Hamilton County Master Gardener Intern Class Offered and Set to begin in August

Hamilton County has scheduled their popular Purdue Master Gardener Program to begin August 23rd. Classes are scheduled for Tuesday and Thursday afternoons from 1:00-4:00 pm. The program provides gardeners with intensive education in horticultural principles. The instruction is provided without charge, however, there is a fee for supplies which become your personal reference collection. Participants who successfully complete the program and, thereafter, donate an equal number of volunteer hours in community gardening services are certified as Master Gardeners. Yearly donation of time is expected to maintain certification.
Click here for more information.

Looking for local sources to Grow Native!

The Grow Native! program makes sourcing native plants easy for customers. Simply visit one of the participating retailers on the flyer below and look for the Grow Native! logo on plant stakes to find plants that will be a beneficial addition to any yard. 

 A list of participating retailers across Central Indiana is available online at Hamilton County Soil and Water Conservation District. You can learn more about these plants through the Indiana Native Plant and Wildflower Society website.

Spring Seeding Tips for a Successful Lawn

Most Purdue University publications recommend seeding lawns in the fall or in late winter before the soil thaws. Winter seeding allows the seeds to enter cracks in the frozen soil creating great seed to soil contact. Sometimes we are forced to seed our lawn in the spring due to winter damage or initial establishment of a new lawn. If this is the case for you, please follow these tips to be successful.

Although any cool-season grass can be seeded in the spring, spring seedings are more successful with tall fescue and perennial ryegrass than with Kentucky bluegrass due to the faster germination rate and better seedling vigor of perennial ryegrass and tall fescue compared to Kentucky bluegrass. See image above for germination example.  If Kentucky bluegrass is seeded in the spring consider using a mixture of tall fescue: Kentucky bluegrass (90:10, weight: weight) or a mixture of Kentucky bluegrass:perennial ryegrass (such as 80:20, weight: weight). Seeding Kentucky bluegrass alone will result in marginal bluegrass establishment due to the slow germination and vigor of the seedlings and increased comp

etition from crabgrass. The table below gives the recommended seeding rates and days to germination per recommended species.  

New turfgrass seedlings have poorly developed root systems and thus they cannot effectively take up the nutrients from the soil. Therefore, it is important to fertilize frequently after seeding to encourage

establishment. To help the turf establish, apply a “starter fertilizer” to enhance seed germination and development. Starter fertilizer is high in phosphorus which is listed as the second number in the analysis on the fertilizer bag. For instance, a 16-22-8 fertilizer contains 22% P2O5. Apply the fertilizer according to the label directions would should supply at least 1.0 lb. P2O5 /1000 ft2. This application will likely include nitrogen (first number in the fertilizer analysis), which will also help the turf develop an extensive fibrous root system that is better able to take up nutrients and obtain water.

Table 1. Recommended seeding rates for lawns in Indiana.

Species	Seeding rate lbs/1,000 ft2	Days to germinate
Kentucky bluegrass	1.0 to 2.0	10-21
Kentucky bluegrass + perennial ryegrass	3.0 to 6.0	5-21
Tall fescue	8.0 to 10.0	6 to 10
Tall fescue + Kentucky bluegrass	5.0 to 7.0	6 to 21

Taken from Turf Tips written by Aaron Patton, Assistant Professor/Turfgrass Extension Specialist

Garden 2 Consumer Program offered in Hamilton County

Purdue Extension Hamilton County is proud to offer two sessions targeted to small farmers, current or aspiring entrepreneurs, and others looking to profit from foods they produce.  If you fall into this category and are need of more information for growing and producing safe, high-quality foods on food safety regulations, consider the following programs.    

On Wednesday April 13^th, I look forward to having Sharon Pattee from Indiana State Department of Health, Food Protection Program discussing 'home-based vendor' exemption in Indiana Law (HEA 1309). She will discuss if you can operate as a Home-Based Vendor or if you need to use a Commercial Kitchen. She will also talk about certifications that may be required.

On April 20^th, the final program with include food preparation tips and keeping food safe at point of sale. Christina Ferroli,  Marion County Extension Educator will discuss some of the ‘bad bugs’ to consider while dealing with fruits and vegetables and how to prepare some products in your kitchen safely.

If you would like to join us on April 13^th and/or April 20^th for these educational programs, please respond to this email to register.  The programs are scheduled from 10:00am to 12noon and will be located in the Annex at the Hamilton County 4-H Fairgrounds in Noblesville.  The cost for each program is $5.00 at the door.  For more information contact Diane Turner, Extension Educator Hamilton at 317-776-0854.

Native Plant Kits Available

Native plants are those that have grown and thrived in this area since before settlers made this area home.  Native plants are beautiful, low maintenance, and provide ideal food for many pollinators! This spring take the guesswork out of your landscaping and go native by purchasing one of the Soil and Water Conservation District’s native plant kits.

