Have you read Bringing Nature Home by Doug Tallamy? If not, I suggest you do. It is an extremely important gardening book of our time. It was published in 2007. In 2016, Tallamy published The Living Landscape with Rick Darke. In February 2020, Timber Press will be releasing Tallamy’s third book, Nature’s Best Hope. The release of his third book is eagerly anticipated.
Dr. Douglas Tallamy is an entomologist at the University of Delaware. His research about the relationship between insects and plants was a breakthrough for environmental and ecosystem gardeners. Generally speaking, entomologists are not “Rock Stars” however, publishing Bringing Nature Home changed Dr. Tallamy’s life dramatically. He is highly respected for his research and a sought-after speaker. He was the Keynote speaker at the Wildflower Association of Michigan’s March 2019 Wildflower Conference and the speaker at Saving Birds Thru Habitat’s Annual Fundraising event on August 24th. We are fortunate to have him visit Michigan frequently.
Tallamy’s research makes the very strong connection between insects and the native plants that host them. These relationships are critical to the food web. We know that birds, 98% of them, feed their young insects. (The other 2% eat fish. Not one baby bird is raised on seeds.) We know that a clutch of chickadees needs hundreds of insects a day and 6,000-9,000 insects to successfully fledge. We know that most insects are specialists in that they can survive on only one type of plant, i.e. the Monarch butterfly caterpillar that can only eat plants in the milkweed family. Monarchs aren’t the only picky eater by a long shot.
The plants that best support the food web are native to the region. Coevolution between plants and insects has been going on for millions of years. Introduced plants simply cannot provide the same ecological services. Too few insects are adapted to them. No insect biomass, no birds. Introduced plants may be a lovely fashion, but they are useless at feeding birds. Some introduced plants may be harmless except they take space away from a native plant. However, some alien plants escape and are causing severe ecological damage. Some invasive plants may be well known. Myrtle, Lily of the Valley, Japanese Barberry, Kudzu, Buckthorn, and Autumn Olive are known to be problematic. Other, problematic plants may not be so well known such as Bradford or Callery Pear, Butterfly Bush, and Rose of Sharon. Keeping these plants in your yard can cause harm when they move across the street or into the woods next door. Lesson: plant only native species.
There is always a question of “cultivar”. Tallamy’s research addresses both the harm caused by introduced plants and the vastly understudied topic of “nativars” or cultivars of native plants. We do know some things. If cultivation has destroyed the pollen and nectar of the native plant as it can, it has rendered it useless to pollinators. If the blossom has been altered to be a double blossom, it is no longer accessible to pollinators. Pollinators identify flowers by their ultra violet markings, and as far as we know there has been no study on the effect of changing a flower color on the pedal’s ultraviolet markings. We have no understanding of this or the potential harm created. Finally, studies have found that changing a leaf color from green to red in a Ninebark renders the leaf no longer digestible to the insect that requires the green leaf to live.
Since Bringing Nature Home was published, Tallamy’s research has continued. We are learning more, but not fast enough to protect the insect biomass that makes bird food from plants. We must stop messing around with nature and stick to native plants. Our ecosystem is in need of ecological gardening practices in every yard. Will Nature’s Best Hope provide enough science to change gardening practices? I sure hope so.
Morgan Composting: The Home of Dairy Doo
By Cheryl A. Gross, AEMG
Should you have an opportunity to visit Morgan Composting in Sears, Michigan, I suggest you make time to go. I visited the site with a group of Plant it Wild members, (also Master Gardeners) on August 23. It was well worth the distance and time required to get there.
Morgan Composting is a family owned business with the fourth generation just reaching the age to operate the pedals of a tractor. It was born out of a failing dairy farm that struggled to support the family. Incredibly, (after years of risk, hard work, and luck) Morgan Composting happened. The family has a clear and strong work ethic and sense of fairness from the inputs to the products, the recipes, and the distribution system. There are now 40 employees in 4-5 sites across the state of Michigan. Their work is science-based and organic. Nothing is wasted.
The business continues to grow. DairyDoo is the flagship product. Organic compost created from dairy cow manure. The manure is aged and processed in large windrows on the farm. We had a wagon ride through the property where we saw the piles and piles of inputs in process. Wood shavings and sawdust are added. Pile heat is maintained at 140 degrees for several weeks to ensure “clean” compost. Specialized formulas have chicken waste added. Others have mineral elements. All inputs are sourced sustainably.
