GB 094 Transcript Peach, Damping Off
29:18
SPEAKERS
Debbie Flower, Steve Zien, Ed Laivo, Shirley, Farmer Fred
Farmer Fred 00:00
Garden Basics with Farmer Fred is brought to you by Smart Pots, the original lightweight, long lasting fabric plant container. it's made in the USA. Visit SmartPots.com slash Fred for more information and a special discount, that's SmartPots.com/Fred.
Farmer Fred 00:20
Welcome to the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast. If you're just a beginning gardener or you want good gardening information, you've come to the right spot.
Farmer Fred 00:33
Do you want a peach tree that produces sweet, juicy white peaches? And as an added bonus, it's a narrow growing peach tree, only eight feet wide and that's something that can be a real benefit for those of you with limited space to plant a peach tree. Fruit tree expert Ed Laivo of TomorrowsHarvest.com has the answer to your wishes. It's Fabulous Fruit Friday, and he tells us about the Blushing Pearl columnar peach. Plus, he has tips for planting several peach tree varieties that ripen at different times that'll give you fresh homegrown peaches from June through October. If you plant from seed, you may have had first-hand experience with damping off disease. That's where your seedlings look fine one day, but the next day they've collapsed. What happened? College horticulture Professor retired Debbie Flower tells us how to thwart damping off disease. And, soils expert Steve Zien has some advice for solving a lumpy lawn. It's all on episode 94 of the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast, brought to you today by Smart Pots and Tomorrow's Harvest dot com. And we'll do it all in under 30 minutes. Let's go.
Farmer Fred 01:45
We love to talk with Ed Laivo on Fridays because on Fridays, it's Fabulous Fruit Friday. And, Ed always has a delicious piece of fruit for us to try. And Ed Laivo is with Tomorrow's Harvest a division of Burchell Nursery. And what do you have for us tonight?
Ed Laivo 02:00
Well, Fred, I'll tell you what, I've got a great variety for people who have limited space. This is called the Blushing Pearl peach, and it's a columnar variety, meaning it's very, very narrow. So a tree that maybe grows 18 feet tall if you were to let it go, but only has a width of five to eight feet. So it's a really uniquely growing tree with fabulous fruit. Fabulous fruit. A white flesh, peach. Just fabulous.
Farmer Fred 02:29
Well, being that it's narrow growing, that means you can even plant more of them.
Ed Laivo 02:33
Yeah, you bet. Oh man, for high density plantings, this is an ideal variety. And it actually works in conjunction with a series of Tomorrow's Harvest peaches and nectarines called the Urban Skyscraper series. And they're all very, very narrow varieties. And, of course, I'm big on keeping your trees low, anyways. And so here's a tree that managing the height is probably about the biggest task you're going to have, keeping it below 10 feet. And then keeping the width in check is a cinch, because this tree grows narrow, naturally.
Farmer Fred 03:10
Okay, well, the name Blushing Pearl would sort of imply it has a rather pretty skin on it.
Ed Laivo 03:18
It has kind of a pinkish-red skin to it, you know, almost looks like a pearl. It's, I think, great eye candy. Because it looks like you really want to bite into it.
Farmer Fred 03:32
And inside?
Ed Laivo 03:33
White flesh, juicy sweet. I mean really, a special, very special piece of fruit.
Farmer Fred 03:39
And when does it mature?
Ed Laivo 03:40
Blushing Pearl matures, right around the middle part of July. So I would consider it a solid mid season variety. Good, good hang time. You'll get two weeks at least, maybe even three, until it's soft, ripe and eats very, very nicely firm. So people who like that good crunchy, piece of fruit. They'll be real satisfied and with an early harvest on this variety, because it does have that great sweet flavor with that great crunch that people love, especially in the white peaches. A lot of people really like a good, crunchy white peach.
Farmer Fred 04:14
How adaptable is the Blushing Pearl peach?
Ed Laivo 04:17
You know, most white flesh peaches and nectarines aren't that adaptable at all. So this, this probably is on its borders in Zone six. And then of course, it'll grow well into Zone nine. Yeah, the white flesh stuff tends to be a little bit more challenging. There's a couple of white flesh varieties that are noted for harsher climates, Zone six and Zone five. One that comes to mind right away would be the Polly white peach, which is very popular in those zones. The Blushing Pearl is actually made for more peach country people, places where peaches do really well.