Marsh Milkweed

Each native plant kit is contains 50 native plants for $120 and takes the guesswork out of plant selection by providing a set of plants that will be perfect for your yard. There is a kit for any area of your landscape including pollinator garden, rain garden (for wetter areas), prairie garden, and shade garden.  Each kit contains 10 different species of native plants and can fill a space anywhere from 50 to 150 square feet.

Plant kit orders can be placed online at www.hamiltonswcd.org or by visiting the SWCD office at 1717 Pleasant Street in Noblesville. Orders and payment are due by April 24^th.  The plant kits will be available for pick up at the SWCD office on Friday May 13^th.

This native plant kit sale is part of the Hamilton County Parks and Recreation Department’s Mission Monarch program. Mission Monarch is a year of events and education on the Monarch butterfly and how we can help pollinators! Learn more here: http://www.hamiltoncounty.in.gov/1129/Mission-Monarch

More information on native plants and additional sources for native plant purchases can be found on the Hamilton County SWCD website or by contacting Claire Lane, Urban Conservationist with 

Hamilton County Soil and Water Conservation District.

Ready, Set, Go - The Time to Control Summer Annual Weeds in NOW!

Spring has appeared more quickly this year than it has in years.  With the arrival of warmer air, we also see the gradual increase of soil temperatures which means it is time for homeowners to apply a preemergence herbicide to control crabgrass on turf areas. The timing of that application is critical for effective control of crabgrass and other summer annual grassy weeds. Since the preemergence herbicides recommended for crabgrass control actually prevent germinating seedlings from emerging, these products must be applied before crabgrass seeds germinate. Researchers report that crabgrass seeds germinate when average daily soil temperatures reach 57 to 64 degrees Fahrenheit at a 1-inch depth. 

Some turf managers have monitored soil temperatures as a method of predicting crabgrass germination and determine the optimum time to apply preemergence herbicides. Likewise, the bloom period for forsythia has been used as an indicator for the best time to apply crabgrass control. Forsythia blooms just prior to crabgrass germination signaling the time to apply preemergence herbicides. 

In recent years, models using growing degree days (GDD) have been developed for predicting crabgrass germination and preemergence herbicide application timing. Homeowners and professional turf managers may find the GDD tracker website to be a useful tool to track crabgrass germination and determine the optimum timing for preemergence herbicide applications. Good control of crabgrass can be observed when preemergence herbicides are applied when the points on the GDD Tracker map reach the “under”, “early”, “optimum”  or "late" categories. As of March 30, 2016, central Indiana is heading into the “late” category, and northern Indiana is in the “optimum” category. The “bottom-line” is that applying preemergence herbicides now in central Indiana for effective preemergent control of crabgrass in turf areas.

The following tips are also important for minimizing crabgrass pressure and increasing the effectiveness of pre-emergent herbicide applications:

• Mow cool-season turfgrasses at a mowing height of 3 inches or higher
• Irrigate turf areas deeply and infrequently
• Apply 2 to 4 lbs. of nitrogen per year with the majority applied September through November each year
• Ensure an even distribution of preemergence herbicides, avoiding skips or misses on turf areas
• Always read the label for all pesticide products to determine the appropriate rate of application and spreader setting
• Pre-emergent herbicides must be watered in thoroughly to be effective, time application before rainfall or use irrigation to accomplish this important step.

Taken from Crabgrass Control: Timing is Critical
John Orick Purdue Master Gardener State Coordinator Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, Purdue University

Purdue University Offers Four Plant Doctor Apps for Plant Problem Diagnosis

I would like to encourage you to take a look at the Purdue Plant Doctor suite of smart phone apps. These handy tools will help you diagnose and find recommendations to manage the most common insect, disease and environmental problems on the most common trees, annuals, perennials, and tomatoes in home gardens. The apps are a pocket encyclopedia that uses over 2,000 photos to identify and fix more than 200 problems on over 200 kinds of plants. 

Screenshots from Tree Doctor App

Imagine you are in your home garden and you notice a problem on the leaves of with your favorite shade tree. These apps will help you diagnose plant problems with an app in three easy steps. First identify the kind of plant that has the problem. So, for example, if you are using the Purdue Tree Doctor, choose the kind of tree (eg. oak, maple, or pine) to narrow your search. Second, you choose the part of the plant that looks bad (leaves, flowers, branches, trunk or roots) to narrow your search even further. Third, you match the problem on the plant with our photos by swiping through our collection of high resolution photos. To save you time, the app arranges the photos for each of the plants so that the most common problems show up first! You can confirm your diagnosis by reading details linked to the photo.

If you already know the problem you have, just skip the diagnostic process and look it up from a list. Then you can get detailed information about the damage the problem can cause, its life cycle and how to control it with some combination of cultural practices and, if needed, a pesticide or fungicide.

You may purchase all of the above mentioned apps by clicking on this link to buy from the iTunes or Android store.

Excerpts taken from Turftips Article by Cliff Sadof, Department of Entomology and Janna Beckerman, Department of Plant Pathology Purdue University