Welcome everybody to Midday Magazine for this March 7th, 2024.
Have your host James J. Mailoff here.
And welcoming into the studio are amazingly wonderful friends.
You know, we're a horticultural educator at UW Extension.
You know, hey, it's good to see you.
It's good to be back.
Yeah, it's been too long.
It's great to have you here.
Thank you so much for joining us.
How have you been?
Pretty good.
Pretty good.
Yeah.
The weather is bringing some challenges.
Yeah.
I'm getting a lot more horticulture calls coming into the
office with questions about what do I do about this or that?
Then normally this time of year.
I imagine.
Normally, people are just kind of maybe pruning questions.
But look at that.
Um, you know, people are just planning either in their planning stages.
And this year, um, had some people calling with real specific questions
that, like I said, it's a little early.
Yeah, I saw, um, on one of our local news stations a little while ago,
uh, your, your division of extension highlighted talking about gardening
and the master gardeners.
And, uh, I know that that's a, uh, a passion for you as well.
Have you been, uh, before we get to and to your notes here and everything?
I was curious.
Have you been getting call a lot of gardening calls as well?
Cause I know that this time of year, usually when we've talked before,
this is the planning time to set that stuff up.
Are people getting, you know, itchy and they, they want to get right in the ground
right now because of the weather and stuff?
Um, I've had some people call regarding, um, if they should be cleaning up.
They're, you know, doing garden cleanup type stuff and things like that.
Um, yeah, people are, people are getting antsy and it's hard for me to tell them,
you know, no, you just hang tight.
It's too early.
Yeah.
Let's get into that a little bit, uh, cause I know that, uh, trimming trees is
another one right there that we want to hit on that and make sure to talk about that too.
Yeah.
So, um, the time to prune typically for your woody plants, um,
the best time to prune is going to be when the plant is dormant.
So late winter, very, very early spring, typically I tell people,
a writer around St. Patrick's Day, that's a good time to go ahead and be pruning.
Um, but I've had some phone calls come in and, um, one in particular,
I thought was really interesting.
This gentleman asked if it's okay to prune oaks now, um, because he's concerned
about oak wilt.
So the reason why he's asking in particular about, um, if it's okay to prune oaks is
because there's a disease, uh, called oak wilt.
And typically we recommend not pruning oaks at all unless they're completely dormant.
The reason why is oak wilt is transferred from one tree to the next by sap beetles.
Now, the crazy thing is they've done some research to see how long after a prune,
um, does it take for the sap beetles to find that, that open wound in the tree?
10 minutes.
Whoa.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's why we recommend not pruning if the sap beetles are active,
which the sap beetles aren't active during, when typically when the trees are dormant, right?
I can't even find my keys in 10 minutes.
Right.
It's impressive.
It's impressive.
Yeah, they, they, they got the right nose, right?
Or something.
Anyways, um, so this, uh, person that reached out to me, and they were concerned
if that the, the sap beetles may be active with the warm temperatures that we've
been experiencing.
So I thought, wow, that's a really great question.
I don't know the answer.
Um, and the, the benefit of having, uh, the benefit I have when people come to me with
questions is I can reach out to all the resources within extension to get the answer.
So I reached out to, um, Dr. Huddleston, he's the director of the plant disease diagnostic
clinic, uh, to ask him, you know, hey, is it okay or should we wait until the temperatures
drop again?
You know, what, what's a good idea here?
He's just to go ahead and prune them.
If they need to be pruned, um, even with the warm temperatures that we're experiencing.
But immediately after pruning, it's, uh, he thinks that it's important to go ahead and
paint over that wound.
Now this is a special case that we're suggesting painting over the wound.
Uh, I know back in the day, they used to, in fact, you can still buy pruning paint or
pruning tar for pruning, uh, for any pruning cuts.
We don't recommend that for most trees, except oaks.
