Eric Liskey

Autumn reflection

Written on October 18, 2010 at 1:20 pm , by Eric Liskey

Just for fun, here’s one of my favorite pieces of prose. It’s John Muir, reflecting on trees, in Our National Parks.

“…to learn how they live and behave in pure wildness, to see them in their varying aspects through the seasons and weather, rejoicing in the great storms, in the spiritual mountain light, putting forth their new leaves and flowers when all the streams are in flood and the birds are singing, and sending away their seeds in the thoughtful Indian summer when all the landscape is glowing in deep calm enthusiasm—for this you must love them and live with them, as free from schemes and cares and time as the trees themselves.”

The man knew how to write.

Frosty morn

Written on October 14, 2010 at 1:20 pm , by Eric Liskey

This was the scene a couple of weeks ago here.  Early Oct. isn’t really that
early for a first frost in the Upper Midwest.

This was a classic radiational freeze. Calm, clear night, with lows in the mid-30s. Some find it strange that you can have frost when the air temp is above 32 degrees. It happens because some objects (e.g.  grass) lose heat to the surrounding atmosphere through radiation. Not the Chernobyl kind. The kind that you feel when you’re near a fire and the glowing coals emit their heat. Only it’s far more subtle than that, thankfully. The result is that the grass actually becomes cooler than the atmosphere, and dew freezes to form ice crystals on the grass. That’s frost. If you notice, under trees, shrubs or just about any object, frost often doesn’t occur on nights like these. That’s because the heat radiated by the grass is reflected back down, keeping things just a few degrees warmer.

The cold grass often refrigerates a thin layer of air at the surface (which tends to pool in low spots) and so you get what’s called an inversion layer. Air is colder at the surface, and gets a bit warmer as you rise. That’s why, as you see in this photo, you can have frosty grass, but everything more than a few inches off the ground is unfrozen. This photo was taken two weeks ago, and those marigolds are still bloomin’ their heads off. If it’s a windy night with a cold front that’s bringing in sub-freezing air, the atmosphere is mixed thoroughly and everything freezes equally. That’s a very different thing—and usually does a better job killing off the whole garden.

To be sure, some radiational freezes are cold enough to take out the garden. But I don’t mind a light frost like this, especially when it’s followed by a long, lovely Indian Summer, with plants ablaze with the reds, yellows and russets that make autumn landscapes so gorgeous.

Not your usual mushroom

Written on September 21, 2010 at 10:38 am , by Eric Liskey

This came up in my lawn a few weeks ago. Unlike most mushrooms that pop up with seeming randomness, this one appeared exactly where I would have expected. I cut down a diseased willow tree recently (is there any other kind?!) and ended up leaving quite a few roots in the ground. So the infected roots continued to harbor the fungus, which eventually sent up this thing where the tree used to be.

It’s some sort of what they call a shelf fungus, I think. More typically, these grow out of the branches of infected trees. But since I cut the the tree down, all that was left were underground roots and the only way the fungus could produce its mushroom (basidiocarp, in the scientific vernacular) was up and out of the ground. Anyway, I though it was cool looking. And it was a big one — about 8 inches across.

Enchanting

Written on August 20, 2010 at 2:46 pm , by Eric Liskey

A mushroom came up in my potted canna/creeping Jenny combination. It’s pretty, in a way. (As opposed to the creeping Jenny that the leaf cutter bees have decimated, as you can see in photo.) Not sure what to make of it, though. Some people here in the office think that means gnomes have taken up residence. I dunno.

Pretty

Written on August 15, 2010 at 2:44 pm , by Eric Liskey

A nice summer scene outside my door.

Garden warfare

Written on August 11, 2010 at 2:44 pm , by Eric Liskey

Japanese beetles are one of the most notorious garden pests. They begin as grubs—a significant turf pest in the Eastern U.S.—then turn into those little green beetles we see flying around in summer,  chewing up our roses, hibiscus, beans, etc. The list of victims is a long one. Japanese beetles are such a serious pest, the species is on those “shoot-on-site” lists that ag-intensive states such as California maintain. Just like the Medfly (those of you on the West Coast know what I’m talking about), if a Japanese beetle is detected in California, they call out the bombers.

East of the Rockies, however, the beetle has spread widely, covering pretty much every state. In some places I’ve visited (on the Eastern Seaboard), I’ve seen the beasts so thick, they attack roses like flies on a rotten piece of meat. Seriously. Swarms. They’re usually not quite that bad here in Iowa, but it’s been heavier this year than I’ve ever seen it before. I blame it on the heavy snows that insulated the ground here all winter.

It’s been bad enough that, for the first time, I felt the need to do something about it. I first tried a homemade trap. “Works Great!” the message boards said. Mash up some fruit, add sugar, water, and put it in a milk jug. So….a few days later I went out to inspect my catch: 1 cucumber beetle and a mason bee. No Japanese beetles. Meanwhile, a few feet away, a bean vine was covered with them.

So I bought one of the commercial traps—this one manufactured by Bonide—that uses pheromones to lure in the beetles.  A couple days later, the bag was  full of hundreds of the nasty little things. It worked! It’s pretty disgusting to see a bag full of writhing bugs. At some point, you have to get rid of the things. What do you do with them? I haven’t figured that out yet. They’re still in the bag.

It is satisfying to see such a great result, although the truth is, you’ll never eliminate Japanese beetles. The key is grub control. Not so tough in your own yard, but there are always plenty of untreated lawns nearby. Given their excellent flying ability, the adult beetles can and do converge on any attractive food source anywhere close enough to fly to. So you might keep the populations down with a trap or other control, but the reality is that you just have to tolerate a certain amount of damage.