Blossom end rot looks like the bottom of the tomato is rotting away. The bottom is shrunken and black.

Blossom-end rot is a physiologic disorder associated with calcium. Calcium is required for normal cell growth. When a rapidly growing fruit is deprived of necessary calcium, the tissues break down, leaving sunken lesion at the blossom end. Blossom-end rot is induced when demand for calcium exceeds supply. This may result from low calcium levels, drought stress, excessive soil moisture fluctuations as well as rapid, vegetative growth due to excessive nitrogen. This reduces uptake and movement of calcium into the plant.

Simply, it is a lack of calcium & a watering problem. The plant needed calcium at some point in its development of the fruit and there wasn’t enough water to transport the calcium up to the fruit. So this condition develops.

The solution is to fertilize with Calcium (FOLI-CAL) and be consistent with your watering.

Monterey FOLI-CAL

Tomato Cracking

Cracking of the skins is mostly a problem of inconsistent watering or water availability. The plants take it up and grow too quickly for the skins to expand. It mostly seems to happen when you water after a dry spell.

The solution is to water more thoroughly and more consistently. You will get more consistency and far fewer cracks.

-By Maggie Oldfield Thayer Nursery

Blight One: Septoria Leaf Spot

Septoria Leaf Spot is the most common blight, and it appears roughly around the end of July and starts out as small round black or brown rotting marks on the lowest leaves. It works its way up the plant to hit all the leaves but it starts from the bottom first. You will still get fruit if you have this problem.

Blight Two: Early Blight

Early Blight is the second most regularly seen tomato blight. It usually appears about the same time as the Septoria but it has concentric target-shaped marks, the spots on the leaves look like targets with circles within circles. This tomato blight spreads all over the plant and you will still get fruit but the crop will be reduced.

Blight Three: Late Blight

Late Blight is the least common of these tomato blights. It appears later than the previous two and the first symptoms you will see are watery type lesions on the lower leaves. If you get this one, you won’t have to ask what you have because the elapsed time from the time you first see it to the time the plant wilts and dies is about a week. If your tomato plants simply shrivel up and die with big brown spots on the leaves and it seems to happen overnight, your plants are suffering from Late Blight.

What Can Be Done

Generally if you’ve already seen the problem, there’s not a lot you can do. A preventative organic spray of Lime-Sulphur or Serenade mix will slow down the spread of Septoria and Early Blight but the real key is in the prevention of the problem. The cure rests in good gardening techniques rather than any kind of magic spray.

Mulch
Mulching will reduce the stress on the plant and it will prevent “splash-back” from the ground to lower leaves during rainstorms. The lower leaves on tomato plants tend to be dirt splashed because rain or irrigation tends to splash dirt up. This dirt can contain the spores for blight.

Rotate Crop
Do not plant any crop in the same place more than one year. Planting in the same spot from year to year is simply an invitation to problems. Spores build up in the soil and there’s little you can do to prevent them from using your tomatoes as a food source.

Don’t Water At Night
Do not water in the evening. You want your leaves to be dry going into the evening. Damp leaves & dark conditions are ideal for spore starting and keeping those leaves dry is the way to keep them healthy.

Do Not Crowd
You really do need to space tomato plants apart. Staking the plants and giving them at least two square feet each is the best way to keep the leaves dry. Also prune off the lower leaves. This lets the air and sunlight into the fruit and it also reduces watersplash.

Don’t Compost
The average composter does not get hot enough to kill the overwintering spores so the best thing you can do is bag up the waste.
If you see a branch with a problem, prune it out immediately. Do not let it sit on the plant to infect all other parts of the plant. Also, pull out any weeds from around your plants – they reduce air circulation, suck up nutrients and can act as a host for tomato blight.

Select Disease Resistant Plants
If you have a problem with tomato blight, plant cultivars with disease resistance. Look for letters after the name of the plant that might say “V” for verticillium resistant, or “F” for fusarium resistant. While not specifically blight resistant, they do have better overall resistance to tomato blight problems than those without those initials.

-By Maggie Oldfield Thayer Nursery

Milton on Lookout for Asian Beetles
Milton’s tree caretakers are taking extra precautions after the discovery earlier this week of an infestation in Jamaica Plain of the same Asian longhorned beetles that have destroyed thousands of trees in Worcester County.