Oh, and it's because of the, um, it's, and then, especially during the, um, during the
growing season when the sap beetles are active, um, we write, if you do, let's say that
there's a storm that comes through and you've got to go in and clean that up, um, at that
point, definitely, uh, use a pruning, uh, latex or pruning tar, but you don't have to
use those products.
If you've got a half empty, uh, bucket of latex paint in your basement from painting a
room, you can use that latex paint to paint over the wounds.
Yeah.
And you're kind of coderizing the wound.
Exactly.
There's your doing okay.
Yeah.
What you're doing is making it so that way the, the sap beetles won't be able to, um,
infest right through that open wound.
Well, and you, and that is, you, when you say a meaty, you mean in the first couple of
minutes of that cut, exactly.
You cut, you paint, you cut again, you paint, you don't even like make cuts throughout
the entire tree and then paint.
I would immediately paint.
If you haven't done this before, if you really want to, you know, you may be
done in different ways and this is the way you want to do it.
Now, is there a kind of like, uh, back lack of a way to put it like a step by step
that you guys have at extension?
Is there a, uh, you know, way to see that and kind of just have it in front of you to
read or through and take step by step?
Yeah, we've got a fantastic fact sheet, um, that has got some really great
pictures that'll show you step by step.
Um, when it comes to pruning, um, if you're dealing with a large branch,
you're going to want to do it a real specific way.
So that way you don't end up doing more damage to the tree.
Um, it's easier to explain with pictures or if I, if you're right in front of
me, but yeah, you definitely reach out to me at the extension office at phone
number seven, one, five, two, four, one, eight, four, four, zero.
And just say that you need that fact sheet and they'll, they'll send me the
message and I'll get that to you.
We'll get that number out again before we wrap up today.
Uh, I did want to also mention extension as an aquil, right risk model, uh,
that it's a helpful, I imagine.
Yeah.
So this lets you know, whether or not it's a model, you know, it's not perfect.
Yeah.
But, um, it's going to give you a good idea on whether or not the sap beetles are
active and it's based off of degree days.
You can find that just by googling, um, oak, wilt, thermal model.
You throw the pop right up and I tested that out and popped right up.
I came right up and everything.
So and it was very helpful.
I thought I showed it to my dad right away and he, he's really appreciating
and he's really going to enjoy this conversation as he always does.
Um, when it comes to these dry conditions, what about raised beds?
How about that subject?
Yeah.
So I had somebody call me up and he was wondering, you know, and this is one
of those questions that typically this time of year, I say, don't worry about it,
right?
Because everything's dormant and typically we've had, you know, at least enough snow.
But in this case, and he sent me some pictures of his raised beds.
They're, um, they're in metal, uh, metal containers, um, the beautiful raised
beds, but I'm pretty sure with the dry conditions that we've had, um, that they
probably could use watering.
He had perennial vegetables growing in them.
So some strawberries and some asparagus.
If you've got raised beds that you grow annual vegetables in, you don't need
to worry about watering it.
But if you've got plants that are alive right now and they're just sitting dormant
waiting to reactivate and, and they're in a raised bed, you may want to go
ahead and water them and continue watering them as long as we've got dry
conditions.
Good to know.
Thank you for that.
Um, the winter, uh, sowing this year, let's get into that a little bit and
how that affected, uh, watering and conditions.
Yeah.
So winter sowing is a gardening technique.
Um, it's really getting popular these days.
The reason why, well, so what it is is you're going to, um, plant some seeds, um,
inside of a container, uh, think the most popular container I see is just regular
milk jugs.
And so they cut them, um, almost in half and then they plant inside of them
and then they seal them back up with some, um, duct tape.
And it works like a little greenhouse and you can vent the top with the cap, right?
Like that.
Oh, that's awesome.
It's a slick, uh, slick growing technique.
The reason why people, um, do winter sowing is a lot of your seeds and in
particular perennials, um, and native plants, they require what's called
stratification.
And that just means it's a cold treatment typically, you know, around 12
weeks.
And so putting the seeds inside this, um, in this little greenhouse that you've
devised, um, and setting it outside all winter, that gives it that cold
treatment and it's totally hands off.