Farmer Fred 04:52
One can enjoy many peaches over a long season of harvest from probably late June all the way through October. If you were to plant, say, three or four peach trees, which ones of those would be for a successive harvest?
Ed Laivo 05:08
You always got to remember that you always choose your successive harvest and what you're going to plant based on your climate zone. So that's the general rule of thumb. And, you can go on tomorrow's harvest webpage and find the ripening chart that shows all of the varieties and when they ripen. And so that's a great tool to have. If you're looking for like an early season peach, I would probably start out with say, a Gold Dust, which is a great variety. And that's almost the standard for early peaches. Others are held up to this really, really tasty piece of fruit. But one drawback to it, it comes ripe very, very quickly. The crop, I mean, the tree almost ripens overnight, at the same time, it's kind of like the Santa Rosa plum of peaches, but delicious, absolutely delicious. So definitely worth a spot in the yard and just keep it small. So it doesn't take up a tremendous amount of space. And then you can follow that up with a Suncrest, which has all the fame and notoriety from the book, "Epitaph of a Peach". And it definitely is a splendid piece of fruit. Definitely worthy of a great spot in the yard. And the Diamond Princess, another wonderful introduction from Burchell nursery, which is very popular, surprisingly enough. I came into the variety not knowing much about it, ate it, I found it to be incredibly tasty. And then, of course went on to realize that it was a in fact a Burchell variety.
Farmer Fred 06:40
What are these pieces that you just mentioned? Are they for warm climates or colder climates?
Ed Laivo 06:46
These are all probably in the Zones five to nine. big wide area. Yeah, they're broad, Yeah, they're broad. And keep in mind, Zone five peaches are going to be iffy, most of the time. You've got to choose a location that has great air drainage, you want a location that has good soil drainage, you want to have a location that isn't in a frost pocket, you want to have a location that gets a full day's worth the sun, and very, very much dependent on the morning sun in those those zone five and even in zone six, those areas tend to have challenging springs, you know where the blooming of the tree may very well not, of course, coincide with inclement weather that comes in and just beats the blossoms all the pieces, that can be a problem.
Farmer Fred 07:39
So to recap, then for USDA zones five through nine if you want four peach trees with a successive harvest, they would include the Golden dust peach...
Ed Laivo 07:51
One of the great new varieties Marble Ginger, that's a great variety that we will actually feature later on one of the future shows. It is really a flavorful, mid season peach. Then for a late season peach I would probably go with something like oh, maybe a Pink Diamond, the Pink Diamonds are really delicious. And it's a large, white flesh peach and they're very tasty. And then one that's really getting a lot of notoriety, especially because of how late it is. This variety comes in pretty much late or mid October and that's a variety called Pumpkin Spice. It's another real great acid-sugar blend peach. So I would say that would be a perfect successive ripening for literally peaches, June to October. I remember, you know, our last show about donut style peaches, and nectarines. I mean, just take the concept of donut style peaches and nectarines. And actually think about having, you know, a doughnut peach or nectarine for almost the entire summer season. And that's doable with the varieties now offered by Tomorrow's Harvest. And if you go on the website and you just look under our product page, you'll find that there's a category just set up that has just peaches, donut peaches and donut nectarines on it and we have a great collection and they're all absolutely out of this world.
Farmer Fred 09:22
And the key then, though, is to choose those varieties that ripen at different times, so you get your fill of peaches all summer long.
Ed Laivo 09:30
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, and nectarines, too.
Farmer Fred 09:35
So grow a wide variety of peaches for an extended harvest season and be sure to include the Blushing Pearl Columnar peach in your peachy plans. Ed Laivo, we learned a lot. Thanks so much.
Ed Laivo 09:48
Hey, my pleasure, Fred. And we'll try to come up with something great for next week. We'll see you then.