Worcester and several surrounding towns have lost 25,000 hardwoods to the insect menace. Earlier this week, in the first Massachusetts sighting outside of Worcester’s 74-square-mile quaratine zone, an infestation felled six trees across from the world-class Arnold Arboretum nature sanctuary in Jamaica Plain.

This latest discovery of the white-spotted Asian longhorned beetle and the subsequent removal and chipping of the infected trees only five miles from Milton on the grounds of Faulkner Hospital has stirred extra vigilance among local hardwood caretakers.

Thayer Nursery, on Hillside Street at the foot of the Blue Hills Reservation, grows many species of hardwood trees in its fields, including elm, ash, birch, maple and willow. Up until now, the nursery had little concern for the Asian beetle, instead focusing on other common insects like aphids, mites and leaf miners.

“Because we are a Massachusetts farm, we do get inspected yearly by the Department of Agricultural Resources,” Maggie Oldfield, managing partner of the nursery’s garden center, said in an email. “They walk around our farm inspecting for diseases and insects.”

Recently the department added the longhorned beetle to its inspection list. The latest DAR check was in early June, Oldfield said, and it found Thayer Nursey “very neat and clean.”

At the end of May, a coordinated search by federal and state forestry agencies failed to turn up any of the beetles at more than 200 vacation homes and campgrounds from Pennsylvania to Maine.

But now, with the insects found just a few miles away, the nursery is boosting its tree observation.

“There really is not anything we can do except to monitor our farm,” Oldfield said. “We try to be as organic as possible and as of now, there is not any organic preventative for [the Asian longhorned beetle].”

The beetle, barely an inch and a half long, has devastated Worcester County residents since 2008 by boring into and killing thousands of hardwood trees. Only recently have the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation and the U.S. Department of Agriculture gotten a handle on the situation by way of the quarantine, keeping vigorous watch and spraying insecticides.

DCR spokeswoman Wendy Fox said the agency is encouraging keepers of hardwoods to watch for perfectly-round, pencil-sized holes that can indicate infestation in a tree. The beetles, thought to have come to the United States from China in shipping crates, kill trees by digging into their heartwood, which transfers water and nutrients to other parts of the plant.

“It’s something everybody can keep an eye on,” Fox said.

She also said that so far there have been no sightings of the beetle outside of Faulkner Hospital and Worcester County.

Meanwhile, the DCR has cordoned off a 1.5-mile area around the Boston infection where the transportation of firewood or other woody material is banned. Massachusetts Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Ian Bowles said the state is “working as quickly as possible to determine the extent of the issue.”

Joe Lynch, director of the Milton Department of Public Works, said the town’s tree crews have been following state protocols for identifying invasive insects and disease for the past five years. The regulations include looking out for Asian longhorned beetles. Following this week’s new sighting, identification guidelines were rebroadcast to crews, who are watching for egg masses, holes and the beetles themselves.

If infected trees are found, Lynch said, they will be removed and destroyed and the area will be quarantined.

“We went from a warning level yellow to a warning level orange,” Lynch said. “We haven’t gone to red because there have been no confirmed sightings [in Milton].”

Forestry officials working in Worcester have found some success fighting the beetle, which has no known predators, by removing infected trees and spraying healthy specimens with a pesticide called Imidacloprid that prevents infestation.

Anyone who thinks they’ve spotted a beetle can compare the insect they’ve found with similar-looking species at the website of the Massachusetts Introduced Pests Outreach Project. The project is a collaboration between the state DAR and the UMass Extension Agriculture and Landscape Program, funded by the USDA. The site also includes a form for reporting pests.

Oldfield said Thayer Nursery can help by staying sharp-eyed and quickly notifying officials if beetles are spotted to ensure rapid eradication.

“And probably the most important thing we can do is to replant our own landscapes with non-susceptible trees thus creating a more diverse landscape.”

Wanted For: sucking the life out of innocent rose bushes with their needle-like mouth

Description: pinkish, greenish white; 1/16″ long & soft-bodied

Hangout: rose bushes; especially on stems, buds and young leaves

Kryptonite: Saf-t-Side Horticultural Oil, Bt & Lady Bugs

So Long, Suckers!

There are almost as many kinds of aphids as there are kinds of plants –rose aphid is just one example. Rose aphids prepare for next spring’s assault by laying hundreds of eggs on the branches of the rose bush. After the young aphids hatch, they spend their entire lives gorging on their victim’s life juices and producing more criminals. Too many on one bush can force some aphids to move and begin attacking another rose bush. Unless winters are mild, adults will die and only the eggs will survive until the next spring.

