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affect its long term health. So place it for street side pick up and let the local solid waste recycling agencies convert it to compost. Cut Christmas trees that you purchase should be handled with care. Do not let the tree dry out and become a fire hazard. Before you buy a cut tree, make sure the needles are tightly attached to the tree. When you get your tree home, cut off a half inch slab off the bottom to expose fresh wood and stand it up in a pail of water. Keep the pail full of water and the tree should “drink” enough water to retain its needles. Don’t place any additives in the water such as sugar ‐‐‐ the plant makes food in its leaves (needles) and does not take up sugar as food from the water in the pail. Carefully inspect your holiday plants for pests and good health before you buy them and before you bring them into your home. Scale, mites, mealybugs, and more may be present. If you see them before you buy them, make a purchase elsewhere. If you find them when you get home, use low toxic measures to control them because they will be in your home, around your family members and pets. A stream of water will wash many of them off (do this outside). Insecticidal soaps and oils should take care of the remaining pests. The last of the warm season vegetables, planted in September, will be harvested this month. The average first frost date will be about December 15th. You can still plant out leafy vegetables in the garden as they will continue to grow through March. Herbs grow well in this cool season. Select from arugula, basil, chives, dill, fennel, mint, oregano, parsley, rosemary, sweet marjoram and thyme. Don’t hold back water to vegetables and herbs for best results. Replant container gardens and landscape beds with cool season flowers such as alyssum, calendula, carnation, chrysanthemums, dianthus, dusty miller, ornamental cabbage & kale, pansy, petunia, salvia, snapdragon, sweet pea and viola should be considered for the planting beds. Have a plan for protecting your cold sensitive plants, especially the tropicals. Temperatures in the 40’s and 50’s can do a lot of damage if the plants have not been protected. Fabric covers, row covers or cardboard boxes will help. Sometimes, a small incandescent lamp or Christmas tree light can provided enough warmth to protect the plants. By the time a frost shows up, the plants may already be too severely damaged to recover in the spring. If they are in containers, move them to a warm area. 4
New Publications –November, 2013 ’Fairytale Princess’ and ’Red Hot’: Red Lance‐leaved Caladium Cultivars Caladiums are valued in landscapes and containers for their colorful and variable‐shaped leaves. Two types of caladium cultivars exist in commercial production: fancy‐ and lanceleaved. ‘Florida Sweetheart’ is the most popular lance‐leaved commercial cultivar of all colors. It produces wide lance leaves with a rosy color and relatively large tubers. ‘Florida Red Ruffles’ is the most popular red, lance‐leaved commercial cultivar among caladium growers, greenhouse growers, and nurseries. It has excellent sunburn tolerance. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ep481 New Gerbera Daisy Varieties for Large Containers and Flower Gardens Gerbera daisy is one of the most popular flowers in the United States. Recently, interest has increased in growing gerberas in large containers for indoor or outdoor use. ‘Funtastic Tangerine Eye’ and ‘Funtastic Golden Eye’ have been selected and tested specifically for use in large containers. These cultivars produce large, powdery mildew‐resistant plants and large, attractive flowers in orange‐red or yellow‐orange that complements the existing Funtastic series of gerbera cultivars. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ep482 Smartirrigation Apps: Urban Turf We developed an app called Smartirrigation Turf to provide an easy‐to‐use mobile tool that delivers information to improve irrigation scheduling for urban turf. Using the app instead of a set time‐based schedule for irrigation, homeowners and others can provide irrigation amounts to turf that more closely match water needs. This version of the app is applicable in Florida and Georgia and is available to download in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ae499 Spotted cucumber beetle Spotted cucumber beetle is a major agricultural pest of North America. Another name for the spotted cucumber beetle is “southern corn rootworm”. Many Diabrotica species cause damage to field crops, especially corn, making these beetles a major agricultural concern. Because of the subterranean nature of their larvae, these insects are hard and expensive to control. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/in1008 Conserving Urban Wildlife in the Face of Climate Change Virtually all climatologists agree that humans are increasing the rate of the Earth’s warming by releasing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. But you might be surprised to learn that houses and residential neighborhoods are sources of greenhouse gases of carbon because everything in a house that runs on electricity or gas is often derived from burning fossil fuels. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/uw381 Key to Common Bay Trees of Florida Bay trees in Florida can be difficult to distinguish because their leaves all look alike at first glance. The leaves of bays are all simple, large, elliptical, and evergreen. In addition, several bay species grow in overlapping ranges and habitats. Many times two or more different species of bay will be found growing right next to one another. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fr379 5
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