Farmer Fred 09:59
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Farmer Fred 11:06
Here on the Garden Basics podcast, we like to answer your garden questions. Don left a message at the Get Growing with Farmer Fred Facebook page. That's certainly one way to leave a message with us. You could even leave a picture. But Don's question was rather short, without too many details. Man oh man, we love details, including where you live, because that can have a lot to do with the answer to the garden question. So always remember to put the city you live in, or a nearby area so we can help you figure out what the issue may be. Don writes in and says, "How can you prevent damping off?" When it comes to horticultural terms like "damping off", we bring in a horticultural teacher, college professor, retired. Debbie Flower joins us to help us answer garden questions and what exactly Debbie, is damping off?
Debbie Flower 11:52
Damping off is a fungal disease that attacks only seedlings. So the fungus would exist in the soil. In the media you're growing the seedlings in and when the moisture and temperature are correct and the seedling is at the right stage of growth, which is typically when it doesn't even have true leaves. So when a seed germinates, the food supply that is inside the seed sometimes comes above ground, and looks like a leaf, it turns green. But it's often not the shape of the leaf that the plant has ultimately. The stem is above ground. Let's say it's a tomato, the stem is above ground and we have the two little cotyledons on either side of the stem and that's it. That's all we have. It's a very tiny plant and it's very susceptible to attack by fungus and that the fungus can if you have damping off, that's what at that stage it will attack the stem. Typically, if you go to bed one night, all your seedlings are up. Yeah, hooray, I got good germination. The next morning, you come out and they're all laying on their side as if they've been cut right at soil level. That's what damping off does, it attacks. The fungus eats the stem right at the soil level.
Farmer Fred 13:02
The causes of that are many and varied. And for those of you who plant via seed, I guess cleanliness can help you a lot in keeping this from happening.
Debbie Flower 13:14
Right. So what you need to do is prevent the damping off from getting into your system into your containers, your media, and then you grow the seedling up as quickly as possible to so that it gets beyond the seedling stage as fast as possible. So clean containers, I always empty my containers and rinse them out of any media. The thing you want to get rid of any media that's on them that you can see or that you can feel sometimes I'll bring them in the kitchen and wash them in the kitchen sink. And if I'm starting something from seed that is very drought tolerant, typically a California native it would be for me, I will actually run the washed containers through a bleach solution, a 10% bleach solution so one part bleach nine parts water. I make it after I've washed the containers because the effect of the bleach only lasts for 20 minutes. It still smells like bleach after 20 minutes. It still feels weird when you put your hands in it after 20 minutes, but its ability to kill fungus on a pot has ended after 20 minutes. So I mix up the bleach solution and make sure that it gets on every part of the container and then drip dry. So clean containers are important for clean media. I reuse media all the time but not for starting seeds. Because for seed starting, you need as clean and sterile a media as you can. In seed starting, use soilless mix. You can buy it in a container. And if you like, I pour it into another container, I use kitty litter boxes. That container itself needs to be clean. Then you put it in your clean containers. Use fresh seed. I'm always saving seed and trying to start things that were old but if the seed is slow to germinate, then that gives the fungus, if it's present, more time to attack that plant. So use fresh seed. Grow it in the conditions that are best for it. So the temperature for the seed in general, no matter where it's native to, germinates best right around 70 degrees Fahrenheit. So damping off attacks when temperatures get below that. It likes cooler temperatures. So if you can use a heat mat, start them inside, whatever will get you that 70 degree temperature in your media so the seed will germinate as quickly as possible and grow big, beyond that first seedling stage quickly, that will help avoid damping off. Use a well drained media. Make sure you have some perlite or pumice or sand in that media so that it drains well. You're not keeping water in it too long. Because damping off moves with water. I've seen flats of seedlings, and you can tell what direction where the damping off started, it has to start somewhere, and then it moved with water across the flat and all the seedlings fell over like dominoes in that one direction, as the water moved. Thin your seedlings. Actually plant at the spacing suggested on the package. If you have many, many seedlings close together, it's really easy to do. Just open that seed packet, pour it on the surface, cover those seeds, water, walk away, but you'll get a whole forest of seedlings, and that keeps those seedlings from drying out and that wet condition favors the damping off. Use a fan have a fan on. Professional greenhouses have their fans on all the time. In my greenhouse, the fan runs about half hour, 40 minutes a day that after it you've watered, the water dries off from that seedling as quickly as possible. So good air circulation, well drained media, you could water from below. That would require having your containers of seedlings in something that holds water and then you add the water to the bottom let it soak up through the media. And that will keep some of the water off the surface and that will help prevent the damping off. But you're going to have to go back and empty any water that was not absorbed by the seedlings and you have to apply enough that it wets the whole column of soil that the seedlings are in. There some anecdotal treatments or preventions. One is using Redwood shavings or peat moss or bark in the media. And that was recommended by University of California Integrated Pest Management website. The pH I know of. The peat moss is very low and funguses are less likely to survive in low pH media. I don't understand the suggestion to use redwood shavings. My experience with starting seeds and anything with redwood in it is that the seeds don't grow. So I would have to look into that more closely. I would support the peat moss use but having wood in a seedling mix doesn't sit well with me. The other thing I've read anecdotally is to apply chili pepper to the surface. That somehow impedes the damping off fungus. I tried it when I was teaching. The other, I think, is Chamomile tea. And the students, of course, want to try anything, and I'm fine with that. So we tried both of those treatments. The greenhouse smelled strange when it was full of seedling flats that were doused in chili pepper, but I did not see any improvement from using either chili pepper or Chamomile tea. I'll let your listeners do research on that.
