Our November 16th Pot Luck meeting is truly a highpoint of the year. We gather with TOG members, friends and family to enjoy each others company, share in a harvest potluck meal, followed by a panel of organic gardening experts ready to answer your garden-ing questions. This year our panel members are Shanti Sellz, Gene Zonge, and Kim Nelson. Shanti has lived and gardened in AZ for over 5 years and studied agriculture and plant science at the U of A. Shanti has been a full time farmer with the Community Food Bank for 2 years, and has farmed in other parts of the country for many years. Gene has followed George Brookbank as president of Community Gardens of Tucson (CGT). Through his efforts the number of community gardens has grown from 4 to 14 with more on the way. Gene has not only helped facilitate the establishment of new gardens but has been there to help answer the questions that have plagued gardeners forever. Gene writes the Seasonal Gardening column for the "The New Southwest" and contributes to other publications. Kim Nelson's is a master gardener, a lifelong Westerner, a frequent contributor to Sunset Magazine and author of A Desert Gardner's Companion, in which she describes how to plant the garden of your dreams;. In her most recent book Southwest Kitchen Gar-den, she outlines the process of planting a visually striking kitchen garden, that is a wonderful source of food as well. In this book she includes many wonderful recipes.

(Continued on page 2)

November’s Meeting - Pot Luck & Panel of Gardening Experts

The best part about organic pest control is that it boils down to doing what comes naturally. Instead of spending a lot of time and effort applying chemical pesticides that destroy all insects, find ways to work with Mother Nature in your vegeta-ble garden. This can mean encouraging beneficial insects that dine on garden pests, building the soil to promote healthy plants, and choosing disease resistant crops that are suited to your growing area. After all, long before there were synthetic pesticides, there were gardeners. How did they manage?

Here I've listed several of the more infamous garden pests you may encounter along with common-sense solutions for con-trolling them. This information is based on advice from Ro-dale's Growing Fruits & Vegetables Organically:

Aphids - Tiny (1/16" to 1/8") sucking-insects that can be brown, black, pink, white or green. They transmit many viral diseases and attack most herbs, fruits and vegetables. Their calling cards include: foliage that curls, puckers or yellows; stunted growth; sticky "honeydew," which attracts ants and

mold. Get rid of them by; hosing off plants with a strong stream of water, releasing predatory insects, like ladybugs, spraying insecticidal soap and pruning off heavily infested leaves or other plant parts.

Cabbage Loopers - Cabbage Worms. Cabbage looper larvae are smooth, green caterpillars with two lengthwise white lines. Imported cabbage worms are velvety green caterpillars. Both worms chew large holes in the leaves of cabbage-family mem-bers. Handpick these destructive pests from plants whenever they are discovered and use floating row cover to prevent the adult moths from laying their eggs in your garden. Release trichogramma wasps, a tiny beneficial insect, to destroy eggs before they hatch. Apply Bt-kurstaki while cabbage caterpil-lars are still small.

Colorado Potato Beetles - The adults are yellowish orange, 1/3-inch beetles with black stripes on their wing covers and

Continued on page 3)

Controlling Garden Pests Organically

Inside This Issue Page

November’s Meeting - Pot Luck & Panel 1

Controlling Garden Pests Organically 1

Featured Recipe 2

Digging in My Back Yard 2

Garden Mentor Program 3

Backyard Frost Protection 3

TOG Events & Activities 2010 - 2011 4

Growing Fruit in Tucson 4

October’s Speaker Summary 5

TOG Board of Directors 6

Board Meetings 6

Volunteer Update 6

Meeting Location 6

Membership Form & Policy 7

Advertisements 8, 9

Asparagus & Onion Starts 9

Classifieds & TOG Mini-Market 10

Planting Tips - November 10

Tucson Organic Gardeners November 2010 Volume 59, Number 3

Doors open at 6:00pm, with the meal starting at 6:30. We ask that you bring a dish for 6 - 8 people, possibly 2 dishes if you are a large group. TOG will provide cooked turkies. We rely on you to bring all the trimming and fixings you expect for a turkey centered meal at this time of year. Consider bringing a typed recipe for those that may be interested. Those lacking in the culinary arts can always bring the extras, like organic bread, butter, non-alcoholic bever-ages, fruit, desert, etc. Don’t forget to bring your own serving spoons (labeled with your name - should it get separated from your dish), silverware/plasticware, plates, cups & napkins. We look forward to seeing you and remember, if you can, keep it organic. The meeting is held at Geneva Hall at St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church, (see details on page 6). If you have a few minutes to spare, come early to set up tables and chairs or you can stay after to clean up. Help is always appreciated. Our mini-market will be open with organic amendments and help-ful controls for sale. Free literature and other donated items will also be available. Members are encouraged to donate extra pro-duce, seeds, catalogs, etc. All proceeds will benefit future TOG programs. Our December 21st meeting topic will be Vermicom-posting, Presented by Linda Leigh, one of the original scientists with Biosphere 2, long-time organic gardener, and owner of Ver-million Wormery. Topic will focus on raising worms to eat our “green” waste and returning worm castings to our garden as a fabulous soil amendment. �

