What’s the white powder on grapes? Is it a pesticide?

You may have noticed a whitish coating on certain fruits. It’s particularly visible on grapes, plums, and blueberries. It’s epicuticular wax, also known as “bloom,” a natural and harmless part of many plants. The coating protects the plants and seals in their moisture. It’s what makes water slide off fresh kale, and it gives blue spruce trees their distinctive color. You can also find in on certain succulents.

Fruit in the supermarket has often been artificially waxed to make it last longer and look more appealing, and because the process of picking and washing it stripped it of its natural protective coat. Sometimes, epicuticular wax from other plants is used. Carnauba wax (which can be found in everything from cosmetics to furniture polish) comes from a species of palm tree that grows in Brazil; the wax is harvested by beating the dried palm fronds. Other petroleum-, shellac-, vegetable-, or beeswax-based waxes may also be used.

According to Consumer Reports, there is concern that the wax coating may help trap pesticide residue. They recommend buying organic when possible and making sure to thoroughly wash produce. In an article from October of this year, Catherine Roberts suggested that soaking fruits and vegetables in a baking soda solution may be effective in removing some pesticides.

We got our information from ThoughtCo, Consumer Reports, The Atlantic, Succulent Identifier, Washington State University’s Tree Fruit Research & Extension Center, The Demystified Vine, and The Botanist in the Kitchen. If you want to learn more, Aliza Green’s Field Guide to Produce and Melissa’s Great Book of Produce by Cathy Thomas both give tips on how to buy, store, and use fresh fruits and vegetables, while Richard Gianfrancesco’s How to Grow Food and Barbara Pleasant’s Homegrown Pantry explain how to grow your own.

When did scarecrows first come about?

According to Thom Sokoloski and Jenny McCowan at thomasandguinevere.com, Cindy Murphy’s article for Grit and Lori Rotenberk’s article for Modern Farmer, scarecrows have been around as long as people have grown crops, but they haven’t always looked like the ones you might be familiar with. The early Egyptian scarecrows, constructed along the Nile River, didn't look like people at all. Egyptian farmers had a problem with wild quail, so they built wooden frames with nets and had people herd the quail into them. Famers in pre-feudal Japan sometimes used a scarecrow called a kakashi. A kakashi consists of old rags and other bad-smelling items mounted on a pole with bells and other noisemakers and set afire. The smell and smoke would keep birds away.

Ancient Greek and Roman scarecrows were more humanoid. They built statues of their fertility god in their gardens and fields to protect against birds and other thieves. In Britain during the Middle Ages, actual children would work in the fields as “crow-scarers,” knocking together blocks of wood to scare away the birds. Some Native American tribes and early settlers also employed the human bird-scarer technique. With population fluctuations and a need for more farmers to be working the field, this job was passed on from actual people to stuffed sacks gourds for heads, the precursors to scarecrows as we know them today.

Today, farmers can use high-tech gadgets to scare away birds, such as chemicals or ultrasonic waves, but the old-fashioned scarecrow is iconic. In America it is used as a symbol of the autumn, particularly of Halloween, and many towns have festivals celebrating scarecrows of all shapes and sizes. Scarecrows can be used to frighten and to entertain, but they will always be associated with the harvest.

What makes tomatoes go from green to red?

We checked several of our gardening and food science books to no avail, although we did learn from Lynn Coulter’s Gardening with Heirloom Seeds that tomatoes, native to South America and members of the nightshade family, took a while to catch on among Europeans.

However, Brian McMahon at MentalFloss, Mandy Kendrick at Scientific American, and the University of Cambridge’s IntoBiology website all had the answer to our question. Chlorophyll makes the tomatoes green and, as they ripen, the chlorophyll begins to dissolve. Lycopene, a chemical in the tomato that has a red color, shows through as the chlorophyll dissolves. As this happens, the tomato will also become sweeter, softer, less acidic, and ready to eat.

Fruits produce a chemical called ethylene in certain conditions, including as they ripen, and other fruit will respond to it. According to Jeremy Dore at GrowVeg and McMahon at Mental Floss, a green tomato in a paper bag with a ripe banana will respond to the ethylene given off by the banana, and it will begin to ripen itself.

Why are my plants rotting?

“I keep potted succulents indoors, and a few of them that I’ve had for years suddenly got mushy and rotted away. What’s wrong and how do I keep it from spreading?”

