Editor’s note: In the course of the rising season, Mike Hogan, OSU Extension Educator for Agriculture & Purely natural Assets in Franklin County, will answer gardening thoughts submitted by Dispatch audience. Mail your inquiries to [email protected].
Q: Is it also late to test my soil this yr? Some of the crops in my vegetable yard did not do properly this season and I’m wanting to know if soil fertility could be an issue.
A: While soil can be examined for fertility and pH at any time of the year, tumble is truly the finest year to do so. At this time of the yr, soil-testing labs are not inundated with samples like they are in early spring, so exam success are normally received from the lab very promptly.
Also, no issue what crop was developed in the soil you would like to check, the period of time has finished when most crops are actively escalating and taking away vitamins from the soil, so a soil examination conducted at this time of the calendar year will deliver a good knowing of where by the nutrient levels are in the soil, which will be valuable at the start off of the expanding year up coming spring.
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Also, if your soil examination indicates a have to have for a massive volume of phosphorous or potassium, slide is an exceptional time to integrate these fertilizers into the soil.
OSU Extension provides soil screening expert services, and sampling kits can be obtained online or at the Franklin County Workplace of OSU Extension at 2548 Carmack Street. For much more details go to: franklin.osu.edu/program-areas/agriculture-and-normal-sources/soil-testing
Q: I need to clean up up my perennial flower beds for the year and there are a number of plants in my beds that feel to have had leaf place conditions late in the time. Really should I incorporate the diseased plant material in my compost pile or dispose of this product in the trash.
A: The solution actually depends upon how active of a composter you are! If compost piles are managed adequately, they warmth up to somewhere around 150 levels Fahrenheit. At this temperature, disorder pathogens and weed seeds are killed, so there would be no chance of spreading ailment organisms or weed seeds in finished compost. Keeping a temperature of 150 degrees, however, necessitates repeated turning of the compost pile and periodic addition of h2o if rainfall is not suitable or the compost pile is covered. So, if you are actively running your compost pile, sense no cost to include diseased plant elements, or else, dispose of diseased plant product with your family trash.
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Q: I have a big assortment of peonies and late this period I discovered that several of the leaves on some of the crops experienced significant brown dead places on the leaves. Must I clear away these plants, or will they get better subsequent year?
A: It is typical for peonies to get infected with peony leaf blotch, primarily as vegetation age and the plantings grow to be larger sized and thicker. This illness commonly displays up late in the increasing time and commonly takes place on crops that have an abundance of foliage. This disease normally does not result in very long-phrase harm to the overall health and fitness of the plant, so there is no will need to clear away affected vegetation.
The best way to handle this disease in set up plantings is to aggressively prune the foliage in late spring to enhance air motion all over the crops. This will help crops dry out much more speedily just after rain, lessening the chance for the illness to take place. At this time of the year, you really should take away all foliage from peonies by slicing them off at 2 to 3 inches earlier mentioned ground amount. Until you are an active composter (see issue earlier mentioned), I would dispose of diseased plant materials with your house trash.
