O C T O B E R 2 0 1 9 V O L U M N E 2 0 , I S S U E 1 0

Queen Anne’s County Master Gardener Newsletter

The Watering Can

I N S I D E T H I S

I S S U E :

Coordinators

Corner

2

Ask A MG 3

Oak Trees Dying 4

Herb Garden 5

MG Training 6

Warwick Mush-

room Trip

7

Demo Garden 8

Honeybee Flower

Farm Trip

8

October

Gardening Tips

9

Volunteer

Opportunities

10

Continuing

Education

11

Seed Swap 11

Calendar 12-13

Continued on page 4

WHY ARE SO MANY OAK

TREES DYING By Dr. David L. Clement, Principal Agent, University of Maryland Extension, Home & Garden Information Center and Dr. Karen Rane, Director, University of Maryland Plant Diagnostic Laboratory

This season the Home and Garden Infor-mation Center has received a tremendous number of questions on rapid browning and death of many of our oak trees in urban landscapes and forest situa-tions. Even though it would be conven-ient to point to a single reason for this dieback it is most likely a combination of weather, disease, and insect factors.

A logical starting place to look for an explanation would be the often-overlooked gradual health decline of our trees due to old age, restricted root zones, soil compaction in work zones, old trunk wounds, storm dam-age, poor pruning, urban stress such as reflected heat and drought, and oppor-tunistic diseases and insects. These decline factors can extend over many years, leaving trees to try and cope with less than ideal growing condi-tions. Last season these conditions were fur-ther worsened by the excessive rainfall that continued into this spring which resulted in standing water at many locations that had low spots, compact-ed soil, or water collection points. Flooded soils and saturated root zones further weakened trees by allowing root pathogens such as Phytophthora a chance to reduce the overall number of healthy roots. In general, red, black, chestnut and white oaks don’t tolerate poorly drained soils. Trees can tolerate some reduction in root health, as long as temperatures remain cool, water de-

Rapid decline of an oak tree in an area with a restricted root zone. Photo: D.L. Clement, University of Maryland Extension

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T H E W A T E R I N G C A N

COORDINATOR’S CORNER

Hello Everyone, I hope that you’re doing well. Phew, is anyone else thankful that the heat of summer is almost gone? Just a few things looking ahead: We’ll have our monthly “Ask A Master Gardener” Plant Clinic at the Kent Island

Farmers Market on Thursday, October 10th from 3:30-6:30 PM See page 3 for more details.

Our monthly MG Meeting will be on Wednesday, October 16th at the Wye Re-search & Education Center at 9:30 AM. Our speaker is Agnes Kedmenecz with the University of Maryland Extension she will be speaking on ID’ing MD Trees.

We’ve started planning MG Basic Training for February 2020. This years classes will be held all day on Thursdays vs evening and weekend classes. Details to fol-low.

I’ll be working on planning our Holiday Luncheon, please email me if you have any suggestions on places you’d like to have it.

We have several other MG events and CE Classes coming up. Please volunteer where you can and remember to enter your hours! Best, Rachel

Meeting Date Topic Time Place

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Native Tree ID, Agnes Kedmenecz, UME Woodland Stewards Educator

9:30-11:30

Wye Research and Education Center

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Bird friendly gardening with Native Plants, Susie Creamer, Patter-son Park Audubon

9:30-11:30

Queen Anne's County Government Building 110 Vincit St. Centreville, MD 21617 Meeting Room 1

December-Date TBD

2019 MG Meetings

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Ask a Master Gardener

Kent Island Farmers Market

Submitted by: MG Liz Hammond & Deane Horo-

witz, KI Plant Clinic Chair

As fall is a great time for planting per-ennials, this month the “Ask a Master Gar-dener” table at the Kent Island Farmers Market featured a display about Native Plants for Maryland Gardens. We got a great spot to set up our table – right in the middle of the room in front of the entrance doors, and we had about 40 people stop by to pick up gardening tips and chat about gardening. One visitor chatted with us for quite awhile about browning leaves occur-ring on one of her plants that had seemingly jumped to another plant. We gave her some suggestions (possible rust, or a virus), but without a picture or a specimen, it’s very hard to diagnose. We had another visi-tor, a master gardener from Montgomery County who moved to Queen Anne’s Coun-ty, and we chatted with her for a long time. Hopefully, she will continue to be a master gardener with us. Lots of people took flyers about volunteering and Corsica River Day, and we hope to have a good response to these events. Many thanks to Theresa Dotson, Ka-ren Wimsatt, Jackie Kelly, and Barbara Gra-ham, who helped out this month. As next month is Halloween, we plan on having a display about “Spiders – Friend or Foe,” along with how to build a bat house and why bats are beneficial critters to have around. The next “Ask a Master Gardener”