According to Succulents Simplified by Debra Lee Baldwin and The Idiot’s Guide to Succulents by Cassidy Tuttle, root rot is a common malady affecting succulents. Caused by overwatering, root rot causes the roots to have a mushy texture and is often fatal. If it’s the suspected culprit, our patron can try to remove the infected roots, let their plant dry out, and repot it in clean soil, but this may or may not save it.

If our patron does not believe that they have been overwatering their plants, or if the roots still seem healthy, diseases that could be causing the problem. We couldn’t get an exact diagnosis since the symptoms were so similar, but all of our sources suggested the same basic treatment: cut away the infected tissue if possible, and then repot the plant in new soil in a sterilized container, and throw away the old soil. It also would be a good idea to quarantine the plant to lower the risk of it infecting its fellows. If the disease hasn’t gotten into the roots, the prognosis is better, but it still may not be salvageable. 

Fortunately, we found that succulents are some of the easiest plants to propagate, so our patron may be able to produce a clone of their plant if healthy leaves remain. Though the method of propagation depends on the plant, many succulents will grow from leaves or cuttings.

Why is my ivy turning yellow?

This was actually a question from one of our librarians, who had received a potted ivy plant which she had been keeping by the library window. The plant was getting lots of sunlight, but the leaves were turning yellow. We checked The House Plant Encyclopedia by Ingrid Jantra and Ursula Krüger, What’s Wrong with My Houseplant? by David Deardorff and Kathryn Wadsworth, and Kristi Waterworth’s “Ivy Turning Yellow” article on GardeningKnowHow.com to find out why.

According to Jantra and Krüger, ivy leaves may turn pale if they’re getting too much light, but, in general, yellow leaves are caused by too little light, a nutrient deficiency, or too much watering. Deardorff and Wadsworth agree. Evidently, it’s difficult to tell exactly what causes yellow leaves – they’re a symptom of some sort of problem, anything from fungus, insects, or a bacterial infection to the issues mentioned above. Waterworth adds that it may be something in the ivy’s environmental stressing it out. Dry air, high levels of salt in the soil (either from tap water or overfertilizing), or a draft can all make an ivy’s leaves go yellow.

Our librarian guessed that it may have been a draft, since her ivy sat in a cold window. She has since moved it and is waiting to see if its condition improves.

Why do my air plants keep dying?

“I thought air plants were supposed to be low-maintenance, but mine keep dying. What am I doing wrong?”

Tillandsias, commonly known as air plants, are often marketed as needing no care. However, they are still living plants (part of the bromeliad family, which also includes pineapples), and, as such, they need light and water to survive. We have a copy of Air Plants: The Curious World of Tillandsias by Zenaida Sengo, which has good information on tillandsia care and gives some hints about what our patron may have been doing wrong.

Our patron’s plants may not have been getting enough water. Sengo recommends either misting them 3-7 times a week, dunking them in water for a few minutes 2-4 times a week or every 7-10 days, depending on the variety of plant, or submerging them for an hour or two each week. An under-watered plant with begin to brown and crisp up at the tips, or its leaves may curl in on themselves.

However, air plants are also prone to rot, so if they weren’t aired out properly, that may have been what did them in. Sengo recommends shaking the water out of tillandsias, and making sure to place them on top of rocks or branches as opposed to something that retains water like soil or moss. Also, while tillandsias look good in terrariums, gardeners need to be especially careful not to overwater them – air in terrariums doesn’t circulate well, so it takes longer for the plant to dry out.

A tillandsia that isn’t getting enough light may have discolored leaves, or it may show no signs of distress until a thorough watering causes it to abruptly fall apart. While the gardener may think that watering was the cause of death, the lack of light was the real problem, preventing the plant from performing its normal functions. Tillandsias need as much bright, indirect light as possible, and Sengo suggests a few hours of gentle direct sunlight as well, such as the morning light from an east-facing window. 

When should I prune my roses?

No one here at the Newton Falls Public Library grows roses, but we do have access to a lot of gardening books. We checked Lewis Hill’s Pruning Made Easy, Rayford Clayton Reddell’s The Rose Bible, and www.heirloomroses.com to find answers for our patron. As it turned out, the subject was more contentious than we expected.

Some gardeners like to prune in the fall so that the rosebushes don’t need to carry the extra wood through the winter. Cutting off spindly canes will prevent them from whipping against their neighbors, and shortening long canes will reduce the likelihood of them being loosened by the winter weather.

