An Invasive To Worry About

 Welcome back to another episode of Lost In the Farmers Market, so in our last episode we talked about Bradford Pears (Pyrus calleryana) which are a bafflingly bad choice for a tree in the landscape. Well in conjunction with a LITFM Fieldtrips episode today in detail I will be covering the topic of an invasive deciduous tree called the Tree of Heaven. 

Image courtesy of Oregon State University, this image shows the form of a moderately sized tree.

The Tree of Heaven’s scientific name is Ailanthus altissima, and as I said before it is deciduous and is considered an invasive tree. This tree can rapidly grow to a height of 60-75 feet with a canopy of 35-50 feet; it is not uncommon for specimens of this tree to grow up to six feet per year. It’s leaves are borne alternately but the leaves themselves are evenly pinnate. Ailanthus is found in USDA zones 5a through 8. It is not soil sensitive and will grow almost anywhere even in extremely acidic soils; the most acidic it has been recorded to have grown in is 4.1 pH.  This adaptability and its ability to survive drought, herbicide and fires have made it hard to eradicate. 

This is a example of a young Ailanthus, now how it's been cut down once and is vigorously regrowing.

Additionally the roots of this particular tree will form offsets which are genetically identical to the parent and will also have the same gender as the parent. Normally this is where I would say it’s a limiting factor that Ailanthus are either male or female trees, however upon further research it seems a portion of their population is both, which may or may not include flowers that are bisexual. This means that it is possible that singular group of Ailanthus trees might suddenly be able to reproduce and you might have a greater threat on your hands after years of it only being able to ‘clone’ itself from root offshoots. Given that the seeds of Ailanthus have a 90% germination rate this plant would otherwise have no problem reproducing by way of its winged seeds which can drift on the wind a fair distance.

This is a typical example of a seed cluster on a Tree of Heaven, a healthy tree can produce several hundred seeds per cluster and the recorded record for a singular tree is between 470,000 and 440,000 seeds. In short these things are determined to multiply.

What makes this tree undesirable is its aggressive means of reproduction but also the fact that its fast growth comes at the cost of the tree having soft wood. Ailanthus’s bark is thin and easily damaged from mechanical impacts and it is susceptible to branch breakage at the crotch because of weak branch collar formation and the fact that the wood is very soft. All parts of the tree emit a odor when handled that roughly resembles peanut butter that has gone bad, though some liken it to rotting cashews or garbage. This makes the plant undesirable for gardens where it might be handled and unpleasant to work with in a woodworking sense. Ailanthus’s roots are also known to heave sidewalks and roads making it a troublesome tree for long-term urban planting. In the fall this tree’s foliage color is give-or-take yellow, but the display is so short lived and this tree tends to drop leaves early making it not even useful for fall color. All parts of the Ailanthus plant produce a specific inhibitor compound called Ailanthone which inhibits the growth of most other plants, especially those that have not been exposed to it in prior generations. This natural herbicide of sorts is not unique to the Ailanthus as the Eastern Black Walnut (Juglans nigra) produces a compound called Hydrojuglone which essentially has the same effect. Ailanthus is known by several common names including Stink Tree, Garbage Tree, Varnish Tree, Tree of Hell, and its Chinese name Chouchun. As last bit of information on this miscreant of a plant, it belongs to the Simaroubaceae family of which it is the most famous member. However, it has a not-so-well-known cousin named Quassia amara which has a number of medical uses, is effective at killing hair-based parasites and can kill mosquito larva without harming fish.There is one last thing to mention, Aailanthus looks like a bunch of other non-invasive trees, and oftenthese trees are damaged or eradicated in a misguided attempt to kill Ailanthus. Similar looking trees include the Staghorn Sumac (Rhus typhina), various Ash trees (Fraxinus sp.), Black Walnut (Juglans nigra), and various Hickories (Carya sp.). Identifying these similar looking trees is fairly easy, Sumac has fuzzy reddish-brown stems and leaves and may have fuzzy fruits. Ash Trees have opposite leaves, and all four look-alikes have completely to mostly toothed leaf margins. As an additional identifier, Black walnuts may produce a dead zone nearly devoid of other plants around their roots and they have large green fruits that when crushed will dye whatever touches the juices brown. Plus, Black Walnut fruits have an aroma you can't mistake for anything else. If you don't know for sure, hold off on the herbicide and check with an expert, that tree that looks like an Ailanthus might turn out to be a Pecan Tree (Pecans are a type of Hickory). But anyway enough of the gloomy world of a terrible invasive and on to this weeks garden photographs.

