2021 Mid-Atlantic Garden, Lawn, and Other Green Stuff Thread

[snowfan]

Here’s an odd one maybe someone can explain. In my neighborhood there are red maple lined streets. On one side of a particular street, every red maple is dying off on the same side of the tree (the side facing the street). I thought it may be termites, but not so sure. Any thoughts?

[BlizzardNole]

Wow that's weird.  Could it be road salt being pushed onto the grass and affecting the roots on that side of the trees?  We get more salt accumulation than snow around here. 

[vastateofmind]

On 5/16/2021 at 9:16 AM, BlizzardNole said:

Got the rest of the gardens planted in the nice weather yesterday -- tropical milkweeds, lantana and titan vincas.  Get out deer and rabbits, nothing for you here!

Anyone have large maple trees that are struggling?  I have three that seeded so heavily that they were completely covered in brown spinners that made them look like it was late November instead of late April in my yard.   Then they dropped and the trees are really struggling to leaf out.  It's mid-May and they are only maybe halfway leafed out.  I thought multiple branches were dead but they finally have some tiny leaf buds.  I guess they'll finally be fully leafed out by June.  That's crazy.  Anyone else seeing this?

Funny that you mention this. I believe you and I mentioned the heavy occurrence of spinners on maples this year, several times -- the maple isn't mine, it's my neighbor's, however it behaved exactly as you described here AND with the bulk of the spinners finally off/down,  I noticed that some of the topmost branches weren't leafing out. In fact, I wondered if those branches had died, but I've just noticed over the past few days that they were just behind in leafing out with the rest of the tree. In 20 years of living with that damn PITA maple tree (my neighbor misses most of the mess from HIS tree, as it hangs mostly over MY backyard), I've never seen the spinners this heavy.

[mappy]

Pool water is being delivered Thursday! Wooooo just in time for some hot weather this weekend. We converted the pool to a salt water system this year, going to save so much on chlorine. 

[Baltimorewx]

3 minutes ago, mappy said:

Pool water is being delivered Thursday! Wooooo just in time for some hot weather this weekend. We converted the pool to a salt water system this year, going to save so much on chlorine. 

Nice! Thats the main thing I miss about being a kid and living with my parents...the pool! And the associated pool parties as a teenager/young adult

[mappy]

14 minutes ago, Baltimorewx said:

Nice! Thats the main thing I miss about being a kid and living with my parents...the pool! And the associated pool parties as a teenager/young adult

Its a massive hassle as an adult. LOL I like it better when I didn't have to be the one to maintain it

[Baltimorewx]

6 minutes ago, mappy said:

Its a massive hassle as an adult. LOL I like it better when I didn't have to be the one to maintain it

Lol I hear ya..ours was above ground, the only thing I had to do was walk around the ledge of the pool and help take off and put on the pool cover each winter/summer season.  My mom maintained the rest but she loved floating in the pool all day so she didnt mind haha

[mappy]

4 minutes ago, Baltimorewx said:

Lol I hear ya..ours was above ground, the only thing I had to do was walk around the ledge of the pool and help take off and put on the pool cover each winter/summer season.  My mom maintained the rest but she loved floating in the pool all day so she didnt mind haha

Ours has been a bigger pain because we have shit well water (thanks SHA!) so a couple years ago we had to have all new concrete poured for it. So now we have to have water brought in every year vs filling it ourselves. Its time consuming and annoying, but I'm glad we have it. 

[BlizzardNole]

We had a pool growing up in Calvert and my parents still have it.  It's really nice for summer family gatherings with their many grandkids.  I remember doing grass cutting and weeding chores on a hot day as a kid then dropping into that pool Nestea plunge style

[vastateofmind]

7 hours ago, mappy said:

Pool water is being delivered Thursday! Wooooo just in time for some hot weather this weekend. We converted the pool to a salt water system this year, going to save so much on chlorine. 

We have friends in Catonsville who converted their pool to salt water several years ago and love it...said they wished they'd converted long ago, just for the more efficient maintenance.

We belonged to the neighborhood pool the entire time our kids were still at home and that worked well. Sometimes I think I'd love having our own pool...and then I hear more sobering observations from current pool owners (like yourself) who make me second-guess that wish.   

[mappy]

12 hours ago, vastateofmind said:

We have friends in Catonsville who converted their pool to salt water several years ago and love it...said they wished they'd converted long ago, just for the more efficient maintenance.

We belonged to the neighborhood pool the entire time our kids were still at home and that worked well. Sometimes I think I'd love having our own pool...and then I hear more sobering observations from current pool owners (like yourself) who make me second-guess that wish.   

I've heard good things about doing it, and it was very reasonably priced. Company came out and put a convertor cell on the pump and that was it. We will have to add chlorine until the pool temp hits 75, then the salt convertor does the rest.

