East Texas Gardening

It's time for one of my favorite summer horticulture events in the East Texas area. That's the Horticulture Field Day held at the Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Center in Overton on Thursday, June 25.  This event has grown in popularity as growers, landscapers and gardeners discover the trials and displays of the latest and newest bedding plant varieties and other horticultural novelties. The event is free. It starts in the morning at the Horticulture  North Farm, north of the Overton Center, where row after row of bedding plants are presented for viewing and evaluating. Later in the morning the crowd moves to the Overton Center where the diverse and interesting Demonstration Garden displays an amazing number of intersting and unusual perennials, roses, small shrubs and other gems. After the sponsored lunch, the program heads indoors where Dr. Brent Pemberton, who is responsible for the Horticulture Field Day, and Jimmy Turner, head horticulturist at the Dallas Aroboretum, will give slide show presentations of the California Spring Showcase (Pack Trials), trials at the Dallas Aroboretum and other topics.

For directions to the Field Day and a schedule, click here At the bottom of this page are links to go to Pemberton's home page, and a detailed news release on the Field Day

With the warm, humid weather, accompanied by occasional showers comes the predictable appearances of slime molds. If you have never seen them before, they can be somewhat disconcerting. Some are downright disgusting-looking, with disgusting-sounding common names such as the common "dog-vomit slime mold"  It's name tells you what it looks like (at least it doesn't smell)!

What are slime molds? They are primitive life forms that for most of their existence feed on decaying organic matter. At some point in time, they go into a reproductive mold, and begin oozing up onto surfaces, crawling like amoeba, forming a mass of "stuff" which quickly dries and releases spores.

One of the more common slime molds we see is on lawns, usually greyish in appearance, kind of like cigarette ashes dumped out on the grass. Sometimes they are black and oily in appearance.

Dog vomit slime mold is usually yellow and brown and shiny, later turning crusty and thick. I usually see it in flower beds where a lot of wood product (bark mulch or compost) has been used. It looks like Fido barfed in the garden.

The good news is that they are harmless to the lawn and garden, and will disappear once it gets hot and dry. You can ignore slime mold, study it, or hose or sweep it away. Kick it and you will likely get your shoes black with all the spores waiting to be dispersed.

For further edification, here are some University references on slime molds:

http://plantclinic.cornell.edu/FactSheets/slimemold/slimemold.htm

We have not had any reports of this pest in Smith County or nearby counties that I am aware of. Today Dr. Mike Merchant, Extension Entomologist in the Dallas area reported on an outbreak of Blackheaded Pine Sawflies in other northeast Texas counties - to the north and west of our area (Lamar, Bowie and Kaufman counties). So, I have copied Dr. Merchant's "heads up" in case you discover your pine trees have disappearing needles, or hear what appears to be raindrops under your pines on a clear, sunny day (that would be caterpillar droppings).

Several years ago we had an outbreak in southern Smith County - quite amazing at the shear number of larvae that get on one pine tree. You quickly learn not to look up and talk when standing under a pine tree infested with these caterpillars. The good news is that an otherwise healthy tree will not be adversely affected, according to Texas Forest Service entomologist Joe Pase (see below).

Here is Dr. Merchant's report:

Many Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana) trees in the area are getting covered with masses of orange goo-like stuff  - kind of looks like something from outer space splattered over the trees. Actually, I've never seen it quite this heavy and widespread before. What "it" is is a fungus, called cedar-quince rust (Gymnosporangium clavipes). This is an interesting fungal organism that requires 2 different hosts to complete its life cycle. One stage occurs on junipers - in this case, the common eastern red cedar. There are actually several different rust fungi, and some look a lot alike.

This orange mass of goo will eventually dry, and release gazillions of spores, many of which will land on some host in the Rosaceae family, like apples, flowering quince, mayhaws, pears, hawthorn, photinia, or crabapples. There they will infect the young foliage, causing yellowing, spotting and possibly heavy defoliation if the conditions are just right. Young developing fruit might also become affected, resulting in odd projections covering the fruit.

Dr. Kevin Ong, Plant Pathologist with Texas AgriLife Extension Service, has written a short article on a related species, cedar-apple rust. You can read it here.

The East Texas Commercial Fruit & Vegetable Conference, is Tuesday, February 17, at the Tyler Rose Garden Center. This all-day program focuses on commercial fruit and vegetable production, and will feature presentations in the general session on incorporating integrated pest management strategies into fruit and vegetable production, marketing fruits and vegetables, herbicides for weed control, and pesticide safety.

 

In the afternoon there will be 3 concurrent sessions. In the fruit session there will be talks on orchard site selection, and blackberry production. The vegetable session includes the subjects of windows for planting recommended crops and variety selections, disease updates, and tunnel houses and mulching for early crop production. The 3^rd session focuses on grapes, with an update on Pierce's Disease, and an overview of what's involved in starting a vineyard.

For agenda details, go to "Programs" under "Events & News" at EastTexasGardening.tamu.edu 

 

Registration begins at 8:00 a.m., and is $20 which includes lunch. The program starts at 8:30 a.m. TDA pesticide license holders earn 4 CEU's by attending the Conference.