Pot Luck & Panel of Experts

Page 2 the COMPOSTER November 2010

Sweet Potato Casserole

6 large sweet potatoes

1 can (20 oz) crushed pineapple packed in juice

1 tsp ground cinnamon, optional

1 - 3 Tbsp sesame oil, optional

1/2 c chopped pecans, optional

Bake sweet potatoes on a cookie sheet at 375 F for about an

hour or until done.

When cool enough to handle safely, cut potatoes in half, and scoop out fleash, discarding the skin.

Mash sweet potatoe with masher or an electric mixer on low until smoorth. Add pineapple and juice, and optional cinnamon and sesame oil. Mix well.

Spoon mixture into lightly oiled casserole or 9 by 13 in. baking dish. Sprikle optional nuts on top.

Cover and bake at 375 F for 40 minutes

Source: Sunflower Farmers Market - Taste for Life, Nov 2009

www.sfmarkets.com �

Featured Recipe

We're now into the fall of the year, when many of us work on expanding our gardens or planting fruit trees. Although most digging we do on our property is safe, it can expose us to some hazards. Planning your digging project will minimize these hazards and help you respond to any problems. I would like to pass on what I did so others can benefit from it.

Identifying Utilities: I first made a list of the phone numbers of each of my utilities, electric power, gas, phone, cable, etc. I kept it handy, just in case I need to contact them.

Call Blue Stake: I called Blue Stake (800-782-5348), a free service that identified where underground utilities are buried on my property. They sent out a technician and he used his equipment to identify and mark the path of my underground utilities from the street to my home. I followed the technician around and made a mental note of where the street sources of each utility (power transformer, gas main, etc.) were. I also asked the technician how deep the lines are. I recorded this information on a diagram of my property for future reference.

Identify On/Off Valves & Switches: Next I walked around my house and identified which of the utilities I could turn On or Off. AC power is controlled at the power panel; gas at the gas meter; main water at both the water meter and the main valves where the water line enters the house. I have a main valve at the water meter in a concrete vault near the street and two water valves where the water line enters my house. One valve controls water into the house, the other controls water

Digging in My Back Yard supplying my garden / tree irrigation system. The main water valve at the water meter does not have a typical valve with round handle. It has a rectangular flat bar (approx 3/8 X 1.5in) that must be engaged by a wrench with a U shaped end that fits the flat bar. A water meter wrench is available from local hardware stores and big box stores. I have also used 2 large adjustable flat jawed wrenches one to engage the flat bar on the valve and the second attached to the handle of the 1st wrench to provide the leverage to turn the valve off/on. Typically, when turned to the left (counter-clockwise) the valve opens, and when turned to the right (clockwise) the valve closes.

Digging: When digging be alert and careful. Main electric and gas lines are typically buried 30in deep. Main water lines may be 18in deep. Garden irrigation lines may be 8 - 10in deep. When I'm digging around my walkway or garden lights I turn off the power panel breaker supplying that circuit. Consider adding water to the trench or hole and let drain. This will make digging easier. Resist cutting what may look like a root (about the thickness of your thumb), until you inspect it and are certain it's not an electric line to your walkway or garden lights. When my digging crosses, and will go as deep as a main electric, gas or water line (as identified by Blue Stake) I uncovered these by hand (at least 2 feet on each side) so I knew exactly where they are, before using power digging equipment. By Victor Gutierrez�

Garden Mentor Program Community Food Bank

Community Food Resource Center Do you have vegetable gardening experience and want to sup-port others in your community? Become a Garden Mentor and work with a new gardener entering our Home or School Gardening Programs!

- Mentors commit to supporting a new gardener for two growing seasons.

- Once a month, Mentors call or visit the gardener’s home to provide advice, tips, or hands-on help.

- Mentors don’t have to know all the answers, just help new gardeners find them!

The Food Bank provides:

-Mentor training and orientation, garden materials, and ongo-ing support during the mentorship process.

The Mentor training and orientation will be in January 2011.