will be Thursday, October 10, from 3:30 to 6:30 at the Kent Island Farmers Market. This is a great fun way to get volunteer hours, especially for interns! Please contact Liz Hammond er93ham-mon@aol.com Deane Horowitz deanoch@yahoo.com if you’d like to help out! We’ll be at Christ Church, Stevensville, 830 Romancoke Rd. Upcoming Plant Clinic Dates: (at the Kent Island Farmers Market-unless otherwise noted) from 3:30-6:30 PM October 10, 2019 November 14, 2019 December 12, 2019 To sign up for a particular day email Liz, come to an MG meeting or click on this link: http://signup.com/go/SyMwafK

P A G E 4 OAK TREES CONTINUED

T H E W A T E R I N G C A N

mands aren’t high, and adequate time is allowed for root regeneration. As a root system loses the ability to support the tree’s water needs, dieback will occur espe-cially in the upper branches. When the high summer temperatures be-gan this season in mid-July and the low rainfall extended into this fall these condi-tions accelerated the loss of tree vigor and resulted in sudden browning of tree leaves and canopy dieback. Compromised tree health often allows pathogens such Armil-laria and Hypoxylon to invade, which fur-ther accelerates dieback and death. In ad-dition, opportunistic insects such as Am-brosia Beetles and Two-lined Chestnut Bor-

er, will attack tree trunks and continue tree demise. There are a few positive steps that may alleviate some tree stress. It is very difficult to reverse decline in stressed oaks so select trees that still have green foliage and irri-gate near their bases during this period of high drought stress. Even minimal amounts of water can help recovery and prevent

drought stress before winter dormancy. Practices that open up compacted soils to increase drainage and raise soil oxygen lev-els (e.g., vertical mulching) will often help as well. As we continue to receive information about dying oaks across the state, we still have many unanswered questions. We will continue to collect data on tree species, age, and pest occurrence, in coordination with other agencies across Maryland.

Flooding near oak trees, Spring 2019. Photo: D.L. Clement, University of Maryland Exten-sion

Dying oaks in the same location as above, Fall 2019. Photo: D.L. Clement, University of Maryland Extension

Evidence of a boring insect infestation. Photo: D.L. Clement, University of Maryland Extension

Community Herb Garden Completed on

Kent Island By Larry Lorenz, Queen Anne’s County Master Gardener

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The BBC Herb Garden has two 4’W x 20’L x 2’H raised beds, from Durable GreenBed, and three planters. Led by Master Gardener Intern, Mike Grost, residents are growing 21 herb va-rieties and participating in an Herb & Flower Friends group that meets monthly. The raised beds are watered from internally plumbed spigots connected to soaker hoses placed under the mulch. Each herb is identified by a laminated card (sample below) mounted on a PVC board. Next year, the Herb Garden plans to add 3 planters, 10 herb varieties and activate wicking system for watering the perennial bed.

Master Gardener Larry Lorenz worked with McKee, the builder of Kent Island’s new 55+ Com-

munity, Bay Bridge Cove (BBC), to design and build the BBC Herb Garden.

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T H E W A T E R I N G C A N

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Warwick Mushroom Farm Tour

On September 24, 2019 25 Master Gardeners from Cecil, Kent, and Queen Anne’s County toured the Warwick Mushroom Facility in War-wick, MD. This facility opened in 2009 and has 88 growing rooms for white button mushrooms. They grow for a variety of retailers including Pub-lix, Wegmans, and Wholefoods. They are the big-gest distributor of mushrooms in North America. Master Gardeners learned about the various strains used to grow mushrooms, the growing conditions, and harvesting. From the time com-post is put in the room to harvest is 32 days, for each batch of compost 3 batches of mushrooms can be harvested. This process continues year round for Warwick, producing 850,000 pounds of mushrooms each week.

