Butterfly Enthusiasts of Southeast Texas

                       proudly presents:

Banded Hairstreak

When: Saturday, 30 March 2013

Rendezvous: 9:30am Randalls Flagship at 9420 College Park Dr.  in The Woodlands

Sites we'll be visiting:

Montgomery Trace Wilderness

Montgomery County Extension Service Gardens

YMCA Camp Owen

W.G. Jones State Forest

Carl Barton Jr. Park

Plus - several roadsides and private properties

NEW for 2013 - Nature's Way Resources, Forest Hills Subdivision, and McDade Park area

Cost: $3.00 per person 12 or over.

What to bring: camera, binoculars, picnic lunch,  wading boots, dress in layers, field guide, plenty of liquids

Countdown Dinner: held at Alfonso's, 1208 South Frazier Street, in Conroe. Everyone should arrive there by 5:00pm.

What to expect: A great diversity of forest species, including Eastern  Tailed-Blue, Red-spotted   Purple,  Question  Mark, Little Wood and Gemmed Satyrs, Red-banded Hairstreaks, and many , many more.  We will be counting all individuals of each species, including eggs, caterpillars , and chrysali, so  expect a great learning experience!

Contact: David Henderson email: dandewild@consolidated.net; cell: 281-827-3729

What is Butterfly Enthusiasts of Southeast Texas?

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                             TOXIC MULCH SYNDROME 

                                              PART 1

                                  BY JOHN FERGUSON 

In the last issue Brenda shared her experience using CHEAP mulch after hurricane Ike a few years ago when many of her plants then died.  There are several possibilities why this may have happened: 

1) During the cleanup following Ike I visited several of the FEMA sites where debris was being ground up into mulch by the contractors.  In Texas an authorized recycling company for mulch is not allowed to accept any form of treated wood or painted wood.  However, at the FEMA sites I witnessed contractors grinding up old rail road ties (creosote treated wood that is carcinogenic), fence posts and rails that were CCA treated wood (copper, chromium and arsenic) along with painted wood from old houses (lead) along with the brush and tree material into mulch.

2) During a tropical storm like hurricane Ike, weak or damaged trees are the first to be blown down.  Some common diseases of these weakened trees are Verticillum wiltwhich is caused by a soil-borne fungus resulting in the decline or death of many shrubs and trees. Rhizoctonia solani is another plant pathogen thatis actually stimulated by fresh mulches as it feeds off the cellulose in the wood.If diseased trees are ground up and used for mulch, it is possible that these diseases can spread to mulched plants.

3) A very common problem that often occurs in cheap mulch is called the "Toxic Mulch Syndrome" or "Sour Mulch." This most often occurs with bark mulches (pine, hardwood, etc.) and mulch from storm clean-up but can happen with almost any organic mulch. It occurs when a fine grained (small particle size) mulch is stacked over 6 feet high and remains wet for long periods of time without aeration. The material compresses and starts fermenting (anaerobic decay instead of beneficial aerobic decay) and produces chemicals (methanol, acetic acid, ammonia, hydrogen sulfide and others) that can kill annuals and damage many woody perennials. Note: It only takes 1 ppm (part per million) of alcohol (like methanol) to kill a plant root!

After the hurricane these FEMA produced mulches were stacked 40-50 feet high in huge piles and several TV news stories talked about the stench they caused due to the anaerobic conditions as they sat there for weeks until they were sold off to unsuspecting consumers.

These chemicals have a strong sour acid odor versus a pleasant musky smell of fresh cut wood or compost. Good mulch will smell like freshly cut wood or have a rich earthy smell if it has been composted.

In the next issue we will discuss how to recognize these bad toxic mulches and some tips to avoid them.

• Put tomatoes in the ground early this month.
• Mow the lawn when it needs it, then feed.
• Watch out for bluebonnets. They look like clover. Don't mow them down.
• Fertilize everything. Water first, feed, then water again.
• Gradually move hibiscus and other container plants into more light.
• Remove flowers on newly-purchased plants so they will set stronger root systems.
• Unwrap banana trunks and keep well watered. Want bananas? Remove baby plants.
• Plant Louisiana phlox around late-appearing shrubs like hamelia, lantana, dishplate hibiscus, etc. This perennial groundcover is green in winter, blooms in spring and goes dormant (almost disappears) in summer.
• Give hibiscus a slight haircut, then feed with hibiscus food to encourage lush growth.
• Attend area programs to learn about new-to-us hardy, low-maintenance flowers.

If the spirit moves . . .

• Continue pinching perennial tips to make them bushier. Stop when they produce buds.
• Dig up, thin out and transplant perennials so crowded they no longer bloom properly.
• Feed azaleas, spirea, climbing roses and other shrubby spring bloomers after they bloom.
• Remove spent flowers on spring bloomers to promote more bloom production.
• Work 1/2 cup of Epsom salts around roses, hibiscus and other bloomers for more flowers.
• Remove fading daffodil blooms so they won't go to seed. Leave fading foliage on.
• Feed plumerias with fish emulsion and superphosphate.
• Plant bell peppers, cucumbers, green beans, pumpkins, squash, tomatoes and watermelon - but cover if a late freeze is forecast. Start eggplants in pots.
• Put bluebonnet plants in raised, containers and/or hanging baskets. (Sow seed in fall.)
• In the water garden, remove leaves and muck from pond bottom if not done last fall. Remove toad eggs if you see them.

If you're really feeling energetic . . .

• Landscape with a wide variety of plants, instead of large masses of all the same kind. Masses of the same variety attract insects and disease.
• Donate excess plants to school, nursing home or community garden.
• Check grocery stores for white-flowering oxalis (clover) around St. Patrick's Day. It should be perennial in shady areas. Goes dormant in summer; reappears in winter.
• Plant antique roses, four o'clocks, gingers, jasmines and mock oranges for fragrance.
• Prune poinsettias; keep spent blooms picked off mums. Mums bloom spring and fall.
• Make a note of beautiful spring bulbs (tulips, hyacinths, daffodils, ranunculus, anemones, etc.) now in bloom. Fall is the time to purchase and plant most of them.
• Remove tulip bulbs after the flowers fade. Discard; they won't bloom again.
• Watch tree trunks for webworm eggs in limb crotches on susceptible trees. Remove!
• Try crushed egg shells, coarse sand in ring around plant stem to discourage snails.
• Give all the plants a manure tea treat: Mix in washtub: 1/2 rotted (or bagged) manure and 1/2 water (preferably rainwater). Let it sit overnight. Drain off water and pour over plants. This tea is high in nitrogen, so don't use more than once a month on blooming plants.

Great Don't-Do tips for really Lazy Gardeners

• Don't prune off freeze-damaged limbs or remove what looks like freeze-killed plants just yet. Wait until April. They may come back out.
• Don't prune crape myrtles unless they are causing damage, have grown out of bounds or have dead limbs. (See page 6.)
• Don't cut foliage off bulbs that naturalize after they finish blooming. They use the fading foliage to set next year's blooms.
• Don't plant caladiums yet. It's still too cold.
• Don't put out any tender tropicals, like plumerias. We may have a late freeze.