For further information or to sign up as a Garden Mentor, contact Brook Bernini at 520-622-0525 ext 267 or bbern-ini@communityfoodbank.org. �

Page 3 the COMPOSTER November 2010

Garden Mentor Program

Controlling Garden Pests Organically black spots on their thorax. Their larvae are small, dark or-ange, hump-backed grubs. Both adults and larvae chew leaves and are the most important pest to potato crops in the United States. To get rid of them using organic control options, shake adults onto a ground cloth in early morning and dump in soapy water. Mulch plants early with straw and cover plants with floating row cover until mid-season. Release two to five spined soldier bugs per square yard of plants to go after the adults and use beneficial nematodes to attack the immature stages. Choose resistant cultivars when possible.

Corn Earworms - European Corn Borers. Corn earworms, as adults, are small, tan-colored moths. Larvae are one-inch to two-inch caterpillars of various colors. European corn borers are brown moths as adults and their larvae are small, beige caterpillars that feed on corn silks and burrow into ears. They also may damage other vegetables. Fall and spring tilling will expose the overwintering pupae to wind, weather and preda-tors. Release trichogramma wasps early, when moths are first noticed. Spray Bt-kurstaki or spinosad, a relatively new insecti-cide, to kill young caterpillars. Repeat applications every 4-5 days until tassels turn brown.

Cucumber Beetles - These one-quarter-inch, yellowish beetles have either black spots or lengthwise stripes. Larvae are small, whitish grubs. Adults chew flowers and leaves of squash-family and other plants. Larvae feed on corn or squash-family roots. Both adults and larvae spread the mosaic virus and bac-

terial wilt. To control, inspect plants frequently and handpick any beetles that are found. Treat soil with beneficial nema-todes. Apply floating row cover before beetles appear to pre-vent transmission of disease. Spray adults with botanical in-secticides. Remove garden debris shortly after harvest to re-duce overwintering sites.

Cutworms - As adults they are brown or gray moths. Their larvae are fat, greasy, gray or dull-brown caterpillars with shiny heads. The caterpillars feed on the stems of many vege-tables near the soil line, severing them or completely consum-ing small seedlings. Use collars made of paper, cardboard (toilet paper tubes work great) or plastic around stems and anchor at half above and half below the soil line. One week before setting out plants, scatter moist wheat bran mixed with Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki (Bt) and molasses over the surface of vegetable beds. Apply beneficial nematodes to the soil. Handpick caterpillars after dark. Also, set transplants out later in the season to avoid damage.

Flea Beetles - Found in home gardens early in the growing

season, these tiny, dark beetles jump like fleas and chew small

holes in the leaves of many crops. Larvae are tiny, white grubs

that feed on plant roots. Crops may be stunted or killed. De-

lay planting to avoid peak populations. You can also cover

seedlings with row cover and treat the soil with beneficial

(Continued on page 7)

As many of you may recall, several years ago we had a cold spell that

killed many of our trees. Recorded temperatures dropped to 27 F

and stayed below the freezing point long enough to damage or kill.

The frost-scorched leaves of our favorite tropicals as well as some

native plants reminded us that to succeed in growing and fruiting

many plants, protection must be provided against severe cold spells.

Commercial avocado and citrus growers are well aware of this and

protect their trees using wind machines to keep cold air mixed with

warmer layers, or do so using orchard heaters. While these tech-

niques aren't practical for most hobby growers, there are a number

of things that can be done in a small-orchard situation. They can be

grouped as preconditioning procedures and freeze-response proce-

dures (Exploiting the Heat of the Earth and Water).

Preconditioning Procedures - Preconditioning prepares the plant to

withstand cold temperatures without damage. To toughen plant tis-

sues in the late fall, do not apply nitrogen fertilizer after October 15

[in southern California]. Any fertilizer application should be high in

potassium, as this element is known to promote thick cell walls. An-

other nutritional technique is to spray all plant surfaces with kelp

seaweed solution. I use Maxicrop dry concentrate at one teaspoon

(Continued on page 8)

Backyard Frost Protection

TOG Events & Activities, 2010 – 2011 Schedule Tucson gardening experience; Topic will focus on what is needed in the soil for optimum organic gardening

February 15 – Meeting Topic: From Seed to transplanting; Presented by Brian Catts, owner of Victory Gardens. Topic will focus on tips and techniques for starting plants from seed.

March 5 – Event: SPRING TUCSON ORGANIC GARDENING FAIR, 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Where: Com-munity garden on west side of St Mark's Presbyterian Church.

Page 4 the COMPOSTER November 2010

March 15 – Meeting Topic: Spring Plant-ing; Presented by Reggie Smith, West-wind Seeds and Gardenscapes. Topic will focus on the best plant varieties and planting techniques for a successful spring garden.

