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August
Gardening Tips
Ants: The first step of ant control is clean up any food crumbs or spills that might attract the ants. Store food in tight containers. Next, keep the ants out by caulking cracks and crevices. Use boric acid bait stakes or stations. Place baits in locations that are not accessible to pets or children. Control with baits can take several weeks. Sprays containing pyrethrin (not synthetic pyrethroids) can be effective if the directions are followed precisely. If ants are a problem in trees, control them by applying a sticky substance such as Tanglefoot on top of a tree wrap of tape or fabric. Check every two weeks to renew. The UC IPM Pest Note on Ants has additional information.
Yellowjackets and Wasps: These insects can be solitary or live in group nests above and below ground. Yellowjackets can be aggressive when defending their nests so avoid the area where possible. Paper wasps on the other hand will avoid contact. When eating outdoors, keep foods well covered. One strategy is to put out bait such as a piece of meat or an opened soda can some distance from the table before setting out the human food. Trapping the queens in the spring and workers during the summer can reduce local populations. See the thorough UC IPM Pest Note for more information.
Pantry Pests: Do little moths fly out of cupboards? Are there small beetles in the corn meal or cereal? These pantry pests can be brought into the home in packaged food and spread to open packages of other foods. Both the insect and its waste products contaminate the food. There is no chemical control. Pheromone traps exist for the Indian mealmoth only. The traps do not attract beetles. Carefully inspect all food packages in the pantry and toss out those with any sign of infestation. Wash shelving with soap and water. Vacuum crevices to remove all insect bits. Store rarely used items such as pancake flour in the freezer or in an airtight container. The UC Pest Note has more information.
Mites: The dusty days of midsummer are when mites get active especially after the homeowner applies insecticide that may kill mite predators. Although they look like insects, mites are actually arachnids related to spiders and ticks. Mature mites have eight legs but young only have six. Webspinning spider mites suck nutrients from the undersides of leaves, making for a silvery or stippled appearance. Some webbing may be seen, the leaves will turn yellow and drop off. Water-stressed plants are more susceptible. Spider mites have numerous predators including lacewings, assassin bugs, damsel bugs, minute pirate bugs, bigeyed bugs, and sixspotted thrips. Predatory mites are larger, pear-shaped, and without spots evident on the spider mites. Refer to the UC Pest Note on Spider Mites for more information..
Pitch Canker: This disease arrived in 1986 and has spread through most of the Central Coast. Symptoms on native pines (especially the Monterey Pine) include branch dieback that may eventually result in the death of the tree. A fungus causes lesions that spread to girdle twigs and branches causing the tip needles to wilt, turn yellow, then red and fall off. Infected trees are often attacked by insects as well. Not all infected trees die and some trees actually go into remission. For aesthetic reasons, pruning of dead branches can be done but tree removal should be delayed unless the tree becomes a hazard. Susceptibility charts for different pines can be found in the UC Pitch Canker Pulication.
Tomato Problems: Refer to the July Hot Topics for this topic. There's not much to be done at this point but it's useful to identify problems.
Tree, Watering: This is one of our most asked questions. Usually it's watering to much. If your tree is in the lawn, now is a good time to give it a good deep watering. Even though it gets watered every time the lawn does, you still need to deep water twice a summer. Don't let your sprinklers hit the trunk, this causes crown rot. Use a soaker or drip hose around the tree at the drip line and let it slowly drip for 2 to 3 hours. A mature ornamental tree or street tree may not need any water. Mature fruit trees should watered by filling their basin slowly every 3 or 4 weeks. Young fruit trees need watering every 2 weeks.Almond, Varieties: For this area there are several varieties that will do well for you. All-in-One, Drake, Garden Prince, Mission, Texas, and Thompson.
Fire Blight: Fire blight affects apples, pears, and related ornamentals. In once case, the growing tips wilt, turn dark and blacken, as if burned. In another case, you may notice a dark area on a branch or trunk with a dark liquid oozing from it. Prune at least 12 inches below the infection. It is a good idea to dip your shears in a strong bleach solution after every cut. Get rid of all the diseased wood. Spray a fixed copper (Microcop ect.) at blossom time. Refer to the UC Pest Note, Fire Blight of Ornamentals and Fruits and the Fruit Tree Care Calender.
Bitter Pit, On Golden Delicious Apple: Golden Delicious is one of the susceptible varieties to bitter pit. The spots are sunken and brown, and can be 1/16-3/8" in diameter. Shallow, dark brown areas below the spots resemble bruises, gradually becoming spongy or cork-like. It develops after the fruit has been picked. Because the disease is a physiological disorder, it does not spread from fruit to fruit. Low levels of calcium in fruit tissues is the cause. Vigorous leafy growth, poor fruit set, and hot dry growing conditions can cause the calcium to be diverted to the leaves. Calcium nitrate (1/2 Tbs per gallon) may help. Spray starting just after bloom and again in 6 weeks.