 

My Pomegranates are heavily in bloom for the first time since they were planted, I suspect this has more to do with me not pruning them this year than anything else.

It was surprisingly difficult to get a photograph of this but, two years later finally my Walking Iris (Neomarica northiana) are in bloom. the Flowers literally last less than one day. The plants are called walking iris because they produce plantlets on flexible stems that allow them to spread. Walking Iris are hardy in USDA zones 10 and 11.

These are the specimen plants of Wonderberry (Solanum retroflexum) in the Test Gardens.

Well now it's officially summer, the Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) is now in bloom.

Here we have the first nearly ripe tomato of 2021, It's a Sungold Cherry Tomato of course!

The raised garden bed, which currently has a Zanzibar Castor bean (bottom), Two Alabama Blue Collard Plants (middle)  and a Pineapple Sage (Top).

Here we have a Domesticated Cat (Felis catus), This cat isn't feral, she's just taken up residence on property and recently had kittens under the Pomegranate Bush. I've started feeding her and making sure she has access to clean water and honestly she's sort of become the Test Garden's Mascot. I dont know if she's just someone's outdoor cat or an outdoor cat that's used to people but I've named her Caliente. This Spanish for for emitting heat or warmth but more commonly means spicy which she was early on. She'd hiss, then meow then growl and meow again early on and I'd ask 'why are you so spicy? So the name stuck, and she's 'cali' some times for short.

 

With all that garden goodness covered this is the part of the blog where I have to advertise for the Fayetteville City Market. Now I know you readers probably don’t much like advertisements, but by booth at the City Market helps to cover the costs of running the test garden and literally maintains the Research & Development budget that is used to bring you the information that has made up the backbone of this blog. Also, as of the start of 2019, my booth can now process credit or debit cards thanks to the acquisition of s a Square reader so your payment options have doubled. With that said, if you want to get some GMO-free, Organic vegetables, herbs and fruiting shrubs come on down to the Fayetteville City Market on 325 Maxwell Street in downtown Fayetteville between the Hours of 9:00 am and 1:00 pm on Saturdays. Even in bad weather the market goes on though you might have to look for me under the ‘arches’ of the Transportation Museum’s front entryway.

 

Summer Veggies & Herbs: ($3.00 each)

Sungold Cherry Tomato (Sale $2.00)

Chocolate Cherry Tomato (Sale $2.00)

Lemon Drop Tomato (Sale $2.00)

Sweet Hundreds Cherry Tomato (Sale $2.00)

San Marzano Improved Paste Tomato (Sale $2.00)

Aunt Lou’s Underground Railroad (Sale $2.00)

Paul Robeson Tomato (Sale $2.00)

Cherokee Purple Tomato (Sale $2.00)

Walla Walla Sweet Onion

 

6" pot Sungold Tomato (Sale $3.00) 

6" pot Chocolate Cherry Tomato (Sale $3.00) 

 

Pepper, Sweet Banana

Pepper, Poblano/Ancho

Pepper, Habanero

Pepper, Golden Bell

Pepper, Ghost ($4.00)

 

Wonderberry (Limited Quantity)

Ground Cherry (Limited Quantity)

Cotton, Erlene's Green (Limited Quantity)

 

 

Basil, Emerald Tower

Basil, Dolche Fresca

Basil, Rutgers DMR Devotion

Cuban Oregano

Oregano

Mountain Mint

 

 

Ornamental Stuff: 

Zanzibar Castor Beans

Mexican Sunflower 'Fuego Del Sol'

Flowering Tobacco 'Saratoga Lime'

 

Coming Soon: 

Comfrey (Late summer)

 

We have a new place to share information and work on groovy sustainable stuff!  You can look for Sustainable Neighbors in our own Nextdoor.com group under the name “Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville”. You don’t have to live in Fayetteville to join but it is a private group so feel free to request to join us if you are signed up on the Nextdoor.com site.

 

https://nextdoor.com/g/ybvdm226x/?is=nav_bar

 

Unfortunately, Covid-19 is still mucking up the works in terms of meeting in person. The good news is that Sustainable Neighbors does have a Discord Server. You can request access through our Meetup.com page or you can request access via our Nextdoor.com group. The meetup.com page is below for anyone looking to join us.

