The Rhinelander Daily News - Online news and information for the Rhinelander, Wisconsin region

After a very cold and slow start to our growing season in the months of April and May, the soil temperature finally warmed up above 40 degrees. Early gardens had poor germination and some had to be replanted. Late May warmth led to sprouting and better results. If your garden was worked up with a roto-tiller, the dark color of the soil allowed for better absorption of the sun rays and raised the ground temperature.

The first half of June brought much needed moisture to the area after four or five previous years of drought. Luckily, we missed a late season frost as temperatures dipped into the upper 30s and low 40s a couple of nights. Late June and early July saw our first extended weather pattern with daytime highs reaching the mid to upper 70s. Just like that, the gardens, trees and crops seemed to recover in a hurry. Here in late July and I’ve had reports and seen many gardens doing fantastic.

I wrote this in outline format to bring attention to several problems reported and their connection to weather related conditions. Many people reportedly felt the seed supplied for planting this year was poor. If we now look back, it was most likely fine. It was just due to cold down below the soil line.

We had problems of quite a few maple trees with brown edges on the leaves earlier in the season. Many people feared they were dying. These trees were healthy looking early in the season. Some reported bumps or described growths like warts on the leaves by mid-summer. Looking back at the cold, dry early season weather and contrasting it with the warm, moist, humid period we just had. This explains why we had an outbreak of anthracnose and leaf galls, even on more mature trees. Thankfully, these are mostly just bacterial and fungal conditions that appear in highly changeable weather patterns that usually only cause cosmetic temporary leaf damage. They most likely pose little permanent problem for the trees. Plant systems can be shocked from sudden changes.

Up to this point of the season insect damage seems to have been minimal. This could be attributed to the fact that what rain we received often came in three quarter to one inch downpours washing many creatures right off the plants and trees before they reached maturity and reproduced for later infestations. Looking at the other side of the coin you’ll probably agree the moisture added to the massive mosquito hatches this year. Just another example to the weather related causes and effects.

Another interesting situation was people asking why younger transplanted evergreen trees were dying from what seemed like a lack of water on a wet year. Remember those new trees put down roots while the ground water table has been at a very low level for several years. Unless they were heavily watered by supplementary means the root hairs had little chance to grow and become healthy. Adequate rain this year may be too late to save them. Setting a half dozen five gallon buckets full of water with a few holes drilled in the bottom just outside the circumference of the tree’s crown line might have helped trickle down irrigation to reach those roots and allowed them to survive during the dry summers.

At the same time, cases of end rot in tomato plants were coming in. This has to do with too much nitrogen being absorbed and released into the plant all at once. This is often common in garden soil that has been top-dressed with manure. The tomatoes produced farthest out on the end of the plant stem and those lower to the ground and the root system may turn pale green, then gray, and then later black. Up to half the tomatoes can be affected. It is best to trim back the stem several inches into the healthy green vine, but please make sure to disinfect your clippers the first and every time after use with a 10 percent bleach or 70 percent alcohol solution to prevent spreading the problem. Burn the waste and do not save these plants for composting. Certain varieties of plants seem less susceptible to this problem, such as hybrid cherry tomatoes.

It is amazing how looking back at this year’s experiences can help us learn and be prepared for future situations. Take notes and be observant. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it. If it needs improvement, try to be flexible and practical. If we can be of help, don’t hesitate contacting the UW-Extension on the second floor of the courthouse or give us a call at (715) 478-7792.

Tell us what you think...

Comments »

The comments above are from readers. In no way do they represent the views of the Rhinelander Daily News.