The following science-based articles may help you answer questions from the community.  Rosanne Sherry, URI Consumer Horticulture Educator, recommends you read them to help sharpen your own gardening and educator skills! Please send comments or suggestions for articles to rsherry@uri.edu.

From Master Gardener Recommended Horticulture Best Management Practices. http://rockingham.ext.vt.edu/content/dam/rockingham_ext_vt_edu/files/horticulture/homeownerMGBMPlink.pdf

Practices that should always be recommended:

Diseases

• Learn which diseases are common to the plants growing in your landscape/garden.
• Look first for ways to improve cultural conditions as a means to reduce plant disease.
• Maintain healthy plants by meeting their cultural requirements with the goal of using less pesticides
• Monitor plants in the landscape regularly to recognize when pests are present

Weeds

• Identify weeds before using a chemical control. Decide which species you can live with and which species you want to control. Contact the Extension office for identification, appropriate timing and control recommendations.
• Use plants or mulch to conserve water, suppress weeds and prevent soil erosion
• Minimize the conditions that produce more weeds than you are willing to tolerate
• Avoid tilling as it exposes weed seeds deep in the soil to favorable growing conditions.
• Hand-pull weeds or use spot herbicide treatments where possible.
• Apply pre-emergent for summer or winter annual weeds at the correct time for most effective control. Choose a product that does not contain fertilizer.
• Read the label; many products require a second application or need to be watered in to activate.

Websites of interest from Rosie’s files

http://search.extension.org/
https://web.uri.edu/ipm/ Heather Faubert’s website for moth updates
http://www.balllandscape.com/Tools/DroughtMonitor.aspx  National Drought Monitor
http://www.birc.org/index.html  excellent source for in depth science based organic and IPM information.
http://puyallup.wsu.edu/lcs/ horticultural myths very interesting
http://www.tickencounter.org  the best
http://pollinatorgardens.org/  general resource for national audience
http://extension.psu.edu/pests-and-diseases/pest-disease-and-weed-identification excellent resource for fact sheets

From UCONN September Home and Garden newsletter

Saving Milkweed Seeds

Many gardeners are aware of the plight of the monarch butterfly. Population declines due to habitat loss, herbicide use, lower availability of host plants and pollen producing plants, and temperature and precipitation swings due to climate change have caused the monarch butterfly population to plummet in recent years. Organizations like Monarch Watch and others have encouraged residents throughout the migration range of the monarch to plant species of milkweed (Asclepius) that can feed the Monarch caterpillars as well as a diversity of other plant species that can supply nectar and other support to the adult butterflies, either on their way up north or, to fuel them for their journey south to overwinter. One way to increase the number of milkweed species in your garden is to collect and sow the seeds from plants either in the wild or in your gardens. Seedpods are similar looking for Asclepius species and are rather conical in shape and on the top part of the stem. As they dry, the pods turn brown and open to reveal seeds with feathery plumes (called coma). Left to their own devices, the seeds become airborne and the colony of milkweed spreads both by seeds and by underground rhizomes from parent plants. Many gardeners collect some seeds and sow them in areas they desire plants to grow but because germination is sporadic also start some inside in late winter. Here is some information about propagating milkweed seeds:  http://www.monarchwatch.org/milkweed/prop.htm

Cure for Fire Blight?

Just announced this week is a possible cure for fire blight. This is a serious bacterial disease of apples, pears and other members of the Rosaceae family. It is spread by splashing rain and pollinators and although some copper compounds and antibiotics could help stem its spread, the disease is difficult to control. With new developments, scientists (some from Connecticut) now believe they are on a path to be able to counter this destructive pathogen.http://s.uconn.edu/potentialfireblightcure