 

https://www.meetup.com/SustainableNeighbors/

 

Since our meetings have an open-door policy you don’t need to buy anything or maintain any sort of attendance standard, you can come on in and join the meetings. When this Covid-19 mess calms down we may be able to resume normal in-person meetings. If not, you can always send me questions through this blog or visit the farmer’s market. This brings to a close the twenty-first LITFM post of 2020; stay tuned the next episode which should be posted on the 13^th of November. There will be more garden updates and other cool stuff.

That Crazy Mad Max Vibe

 Welcome back to another episode of Lost In the Farmers Market, and wow what an interesting series of events have occurred in the last two weeks. For those living in their bomb shelters we had a fuel shortage what had most gas stations out of gas, with long lines at the ones that had any at all. Surprisingly gasoline didn’t get rationed (it really should have), and an advisory had to go out to actually tell people not to put gasoline in plastic bags. Yes you read that last part right, the Consumer Product Safety Commission actually had to issue an advisory over this. Ironically the pictures everyone had seen as it turns out were several years old from an incident in Puebla Mexico where a few guys tried to steal extra gas from a gas station. Go figure, but the Hoarding was real, much like with the toilet paper panic in 2020, people lost their minds and started hoarding gasoline by putting it in every container possible. Yours truly saw antique looking plastic kerosene containers, three liter soda bottles and a bevy of not-close-to-legal containers used. It was unreal and to a certain extent it’s still going on as I write this. Of course the fuel shortage is ironically kind of good for the pollinators since fewer lawns get moved and more weeds get to bloom which means more food for the bees and such. Still if I recall right the entire Mad Max series was based on a crippling fuel shortage, and really if I start seeing weirdos about town in weird leather outfits I think we’re in some hilarious trouble. With that said this post is still a bit late, but we’re going to handle two topics. Firstly I’m going to talk about the worst tree you could ever plant and then compost, the best soil amendment you could ever produce. 

So first the photographs below were taken during that odd wind storm we had in April, the subject is a Bradford Pear (Pyrus calleryana). Some of you out there might groan, but I’m going to cover the history of this strange tree that everyone had a frenzy for and now it’s just an artefact of an earlier time.

So this specimen located in Downtown Fayetteville NC lost about a third of it's crown in a recent storm. We had thunderstorms and wind, but no ice and this ting just split right at the branch crotch angle. It was lucky, around the corner another Bradford literally snapped off just above the root line. Others around town shed bits like ti was going out of style.

The scientific name Pyrus is a derivative of the word Pome which refers to the shape of the fruit in the genus, the second specific epithet calleryana derives from the first person to proliferate this specific species. the second part of the botanical Latin name is derived from Joseph-Marie Callery, who sent specimens of originating stock of these plants to Europe from China in the first half of the 1800’s. These trees out nor arrive in the United states until a bit over a century later; it wasn’t until the 1960’s that a USDA facility in Glendale, Maryland introduced a cultivated form of the tree and they became popular with landscapers afterward because they were cheap, could handle being transported and grew fast. In 1966 though the tree gained extra popularity when Lady Bird Johnson planted one in Downtown Washington D.C.  The New York Times got in on the action when they published the following; "Few trees possess every desired attribute, but the Bradford ornamental pear comes unusually close to the ideal." This was good and well because the trees added more accessibility to those who wanted to beautify their properties. Bradford pears had some key advantages over other trees, they grew fast, in spring their white flowers absolutely covered the plants in color making them look like they’d been snowed on. There was the fall color to consider as they turned a decent shade of red before dropping their leaves in the autumn. Bradford Pear leaves as the organic crowd knows are really good compost (Don’t all good plant stories involve compost?) fuel they break down  fast and the resultant soil is ready sooner rather than later.

If there wasn't a picture you would not have believed me. This Bradford was seriously growing roots into it's own branch crotch probably because there was a pocket of dirt or consistent moisture. Bradford Pears might be the idiots of the tree world.

 

But the story of the Bradford Pear isn’t all cookies and sunshine, this tree had problems, it wasn’t the perfect candidate for use everywhere that everyone thought it was. The first problem came from the flowers, which smelled kind of bad, some have likened their smell to rotting fish, cement gone bad and some even said it smelled like semen. I don’t know about that last one or what exposures it takes to authoritatively judge that, but yes the flowers smell bad.

