Wildlife

Poison Ivy Scouting

by at

Poison Ivy Growing Among Woodsorrel

Whenever I take a walk around our house, I keep my eyes open for poison ivy. In the past couple weeks it seems to have awoke from its seasonal slumber and is ready to take off. The sooner you can control poison ivy the better. In order to control it well, it is important to understand this persistent plant.

The old saying “leaves of three, let it be” has been most helpful for me over the years to keep from getting confused between poison ivy and other look alikes. Poison ivy is a climbing woody vine that loses it’s leaves each winter. Leaves are egg shaped with three leaves per petiole that may be toothed, lobed, or entire. Poison ivy attaches to trees and rocks with aerial roots, which may have a hairy, fibrous appearance. Leaves may take on a reddish hue late in the season. It reproduces by creeping stems, roots, and seed transported by birds. Poison ivy can thrive in many areas that other plants do not.

All parts of the plant contain resins that cause allergic reactions for most of the U.S. population. These resins cause issues if burned, directly touched, or indirectly transferred from one surface to another. Resins are continually present on the leaves, stems, and roots, even in the winter.

Poison ivy is often confused with Virginia creeper, which is a creeping and trailing vine that secures itself to objects with specialized stems call tendrils. Virginia creeper has 5 leaflets, instead of three and is not poisonous. Poison oak is another common mix up. Poison oak has three leaflets, but the leaves look very similar to a classic oak leaf. The lobes have blunt tips and hairs on both the top and bottom of the leaf. Poison oak is not a creeping weed, but rather grows upright from the soil surface. For this plant the “leaves of three, let it be” statement still applies.

Poison ivy and poison oak are responsive to glyphosate, triclopyr, and 2, 4-D herbicides, which are commonly used in poison ivy killers. Always follow the label when using a herbicide and wear adequate protective gear while handling!

     Virginia Creeper

Poison Oak (Photo Credit-School of Forest Resources & Conservation – University of Florida)

Edible Wild Plants-Risk vs. Reward

by at

This time of year the questions start to trickle in about edible wild plants. Many are interested in identifying and collecting edibles, but this is a hobby that should be pursued with extreme caution. I have been asked multiple times to host an edible wild plant workshop, but the risk of accidental consumption of a harmful plant following an event like that is too great. Therefore, I have yet to get a workshop going and my most responsible overall advice is simply, don’t do it. Unless you are stranded in the wilderness and need to survive on wild edibles, the risk vs. reward odds are not worth testing.

Collecting wild edibles is an endeavor that could start out with good intentions and end in the hospital, or worse. Before you eat any plant or fungus you find in the wild, check, check, and check again to verify it is what you think. Many edibles seem perfectly safe just by looking at them, but don’t forget that there are other factors like pathogens or parasites that could make you ill that are unable to be seen, so eat at your own risk.  If you determine it is “safe” to eat, only consume a tiny bit at a time, just in case something goes haywire. Also, keep an unaltered sample of what you have consumed, so that medical personnel could implement the appropriate treatment in an emergency. Also, remember that some wild edibles, like ginseng, are illegal to collect from state lands in OH. Permits can be acquired in some areas during the designated season for harvest. Don’t forget that in some wildlife areas removal of any vegetation is illegal.

Controlled cultivation is a safer bet. Many people successfully propagate their own mushrooms, herbs, and more. There is quite a bit of information about how to accomplish this task through OSU Extension and other sources. In fact, on Saturday, April 8 there will be a Growing Shiitake Mushrooms Workshop at the Noble County Soil and Water Conservation District Office. Anyone is welcome to attend this free event which will run from 10 a.m. to Noon featuring our local service forester-Adam Komar of ODNR as the guest speaker. Please call 740-732-4318 to RSVP.

Ohio State has a resource handbook about mushrooms that many have found helpful. Find it here: Mushroom Handbook

Looking for a list of edibles in the Mid-West Region? Click here: Edibles List

Try, Try, Again

by at

img_20160815_073436659

This article was also printed in The Journal on October 3, 2016.

