enter. And sometimes when you
(31:17):
have these multi trunk trees that can develop like almost
like a funnel where the rain goes right into the
center portion of the trunk and that leads to rot.
So there's a lot of rock going on inside the tree.
And I just know this tree when I look at
the trunk, it's gonna collapse, it's gonna split open. And
(31:37):
so the best days of this tree are behind it,
that's for sure. Yeah. So here's another interesting tree. Since
we're talking psychiatrist, this is what do you call it?
A schizophrenia tree. On the right side, it's leafy and beautiful,
but on the evil less side it's got problems. Doctor
(31:59):
jack Oldon, you got that right. There's another close up.
One side's good, the other side's bad. Why is that
same tree?
Speaker 1 (32:07):
We'd oh, yeah, I'd like to see see here.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
Look on the right, big leaves and fruits. On the left,
everything shriveled up and tiny.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
I was gonna say, where's our trunk. That's what we
got to look.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
At, you train will, so looking at the trunk. One
thing to keep in mind is that the way the
the water and nutrients flow through a tree, it flows
through like vertical tubes. So, for example, the roots on
the west side of a tree feed the branches with
(32:42):
the water on the west side of the tree. Okay,
the west roots and the west branches are all connected
to each other. And so in this case, I would
this problem was on the southwest side of the tree
where the mister Hyde was not Doctor Jet. Doctor Jet
goes the good guy, mister Hide is the bad guy.
Is that right? There's the other way, doctor tackle, mister
(33:04):
mister Hide is the evil.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
You're making me question it?
Speaker 2 (33:06):
There you go? Okay, So if I look at that
side of the tree where the where the damages, I
look at the way that bark is scraped at the
base of the tree. So the most precious word would
of a tree is just beneath the bark. That's where
all the new growth comes from. And then in the
newer rings beneath the bark where a lot of the
(33:27):
water nutrients flow. So there's this this is a significant
This is this is damage, and this is restricting the
flow of water and nutrients within the tree. And then
also if you look on the tree, it looks like
on that side like concave. It's like a little it's
like kind of pinched in on that side, and that
suggests there's a wound there and uh it kid has
(33:50):
some rot there. And so this on the southwest side,
it probably happened from winter injury sun scald when and
this happens on a lot of fruit trees and maples
and lindens which have thin bark, they get exposed to
the warm rays of the winter sun on an afternoon
and then they get so warm, so hot there that
(34:12):
the cells break their dormancy. And then all of a sudden,
the winter sun goes down, gets freezing, and all those
cells that were activated freeze expanding, burst open, creating those
vertical cracks in the southwest. So this guy's got bark
damage at the base and winter injury on the southwest side,
(34:32):
and that's causing that's causing the leaves on the southwest side.
They're not getting the water they need from the roots,
and so it's just a bad situation. Nothing really can
do about this stage. So please mulch around your trees,
keep the lawnmowers and weed whackers away, you know, use
the old rule of three three three. Every tree should
(34:55):
have at least a malt ring of three feet or
more in diameter in three inches thick, and have no
melt within three inches of the trunk because otherways the
volsal nest there. So three three three, please use shredded
bark melting. That's the best melting. Okay. Sometimes when I
(35:16):
see one on a tree where one side is really suffering,
it's because there's a there's a root that's wrapping around
that side of the tree and choking it. So you can,
if a tree should flare out at the base, flare
out naturally. But if the tree is going in straight
like a telephone poll or in this picture, actually being
(35:39):
pinched in at the base, that's the suggestion there's a
root that's strangling it. And again, once you're at this age,
there's very little to nothing we can do about it,
just the way it goes. Okay, last thing about apples.
I want to let you know that apple maggot flies
they're waking up now for the first time, just like
(35:59):
my son is right now summer time. That's uh, it's summer,
so he sleepslate and these apple maggot flies they sleep
all spring. Now they're just waking up and they're the
number one past the North Dakota and they create these
dimples and inside the late the lay eggs that create
these trails. So if you want to know, there's a
good time to put up apple maggot traps. And we
(36:21):
put a sticky tangle foot uh product on it, and
these traps are available online. You put about five in
a tree and that way you can see whether or
not the flies are active. If the if the flies
are active, then you should consider spraying your tree. Okay,
So now the time make sure you get your apple
magat traps. So if this has been a continuous problem
(36:42):
for you, now's the time to take action. Okay. Another
problem that came across my psychiatrist desk this year this
week was this person had all these little brown spots
in their yard with little holes in there, and uh
just it's we think that was just caused by grackles. Grackles.