 

 

https://www.npr.org/2015/04/24/401943000/whats-that-smell-the-beautiful-tree-thats-causing-quite-a-stink

You can see where the branch angle was weak and the wind sheared it right off, though it's news to me that Bradford Pears come with a cup holder.

 

But this isn’t all; with flowers which do help the pollinators in spring but with it comes the problem of fruit. Bradford pears produce tiny inedible fruit that only become edible after they have been hit by a frost or two. Realistically the fruit are about the size of a large pea maybe and the birds get at them making a bigger mess. Where the fruit falls can make a mess and pose a slip hazard, then there’s the issue of the seeds coming up where they are not supposed to and the plant escaping cultivation. Did I mention that Bradford Pears are currently considered invasive? Well as it turns out this garbage-tree is considered invasive in the eastern and Midwest regions of the USA because its fast growth allows it to out-compete native species. It is known that this tree has escaped cultivation in at least 152 counties in 25 states in the United States and the escaped types are all wild interbred types that may have even reverted enough to regain their thorns and fruiting spurs. But wait its worse, as it turns out Bradford Pears are impressively short lived as street trees because their average life span is twenty-five years. This is assuming their other greatest weakness does not come into play and end them sooner. You see without proper pruning to cut out forked branches and crossover branches, the fast growing speed comes at the price of weak branch-crotch angles and weak wood in general. As if this wasn’t bad enough after storms like the one we just had Bradford Pears are the most likely tree to have been wrecked especially in high wind conditions, torrential downpours or any weather with ice involved.  This makes them susceptible to ‘shattering’ which may or may not be a biological evolution to asexually reproduce. If one of those branches lands the right way it ‘might’ survive and take root. I wouldn’t bet money on this happening but it could explain the strange proclivity of these trees to fall apart at the slightest of storm winds. There is supposedly an ‘improved’ form of Bradford Pear called the Cleveland Select Pear (Pyrus calleryana ‘Cleveland Select’) which realistically still has the same kinds of problems and is literally a terribly false hope for a crappy street tree.

A close up of the foliage and unripe fruit of a Bradford Pear.

Enough about failed street trees, let’s get down to the nitty gritty, the straight dirt, that’s right compost. Compost is as individual as the gardener’s preferences are. There are composting systems that are incredibly diverse ranging from models that spin on a specialized rack to make turning easy to those that roll on the ground, and then there’s the cone shaped ones that can compost bones, the standing bin types and let’s not forget the ones that are designed to handle dog feces. It’s all a very diverse field of options that all have their benefits and disadvantages. Today I’m going to talk briefly about the unit in the Test Gardens which is a standard bin type composter made of black recycled plastic and has a capacity of 80 gallons or roughly about 12 cubic feet. Well due to a conversation in the Sustainable Neighbors Text chat I thought I’d talk about the process I use with some pictures to show what I mean. The basic rule of composting is that you need four things, moisture, soil, green material, and brown material.  The soil which ideally should already be moist introduces the soil borne organisms that will break down the green and brown stuff to make nutrient rich compost. The soil also forms the core basis of the final compost but still should always be about a third of the mix. The soil part can be up half if you are using some especially fast decomposing green material such as grass clippings, or very fast decomposing items like spoiled fruit or leaves like those from spoiled produce, Bradford pear, or a Mulberry.

 

The first few shovel fulls of compost always tells you what the rest is going to be like. Although there is a bit of an Ant issue, the compost is light, airy, dark in color and clearly full of remaining bits of the process like the eggshells you can see in the lower center of the pile.

 

This is my finished product, due to the use of potting soil instead of regular soil my compost has a lot of perlite in it and weighs a lot less than conventional compost but it's no less useful and nutrient dense.

 

            Greenery as noted before are typically grass clippings from moving the lawn, but can be any green material, such as spoiled produce from your kitchen, soft clippings left over from pruning or even crop plants that are effectively spent for the purposes of food production. The greens tuff is essential because it introduces nitrogen based compounds that can accelerate decomposition of the brown materials and will draw in decomposers to the pile.

 

I had to turn the composter over to get at the remaining chunks of compost so that the materials can be turned and the bin re-seated on it's pad of cardboard and newspaper.

 

The brown stuff is typically materials like fallen leaves that have turned brown and are usually crunchy in texture. Brown materials can include limited amounts of pine straw, wet newspaper, wet cardboard, wet tissue paper, and vegetable scraps that are not high in sugar. The brown materials are the longer-lasting food source for decomposers and will often be the last things to break down in a compost pile. Some of the brown materials may even be recognizable a year later, for instance Pineapple skin and tops can persist in the compost for a year plus.