April 19 – Annual Meeting: Board Elec-tions will be held; followed by Garden Bugs Both Good and Bad; Presented by MarciBeth Phillips, ARBICO. Topic will focus on all natural pest control for the Tucson garden. �

Growing Fruit in Tucson

Meetings held at St Marks Presbyterian Church. See page 6 for location details.

December 21 – Meeting Topic: Vermi-composting; Presented by Linda Leigh, one of the original scientists with Bio-sphere 2, long-time organic gardener, and owner of Vermillion Wormery; Topic will focus on raising worms to eat our “green” waste and returning worm cast-ings to our garden as a fabulous soil amendment.

January 18 – Meeting Topic: Soil; Pre-sented by Tom Pew, Tom has 30 years of

doesn’t sweeten until it has frozen. And don’t think you can just pop it in the freezer, it has to chill out on the tree.

If you don’t want to wait for trees to bear fruit, then consider black-berries, raspberries and strawberries which can be grown in our area. Blackberries and raspberries take some space and some pruning savvy. Both will fruit, just once, on canes grown the previous season. Thus careful annual pruning is a must. Strawberries don’t require pruning, but plants only bear well for about three years. Try planting them so they get morning sun and shade in the after-noon in summer. Too much sun will tend to burn them.

Note: Grapes, both table and wine, will also grow in Tucson. Vines must be pruned correctly to insure proper fruit growth. Also, you can make wine from table grapes.

Fruit for the Tucson garden:

Apple - Anna, Dorset, Ein Shemer

Apricot - Castlebrite, Gold Kist, Katy

Blackberry - Boysen, Logan, Marion, Young

Fig - Black Mission, Kadota, White Mission

Peach - August Pride, Babcock, De-sert Gold, Midpride, Sweet Ventura, Tropic Snow.

Persimmon - Hatchiya

Plum - Santa Rosa, Satsuma

Quince - Orange, Pineapple, Smyrna

Raspberry - Southland (marginal)

Strawberry - Fresno, Quinalt, Sequoia, Tioga

Grapes - Seedless: Tompson, Flame, Ruby. Seeded: Cardinal, Exotic, Fantasty, Perlette

(Continued on page 5)

Trying to grow fruit in our area can be a bit of a challenge, be-cause of the required "chill hours". Many fruits (and nuts) require a cer-tain amount of chilling in the winter. Measured as “chill hours,” they are hours below 45 degrees. Most de-ciduous fruit trees require 500 to 1,000 chill hours, while Tucson usu-ally gets around 100 chill hours, and slightly more in the elevated sur-rounding area. Thus “low-chill” va-rieties must be selected. Apples, apri-

cots, peaches, plums and quince have varieties that will grow here in Tucson’s “middle desert.” The variety you chose is critical if you wish to harvest fruit.

Trees can be purchased potted or bare root. Bare root means there is no soil around the roots. Some reports indicate that planting "bare root" trees provide the best results. Bare root plants are usually available in winter or early spring, when grow-ers can ship these plants across the country without damage. There are some fruits not on the list — pears and cherries, for example. It is not just our low-chill hours that limit the success of fruit trees in our area. Many fruit trees can't take our summer heat. The best book covering this topic is sadly out of print. Re-fer to “Western Fruits, Berries and Nuts: How to Select, Grow and Enjoy” by Robert Stebbins and Lance Walheim. Published

by HP Books in 1981, it is still more accurate and helpful for the Tucson area than any other recent work.

Subtropical and tropical fruits include some varieties that do well here, too, like citrus of course, but also figs and persimmons. These are not shipped and planted bare root. These must be planted in spring or early fall. Cold is still an issue with figs and persim-mons. Fig trees, while needing some chilling to set fruit, can’t stand cold

below 15 degrees. Persimmons can take the cold, but their fruit

Page 5 the COMPOSTER November 2010

October’s Speaker - Summary Our October meeting speaker was Tony Sarah of Magic Gar-den Nursery describing a typical garden drip irrigation system. He indicated that drip is the most common system other than flood or bubbler irrigation. A bubbler system will use at least 1.5 to 2 times the water of a drip system.

The easiest way to install a drip system is to connect to a out-side faucet or bib, nearest your garden. The first connec-tion item is an atmospheric vacuum breaker, a safety de-vice required by code, that screws onto the end of the faucet. This device prevents dirt and bacteria from being pulled into your homes drink-ing water supply, through your irrigation lines, by the slight vacuum when you turn off your faucet. Note: vacuum

breaker / anti-syphon devices must be at least 1ft above the highest water line in the irrigation system. Next in line is the filter that keeps the drip emitters from clogging. "Y" filters are common and allow for easy flushing (performed 1/yr, min) to clean the filter. The filter is followed by the pressure regulator, which reduces house water pressure from a typical 40 - 60 psi to 20 - 30 psi, which is best for a drip system. Note: always connect irrigation system components having imprinted ar-rows, designating water flow, pointing in the same direction. Reversing any of these will cause the system to not work cor-rectly, if at all.

