Recovery and Bugs in the Eye
July 22nd, 2014
I keep hearing about apparently dead plants that are still, somehow, coming back to life.
A “miracle” fig, finally coming back to life.
Usually, end of May or maybe early June is the drop-dead date around here. If things aren’t leafing out or pushing up by then, you can figure it’s a winter casualty.
But this year, bared-out crape myrtles and hydrangeas were budding out for the first time the second and third week of June.
My ‘Brown Turkey’ fig that I gave up for dead started sending up shoots in early July, a week after I dug it, replaced it with a new ‘Chicago Hardy,’ and set it aside in a pot. Good thing I kept it, “just in case.” It’s back in the ground in a new spot and still growing.
Just a week ago, a reader from the East Shore said he was about to cut down some leafless hollies when he noticed new shoots poking up from around the base.
And then over the weekend, my friend and fellow gardener Cindy Rudisill from up in Lykens told me that her apparent cadaver passion vine finally decided to send up a shoot – in mid-July.
When will miracles cease?
I still haven’t dug out my lifeless ‘Adonis’ butterfly bush and barren ‘Goshiki’ osmanthus, so maybe they ceased there.
The death rate from this past winter is higher than I’ve seen in the last 20 years, but what’s recovered has been pretty amazing. Some of these late-comeback plants will take years to grow back to size and form (if ever), but at least it’s better than digging out and buying new.
Since the vortexish winter and cool start to the growing season, things have been chugging along rather nicely.
We’ve had some good warmth but few bouts of the sauna weather that we often get by July. Much of last week was actually very May-like pleasant.
We’ve had enough rain to keep the lawns green and most plants reasonably well hydrated.
The worst thing I can say (and gardeners always have to have something to complain about) is that the blackflies have been horrible this year.
Don’t know if you can see them or not, but blackflies are landing on and hovering around this fist in the air.
I haven’t seen them this bad in more than 20 years. I know someone who sprays for them, and he tells me I’m not imagining things. The state cut the blackfly-spraying budget, and that’s meant later and less spraying for these tiny bugs that are a gigantic nuisance.
Lots and lots of people apparently have been registering complaints.
Blackflies swarm around eyes and ears and noses, occasionally going into and up all of the aforementioned. They bite, too.
Decades ago, before the state started spraying waterways with Bacillus thuringiensis to control them, people would burn punk sticks, wear netted hats, and spray all sorts of repellents on themselves just to be able to go outside in peace.
I’ve had some luck by smearing Vicks VapoRub® on my hat, ears and nose. But they’re still bad.
I hope money gets restored to get these bugs back under control because in my opinion, that’s been one of the best investments of our state tax dollars.
Five other observations so far this season from George’s garden:
The netting’s in place but still no ripe blueberries. Birds pecked their way in.
- Bird netting is useless against birds. When I don’t cover my five blueberry bushes to keep the birds off, I don’t get a single ripe berry. I secured my whole planting with two packs of bird plastic netting in June, but the birds merely pecked holes in it and flew right in.
- I haven’t seen any groundhogs in my yard. Yet. A groundhogless year would be a bigger miracle than a passion vine coming back to life in July.
- It’s been sneaky dry. It looks like we’ve been getting decent rain, but it’s either been less than it looks or so much all at once that most of it ran off. Dig down a little, and see if your soil isn’t almost dust under there, too.
- Tomatoes are coming along slowly. Several readers also have asked me about that, wondering if something’s wrong or if their tomatoes are ever going to ripen this season. The cool start slowed tomato progress, but we’ll have red tomatoes soon. I’m getting my first few early ones and cherry types.
- I haven’t seen many Japanese beetles. And I’m not hearing much about them from readers either. Here’s hoping they’re not just slow, too, or about to make a miraculously late appearance.
No George, all the Japanese beetles are having a reunion in my yard this year.
So that’s where they all went…
Are black flies the same as what I called as “nats”? If it is, I use Badger Bug Balm around my forehead, ears, rim of my hand, and on the top rims of my glasses. It works like a charm.
