By Jim Lakin, M.D., Master Gardener

Chances are, you’ll be spending more time indoors over the next few months.  So will your green and growing friends – your houseplants.   It makes sense then to get to know how to keep them healthy.  Healthy plants look better.  They have less insect problems.  Their chances of making it through the winter and out onto the patio next spring increase.  So, what can we do to help them out?

First grow plants in the best possible conditions. Here you will have to do a little research on the preferences of each plant.  Match the plant to its light, moisture and temperature requirements.  If a plant is struggling with too little light, too much moisture or too warm or cold a temperature, it will not do well.

Second, fulfill your plant’s nutritional requirements.  Is your fellow a big feeder or not?  Generally speaking, fertilize at half the “recommended dose” for a given plant at the intervals suggested.  Fertilizers will be most effective when applied while the plant is actively growing.

Third, water your plants properly.  This is a biggie!  More plants ascend to heaven (or descend to the compost) from overwatering than any other cause.  Over-watering combined with poor drainage can encourage root rot and pest problems.  If you water on a schedule, say every Tuesday whether they need it or not, you’ll set yourself up for this problem.  Water when the soil is dry, say,halfway up your index finger.  Also don’t let your plants stand in water.  Water at the base of the plant, not on the leaves.

Fourth, keep your plants clean.  Remove dead leaves, stems and flowers.  Don’t let them pile up on the soil surface where they can harbor insect pests.

Fifth, use new, sterile potting soil when potting plants.  Avoid outdoor garden soil.  It probably is chock full of weed seeds and insect eggs.  Plant in clean pots and wash off the roots before planting bare-rooted purchases.

Finally, inspect your houseplants frequently for insect pests.  They most often tend to congregate on the underside of leaves.  Early detection is key.  If you do suspect that bugs are beginning to set up shop, check out “Managing Insects on Indoor Plants” on the University of Minnesota website: https://extension.umn.edu/product-and-houseplant-pests/insects-indoor-plants    It’s a great aid for diagnosing and treating pest problems. 

Observe these few simple procedures and you’ll go a long way to having happy house plants and home bodies!

By Brynne Eisele

Video

Read

Summer Green to Autumn Gold: Uncovering Leaves’ Hidden Colors, by Mia Posada, answers readers’ (ages 5-10) questions about why leaves change colors.  It gives the science behind the many different colors of leaves and includes beautiful watercolor and collage art on every page.  The author and illustrator reside in Golden Valley, MN!

Fletcher and the Falling Leaves, by Julia Rawlinson, lets young readers (ages 1-5) follow Fletcher the fox cub as he discovers his favorite tree seems to be sick.  Each day more leaves turn brown and fall to the ground.  Fletcher is very worried for the tree until he finds a wonderful surprise on the first day of winter.

Do

For elementary aged children try these two very simple experiments that demonstrate the importance of trees and their leaves to our daily lives.  It will also help them visualize the concept that plants and trees are alive just like us!  

1. Do Leaves Breathe?

Materials: 

1. Freshly picked leaf that is still green
2. Bowl of water large enough to fit the leaf
3. Rock or something to weigh down the leaf

Instructions:

1. Ask the child to observe the leaf. What do they see? Do they hear the leaf breathing? 
2. Fill the bowl with water and submerge the leaf in water using the rock to make sure the leaf is fully submerged. 
3. Place the bowl in a sunny location.
4. Wait for a few hours then check on the leaf.  You should see small bubbles forming on the leaf and edges of the bowl

Explanation: Your child is observing part of the process of photosynthesis where oxygen is being expelled from the leaf.  While the leaf doesn’t use lungs to breath as we do, it does similarly take in and release air.  As humans we breathe in the oxygen expelled in our daily lives.   

Adapted from science-u.org

2.  Do Leaves Sweat?

Materials:

1. Clear zip lock bag
2. String or twist tie to secure the bag tightly
3. Branch of leaves in the sun

Instructions: 

1. Ask the child to observe the leaf.  How does the leaf feel?  Can they see the leaf sweating?
2. Fit the plastic bag on the end of a branch which has several green leaves on it.
3. Make sure your branch is in the sunlight for a few hours.
4. Secure the bag tightly with the string or twist tie.
5. One corner of the bag should be pointing down toward the ground so that the water can collect into one location.
6. After a few hours, check the bag.  You should see water pooled in the corner of the bag. 

Explanation: Your child is observing plant transpiration. This process can be explained to a child by comparing it to a human sweating and expelling water to cool down.  Plant transpiration is crucial to our daily lives as it releases water into our atmosphere to be evaporated. 