The pressure regulator feeds 1/2in. solid drip tubing, which is the main line taking the water to various parts of your garden.

The 1/2in. tubing can be termi-nated with figure-eight end clo-sures. Smaller 1/4in drip irriga-tion tubing (sometimes called spaghetti tubing), supplying wa-ter to your plants, is connected to the 1/2in. tubing with barb connectors. Emitters, rated at different flow rates, are con-

nected at the end of the 1/4in tubing, supplying water to your plants/trees.

Electric valves and timers can also be added to the system to control water flow. These items can introduce there own

problems. When water delivery problems occur check both water valve solenoids and timer batteries. Solenoids can fail, causing the valve not to work. Weak or dead timer batteries can stop the timer, interrupting the watering. Tony mentioned that timer batteries should last 2 years, but recom-mended changing them every spring, before the growing season.

Although there are several types of 1/4in. tubing available (soaker,

Growing Fruit in Tucson Read the full article - The Soule Garden by: Jacqueline A. Soule - Explorer Newspaper - Jan 9 2008

Also see: Deciduous Fruit & Nuts for the Low Desert - www.ag.arizona.edu/pubs/garden/az1269.pdf

Selecting Fruit and Berry Crops for Home Garden ANR Publi-cation 8261. www.anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu

By Victor Gutierrez �

laser - with laser drilled holes, and tubing with pre-installed 1/2G/hr emitters at 6in or 12in intervals) Tony recommended using soaker tubing (buried 4 - 5in. deep) connected to a 2gal/hr Rain-Bird emitter, which in turn is connected to the 1/2in. water supply tubing. Standard emitters do not allow one to connect lengths of 1/4in tubing to them.

When Tony irrigates trees, with drip systems, he creates loops of soaker tubing around the base of the tree, about 3 ft apart. He adds new loops as the tree grows. Loop 1 installed when tree is planted; loop 2 at two years of growth, etc. Established trees would be watered with a total of 15 - 2gal/hr emitters for 6hrs, 1/week at the height of summer, less in spring and fall. Wa-tering can be turned off or greatly reduced after Thanksgiving.

To conserve water further, consider irrigating in late afternoon around 4PM. Adding mulch 2 - 3 in thick, is also very important. The mulch layer blocks the sun light keeping soil cool and conserves soil mois-ture. When applying mulch keep it 6in away from the trunk. Tony feels that shredded cedar and coconut mulches are best.

Tony mentioned that when watering some trees (pomegranet) it's important to cut back irrigation when it rains, since excess water can swell and crack fruit.

The presentation was followed by a lively Q&A session.

Editors Note: If you plan to install a drip irrigation system consider doing some research. The concepts are not compli-cated but implementing them can be a bit involved. Reviewing the following is a good start.

Resources:

Sunset Garden Watering Systems

Drip Irrigation, Robert Kourik

www.dripirrigation.com/download_gen/DSL20-L.pdf

http://www.irrigationtutorials.com/install.htm �

TOG monthly meetings are held on the 3rd Tuesday of each

month, September through April. These lectures are free and

open to the public. We meet at St. Mark’s Presbyterian

Church, in Geneva Hall, 3809 E. 2nd Street; Located 2 blocks

south of Speedway and about 1 block west of Alvernon (see

map). Doors open at 6:45 pm, except for November’s Pot-

luck meal they open at 6pm. Please consider coming early and

help set up tables and chairs or stay after to clean up. Help is

always appreciated. During May, June, July & August we have

potlucks at members gardens. �

Board of Directors

Volunteer Update

Board Meetings President - Rich Johnson

president@tucsonorganicgardeners.org.

Treasurer – Darcy Nagle-O'Brien

Treasurer@tucsonorganicgardeners.org

Secretary - Mary Jane Schumacher

Secretary@tucsonorganicgardeners.org

Editor - Victor Gutierrez

editor@tucsonorganicgardeners.org.

Membership - Liz Marascio

Membership@tucsonorganicgardeners.org

Special Events - Erik Shapiro

Specialevents@tucsonorganicgardeners.org

Volunteer Coordinators -Betty Meikle & Hari Nam

volunteer@tucsonorganicgardeners.org

Publicity Coordinator - Brenda Earle

brene33@hotmail.com

Website Updates - David Kudrna

dkudrna@Ag.arizona.edu �

The TOG Board of Directors usually meets the first Thursday of each month at 7:00 pm. Members are welcome to attend. Contact us for location. If you have an item you would like added to the agenda, submit it to our secretary, Mary Jane Schumacher, at secretary@tucsonorganicgardeners.org, at least 10 days prior to the meeting date. You could also reach us on the Tucson Organic Gardeners Infoline: 670-9158. �

You make TOG a community! We want to thank our mem-

bers for getting involved and let you know how you can help.

