Question: In the last two years I have planted root crops, including carrots, radishes and beets, and most of these vegetables are small, twisted and wrong when I harvest them. I tried different varieties with almost the same result. What causes this?
Answer: There may be several potential causes for this very common problem. Provision of seedlings is the most common cause of this problem, especially in carrots, onions and radishes.
It is a good idea to sow these crops densely to make sure that even the distance in the row, but you need to thin the seedlings after germination, as the overpopulated seedlings will compete for water, nutrients and space, which often causes torn or distorted growth.
Other possible causes include compacted or heavy soils when growing in the ground, or too shallowly raised a bed or container when growing in beds or containers. Whatever the reason, these “ugly vegetables” are completely edible.
Pollution and root crops, such as carrots, are usually caused by overcrowding.
Question: I have a terrible pressure of deer in my landscape, as well as some rabbit damage, so I constantly apply the repellents of wildlife to many of my plants. I have many plants for pollinators to attract bees and butterflies and I wonder if these repellents are harmful to bees and other pollinators.
A: Most wilderness repellents contain capsaicin, which is the compound that causes the peppers to taste hot. Studies have been done to determine whether capsaicin is harmful to bees and the conclusions are that it does not pose a risk to bees or other pollinators.
Some wilderness repellents contain a predator urine, in particular coyote urine, which repels deer. I have not seen any research to examine whether urine -based repellents are some risk to bees and other pollinators.
Q: We planted eight Arborvitae last summer as a live fence. This winter and early spring, we noticed that three of these shrubs have become brown and now orange. What causes this and will the affected plants recover?
Many arborvitae in the Great Columbus were killed by a lack of soil moisture associated with the land experienced last summer.
A: Arborvitae is a bush that is widely used as a hedge, screen or live fence in the home landscape. I noticed a large number of brown and orange Arborvitae around the Great Columbus, Ohio this spring.
Although there are several different insects that attack Arborvitae – the most trunk and scale – the damage from these insects usually occurs after several seasons of infection. The bags of the pieces are also quite noticeable hanging from the affected Arborvitae branches.
I suppose many of these plants were killed by a lack of moisture related to drying conditions that we have experienced through much of Ohio last summer.
Arborvitaes need a uniform amount of moisture in the soil to grow and flourish. They really suffer when stressed for drought. As a general rule, a new transplanted shrubs should be watered frequently in the first season and this is especially true when rainfall is scarce.
Arborvitaes, which have become completely brown or orange, will not recover and will need to be replaced and watered well!
Editor’s note: Throughout the growing season, Mike Hogan, an OSU expansion lecturer for agriculture and natural resources in Franklin County, will answer questions about gardening and home landscape presented by Columbus Dispatch readers. Send your questions to Hogan.1@osu.eduS
This article originally appeared on Columbus Dispatcher: Ask the expert: collecting misconduct