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Saturday, June 13, 2015 An Advertising Feature of The Topeka Capital-Journal

Jamie Hancock Garden Column – 2015 Topeka Garden Tour: Rising from the ashes – Sharing the passion of gardening – TCJ Pin of the Week –

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What ails your tomato plants Part II Jamie Hancock

jamiehan@ksu.edu Welcome back! Apparently my last article on problems with tomatoes didn’t scare you off. Good. There is an old science fiction movie called “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes” I am calling this “What Attacks and Kills My Tomatoes” (not quite as gory, but just as deadly). This week is a sequel to last week and will cover wilt diseases and viruses. Keep these two articles to help you when growing your tomatoes.

The dreaded wilt diseases

The two major wilt diseases are Fusarium and Verticillium. They live in the soil, enter through the roots, and block the water-conducting tissues of the tomato.

Plants are deprived of water and wilt, especially during dry conditions.

A Note From

The Gardener Fusarium wilt is the more prevalent wilt.

It generally occurs in midsummer when air and soil temperatures (80 degrees) are high. Older leaves near the ground turn yellow. Often the yellowing is restricted to one side of the plant or to leaflets on one side of the petiole (KSU publication L-723). The affected leaves soon wilt and dry up, but they remain attached to the plant. Younger leaves are soon affected followed by the death of the plant.

The stem will still appear green, but if you slice through the stem at ground level and look at the inside of the stem you will see a narrow column of brown between the center (pith) and the outer green portion.

Verticillium wilt tends to develop in the

cool of late spring (soil temperatures 5575 degrees). Older leaves are affected first turning yellow and wilting. Leaves are uniformly yellow (not one sided like fusarium wilt) and the infected leaves drop prematurely. The diseased plants continue to live, but will be stunted and weak and produce small fruit. The stem will display the same symptoms as fusarium wilt and will take a laboratory analysis to tell the difference. Verticillium can attack a wide range of plants, including strawberry, black raspberry, potato, eggplant, and many common weeds.

Both wilts can be introduced into your garden by contaminated seed or infected transplants. The diseases can survive in

the soil for many years. There is no cure for wilts and viruses.

Fusarium has at least three known races or strains. The term “race” refers to the organism’s ability to infect certain crop varieties but not others. Race 1 is known to occur in Kansas, and Race 2 likely occurs here. Race 3 could easily spread to Kansas.

Control measures

n Resistance is the most practical means of control of wilt diseases. Scientists have been working to breed tomato varieties that have a resistance to wilt diseases. Many tomatoes today will come with a notation in the catalog or on their label such as “VF12”. This means that that particular tomato is resistant to verticillium and fusarium Races 1 and 2. Heirloom varieties are gaining popularity for having unique characteristics, but most are not resistant to wilt diseases. n Corp rotation is another good control measure. Grow crops that are not hosts to wilt diseases in place of tomatoes. Move the tomatoes to a new location for 4-6

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Hancock: Control with crop rotation Continued from 3A years. n Sanitation is a must! Remove and destroy diseased plants at the end of the season. Clean stakes, cages, tools and anything that came into contact with the soil or debris in the infected area. n Healthy plants can resist disease bet-

ter than weak ones. Fertilize appropriately and irrigate regularly to maintain good plant health.

Root knot nematodes attack roots of tomato, potato, eggplant, sweet potato, radish, geranium, and peony. Diseased tomato plants are stunted and pale green.

They may show signs of nutrient deficiencies even though there is plenty in the soil.

Plants wilt during the day and recover at night. Roots develop multiple small tan galls and can cause extensive swelling and distortion of roots.

Control by avoiding introducing the nematodes in the first place. Check new transplants before planting for distorted roots. Rotate crops every 3-5 years and plant resistant varieties (listed on the

plant label).

Viral diseases

Three of the most common viruses in Kansas are tobacco mosaic virus, cucumber mosaic virus, and tomato spotted wilt virus.

Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) attacks a wide range of vegetable plants and flow-

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2015 Topeka Garden Tour: Rising from the Ashes

By Linda A. Ditch Special to The Capital-Journal

On a typical February afternoon in 2009, Carol and Bob Williams each received the phone calls at work every homeowner dreads. The next door neighbor’s teenage daughter came home from school and discovered fire shooting up the back of the Williams’ home at 3423 SW 35th. In spite of the fire fighters’ best efforts, the house they had lived in since 1989 was a complete loss.

Both the fire and subsequent house reconstruction destroyed the gardens in the front yard and around the foundation.

Also, many of the trees in back were damaged, including the silver maple planted the year the Williams moved in.

Today, the gardens are back in full bloom. So much so, they are a part of this year’s Topeka Beautification Association Garden Tour, which takes place on Saturday, June 20 and Sunday, June 21.

The silver maple survived the fire and still stands proud in the back, as do two crabapple trees and a weeping mulberry tree in front. New plantings were added to give the yard a lush, shady feel. A path

along the side of the house leads from front to back, past Jessica’s garden, a colorful flower bed named after the couple’s daughter because, “the garden is a work in progress, just like her,” Bob said, with a smile.