Come out, bond with other gardeners. If you would like

someone’s excellent work noted please let me know at

editor@tucsonorganicgardeners.org.

Ongoing:

� Share your enthusiasm with people who want to learn!

TOG schedules compost expert/enthusiasts to talk to visitors

at the Home Composting Demonstration Site located at the

Tucson Botanical Gardens every Saturday. Sign up for as little

as one Saturday or intermittent Saturdays. You’re always wel-

come to sign up for more! Address: 2150 N. Alvernon Way,

Tucson, Arizona, just south of Grant on Alvernon.. Winter

hours: November through May, 11 AM to 1 PM. Summer

hours: June through August 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM. Contact

Rich for more info: president@tucsonorganicgardeners.org.

� Hang out at the Community Garden one Saturday morning

9-11 am. Assist people with purchasing our compost bins and

amendments, talk to fellow gardeners and enjoy the garden –

it’s an easy and fun way to spend a morning! Contact Betty

Meikle at 743-0064 or volunteer@tucsonorganicgardeners.org

� Whip up or suggest an article for the newsletter about one

of your favorite plants/varieties you grow, a recipe using your

garden produce or another topic you think others would

benefit from. Contact editor@tucsonorganicgardeners.org.�

Page 6 the COMPOSTER November 2010

St Marks - Geneva Hall

Meeting Location - St Marks

Membership Form

The cost of TOG membership is $15 a year. The fee includes

an e-mailed copy of the Composter, the TOG newsletter, sent

Sept through May. Fees are due when you enroll or when you

renew your annual membership, during your TOG anniver-

sary month. Those who wish, can still have the Composter

mailed to them, by sending an e-mail to member-

ship@tucsonorganicgardeners.org. For these members your

annual membership fee will be increased by $10.00 (per year)

to cover mailing the Composter. Please complete the

membership form, include payment and mail to the address

shown. TOG has gone to e-mail distribution of the Composter

to make more efficient use of resources, both the Earth’s and

TOG’s. Cost savings will allow us to further efforts in pro-

moting organic gardening . �

Page 7 the COMPOSTER November 2010

Membership Policy

Controlling Garden Pests nematodes. For severe infestations, spray botanical insecti-

cides (pyrethrin, rotenone) as a last resort.

Slugs and Snails - Adults are soft-bodied, wormlike animals.

Slugs have no shells while snails have coiled shells. Both leave

a trail of mucus when they travel and chew large holes in foli-

age, stems and bulbs. They feast on any tender plant or shrub

and may cause extensive damage to seedlings. To control, use

copper flashing as an edge for garden beds. You can also trap

them under flowerpots or boards or try shallow pans of beer.

Collect and destroy them every morning. To encourage preda-

tory ground and rove beetles, grow clover, sod or use stone

mulch along your garden's walkways. Protect seedlings with

wide bands of cinders, wood ashes or diatomaceous earth.

Spider Mites - Adults are tiny eight-legged mites. Nymphs are

similar in appearance, but are smaller than adults. Adults and

nymphs suck plant juices from many food crops. Early dam-

age will show as yellow-specked areas on leaf undersides.

Adults may spin fine webs. Rinse plants with water and mist

daily to suppress reproduction of mites. Release predatory

mites, such as Phytoseiulus persimilis or similar species on

vegetables. If pest populations are high, use least-toxic, short-

lived botanical insecticides (neem oil, pyrethrin, rotenone) to

establish control.

Squash Bugs - Widely distributed in North America, squash

bug adults (5/8 inch long) are brownish-black in color and

flat-backed. Nymphs are whitish green or gray when young,

darkening as they mature and spider-like in appearance. Both

adults and nymphs suck plant juices on all squash crops,

which causes leaves and shoots to blacken and die. Hand pick

all stages of squash bugs from the underside of leaves. Sup-

port vines with trellises to keep them off the ground. Attract

native parasitic flies with pollen and nectar producing plants.

Cover plants with floating row cover and spray with botanical

insecticides if pest levels become intolerable.

Tomato Hornworms - One of the most destructive pests of

tomato, potato, pepper, eggplant and tobacco plants. Adults

are large, gray moths (4-5 inch wingspan). Larvae are green

caterpillars (3-4 inches long) with a red or black horn on the

tail. They consume entire leaves, small stems, and sometimes

chew pieces from fruit. To control, handpick caterpillars from

foliage. Attract native parasitic wasps and other beneficial in-

sects to your garden for long-term control (see Attracting

Beneficial Insects). Spray Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki

(Bt) while caterpillars are still small. Roto-tilling after harvest

destroys overwintering pupae in the soil.