Not only should you learn about aphids, but you should also get to know the squadron of beneficial insects covering the area. Many hunt down aphids, restoring law and order.

However, aphids aren’t just sitting ducks-they have ants for bodyguards. Ants will tend aphids for their honeydew and protect them from aphid-eaters, so look for ways to deter ants, too.

Aphids reproduce quickly, actually giving birth to females that are already pregnant, so keep good records of changes in population size and tactics you used to control them.

CAUTION

aphids let diseases hitch a ride on their backs to new plants & then puncture plants for them so watch out for a fungus popping up at the same time as an aphid infestation

Planting for the future.

-By Maggie Oldfield Thayer Nursery

New England turf lawns actively grow in the spring and in the fall; in summer they are dormant, so now is the time is for “Black Gold” to do its magic.  It takes patience to adopt this organic approach, but with top dressing, your lawn will be green earlier and stronger throughout the summer.

Here’s how it works.
Cut your lawn extremely low; use the lowest setting on your mower as possible.

Aerate the lawn. Aeration is the process of using a mechanical or manual lawn aerator to make holes in the surface of your lawn. Making holes in the surface of your lawn allows deeper root growth and reduces soil compaction. When you aerate your lawn, you allow air, water, and nutrients direct access to the root system.

Spread (also called “broadcasting”) using a shovel, ¼ “layer of compost on the lawn.

Comb the compost into the lawn with a level rake.

Spread fertilizer, lime and seed.

Drag rake across the lawn to till in these items.

Sprinkle a bit more compost, adding peat moss to cover and retain moisture.

Water in and keep seed moist for 3 weeks; try to water twice a day.

This approach is very beneficial to your lawn, and when coupled with proper cultural process, i.e. mowing high in the summer heat, and watering deeply and infrequently, (watering in short intervals does not create a sustainable lawn) your lawn will love you!

If you have any questions, or want to learn more about top dressing, stop by the nursery at 270 Hillside Street Milton MA or give us a call at 617-698-2005.

SOIL PREPARATION
The key ingredient to a great veggie garden is soil. Put some extra effort into preparing your beds before planting and you will save time and effort in the future. Dig the bed up to break up compacted soil and add ORGANIGRO compost with VERMICULITE to improve drainage. Adding MAG-I-CAL with humates encourages microbial soil life and attracts and increases the population of earthworms. ACTINO-IRON is a biological soil additive that helps prevent early blight as well as contain iron to enhance root development and plant vitality.

CROP SELECTION
Base your selection on what your family likes to eat. For example, plant several varieties of tomatoes, one for munching (CHERRY), one for cooking (ROMA), one for slicing (BIG BOY) and one for conversation (ZEBRA). Don’t forget the some herbs (basil, oregano, cilantro & rosemary.)

WATER
Vegetables need a bit of extra care when it comes to watering. Consistent watering will produce successful results. If you have a large garden, you may want to consider a soaker hose. This will ensure that your plants get an even watering without getting the leaves wet. All you have to do is remember to turn on the hose!

SUMMER CARE
Fertilizing consistently with NEPTUNE’S HARVEST every 2-3 weeks will give your garden the additional boost it needs to ensure a bountiful crop.

Notes:
Low soil moisture combined with high humidity levels at the plant surface favors disease growth. BI-CARB OLDFASHIONED FUNGICIDE is an organic contact fungicide that disrupts the potassium ion balance in the fungus cell, causing the cell walls to collapse.

Spraying with FOLI-CAL Calcium will help prevent and treat plant disorders associated with calcium deficiency & complement good soil fertility by supplying nutrients directly to the foliage and fruit of crops during critical growth stages (blossom end rot on tomatoes, peppers & melons.)

Okay, we know that June 21st is the official start of summer, but, really, we know it starts with the Memorial Day weekend. This is when the yard begins to come to life in earnest, when we carefully examine the damage of winter and see who made it through. We scrutinize the lawn. We frown. We buy new work and garden gloves, rakes, shovels, whatever we may have misplaced or thrown away the previous year. And we start to sweat.
We replace a shrub that just couldn’t take the northeast wind on the northeast corner of the house. We smile at those hardy types who are straight and tall and happy to be back. We get the annuals in if we can, and we perhaps a few more perennials here and there.
We rake.
We dig.
We mulch.
And our backs begin to hurt.
We’re satisfied, yet something is missing. We want bright bursts of color up front and visible. And we want it right now. Not on June 21st.
We want container gardens!
We want our pots of every imaginable shape, matter, and color, stuffed with colorful growing plants that are fragrant and full of personality spilling over on our stairways, ledges, walls, and walkways.
And we want them ready right now.
So at Thayer this weekend, we‘ve decided to set aside time and space all weekend to make your wish come true. Container gardens, right now. Just bring in your pots, buckets, barrels, containers, whatever pleases you, to have filled with flowers and green, and we will help you put it together.