But yes, owning a pool is big upkeep and maintenance. Balancing chemicals, cleaning it, dealing with the solar cover and putting it off/taking it off, then the whole opening/closing mess every year. We love ours, don't get me wrong, but I think if we were to buy a house again we would get one without a pool. 

[poolz1]

1 hour ago, mappy said:

I've heard good things about doing it, and it was very reasonably priced. Company came out and put a convertor cell on the pump and that was it. We will have to add chlorine until the pool temp hits 75, then the salt convertor does the rest.

But yes, owning a pool is big upkeep and maintenance. Balancing chemicals, cleaning it, dealing with the solar cover and putting it off/taking it off, then the whole opening/closing mess every year. We love ours, don't get me wrong, but I think if we were to buy a house again we would get one without a pool. 

Salt systems are extremely popular.  Roughly 75% of our customer base have converted to salt.  With that said, we are honest with our customers on what to expect from a salt system as there is a lot misinformation and misconceptions out there.  We have a salt system on our pool and love it.

A few things to keep an eye on when owning a salt pool..

- A natural byproduct of the generation of chlorine is to constantly raise your ph.  If left unmonitored, ph levels can shoot through the roof and you certainly dont want to winterize your pool if it has a high ph level.

- The chlorine generated is an unstable form of chorine that is gassed off as soon as UV rays make contact.  Maintain a good level of CYA (stabilizer) so you can set the cell at a lower output thus extending the life of the cell.

- Clean the cell per the manufacturer's instructions. The process that goes on inside the cell encourages calcium and other dissolved solids to precipitate out. This will cause scale build up on the flow switch, temp sensor and "fins" inside the cell.  Left unchecked, it will ruin the cell in a season or two.  Using a maintenance dose of a scale inhibitor will help reduce the scale build up.

-  Be very careful using an auto cover or solar blanket on a salt pool.  The pool must be allowed to gas off the unused chlorine on a regular basis.  The build up of  gas under the cover will create a chlorine level that will be unsafe to swim, throw your water chemistry out of whack and make that expected pool party a dud.  We have seen chlorine levels at 30+ppm after a customer returns home from vacation.

 

 

[mappy]

8 minutes ago, poolz1 said:

Salt systems are extremely popular.  Roughly 75% of our customer base have converted to salt.  With that said, we are honest with our customers on what to expect from a salt system as there is a lot misinformation and misconceptions out there.  We have a salt system on our pool and love it.

A few things to keep an eye on when owning a salt pool..

- A natural byproduct of the generation of chlorine is to constantly raise your ph.  If left unmonitored, ph levels can shoot through the roof and you certainly dont want to winterize your pool if it has a high ph level.

- The chlorine generated is an unstable form of chorine that is gassed off as soon as UV rays make contact.  Maintain a good level of CYA (stabilizer) so you can set the cell at a lower output thus extending the life of the cell.

- Clean the cell per the manufacturer's instructions. The process that goes on inside the cell encourages calcium and other dissolved solids to precipitate out. This will cause scale build up on the flow switch, temp sensor and "fins" inside the cell.  Left unchecked, it will ruin the cell in a season or two.  Using a maintenance dose of a scale inhibitor will help reduce the scale build up.

-  Be very careful using an auto cover or solar blanket on a salt pool.  The pool must be allowed to gas off the unused chlorine on a regular basis.  The build up of  gas under the cover will create a chlorine level that will be unsafe to swim, throw your water chemistry out of whack and make that expected pool party a dud.  We have seen chlorine levels at 30+ppm after a customer returns home from vacation.

 

 

Thank you for all that information! We only use the solar cover early in the summer as our pool gets sun all day long and doesn't need the cover on after the first few weeks because then we are swimming in a bath tub. 

We made the switch to salt because we were having the worst issue with cyanuric acid every summer. The CYA would get too high, so we would have to add more chlorine, but then the stabilizer that is within chlorine tablets would cause more issues and it just never ended. Was such a pain in the ass by the end of every summer as our chemicals were out of whack, we'd get algae and just an overall sliminess to the pool. 

[Kay]

Nice warmth and cloud cover but too windy

[vastateofmind]

21 hours ago, Kay said:

Nice warmth and cloud cover but too windy

93 right now IMBY, though only 34% humidity -- bearable (for me), especially with breezy conditions again today. But I sat outside in the backyard too long yesterday and paid for it...my seasonal allergy symptoms returned with a vengeance last night.

[Kay]

7 hours ago, vastateofmind said:

93 right now IMBY, though only 34% humidity -- bearable (for me), especially with breezy conditions again today. But I sat outside in the backyard too long yesterday and paid for it...my seasonal allergy symptoms returned with a vengeance last night.

That breeze has been helpful from a human POV. Just tough on young plants so delayed some planting plans. We seem to be in the midst of a pollenpocalypse.

[32º]

To avoid working in the mud, I planted 9 rows of sweet corn before the rain Friday. However I now must wait to see what comes up because the 1.6"/hr rate may have washed away the seeds.