However, other gardeners believe that fall pruning makes it more difficult for the rose to survive the winter, because they’re losing food stored in their branches. Also, pruning also tends to jumpstart new growth, which is then killed by the cold. They prefer to prune in spring, clearing away dead and damaged wood from the winter and previous season.

Julie Washington, a writer for the Plain Dealer, interviewed a few of Northeastern Ohio’s rose experts in October 2013, and they were very firm: don’t prune until the spring in Ohio. They also recommend that gardeners clear dead leaves from around their roses, and perhaps treat them with a commercially available dormant oil or spray.

Can you grow a plum tree from a pit?

We looked in The Backyard Orchardist by Stella Otto and How to Grow Food by Richard Gianfrancesco. Both contained information about growing plums, but only about growing trees from saplings or caring for trees that had already matured.

Fortunately, Amy Grant wrote an article for GardenKnowHow.com about growing plums from seed. The seed must be kept at temperatures around thirty to forty degrees Fahrenheit for ten to twelve weeks before it will germinate. (Sources vary on whether or not the seed needs to be removed from its protective casing, if the pit simply needs to be cracked, or if the whole pit can be planted as-is.) There are a few ways to accomplish this. Our patron could wrap the pit in a damp paper towel and put it in a plastic bag inside the refrigerator. After it sprouted, they would plant it two inches deep in an even mix of potting soil and vermiculite, keeping it cool and moist. Once there was no chance of frost, they could transplant it outside into the garden.

It’s also possible to simply plant the pit directly outside during the colder months. Grant suggests planting it three inches deep and marking the spot so that it can be found again.

Grant cautions that a plum tree grown from seed may or may not bear fruit, and the fruit may or may not taste the same as the original plum, as plum trees are generally propagated through grafting and not through seed. However, she assures that it is still a rewarding and worthwhile project.

Don’t Throw It, Grow It! by Deborah Peterson and Millicent Selsam, available at the Newton Falls Public Library, has more information on how to save kitchen scraps and grow them into plants, for anyone who is interested. 

Is this a good time to transplant roses?

According to HeirloomRoses.com, KnockoutRoses.net, The American Horticulture Society Encyclopedia of Gardening, and Rayford Clayton Reddell’s The Rose Bible, the best time to transplant roses is during their dormant season, which generally lasts from late winter until early spring. It’s best to wait until the threat of frost has passed, so early spring, from March to April, tends to be a good bet (though this has been an unusual year for weather, with snow in late April). While roses can be transplanted once they’ve started to bloom and grow, it’s more difficult.

Our resources gave a few tips for successful transplantation. Prune back the rose before moving it. When digging up the rose to move it, dig deep enough to get as much of the root ball as possible. Plant it in a well-prepared bed where no roses have previously grown and make sure to water it well after planting and not to fertilize it until it’s established.

For more information, check out Designing with Roses by Tony Lord, Rose Basics by Amanda Beales, and 365 Days of Gardening by Christine Allison.

What are these bugs in my garden?

“A few weeks ago, I noticed a lot of strange insects on my magnolia tree. They were black in color with antennae and wings folded over the top of their bodies. When you looked at them from the side, they have a kind of pointed teardrop shape, but from above they looked very narrow. They were clustered in pretty large circular groups all over the bark and branches of my tree. I sprayed them with a hose and they scattered. Do you know what they were?”

We brought out Insects by George C. McGavin and The National Audubon Society Field Guide to Insects and Spiders. First we looked up termites, which is what our patron thought their insects were. However, they turned out to be the wrong shape, their antennae were too short, and their wings were too pale. We flipped through the color plates at the beginning of the Audubon Society Field Guide, and that’s where our patron recognized their mystery insect as a type of aphid.

We were surprised, as we’re used to thinking of aphids as tiny, plump, wingless bugs, usually green in color. (These wingless aphids are sometimes called “ant-cows” because ants will “milk” them for the honeydew they secrete.) Winged female aphids will migrate to a new host plant and establish a new colony through a kind of asexual reproduction called parthenogenesis. (Eggs produced this way can develop into young without being fertilized.) The aphids produce several wingless generations this way, eventually producing more winged female aphids, which then fly back to their original host plant to mate with males and lay fertilized eggs.