In addition to the traditional compost and fertilizer products, Morgan Composting produces liquid fertilizers and worm castings. We were able to tour the vermi-composting area. It was stunning. Rows and racks of stacked worm bins filled with shredded paper and a food slurry to turn into castings. After 25 days, the bins are turned out onto the floor. Food is added to the far side to send the worms out of the casting bedding. This is done so the castings can be fed into a screen tumbler to separate the fine castings from the bulkier castings and any remaining worms.
Besides Dairy Doo, Morgan Composting offers worm castings, seed starter fertilizer, Healthy Garden Fertilizer, Healthy Lawn Fertilizer, and several more specialized products for flowers, vegetables, tomatoes, and more. In our region you can find Morgan Composting products at Four Season Nursery, Barker Creek Nursery and Pine Hill Nursery.
Note: Organic composts and fertilizers improve the soil, thereby providing nutrients for plants. Synthetic fertilizers feed the plant salt-based chemicals that do nothing to improve soil health, and in reality, degrades the soil health. While some see organic soil amendments as more costly, in the long run you are saving money by building healthier soil.
Uvularia grandiflora, Large flowered bellwort. Photo by Whitney Miller
The WHY of Native Plants
By Cheryl A. Gross, AEMG and Plant It Wild President
There exists a connectivity between the soil, plants, and insects which are the first links in the web of life. Insects are the creatures who turn the energy from the sun, processed by plants into biomass. This insect biomass is what begins to feed the world.
Soil, plants and insects evolve together in ecosystems all over the world. In plant communities, they create habitats. Insects feed on plants, predator insects feed on insects on plants as do birds, amphibians, and mammals. Everything is fed and kept in check. Control of plants is provided by the soil, moisture and the critters that feed on them.
Once you begin replacing native plants with alien plants moved within continents and from one continent to another, the ecosystem is disrupted. The alien plants just don’t fit. Some require extensive and continuous soil amendments and water to succeed (think turf grass). Others, without their own ecosystem controls, escape and become invasive (Bradford Pear, Japanese barberry, and myrtle to name three). The insects who need to be supported cannot live on alien plants. Insects are picky eaters and almost all eat only those plants with whom they have co-evolved. Replace their natural plant communities with non-native plants and there is no insect food. Consider the well-known Monarch butterfly whose larval form lives only on plants in the milkweed family. We hear about Monarchs everywhere. However, they are but one. All other butterflies and moths have the same habits. When we landscape with non-native plants a food desert is created.
Food deserts are places that lack access to foods that make up the full range of a healthy diet. Our food desert can be best seen in the decline of our migratory bird population. Some of our birds are in danger of extinction because of the food deserts we have created. To begin, 98% of all baby birds are fed insects by their parents. (The other 2% are fed fish.) The best food for these baby birds are soft, squishy caterpillars. Caterpillars contain valuable nutrients that baby birds need to grow and fledge. Research estimates that chickadee parents need to feed 6,000 to 9,000 insects, mostly caterpillars, to their clutch each year. That is ONE family. When enough caterpillars/insects are not available, the nest will fail.
It is because of this beautiful and complicated food web that we must focus on landscaping with native plants. Recent research has determined that to create a healthy food-web ecosystem, the plants on any site must be at least 70% native. This number includes ALL plants…including your turf lawn. To answer the question then, Why Native Plants? To support life.
Trillium grandiflorum. Photo by Whitney Miller
Native Grasses and Flowers…an ecosystem
By Cheryl A. Gross, AEMG and Plant It Wild President
Prairie means grassland, and comes from the French word for “meadow.” So even before we begin to think of the space that is comprised of clump forming grasses and flowers (forbs), with few trees and shrubs, we have identified it by three different names…grassland, prairie, and meadow. We typically think of the prairies of the Midwest. The grasslands crossed by wagon trains and plowed for agriculture. In Michigan, there were once areas of grasslands, mostly in the lower half of the Lower Peninsula. Those spaces are mostly urban, suburban, and agricultural areas today.