Right now.

The Drift® Roses have arrived at the nursery and while small, they’re the next big thing for small gardens.

From the producers of The Knock Out® Family of Roses, Drift® Roses are repeat-bloomers that are tough, disease resistant, winter hardy and virtually maintenance free.

Drift® Roses are a cross between full-size ground cover roses and miniature roses. From the former they kept toughness, disease resistance and winter hardiness. From the miniatures, they inherited their well-managed size and repeat-blooming nature. The low, spreading habit of Drift® Roses makes them perfect for small gardens and combination planters. They brighten up borders, fill in empty spaces, and spread delicately around your favorite established plants.

Come visit us and meet these hardy, new arrivals with the big personalities!

Peony Envy!
The perennial peonies, as well as some tree peonies, have arrived in the nursery and they are truly impressive.

Peonies are very easy to grow in full sun, and they are plants with a long life. The big fluffy old fashioned fragrant flowers are a favorite in wedding bouquets and in centerpieces.

Did we mention they smell great?

These peonies have made a huge impression on us. Let them make an impression in your garden.

Come meet them and take some home.

This is the woman who always wanted to hear what we had to say,
hear what we had done that day, hear where we had succeeded
and where we might have fallen short, but in her eyes, never failed.

She loved us when we forgot her birthday.
She loved us when we gave her an iron on that birthday.
She loved us when we gave her a bunch of poison ivy for a Sunday centerpiece.

And we loved her.

We loved her when she called us by our sister’s name.
We loved her when she made that special meal when we came home from school.
We loved her when she said nothing about the ridiculous outfit we were wearing,
Or stopped us at the door for it.

She is the person we could always call when we needed her,
Who would love us when we thought no one else in the world ever would
Wherever she was, we were home.

Bring something special home this weekend
Bring her something special from Thayer

Factors that contribute to the success of the composting process:

1. Temperature
Bacteria in a compost pile create heat as they work and grow. The best temperature for speedy composting is about 140* at the center. To maintain good temperatures, an ideal compost pile should be at least 3′x3′x3′. You can start a small pile and build as you go.
Check the center of your pile – is it hot?

2. Oxygen
Aerobic, “oxygen-loving” organisms work quickly and without odors. If a compost pile does not have enough air, anaerobic organisms will take over and odors will develop. Encourage aerobic decomposition by turning the pile whenever you add materials.
Odor? Turn pile to add oxygen

3. Moisture
All organisms, including those in a compost pile, need water for growth. A dry compost pile will decompose slowly. If it is too wet, the oxygen supply will be limited and anaerobic decomposition could occur.
Do the “Squeeze Test” – composting materials should be about as moist as a wrung-out sponge.

4. Food
The creatures that do the work of decomposition view our waste as their food. Microscopic organisms need a mixture of carbon and nitrogen to grow & reproduce.
Generally: “green” materials are high in nitrogen (decompose rapidly), “brown” woody materials are high in carbon (break down slowly).

When Is Compost Finished?
Finished compost is a brown, crumbly, earthy-smelling, soil-like material. It takes between six months and one year for a pile to yield a finished product, depending on how much attention it is given. You should not be able to recognize the waste materials that went into the pile. Screen before using for finer compost & put un-decomposed materials back into the pile to break down further. Once the compost process is complete, you can work it directly into your garden improving the soil structure & soil biology. Sprinkling it on the lawn will keep it green & reduce the water needs of your grass.

The Benefits Of Compost:

• increases the organic matter in soil and helps build sound root structure
• balances the pH of the soil
• makes nutrients in soil more readily available to plants
• attracts earthworms, considered the “earth’s greatest recyclers”
• makes clay soils airy so that they can drain better
• improves the ability of sandy soils to hold moisture and resist erosion
• raises the vitamin and mineral content of food grown in a compost-rich garden
• reduces reliance on petroleum-based fertilizers

Compost recycling does indeed start in your own garden!

planting for the future.

-By Maggie Oldfield Thayer Nursery