Into Every Life Some Sun Will Shine

All of us expect great and wonderful things from our children. We at Rohde’s are truly blessed by the presence of one of our coworkers, Sally Sutton. Not only has her constant smile and dedication to customers enlightened us and brightened our lives, but she also has a very talented daughter who, on several occasions shared her musical talents at Rohde’s.

The first time I heard her play the viola was on my birthday. Her rendition of Pachabel brought tears to my eyes and sunlight to my heart. Where many children take up an instrument as a required subject for school, Mary has perfected her skills and excelled in her love for music, working hard to learn the instrument.

Time off was not passed at malls and parties with friends, but at private lessons and concerts. I have been lucky enough to hear her play the piano and the violin at several recitals and just recently heard a piece she composed.

It is through her composition of several pieces of beautiful music that she was accepted to Boston University Tanglewood Institute's Young Artists Composition Program. It is open to composers 15-18 years of age. The program will be held July 7-Aug. 17 in the beautiful Berkshire Hills of Lenox, Mass. The program will offer a small class of 10-12 artists the opportunity to concentrate on composing, while taking advantage of all the resources of the Boston Symphony Orchestra's Tanglewood Music Festival. The curriculum is comprised of daily classes in orchestration, score analysis, composition techniques, and creative musical strategies, as well as weekly private lessons and classes in theory and musicianship. There are weekly readings of the composers' works by members of the Young Artists Orchestra and Wind Ensemble. A full-evening concert showcases works composed during the summer. Students also attend rehearsals and performances of the Festival of Contemporary Music at the Tanglewood Music Center and have the opportunity to meet visiting composers and guest artists of the TMC. Students receive season passes for all Boston Symphony Orchestra events. Three scores are required for application. To request a brochure and application, call 800-643-4796 or visit the Web site, www.bu.edu/tanglewood.

Now here is why I write this. All of us at Rohde’s know of the tremendous financial efforts that Sally and her husband Jerry have made for the success of all of their children. The enrollment and airfare to Tanglewood will cost about $5000.00.

Rohde’s has slowly raised about $1000.00 and would still like to raise more. You may have received an email last month offering Rohde’s – Beorganic t-shirts for sale. The cost of the t-shirt is $10.00 with $4.00 going to Mary.

We have been pleasantly surprised with private donations of money through checks written directly to Mary Sutton and sent or delivered here to Rohde’s.

We have promised to ensure Mary’s trip and would like to ask you for help.

Please buy a t-shirt.

The Grasshoppers Are Back

We have had many reports of grasshopper nymphs already. The use of Nolo bait in the early stages of a grasshopper’s life is beneficial because it takes less of the bait to infect the young grasshopper and kills it in a short amount of time. Normally 7 to 10 days after a nymph has ingested the Nolo Bait, it will dieeeeeeee!!! Its small body may be eaten by other grasshoppers that will receive (hopefully) their last meal and also dieeeeeeee.

While many grasshoppers and Mormon Crickets will eat the product and die, some grasshoppers do not or are not sickened by it and still have cravings for plants in your garden. So now is the time to disguise your plants with a dusty material called KAOLIN.

Last year we gave out more then 300 samples of Kaolin to customers for testing and have found the following instructions to be helpful:

• Find an all-purpose sprayer that is clean and capable of applying great volumes of water-logged material. An old Miracle-Gro Sprayer seemed to be the most favored applicator. Other hose end sprayers and pump sprayers seemed to work, but were slower and required more applications.
• Almost everyone seemed to agree that they needed some type of agitator inside the bottle to keep the Kaolin from settling. Many people wrote saying that a simple rock, golfball or some marbles worked well when added to the container and shake the bottles regularly as you spray the product.
• Using no less then a half-pound of Kaolin per gallon of water, start to apply at the top of the plant leaving a thick milky residual on the leaves and stems of the plants that you are trying to protect. Feedback from one customer:
  “Just spraying a clay mixture in water did not look good; the clay puddled on the leaves. I added liquid dish washing soap and it worked well in covering the leaves and tomatoes. I also sprayed some johnson grass next to the tomatoes. The tomatoes look good and are still producing and the johnson grass that was sprayed is in good shape. Johnson grass about 10 feet away has been stripped and the hoppers have attacked okra that was not sprayed, stripping most of the leaves.”
  Their recommended recipe; MIX:
  ½ pound Kaolin clay
  1-tablespoon of either liquid kelp, foliar juice or dish washing soap
  1-gallon water
• After the Kaolin has dries, inspect the plants for grasshopper activity, and yes everyone said that they still had grasshoppers. Reapply a second application, if necessary. Do not spray so much that you wash off the first coat.
• If necessary, some people have applied a third coating of Kaolin.
• Persistence pays off for he/she who was willing to go a little further. About 20 people said that they sprayed only one. Three of these people had good results. Twenty or so people said that two applications were necessary and another 20 people said that after the third application they saw very few grasshoppers were still on the plant. Many customers said that it did not work and would not try it again. Who said if it at first you don’t succeed try and try again. Obviously not the last group of people.