Like each separate plant community, a meadow creates specific habitat and plays an important role in the ecosystem over-all. We have lost much of that ecosystem, thereby destroying the life supported in a grassland habitat. Restoration of prairie habitat has been on the rise in recent years. For example, Saving Birds Thru Habitat in Omena, Michigan converted a large tract of land into a grassland. This property has the native grasses and flowers (forbs) which support the shelter and food needed by birds. The Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy rescued old fields in the dry upland area of their Arcadia Dunes property and rehabilitated a grassland ecosystem. Further, the Michigan DNR has grants for property owners to install meadows and are actively working in northern Lower Michigan to restore grassland habitat. The meadow ecosystem is highly valued and productive as it contains the plants to provide shelter and food for insects, birds, small mammals, and more.
There are three types of grasslands based upon the size of the grasses and the amount of moisture they typically receive. These are Tall Grass, Mixed Grass, and Short Grass. Large tracts of land are perfect for Tall Grass or Mixed Grass. These plants typically require less moisture. In suburban areas, a mixed grass or short grass may be more appropriate for scale and esthetic. Shorter grasses thrive with a bit more rainfall than tall grasses.
Native grasses have deep roots. Really deep roots. These roots perform a valuable function… they stabilize soil, are able to access more nutrients than short rooted plants, filter water, and provide their own organic matter by dying off a bit each year. They need no soil amendments and typically need no additional irrigation once established. These are tough plants.
Some species to consider in a short grass meadow: Little Bluestem, Schizachyrium scoparium, June Grass, Koeleria macrantha; Prairie Dropseed, Sporobolus heterolepis; Sideoats Grama, Bouteloua curtipendula; Northern Sea Oats, Chasmanthium latifolium; and Bottle Brush Grass, Hystrix patula. A taller grass, Indian Grass, Sorghastrum nutans has gorgeous yellow blossoms, while side oats blossoms are fire engine red. These grasses provide shelter for birds and small wildlife, habitat for insects and their seeds provide late season food.
Grasslands are far from mono-cultures. There are many, many forbs that grow in grasslands. These plants cover the spectrum from early bloomers who find the sun before the grasses shade them, to tall flowering plants which grow supported by the grasses and bloom above it all.
Catherine Zimmerman, author of Urban and Suburban Meadows will be speaking at Trinity Lutheran Church in Frankfort at 7 pm July 17. She will explain how to make a meadow where you live. On July 18th at 10 am there will be a grassland field trip beginning at the Arcadia Dunes Grassland on Keillor Road. Come to see the beauty of the prairie. Finally, Zimmerman’s documentary, Hometown Habitat: Stories of Bringing Nature Home will be screened at the Garden Theater in Frankfort at 3 pm on July 18th with filmmaker Q & A.
Catherine Zimmerman is being hosted by Plant it Wild with support from Four Season Nursery, the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy, and Watervale Inn. All of Plant it Wild programs and field trips are free and open to the public. Memberships and donations fund our work. For more information contact Plant it Wild on Facebook at PIW-Plant It Wild or on the web at plantitwild.net.
MGANM hosted another full house at their March monthly meeting. Carolyn Thayer, with a BLA (Landscape Architecture) from MSU, owner of Designs in Bloom in Frankfort, a Certified Shoreline Professional, and founder of Plant It Wild was the presenter. Carolyn Thayer discussed the key elements of rain gardens, shoreline buffer strips, and permeable surfaces. The key takeaway: Keep all stormwater from roofs and hard surfaces ON SITE.
Slow it down, Spread it out, Soak it in… is the slogan of the Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council. Slow it down by using rocks around downspouts and gullies, spread it out by creating depressions and spaces for the water to collect, and soak it in by using native plants with deep roots to move the water through the soil.
Carolyn Thayer showed how even small depressions lined with rocks and planted with moisture loving native plants can manage the run off from a foot washing station at a home near the beach. She detailed a project at Gateway Village in Frankfort where all the stormwater from the roofs and parking lots are directed into rain gardens that offer beautiful year-round interest and keep all stormwater on site and out of Betsie Bay. Her most recent project is at a Frankfort Beach parking area on Crystal Lake which involved significant excavation and land shaping to accommodate the runoff and the plants. Finally, Carolyn introduced permeable hard surface products that can capture some storm water on the surface for drive ways and walk ways and limiting the runoff from traditionally impenetrable hard surfaces.
It was a very educational presentation. Carolyn offered handouts and resources as well.
It was a really sad day when I realized my forty foot Blue Spruce trees, that are now thirty years old were under attack. For the past two years I’ve been wondering why my trees were developing brown patches. This past summer I was involved in an advanced diagnostic workshop. That’s when I became aware of Needle Cast disease.