Reference: http://www.vegetablegardeningguru.com/insect-pests.html �

Page 8 November 2010

Advertisement

the COMPOSTER

Backyard Frost Protection

Place Your

Ad Here

per gallon of water. Cytokinins present in the seaweed toughen the

plant cell walls.

Experienced commercial growers are currently frost-protecting cit-

rus, avocados and strawberries with anti-transpirant sprays. All the

plant surfaces are sprayed prior to anticipated freezes, and the pro-

tection afforded is suggested to be from two to eight degrees (°F).

These products reduce the cooling effect of wind on leaf surfaces

(chill factors). Here is a list of several anti-transpirant sprays.

- Frost Away -- by Bonide. Available from Mellingers.

- Wilt-Pruf -- by Wilt-Pruf Produces, P.O. Box 469, Essex, CT 06426.

- Frostguard -- by Custom Chemicides, P.O. Box 11216, Fresno, CA 93772. Available from local farm suppliers.

- Frost Shield -- by Maz-Zee S.A. International, P.O. Box 82717, San Diego, CA 92138. Available from Peaceful Valley Farm Supply.

Another approach to increasing the low-temperature tolerance of plants is by eliminating ice-nucleating bacteria (INB) from leaf sur-faces. Recent research has demonstrated that some plants, which usually succumb at 30° F can be supercooled to 24° F without dam-age if these bacteria are eliminated from the plant's surfaces. As explained in the literature, these bacterial promote the formation of ice crystals that pierce plant cell walls, leading to desiccation and death. While not a completely accepted method, these bacteria can be killed by spraying plant surfaces with a bactericide such as Ko-cide 101 (cupric hydroxide).

Having taken the above preconditioning steps, don't forget to pro-tect the trunk and major branches. This is vitally important for trees in the ground only a year or two. The trunk, especially near the graft union, can be effectively protected by covering it with one of the special products made for this purpose. One type of tree wrap comes in a roll and is made of treated paper; another is a spiral rib-bon of white plastic. Both products are available through mail-order farm and garden companies.

Exploiting the Heat of the Earth - On a cold night with air tempera-tures in the twenties, the earth's surface at 52 F is like a giant heater. To fully exploit that heat the ground near the tree should be cleaned of both mulch and growing weeds. It should be wet and unculti-

vated to maximize heat transfer from earth to air. You may have no-ticed that plants placed under the leaf canopy of a large tree or a building overhang escape serious freeze damage, while those out in the open are killed. These covers contain the earth's heat.

Consider building a protective cover for most sensitive trees using a wooden framework (or painted PVC) covered by shade cloth - be-ware of using clear plastic. The wood poles can be 2"x2"x8' lumber with one end sharpened., and the wood treated with a preservative such as Waterseal. Four poles are driven into the ground in a 4-5 foot square pattern. You can use a steel pipe to make holes for the poles so as to avoid splitting the pole tops. The top ends are then joined with four 1"x2" boards using screws. Cover the framework with 50% shade cloth on top east and west sides and 75% shade cloth on the north side. Leave the south side open. This protector can be left up in summer for those plants needing it. The north side protection re-duces the chilling and drying effect of winter winds. A similar ap-proach which reportedly protects plants is to enclose the entire plant with a product called Agrinet. This material is very light and is easily supported by the tree's limbs. It is also available from mail order sup-pliers.

Exploiting the Heat in Water - We were taught in high school physics that water stores heat better than any solid material, and that it re-leases 80 times as much heat (heat of fusion) in changing from liquid to ice at 0 Celcius (32F) as it does when cooled one degree Celcius. That is why farmers water their orchards during a freeze, and so should the backyard grower. The water coming out of the pipe is probably at about 52F (11C) and gives off 11 calories per gram when it cools to 32F (0C), and then gives another 80 calories per gram when it solidifies. Another way to exploit the heat held by water is to surround the tree with five-gallon plastic pails filled with water. This simulates the protection given plants near a body of water, such as a swimming pool.

See Original Article: Backyard Frost Protection By David Silber

California Rare Fruit Growers Journal, vol. 20, 1988, pp. 14-16

www.crfg.org/fg/1969-89/1988.html"

Also see: Frost Protection - http://ag.arizona.edu/extension/pubs/garden/az1002.pdf �

Page 9 November 2010

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Asparagus Starts

Onion Starts If you plan to order onion starts from TOG all orders must be in by the

NOVEMBER meeting. Flo Jasiak will be at the meeting to take your orders.

