In the News - October 2008
Bugs, cleanup, perennial division part of all gardening routine
SEARCY, Ark. - Not all bugs are bad bugs, said Sherri Sanders, White County
extension agent with the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture.
"Large spider webs appear nightly outside around our homes now, and while we
may not want them indoors with us, they do eat a lot of pesky insects outside,"
she said. "Garden spiders don’t harm our plants, so you may want to encourage
them, or at least leave them alone, as long as they stay outdoors!"
Fall is the time to catch walking sticks.
"As their name aptly describes them, they look like sticks with legs,"
Sanders said. "While they feed on vegetation, they are rarely harmful - more a
fascinating sight."
Katydids are another fascinating insect with good camouflage.
"These music makers in the garden are also rarely harmful, and they can sing
louder than the crickets," she said. "Their cousins, the grasshoppers, are
another story and are often quite large and destructive this late in the year."
Fall is also the time to clean, especially if garden plants were hit by
powdery mildew this year.
When cleaning the fallen leaves from the garden bed, "don’t add them to the
compost pile, since you may not generate enough heat to kill the disease
organisms," Sanders said. "If you are seeing signs of leaf spots or other
diseases now, starting a fungicide spray program this late in the season really
isn’t advisable."
For gardeners with ongoing fungicide programs, there is time for a few more
applications, but starting a program from scratch in October isn’t advisable,
she said.
October is a good time to divide spring and summer blooming perennials.
"If the plant is firmly entrenched, you may need to dig the whole plant up to
divide it, unless you can easily cut off offshoots or side plants," Sanders
said. "If you don't have room for all the plants you end up with, share with
your friends."
Now is not the time to prune evergreens.
"It can either spur them on to tender new growth, or leave you with gaping
holes," she said. "Either way, you may make your plants more tender to winter
weather. Light shaping is not a problem, unless they are plants that bloom in
the spring."
For spring blooming plants that have set buds, only watering is needed now,
Sanders said.
For additional information, contact your county extension office or visit the
Web site at http://www.uaex.edu/. The Cooperative Extension Service is part of
the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture.
October 10, 2008
Media Contact: Lamar James
Extension Communications Specialist
U of A Division of Agriculture
Cooperative Extension Service
(501) 671-2187 or (501) 753-0207
ljames@uaex.edu
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