Carrie Barre-LiBaire's Gardening Column

Down to Earth Gardening

Good news for us gardeners! The University of Minnesota Extension climatologist, Mark Seely, along with the National Weather Service are predicting that after September 15th we are going to have a warmer than normal fall through November. They aren’t even predicting a frost at this time! So hold on to your petunias, we actually may have a glorious fall growing season ahead of us.

Some other weather related information is that we are still considered to be in a drought. Douglas County is classified as “Abnormally Dry” and with parts of Pope County now being classified in a “Moderate Drought.” From June to September we had three inches less rain than usual. Though we are somewhat better off than last year at this time, we have had drought conditions for the past three years. And now we are seeing the effects of this in our most prized landscape plants-trees.

Healthy trees don’t suddenly succumb to attacks; they are attacked because they aren’t healthy. Prevention is the best tactic to protecting your trees from harm. Most problems that occur with trees is a result of something (disease or insect) attacking a stressed tree. A stressed tree isn’t just that tree you transplanted this year, stressful conditions include lack of water, even for that 100 year old Oak. Established trees need supplemental water applications after subsequent years of drought conditions. Watering your lawn is not enough for the trees in your yard, you should run your hose or soaker hose all day long along the base of your tree at least a few times this fall.

One of the most asked tree questions is about Oak Wilt. Oak Wilt has not been found in Douglas County and can only be confirmed by lab testing. If you have dying or dead oaks it could be from the two-lined chestnut borer. After spending their youth tunneling around the inside of the tree, girdling the branches, these beetles emerge leaving D-shaped holes in the bark. The problem is they tend to do this in the upper third of the tree, so it’s hard to confirm this until the tree is cut down. Another clue is that the tree dies systematically branch by branch, so you’ll see dead branches toward the top and the lower branches leaves are still green. But again, the two-lined chestnut borer is unable to survive in a vigorously healthy tree.

Last week I wrote about a few of the many apple problems we are seeing this year. While it has been a tough year as far as disease and insects are concerned, we are seeing beautiful local apples available for sale. I was at the Alexandria Farmer’s Market yesterday and was lucky enough to taste a new University of Minnesota trademarked Zestar! apple for the first time. If you love Honeycrisp then you will absolutely fall for this one, it’s very similar, but ripens weeks earlier. So, if you like crunchy, sweet and tangy apples, then be sure to try a Zestar!™.

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