This spring I had an idea to start a research project by planting some grass seed. I shared the idea with some of my mentors and colleagues and we got to work. It seemed simple enough, but I didn’t get the results that I hoped for. Despite my efforts to create good conditions for the seed, the grass did not establish. Instead, I grew a great big patch of weeds. Oh, how disappointing it was to see so many cocklebur plants and foxtail stems where my grass was supposed to be. I looked at it and wanted to throw in the towel. I had plans for that grass, but it wasn’t there. Now what do I do? Can I fight off these weeds? Do I give up on my project idea? Do I start all over? After thinking all this over and asking for advice, we decided that the project idea is still good. Just because the grass didn’t establish this spring, doesn’t mean it is a lost cause. One thing is for sure, it certainly won’t work if we don’t try. So far, it seems like this project has been a failure, but the only way it can really fail is if we give up. So, I am trying again.

My friend Doug had a similar experience this summer. Doug has specific plans in partnership with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to put in a strip of pollinator friendly plants along a section of his property. In order to follow the developed plan, he would have to wait until Spring 2017 to get started. Doug wanted to get a head start and do something beneficial this year. He had an idea to plant buckwheat this summer in the location where his pollinator plants would go in 2017. Buckwheat is a short-season annual plant that is versatile and low maintenance. Bees, butterflies, deer, and turkeys find it attractive, the grain can be used to make flour for human consumption, and it is very useful as a cover crop and green manure. After investigating his options and talking to people who had success growing buckwheat he decided to plant some.

Doug followed the directions for planting the seed, but the buckwheat didn’t come up within the time frame he expected. He inspected the field and the only remnants of the seed he found were damaged or dead. He called me concerned that he had done something wrong. We kicked around ideas, but were unable to pinpoint exactly what happened. Despite the setback, Doug didn’t give up. He replanted the strip of land with a fresh supply of seed. At the beginning of September, I got a message from Doug with photos of a long strip of white flowers that read, “Hi Christine, So…What do you think of my buckwheat?” “Wow! It’s beautiful!”, I responded.

It truly was beautiful, not just the image of the gorgeous spicebush swallowtail butterfly that sat gracefully perched on a cluster of flowers, but the reassurance that what may appear to be failure on the first try, can blossom into success. Let’s face it, no one is an expert at something they’ve only tried once. We’ve heard the saying a hundred or more times, but let’s keep saying it so we don’t forget, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, again.”


img_20160902_121058935

Food Plots and Habitat Improvement to Benefit Wildlife

by at

During the recent Farm Science Review I was given the opportunity to speak at the Gwynne Conservation Area on a topic of my choosing.  The guidelines were that it had to be Natural Resources focused as that is what that area deals with.  I have been doing some Food Plot stuff here in county so it seemed natural to pick that topic for the Gwynne.

Here is an overhead view of where I will plant.  Not a bad spot, not a great spot.  It has water although you cannot see it, but Deer Creek runs right behind it and a pond is right in front.  It has some trees but no good mast trees and not enough soft edges.  Site selection of plots is paramount, and cover is as important as food.  As the saying goes “they will visit if there is food, they will stay if there is cover”

gwynne-map

I will plant in the spot that has birdhouses

So here is the spot I will get to use.  It was a weed choked wasteland, but was burnt down with glyphosate and lightly tilled.

gwynne-planting2

And a  wild game seed mix was broadcast by hand on to the top of the soil.  Not a bad seed choice by variety: some rye, triticale, clover, oats and forage rape(a brassica).  That is cold hardy with nitrogen fixing, protein and some cereal grains.  Deer and Turkey will love it.

gwynne-planting1

This was done around August 1st.  Then it basically got hot and forgot to rain for weeks.  When I would go back to look at the plot I would see dry seed getting gobbled up by birds.   A soil test was done but was misplaced and turned in only a week before the Review.  No biggie,  I did not have the funds to fertilize, was more interested in seeing what the soil looked like.