According to Rodale’s Vegetable Garden Problem Solver by Fern Marshall Bradley, the best way to deal with aphids is to lure beneficial insects, like ladybugs and lacewings, to the aphid-infested plants. In the meantime, hosing the aphids off every three or so days for two weeks should help keep them at bay.

Can you save an overwatered plant?

If your potted plant is looking yellow and wilted even though you’ve been watering it regularly, it’s possible that you’ve been watering it too much. Too much water stresses out your plant, makes it more susceptible to disease, and can cause the roots to rot. Fortunately, you still may be able to save it.

Move the plant to the shade, since it won’t be able to take in all the water it needs to be in proper sun. If the soil doesn’t seem to be drying out quickly enough, you can repot the plant entirely. (With succulents and other plants that need very little water, you can even leave the plant lying out on paper towels or something other absorbent surface while the root ball dries out.)

Make sure that your plant is draining well. If there aren’t drainage holes in the bottom of the pot, you can drill a few or else repot the plant. Mixing in vermiculite can help make the soil less dense.

If you’re concerned about root rot, repot the plant, dispose of the old soil, and sterilize the old pot. (Root rot is caused by a fungus, and you want to be careful to keep from spreading it to other plants. Wash your hands between handling infected and healthy plants.) You can try trimming away the diseased roots (they will be recognizable by their weak, mushy texture) or treating the plant with a fungicide.

We got our information on rescuing overwatered plants from Gardening Know How, Proven Winners, Ortho’s Guide to Successful Houseplants, and The Houseplant Expert: Book Two. Both books are available at the Newton Falls Public Library, along with others like Tovah Martin’s The Indestructible Houseplant.

What's wrong with my plant?

“My string-of-pearls plant feels sticky and has patches of what looks like white fuzz on it. What’s wrong?”

Looking through several books, including David V. Alford’s Pests of Ornamental Trees, Shrubs, and Flowers, The Organic Gardener’s Handbook of Natural Insect and Disease Control, and Insect Disease and Weed I.D. guide, we diagnosed the plant with mealybugs. Female mealybugs are covered with a fluffy white wax, and they lay their eggs in similarly fuzzy-looking white wax sacs. (The male insects have wings and are small and difficult to see.) Mealybugs eat sap and secrete something called honeydew, which gives the plant a sticky feel. (Ants also like to eat the honeydew, so a mealybug infestation may give way to an ant infestation.) According to Pippa Greenwood’s Pests and Diseases, succulents (like the string-of-pearls) are some of the most common mealybug hosts.

Our gardening books provided a wealth of ideas for combating the infestation. Debra Lee Baldwin’s Succulents Simplified suggests moving the plant away from any others to somewhere with good air circulation and spraying it down with a mix of isopropyl alcohol and water until all the bugs are gone. Introduce ladybugs, parasitic wasps, or mealybug destroyers, if possible, as they’re all some of the mealybug’s natural predators. Commercial pesticides are also available. If a spray doesn’t seem to be penetrating the mealybugs’ protective waxy coating, try using a small paintbrush to dab it directly on them. The Plantfinder’s Guide to Cacti and Other Succulents by Keith Grantham and Paul Klassen and Cacti and Succulents by Hans Hecht both suggest painting the mealybugs with denatured alcohol or an alcohol/dish soap mixture to remove the waxy coat. Leaf shine spray is also effective against mealybugs, but it will also remove the pleasant powdery bloom on any plant with glaucous leaves.

What causes pit split?

“All the peaches I bought at the supermarket have split pits. Why does that happen?”

According to gardeningknowhow.com, split pit disorder occurs when the pit of the fruit begins to harden, about forty days after the tree blooms. As the pit hardens, the fruit flesh will cling tightly to it. If the fruit begins to swell at the same time, the pressure on the pit could cause it to split, or even to shatter. Pit split can occur in peaches, nectarines, cherries, and plums.

In her paper “Split Pit,” written for the University of George Department of Agriculture, Kathryn C. Taylor puts forth a few hypotheses as to what causes pit split. When peaches are thinned too much, whether by the farmer or through a frost, the pits are more apt to split or shatter. Too much water (again, whether on purpose of through an act of nature) or too much fertilizing too late in the season can also be a factor.

