Nursery Labels for Neonicotinoid Pesticides

Many of you know that bee-lovers have been pushing companies to label their plants for neonicotinoid pesticides.  Neonicotinoids are pesticides that are absorbed into the leaves and stem and other parts of the plant from the roots up.  Thus, they are less harmful for humans to use because you don't have to worry about residue or spray drift, but unfortunately they are also suspected to have a detrimental effect on helpful wildlife such as bees.

Recent studies have shown that, even though the low levels of neonicotinoids in plant nectar and pollen don't outright kill bees, it still adversely affects the bees' brains, causing them to struggle to learn and remember things.  Studies have found there is a relationship between neonicotinoid use and the Colony Collapse Disorder of bees, which has gotten so much press lately.

Check your labels!  Systemic products made by companies such as Bayer often contain
neonicotinoids, two of which are Imidacloprid and Clothianidin.

Since many gardeners certainly don't want the plants in the garden to be contributing to the death of bees, people have been petitioning the big box nurseries to label their plants for these pesticides.  I have to applaud BJ's Wholesale Club and Home Depot for stepping up (yay!).  They both have agreed to require their vendors to either stop using neonicotinoid pesticides or to label for them if they do continue to use them.

new Home Depot labels for Neonicotinoid Pesticides

I was at Home Depot the other day and got to see their new labels.  They say, "This plant is protected from problematic Aphids, Whiteflies, Beetles, Mealy Bugs and other unwanted pests by Neonicotinoids."  Wow, I am impressed with their marketing team - here I was expecting them to have a little tiny label shamefully admitting a plant had neonicotinoid pesticides, but instead they were spinning it into a positive thing!

back of the label

Most of their indoor plants had these labels.  I must say, after having battled all sorts of pest problems with my indoor plants, I rather understand why they would want to use neonicotinoids on them.  And since those plants are indoors, they aren't hurting bees.  (However, I do wonder what would happen if my plant-loving cat ate one of those plants...)

What about outdoor plants, though?  Do many of them have labels?

We don't have a lot of outdoor plants in stock yet, as it is definitely still winter up here in the Boston area.  Home Depot only had their berry plants and grapes in.  I was glad to see that most of them were not grown with neonicotinoid pesticides, though there were a couple varieties of grapes labeled for it.

I guess time will tell as to whether or not people will buy them.  Hopefully, the labels will lead people to be more cautious about buying these plants, or, at the very least, cause them to do a little research about what these pesticides are that are on their plants.

And hopefully, people will make different choices in their plant buying - putting pressure on growers to use alternative (and hopefully more wildlife-friendly) pest management.

So has anyone else seen these labels?  Or seen BJ's tags?  I am hoping some Southern gardeners can tell if many of their outdoor plants are labeled with neonicotinoid pesticides.   I am hoping, too, that other big-box stores will follow Home Depot and BJ's leadership in giving their consumers the ability to make more knowledgeable choices!  Kudos to them!

The Problem with Houseplants

People think I have a green thumb.  But I have to tell you the truth - it's probably only because they haven't seen how many plants I've killed.

At least when gardening outdoors, Nature helps quite a lot.  I can dig a hole, amend the soil, put a plant in a spot where it is most likely to survive, water occasionally when there hasn't been rain for awhile, and the odds are good for survival.  But houseplants... houseplants are an entirely different beast.  They depend entirely on me for survival.

Them odds aren't as good.

I closed my greenhouse up for the winter, as it got too expensive to heat for the few plants I had in there.  So in came all the cuttings and the few tender plants I had.  I also got a few houseplants this fall from another gardener that was moving away.  Many of these went into the guest room, with a few houseplants scattered on windowsills or ledges around the house.  After a while, however, I've noticed many of them haven't been doing too well.  I spent a few days in denial, but finally resigned myself to diagnosing the problem.

Turns out I have several of them.

Problem #1:  Spider Mites
I hate Spider Mites.  They are so tiny that it takes forever to figure out what the problem is.  A couple tell-tale signs of Spider Mites are speckling of leaves from all the little hordes of mites sucking the juice out of them...

...and a fine webbing that appears around the plants, much like spider webbing.