Here is the soil test.

deer-plot-results-gwynne

Yikes that is a crazy soil test.  Totally different than what I see in Hocking.  High pH with increased calcium and magnesium.  Not a ton of fertility and a low organic matter percentage.  Basically we planted in poor soil, did not fertilize, did not use herbicides and planted at the wrong time.  I basically did everything wrong.  And it showed.

weed9

Too bad deer and turkey don’t love foxtail, thistle, milkweed and wild parsnip.   I did see some cool stuff in there though, like the Monarch caterpillars on the milkweed.

weed13

And the Black Swallowtail caterpillars on the wild parsnip(they like everything in that family of plants – celery, parsley, carrots, dill, etc..)

weed14

It was a successful class as I used this opportunity to show what NOT to do and quite honestly that can be just as effective.  Next year I think I will do it a little differently.  Maybe do half correct and half incorrect, I have the incorrect part down pat.

Let me know if you want to incorporate a wildlife plot on your land.  It is probably too late to get going planting from scratch, but not too late to plan and do site evaluation.  In fact fall is the perfect time for that.

What, there are three different types of photosynthesis?

by at

As if Photosynthesis was not complicated enough, there are actually different variations of how plants convert CO2 (Carbon dioxide) to C6H12O6 (Carbohydrates).  Plants have various physiologies to adapt to various environments on earth.  Alfalfa for instance can remain persistent and prolific during certain drought episodes due to its deep taproot that can help the plant utilize deep water sources.  In term this causes the Alfalfa legume to be sensitive to poorly drained soils that are not very permeable to surface water.  So the question someone could ask is; do all desert plants have long roots?  The answer is no, but one way desert plants conserve water and grow in a hot and arid climate is by the way they photosynthesize.

The three main types of photosynthesis are C3, C4, and CAM (crassulacean acid metabolism).  In college I had to memorize some of their pathways and mechanisms, but I will highlight what gives one an advantage over another and what types of crops, forages, and weeds have specialized C3 and C4 photosynthesis.  This will tell us why they can do well in certain climates and times of the year and when we can expect certain plants to be more abundant.

Rubisco is the name of the enzyme (protein) that “grabs” the CO2 molecule and puts it into the assembly line that will create the carbohydrates.  It is known as the most abundant protein in the world.  When we examine the quality of feed in our forages, it is rubisco that makes up most of the protein value in the forage analysis.  That is one of the main reasons leaves are desired over stems in hay.

C3 photosynthesis is the predominant way plants will take in carbon dioxide and produce carbohydrates.  In C3 photosynthesis Rubisco takes the CO2 and it is reduced into carbohydrates all in the same place and time.  By that, I mean in the same cell chloroplast and during the day (sunshine) when the stomata are open and the CO2 is entering the cell and the water is leaving through the same opening.  The issue with this is that it has the greatest water loss and during very high photosynthetic times (July) it becomes stressful for the plant.  Another issue is that oxygen is generated during photosynthesis and the oxygen will inhibit rubisco and slow photosynthesis down when the system is running very fast.  It seems counterintuitive, but the slow down allows the plant to deal with too much light that could cause damage.  Ever notice that cool season grasses do not grow too fast in July and August?  Cool season grasses have a C3 photosynthesis mechanism.

Now let us transition to some of the C4 grasses, also known as “warm season grasses” such as corn, sorghum, crab grass, sugarcane, bermuda grass, and foxtail.  These plants have rubisco in one cell and they have a mechanism of pulling the CO2 in a different cell that is connected by openings between the cells called plasmodesmata connecting the two cells together.  So what happens is that the plant can concentrate its CO2 where the rubisco is located and prevent that oxygen inhibition caused in the C3 mechanism.   These plants don’t have that high sunlight, July inhibition.  In addition to that, the specialization of the cells allows for approximately 40% less water usage per weight of CO2 reduction.  This just means that it is 40% more efficient in water usage on average.  There is always variation among species.  C4 plants can also partially close their stomata to prevent water loss and because they concentrate the CO2 in a different area, the oxygen will not inhibit the rubisco enzyme.  This is one of the major reasons why warm season paddocks are desired in a rotational grazing operation.  It allows for growth during the July and August time period, when the cool season, C3 grasses are inhibited and not actively growing.