When I did wedding photography and the shoot is outside, I would give my subjects the balm to use and then they were no longer squatting at the flies but instead gave me the attention I needed to get the photos done.
Thanks to Jess for hosting the Japanese beetle family reunion this summer. I’ve not had many in my yard (but did pick one out of my hair the other day). The blackflies are terrible and I have the bites to prove it! Let’s hope the state starts spraying again :-/
Hello George !
Just wanted to tell you that like you, haven’t had any groundhogs in my yard either. Weird to say the least. My grass is just about all clover and crabgrass too so they should be munching away in hoggie heaven ??? Definitely a gift horse.
My Cryptomeria are doing fantastic after this past horrible winter, along with my Spartan Junipers which can’t take snowload. So am happy was diligent to get snow off after storms. Of course, couldn’t do anything about ice. Am optimistic that if they survived this past winter they can get through anything !
Enjoy your summer and as always, thanks for all the great info.
Deb Sheppard
Eagleville, PA
Jackie,
Yes, most people refer to the blackflies as gnats (or worse). I’ve never tried that particular balm, but I think that general approach is about as good as anything if the state has decided it’s not worth investing in killing them off in the first place. I hope we’re not stepping back 25 years and running into an unacceptable problem that had been solved.
Is anyone else noticing fewer hummingbirds than past years? By this time last year, there were dozens at the feeders. This year, I have only seen two at the same time.
I’ve seen a few but not a lot. My ‘Black and Blue’ salvia is now blooming, and that’s a hummingbird magnet. We’ll see if that brings in any action…
Hi George, thought I would join in with my recovery report from down here in Lake Meade. First, we had a lovely one inch rain on June 25, and that was it with the exception of a July 8 storm that dumped 1/2 inch in less than 15 minutes. Not worth much. We are VERY dry. I had three nice Crape Myrtles, two of which were slow, but are recovering nicely. The third, I was sure was a complete goner, but just last week, about July 12, it sent up a little shoot. Amazing. My Camilla seems to be recovering. I had it wrapped all winter but it really took a beating. Rabbits completely stripped all the bottom leaves of my Nellie Stevens Holly up at least a foot. I never touched them, and they have filled in well. I actually had three Verbena Bonarience plants which survived the winter. They are zone 7 plants, and we are 6b. Also, two ‘Homestead Purple’ verbena which came back this year of all years for them to survive! Rabbits completely ate off the bottoms my three nandina ‘firepower’. Instead of balls, they looked like fountains. They regenerated themselves and are looking good. I have two large ‘Blue Ice’ Cypress which have about half brown. Looking very bad. I am letting them alone until next summer. What are your predictions about them?
PLEASE George, don’t ask for more State-Sanctioned insect slaughter… With all the trouble Honey Bees, Little Brown Bats, Monarch Butterflies, Barn Swallows, Purple Martins… are having, they need all the NONtoxic food and water that they can possibly find; wouldn’t you say? ALL of these things are interconnected… Do you remember “Silent Spring” and DDT?
Please just put on a net and Citronella Oil! (The NonHumans will thank you; )
We had not had any groundhogs either until just a few days ago when my husband chased one out of our yard. We set our trap (broccoli bait) and have in the last few days trapped 5 or 6 (2 in 1 day). They are now having their chance to hike the Appalachian Trail. (Yes, we are aware that it’s illegal in PA to transport wild animals.)
Ticks are the worst this year that we’ve ever seen! But only 2 Japanese beetles seen so far. And lots of blackflies, worse than usual.
Rabbits are completely out of control. Last year we had a fox family in the neighborhood which may have helped, but they seem to have disappeared, and nature abhors a vacuum.
My two “looking dead” crape myrtles have resurrected themselves and bushed out nicely in June. They’re now 2.5 feet tall and going strong. A beloved bullet-proof butterfly bush that had survived four transplantings looked quite dead after the winter, but now it has sent up a shoot. I think the shoot started growing around mid-June. And here’s a blessing this year; NO APHIDS on the burning bushes. But the basil in pots that was doing so nicely has started to look a little sick. Some brown leaves, yellowing, etc. One potful is better than the other. Any thoughts?