[Eskimo Joe]

2 hours ago, 32º said:

To avoid working in the mud, I planted 9 rows of sweet corn before the rain Friday. However I now must wait to see what comes up because the 1.6"/hr rate may have washed away the seeds.

I lost my first round of direct sow zinneas and sunflowers from rain the other week. This has been a frustrating year for the garden.

[mattie g]

Got back last night after eight days away...garden has exploded. The only plants having a little bit of a tough time is the basil I planted the day before we left. I expect them to take off before too long, but the jalapeños and tomatoes are beasts.

The pond landscaping is like a jungle after only a week. No idea what to do with it - trim, transplant, leave it alone - at this point! 

[poolz1]

After years of trying all kinds of slug repellants and traps I have yet to find something that works well for organic gardening. The past few years I started trying to rid them the old fashion way...manual removal. 

This year I have done this in all of the gardens and it has been a success!  Once the local population is mostly removed I find that they never really recover to the point of being able to destroy a plant.  Takes about  5 days of constant vigilance in the early mornings and nights....picking them off with a stick and dropping them into a cup of water.

For me, slugs are by far the worst garden pests.  They have destroyed so many plants over the years and its been frustrating. 

Next up....I need to figure out how to eliminate squash vine borers  

[mattie g]

1 hour ago, poolz1 said:

After years of trying all kinds of slug repellants and traps I have yet to find something that works well for organic gardening. The past few years I started trying to rid them the old fashion way...manual removal. 

This year I have done this in all of the gardens and it has been a success!  Once the local population is mostly removed I find that they never really recover to the point of being able to destroy a plant.  Takes about  5 days of constant vigilance in the early mornings and nights....picking them off with a stick and dropping them into a cup of water.

For me, slugs are by far the worst garden pests.  They have destroyed so many plants over the years and its been frustrating. 

Next up....I need to figure out how to eliminate squash vine borers  

I’ve used beer traps to pretty good effect. Slug-Go also does a decent job, but I find that combining “treatments” keeps them at bay for long enough that any damage they might inflict later on doesn’t hurt the mature plants.

Squash vine borers...I surround the bottoms of the vines with either paper towel rolls or Solo cups with the bottoms cut out. It helps that I usually only grow cucurbits, which they don’t really like, but when I had “volunteer” pumpkins a few years ago they didn’t give me trouble.

[poolz1]

1 hour ago, mattie g said:

I’ve used beer traps to pretty good effect. Slug-Go also does a decent job, but I find that combining “treatments” keeps them at bay for long enough that any damage they might inflict later on doesn’t hurt the mature plants.

Squash vine borers...I surround the bottoms of the vines with either paper towel rolls or Solo cups with the bottoms cut out. It helps that I usually only grow cucurbits, which they don’t really like, but when I had “volunteer” pumpkins a few years ago they didn’t give me trouble.

Will have to check out the Slug-Go...never heard of it.  I have tried several versions of beer traps and just couldn't attract them....

I actually thought about using some of that white tree wrap that I use for the base of our fruit trees..Could the larva still bore through that stuff?  Probably so I guess...

We alway get a decent zucchini crop but production is alway cut short because of these suckers....They hit every squash plant I try to grow.  

 

[CAPE]

Deer were eating some of my flowers, including the roses. I have not had a major issue over the years considering there are always a bunch of deer around. The few times I have, I chop up some Irish Spring bar soap, place it in some old stockings, and hang it over the plants. Seems to have worked again lol. That fragrance is so strong and awful smelling- no wonder they don't like it. No idea how people can use that crap. I was sneezing and felt nauseous just cutting it up.

[CAPE]

Was outside mowing. What a perfect day for yard work. Upper 60s and breezy- no sweat in full sun.

Took a couple photos. Probably at peak yard now. If you look close enough you can see the stocking filled with Irish Spring hanging above the rose bush off to the left.

 

 

[mattie g]

That’s a beautiful landscape, @CAPE...but that pond is even nicer than everything else!

[CAPE]

Just now, mattie g said:

That’s a beautiful landscape, @CAPE...but that pond is even nicer than everything else!

Thanks. Pond has held up well over the years. Just replaced the pump a couple weeks ago. Home to quite a few frogs during the warm months. Sometimes I get a big ass bullfrog in there.

[vastateofmind]

11 hours ago, mattie g said:

That’s a beautiful landscape, @CAPE...but that pond is even nicer than everything else!

Was just thinking same after seeing @CAPE's pond pics, and your new backyard ponds came to mind!! Y'all are inspiring me...I've always wanted one of these.

[LP08]

Tomatoes and green beans coming in nicely.

[mattie g]

Harvested garlic scapes yesterday. Love these things. Great for pesto, as well as for sautéing - whether by themselves or with mushrooms - and served with a steak!

[WxUSAF]

I’ve got some serious mole issues in my yard lately . Maybe partially due to the cicada feast? What should I do about them?