One of the most popular posts on greensideupblog is on how to rid your garden of pesky poison oak and poison ivy. Spring is the second best time of the year to attack this nuisance. Fall being the recommended time because the plants are focusing on storing up for the winter and will suck the round-up and other chemicals down deep into the roots. In early spring the plants are busy developing new leaves and shoots and killing actively growing poison oak and poison ivy is a bit more work but it can be done. Here is a link the earlier article. How to Kill Poison Oak and Poison Oak without going to the hospital

Make sure to read the comments from the readers about their experiences.

Good Luck and make sure you wear gloves

Rees

Ok all you gardeners out there time for a quiz. Make your best guess as to what this is a photo of.

These copper leaves came out as one whirl, at the tip of the leader, and doubled in size each day. They went from nothing to 14 inches long in one week.

Here is another shot from a bit more distance. Can you guess what it is?

Hints:

• If you look at the background planting you will see that it is growing in a tropical region.
• It will only grow within 20 degrees of the equator.
• It does best as an understory planting.
• It likes to have daily rain and loves high humidity.
• I’m not growing it for its fruit but it is edible.

Do you give up yet?

• Think warm drinks….humm……….no its not coffee.
• Think cake……..that’s too easy now….any guesses?
• Think syrup…….no…not maple, silly.

Ok one last hint.

• What I hope to harvest actually grows directly off of the trunk and branches and can get up to 12 inches long………HA!….no it’s not a banana, sorry.

Okay enough teasing. It’s a Cacao tree, you know, where chocolate comes from. I bought this on one of my trips down to western Miami. I don’t expect it to produce anything for a few years though….Life fantasy 64 is to own a Cacao grove in the islands someday…

• Craig Rees Cowden
• p.s. Shortly I’ll be telling you where you can get your hands on a few of the seeds if you want to try making some chocolate yourself.

Poison Ivy

Western Poison Oak in Fall color

Poison Ivy is one of the worst enemies to gardeners and hikers. In the drier western states, its rude cousin Poison Oak is just as bad. The techniques for eradication of Poison Oak and Poison Ivy are the same are.

You basically have two options, one mechanical and one chemical. The mechanical is friendlier to the environment but the chemical is easier on humans, you make the call what is better for you.

To mechanically eradicate the plant you have to kill the roots. You can trace the vine back to its crown and dig it out with a shovel or you can use pruning equipment to cut the stems back to the ground. This will take repeated attempts as the roots will send up new shoots time and time again, so you will have to be persistent.

To chemically eradicate the plant you must apply a chemical to the leaves. It must be the type of chemical that is systemic and will be sucked down to the roots. If you use a chemical that only kills the leaves the plant will re-sprout. The chemical ‘Round-up’ (glophosate) works best from my experience but I hear Amitrol also works well. This too will probably take repeated sprayings as the plant will attempt to re-grow. The spray must be applied when the plants are actively growing and not when they are dormant in the winter. The best time I have found is late summer/ early fall when the plant is pulling down nutrients to the root system in anticipation of winter.

If you decide to go the mechanical route please be careful and wear protective clothing, preferably disposable. The poison is oil based so if you get it on your skin, lather up with soap quickly. Warm water tends to spread the oil so cold water with soap is best.

My friend Tim “Smiling Cat” Eutin sent the following question to my blog.

1. Hello Rees,
   I just came in from mowing the lawn and was thinking about you. Why? You are very knowledgeable and come across as “real” and trust worthy. Here’s my problem…

I moved into an older home that has a large hedge. The hedge is a mix of 31 different plants, trees and vines. It doesn’t look as bad as it sounds as long as I keep it trimmed. (definitely not bad enough to go through the effort of removing it – that can wait for the next owner!)

Anyway the hedge has poison ivy in it. How can I get rid of the poison ivy without killing the hedge?

Thanks!

In your case SC, if the hedge can not be sacrificed then I suggest you suit up and go at it with chemicals. If you are careful, you may be able to untwine the vines from parts of the hedge and apply Round-up. If it is difficult to untangle just do the best you can. I suggest you use a paint brush or tiny sprayer to apply the chemical. This will take persistence and you will probably need to repeat but it can be done. I’ve used a similar method to kill spreading morning glory in a bed of junipers.

Whatever you do never burn the dead plants as the smoke will move the poison into your lungs….and that’s bad.

One last thing, make sure it is Poison Oak or Poison Ivey that you have. Fragrant Sumac and Virginia creeper have some similarities. Do a Google image search to be sure.

Good Luck!

Rees Cowden

www.Greensideupblog.com

I get this question all the time…….How do I keep weeds out of my garden?

Weed= any plant that is out of place in a garden. I once had a beautiful oak tree that grew naturally from an acorn that found its way to my garden. When it was still a young seedling, my helper wanted to pull it out. He considered it a weed. I knew that it would eventually grow into a nice oak tree, which it did. His weed was my future hammock support.