T H E W A T E R I N G C A N

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DEMO GARDEN AT THE CENTREVILLE LIBRARY Submitted by: MG Debbie Pusey

The rain garden at the Centreville

Library has had a rough go of it

this season. We’ve had both of our

leaders step down due to unfore-

seen circumstances. This being

said we are in desperate need of

help at our October clean up

dates. If you’re able to lend a hand

we’d greatly appreciate it.

2019 Library Rain Garden Clean Up Schedule

Thursday Clean Up Schedule During the summer if the weather is hot

we’ll start earlier than 9 AM an email will be sent out prior to notify everyone

Thursday, October 17th at 9 AM

Honeybee Flower Farm

On October 2, 2019 Master Gardeners toured Honeybee Flower Farm in Cordova, MD. The owner Carrie and her hus-band Chris built a home and developed the 5 acre property into what is now Honeybee Flower Farm. As the years have gone by, the farm has evolved with the addition of a hoop house which helps Carrie get an early start to the season and a walk in refrigerator which helps preserve flow-ers until they can get to the market.

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OCTOBER GARDENING TIPS

Flower buds are forming or are already formed on spring flowering shrubs. To prevent reducing next year’s bloom, don’t prune spring-flowering shrubs like azaleas and rhododendrons until after they bloom next spring.

Nursery stock trees and shrubs can be planted until the ground freezes. Carefully ex-amine trees and shrubs prior to purchase to as-sess quality. With balled and burlap stock cut the twine around the ball and cut away the nylon or burlap wrapping.

Never carry a tree by its trunk, this can damage the roots. Instead, always carry them by their root ball or by the container.

Fall coloration on white pines happens every fall but in some years it is more noticeable. The inner needles yellow and drop off. This can also occur on rhododendrons and other evergreen shrubs. This is normal for this time of year.

In the cooler, sometimes wetter fall weather harmless toadstools and other mushrooms may be plentiful around tree root systems. However, destructive wood rotting organisms produce conks on tree trunks. Affected trees may be suffering from extensive wood decay and should be inspected for trunk soundness by a licensed arborist.

Save the seed from annual flowering plants like cleome, zinnias, cosmos, celosia, and butterfly weed to be planted next spring.

Geraniums can be overwintered in several ways. Entire plants can be brought inside and grown in a sunny window, or cuttings can be taken from existing plants. Cuttings from other annuals like begonias, salvias, and coleus also root well.

Daffodil bulbs, alliums and other spring-flowering bulbs can be planted now. Plant them in a sunny spot, in well-drained soil. Tulip bulbs should be

planted from mid-October through November to prevent them from sprouting prematurely.

Stop feeding your fish in outdoor ponds. They cannot metabolize food easily during cold weather.

Discard badly-diseased plants and fruits; don’t till them back into the soil. All other plant waste can be composted.

Carrots can be over-wintered in the garden by covering the bed with a deep straw or leaf mulch. Pull carrots through the winter as need-ed.

Lettuce, spinach, arugula, and kale can be plant-ed through the middle of the month. Cover these late plantings with a cold frame, tempo-rary greenhouse, or floating row cover. Be sure to fertilize seedbeds, keep the soil moist, and protect seedlings from pests. The young plants will go dormant and re-grow in spring.

Black rat snakes may still be hatching in Octo-ber. These harmless baby snakes are not black at hatching but are a light gray with dark brown rectangular markings down the back. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=16&v=AYfkVczAvH0

Normal fall needle yellowing on white pine

Vegetables Plant a late crop of basil, cilantro,

and dill. Plant a last crop of snap beans the

first week of August. Plant cool season crops, including

spinach, lettuce, carrots, beets, broccoli, cauliflower, Chinese cab-bage, turnips, kale and mustard. Keep seedlings moist and mulched.

Order garlic, walking onions, and shallots for fall planting.

Harvest leaves of herbs before they flower. Pick individually and dry indoors, or hang the stems in a dry, semi-shady room. Store dry leaves in air-tight jars. Fresh basil leaves freeze well in plastic bags that can be sealed.

Keep weeding and watering.

Lawn In dry periods grasses go dormant

but recover when rain returns. Newly seeded or sodded lawns may actually be dead and will need to be reseeded.

Mid-August through mid-October is the best time to start new lawns and renovate or overseed existing lawns. We recommend a turf-type tall fescue cultivar at a rate of 4 lbs. of seed per 1,000 sq. ft. of area for overseeding, or 8 lbs. per 1000 sq. ft. for new lawns.

