What are these spots on this marionberry plant?OSU Extension Service
The weather may not agree, but the gardening season is well underway. For answers to your questions, turn to Ask an Expert, an online question-and-answer tool from Oregon State University’s Extension Service. OSU Extension faculty and Master Gardeners reply to queries within two business days, usually less. To ask a question, simply go to the OSU Extension website, type it in, and include the county where you live. Here are some questions asked by other gardeners. What’s yours?
Q: The leaves on my marionberries have small brown/red dots. I’m not sure if it is a fungus or what it is. Can you help me figure out what it is and how to treat it? – Tillamook County
A: This looks like it could be septoria leaf spot, a fungal disease, which does affect trailing berries like marionberry. Fungal spores can overwinter on canes and dead leaves and then rain can spread spores to healthy tissues. Older leaf spots may show centers that are whitish with brown to red borders.
Here are some cultural controls you might consider to help prevent or minimize fungal spread: - Remove old fruiting canes after harvest - Trellis canes in August through early September - Remove weeds around berries to improve air circulation and minimize humidity around berries - Space plants as necessary for good air circulation
If cultural controls aren’t successful, you can consider chemical methods. However, chemicals are much more effective at preventing infection than eradicating it. Here is a link to a Pacific NW Plant Disease Handbook section on septoria leaf spot.
Under “Chemical Control,” you could consider using any of the products marked with H. If you decide to use one of these, please read and follow all label instructions. – Bill Hutmacher, OSU Extension Master Gardener
Q: We have a prolific plant that is taking over our corrals and some garden areas, could you please help us identify this plant so we can get it under control. – Wasco County
A: This appears to be bur chervil or cow parsley, but could also be Queen Anne’s lace. It’s hard to tell without it flowering yet. A word of caution that it could also be poison hemlock, which is toxic to livestock – keep an eye on it and read more here (the plant is still too young to know for sure) and here.
All of these are in the same plant family and can be dealt with similarly. It is overly abundant right now due to the wet spring. It will dry up likely within the coming month unless we continue to see rainfall. If it’s in a small area of concern I would pull it by hand and dispose of in garbage bags that you can put in the recycling bin, take to the landfill, compost or let dry out and burn later. The soil is wet enough that hand pulling should be easy for now.
Herbicides can also be a tool to use if it is widespread. Use spot treatments and avoid broadcast spraying where you might also hurt other beneficial plants. More information here and here. – Jacob Powell, OSU Extension assistant professor of practice
Q: Are bone ashes of any food value to plants and animals? – Benton County
A: Yes, bone ashes contain calcium and are beneficial to plants. Please check out this answer from a colleague, to someone wishing to include the cremated ashes of a loved one, when planting a memorial tree. Wood ash can also benefit gardens, when applied in moderate. Read about it here. – Elizabeth Records, OSU Extension Master Gardener coordinator in Benton County
A hummingbird feeds in September 2018 in Portland, Oregon.Mark Graves file photo | For oregonlive.com
Q: I have a small area in front of our house that gets full morning sun. I would like to plant plants that attract hummingbirds and would last all summer long. It’s an area in front of our house about 3-4 feet’ wide and maybe 10-12 feet long. – Benton County
A: OSU Extension has just the publication that you need. It is called “Attack Hummingbirds to Your Garden”. Not only is there an extensive list of blooming plants that provide food for the birds, the publication also lists other things to take into consideration when planning a hummingbird garden. Enjoy the adventure of planning and planting a hummingbird garden. – Anna Ashby, OSU Extension Master Gardener
What's removing these garlic plants?OSU Extension Service
Q: Over the last week something has cleanly pulled over a hundred garlic plants. I’ve seen no sign of animal tracks or the plants. There are just perfect holes where they were. Just wondering what may pull them and haul them off. I’ve grown garlic for the last eight years with no issue. – Marion County
A: The technique of pulling an entire plant down into the soil strongly suggests you’ve got a garlic-loving gopher, likely Townsend’s pocket gopher. – Dana Sanchez, OSU Extension wildlife specialist
A blue jay is seen on a feeder. File photo. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)AP
Q: How do I keep scrub jays away from my bird feeder? – Benton County
A: Build a wire “cage” around the feeders. Cut and shaped to fit the particular feeder style, 2-by-4 inch welded wire fencing can provide a nice size screener to let most birds in and keep the “bully birds” like jays out. Some commercially-produced feeders now also have bar-treadles that will shut off the feeding port if birds heavier than a certain weight land on the bar. A simple and inexpensive cage is certainly very possible and effective though. – Dana Sanchez, OSU Extension Master Gardener
Q: My huge old lilac tree’s flowers are turning brown, drooping and dying before they’ve even opened. Some flowers have opened and are fine but almost every branch including newer shoots have this happening to some degree. What should I do to take care of this? – Lane County
A: There is a good chance it is shoot tip dieback caused by Pseudomonas syringae. You can read about that ailment, and possible preventions, here.
Another possibility could be the light freeze we had a few weeks ago, which caused a surprising amount of damage to plants that were in a vulnerable stage of development. Have these symptoms just shown up, or did they start appearing in late April? If it is freeze damage, the plant should recover fine, though bloom will be impaired this year.
If after reading the above article, you are still not sure which it is, please either take a physical sample in to your local Extension office, or take a set of high-resolution showing as much detail of the damage as you can, and submit them here. – Signe Danler, OSU Extension horticulture instructor
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