Onion starts are priced at $3.00 a bundle. The orders will be placed in early

December so as to have the onion starts available at the January meeting. Flo

will also be at St Marks Church Jan 15th (the Saturday before the regular

monthly meeting) in the morning from 9am till 12 noon, for those of you

who can't come to the meeting.St Marks is at 3809 E 2nd St. Located 2

blocks south of Speedway and about 1 block west of Alvernon.

Thanks Flo for offering your expertise! �

The Magic Garden has asked us to announce that they will be taking orders for asparagus starts through early December, for delivery by mid January. If you’re interested and wish to order asparagus starts contact them at:

Magic Garden Nursery and Landscape

7909 E 22nd St. Tucson, AZ 85710

(520) 885-7466

Visit us on the web at www.magicgardennursery.com �

Classifieds TOG Mini-Market BAMBOO RANCH. Non-invasive clump-

ing bamboo for shade, wildlife, screening,

strong poles for building. Nursery, demon-

stration garden, 100+ types of bamboo.

Poles available. Buying large plant pots. By

appointment (520) 743-7879, bam-

booranch@juno.com,

www.bambooranch.net

FREE COW & HORSE MANURE. Back

yard bantam chickens for sale. Marana.

Elaine - 616-0161

GROWING MORE FOOD in your garden

than you can eat? Sell your produce at the

Farmers' Market on consignment! 622-0525-

X247

FREE PIG MANURE. 2 locations, Picture

Rocks and 12 miles NE of the Marana exit.

Mary Schanz, Ironwood Pig Sanctuary, ben-

watkins@compuserve.com, 631-5851.

FREE HORSE MANURE. Castaway

Treasures Animal Sanctuary. NW, Picture

Rocks area. Adrian 682-7630.

FREE Llama & Donkey MANURE. Near

Picture Rocks. Gwen Gallagher 730-0006.

YOU PICK UP FREE MANURE. Small

charge for delivery. Carol Rhodes, (520)

749-2650.

FREE SHEEP MANURE, YOU HAUL.

Near Mission and 36th street. (520) 624-

1614, Beryl.

Classified ads are 15¢ per word per issue

(10¢ for members), with a $2 per issue mini-

mum. Make checks payable to TOG.

These are for sale at our monthly meetings or

Saturdays from 9-11 at the St Marks/

Miramonte Community Garden, 3809 E 3rd St.

Amendments — Each package covers 25 sq feet, or a 5 x 5 plot and contains:

1- Green Sand (potassium)

1- Rock Phosphate (phosphorus)

1- Cottonseed Meal or Fishmeal (nitrogen)

1- Dispersal (soil sulphur)

1 kit includes a bag of each amendment and

sells for - $10 / 2 kits for $18 / 3 kits for $26 /

more than 3 - $8 ea.

Anti-Fuego — A soil conditioner that can also be effective in ridding your garden of ants

$11 for a concentrated quart

Compost Cranks—These cranks are made

locally and make turning your compost a

breeze! $40

We also sell TOG t-shirts, hats and tote bags -

$15-20?

Page 10 November 2010

�Plant vegetable seeds of beets, carrots, endive, kale, kohl-rabi, lettuce, mustard, peas, radishes, spinach, Swiss chard & turnips.�

�Transplant broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauli-flower, celery, leeks, parsley & dry onion sets. �

�Plant seeds or trans­plants of ageratum, calen­dula, aster, bells-of-Ireland, candytuft, cornflower, foxglove, larkspur, lobelia, nasturtium, painted daisy, sweet alyssum, petunia, phlox, stock, snapdragon & sweet pea. �

�For shady areas set out dianthus, English daisy, pansy, primrose, & viola. �

�Still time to set out some late spring blooming bulbs.�

Plant acacia, cassia, cordia boissieri, mesquite, desert spoon, fairy duster, palo verde, salvia greggii, & texas ranger. �

�Take care of roses by pruning lightly, taking out dead wood, diseased stems, crossed & injured canes�

�Check fruit trees for damaged or split fruit & remove. �

�Replenish fading house plants, feeding & pruning. Add color to rooms with blooming plants such as bromeliads & orchids, also oxalis in pink, white or yellow. Prepare bases or beds for narcissus, lily of the valley, freesia, & hyacinth bulbs to produce fragrance & bloom for months.�

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Planting Tips - November Garden Notes Your gardening records should include how plants performed, weather variations (sun, rain, cloud cover, temperatures) results of soil tests, amendments used and when, bug problems and what was done. As you learn more about your garden, your records will help you detect and re-spond to environmentally caused issues (lettuce tipburn, tomato blossom-end rot, etc) and those caused by diseases and bugs.