In the back, bits of sunlight filter through the canopy of numerous shade trees. A dry creek bed sweeps through a large portion of the yard, allowing runoff to flow into the creek along the back of the property.

Benches dot the landscape so those who stop to rest have a different, unique view of each garden area.

Bob credits Custom Tree Care with helping to minimize the tree damage from the fire. To help with restoring the gardens, they turned to designer James Widman from Skinners, who also created the backyard’s dry creek bed. Bob and Carol do the rest of the work, which Bob described as a two person job since they both work fulltime. (Carol for the Kansas Ethics Commission and Bob as executive director of the Kansas Association of Osteopathic Medicine.)

Carol enjoys mornings in the garden.

Leaning with her arms on the deck railing and gazing out over the backyard, she

Linda A Ditch/Special to The Capital-Journal

said, “I find it’s therapeutic. I love being The front of the Williams’ home, with the out here listening to the birds and watch- weeping mulberry and crabapple trees ing the squirrels.” that survived the fire.

For Bob, he gardens because “it’s fun

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Tour: Gardens on the tour Continued from 5A helping to make things grow. Creating little ecosystems in the gardens. It’s our sport. Our hobby. While other people golf or go boating, we work in the garden.”

Other gardens on this year’s tour include: n Nordgren Garden, 3419 SE 35th— neighbors to the west of the Williams, they housed many of Bob and Carol’s plants in their backyard until the house construction was complete. Their own garden is designed to look like a natural, Coloradoinspired retreat, with a sloping lawn and a gazebo overlooking a disappearing waterfall. n Row House Garden, 515 SW Van Buren—located behind the Row House Restaurant, gardener Dave Frederick began restoring the forgotten garden nine years ago when the restaurant opened.

In fact, he married chef and owner Greg Fox in the garden, and restaurant guests can choose to dine among his plantings of flowers, herbs and vegetables. n Milliken Garden, 1343 Collins—a

romantic cottage garden with a rosecovered vintage iron gazebo and a flowerlined walkway leading to a garden room getaway. n Balda Garden, 832 Anderson Terrace—a landscape designed to give the feel of strolling through various garden rooms throughout the long, narrow backyard. n Nelson Garden, 748 Prairie Court—a garden that evolves according to the amount of sun or shade provided each year, this season’s selection of salmon, coral and purple annuals is done in honor of Mrs. Nelson’s mother, Barbara Upton, who taught her to love of gardening. n Cordill Garden, 4304 SW Lauren’s Way—a landscape designed around a berm, two dry creek beds and several stone walls, and filled with plantings that thrive in the sunlight.

The garden tour goes from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, and 12 to 4 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at any stop on the tour. The proceeds support the Topeka Beautification Association’s programs to educate and inspire the

Linda A Ditch/Special to The Capital-Journal

community to create and maintain an aes- Bob and Carol Williams in the garden they thetically pleasing environment. More de- have rebuilt. tails about the tour can be found at http:// kabtopsh.org/.

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Tour: Plan to visit the gardens Continued from 6A

Topeka Beautification Association Garden Tour When: Saturday, June 20, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday, June 21, 12 to 4 p.m.

Where: 515 SW Van Buren; 1343 SW Collins; 832 SW Anderson Terrace; 748 SW Prairie Court; 4304 SW Laurens Way; 3423 SE 35th; and 3419 SE 35th Tickets: $10 and can be purchased on the day of the tour at each garden location.

Website: http://kabtopsh.org/ The evolving Jessica’s Garden on side of the house.

Linda A Ditch/Special to The Capital-Journal

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Sharing the passion of gardening

PHOTO SUBMITTED BY ERIC MACK

Daylily hybrid cross of Silver Moon Sparkle and Eight Miles High. On the cover – Daylily from cross of Horny Devil and Heavenly Velocirapter that he will name Princess Maisy when he registers it.

By Jenni Harrison Special to The Capital-Journal

In nearby Eudora, Kansas, Eric Mack and his family enjoy hybridizing and raising daylilies. Hybridizing is the process of taking two different species or varieties and crossbreeding them, a practice that is popular among daylily enthusiasts such as Eric.

Eric and his wife Kari invite their children to help them with maintaining the flower beds. Aiden (8), Maisy (4) and

Grayson (2), assist their parents with jobs that are age appropriate. Aiden and Maisy water and pull weeds while younger Grayson offers support by sitting on his father’s shoulders. One of the more valuable tasks, according to Eric is fixing the kinks in the hose, a job his kids often help with.

A member of the Daylily Club since 2012, Eric has several modest sized gardens set up around his property that consist of hybridized and named varieties. He started his hobby ten years ago when he began buying daylilies from a neighbor

that hybridized across the street from his parents in Indiana. At the time, they had thousands of varieties available but after the 3rd year of Eric making his purchases, they retired from the business and sold everything cheap. Eric used this opportunity and bought “a whole bunch”. Joining the club a few years later, he has succeeded in cross breeding and winning ribbons.

