Weather and Crops

The weather is set to be very strange, hot and cold, plus some more wet.
If it remains cold, put out plastic milk jugs with water to moderate the cold evening temps around tomato plants.
Pears and apples ripening nicely.
Peaches nearly done.

cool wet weather = tomato blight

With the rainy weather be aware that this is perfect weather for tomato blight, just as the tomato crop is trying to ripen. Watch for water soaked areas along the stems of the plant. If you suspect blight, aerate or spray with copper or Serenade.

Be Aware

Yellow rust is showing up on blackberry cultivars and could reduce yields.
Hazelnut yield predicted to be 47% lower than last year, down to 27000 tons from 47,000.
Crops still doing well even with the cool evening temps.

Cool temps

Temps re dropping to mid 50's in the AM. Good for pear and apple ripening.
Bad for corn, tomatoes, pepper.
If it turns wet,, watch out for tomato late blight.

Walnuts and tomatoes

Walnuts are showing Erinium mites or bumps on the under side of leaves.
Tomatoes in the field are showing sun burn on leaf margins - too hot.
Replant winter garden.
Peaches near done. Pears starting soon.

Weeds and lawns

Weeds seems to be less aggressive these last three weeks. Yeah.
Bugs seems to also be less than normal is many areas.
I am noticing a lot of lawns going dormant, which is normal for August. In Sept., they will come back.

Veges

Radishes are bolting and turning "hot".
Time to replant: cabbage, kale, broccoli, lettuce and radishes for fall crops.
Tomatoes - hearing about ripe tomatoes. Still come early blight in tomatoes but it can be pruned out.

Grapes

A wine grape sample came in and it was 80% infected with powdery mildew (while fungus). The grapes had already "exploded" from the PM.

Spray the grapes with a sulfur or open up the vines for better air circulation.

Observations #2

Maples trees showing a lot of leaf burn.
Cedar needles starting to turn brown - lack of ground water.
Still seeing Dec. 2009 winter damage on leaves.
Coast - late cherry leaf slug (sawfly) on plum, cherry, pear trees).

Observations

Early blight on tomatoes.
Tomatoes growing very well. Some need pruning.
12 spot beetle going after pumpkin and cucumber blooms.
Plant winter garden.

Lawns

Have only mowed the lawn once in the last two weeks. Only watered the lawn twice during the hot weather. Yes the lawn isn't dark green but not too back for the hot weather! Usually we let the lawn go dormant from now until Sept. 15. It comes back with the fall rains.

Insects

The 12 spot and stripped cucumber beetles numbers are increasing so be aware. Plant a sacrificial zucchini plant or leave a red root pig weed.
Many tomatoes are really going to be late this year.
Fresh produce is good though.
Aphids have even been low this year. August radishes don't have root maggots. What has happened!!!

Thursday

Tomatoes and potatoes are growing wildly! If too wild, prune back tops, especially tomatoes and don't fertilize.
SWD is NOT being found in the outer areas of Lane and Benton counties - yet.
Basil, cabbage, Brussells sprouts, lettuce, green beans doing well. Keep them picked.

Apples and pears

Apples and pears are sizing nicely. Early apples already!
Pears will be ready soon.
Celery, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, lettuce, onions, garlic all doing very well.
Blueberries - excellent crop.

Potatoes

Potato storage - keep them cool. Garages can be very warm. Dig a small pit storage 3-4 foot deep and cover with old carpet and grass/sod.

When are potatoes ripe? - when they usually flower or the plant collapses. Reds - August. Yellow Finn or Russett as late as October. Just dig a hill to see how big they are.

Potatoes

Potato storage - keep them cool. Garages can be very warm. Dig a small pit storage 3-4 foot deep and cover with old carpet and grass/sod.

When are potatoes ripe? - when they usually flower or the plant collaspes. Reds - August. Yellow Finn or Russett as late as October. Just dig a hill to see how big they are.

Misc

Crops growing well in this weather.
Wild blackberries starting to ripen.
Please monitor for SWD so we know how far it has spread, especially in the wild blackberries. Put out pheromone traps of apple cider vinegar.
Contact info: 541 682-7313 or Blog or request Email. Typing my Email here got the site full of medical adds.

Insects

12 spot cucumber beetles are out. They are attaching cucumber and brussell sprouts. 12 spot like the weed, red root pig weed, a good catch crop.
Lots of aphids on cabbage, but also lots of lady bird beetles.

Insects

Great hazelnut tour in the McMinnville area. The crops looks medium to good in potential yields.
Still heavy weed pressure.

Hazelnut tour

Great hazelnut tour in the McMinnville area. The crops looks medium to good in potential yields.
Still heavy weed pressure.

More on SWD

10 sites so far for SWD,from Junction City to Creswell.
Found out that so far a 5 foot cattle fence is keeping the deer out!
Aug. 4th - hazelnut tour in McMinnville starting at the Christensen farm.

SWD - Creswelll and Country Club Road Eugene

SWD has been found in Creswell and Country Club Road, Eugene!

Winter garden

Time to start the winter garden. (Almost sounds strange since the summer garden is just getting going.)
Be aware that radishes are turning hot due to the warm weather.
Help spread the word about the SW drosophila.
Most gardens and market stands in full production.