Farmer Fred 18:45
Okay. Good luck on that. Whatever you do, don't smoke banana peels, thank you. All right, I have questions about what you've been saying.
Debbie Flower 18:56
Okay, all right.
Farmer Fred 18:57
So you got all these seedlings in one pot. I'm guilty of that as many people are, I'll throw three or four seeds into a pot and let them germinate and then pick the one that is strongest and leave that. Maybe in the future I'll be more diligent about removing those other seedlings quicker. My question is, do you pull them out or do you clip them?
Debbie Flower 19:20
You clip them at the point where that plant is out of the ground. There's obviously some roots underground and you want to preserve the roots of the seedling that you're going to keep and grow into a larger plant. So you don't want to disturb them or harm them in any way. By pulling out the seedlings that occur around it, you could harm the root system of the one you're keeping. So it is best to clip them with a small pair of scissors or if you've got a good thumbnail, that's what I use, and just go in there and pinch them off. The third possibility here is that when you unpack the pot of seedlings, put it in a container of water, that acts as a lubricant. And then you can more easily tease apart the separate plants if you want them all to grow on, and plant them into their each one into their own container. The thing to watch though is that, remember, damping off hits very early in the plant. It's really too early to be transplanting the plant. You really don't want to transplant a plant until you get first true leaves. Are you still there?
Farmer Fred 20:26
Yeah, I'm still here. I'm taking a nap.
Debbie Flower 20:28
I'll just keep talking.
Farmer Fred 20:29
Yeah. Okay, so go ahead.
Debbie Flower 20:31
If you do want to transplant a plant, we have many seedlings in a container. If they have first at least first true leaves, so not just the leaves that came out of the seed, but then the next set of leaves, then you can separate them in the water, but handle the seedling only by the leaves or the roots, not by the stem. You're strong. The seedling is weak. That stem can easily be damaged and broken. And if you do that you've killed the plant.
Farmer Fred 20:58
Good answers from Debbie Flower. Debbie, thanks so much for your efforts on this.
Debbie Flower 21:02
Oh, my pleasure, Fred. Thank you.
Farmer Fred 21:13
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Farmer Fred 22:34
The Garden Basics with Farmer Fred podcast has a lot of information posted at each episode: transcripts, links to any products or books mentioned during the show, and other helpful links for even more information. Plus, you can listen to just the portions of the show that interest you, it’s been divided into easily accessible chapters. Plus you’ll find more information about how to get in touch with us. Leave an audio question without making a phone call via Speakpipe, at speak pipe dot com slash gardenbasics. it’s easy, give it a try. And you just might hear your voice on the Garden Basics podcast! If you’re listening to us via Apple podcasts, put your question in the Ratings and Reviews section. Text us the question and pictures, or leave us your question at: 916-292-8964.916-292-8964. E-mail: fred@farmerfred.com . If you tell us where you’re from, that will help us greatly to accurately answer your garden questions. Because all gardening is local. In the show notes you’ll find links to all our social media outlets, including facebook, instagram, twitter, and youtube. Also, a link to the farmerfred.com website. And thanks for listening.