The Colorado Blue Spruce is not native to Michigan. There are many trees that aren’t native to this state, unfortunately they are succumbing to disease and insects. This may be happening as our climate is changing.
Needle Cast disease is a fungus with spores. It requires the right temperature and humidity to disperse spores. These spores can travel about a mile with ease especially if the winds are correct. The fungus that effects Colorado Blue Spruce is called Rhizosphaera kalkhoffii Bubak. There is also another fungus called Stigmina needle cast. Many times Stigmina needle cast is misdiagnosed for Rhizosphaera kalkhoffii Bubak.
The spores attach to the needles, they drain the nutrients out of the needle, and eventually the needle dies. In May just when the tree is about to open its new buds the fungus is also getting ready to disperse. Some of these new spores will attach to the new growth, while others travel in the wind. This fungus can do serious harm to the tree and eventually the tree can die.
To diagnose this disease you need an eye loupe, a microscope or an arborist. The disease shows up as little tiny black dots that can be too small to see by eye.
The good news is the trees can recover. It may be necessary to apply around three treatments in early spring to keep the fungus from spreading into new areas of the tree. It may take a couple of years for the tree to produce new growth to replace what has been lost. Most importantly do not cut out the diseased branches. April and May is the best time to call a tree specialists to begin treatment.
Trillium grandiflorum and Dicentra canadensis. Photo by Whitney Miller
The WHY of Native Plants
By Cheryl A. Gross, AEMG, Plant it Wild President
There exists a connectivity between the soil, plants, and insects which are the first links in the web of life. Insects are the creatures who turn the energy from the sun, processed by plants into biomass. This insect biomass is what begins to feed the world.
Soil, plants and insects evolve together in ecosystems all over the world. In plant communities, they create habitats. Insects feed on plants, predator insects feed on insects on plants as do birds, amphibians, and mammals. Everything is fed and kept in check. Control of plants is provided by the soil, moisture and the critters that feed on them.
Once you begin replacing native plants with alien plants moved within continents and from one continent to another, the ecosystem is disrupted. The alien plants just don’t fit. Some require extensive and continuous soil amendments and water to succeed (think turf grass). Others, without their own ecosystem controls, escape and become invasive (Bradford Pear, Japanese barberry, and myrtle to name three). The insects who need to be supported cannot live on alien plants. Insects are picky eaters and almost all eat only those plants with whom they have co-evolved. Replace their natural plant communities with non-native plants and there is no insect food. Consider the well-known Monarch butterfly whose larval form lives only on plants in the milkweed family. We hear about Monarchs everywhere. However, they are but one. All other butterflies and moths have the same habits. When we landscape with non-native plants a food desert is created.
Food deserts are places that lack access to foods that make up the full range of a healthy diet. Our food desert can be best seen in the decline of our migratory bird population. Some of our birds are in danger of extinction because of the food deserts we have created. To begin, 98% of all baby birds are fed insects by their parents. (The other 2% are fed fish.) The best food for these baby birds are soft, squishy caterpillars. Caterpillars contain valuable nutrients that baby birds need to grow and fledge. Research estimates that chickadee parents need to feed 6,000 to 9,000 insects, mostly caterpillars, to their clutch each year. That is ONE family. When enough caterpillars/insects are not available, the nest will fail.
It is because of this beautiful and complicated food web that we must focus on landscaping with native plants. Recent research has determined that to create a healthy food-web ecosystem, the plants on any site must be at least 70% native. This number includes ALL plants…including your turf lawn. To answer the question then, Why Native Plants? To support life.
MGANM February Meeting Notes: Chestnut Hypovirulence
by Nancy Denison, AEMG
It was another packed house at the BRNC February 5 for Dr. Carmen Medina Mora speaking on the American Chestnut and Hypo virulence. Dr. Mora is an MSU grad and continues to work in the MSU labs researching and studying Chestnut disease pathology.
The American Chestnut, Castana dentate, a tall, large canopied tree with edible nuts was once widespread in the eastern US until wooden pallets from China introduced Chestnut blight which spread and began to devastate trees in the early 1900s. Research of European, Japanese and Chinese chestnut trees has offered hope and success in saving/creating a new strain which is much less susceptible to the virus.