Here is the misconception; many dicots (broadleaves) are also C4 plants, it is not just the grasses!  Sedges and many of the Amaranthus species are C4 plants, they seem to be the largest plant families in this C4-broadleaf category.  So Palmer Amaranth and Spiny Amaranth, along with the sedges do great in July and August.  The fact that they are C4 plants could be contributing to this phenomenon. Knowing this allows a farmer to possibly tackle a weed before it takes over a field when a desirable cool season crop could be growing slowly or possibly dormant.  Only 1% of all known plant species have C4 metabolism and even less have CAM metabolism.

Finally there is CAM photosynthesis. CAM is found in desert plants.  What these plants do is open up their stomata at night to allow CO2 in to minimize the water loss during the hot days.  The CO2 is stored in the plant vacuole as malic acid during the night.  When the desert sun comes out, the stomatal openings are closed and the CO2 is “removed” from the malic acid to then be introduced to rubisco and make carbohydrates.  By comparison, CAM is even more water efficient than C4 is.  If C4 is 40% more water efficient, CAM is 83% more efficient as compared to most C3 photosynthetic processes.  Cacti, many succulents, and the pineapple have CAM photosynthetic metabolism.

 

Resources:

  1. Taiz and Zeiger, Plant Physiology Ed. 3
  2. Christin and Edwards, The C4 plant lineages of planet Earth, Journal of Experimental Botany

 

July Blooms

by at

It always feels like July 4th is the peak of summer and when those hot summer days seem to kick off.  In fact the longest day of the year is the summer solstice which falls in late June, and the days gradually get shorter from there.  Many long day flowering plants will flower or “bolt” around this time.  One that I saw most recently was lettuce.  Lettuce is a long day plant that when exposed to darkness for periods of eleven hours or less will flower or bolt.  Unfortunately lettuce was never bred for its flower and the bolting causes chemical changes in the plant and it is accompanied by a bitter taste in the leaves.  I know that read kind of funny.  Even though the plant is called a “long day plant” the transition to flowering is dictated by the shortened period of darkness that comes with the longer days.  So that’s how the long day plants work, they need eleven hours of darkness or less.  So when the days become thirteen hours or longer these plants will start flowering due to the shortened dark periods.

Weeds are also tied to the day lengths and temperatures to transition to flower. There is a reason why allergies fall at certain times of the year.  As stated earlier some long day plants are flowering now.  One of these examples is the Giant Ragweed.

 

Giant Ragweed Giant Ragweed is a summer annual that can grow up to seven feet tall or greater.  Giant ragweed is a monoecious plant, much like corn.  Giant Ragweed produces separate male and female flowers on the same plant.  It flowers in racemes that hold a cluster of small flowers.  The male flowers that produce pollen are on top while the female flowers are located at the base of the raceme.  This is a strategy that many monoecious plants take.  Corn tassels are also the male flowers which are located on top to increase the chances of pollination.

 

Common Burdock is another weed that is flowering now. Common Burdock

The Burdock flower looks a lot like the thistle flower but the plant has a very large broad leaves at the base.  The leaves can grow to be almost 2 feet long and can be over a foot wide.  When this flower is fertilized it produces a bur type fruit that will attach to clothes and hair.

Wild carrot is also flowering at this time; this plant is sometimes known as Queen Anne’s lace.

Wild Carrot

The flowers are white and set up as an umbel.  An umbel is a cluster of flowers that have a single attachment point.  It produces a round flat cluster of flowers that are known to attract butterflies.  I have heard it being referred to as a “helicopter pad” for butterflies…

One of the best ways to identify plants is to do it during flowering times. When a plant flowers will give you a lot of information as to its identity, and many plant keys will require the flower to be utilized in its identification.

Ticked Off by Ticks?

by at

 Of all the creepy, crawly, critters I have encountered, ticks are one of the few that really give me the heebie-jeebies. They are sneaky little things that live to feed on the blood of animals. They can transmit diseases including: Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF), lyme disease, anaplasmosis, and ehrlichiosis. I would like to avoid all of those things and I’m sure you do as well. So, how do we do that?