“The first time I entered the show, that one got a purple ribbon” Eric tells me as he points to a variety called Golden Tentacles which is currently reaching a near

bloom state and just as it’s namesake implies, is a golden color. He shows me another hybridized plant with a purple bloom which he is also awaiting the arrival of called Tooth. We continue to walk and Eric describes the different daylilies he has planted from one called the Big Red Express to his first daylilies: Smith Brothers, a black bloom and Joan Senior, a contrasting white. Aiden, who has been with us since the start of my tour now stoops to the base of the plant and begins to pick

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The Topeka Capital-Journal Pin of the Week Re-fashioned T-shirt Tutorial 1

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Photo source: nichoward.typepad.com

1. Cut the sleeves off, and then cut straight across, just below the neck/collar.

2. Fold the top inch over on the front and sew across the top to create a place to thread my strap. Repeat for the back.

3. Cut the arm-bands off. I want to save them to use as straps.

4. Snip each one once, to open them up long ways.

5. Thread each one through the shirt, one through the front, and one through the back.

6. Sew the bands together at each side to create one big loop.

Note, I did nothing to hem anything, anywhere. I left it all raw. I’m fine with it rolling and even fraying a little, although it’ll roll before it frays.

Follow all of The Capital-Journal Pinterest boards – www.pinterest.com/tcjmedia To get more information on this project and others, visit The Topeka CapitalJournal’s At Home Living – DIY:At Home Pinterest board.

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Daylily: Creating a family tradition

PHOTO SUBMITTED BY ERIC MACK

Part of the choirs assigned to Aiden and Maisy are to water their respective sides of the kid’s garden.

Continued from 8A off an unattractive, discolored leaf and announces that “the yellow parts are bad. We usually pull them off”, while pruning the first family daylily bed.

Aside from Eric’s flower beds that he and his family maintain, the children have their own area to grow. The kids section of named daylilies was started last fall. Eventually Aiden and Maisy want to do a daylily show and enter theirs in a competition to see whose is best. The plants may be the same on either side of the line but perhaps one might have a mightier watering technique than the other.

The task of producing new growth is a

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Hancock: Seminars at the Library Continued from 4A ers. On tomatoes, the infection causes light and dark green mottled areas on the leaves. Plants are stunted and leaves may appear fern-like and distorted. Some strains cause mottling, streaking, and death of the fruits, but not the plants.

Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) appears as mottled, yellow leaves that become twisted, curl downward, and develop a

“shoestring” appearance.

Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) appears on young fruit. White to yellow concentric rings, ½ inch in diameter feel raised and give the fruit a bumpy appearance. Bright yellow rings on red fruit are easily diagnosed as spotted wilt.

Control measures are the same as above with the addition of thorough hand washing with soap and water for smokers before working with plants. Tobacco

mosaic virus can be transmitted from tobacco products.

For a list of resistant tomato varieties go to www.shawnee.ksu.edu and for publication L-41 “Recommended Vegetable Varieties” go to www.ksre.ksu.edu.

The sequel wasn’t so gory after all was it?

Jamie Hancock is a horticulturist with Kansas State Research and Extension in Shawnee County.

Note: Drip Irrigation will be presented at the

Topeka/Shawnee County Public Library on June 25th at 7:00 p.m. Come and learn how to conserve water, reduce weeds and lower your summer water bill by using drip irrigation.

Note: The Master Gardener Sick Plant Clinic will be held at Fairlawn Plaza Mall on July 6th from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Bring our sick plants, insects, unknown plants, and questions to a panel of KSU specialists in entomology, plant pathology, plant identification, etc. This is a free service.

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Daylily: Growing can be done year-round Continued from 10A year round task. Eric has a grow room in which over the winter he rears seeds in fountain drink cups. Wait. Fountain drink cups? Doing his research, Eric found that the cups are beneficial because they are longer, aiding roots that like to grow deep such as daylilies. Besides, the benefit to using a soda cup is also the low cost. In addition to growing, the garden itself is a continuous work in progress. There is thinning out the plants, adding new items such as hostas and rearranging. Eric may PHOTO SUBMITTED BY ERIC MACK

Grayson sits on Eric’s shoulders as he observes his garden.

spend as much as two hours on an average day with the constant weeding, planting, digging or many other chores. As he pointed out, there is always something to do.

When it comes to hybridizing, Eric focuses on teeth around the edge of the flower because he likes the appearance.

He will eventually register one after growing out what he sees as the best and then splitting the clump so there are extras for him and others. While he envisions the daylilies taking over the yard eventually, Eric has set his stage on a lifelong journey that began as something so simple such as a single plant.

Topeka Daylily Club Fower Show Date: Saturday, June 27th Time: 1 – 5 p.m.

Fee: Free to public Location: Inside Fairlawn Plaza Mall Free: daylily plants starting at 1 pm (while supply lasts)

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