QUESTION:

Coach Anne,

My Brussell Sprouts are full of aphids and look very poor. What can I do to save them. They are not growing and I don’t see any sprouts.

ANSWER: Anything in the cabbage family will not do well in a summer garden. Brussell sprouts should be planted either very early in the spring (February) or early in the fall - transplants go in the ground in September. You can start seeds of all the cool weather crops in early August, like broccoli, cabbage, dill. You can plant them directly into the garden as seeds or you can start them in pots for transplanting later. Go to the archived articles at www.successwithseed.org to see an article listing some of the seeds to start this month.

If your Brussels sprouts are worth saving, then find a product called diatomaceous earth. It is made up of microscopic fossils that will cut up the aphids and kill them. It's not a poison so it's safe on your vegetables. Be sure to follow label directions and wear a mask when you use it.

If your plants look poor, then pull them up and put them in the garbage. Don't compost them. Aphids spread a viral disease, Mosaic, which can infest your new plants.

Thanks for visiting The Plant Coach!

Coach Anne

Daffodil 'Tete-a-Tete'

Many flower borders, mine included, are full to overflowing in the fall. Some flower stalks get tall and lanky. They fall all over their neighbors, overshadowing and overpowering the next-door smaller residents.

They are not so much wayward children. They just haven’t been taught to stay in bounds. Moving them to larger quarters is a good solution if you have room. If not, stakes and pruners should keep them in their place.

Fall is a good time to edit, dig, and divide. Your leftovers will feed someone else’s plant habit if you share them with friends. Dig to delineate the edges of your plants. When the interior pieces of the bed grow together, the results are a hodgepodge, a cottage garden look gone wild.

That’s not to say that the flower borders should be soldier rigid with flowers lined up in a row. They just each need their own space, like clinging lovers ready for a change. Let bits of mulch show between your sweeps of color.

Now, too, is the time to think about early spring and the thrill of discovering those first flowers poking through. Plan to slip in spring flowering bulbs at the base of some of those tall growing shadow-makers. These taller plants coming along will cover up the dying foliage of the bulbs in late spring, early summer.

There’s always room for a few bulbs. They are just about the easiest thing on earth to grow. Everything needed is contained in that fat little package, often wrapped up in paper-thin brown skin. All they need is the proper planting depth, proper light, and adequate water. Not too much water. Many bulbs are prone to rot and shouldn’t be planted in wet areas or depressed areas that hold water.

If you want perennial flowers that come back year after year without much trouble on your part, drop in some daffodil bulbs. They will reward you with cheerful faces and will multiply, giving you free bulbs to dig and move.

Mice, voles, and even squirrels don’t eat daffodils. Deer and rabbits don’t touch them. Growers should be working on heat tolerant daffodils to bloom all summer. There are so many colors and forms to choose from now. What a boon to gardening that would be. Easy-care, no fuss, pest free gardening. A gardener can dream, can’t I?

---Posted by Coach Anne August 27, 2008---

Dear Coach Anne,

I started tomato plants again this year and have noticed that they are turning a little yellow in the leaves. I'm trying to find out why they would turn yellow, as they are just starting to produce red tomatoes. I have cucumber plants next to the tomato plant and it had spider mites recently. I was told to spray the cucumber with a mint oil that you would put on roses to kill the spider mites. It did and they came back. The leaves are a little yellow and droopy. The plants get watered every night and for cherry tomatoes, the plant is over 6 foot tall. Any ideas to help my tomato plant would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

ANSWER: One of the problems with controlling insects is that they are so prolific! Even though you killed the spider mites running around, the spray had no effect on the eggs. Wipe the tiny webs off the stems and leaves with a cotton ball dipped in alcohol.

To make sure you get rid of the insects as the eggs hatch, spray your plants every 2 weeks until they are gone. 2 or 3 times should do it.

Check under the leaves and on the stems for signs of any insects. Just remove and trash any yellow leaves. Take off the bottom leaves on the plant so that water won't splash up on them, carrying fungal disease with it.

There are so many problems tomatoes can acquire; it's hard to say what might be going on with your plants. Your local University Extension Service Home and Garden section could look at a leaf you bring in and give you some advice.

Thanks for visiting The Plant Coach!

Coach Anne

In this age of high prices for fuel oil, alternatives are being searched out in the plant kingdom. So far, corn has been the focus of studies for fuel ethanol production.

Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists report that in experiments, sweet potatoes grown in Maryland and Alabama yielded two to three times as much carbohydrate for fuel ethanol production as field corn grown in those states. The same was true of tropical cassava in Alabama. Another advantage for sweet potatoes and cassava is that they require much less fertilizer and pesticide than corn.

Lew Ziska, a plant physiologist at the ARS Crop Systems and Global Change Laboratory in Beltsville, Md., and colleagues at Beltsville and at the ARS National Soil Dynamics Laboratory in Auburn, Ala., performed the study. The research is unique in comparing the root crops to corn, and in growing all three crops simultaneously in two different regions of the country.

For the sweet potatoes, carbohydrate production was 4.2 tons an acre in Alabama and 5.7 tons an acre in Maryland. Carbohydrate production for cassava in Alabama was 4.4 tons an acre, compared to 1.2 tons an acre in Maryland. For corn, carbohydrate production was 1.5 tons an acre in Alabama and 2.5 tons an acre in Maryland.

The disadvantages to cassava and sweet potato are higher start-up costs, particularly because of increased labor at planting and harvesting times. If economical harvesting and processing techniques could be developed, the data suggests that sweet potato in Maryland and sweet potato and cassava in Alabama have greater potential than corn as ethanol sources.

Further studies are needed to get data on inputs of fertilizer, water, pesticides and estimates of energy efficiency. Overall, the data indicate it would be worthwhile to start pilot programs to study growing cassava and sweet potato for ethanol, especially on marginal lands.

The additional research could help develop new biofuel sources without diverting field corn supplies from food and feed use to fuel.

ARS is a scientific research agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.