Uh, yeah, yeah, it works really slick.
So I had some buddy reach out to me, um, earlier last month and they asked,
you know, uh, with the warm temperatures that we've been having, um,
I'm trying winter sowing for the first time.
Am I still going to be successful?
And I told her, you know, I'm not too worried because our cold temperatures
still should be cold enough for that cold treatment to occur.
But again, since we're not getting the snow, yeah, keep an eye on those
containers and make sure that they're, they're staying moist, especially
because it's a little mini greenhouse.
It's going to be really easy for them to dry out really fast.
Uh, are there any other, uh, notes that we should know about the winter
sowing if you're, if you're people are attempting it, especially if it's the
first time they're doing it, um, you know, I think, um, the biggest thing
would be as the temperatures increase, keep an eye on those plants
because they can cook inside those containers pretty easy.
And that's the reason why you've got that duct tape sealing them up.
If it's really warm one day, like I think it was last week, we had, uh,
almost 70 degree temperatures on those days, go ahead and take the duct tape
off and let them fully vent.
Mm hmm.
Good to know.
Uh, what about, uh, mulch in perennial vegetable beds?
Uh, that can be something that, uh, also comes up, I imagine, in conversation.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So same gentleman that was asking me about his raised beds.
He was wondering, you know, is it time to start pulling the mulch off of the,
um, off of the plants that he's, uh, he's got that a perennial,
not asparagus in those strawberries again, um, in typically,
we experienced these temperatures in mid April.
Yeah.
And so and that's when he normally takes the mulch off and so he's concerned
whether or not he should take that mulch off now.
I told him, um, not to worry so much about the mulch until he sees new growth
start to pop.
As soon as he sees that new growth start to pop, go ahead and take that mulch off.
Just like you would in April, um, but don't, you don't need to do it.
Just yet, unless you're starting to see new growth, if you're starting to see new
growth, yeah, you're going to want to get that stuff off.
Um, and, you know, we're all kind of living through an experiment right now.
So I would say, um, definitely break out the garden journal and take notes
this year of what is happening.
So that way, next year and the year after that and the year after that,
you're going to have, um, really good data that you're going to be able to work
from. Again, I don't expect these temperatures next year, um, we're in a
super El Nino year, um, but next time El Nino comes back around again,
you're going to want to have this data.
Yeah.
And, and this data, I mean, not only to have the data as a vital, but you live
it through the data and experience that that, that if you will add a notes to it,
uh, can only help you with a future gardening, future pruning, any of these
things. And, and so much of what I've learned from you, uh,
Janelle is data is so how important that data is.
Data is not good or bad.
It's data.
It's, it's just great information to be able to have and to apply, especially as
you touched on in the world that we don't, you know, we have some great meteorologists
out there and they're really good at what they do.
Um, but we can only predict so much and we can only know so much.
Uh, we heard a lot of people coming into this winter that it was going to be a
warmer winter that we were going to get less snow.
I don't think anybody could have predicted exactly how little less and all that.
That part gets a little more tricky.
This data helps you with that going forward.
You may not be able to predict what next winter is going to look exactly like,
but the data is certainly going to be useful to, uh, to have.
Absolutely.
Speaking with Janelle, we're horticultural educator with UW Extension, Madison,
Wood County. And Janelle, we're talking a little bit about pruning here.
What about, uh, uh, should we prune apples?
Is this time of year for that?
Is it the time for that?
Yeah.
So, um, I had a phone call from a gentleman, um, who, um, he has, uh,
he's not a commercial grower, but he has about a hundred apple trees.
And so pruning his apples, that's a big adventure for him.
Every late winter early spring.
Um, again, apples are going to be the same as the rest of your woody plants.
And so typically we say, don't prune them and, um, or, I'm sorry, we say prune them
during the dormant season.
He had some concerns whether or not, because he's got such a huge investment,
whether or not it would be appropriate for him to wait until, um,
I got this phone call at the beginning of February.