Farmer Fred 23:51
Joining me is soil pathologist Steve Zien. And Steve, we have a question that Shirley sent to us via Speakpipe. Let's give a listen.
Shirley 24:02
How can I get an old lawn leveled? It's full of bumps and hard for old people to walk on. Appreciate your answer. Thank you.
Farmer Fred 24:15
Go ahead.
Steve Zien 24:16
Wow.
Farmer Fred 24:16
Get it out of your system.
Steve Zien 24:18
It kind of depends on what those bumps are. I remember years ago, when we did the radio show, there was a lady who was complaining about the little tiny bumps and she was tripping over them. And those were there, we determined, that those were the results of worm activity, which is a beneficial thing. Those typically break down very, very quickly. When you walk over them, they will be you know knocked over very, very quickly. I would like to think that's not the issue that she has, basically an unlevel soil, and really one of the better things to do it's going to take time is to find soil somewhere else in the landscape, and then dig that up, mix that up with a little bit of compost or worm castings, and then sprinkle it lightly over the low spots to help fill them and you've got to do it lightly, so that you're not killing off the lawn. After numerous applications, it will get more level. Another thing you can do is get like a thatch rake, which is like a metal garden rake. But instead of having round, taut tines, the tines are like little knives, and you could rake the soil up a little with that, and then use a regular garden rake to move the soil into the low spots, because that will loosen up some of that soil, those are a couple of options. When you have an old lawn, that might be very, very healthy. But the soil, you know, it settles in different spots, over the years there's been different amounts of organic matter put in there. And there's different amounts of biological activity. And so the nice level soil becomes unlevel, that can become a problem for some people.
Farmer Fred 26:05
Let's talk about some other possibilities as to those lumps in the lawn. And I'm thinking they might be shallow tree roots as well.
Steve Zien 26:13
Oh, that's a good idea. Very, very possible. And there's really not a whole lot you can do in that case, the problem was that when the tree was younger, it didn't get deep irrigation, it was probably in the lawn. And so people were thinking if they water their lawn, they water the trees, which causes a lot of surface roots, you've got to water your trees deeply. Once those roots start causing the problem, there's really not a whole lot you can do, you don't want to cut those roots out. Your best bet is to basically give up on the lawn in that area. And put down a mulch and create a level area that way for walking, where you won't trip over the tree roots. Because if you start cutting those tree roots, especially if they're large, they will reduce the amount of food and water that plant gets. And you're also going to reduce that tree's ability to stay up straight on a windy day. So it could it could end up blowing over.
Farmer Fred 27:22
And those cut roots would just resprout anyway and probably stay close to the surface.
Steve Zien 27:27
Yeah, that's that's probably true.
Farmer Fred 27:28
So another option might be like you say, maybe give up on the lawn idea. And maybe you don't want to cover it all in mulch, maybe install some pavers, some walkways, through your normal traffic areas across the lawn.
Steve Zien 27:44
You could do that, just make sure that you're not putting the paver directly on the tree roots where that could end up rubbing against the tree root and eventually causing a wound especially when people start walking on it and applying pressure to that tree root.
Farmer Fred 28:00
Let's hope it's just little mounds of soil created by earthworms.
Steve Zien 28:05
Really, and you know, if that's all it is, and you find them really objectionable, just rake them on occasion. You got to realize that those worm castings on the soil surface are one of the best fertilizers and soil conditioners you have. They provide a lot of nutrients. They provide a lot of soil biology that breaks up our clay soils. And you've got to realize that earthworms are Mother Nature's rototillers, and they will help loosen up those clay soils and allow water and air and fertilizer and mulch to get incorporated more easily into the soil.
Farmer Fred 28:44
Steve Zien, soil pedologist, thanks for answering Shirley's question for us.
Steve Zien 28:49
Happy to do so.
Farmer Fred 28:53
Garden Basics comes out every Tuesday and Friday and is brought to you by Smart Pots. It’s available just about anywhere podcasts are handed out. And that includes Apple podcasts, I Heart Radio, Spotify, Stitcher, Overcast, Podcast Addict, CastBox and Google podcasts. And for Northern California gardeners, check out this podcast: the Green Acres Garden Podcast with Farmer Fred, also available wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you for listening, subscribing and leaving comments. We appreciate it.