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T H E W A T E R I N G C A N

Volunteer Opportunities

Newsletter Do you have a knack for writing? Submitting an article to the newsletter is a great way to earn a few hours during hot summer days. To submit an ar-ticle email Rachel Ask A Master Gardener Plant Clinics: Master Gardeners look at samples of ailing plants to make diagnosis, give recommendations, answer ques-tions, and provide printed infor-mation on a variety of gardening sub-jects

Centreville Day This will be our 4th year participating in Centreville Day in downtown Cen-treville. This year we'll focus on creepy crawlers in the garden and winter interest in the garden. This event is usually very busy with fami-lies so we will feature a craft for the kiddos and we'll do a display for win-ter gardening. We will need at least 4 people per shift because it can get very busy. If you’d like to sign up go to: https://signup.com/go/QdpYbQP Date: Saturday, October 26, 2019 Time 10-12:30 & 12:30-3:30

If you are unable to help for this booth but would like to help prep for the children’s activity. I’ll need help on October 18th at 10 am. Email Rachel for more de-tails.

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Continuing Education

Basic Native & Invasive Grass I.D- October 12th, 9am-12pm, Oxford Community Center, $10 fee Introduc-tion to identifying grasses in the landscape- will focus on 5 native and 3 non-native grass species. Includes 2 hours of classroom time, followed by a 1-hour field exercise located at the Oxford Conservation Park. Sign-up is online: https://grassid101.eventbrite.com

Make your own Worm Compost Bin on October 21, 2019 at 10:30am at the QAC Library. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/make-your-own-worm-composter-tickets-62526757214 Space is limited to 6 partici-pants The cost of each class is $20. Registration is required prior to the class. Creating Landscapes that Enhance Local Ecosystems at St Andrew by the Bay Doug Tallamy, professor at Department of Entomoly and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware, will speak about the specialized relationships between animals and plants and that those relationships are the norm in nautre rather than the exception. Tallamy will explain why this is so and how we can use our resi-dentail landscapes to connect the isolated habitat fragments around us. It is time to create landscapes that enhance local ecosystems rather than destroy them. The event is free and open to the public but registra-tion is highly advisable. October 30th at 7 PM

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/doug-tallamy-creating-landscapes-that-enhance-local-ecosystems-tickets-72151899273

The date has been slated for our annual seed swap at the Kent Is-land Library in Stevensville. Mas-ter Gardener Christy Little will be taking over this year as MG Karen Wimsatt steps down from her major roles. Stay tuned for ways that you can help.

Annual Seed Swap– March 21, 2020

T H E W A T E R I N G C A N

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October 2019 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 Honeybee

Flower Farm

Field Trip

2 3 4 5

6 7 8 9 10 Kent Is-

land Plant Clinic

3:30 PM

11 12

13 14 15 16 MG Meet-

ing 9:30 AM at

Wye Research &

Education Cen-

ter

17 Demo

Garden Clean

Up 9AM

18 Craft

Prep for Centre-

ville Day Booth-

Details on page

12

19

20 21 Ver-

micomposting

Workshop (Page

7 for details)

22 23 24 25 26 Centre-

ville Day

(Volunteer De-

tails on page

12)

27 28 29 30 31

Office Closed

Newsletter Submissions Due

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November 2019 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2

3 4 5 6 7 Planning a

Pollinator Gar-

den at Galilee

Garden 7 PM

8 9

10 11 12 13 14

Kent Island

Plant Clinic 3:30

PM

15 16

17 18 19 20 MG Meet-

ing 9:30 AM at

the Queen

Anne’s County

Government

Building

21 22 23

24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Office Closed

Office Closed

Newsletter Submissions Due

University of Maryland Extension

Queen Anne’s County

505 Railroad Ave.

Suite 4

Centreville, MD 21617

Vision Statement: A healthier world through environmental stewardship

It is the policy of the University of Maryland and University of Maryland Extension, that no person shall be subjected to discrimination on the grounds of race, color, gender, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital or parental status, or disability. Equal opportunity employers and equal access programs.

QACMG Website: http://extension.umd.edu/

queen-annes-county/master-gardener-home-

gardening

QACMG Facebook Page: https://

www.facebook.com/

QueenAnnesCountyMasterGardeners

University of Maryland Extension

505 Railroad Avenue, Suite 4

Centreville MD, 21617

Phone: (410) 758-0166

November Newsletter

Submission due on

October 23rd