And so he was wondering, it would it be appropriate to wait until mid-March,
or should he go ahead and get out there and prune, um, back in February?
Um, I wasn't sure because we were having really warm temperatures back then too.
I want to say it was around the 60s when I got this phone call.
Um, so I reached out again when I don't know, I go to the experts.
Got a great team.
Yeah, yeah, I got a lot of great resources over there.
So I reached out to our, um, fruit tree specialist to ask her whether or not, um,
it would be, you know, like, what do, what does he do?
Yeah.
She said the dormant pruning can be done any time during the winter.
And it can be delayed actually all the way up until bloom.
I don't recommend waiting until they're blooming, but you can.
The most important thing to consider when pruning is going to be to make sure that there's
not going to be a significant drop in the days after the pruning is done.
And she gave the number of 30 degree drop as a significant drop.
So if the temperatures are going to be within, you know, say 10, 15 degrees,
you can go ahead and prune.
But if we've got a cold front predicted at the end of the week,
hold off before pruning until that cold front comes through and the,
and the temperature stabilize again.
Yeah, those plans will thank you.
Yeah, yeah.
With the western kind of, how about the seed beetles increase?
How about that one?
I'll let you say that word in the dialogue.
Yeah, I was going to, I walked into that one.
I, I, yeah.
So western conifer seed conifer, there it is.
Seed beetles, um, so they are going to be, they're just completely normal and
sucked outside, but they can become a pest indoors.
And they're going to be kind of like those multicolored lady Asian beetles.
So when the temperatures get warm in the fall,
well, once we have cold temperatures and then we have a little warm up after that,
they will along with the lady beetles,
they'll try to find a nice warm place to nest in your home.
So this, um, homeowner, um, she said that, you know, they've,
they've struggled with them in the past, but never in numbers like she's seeing this year.
And so she was wondering whether or not that was weather related.
I can't say for certain if it was weather related or not,
but it does make sense to me that they would be more active in higher numbers this year,
because they've had a bit of a vacation from a really bad winter.
The way to handle these guys is to, right now at this point,
I told her at this point, the biggest thing is going to be just, you can sweep them up,
or you can vacuum them. Good news is they don't bite.
Okay, that's good.
So they're not, and they're not going to do any damage to your home.
It's going to ask, okay.
They're just there trying to survive, wait out the winter,
once the temperature is stabilized and get warm again,
they'll go back outside.
And then in the summer, late summer early fall before the temperatures get cool again,
she's going to want to go through and do some really good,
sealing up the house, any weather stripping.
She had identified, it was a southern facing bathroom window,
where she thought that they were coming in.
And so it could be simple things like tightening up that screen,
making sure that there's no cracks in the siding near the, or the window frame.
Just sealing it up really good.
But for right now, the biggest thing is just not to worry too much about them, sweep them up,
take, make sure that you get it on the calendar to take care of them later on the summer.
Yeah, and given that they're not too, they don't cause too much damage in some of that and
everything, this is kind of a friendly warning of how to do these things,
where to look for these things.
You want to do it before something more invasive,
or something that can cause damage does get in.
So kind of a nice pre-warning sort of with them too.
Sure, and you know, I mean, if the seed beetles are making their way inside your house,
then you know that your heating is making its way outside of your house.
So you probably will help out with the energy cost too.
Absolutely, a great point.
Is it too early to fetch the yard?
Yeah, yes, it is, the short answer is yes, it is.
So this one, this call made me chuckle a little bit, a gentleman called me and asked,
he's seeing all of his neighbors outside,
fetching and raking up their yards, and he's wondering,
should he be doing that?
Is he running behind?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You've got to keep up with the Joneses.
Right, right, so I let them know, you know what, the reason why you don't want to go and
fetch the yard right now is the grass is still dormant.
So you're actually going to be doing some damage if you get out there and fetch
while the grass is dormant.
The grass is going to wake up once the soil temperatures hit around 50 degrees.
The way that you know that without a soil thermometer is take a look for
for sithia bushes.