MSU is now cloning rather than grafting these crossed trees and allowing the Forest Keeling Nursery in Missouri to grow the rootstock for planting in Michigan exclusively. Nearby Kewadin already has Japanese-European trees in production as does the NW Michigan Horticultural Station. It was interesting to hear that many cherry and apple growers have or are replacing their fruit trees with Chestnuts. Hypo virulence refers to the biological management of disease which researchers have found to be effective in controlling the virus from killing the chestnut tree and actually allowing the tree to heal itself.
Dr. Mora’s presentation was enlightening and helped this very unaware backyard gardener (me) understand a promising trend for farmers, consumers and tree lovers. Thank you, Dr. Mora!
Garlic Mustard, Alliaria Petiolata
credit: S.Callahan/Photri Images
Photo by Dreamstime, permissions granted for the sole use of MGANM
The Battle Against Invasive Plants… and the Rewards
by Ruth Steele Walker, AEMG
It’s a never-ending story — the battle against invasive species! Each year Scott and I do battle against several plant invasive species on our property. In spring there is garlic mustard to pull, at any time of the year there is Oriental bittersweet to keep track of (while planning its demise come warmer weather) and in summer there’s the frustration of fighting the Oriental Bittersweet, tree of heaven and autumn olive. We’re also removing some things that were planted before we got here like periwinkle and lily of the valley, some things our neighbors planted that have spread on to our property and some things that we planted before we knew better.
Given that fighting invasive plants has become an annual ritual, I was excited to attend this month’s Master Gardener Association of Northwest Michigan meeting where Emily Cook of the Northwest Michigan Invasive Species Network (ISN) spoke.
The ISN covers our county, Leelanau, as well as Benzie, Grand Traverse and Manistee counties in Northwest Michigan. They provide a host of services and work bees to help eradicate invasive plants from our area. Their website really says it all: HabitatMatters.org.
Why bother with getting rid of invasive plants, especially pretty ones or ones that quickly grow and fill in a bare area? It’s pretty simple. Native plants feed wildlife, butterflies and the insects that are necessary for pollinating plants – including those plants that produce our food – and feeding the birds and butterflies. Plants that grow quickly are likely to be aggressive enough to push out the native plants that are so important for keeping our world healthy and thriving.
Emily divided invasive species into four categories: plants that were mistakes, like purple loosestrife and phragmites, plants that were prized for beauty before their invasive qualities were discovered such as buckthorn, Japanese barberry and baby’s breath; plants that were a well-meaning oops, including autumn olive which was heavily promoted as a plant of choice in the 1970s and plants that provide food (and were brought by our ancestors when they immigrated to this area) such as garlic mustard.
One of the great things I learned at Emily’s talk was that ISN keeps a Top 20 list of plants that qualify as invasive species. This is important for me to know as a Master Gardener because if I’m giving out advice about planting, I need to know which species are problematic and have been identified as specific problems in our area of the country.
What was disheartening to hear is that half of the plants on the ISN Top 20 list are still being sold for landscaping. What was heartening to know is that ISN has a group of landscapers who have agreed not to include invasive species in their projects. The group is called Go Beyond Beauty and identifies landscapers and nurseries that have committed not to use or sell high-threat invasive plants. So far ISN has signed up eight nurseries on this list and there are 13 landscapers (two of which have nurseries on the list as well) that are committed to avoiding invasive plants.
Currently ISN’s focus is on four invasive species: (pictured below)
Japanese knotweed, also referred to as Michigan bamboo. If you find this on your property, Emily says, call ISN. Do not move it or mow it!!
japanese knotweed close-up growing in the UK background and texture. Photo by Dreamstime, permissions granted for the sole use of MGANM
Garlic mustard, the focus of annual pulls each spring. The nice thing here is it makes a great pesto sauce and you can bag and dumpster any part you don’t eat.
Garlic Mustard, Alliaria Petiolata
credit: S.Callahan/Photri Images
Photo by Dreamstime, permissions granted for the sole use of MGANM
Phragmites, which is prevalent along our shorelines in Michigan.
Phragmites australis flower close to the lake in autumn. Photo by Dreamstime, permissions granted for the sole use of MGANM
Oriental bittersweet, known for its “kudzu effect” in covering trees and anything else in its path.