But by the time you finally figure out that there are Spider Mites, you are in a war for the survival of the plant.  In two weeks, a female Mite can lay up to 300 eggs.  In a warm, dry climate (say, the climate of a heated house in winter), the eggs can hatch and grow into adults within 5 days.  At which point, of course, the cycle repeats, and before you know it, a bazillion Spider Mites now call your plant home.

Did I mention how much I hate Spider Mites?

Problem #2:  Fungus Gnats
Since noticing those little black gnats that like moist soil flying around my plants, I've tried to let the plants dry out between waterings, but that is hard with some of the small cuttings and seedlings that I have. I've also gone to my go-to solution of watering the plants with water that has Bt in it. (Bt is the bacteria in Mosquito Dunks and other products that kills larvae.)  My Bt must be old or have expired, though, as the Fungus Gnats have only increased in the last few weeks!  Ack!

Problem #3:  Aphids
Really?  How in the world did I get Aphids?!!  As if I didn't have enough problems with the Spider Mites...

Problem #4:  Root Rot
So far this has been limited to one of the plants given to me by another gardener.  She did tell me that it was fine with neglect.  I obviously showed this plant way too much love and care, and it got overwhelmed.  Or overwatered.  Back to the neglect route... I think I can handle that.

Problem #5:  This one is the largest problem of all.  Literally, the largest.  This one pest weighs about 13 pounds, and its sharp teeth and claws allow it to eat and destroy an entire plant in around 5 seconds.  (See my poor defoliated plant in the white and blue dragon pot near the top of the post for reference of the damage.)

This one problem is also the main reason I don't usually keep many houseplants.

I have two cats.  One comes begging when I make tuna fish, like a proper cat.  This one, on the other hand, comes begging when I make salad.  Boy, oh boy, does she love her greens.

I managed to rescue this plant with a few leaves intact (mostly).

So, my solutions?

#1 Spider Mites: I have been giving my plants showers to try to knock some of them off the leaves.  I also have been spraying with Neem Oil once a week.  That seemed to slow them down but not stop them.  I have now been trying Insecticidal Soap.

#2 Fungus Gnats:  I have bought new Bt and have started watered with that to kill the larvae.  I have also put sticky tape around, which the flying adults land on and get stuck to.

#3 Aphids:  Same solution as #1.  Also, whenever I see one, I squish it.

#4 Root Rot:  I removed part of the plant and am going back to the neglect route.  We'll see what happens.

#5 My plant-eating cat: I have resorted to caging...

Anyone else having problems with houseplants?

Anyone have some good suggestions for getting rid of the pests?

Anyone want a free cat?

(Just kidding)

A New Year and a Naked House

Ah, it's a brand new year!  Time to enjoy flipping through the seed and plant catalogues and dream about how great the garden is going to be this year.  Sometimes I think planning and dreaming of the future garden is half the fun!

Winter is a good time to look back and take stock of how the garden went - and then look forward and make plans!   I have several things on my list already: starting my new shade garden, growing new fruits and veggies, and adding more good dirt and amendments to the veggie garden, since last summer the plants didn't grow as vigorously as I liked.

It's also a good time to look back and see how the existing flower beds did.  The front garden is the most mature part of the yard; we started it right after we moved into our house two summers ago.  This summer it did pretty well, full of successions of flowers, just like I like it.  In Spring, the bulbs were in flower:

With Summer bloomed the Salvia, then the Hibiscus, masses of Coneflowers, and, finally, the riotous Cosmos.

The Cosmos bloomed into Fall, when the berrying Winterberry shrubs and all the Autumn leaves put on their display.

And now it's Winter.  They say that winter is a good time to get a feel for the 'bones' of the garden, or the structure of it.  Let's see how my front garden is doing...

Uh, wow.  Well, other than some leftover Christmas decorations, there is pretty much, um, NOTHING going on in the front.  All I see is a sad, barren, exposed foundation!  There is one small, lone stand of River Birch trees trying to provide some winter interest on the right hand side of the house, and on the far right we do have a little Blue Spruce, which will be a great winter focal point in... oh, a decade or so :)

Other than that, my poor house just looks... naked.

Well, I think this year's plans will now include enlarging the front gardens and adding some evergreen bushes!