Grasshoppers no longer want to eat plants coated with Kaolin, so this is a good time to apply Nolo Bait Grasshopper Control in conjunction with Kaolin.

The Lawn

If you had rye grass through the winter, then you should notice that it has started to die. If it has not, I would lower the cutting height of the lawn mower to help kill it off. If you wait too long to kill the rye grass, the Bermuda and or St. Augustine grass will also die out and your lawn will have a hard time recovering its lush full look.

Brown Patch: Rye grass may be disguising symptoms of brown patch, so when the rye grass dies, do not be surprised to find irregular splashes of yellowing or brown patches.

Start treating with Corn Meal, apply at a rate of 10 to 20 lbs per thousand square feet repeating the process about once every 10 to 15 days until the symptoms go away.

You can also apply Potassium Bicarbonate at a rate of 2 tablespoons per gallon of water over 400 s/f. When applying Potassium Bicarbonate use a spreader sticker like liquid soap or Ultra Fine Summer Weight Oil at a rate of 1 tablespoon per gallon of water.

As always, Actinovate should be mentioned for fungal control. Even though the product may cost a little more it is very efficient in controlling soil borne diseases. Repeat every 10 to 15 days at a rate of 1 lb per 1000 s/f. This product goes out dry.

Another fungus related item from our files. Got brown patch? Standard advice is to cut down on the amount of nitrogen when fertilizing lawns. Using a natural fertilizer like Green Sense Pelletized Lawn & Garden 6-2-4 or 5-2-4 Fertilizer is the best way to do that.

Brown patch and other fungal diseases are usually the result of a diminished population of the beneficial organisms in the soil that help to keep them in check. Heavy thatch is also an indicator because a healthy population of beneficial organisms will eat the dead organic matter that forms the layer of thatch. Lawns with a healthy population of beneficial organisms don't have thatch and seldom suffer from fungal diseases.

Plants only use what they need. NPK numbers in chemical fertilizers are higher than in natural fertilizers because the nutrients in chemical fertilizers are available as a soluble salt, the form most easily taken up by plants. That's why so much of it winds up in our water tables and evaporates into the atmosphere, and why chemical fertilizers are coated with stuff like sulfur--to artificially slow the release of nutrients to the plants.

With natural fertilizers like Green Sense 6-2-4 and 5-2-4, nutrients are only made available as a by-product of microbial decomposition. In other words, they are naturally slow release, the way nature intended them to be.

And while we're on the subject, ever wonder what the NPK numbers on bags of fertilizer really mean? They indicate the percentage of nutrient in the product. So in a 40 lb. bag of 15-5-10 chemical fertilizer, 15% is N (nitrogen), 5% is P (phosphorus) and 10% is K (potassium). If you do the math, that means there is 6 lbs. of nitrogen, 2 lbs. of phosphorus and 4 lbs. of potassium in a 40 lb. bag of chemical fertilizer. The other 30 lbs. is filler material, usually clay. (One thing we don’t need more of in N. TX!) In Green Sense Pelletized Lawn & Garden Fertilizers, there is no filler material. Everything that's in the bag is a food source for the beneficial organisms in your soil that naturally convert nutrients in the fertilizer to a form your plants can use, and in the process, increase their population to the levels required to keep fungal diseases, harmful organisms and pathogens in check. Then, once you get them there, lay off the pesticides.

Guess what? It’s time to fertilize!

Humate: Humate is petrified compost rich in humic acid and trace minerals. This product can go out at a rate of 10 to 20 pounds per 1000 s/f. Humate can be applied at any time. I apply Humate after aerating the lawn, because humic acid increases the availability of nutrients and nutrient uptake, drought tolerance and seed germination. It increases the microbial activity in the soil, making it an excellent root stimulator. As it stimulates microbial activity, it promotes aeration and soil percolation under the soil level.