Adapted from Kids Fun Science, Youtube channel

Fall Leaf Scavenger Hunt

For younger children around ages 2-5 set up a fall leaf scavenger hunt.  Depending on the age, the child may need greater parental assistance.  See below for some suggestions but feel free to add your own categories!

• Find a yellow leaf (or one with yellow on it)
• Find a green leaf (or one with green on it)
• Find a red leaf (or one with red on it)
• Find a brown leaf (or one with brown on it)
• Find a leaf with a whole in it
• Find a leaf with three points
• Find a leaf that has an oval shape
• Find a small leaf
• Find a big leaf

By Paul Stamets

Reviewed by Ren Henry

What do we use mushrooms for? Mostly we eat them, and that’s about it. Have you ever stopped to think about the other uses for mushrooms? In Paul Stamets’ 2005 book, Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World, the celebrated mycologist explores the various ways mushrooms can be used in the landscape to help remediate various ecological settings. This is what he terms “mycorestoration”.

The book is divided into three parts: first explaining how mushrooms grow, then how mycorestoration works, and finally how to grow specific types of mushrooms. Mushrooms are the fruiting bodies of the mycelial mat, which intertwines within the soil. Stamets’ view is that the mycelial mat can be used to provide additional nutrients to plants and to more quickly remediate soil after a forest fire. He also provides evidence that some mushroom species are hyper-accumulators of heavy metals and could theoretically be used to clean up waste sites by inoculating the soil with mycelium and harvesting the mushrooms for incineration. He also demonstrates that the use of mycelium when returning old roads to nature speeds up the process significantly. In sum, Stamets’ main point is that the mycelial mat and the mushrooms it produces could be a tool for improving our landscape and remediating ecological disasters in a quick and cost-efficient manner.

The book, deals with some technical topics but is easy to read and understand. While somewhat out of date, the website that the text often refers to is still accessible today, with current information. Even sixteen years after publication, the book still has lots to teach about the value that mushrooms can bring to the landscape, even when they aren’t an edible variety.

By Connie Kotke, Master Gardener

Ready for a Long Winter’s Nap?

October is the time to put your garden to bed. This means cutting things back, cleaning up what’s left, packing away tools and pots, and getting everything ready to go for next spring. Then you can settle in for winter knowing that your garden will look healthy and happily tucked in!

Cut Back

Keep your garden tidy and save labor later by cutting back many perennials after frost causes them to turn brown and die. On the other hand, some perennials (like Catmint) look good until the snow flies and can be left until spring. And some perennials offer seed heads for foraging birds…or shelter for beneficial insects. These plants support Mother Nature while providing some interest in what might otherwise be a bleak winter landscape. 

In the winter months when food is scarce, gardens full of withered fruit and dried seed heads can provide birds with a reliable food source. Seed-eating songbirds such as finches, sparrows, chickadees, and jays will make use of many common garden plants. When cleaning up the garden, prioritize removing and discarding diseased top growth, but leave healthy seed heads standing. Old stalks and leaves can be cut back in the spring before new growth begins.

Examples of perennials to leave standing in the garden include sedum, purple coneflowers, black-eyed Susan, coreopsis, sunflower, switchgrass and little blue stem.

Remember, don’t prune woody plants, trees and shrubs until late winter when they are dormant.

Clean Up

Healthy plant debris can be composted at home or at a municipal compost site. Debris from plants with powdery mildew or other diseases should be composted at a municipal site, where temperatures get high enough to kill the disease. 

Pull dead or declining annuals. It’s hard to do, but they won’t come back next spring. 

Clean up overgrown areas to prevent animals and pests from moving in – like brush piles or hidden spots around the yard where weedy trees and shrubs have taken root. 

Harvest everything above ground in the vegetable garden and under fruit trees. Don’t leave fruits and vegetables out all winter to rot, attract animals, and set seed.

Other Tasks

• Empty, clean and disinfect your containers by spraying them with a bleach cleaner. Pottery should be moved into a shed or garage to avoid freezing and breaking.
• Clean and store stakes, tomato cages, garden ornaments and other hardware. They’ll last longer and look better next spring.
• Clean soil from your tools, then sharpen edges with a file. Finish with a light coating of oil to prevent rusting.
• Move any plants that spend their winters inside. Quarantine before introducing them to your other houseplants to prevent pests from spreading.
• Dig up your tender bulbs and tubers well before the threat of frost. Store them in a warm, dry place out of direct light.

For more information, check out these University of Minnesota resources:

October Gardening Tips from the University of Minnesota Arboretum – October Gardening Tips (umn.edu)

Protecting trees and shrubs in winter | UMN Extension