(37:02):
I've seen huge flocks of grackles this year and they
and if and if the lawn's wet and they're poking
around looking for grubs and beetles and worms, they can
cause a little bit of damage. But don't worry about
the law can easily recover from this. And it's hard
to it's hard to control those grackles. Man, they're just
sometimes they just want to be there.
Speaker 1 (37:22):
Get a dog.
Speaker 2 (37:24):
Yeah, that's you know what, that's a that's a good idea.
Or speaking of how about this idea? Oh as like
a beat It looks at a B two bomber. Huh
coming at the grackles.
Speaker 1 (37:33):
Is that I've been knowing we had a robo mowers? Huh?
Speaker 2 (37:38):
Yeah, actually this is Uh. I got this picture from
Benson County this week and they think the person saw
this actually mowing their lawn. So how about that that's
the future. It's happening. You know, looks like I thought
I saw. Elon Musk was saying that, Uh, every house
is going to have a robot before you know it,
(38:00):
it's gonna be. It's just gonna be as common as
a car.
Speaker 1 (38:04):
There you go, what's gonna be your first robot?
Speaker 2 (38:07):
I don't mind af to mow my lawn. I don't mind. No,
I'm I'm probably not gonna do that. Just yeah, we'll
see what happens. You got this from someone in Garrison
last week and they were in a panic because their
beans were being eaten, all these holes in it, and
they said, please, I gotta I gotta go to Bozeman,
(38:29):
you know, next week, So I gotta do it right now.
Give me a practice will work right now, and it's
low risk. And these are caused by being leaf beetles.
They're active right now. And again, just like my kid,
you just just like my school kiddie, bean leaf beetles
like to sleep all morning and they show up in
the afternoon. So that's when you look for him about
(38:52):
one o'clock. You see the bean leaf beetles on the underside,
and you see they're kind of yellowish kimmy orangish with
the dots on the side, and they eat holes in
the leaves.
Speaker 1 (39:01):
So so what do you sit there with? What kind
of weapon?
Speaker 2 (39:04):
Well? What I you get two weapon toolprob. You can
go organic like spin O sad it's a probably the
best organic product out there. Or if you just want
to take no prisoners, I really zata psypermethro in A seven,
the new seven, that's and seven. You know, I don't
know why they spell it that way. It's very confusing.
(39:27):
That person was a brilliant scientist but couldn't spell. So
it's sev I and and and then Bonnite has a
product very similar that they call eight and so they're
just trying to there you go. But these are pyriethrids
are synthetic, and so they're a little bit more toxic.
But you know, I would just say all these kind
of products are they're low risk if you if you
(39:48):
apply them properly, and you know they wouldn't be at
a garden center. If they were higher risk, you know
they'd be under it. You'd have to be trained, get
a restricted use pesticide license. Those are those are the
ones who really got to worry about. But if you're
needing media kill a synthetic pyres where like seven'll just
kill them just like that Spino sad is it's organic.
It's a little bit safer, but Spino said takes a
(40:11):
couple of days to work, so that's less. But maybe
you like the torture the bug have its Like with
spin a sad you spare it gets spasms for two
days and then it dies. So maybe that's a nice
way to torture your bugs. Cora potato beetle. Look out
for that, and this is the beetle. A lot of
a lot of people look at that. That's the beetle.
(40:31):
But when it's most damaging is when it's this stage
before it's an adult, well, you know, it probably doesn't
think you're that attractive where you know, just the way
it is. You know, I'm sure some colreadeo petite other.
But there's a colredde potato beetle for everyone. You know,
he'll find or she'll find a many time, sir, But
not yet because they're just eating. Now.
Speaker 1 (40:56):
I'm going to fill their bellies.
