Bullington Center - Spring Plant Sale 2011

April 29-30, the Bullington Center will have its annual spring plant sale from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. We will offer for sale many varieties of perennials, herbs, heirloom and other vegetables, hard-to-find annuals, trees and shrubs. Call 698-6104 or visit www.bullingtoncenter.org for more information. All proceeds from the sale will go to support educational programs for children and adults at the center.

Pesticide Collection Day - Haywood County

North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, in cooperation with the Haywood County Cooperative Extension, will be offering a Pesticide Collection Day for residents in Haywood and surrounding counties. The local site manager will be Tim Mathews, Agricultural Extension Agent for Haywood County. Collection will be Wednesday, May 18, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the Extension Center at 589 Raccoon Road in Waynesville. Nearly all pesticide products will be accepted. For liquid pesticide containers larger than 5 gal or for unlabeled pesticides, please contact the Cooperative Extension Office for information before bringing to the collection event. No gas cylinders are accepted at the event; however, assistance information can be provided. Contact the Cooperative Extension Office for more information. Don't miss this opportunity in Haywood County. For more information contact Tim Mathews at the Haywood County Extension Center at (828) 456-3575.

Garden Plugs Newsletter - May / June Edition

The May/June 2011 issue of the Garden Plugs Newsletter is available for your reading enjoyment at the link listed below. Just click on this link and your on your way (you must be able to view a PDF in order to open the link).

NCDA&CS Agricultural Tornado Assistance Program (AgTAP) - Hotline Information

Purpose: Farmers can call into the Department to get more information about assistance programs, have their concerns heard, and get answers to their questions. Websites are currently under development to assist farmers with sharing resources and finding volunteers. Farmers can call the Hot line to find out more information about ongoing Departmental and other agency efforts.
Phone: 1-866-506-6222
Hours of Operation: 7 am – 7 pm (Monday – Friday) Hot line is currently operational as of 4/20/11. During the holiday weekend, the Hot line will be available Friday 4/22/11 and Saturday 4/23/11 from 7 am – 2 pm. If calling after hours please leave a message. Messages will be frequently retrieved, and will be returned as soon as possible. The Hot line will be closed on Easter Sunday.

Also, the Farm Service Agency (FSA) has instituted the Emergency Conservation Program (ECP) to allow farm operators to be reimbursed for the cost of debris removal and repair of fences due to damage from the recent tornadoes. Operators should contact their local FSA office to apply for this program. Generally the office will either visit the site or ask the operator to document the damage with photographs prior to clean up. Click here for a fact sheet detailing the program. Click here for contact information to your local FSA office.

Finally, farm operators can contact their county Extension agent and/or county Emergency Manager to ask that a resource request be submitted to North Carolina Emergency Management (NCEM) for prison labor to remove debris from fields to allow normal cultural practices to resume. The owner/operator will need to sign a Right of Entry Agreement Waiver which will be provided by NCEM or the county Emergency Management office. Click here for contact information to your local Cooperative Extension Office.

South Carolina: Downy Mildew Found on Cucurbits in Home Garden Center

Article can be found on WNC Vegetable and Small Fruit News. See this site for more info.

Gall on Virginia Pine

Wednesday afternoon, this sample of Virgina Pine came into the Master Gardener Info line. The gall on this branch is caused by a disease known as Pine-Oak Gall Rust. This fungal disease, caused by Cronartium quercuum, requires two different hosts to complete its life cycle. It lives part of its life-cycle on pines and part of its life-cycle on oaks.

Symptoms on pine include swollen areas on the branches, lumps or galls measuring up to 4 inches across, and slowed growth. Trunk galls on young trees may result in death or breakage of the trunk or branches at gall location. Galls on branches may girdle and kill tissue beyond the infection. Symptoms on oak leaves include small dark brown spots with yellow borders on the upper leaf surfaces, and reproductive structures develop on the underside of infected leaves.

In the spring, mature galls on the pine host release windblown spores, which infect expanding oak leaves. About one week after infection, orange spores are released from the underside of infected oak leaves, causing additional oak leaf infections.

The above photograph shows the orange spores produced by the pathogen and being released on the surface of the gall.

Control measures include removal of infected branches on pines to remove the source of inoculum (spores) available for infecting oak trees. No control measures are feasible on oak trees.

Flat Rock Playhouse - Spring Daffodils

The Henderson County Master Gardener Volunteers have planted 2,000 daffodil bulbs in the gardens of the Flat Rock Playhouse. If you have not visited the State Theater lately, please do so soon to enjoy the show!