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Pinging the list.
Hi greeneyes and everyone! Wow, as I start this post, I’m on the first page!
This week we had an INCREDIBLE class on BUGS!
There is a lot to share on it, but as I mentioned to greeneyes earlier, I am seeking to complete the soil notes before delving into the other stuff. I guess we’ll be doing these posts for the foreseeable future! There’s a lot here!
In the meantime, I did want to share a couple of things from the bug class:
Our presenter was Eric J. Rebek. He helped us learn to identify various “bugs” to the Linnaeus “Order” level. We looked at such things as wing type, mouth structures, body structure, legs, or no legs. The main thing I want to share with you guys is the incredible online OSU publication FREE which you can access at:
http://entoplp.okstate.edu/factsheets.html/?searchterm=E 1023
E 1023 is the publication with info on how to preserve the “good guys.”
Enjoy the pretty pix! Bear in mind these are the good guys found in OKlahoma.... but I imagine that some of them show up in many of our other states!
Here begins the 6th installment on SOIL:
PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT
* Algal blooms: from fertilizer run-off. These will take up available oxygen in a pond or body of water and kill other life forms living there
* Reduce Direct Nutrient Loss: People’s grass clippings can be carried to local streams and ponds in the run-off and add to the nutrient loads in those bodies of water. Those nutrients are also then not available to the people to feed their yards and gardens.
* Use Spreaders: He showed several pix of a couple of different kinds of spreaders – Rotary and Drop Spreaders
* Eutriphication Impacts Water Quality (Webster: Definition of EUTROPHICATION: the process by which a body of water becomes enriched in dissolved nutrients (as phosphates) that stimulate the growth of aquatic plant life usually resulting in the depletion of dissolved oxygen)
- Causes an increase in water treatment needs at a very high cost
- Decreases recreation value of a body of water
- Decrease in the aesthetics of that body (it doesn’t look as nice!)
He noted that a number of states and municipalities are restricting the use of fertilizers. These restrictions consist of such things as :
* Bans of P fertilizers on lawns
* Regulation of nutrient management plans/certification for lawn professionals
* Limits of fertilizers on lawns – based on soil tests
His comment is that we in Oklahoma [and for our purposes here, areas of people on our thread] need to be sure to use the fertilizers available to us properly so that they won’t be taken away from us.
BIORETENTION HOLES
Some people make runoff low spots which are called “bioretention holes” which will retain the phosphorus. – Plant-based filtration - The botanic garden in Stillwater, OK has one that can be viewed.
Here is a link describing one:
http://botanicgarden.okstate.edu/gardens-and-grounds/edible-landscape-1
He gave us a table which is a STATE SOIL TEST SUMMARY
Since I will not be able to duplicate it, I will seek to describe it.
Data is from the soil tests which the soil test department had issued (I did not catch the year or years this was documenting)
The heading describing the columns:
pH, N, Soil Test P index, Soil Test K index
The row descriptions are:
AVG, Median, Optimal
So
AVG: pH – 6.9 N-26 STP-221 [too high] STK-510
Median: pH -7.0 N-15 STP-143 STK-463
Opt: pH 6.-7.5 N 25-50 P 65-120 STK 250-350
He pointed out that the whole column listing the Phosphorus data was all way too high, and he is very concerned about them.
He pointed out that calcium will cause phosphorus to precipitate as well as aluminum. This depends on the circumstances.
CARTOON
He showed us a cartoon of a man and wife standing at and looking over their garden. He is holding a shovel. The caption to this picture is: “We have to take this soil to a fertility clinic!”
RELEVANT INFO FOR PEOPLE IN THE SOUTHERN REGION OF USA:
This includes NM, TX, OK, AR, LA, MS, AL, GA, FL, TN, KN, NC, SC [my apologies if I did not get the correct abbreviation for your state!]
It shows how to find a soil testing lab in your area
http://aesl.ces.uga.edu/soiltest123/
End Installment 6 of SOIL
Growing potatoes in pallets. Has anybody tried this?
well the wife is back and doing a better job on the garden than i did.
I did discover a trick that could help others regarding celery - treat it like lettice. got three ‘harvests’ of celery off the same stalks. trim the outer stalks, leave the innermost to continue to grow. If it hadn’t gotten so darn hot so fast here in N. CA, I could have gotten 4 cuttings off the darn things.
Praying for Johnny, and ,of course, our FRiend Arrowhead.
((((HUGS))))
Finally have a minute.
Counted 100 garlic sprouts so far, and a dozen shallots. Wind did in my leek transplants, so I replant another batch of seedlings. 40 or so over-wintered bulbing onions are thriving, after I split & transplanted as necessary; the walking onions are more like joggers. LOL
Trenched in 2 elderberries, 2 gooseberries, and 4 raspberries, until I get a chance to plant them permanently. I also have 2 apricot seedlings that I sprouted 3 seasons ago; having survived their second winter in pots, it’s time to get them into the ground, too.
Spotted our first strawberry blossoms yesterday, and cut our first asparagus today. At least 21 rhubarb are coming along. Some are ancient, predating us on the property; others are young transplants where others had died.
The wild plums are solid with flowers, and the apple blossoms are starting to open. The Carmine Jewel cherry is also starting to bloom,and will again be loaded.
3 hens are sharing 2 nests, with an unknown number of eggs under them; going into the third week week, so it won’t be long until I either have some chicks, or am burying rotten eggs. Bunnies were just shy of 5 pounds, so have at least another week before I can quit feeding them, and let them start feeding us.
I’m dragging my donkey today. Went down to Wheatland on Saturday and met up with a bunch of friends for the sprint car races. Camped at the track and got home around noon yesterday.
Then I tilled the garden. Then I planted sweet corn. Then I planted pole beans. Then I planted cucumbers. Then I got Nanner out and moved a bunch of pond dirt. I have so little free time that I just can’t make myself quit while the sun is shining. Makes for some bad Mondays...
We planted our tomatoes and other vegetables last week but headed down to outside Dallas for my granddaughter’s birthday on May 1. Hope there is enough moisture back in Kansas to keep things going for the 10 days we will be away.