Peak tick season lasts from mid-April to mid-July and ticks thrive in areas like forests and brush. They set up camp and wait to hitch a ride on a passing animal or pant leg. Then they explore their host for a nice place to latch on and feed. If you will be spending time in this habitat, do what you can to keep ticks from crawling into secluded places on your body. Wear long sleeves, tuck shirts into pants, tuck pants into socks, wear light colored clothes so you can spot a hitch hiking tick, and apply insect repellent. To repel ticks use a formulation that contains at least 25% DEET. Even if you do all of these things, you may still have a tick by the end of the day, so perform tick checks frequently. One of the most common places to find a tick is on the scalp or nape of the neck. Pets often pick up ticks too, so check them as well before coming inside.

If you find an attached tick, remove it promptly by grasping the body firmly (using tweezers is best), as close to your skin as possible, and use steady pressure to pull it straight out. If the mouthparts of the tick separate from the body, do not try to dig them out from your skin, this could lead to a secondary bacterial infection. Disinfect the area and apply a topical antibiotic. Preserve the tick in a sealed container of hand sanitizer, rubbing alcohol, or wrapped in an alcohol wipe, in case identification of the species is necessary later. If you experience a fever or flu-like symptoms following a tick bite, seek a doctor for consultation and take the preserved tick with you.

Ohio is home to four species of ticks, three of which are medically important: the American dog tick-vector of RMSF , the blacklegged tick (or deer tick)-vector of lyme disease, and the lone star tick-vector of ehrlichiosis. The brown dog tick is uncommon and not a vector of disease, but it is the only tick that can become established inside homes with dogs.

Don’t let ticks tick you off this summer! For more information about ticks check out Ohio State’s fact sheet on ticks at http://ohioline.osu.edu/factsheet/HYG-2073 or contact your Extension Office.

OSU/WVU Extension Radio Jan-Feb 2016

by at

OSU/WVU Extension Radio

Catch us on 1170 WWVA, Sunday mornings at 5:00 AM

ExtensionCalling1

OSU-FAES-HorizK-RGBHEXExtensionServiceLogo2015

 

1/3/2016: 

Knowns and Unknowns of Oil and Gas from Landowner  Perspective

 

 1/24/2016: Marketing Beef Cattle

 

2/14/2016: Advantages of Crop Diversity in Pasture Fields

 

 2/21/2016: GMOs: Why They are Created and Labeling

 

2/28/2016: Bt and its Variable Uses and Agrobacterium  

Mole Control

by at

This is the time of year I receive phone calls about moles causing problems. Over the past 27 years, few critters can stir such emotion as these little animals. When I started in Extension 27 years ago, the solution was fairly simple: put down an insecticide, kill the food source, and the moles would move away (maybe to your neighbors) to find a new food source. The problem was that the insecticide would kill all the insects, good and bad. The moles favorite food is grubs, but the most common food is earthworms. The older generation insecticides would kill both. Newer generation lawn insecticides are much safer to the environment and many are insect growth regulators targeted to work on grubs only and leave the earthworms alone.

If you are trying to control moles, these newer insecticides will not encourage moles to move away as well, but they are still very effective in controlling grubs which can damage lawns. So what can we do? When it comes to “home remedies”, the ones I have heard of simply will not work. I have heard of putting chewing gum or laxatives in the holes but we need to keep in mind that moles are carnivores and only feed on insects, so these will not work. I suppose some other remedies that I have heard could work somewhat as they could act as a repellent.

When these remedies are tried and in a period of time, the moles go away; was it the remedy or was it the weather? Right now the weather is warming up and the ground is saturated, so the moles are moving up near the surface. When it gets hot and drier, they will probably move down into the soil and I doubt if we will see much damage. In the fall, it will cool down, the ground will get wet and they will move back up, then when winter sets in, they will go back down deep. My “guess” is that it is probably the weather.