Comice Pear, when to harvest: This is a winter variety and is picked mid September through October. You need to put them in cold storage for 6 weeks before ripening for the best flavor.
Country Crossroads: This is a publication that comes out every spring and gives you a list and map of the farmers that sell directly to the public at their farms (some are u-pick) or stand. To get a copy, send a self addressed stamped envelope to: Santa Clara County Farm Bureau, Country Crossroads,1368 N. 4th Street, San Jose, CA 95112 ( this covers Santa Clara & Santa Cruz County); San Mateo County Farm Bureau, Harvest Trails Map, 765 Main Street, Half Moon Bay, CA 94019
Geranium, Budworm: The moth lays its eggs on geranium (rosebud or petunia bud), one egg per bud. As the worm grows, it consumes the bud and moves on to the rest of the plant. Use bacillus thuringiensis to control.
Hydrangea, Pruning: It is fast growing, so you need to prune to control its size and shape. Cut out the stems that have flowered, leaving the ones that have not flowered. It depends on what you like. If you want the biggest flowers clusters, reduce the number of stems. To get a lot of medium size flowers, nicely spaced, keep more stems.
Peppers, Bacterial Spot: Bacterial spot is caused by the Xanthomonas vesicatoria bac-terium, affects the leaves and fruit of the pepper (also tomato). Small irregular spots first appear on the lower surface of the leaves and can enlarge to 1/4" and are raised. Their color is a purplish gray with black centers and may also have a yellow halo. Spots on the upper surface are depressed. Leaves may become twisted due to uneven growth, turn yellow and fall off. Leaf loss can result in sunscald. The spots on the fruit begin as sunken water soaked areas edged in black, then become raised scab like bumps. Infected seeds and transplants are the prime source of this bacteria. It can survive about a year in the debris from a diseased plant, splashing water can spread the bacteria. Get rid of the diseased plant material. Buy commercial disease free seed.
Stone Fruit, After Harvest Deterioration: Not many of us know what can happen to stone fruit between picking and market. We have all bought fruit that didn't ripen, didn't taste like it should, was mealy or dry, looked good on the outside and the inside was brown, etc. After the fruit is harvested, it continues to ripen and use its food reserves, undergoing many compositional changes. It becomes susceptible to physical injury, decay, and water loss. Environmental factors, as well as varietal can effect fruit com-position, quality, and postharvest behavior. The maturity of the fruit at harvest is directly related to its ultimate quality and can influence various deterioration problems. Pick too soon, the result is abnormal or non ripening fruit; keeps some green color, high water loss, and low sugar content. Over ripe fruit will not keep long and is susceptible to microorganisms. It will develop a poorer eating quality, sometimes flavor is off and texture is mealy. Temperature during the handling process can trigger different effects. High temperature injury 95-104° F can cause surface scald on fruit, flesh breakdown, failure or abnormal ripening, and increased susceptibility to decay organisms. Just a few hours. of heat exposure can increase internal browning. Fruit in cold storage may develop freezing or chilling injury. Freezing injury can be caused at 30° F depending on the fruit. It results in death of the tissue. Chilling injury occurs at temperatures above freezing and below 50° F, the worst happening at 36 to 46° F. The injury results in internal breakdown; tissue browning, dry mealy texture (wooliness) when ripe, translucency or abnormal flesh color (reddening), failure to ripen, and complete loss of flavor. Peaches can have black pit cavities with browning of flesh. Nectarines get the same as peaches, but can have black pit with flesh translucency or red flesh. Plums develop red flesh or translucency. The best storage temperature is 31-32° F. A fine line between freezing and optimum conditions. Susceptibility to internal breakdown differs between varieties.
Summer Squash, poor harvest: Early zucchini are produced from unpollinated female flowers. Most hybrid zucchini have all female blossoms when they first flower. Pick some of the first tender young ones as soon as they form. This will encourage male flowers to develop and will pollinate the female blossoms. Let later developing zucchini grow, and your crop's total production will increase.
Vegetables, what to plant in August: Bush beans, radishes, lettuce, and peas. Take out your spent vegetables and get the soil ready for the fall planting of cool season vegetables.
Winter Squash, when to pick: Winter squash is ready to pick when the stem begins to shrivel. Press the rind with your fingernail, it should resist denting. Pick before the first hard frost and cure before storing by letting it lie in the sun for at least 3 days, turn each day. Store in a cool, dry place. It will keep for up to 5 months.
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