They're going to be those yellow bushes, the like very first thing that blooms in spring,
when you see them blooming, or crocuses.
Oh, crocuses are really early bloomers too.
Both of them bloom when the soil hits 50 degrees.
At that point, the grass is going to start to wake up.
It won't be dormant anymore either.
Then feel free, get out there, take care of that one.
But before then, you're just going to be doing damage.
Yeah, great note to keep in mind.
And this is all been very, very helpful.
Thank you so much to know.
One of the things I know that you guys do over there
is have some great programs at UW.
If you don't mind in the last couple of minutes we have here,
I'd like to highlight some of the programs that you guys are up coming.
Yeah, so a lot of my programming
that I do in person takes place over in Marathon County.
But I do have a program, if anyone's willing,
to make the drive to Mozini.
I am going to be doing a program about composting and fertilizing.
Oh, excellent.
Called From the Ground Up, Fertilizers and Composting.
That's going to be at the Mozini High School Library.
It's four adults.
High schoolers are welcome.
And it just happens to be housed at a high school.
But it's really meant for adults.
The program's free.
It's going to be March 28th at 6 p.m.
That's a Thursday evening.
Free program.
But I do ask that you register first.
You can do that by calling the coordinator for
a community education at Mozini.
That phone number is 715-693-25.
50.
And then the extension is 3696.
Composting and doing a lot of this is becoming more and more popular.
I see it a lot in the cities, a lot of that going on.
It's a great opportunity to learn more about it face-to-face.
Or, you know, being able to ask questions in person.
And certainly something where I could see people,
no problem traveling to be able to take in this information.
And again, pre-registering.
Make sure to call 715-693-2550.
Be sure to do that to register for this free opportunity.
The Green Thumb Gardening also coming up.
That's another great program.
Yeah.
I'm just going to back up just a second though.
If you can't make it to Mozini,
if you've got some time at 10 a.m. Wednesday, March 27th.
So that's going to be the day before.
I'm going to be doing that exact same program,
but it'll be virtual.
So you don't have to drive to get to me.
Great.
Oh, nice thing.
You are so smart.
Good thinking.
That's a really good idea.
That is a very good idea.
The Green Thumb Gardening.
Just wrap up with that real quick.
Yeah.
So my friend, she's a, just like me,
she's a horticulture educator.
She just serves Dane County.
She's got a lot of really cool programs
that she's doing virtual now.
So it's part of the Green Thumb Gardening series.
First class she's got is today, March 7th.
It's going to be a virtual program.
And that one's on composting in the vegetable garden.
Next Thursday, March 14th,
she was going to do a program all about cover crops
and how you could use cover crops in the vegetable garden.
And then the following week,
Thursday, March 21st,
she's going to have a program called
Seat Saving, Harvesting and Storage.
Now, all of these programs do cost $12 for each class.
And if you'd like to register,
just Google Dane County Extension Green Thumb series.
And we want to remind you that there are other great programs
involved with Natalie Ginell's field,
but other fields at extension.
There's free online programs for Wisconsin gardeners,
fundamentals for plant disease,
Q&A with experts in many, many other great ways
to take in some amazing knowledge
and learn more and more about our planet,
learn more about our gardening
and all these other factors.
Ginell, always learn and always grow when you're with us.
Greatly appreciate the time and the information.
Oh, I always enjoy coming here.
If people have follow-up questions,
they want to know more.
They have anything for you.
How can they reach you, Ginell?
So you can call the extension office here
in the Wood County Extension Office.
That's going to be 715-421-840.
I also serve marathon county.
And so the easiest way to get a hold of me
is by email.
My email address is my first name.last.
So that's j-a-n-e-l-l-dot-w-e-h-r-at-w-i-s-c-dot-e-d-u.
Always appreciate you, Ginell.
Thanks so much for the time.
Say hi to our friends at extension force.
We'll do.
We'll do a more midday magazine for you tomorrow
right here at WFHR, locally grown radio.