I did plant the River Birch, as well as some Red-twig Dogwood shrubs in front for winter interest; however, both of those are really only noticeable up close.  In general I love and tend to plant deciduous bushes and trees.  Deciduous bushes are exciting and sparkly - they change with the seasons and often have beautiful flowers or fall foliage.  But...it takes awhile before they get large enough to add much structure to a garden.

Grow, little trees, grow!

I really do need some bushy evergreens with some nice mass and, well, coverage, to hide my house's bare foundation.  One of my missions this year is to add some shrubs that provide some structure year-round!

Anyone have any favorite evergreen shrubs to suggest?

The Curious Case of the Color Changing Chrysanthemums

Fact:  In September I bought some white mums for my whiskey barrel planters.  

I present this picture for evidence:

Exhibit A

Fact:  Two weeks later, the WHITE mums in my two planters had somehow turned into...

Exhibit B

PINK mums!

Closeup of Exhibit B

Fact: After several more days, the flowers turned an even darker pink.

Exhibit C

Is it some sort of crazy color-changing cultivar?

Or a condition of the cooling fall climate?

Closeup of Exhibit C

Any gumshoe gardeners out there that can crack this confounding case?

I'm almost sure this isn't the scheme of my shifty, scalawag squirrels...

Stone Soup, Anyone?

We haven't even finished building our veggie garden, and we already have an overabundance of our first crop.  

This crop seems to grow a little too easily in this area, as we have harvested dozens in just a small section of soil.  Some even seem to be growing one on top of the other!

While we do love this particular crop, it is pulling them out that is the problem. Some come out easily; others seem to have very deep roots indeed.  

  

It is somewhat exciting - these didn't grow nearly as big or in so much abundance in my previous garden in North Carolina.  If only they weren't so hard to harvest...

A few had grown so large that it took the efforts of both Mr. Red House and I to uproot them. And then there was the Big One.  It had roots so deep, that it defied both our efforts.  (We decided it was quite fine staying where it was.)

Anyone up for some Stone Soup?  You just have to dig a little... (or a lot!)

Wanted: A Few Good Flies

Strange that I should see so many moths flying about when it is so very cold outside.

Still, I wish them well.  I generally like wildlife, and these are pretty in their own way.

But still, how strange that there should be so many of them in such chilly weather...  When driving, it seemed like I was driving through a blizzard, there were so many of them.  Swarms of them hang out on my porch, no doubt drawn to the light.

Wait a second, these might be Winter Moths, which come out in winter to mate!

Invaders from Europe, the caterpillars that emerge in spring have voracious appetites, and wreak havoc on hardwood trees and perennials...

On second thought, I don't wish you well!

Apparently they've become a serious problem in Massachusetts, defoliating thousands of acres of trees (not to mention gardens)!  They have no natural predators here, so their numbers have ballooned in the last few years.

Hey, get away from that plant!

Nova Scotia had its own infestation back in the 1930's.  The Canadian government has effectively controlled the population by releasing a certain parasitic fly.  Entomologists in Massachusetts have started releasing these flies, but funding is, of course, short for such things.  

The only things a home gardener can do to combat the forthcoming destruction are:

1.  wrap up the trunks of targeted trees in fall to prevent the wingless females from crawling up them to lay eggs  (though the larvae travel on balloons of silk and can be easily blown in from other trees)

and 2. spray for the larvae in the spring (which can, of course, kill other, more desirable moths and butterflies)

This doesn't sound like a very winning strategy...

It sounds like the future of my garden could possibly depend on the efforts of a few parasitic flies.

Uhhh.. hmm?

It's all you, guys..

Dear Garden, You Might be in Trouble..

Sorry to break it to you, dear future Garden, but some possible, uh, challenges have been spotted...

I have spotted Bunnies nibbling away at the wildflowers in the yard on several occasions.  The reason this particular Bunny looks so happy?  He knows a Garden is coming.

Yep, that would be a Deer.  Right in the back yard.  Eating something. (Please let it not be the blueberry bushes I planted back there!)

And the neighbor has seen a Groundhog on several occasions.

That might explain all those large holes in the ground back there.   

She's also found a 4 foot long Snake skin.  In a tree.  