Oriental Bittersweet. Photo by Dreamstime, permissions granted for the sole use of MGANM
If you’re on the fence about removing some of the invasive plants on your property check out some native gardens near you and see how beautiful native plants can be while providing a habitat for birds, butterflies and bees.
Dicentra canadensis, Squirrel corn. Photo by Whitney Miller
What’s in a Name?
by Cheryl A. Gross, AEMG
It is time to begin making plant wish lists for spring! Scour catalogues and books, think about adding new landscaped beds, refreshing existing landscaped beds, reducing lawn, benefiting pollinators and birds, oh my. What plants will you choose? Knowing plant origins and names is very important if you want to be an ecological gardener superstar.
The very best plants for ecological support are native plants. They developed here and have the intricate relationships between soil, climate, and insects that create the web of life. Why do native plants matter? Insects create the biomass of food for baby birds. Adult birds prefer insects as well, but as adults can also feed on seeds and berries. Insects are famously picky eaters. Some insects eat ONLY one plant, while a very few are generalists. Pollinators are required to help plants make seeds and fruit and our food. The highest quality of nectar and pollen available to our pollinators are provided by native plants. For example, dandelions have only 40% of the nutrition of a native spring bloomer.When visiting a nursery, buy “straight” native varieties. (To learn about which plants are native visit: michiganflora.org.)
So when visiting a nursery, it is best to buy “straight” native varieties. The question becomes, though, how can you tell if a plant is “straight” and not a “cultivar” or a “nativar” Well, ALL plants have Latin names. That name is their scientific descriptor. Many also have common names… or “nick names” and can have many of those. Let’s take Dicentra canadensis. It is also commonly called Squirrel Corn, Wild Bleeding Heart, or Girls, (in relation to Dicentra cucullaria, also called Boys or Dutchman’s Breeches). Therefore, when shopping for plants, you really should know the Latin name.
Plant scientists LOVE messing with plants and creating “new” or altered plants. These are called “cultivars” because they have been “cultivated”. This includes, but is not limited to, different leaf color, different blossom color or size, or different berry size. When cultivating or “messing” with native plants, they sometimes call them “nativars”. The problem is this: insects have a specific relationship with the native plant and we have no idea how any change will affect that relationship. The argument is that there is no science to prove that it is a problem. So until there is, cultivars of native plants should be considered OK. I don’t buy it. Science HAS gotten as far as to determine that changing a leaf from green to red changes the enzymes and the chewing insect that relies on that leaf is unable to digest it and that bees and other pollinators cannot access the nectar and pollen in double blossoms.
Here is the final tip. Look at the plant tag to learn whether the plant has been cultivated. Those plants generally have a third name in quotes. For example, if you want a Serviceberry, or Amelanchier laevis, it has many varieties, several second Latin names, and many, many common names. If you see a THIRD name in quotes, “Autumn Brilliance” you know it is a cultivar. Don’t buy it.
Tree huggers, Birch and Maple. Photo by Kathryn Frerichs
The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben: A Review
by Kathryn Frerichs, AEMG
Once in a great while I am astounded by some new, amazing findings in medicine, genetics, botany, etc. The revelations in Peter Wohlleben’s book The Hidden Life of Trees create one of those times. The works of natural scientists in recent years have revealed the role of mycelium and bacteria in the soil now called the Wood Wide Web.
Teaming with Microbes by Jeff Lowenfels was reviewed in the Real Dirt previously. In it, mycelium is described to extend plant roots and exchange minerals and water for sugars from those roots. Miles of threads of mycelium exist in a teaspoon of soil. The mycelium belong to the fungi family and the largest living organism on earth is a fungus that covers 2,384 acres and is dated at 2,400 to possibly 8,650 years old. Plenty to be gobsmacked about with these discoveries. Then comes Wohlleben’s book to take us to that place of wonder and amazement regarding trees.
Wohlleben reveals how to observe that trees can, in fact, detect smell. The thorned acacia trees in Africa have been observed to ward off giraffes by secreting a bad tasting substance in their leaves tanking them from tasty to nasty. The long-necked herbivores then trot off to a neighboring acacia and depending upon the wind direction, the trees will have already begun secreting that nasty-tasting chemical into their leaves too. The giraffes have figured out that the downwind trees can smell chemicals from neighboring trees and just move upwind to chomp on other unsuspecting trees. Trees do, by deduction from this example and others examples, have to be able to “smell” or detect the odor the other trees emit. Some critics claim that Wohlleben’s writing becomes anthropomorphic. Whatever you may want to call it, smell or detect, trees are communicating via odor/smell. Man can be very egocentric in thinking that only the human species can ‘smell’. I think more of us will pay attention to his work with his imaginative approach.