 

The remaining half of the material in this been has been put back in to form the basis of the next 6 cubic feet of compost. For note under the bin is a layer of cardboard and newspapers that keeps root intrusion to a minimum.

Now that we've covered the compost here's some photographs from the gardens.

Alabama Blue Collards overwintered nicely and are about to go gangbusters.

On the left you have store-bought spinach leaves, on the right are homegrown ones from the test gardens, there is no doubt which is better.

This is the first frog seen in the test gardens this year, and it's always a good sign when our amphibian friends are about since they eat a LOT of bugs that might otherwise be a problem.

Coreopsis pubescens 'Sunshine Superman' This coreopsis effectively escaped cultivation, but isn't really invasive and the cheery flowers are always delightful.

 

Speckled Chestnut Mushrooms, I bought these from another vendor at the FFayettevilel City Market. Your read that right folks we now have a Mushroom vendor!

 

With all that garden goodness covered this is the part of the blog where I have to advertise for the Fayetteville City Market. Now I know you readers probably don’t much like advertisements, but by booth at the City Market helps to cover the costs of running the test garden and literally maintains the Research & Development budget that is used to bring you the information that has made up the backbone of this blog. Also, as of the start of 2019, my booth can now process credit or debit cards thanks to the acquisition of s a Square reader so your payment options have doubled. With that said, if you want to get some GMO-free, Organic vegetables, herbs and fruiting shrubs come on down to the Fayetteville City Market on 325 Maxwell Street in downtown Fayetteville between the Hours of 9:00 am and 1:00 pm on Saturdays. Even in bad weather the market goes on though you might have to look for me under the ‘arches’ of the Transportation Museum’s front entryway.

 

Summer Veggies & Herbs: ($3.00 each)

Sungold Cherry Tomato (Sale $2.00)

Chocolate Cherry Tomato (Sale $2.00)

Lemon Drop Tomato (Sale $2.00)

Sweet Hundreds Cherry Tomato (Sale $2.00)

San Marzano Improved Paste Tomato (Sale $2.00)

Aunt Lou’s Underground Railroad (Sale $2.00)

Paul Robeson Tomato (Sale $2.00)

Cherokee Purple Tomato (Sale $2.00)

Walla Walla Sweet Onion

 

6" pot Sungold Tomato (Sale $3.00) 

6" pot Chocolate Cherry Tomato (Sale $3.00) 

 

Pepper, Sweet Banana

Pepper, Poblano/Ancho

Pepper, Habanero

Pepper, Golden Bell

Pepper, Ghost ($4.00)

 

Wonderberry (Limited Quantity)

Ground Cherry (Limited Quantity)

Cotton, Erlene's Green (Limited Quantity)

Okra, Jing  (Limited Quantity)

 

Basil, Emerald Tower

Basil, Dolche Fresca

Basil, Rutgers DMR Devotion

Oregano

Mountain Mint

 

 

Ornamental Stuff: 

Zanzibar Castor Beans

Mexican Sunflower 'Fuego Del Sol'

Flowering Tobacco 'Saratoga Lime'

 

Coming Soon: 

Comfrey (Mid summer)

 

We have a new place to share information and work on groovy sustainable stuff!  You can look for Sustainable Neighbors in our own Nextdoor.com group under the name “Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville”. You don’t have to live in Fayetteville to join but it is a private group so feel free to request to join us if you are signed up on the Nextdoor.com site.

 

https://nextdoor.com/g/ybvdm226x/?is=nav_bar

 

Unfortunately, Covid-19 is still mucking up the works in terms of meeting in person. The good news is that Sustainable Neighbors does have a Discord Server. You can request access through our Meetup.com page or you can request access via our Nextdoor.com group. The meetup.com page is below for anyone looking to join us.

 

https://www.meetup.com/SustainableNeighbors/

 

Since our meetings have an open-door policy you don’t need to buy anything or maintain any sort of attendance standard, you can come on in and join the meetings. When this Covid-19 mess calms down we may be able to resume normal in-person meetings. If not, you can always send me questions through this blog or visit the farmer’s market. This brings to a close the tenth LITFM post of 2021; stay tuned the next episode which should be posted on the 28^th of May. There will be more garden updates and other cool stuff.