Mulch can kill trees and shrubs
By ROBERT KESSLER Penn State Cooperative Extension Franklin County office

COMING EVENTS

Through Aug. 26 - Franklin County Fair, Chambersburg Rod and Gun Club, 3725 Warm Spring Road, Chambersburg

Sept. 9 - 9:30 to 11:30 a.m., Gardening 101, "Fall is for Planting:" turf workshop and planning bulbs workshop, Franklin County Extension Office

Oct. 7 - 9:30 to 11:30 a.m., Gardening 101, "Houseplants & Propagation," at the home of a Master Gardener. Call Franklin county Exntension Office at 263- 9226.

Oct. 12 - 7 to 9:30 p.m., Principles of Landscape Design, Franklin County Human Service Building, 425 Franklin Farm lane, Chambersburg

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MULCH KILLS

Mulch can kill your trees and shrubs if it is not properly applied. Regardless of what you see others do, mulch should never be in contact with a tree or shrub's bark. Mother Nature doesn't do it to the trees in the woods, so you should not do it to the trees and shrubs in your yard.

Mulch is meant to hold moisture in the ground and to prevent the growth of weeds. Yet some people want to mound it up around the trunk of their landscape plants. Trunks of trees are not meant to be wet so a couple of things can happen when you mound your mulch.

The first is you get secondary roots growing out the trunk of your tree into the mulch. I can guarantee you this is not a good thing.

The second thing that can happen is the trunk can start to rot because of the wet mulch. This can lead to other diseases and possible death of the tree or shrub.

Now if you don't want your tree to die then spread your mulch only two to three inches deep around your trees and shrubs and taper it off so the mulch is not in contact with the trunk. It is the safe way to use mulch and it will not kill this way.

GIANTWASPS

If you see a giant wasp flying around your yard, you don't need to freak out. They are not giant yellow jackets, but they are Cicada Killers. If you have been listening to the sounds of the outdoors, you will have noticed that the cicadas have been singing in the trees lately. This is the food for the Cicada Killers, so they are around too.

Cicada Killers are what is called a solitary wasp, meaning the females nest alone, building a nest in the ground in people's lawns and are more likely to nest in lawns that are a little weaker. The female may have more than one nest in which she lays an egg and then packs the nest with food for the larvae to feed on when the egg hatches. Wasps provide meat to their larvae and do this by paralyzing cicadas and packing them in the nest. They will stay alive long enough for the larvae to hatch and to feed on them.

If you find that you have Cicada Killers in your yard, the best thing to do is to leave them alone. They are not aggressive to people, but they can sting to defend themselves. If you get close to their nest, they will let you know they are there. If however, they pose a risk to you or your family, you can use carbaryl (Sevin) dust at the entrance to their tunnel. As they go in and out their hole, they will pick up the dust and it will control them.

IMPACT OF HOT DRY

WEATHER ON

LANDSCAPE

This summer has been one of

extremes. We had a period of cool weather in the spring, a period of heavy rainfall of eight to fourteen inches or more and it's been hot! This weather has been very hard on our landscape. Trees are showing the effects of the dry weather by dropping leaves or just looking wilted. Young trees suffer even more because they have a limited root zone. If you have a young tree that you planted within the last couple of years, you should be watering it to help it survive this extremely dry period. The same goes for your shrubbery.

When you water your landscape, be sure to water deeply and less often. Never go out with a hose and stand a few minutes at a plant and think you have watered it. You need to get water 10 to 12 inches into the ground. When watering trees that lose their leaves (deciduous), you want to water them at the drip line, not at the trunk. When you water evergreens, go out another four feet beyond the drip line and water. Water the plant slowly so it will soak into the ground and not run off.

The rule of thumb is that you provide about 10 gallons of water for each inch of diameter of the tree. Measure the diameter of the tree at about the four-foot height. Another guideline is that for each inch of diameter of a tree, you need to be running the hose at least five minutes. That means a six-inch tree requires you to be watering for 30 minutes at that tree before you move on to the next tree.

A small tree, which would be up to seven inches in diameter, should be watered every ten days. For the smaller trees of one to three inches, a good method is to use a five-gallon bucket with a small hole or two in the bottom to water. Move it to a new area around the tree before you refill it.

Larger trees can be watered two to three times a month. Let the hose run a steady stream and keep moving it around the tree. You could also put the shower head from your watering wand on the hose to help spread out the water.

If water is limited, do your newly planted and young trees first. They are the most likely to be damaged by these dry conditions.

WINTER HEATING

OPTIONS

With the increase in the price of crude oil comes the concern about how much will it cost to heat our homes this winter. It has been several years since we had so many people looking at heating options. If you are one of those people, here is some information that might help you.

If home heating oil costs $2.50 a gallon this winter, what could you justify paying for other fuels that would give you the same Btu's for the same money? You could pay up to $2.34 per gallon for kerosene, $334.00 for a cord of wood and $295.00 per ton for wood pellets.

Another way to look at this is that you get 115,000 Btu per gallon of oil, 15.3 million Btu per cord of wood, 2.6 million Btu per ton of Coal and 13.6 million Btu per ton of wood pellets. If you have a stove that could burn corn, you get 314,000 Btu per bushel of corn. Using these numbers, you can compare your fuel choices to see the cost per 100,000 Btus to get an idea of what you could pay if you wanted to go to some alternative. You also need to consider the supply side of the issue. If you have to buy a cord of wood, where would you get it? How would you store it? Last year wood pellets became scarce and hard to buy. How will this year's supply hold up? If you choose corn, how will you store it? How will you get it delivered? Can you find it in bags?

You also need to keep in mind that if you put in a stove in your house, be sure to check with your homeowners insurance. They may require an inspection of the installation before they will cover you with insurance.