Speaker 2 (40:57):
That's right. And then when they get this stage, that's
when they start mating. See they're probably dating right now.
You're on a date right now, looks like so we'll
see what happens. But one thing you want to say
is when they are younger and they're soft, that's when
they're most sensitive to insecticide. And just what we said before,
Spino said, or the new seven are very effective against
(41:18):
cut out of potato beets. Or you can just pick
them off if you want. Some people do that, just
throw them in a pail of soapy water.
Speaker 1 (41:26):
There you go.
Speaker 2 (41:26):
Too much work for me. Last dang is I got
my first incidence of herbicide injury on a tomato. You
see the curled lees, curled and twisted leans. And when
we found out more about this. We found out that
this was nearby a pasture that was recently sprayed, and
an even part of this garden was pasture last year.
(41:48):
So in those herbicides that sprayed on pastures can be
very persistent and toxic. And so even this could have
been exposed from a herbicide that was sprayed last year
and then they and was still present in the land here.
And so here's this is a different situations in the container.
But I show this just to indicate that that this
(42:14):
was a tomato that's got that curving that you see.
That's a herbicide injury. And they got this herbicide from
the straw of a pasture. So that's how this tomato.
It wasn't pesticide drift. It was the straw. So you
have to be careful using straw from pastures or even
grass clippings because they can carry the herbicide with them
to the plant. So those are the problems that doctor Thomas.
Speaker 1 (42:38):
Seen any slugs out there yet?
Speaker 2 (42:42):
Oh I haven't had. I've had nobody confirmed slug damage.
How about you?
Speaker 1 (42:49):
No confirmation either. I got I got some pictures this
morning that looked like it. I asked them if they've
seen any slugs.
Speaker 2 (42:56):
So how can you tell if it's a slug damage.
Speaker 1 (42:58):
Well, I'm hoping they'll see the inside what.
Speaker 2 (43:01):
Miss because they're really active and they're more active like
at night. Sometimes they can hit leave like a trail
behind them a little bit. Or if it's hostage, just
thinking a little bit. There's zenos xenius and slucks because
because zenias generally really like the heat and slugs like
(43:22):
it like shady and moist. Yeah, depends.
Speaker 1 (43:26):
The photo looks again, kind of like my raised beds
pretty saturated.
Speaker 2 (43:31):
Looked, so good time. Yeah it is, Well, maybe we
can share those photos at our next episode. There growing
any That's what I got.
Speaker 1 (43:43):
No, that's that's our positive twist of the problems, Doctor Tom.
Speaker 2 (43:50):
Just saying you know, maybe you I should say again,
people only contact me when there's a problem and the
phone is not really ringing off the hook. So that
means that almost everybody's having a great time hearing up
for the four and we're okay, I'm all for it. Yeah,
like fireworks, but that's still hey, coma, that's still waste, waste,
(44:13):
So but uh, one week you're already thinking about four
to day. Yeah, good for you.
Speaker 1 (44:18):
Yeah, you bet, good for you. That's my platter inside,
but you know, yeah, sure, we're so different.
Speaker 2 (44:26):
I'm thinking about what I'm going to do this afternoon,
and you're thinking about what you're going to do in
two weeks from now, so you're way ahead of me.
Speaker 1 (44:34):
As usual, well, I think we got a lot of
information out there for audience today, and as always, we
just say thank you for joining us on today's episode,
and we hope that you continue to listen and know
that we are available on all major podcasting platforms out
there as well, so maybe you want to work in
(44:55):
the garden and get a little bit educated while you're
in there. As always, we just say thank you and
we hope to see you on our next episodes. Dakota
Growing is a gardening show brought to you by Dakota
Media Access and NDSU Extension. We discuss a variety of
timely topics pertaining to your landscape, along with giving you
(45:18):
tips and advice for your lawn, garden and trees. If
you have questions, call seven oh one two two one
six eight sixty five or email NDSU dot Burley dot
Extension at NDSU dot com. Dakota Growing airs on Radio
Access one O two point five FM, Community Access Channel
twelve or six twelve HD, or online at FreeTV dot
(45:41):
org
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