Spotted Wing Fruit Fly

Every once in a while we hear about some new bad bug that is threatening our yards and gardens. One that came to light a couple of years ago was the Spotted Wing Drosophila or Spotted Wing Fruit Fly. This one has been in our area since 2009 and Oregon State University has been doing a lot of work on trying to get a handle on it. To learn more about this pest we talked to Monica Marcus, a student researcher at OSU. Monica talked about how this fruit fly is not like your common fruit fly that you see around your kitchen. The normal fruit fly that we see is one that usually lays its eggs on fruit after it starts to go bad. This new bug will lay its eggs on developing fruit while it is still growing. That makes it a danger to the commercial growers of fruit in our area. The fly will lay its eggs on blueberries, raspberries, cherries, or other fruit and berry crops and the larvae will destroy the fruit from the inside making it inedible and ruining its commercial value. If you think you might have some on your fruit in your home garden you can do a couple of things. One is to use a chemical spray, but if you want to avoid the chemicals, you can use some other methods. Monica recommends some cultural techniques like good pruning to increase airflow in the plant and using drip irrigation instead of overhead watering to not create an environment for the fly. She also recommends a trap with a yeast/sugar water solution (find the recipe here) to help trap the fly before it damages fruit. You will also want to clear away fruit when it starts to go bad so it doesn’t attract more flies. If you would like to learn more about the Spotted Wing Drosophila you can check out this website from OSU.

Fall Shade Trees

We have said it may times, ‘fall is for planting’, and that is especially true for shade trees. In the fall the cooler weather and warm soils help give your trees a great start on growing. But which shade trees should you plant? To learn about a couple of them we stopped by Portland Nursery on Stark (503-231-5050) and chatted with Sara about 3 of her favorites. The first one was the dogwood, Cornus ‘June Snow’. This one stays short so you can use it near power lines and other spaces where height would be a problem. It also has the classic vase shaped canopy which will give you lots of shade. The second one was for gardeners who need something a little thinner. The Katsura ‘Red Fox’ gets really tall but stays quite narrow. The burgundy leaves turn a shade of green in the summer and then orange and yellow in the fall. Give it room, it can get over 20 feet tall when mature. The final tree that Sara had for us was the Pacific Sunset Maple. The outstanding glossy summer foliage changes to tints of yellow, red, and orange in the fall. This one gets 30 feet tall and 25 feet wide at full size. It is a classic tree for the home garden that has room for it.

Not only is fall a good time for planting, it is a good time for saving money. Portland Nursery has some special savings on trees this month. They also have a great resource page for trees, http://portlandnursery.com/plants/trees/. On that page you can learn about the street trees that the city of Portland allows to be planted and also some information on the Treebate program from the city of Portland. This program will rebate part of the cost of your new tree depending on its size and the water management potential. See their website for more details.

Silver Falls Flower Seed

If you have been driving through the countryside in the valley, you may have seen fields full of flowers this summer. This is not the work of a flower fanatic; they are flowers that are grown for their seed. Angela Rose from Silver Falls Seed Company (503-874-8221) showed us some of the varieties that they grow. In the field where she took us we found poppies and bachelor’s buttons. Then we went to the cleaning operation where we saw how they clean, sort and package the seeds they grow. We also learned that since the seeds are grown locally, they are acclimated to the area and you have a better chance for success. They also do numerous types of seed including grass and native plant seed. They grow over 100 different varieties of seed. They even provide seed to highway departments around the country to plant along freeways and rest areas. You can find out more about Silver Falls Seed and buy some of their seeds at their website, http://www.silverfallsseed.com or on their Facebook page.

Drying Herbs

Fall is a tasty time of year. The vegetables in your garden are ripe and ready, and so are the herbs. You can save that wonderful taste of summer by drying your hard-won herbs. William and Judy found a few methods to show you how easy it is to do. Of course the easiest thing to do is air dry them. To do this you can get a home dehydrator. This is a machine with drying racks and a blower to blow warm air through the herbs to dry them or you can just tie them together and keep them in a dark dry space with good air circulation. You can also use moisture absorbing substances to draw the moisture out of the herbs. But the method we found kind of neat was drying them by microwave. William covered them with a paper towel and then using high power and 30 second increments he dried some basil very quickly. You can do other herbs as well. The larger the leaf the longer you have to ‘cook’ them. We also showed you how to dry kale in the oven. Here we set the oven to 300 degrees and spread the leaves out on a cookie sheet. After about 10 minutes we checked them and turned them on the sheet. We checked them every couple of minutes after that to make sure they didn’t burn. Once you are done you can store your dried herbs in a closed container so they are not exposed to moisture. For more tips, check out these instructions.

Wild About Game – Bamboo Sushi

We are WILD about local produce and we are also WILD about local game, and this weekend we can get both! We have been invited to the 14th annual Wild about Game event at Timberline Lodge happening Sunday September, 7th. To see what type of treat you can expect at the event we stopped by Bamboo Sushi to see Chef Jin Soo Yang make a fig stuffed quail. Jin Soo is one of the featured chefs at the event. He will be up against a chef from Seattle. There are 3 other matchups that will be featured as well in this game cooking competition.

The event was started by Geoff Latham at Nicky USA. They are a wild game supplier and the Wild About Game event celebrates the farmers, butchers, and purveyors of high-quality game and specialty meat, and the chefs that use their products. The event features nearly 40 different local products and vendors. If you would like to go and be part of this great event, and taste some really great food, you can check out the Nicky USA website, http://www.nickyusa.com/wag.