(Yes, I know that the snake is actually not harmful to you, dear Garden, but it's still a challenge.  Have you ever wanted to know how little gardening gets done when the now fearful Gardener is constantly looking up?)

Just what we needed.  More Rodents.  This one seems to be of the Chipmunk variety.

And.. 

oh, no, could it be?

...

MUWAHAHAHA!

Aaahhhhhh!  It's the New England division of Squirrels!!!  

We're in trouble..

(for more information about these seemingly innocent Squirrels, please read my Mission Impossible: Squirrel Division post.)

Operation Vole Control - Setting up a Defense Perimeter

It's been a battlefield out there.  All year we have been besieged by that family of organized rodent crime - the Vole family.  Every single one of them has proven to be a serial plant killer, and these tunneling mice-like fiends are apparently also masterminds at avoiding all efforts to trap them.

We have finally pushed them back using deterrents made out of castor oil, but let's be honest - we know it isn't going to last.  

We need to set up a defense perimeter.  

Okay, troops, this is the plan:  we are going to surround our borders and valuable plants with what we hope will be Vole kryptonite - plants that are either poisonous or distasteful to Voles.  Daffodils have been trucked in by the dozens, and other plants resistant to these little monsters have been purchased.  

It is our solemn duty to see that our garden is protected - let's turn it into a veritable minefield for these creatures!

****Bulbs and Vole-resistant Plants included in our defense perimeter****

Daffodils, Alliums, Hyacinths, Grape Hyacinths, Snowdrops, Summer Snowflakes, Star Flower, Fritillaria, Hellebores, and Mountain Mint.

Other Vole-repellant plants for future consideration include:

Glory-of-the-Snow, Squill, Autumn Crocus, and Goldenrod

If any other Gardening Soldier out there knows of any other plants, intel is always appreciated.  

Disclaimer: This Garden Commander does not guarantee all of these plants listed to be completely Vole-proof - when it comes to these nefarious plant killers, all bets are off!

To your trowels, Soldiers - Operation Vole Control is a go!

When It Is Time to Take Down the Bird Feeder

The end of the summer was a troubling time for me and the Red House Garden bird community.  We had a sick bird.

my sick House Finch

I noticed that this little House Finch constantly stayed on the bird feeder.  Its eyes were swollen, and it didn't even notice me at one point when I was right next to the bird feeder - it had House Finch Eye Disease.

House Finch Eye Disease, sometimes called Mycoplasma Conjunctivitis, is a respiratory infection where the eyes of infected birds become swollen, red, and crusted over.  Birds can recover from the infection, but the mortality rate is quite high from starvation or predation as these birds cannot see very well.

House Finch Eye Disease was first noticed in 1994 near Washington D.C. and can now be found all along the East coast.  It affects mainly House Finches, though it has also been found in other birds in the same family, such as Goldfinches, Purple Finches, and Evening Grosbeaks.

the House finch scratching its eyes against the roof gutter.

House Finches are not native to the Eastern U.S. - they are from the West coast.  All of our House Finches here in the East are actually descended from a small group of House Finches (or 'Hollywood Finches' as they were known back then) that were released in Long Island by bird dealers back in the 1940's when it became illegal to keep and sell them.

Hence our Eastern House Finches are all inbred and genetically inferior - and thus more susceptible to this disease.

So what to do about my little sick House Finch?  I didn't want it to infect the other finches at the bird feeder.  I tried disinfecting the bird feeder every day and limiting the amount of time it was up, but the sick bird still hung around the bird feeder quite a bit.  And when I thought I spotted another House Finch that had swollen eyes a couple days later, I knew it was time - I had to take down the bird feeder and let the birds disperse.

House Finch Eye Disease has taken its toll

The sick House Finch was looking even worse by then - I do hope it survived, but more likely Nature took its course.  At least with it being late summer, food was readily available for all the other birds that often stopped at my feeder.  (And despite what my squirrels say, I'm sure they are finding some food around as well!)

It is recommended that the feeders stay down for at least two weeks when there is disease going around.  I've had them down for over a month now as I've been too busy to put them back up, but soon I'll hang them back up for the fall migrating birds and for my winter residents.

 And hopefully by then all my birds will be healthy and clear-eyed.