As we begin summer, we need to consider the best methods to conserve water and ensure water we put out is not wasted. Improving soil percolation by aerating the lawn or stimulating microbial activity are only two ways to do this.

My preferred method of improving percolation is by applying microbes. Green Sense Lawn & Garden Microbial Treatment can be applied as often as once a month. As long as there is a food source for the microbes they will live happily in your soil and multiply as the food source sustain their populations. In an organic lawn program there is a very good chance that you have microbes, but if you are just getting started, I would make sure by apply microbes at this time.

The best mechanical aerator is one that removes plugs. Do not worry about the plugs that will be left on the lawn, these will eventually break down.

Lava Sand: Those who have been to Hawaii have enjoyed the benefits of lava. The lush landscape, the fruit bearing trees with delicious meat all growing in volcanic residual.

So why use lava sand on the mainland? Because it’s very porous, retains moisture, it’s loaded with magnesium and sulfur, and it has a high cation exchange capacity. (Mumbo jumbo for “the soil’s ability to provide a nutrient reserve for plant uptake.”)

Lava sand, apply as heavily as you want, or should I say, as much as you can afford.

Bermuda seed may be sown now. Make sure that you haven’t applied Corn Gluten Meal to the area where you are going to sow your seed. Water enough to keep the soil moist until the seed germinates and then water only when needed.

Powdery Mildew & Black Spot on Shrubs/Roses

With all the rain that we’ve had, we’re seeing more powdery mildew and black spot than in previous years. Verbena, Coral- berry, Crape Myrtles, Roses, Indian Hawthorns and of course Photinias are all showing symptoms of these diseases.

Some plants respond very well to Potassium Bicarbonate when applied directly to the leaves of affected plants. Last month I mentioned the formula used by the Dallas Men’s Garden Club that consisted of Epsom salts, molasses, fish emulsion, kelp and apple cider vinegar. Green Sense Foliar Juice contains all of those ingredients, but he recommends adding 2 Tbs. of Ultra Fine Sun Spray to control aphids and black spot.

A savvy customer of ours that knew that Indian Hawthorns and Photinias were related to roses asked me if this spray could also be applied to the above-mentioned plants.

The answer to that was of course: “Of course!"

Many plants that have disease problems may also have insect problems such as aphids. If your plants have aphids, I would add the Ultra Fine Oil, other wise I would use a mild liquid soap, Aloe Vera oil, olive oil or coconut oil as a spreader sticker for the Potassium Bicarbonate (PB). Mix 2 tablespoons of PB with 1 teaspoon of one of the above surfactants to a gallon of water and spray the leaves with a pump sprayer. Do not use a hose end sprayer. This puts out too much water with more force than you really need and does not let the PB stick to the leaves adequately.

Neem Oil has proven to be very effective controlling black spot, but will kill insects also.

Use Neem Oil when you have aphids, spider mites or white flies on your plants other wise stick with PB.

I've noticed plants with powdery mildew or black spot are usually in tight, compacted soils with poor drainage. NO matter how much you spray a “chemical” or a “natural”, you will always have recurring problems unless you correct the main problem- the soil.

If possible, correct the drainage; if that is not possible, replant the diseased plant to another location or to higher grounds. Amend the soil with plenty of organic matter and add some corn meal.

I am sorry, what did you say?

Yes, you can do it now. Just last week I transplanted some verbena that had powdery mildew to an area where there was better drainage. It may not have been the best time to transplant but the other option was to spray weekly and more then likely I would watch the plant die anyway

By the way, the verbena looked puny for the first few days, but after that looked great.

Yes. I did use Kelp as a root stimulator when I transplanted the verbena and I did cut them back to about half their size.

Photinias: In my opinion, if you have photinias that have more yellow leaves than green leaves, if the leaves are covered in black spot and are shedding on a daily basis, no matter what any one says you are not going to save them.

There is no sick tree treatment or cure for these plants. Instead of wasting your money and your time, replace these plants. My suggestion is that you step back, look at your row of photinias. If it is a group of photinias where there may be two or three really bad looking plants surrounded by some still decent plants, yank out the ugly ones and re-landscape that area using proven plants such as holly, eleagnus, abelia, buddleia or other plants suitable for the site.

Now, if you are into symmetry and feel the landscape is off balance, yank out some photenias in another area to give you that balance.