If you’re interested in growing your own peaches, Melissa’s Great Book of Produce by Cathy Thomas, How to Grow Food by Richard Gianfrancesco, and The Backyard Orchardist by Stella Otto are all available for borrowing here at the Newton Falls Public Library.

What's the difference between llamas and alpacas?

“What’s the difference between llamas and alpacas? Do people use them for different things?”

Upon seeing another patron’s alpaca-wool winter coat, one of our patrons was led to wonder about what separates a llama from an alpaca. Do llamas produce wool as well? What else are they used for?

Llama and alpaca farmers seem to have noticed that people are curious about their animals, because most of their websites included a fact section, often listing the differences between the two. We took our information from www.llamaseeker.com, Storey’s Guide to Raising Llamas by Gale Birutta, Jennifer A. Kingson’s New York Times article “The Llama Is In,” and the websites of Rising Sun Exotics, Bald Hill Alpaca Farm, and Serendipity Farm.

When a llama and an alpaca are side by side, it’s easy to see the differences. Llamas are about twice as big, with straight backs and long noses. Alpacas have shorter, rounder snouts and more delicate features, with a large puff of hair on their heads that often falls over their eyes. Their ears point straight up, while llamas’ ears curve toward each other in a “banana” shape.

Alpacas are better known for it, and their wool has been prized since the Incan Empire. While llamas have two coats, the soft, dense fleece coat and then a coarse topcoat of guard hair, alpacas have only the fleece, so their wool is of a much higher quality. Relatively recently, however, some llamas are bred to have little to no guard hair, so as to improve the quality of their wool.

While alpacas were bred for their wool, llamas were meant to be pack animals. They can carry about a quarter of their weight, navigate difficult terrain, and their padded feet minimize damage to the environment. Storey’s Guide to Raising Llamas recommends them as hiking companions.

Llamas typically have a more confident personality than the timid alpaca, but both animals will spit if provoked, though their owners often insist that they get a bad rap and in fact spit much less frequently than people expect. Llamas’ bold natures can make them effective livestock guardians, but many are also docile and well-behaved enough to serve as therapy animals. The owners interviewed in “The Llama Is In” liken their llamas to dogs and note that they often have a special sense as to who needs them most. Therapy and “ambassador” llamas have made successful visits to hospitals, nursing homes, schools, and even libraries.

Why Do Potatoes Sprout?

“What makes potatoes start sprouting? Are they okay to eat?” If you’ve left a bag of potatoes sitting around for a while, you might have noticed them starting to grow green, white, or somewhat purple sprouts. That’s the potato trying to grow into a new plant.

The sprouts themselves, as well as any green part of the potato, are home to a toxic alkaloid called solanine and must be removed. Eating them will make you sick - the National Library of Medicine even has a page on their website devoted to potato plant poisoning – though it would take quite a few to do it. The solanine gives the potato a bitter taste, so it wouldn’t be worth eating anyway.

As long as the sprouted potatoes are still firm and haven’t started to shrivel up, there’s no reason to throw them away. Once the sprouts and any green part of the potato have been removed, it’s safe to eat.

You can also plant your sprouted potatoes, though The Vegetable Gardener’s Bible by Edward C. Smith recommends using seed potatoes (which are available from garden supply stores and were grown for the express purpose of being planted) rather than supermarket potatoes for gardening.

To inhibit sprouting and keep your potatoes in their best condition, store them in a cool, dark, dry place with ample ventilation.

For more information on growing potatoes, check out Food Grown Right, in Your Backyard, by Colin McCrate and Brad Halm, Ortho's Complete Guide to Vegetables, or The Year-Round Vegetable Gardener by Niki Jabbour, available at the Newton Falls Public Library. If you're looking to learn about the potato's history, Andrew F. Smith's Potato: A Global History, John Reader's Potato: A History of the Propitious Esculent, and Michael Pollan's The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-eye View of the World are all available through CLEVNET. For recipes, we have Kay Halsey's Potatoes on the shelf here at Newton Falls. Or you could order Alex Barker's Potato: The Definitive Guide to Potatoes and Potato Cooking through CLEVNET and get information on potato cooking, gardening, and history. 

I Need a Chart of the Growing Periods of Tomatoes

“I need a chart of the growing periods of tomatoes. Can you help me?”  The Newton Falls Public Library staff understands the importance of this information to home gardeners, so they can determine the best selection of plants for our growing season.