Hi Anne,
Good on the crape myrtle and butterfly bush resurrections, not so good on the basil. Although at least it’s the less expensive plant having trouble.
I suspect two things might be going wrong when basil is yellowing and browning. One is soil drainage. If your pots have adequate holes and good potting mix, that shouldn’t be an issue. But some peat-based mixes break down fast, compact and don’t drain as well as they should. Wet-sensitive plants like basil respond by yellowing as the rots start rotting.
The other is lack of nitrogen. Potting mixes don’t have much nutrition, plus a lot of what you add gets leached out with all of the waterings. Try doing a half-strength fertilizer once or twice a week and see if that helps. A balanced one (10-10-10) or one slightly higher in the first number would be good.
George
Deb,
Can’t agree with you there. I’m for a reasoned approach on a case-by-case basis. It’s a bad idea to spray wantonly, but humans and their health and well-being also count in this equation. When any organism’s detrimental habits outweigh their beneficial ones, I think it’s warranted to consider — and use — targeted controls.
In the case of blackfly spraying, a strain of Bacillus thuringiensis is used (approved for organic gardening). All of the research I’ve seen shows Bt is harmless to people, birds, bees, bats, fish and even butterflies. If you know of something to the contrary, I’m unaware of it and would be interested in reading it. I try to give fair, accurate, unbiased and evidence-based information.
Here’s a link to the state DEP’s page on blackfly spraying listing all of the steps and precautions they take. It seems like a responsible approach to me…
http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/black_fly/13774/sampling_and_spray_operations/590147
George
Barbara,
Those “fountain” nandinas sound interesting! It’s so nice that your rabbits have an artistic flair.
If there’s still a fair amount of live growth in your ‘Blue Ice’ cypress, I’d let it alone. It should get better over time (unless we get more winters like we just had). The brown needles will drop, and if the branches are all alive, they’ll attempt to make a comeback. Even without pushing much new growth from the inside, the tips will grow, produce new needles and begin to hide the bare-ish inside.
The downside will be if you lost the branches. In that case, new needles won’t grow. Brown ones will fall, and no new tips will extend or produce needles. In other words, it’ll look very dead. I’d wait until early next summer to assess where they stand. A little snipping or selected branch removal might be all you need (if even that).
‘Blue Ice’ is a nice evergreen, but we’re on the edge of where it survives.
George
So I am not the only one with birds pecking holes in the netting. I erected pvc frames with netting, and tied netting to the pipes with plastic ties. At first it seemed as though they were testing and finding weaknesses in the taughtness of interface between the netting and the pipes. Then I started to notice holes in the netting thinking I was doing this. After several iterations, I realized they were actually creating holes in the netting. At least I detered them enough to get a gallon and a half of berries off my one plant.
Yeah, it’s a bit maddening. If I don’t completely protect my blueberries, birds get every single berry off 7 bushes. I tried going without a cover one year and that’s what happened. Once they started pecking holes, I stopped getting ripe berries even with the bird netting on. I wish they’d take the hint and just go eat bugs.
I’m a little concerned about the butterfly population. Normally I have tons of tiger swallow tail butterflies on my coneflowers, buttlerfly bushes and joe pye, I’ve seen only three so far this year. Anyone else noticing this?
Butterflies—where are they?
I have a friend with about a thousand coneflowers blooming that are usually full of various types of butterflies.
I saw two. Is it the cold spring causing a delay?
Also beware the ticks!!!!
My yard was infested with adults a month ago and I had a tick bite. I now have Bell’s Palsy from Lyme disease. Now the ticks are tiny nymphs, so if you have a
mad looking bite in a tender area—call the doctor for a dose of some doxycyline antibiotic to be safe.
I have a Gold Medal rose that just sprouted this week. I thought it was dead.
Miracles do happen!