Do not overcrowd your new plants. Just because you ripped out 3 photenias from a 10’ area does not mean you should go back with 3 Nellie R Stevens Holly. Research your choice of plant. Before you replant, find out the overall height, width and sunlight and water requirements of the new candidate. You still have some photinias left for privacy, and a new and interesting plant . As other Photinias die, replace them creatively.

DO NOT MAKE THE MISTAKE OF MONOCULTURE PLANTING AGAIN!!!

If you plant a single variety of plants, even though they are proven, well adapted plants for the area, who is to say that some disease will not develop to attack that variety of plant in the future? Everybody thought that photenias were the perfect plant. Nobody ever expected a beetle to be the culprit killing thousands of oaks in Texas.

The best way to remove a Photenias is to cut the plant down to about 4 foot in height, leaving the main truck bare of smaller branches so that you will be able to use the trunk for leverage. Cut the root system of the plant all the way around to about 8 or 10”. Now, as you push on the trunk you may feel resistance in different areas of the remaining root system. Where you still feel resistance, cut more roots until the trunk falls over.

CAUTION: Do not tie a chain or rope to the trunk and try to pull it out with your car. Serious injury or death can occur if the chain or rope become loose and lashes back.

Remove as much of the debris as possible and level the area with the loosened dirt. Purchase quality compost and work it into the soil creating a new bed in which you will plant desirable plants. Make sure that you use corn meal in this new area.

I do not want to beat a dead plant to a pulp, but--- here is more information concerning:

Natural Controls for that Fungus Among Us

by Don Trotter

Hello, fellow Earthlings, and welcome to ‘Disease Control 101’ for your garden. In this discussion we will be looking at those unseen disease organisms that are a constant concern for gardeners in any location and climate. Let’s take a walk out to the garden and look at the places were these bacteria, fungi, and viruses live and how to put a monkey wrench in their plans.

Disease organisms that attack plant tissue are little understood critters that enter your plants in a number of ways. The most common entry into your plants is through weakened or stressed tissue. The entry may be through a wound in the plant, an unhealed scar, or within the saliva of certain plant juice-sucking insects that inject toxins into the plant when feeding. These are just a few of ways that disease organisms can enter your plants.

The old "ounce of prevention" axiom definitely holds true when considering diseases of plants. By far the easiest way to prevent diseases from attacking your precious plants is to grow healthy plants! Natural gardening techniques are a very good way to ensure you grow healthy plants. Natural/ organic gardening practices are very efficient ways to ensure disease organisms have competition for energy and beneficial organisms that prey on them are present and active.

This battlefield of biology can take place on a single speck of soil or on the leaf of your favorite rose. The war of good vs. bad organisms is as old as the Earth itself and is known as "competitive exclusion". By promoting the beneficial organisms in your garden, you automatically reduce the chances of pathogenic organisms taking hold. The best way do this is to garden naturally!

The most effective way to begin the process of competitive exclusion is to apply lots of organic matter to your garden soil. This can be achieved by adding compost, organic mulch, and manure to your soil each season. The addition of any of these will encourage the growth of beneficial organisms while it improves the physical quality of your soil. These beneficial organisms will proliferate in your rich, organically tended soil and fight off those evil microbes that attack your plants. Adding a 3 to 4 inch layer of composted manure, backyard compost, or organic mulch will ensure that these good guys have plenty of energy to keep the bad guys at bay.

Many gardeners use a variety of chemical fungicides to compete with disease organisms in order to keep their gardens disease free. This is a very counter productive and environmentally insensitive method. If one is inclined to spray, it is the goal of this natural gardener to give you some alternatives to synthetic chemicals. Some very good fungicidal materials from natural sources are as follows.

Lime/Sulfur sprays: These materials are derived from naturally occurring minerals, combined with water and sprayed onto plants affected by powdery mildew, rust, black spot, and a number of other disease organisms. It is widely distributed and can be found at most garden centers.

Copper: Copper sulfate is probably one of most widely used fungicides by farmers and gardeners alike. It is effective at controlling a wide variety of disease organisms. It is easily found at all nurseries and garden centers and is a very powerful material.

Neem: The oil extracted from the seed of the Neem tree of India is an effective control for many disease organisms, especially on roses. Neem is also used as an insecticide and is used in soaps and toothpastes to fight bacteria as well.

I have a home-made fungicide that has worked for many years in controlling a number of fungi on veggies and roses. It’s equal parts of baking soda and hydrogen peroxide (5 Tbs.) mixed in a gallon of water. I use this when powdery mildew gets out of hand on squash or peas, or on roses when that bloody rust shows up. I also use it for black spot and downy mildew on roses or grapes.

