Friday, January 11, 2013

Dayton "Dirt" - January 4, 2013

January 4, 2013 With the snow and cold this past week, deer food must be in short supply as trails of deer tracks are everywhere at the nursery from the north garden, between the winter storage huts and even around the old house. Last Friday I began inspecting the property for signs of feeding in which I found a few bites taken out of some of the azaleas. Over the past two years, the animals seemed to prefer feeding on one of the most winter hardy evergreen azaleas called ‘Herbert’ but this time all of the varieties had to endure a taste test. The garden was sprayed with Liquid Fence around November 20th but apparently has worn off enough with the result of deer feeding. Luckily around noon last Friday, the temperatures rose to just above freezing with a moderate wind so that I was able to apply 5 gallons of Liquid Fence solution to the foliage and stems of the rhododendron, azalea, mountain laurel and fragrant viburnums. In about another week, another application of Liquid Fence will do well to prevent more feeding for at least another month. Liquid Fence is the answer to prevent deer feeding on tulips as they shy away from the foliage that has been sprayed with the product when the foliage emerges out of the ground about 3 inches in spring. Another chore at the nursery has been the protection of some of the perennials and other plants from extreme cold. Even with temperatures of 0 degrees and a light wind, a single layer of white polyethylene plastic will maintain a temperature of 20 degrees inside a quonset type storage hut. For most plants in pots, 20 degrees inside the house is fine except for evergreen azaleas which are only hardy to 27 degrees as far as the roots are concerned. The other plants that may not fair well in extreme cold are various perennials, excluding hostas, daylilies, creeping phlox and German iris. In order to mimic the perennials and azaleas being planted in the ground instead of above ground in pots an additional layer of cover called microfoam is rolled over the plants to insulate them from the extreme cold which could be deadly to the roots. Even though extreme cold may cause problems for everyone, it may cause the death of some of the insects that had survived the mild winter last year. There is a cloud with the silver lining even when a cold winter is upon us. Tom

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