To answer the question more directly, there are two basic approaches to keeping weeds out of your garden. The first is chemical based (ooo, bad) and the second approach is cultural (yea! good). The chemical approach is a two pronged attack. First you spray a weed killer on the foliage of unwanted plants. This may take a couple of applications but eventually the poison should kill existing weeds. The spray is then followed with a pre-emergent weed control. This is either a liquid or a granular chemical that is spread on the ground, covering any bare areas. This should kill any existing weed seeds just as they begin to sprout. This will give the plants that you want to keep, a chance to out compete the weeds, but it will undoubtedly take repeated applications of both the pre-emergent and the contact spraying.

The second basic approach is the use of several cultural practices, the goal being to get the plants you want to keep to be thriving and healthy so that they out compete the unwanted plants. This is a several pronged attack that requires some physical exertion or gardencise as I like to call it. First, remove all the existing weeds in your garden (or have the neighborhood kid who wants some extra cash do it) manually with a hoe a shovel or both. Secondly, fertilize and water all the ‘good’ plants. Then you can go a couple of ways. What you want to do is to create a barrier so that as weed seeds blow in, they are not able to reach the soil, where they will take root. Laying a carpet of thick black plastic is one way but it is by far my least preferred (old school) method. There are several weed fabrics on the market that accomplish the same barrier but allow for air and water to penetrate to the root-zone. Next a nice thick layer of some sort of mulch should be applied (3″) minimum, over the entire area. I have heard that a thick layer of newspaper can be used instead of the weed fabric but don’t have experience with that method.

In truth I usually don’t even use the weed fabric; mulch usually does a good job. There will undoubtedly be a random weed that pops-up from time to time but they can easily be yanked if you get them when they are young. The goal again, is to get your plants to grow so vigorously that the choke out any potential weeds and eventually cover all the bare ground. Hope this helps. If anyone can suggest additional earth friendly techniques please let me know.

Rees Cowden

No Brown Thumbs

I was touring a local nursery yesterday and had decided to add about ten yellow daylilies to my garden but then was told by the sales lady that they had just been quarantined by the regional agriculture inspector. “Huh, what? But I want buy them” My pleading fell on understanding ears but she was serious. The problem that the inspector found was daylily rust.

I guess here in Florida, and the rest of the south, it is such a concern that they have put the clamps down on selling infected plants. I’m fine with trying to stop the spread of diseases it’s just that daylily rust is just a new one on me. (Won’t be the last time).

The sales gal was bummed because they had finally started to open their buds and she thought she would have had no problem selling 100 of them this weekend. I did a little research on daylily rust and I won’t bore you with all the technical junk but here it is in a nutshell.

Daylily rust is caused by the fungus Puccinia hemerocallidis. In nature, it is spread by wind spreading the spores around, but with all the movement of plants via trucks, and now even the mail, daylily rust has now become a problem in thirty states. The thinking is that the spores will not over winter where the ground freezes or where there is a prolonged layer of snow. (zone 7 or colder).

To control the fungus a typical lime-sulfer (Bordeaux mixture) will work but I think if I ever find it on mine I will first try my good old baking soda fungicide of one table spoon per gallon and a quarter spoonful of dish soap. That usually works.

Here is a link to a good explaination on the problem.

http://www.netpamj.com/daylily.htm

Rees Cowden

It looks like Plantdiva guessed correctly! Several weeks ago I posted a couple of photos of a corm I found on a job-site. I wanted to see what it was so Grace and I planted it. It very rapidly rooted and once the shoots started to grow they seemed to double in size each day. I had several people make guesses but I think Air Potato Vine (Dioscorea bulbifera) was the correct guess. The heart shaded leaf is unmistakable.

The unfortunate part is that Air Potato Vine is a very aggressive, invasive plant so I’m going to have to dump it before it takes over my yard. You can see what it has done in the photos below. It has grown so quickly that it reminds me of Jack and The Beanstalk. Good job Plantdiva….now I will have to think of a prize I can give you……

As you can see, this bugger rivals the kudzu vine in aggressiveness.  It grows wild in Africa and Asia and is a relatively newcomer to Florida. Tests have shown that Garlon is successful in eradicating it if a good follow-up program is used. One Florida park has asked for help from the girl scouts who have now spent over 500 hours chopping it down from the tops of trees. This is a battle that needs to be fought now before it gets a strong foothold. Mine is headed for the dumpster.

Rees

I took a look at the Mystery Plant this past weekend and was surprised to see how quickly it had shot up. Two weeeks ago, it had no roots at all and now it’s well rooted and has a nice shoot. The one in the background also has a stalk developing. My best quess so far is that because it has sprouted so quickly it must be a vine of some sort. Any thoughts or guesses?

I was out touring a friends garden this morning and noticed these odd looking whatever they are  (Tuber? Nut? Seed?) Being curious, I picked them up and could see that one of them had already started to root. I think I’ll grow them out and see what sprouts up.

Feel free to offer guesses. I’ll figure out some cool prize for anyone who gets it right. Let me know if you have questions.

Oh that’s little Gracie holding them in her dirty little hands.

Rees Cowden

No Brown Thumbs