Peter Wohlleben explains how trees communicate through the air and through the Wood Wide Web (WWW). Saplings that are living on the shaded forest floor are fed by the mother trees through their roots. The saplings can wait in the dark, so to speak, because the mother trees feed them for decades before an opening in the forest canopy provides the light to fuel their growth. Trees feed one another in times of illness too. They use the WWW, also known as mycelium, to accomplish this feat. After a number of these examples, you begin to realize that a forest is not made up of individual trees but is a type of super organism. The parts are all interconnected and protecting one another. Trees, also, have the ability to detect artificial light at night Eventually the light stunts their growth. They need to stop photosynthesis at night in order to rest.
A forest of trees operates in concert with one another by regulating their climate. The leaves, or their solar panels, provide a cooling effect and feed and water the roots every autumn when they are broken down and become soil. The depth of the soil increases over time. They can withstand wind storms by buffering each other to prevent being toppled over. By fall the trees have made and stored as much sugar as they can so they shed the solar panels to rot and become new soil for the next season. Also, Mr. Wohlleben tells us that when man comes along to harvest lumber from these magnificent giant-coordinated organisms called forests, they cut down the oldest, largest most mature trees. Our old growth trees are the biggest carbon sequesterers we have. The first trees to be cut down in a forest are the largest ones ‘who’ are the most capable of helping us fend off climate change.
I highly recommend The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben to Master Gardeners. Besides being a delightful read, it is informative, teaches us to respect those giants of the forest living in the slow lane, and recognizes that trees are interconnected in ways we have not anticipated. Communication, sleep, nurturance, and functioning as one organism make for better survival just as Darwin hypothesized.
by Cheryl Gross Advanced Extension Master Gardener
You have read the headlines about performance enhancing drugs in baseball and cycling. The improvements to performance are temporary and the dangers are significant. Well, homeowners have been engaged in “doping’” their lawns and gardens for years and don’t even realize it. Most lawn “care’” products- – fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides- -act a lot like performance enhancing drugs. They may make your lawn “look” better, but the results are temporary and the side effects are serious.
Any plant, whether a lawn or landscape bed, needs nutritious soil and the appropriate amount of sunlight and moisture to thrive. The soil is the “diet” of the plant. It needs good food. The nutritious soil comes from organic material. When we fertilize, we give it a vitamin at best and a steroid at worst. We do not really “feed” the plant for strength and vitality. A healthy lawn can compete fairly with the weeds and, for the most part, choke them out. A lawn on “steroids” can only compete as long as the grass plant has the chemical in its system.
Herbicides kill plants. Used selectively they can be very useful in eradicating nuisance or harmful plants, such as poison ivy, from our lawns or environment. Used broadly, they may miss the target and leave harmful chemicals in our yards to be spread to our kids, pets and tracked into our houses. We don’t fully know the affect these chemicals have on us, but there is plenty of research looking into it.
Pesticides kill insects and animals. Again, there may be a place for selective pesticide use. However, broad use of pesticides may result in harming or killing beneficial insects and animals. How soon after application is it “safe” for a child to play or an animal to lie on a treated lawn? No one really knows.
While it is your decision to use lawn care services or do it yourself and follow a manufacturer’s step plan, have you considered where these chemicals go once applied to your lawn? They can both float on the breeze and runoff into our watershed. You and your neighbors breathe the chemical residue. The creeks, rivers, and lakes receive the excess. The plants and animals in the water are affected by the runoff. Before you invest in any lawn or garden chemical, stop and think about it. Does your lawn really need to have artificial vitality? Do a few weeds really cause such offense? Is killing a few insects worth the risk?
Instead, look into ways to improve your lawn and garden diet. Add composted organic material to feed your plants. Strengthen the entire ecosystem to encourage the plants you desire and discourage weeds. Use only targeted herbicides and pesticides and be sure they are worth the effort and expense. Finally, seek out organically friendly products that address your needs without contributing to problems downstream.
Help is out there. Contact your local conservation district, Master Gardeners, organic gardening center, or garden club. Learn more about weaning your yard from chemical dependency and protecting our environment.
