Last winter I brought one of the frothy egg masses of the praying mantis into the greenhouse. Within three weeks 100 wee mantes emerged from froth, each with an appetite larger than its body. One tackled a sowbug 20 times its size the day it was born. The tussle was intense, but the mantis won.
My greatest worry was appeasing their prodigious appetite. When the sowbugs, aphids, millipedes and flies were completely eradicated, the mantises started eating each other. Before weather arrived warm enough to make releasing them out-of-doors safe, cannibalism had accounted for 35 of them.
Have you ever seen a more unpleasant sight than a wild cherry, apple or hawthorn devoid of foliage in ,June and encased in millions of yards of dirty white webs extruded by thousands of tent caterpillars that desecrate much of the countryside each spring? I’ve been a little chagrined that garden clubs, both men’s and women’s, have passed up the opportunity to make the elimination of this scourge a project.
Collecting the egg masses in late winter, before the caterpillars hatch, is a satisfying and stimulating activity. Both children and adults will benefit, for while they are peeling off egg clusters, they will also be discerning things in nature, never before seen by them. Then they will be publicly rewarded for doing the thing every property owner should consider his own annual chore. It’s a pity the buck must be passed to organizations.
Last year a few oil distribution companies, anxious to keep their tank trucks busy during the summer, cleaned out the tanks and filled them up with soluble fertilizer and water, ready to devote the summer to tank truck fertilization of lawns at so much a square foot. This year many more companies will do the same, hoping their heavy investment in oil delivery equipment will thereby earn money the year around.
Whether this becomes a useful business or a racket remains to be seen. Concentrated soluble fertilizers, now generally accepted by the public, have to be applied in solution. Oil tanks hold water, so what is more natural than their use for dosing lawns at so much a gallon.
If this catches on, fuel oil men will pinch hit as lawn specialists. More important, all fertilizers must meet state labelling requirements when sold in packages. lArheri the transaction takes place at the end of a hose, who is going to determine whether the formula is as stated and whether it remains constant for the five or 10 lawns that are fed from one tank load? Before signing a contract to have your lawns so fed, it would pay to investigate carefully and perhaps hesitate until more is known about the value of such fertilization.
Root rot of many plants is caused by Plifiophthora cinnamomi, a fungus first discovered on cinnamon trees in Sumatra. Research has isolated it in box wood, rhododendrons, azaleas, pine, yew, chestnut, viburnum and many other trees and shrubs. It is more often found on plants that have been moved than on natural growth and most often on those plants that have been set deep or are growing in poorly drained soil. Though P. cinnamomi is common, every precaution should be taken to prevent spread.
Nurserymen especially should be on guard to prevent contamination of propagating and plant beds. Use of a light, well drained soil is important. Control is difficult. Improving soil drainage helps. Planting at the proper depth is most important. Removal of heavy accumulation of leases around rhododendrons, laurel and azaleas will reduce the chances of injury from Phytophikora.
Die-back of sweet gum, also called sweet gum blight, has pathologists stymied. The first symptoms often appear in mid-summer. The infected tree may die the first year after being attacked or it may live for several, gradually deteriorating. Over 50 per cent of the sweet gums in some areas have died within six years.
I speak of infection, yet there is no definite evidence of infection. No fungus that might be responsible has been isolated. If it is a virus, that has not been verified. Feeding has not been effective in checking die-back, nor has the removal of dying branches.
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