There are no shortages of disease pathogens that can take hold in the garden. The natural gardener is the most prepared to take the rascals on. Next time we will be discussing some natural care techniques for your houseplants. See you in the Garden!

Got Questions? Email the Doc. Don Trotter's natural gardening columns appear nationally in environmentally sensitive publications. Check out Don's books "The Complete Natural Gardener" and "Natural Gardening A-Z" at your local bookstore or any online bookseller for more helpful gardening tips. Both books are from Hay House Publishing.

Skeeter Season Opens!

Not too long ago I was at a party in our neighborhood. Well, actually it was on the rich side of our neighborhood. It’s like on the other side if the railroad tracks, our side being the smaller homes; almost cabin-like compared to those. Anyway, I do not even know how I got to this party but once I was there I took advantage of the food and drinks. Everything a person would want was available at this party. A hired cook behind a grill prepared everything but hamburgers and kitchen staff prepared varieties of soups, salads and even home-made breads.

I don't eat desserts, but Sandra does,and did: to make sure they were fresh, she tasted them all.

There was live music, a nice group of people, all and all a good evening except for the mosquitoes. The house is on a wooded lot, backed up to a slow creek, a mosquito-breeding creek.

Everyone present seemed to be preoccupied with the mosquitoes and every two minutes or so you could see someone swat in the direction of a buzzing insect. When they could not stand it any more they would grab a container of repellent and spray themselves. When they realized the repellant wasn't working, they would head indoors. Finally, so many people were going in and out that mosquitoes were in the house as well.

The next day I called the host up and asked if I could come by and snoop around the yard to find the source of mosquitoes. Sandra wanted to go to see if the desserts were as fresh as yesterday.They said I could come by and for that would be grateful. They asked me to not let Sandra come because she had already eaten enough pastries.

When I arrived, I noticed an accumulation of leaves against the fence between their house and the neighbor’s. The leaves were moist; as I kicked them mosquitoes swarmed out of the pile.

As I walked around the backyard, I noticed a large space between the deck and the surface of the sloping backyard. Under the deck grew underbrush as well as years of leaves and other organic debris. On the deck I at least 20 mosquitoes buzzed around me.

I made my way down to the creek and snooped around for standing water, but saw none.

As I walked back up the yard, I passed by an old tree that was hollowed out in the middle. I looked into the center of the tree and was attacked by thousands of skeeters.

Returning on my tour of the garden I noticed that all the gutters were stuffed with leaves and in the shrub beds there was a heavy accumulation of debris just moist enough to breed mosquitoes.

I knocked on the door and the owners came out carrying a platter of desserts. I think they were pleased to see that Sandra was not with me, they went back in, left the platter and came back out to talk. We walked around the house and I pointed out possible breeding areas.

I made recommendations for them to:

• Clean up and compost all the yard debris, making sure that someone turned the compost regularly to keep the pile temperature high enough to kill the mosquito larvae.
• Flush the gutters with water from the garden hose.
• Add a “mosquito dunk” to the hollow area of the tree.

Underneath the deck, behind all shrub areas and in the groundcover areas I wanted them to apply Green Sense Aquabac, a biological mosquito control made from Bacillus thuringiensis Isralensis and is not harmful to frogs, lizards, birds, pets or humans.

Or if they preferred, I suggested the use of our service to apply Aquabac. We’ve used this product on properties with great success and have received calls from several customers who say their children and pets are outside more enjoying the back yard with fewer insect bites.

As I was leaving they called me to the door and had me take a platter of desserts to Sandra. As soon as I arrived home, Sandra met me at the door and asked me if by any chance I had something for her. I was surprised by the size of her smile as she grabbed the platter from me and picked through the desserts looking for the ones she enjoyed most the night before.

For temporary mosquito repelling I use Green Sense Citrus-nella Repella, this product contains citrus oil to kill the mosquitoes it comes in contact with and citronella for repelling small flying insects for up to 5 days or between rains.

When using Citrus-nella Repella I spray the groundcover areas, behind shrubs, cushions of outdoor furniture and underneath the patio- including the brick walls and the floor.

When working by a creek or in areas where I need to keep mosquitoes away, I use Skeeter Shoo by Ecozone, on my arms and legs. Herbal ingredients citronella, cedar, clove, geranium and sesame oils, repel bugs for a long time and,best of all, doesn't contain DEET.