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Alexander County Center

Green Thumb Gazette
July 2022 Newsletter


Click on the following links to see the Garden Calendars for each month:
Farmers Market

If you are in need of fresh, local produce, honey, baked goods, eggs, beautiful planters for your porch, perennials for your flower beds, handmade jewelry or crafts, you have got to visit the Alexander County Farmers Market! Our farmers market has moved to the parking lot of the Alexander County Services Building and is out there every Saturday from 8am to Noon. We have had so many awesome new vendors join this season and we are THRILLED! Our vendors love the new location next to the new park and so does the public, especially families. If you are in town on Saturday, stop by the market to support your local vendors! If you are interested in becoming a vendor at our market, please contact Cari Mitchell, Horticulture Agent, at 828-632-4451.

Here is a list of some of our vendors and some of the items they sell:

Carol Lovingood - fresh sourdough bread, cream cheese pound cakes, & all natural soaps
Beaver Branch Bees - local honey
Margaret & Reece Childers - fresh produce, pound cakes, jams and jellies
Alvin Woody - wood crafts, old timey wood puzzles, & walking canes
Nancy Case - herbs, planters, & vegetable transplants
Colton’s Cluckers - fresh eggs, duck eggs, & guinea eggs
Forever Farm - perennials
Deaton Farm - fresh produce
Johnathan Bowles - fresh, local peaches
…and more!!

Here are just some of the beautiful produce we had this past week at the market:
Brown Patch
If you are irrigating your lawn too much during all this hot weather, you may start to see brown patch develop. Brown patch is a lawn disease that forms when your turf stays continuously wet for 10-12 hours and the temperature stays above 70 degrees. Symptoms increase from over fertilizing with nitrogen, if you have poor soil drainage, lack of air movement, or if you are watering too much or at the wrong time.  Looking for more information on brown patch?  Go to the following link to see complete article:  https://alexander.ces.ncsu.edu/2022/07/brown-patch/
Slime Molds

Have you seen anything like this in your mulch beds this summer? Collectively, these are called slime molds. Even though they can be strange or gross to look at, slime molds are completely harmless to humans, pets, and the plants in your flower beds. The type of slime mold that I have received the most calls about is called Fuligo septica aka Dog’s vomit. An accurate common name, since it does look like a dog threw up in the middle of your mulch bed.
Have you found something around your landscape that you think could be fungus?  Click on the following link for more information regarding slime molds:  https://alexander.ces.ncsu.edu/2022/07/slime-molds/
BOLOs (Be On The Lookout)....
This insect has now been confirmed to have been established in NC. Early detection and rapid response are still critical in order to control this pest and slow the spread. If you see a spotted lanternfly in NC, please submit a picture through this online reporting tool!
Month-by-month lists of common plant diseases, pests, and other problems you may encounter in North Carolina yards and gardens. Straight from our PDIC (Plant Disease & Insect Clinic) entomologists and pathologists!
National Pollinator Week Photo Contest Winner

Congratulations to Selah Sigmon on her winning photo of a Cuckoo wasp for our photo contest! National Pollinator Week was June 20th-26th and we had a photo contest to celebrate. Check out our Facebook page (@alexanderextension) to see all of our amazing photo submissions!
Leyland Cypress Issues & Alternatives

Leyland cypress… one of the landscape trees that makes my job as a horticulture agent a little more challenging. This tree is a hybrid of two other trees from the pacific coast (Monterey cypress and Alaska-cedar), is sterile, capable of growing over 100ft tall, and CAN be grown in many different conditions as far as soil, weather, and amount of sunlight it receives. It seems like everyone has tried to implement this tree into their landscapes at some point or another, mainly for screening purposes because they grow tall and grow fast.

The problems with this tree, however, are abundant, especially in the south. The main problem I see on a weekly basis it seems, is that homeowners plant them too close. These trees grow so fast and so tall that even if they had the perfect environment to grow, they won’t be able to make it because they are now competing with the one 3 feet beside it for light, water, and nutrients. Not to mention that they are now more prone to disease since there is virtually no air moving through their canopies and they are stressed out.

The next problem I see most with these trees are that they are very susceptible to root rots and stem cankers, specifically Armillaria and Phytophthora root rots and Seiridium and Botryosphaeria cankers. These are UNTREATABLE diseases and will spread to the rest of your leylands. Most of these diseases occur because of poor plant spacing and poor planting technique.

For more information regarding Leyland Cypress trees or if you are looking for an alternative please click the following link: https://alexander.ces.ncsu.edu/2022/07/leyland-cypress-issues-and-alternatives/
Check out the video below from the Horticulture Department at NC State University on Tree Planting:


This is your reminder to water your lawn & plants only when needed during these hot days of July and August!
 
NC State University and N.C. A&T State University work in tandem, along with federal, state and local governments, to form a strategic partnership called N.C. Cooperative Extension.
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