So what can we do? I see two options. First, don’t worry about it and they will go away in a month or so. Or if you do want to do something, there are traps that can be used. If you can find an active runway (the tunnel under the soil) and set the trap in, you should catch moles. Generally, the most active runway is one that goes from the nest to the feeding areas. The nest will usually be around the edge of the lawn, maybe in a grassy meadow or some woods with cover over the soil. In my old lawn, the nest was between the sidewalk and the wood house, where my wife had a flower bed. The runway would go under the sidewalk, then branch off where the moles would feed. If a trap could be set between the nesting area and where the runway branched off for feeding, that would be an excellent location for a trap. Just check it every day, and if you have not caught a mole, consider a new location. In my lawn, it wasn’t the moles that caused the most damage, it was my Golden Retriever trying to catch the mole and was always six inches behind!

moles

The Great Christmas Tree Debate: Real or Artificial

by at

One great holiday debate is which type of Christmas tree is best: real or artificial.

Real trees have a very long and significant history.  The use of evergreen trees to celebrate the winter season occurred before the birth of Christ.  The first decorated Christmas tree reportedly appeared in the Baltic region of Latvia in Northern Europe around 1510.  The first printed reference to Christmas trees appeared in Germany in 1531.  In the early 1900s, retail stores began displaying big Christmas trees and by 1933, Rockefeller Center in New York City began its Christmas tree tradition.

Artificial trees were first developed in Germany during the 19th century.  These trees were made using goose feathers that were dyed, attached to wire branches and then wrapped around a central dowel rod.  In 1930, the U.S. based Addis Brush Company, created artificial trees using the same machinery used to manufacture toilet brushes.  The popular mid-20th century aluminum artificial Christmas trees were first produced in Chicago in 1958.  The aluminum tree popularity died down in the late 1960s, however in recent years, collectors have been buying and selling the trees, especially on online auction web sites which have created a small reemergence.  Today, most artificial trees are made from PVC plastic and imported to the United States.

For myself, I grew up with an artificial Christmas tree but for the past eight years I went “real” and never looked backed.  The reason I never looked back is there are economic, social, environmental and safety advantages to real Christmas trees compared to artificial ones.

Buying a real Christmas can have significant economic benefits.  When you buy a real tree, more often than not, the tree comes from a local tree farmer.  Your money stays within the community which you live; making for a stronger community.  There are more than 15,000 Christmas tree farm in the US with approximately 350 million trees currently growing.  In 2012, 24.5 million trees were sold with a market value of $1.01 billion dollars. A majority of today’s artificial trees are manufactured in foreign countries, like Taiwan, Korea, and China. China itself manufactures 80% of the worldwide demand.

Real Christmas trees have substantial environmental benefits as well.  On average, trees are harvested for Christmas anywhere from five to fifteen years in age.  During this time, they provide oxygen for us to breathe (an acre of Christmas trees will provide enough daily oxygen for 18 people), remove dust and pollen from the air, provide habitat for wildlife, help purify groundwater, and help control soil erosion on hillsides.  Also, when real Christmas trees are discarded, they can be used for sand and soil erosion barriers or can be placed in ponds for fish shelter.  Since real Christmas are natural, they will breakdown rapidly whereas artificial trees will last centuries in landfills and take up space.  On average, artificial trees are replaced about every six years.

Also, there can be many social benefits from real Christmas trees.   Going to a Christmas tree lot or a U-cut Christmas tree farm can be a great family activity.  It’s another way get to children involved with Christmas and gives them a since of ownership in the selection process.  Also, buying a “living” Christmas tree (ball and burlap tree) to plant after the holidays will bring many fond memories for years to come as the tree grows and enhances your landscape.

Finally, real trees are less likely to catch on fire than artificial trees if properly watered and in the unfortunate event of a Christmas tree catching fire, artificial trees give off toxic fumes whereas real trees do not.

With all of the sights and sounds of the holiday season, the one thing that completes the magic of Christmas is filling your home with the fresh aroma of evergreen from a real tree.

For more information on Christmas tree care or help in finding real Christmas distributors, contact your local extension office.