We showed our patron Ortho's Complete Guide to Vegetables by Jacqueline Hériteau which has several pages of descriptions of various tomatoes with growing periods.  Our patron stated that he wanted a printed sheet, and would like us to look online for the information.

The website, Harvest to Table Plant Prepare Preserve has the article, How to Choose a Tomato for Your Garden by Steve Albert (February 28, 2009). The included chart has more than 100 tomatoes. The tomatoes are either early-harvest, main-crop, or late-season.  Albert also notes whether they are determinate (bushy) and indeterminate (vining) varieties, the days to maturity, and growing suggestions and use.  This was exactly the information our patron needed.

When his bumper crop of tomatoes comes in, the staff also recommended The Tomato Festival Cookbook: 150 recipes that make the most of your crop of lush, vine-ripened, sun-warmed, fat,juicy, ready-to-burst heirloom tomatoes by Lawrence Davis-Hollander and

Food in Jars: preserving in small batches year-round by Marisa McClellan. McClellan's book is excellent for beginners as it focuses on small batches that are easy projects for those unfamiliar with canning.

I Need a Book About Chipmunks

"I need a book about chipmunks."  The Newton Falls Public Library staff member wasn't too surprised by the statement; we have another patron who enjoys books about squirrels.  After careful questioning as to the exact nature of information wanted about chipmunks, it was learned the our patron is having a problem with chipmunks in their garden.  She wished to know how to humanely remove them.

A search of our shelves revealed a selection of materials about wildlife and gardens.  One of the books taken from the shelf was The Nature-friendly Garden: creating a backyard haven for plants, wildlife, and people by Marlene A Condon.  While it did have some suggestions concerning squirrels and birdfeeders, discussed a variety of wildlife including coyotes and bears, it had no information about chipmunks.

Living with Wildlife how to enjoy, cope with, and protect North America's wild creatures around your home and theirs discourages live traps as they often cause death and do not permanently remove chipmunks from gardens.  It does suggest protecting flower bulbs by covering the planting area with coarse gauge wire screen and removing their favorite dwelling places, "like rock and woodpiles, brushy hedges, and dense ground cover. [p.105]. The Friendly Trapper The Friendly Trapper Book II (2) by Harold E. Bailey has instructions for a humane chipmunk trap.  Bailey seems to feel that chipmunks were placed here for a reason, and the only time they need to be removed is if we need to protect our homes or vehicles from them chewing on wires.

How Do You Grow a Peach Tree From a Pit? How Do You Save Squash Seeds?

“How do you grow a peach tree from a pit?”  “How do you save squash seeds?”  The Newton Falls Public Library staff understands the desire to enjoy exceptionally tasty pieces of fruit or vegetables in the future by growing more from the original.

The American Horticultural Society Encyclopedia of Gardening has instructions for growing peaches from rootstock, but not from a pit.  We expanded our search online and found the website, www.michiganpeach.org.  In their question and answer section there are instructions for starting a tree.  They recommend first cleaning and then, refrigerating and drying the pit in a slightly opened plastic bag until December.  In December, “soak the seed in tap water for a few hours, then put the seed into slightly moistened perlite, vermiculite, or peat moss (available from garden supply store) in a plastic bag. Store in the refrigerator and start checking for germination after about 1 1/2 months. If you are fortunate, it will start to develop a root. At that time, transfer to a pot with soil and grow as a normal plant. Plant it outside in the spring when the chance for frost is past.”  It would be useful for our patron to refer back to this site for more detailed information.

Seed Sowing and Saving Step-by-step Techniques for Collecting and Growing More Than 100 Vegetables, Flowers, and Herbs by Carole B. Turner has detailed instructions on the harvesting and sowing of seeds.  Turner gives instructions for both summer and winter squashes, including how long to leave the fruit on the vine before harvesting to ensure the seeds will be most vigorous. Remove and clean the seeds, spread out and let them dry, and store until ready to plant.

Another interesting book on this topic is Don't Throw It, Grow It! 68 Windowsill Plants from Kitchen Scraps by Deborah Peterson.  With common plants like carrots, sweet potato and dill, Peterson has included some unusual ones like Jerusalem artichokes, carob, fenugreek, tomatillo, and sugar cane.

Can You Find Me the Phone Number for Grey Duck Garlic?

“Can you find me the phone number for Grey Duck Garlic?” This was a question the Newton Falls Public Library librarians received earlier this year. “I want to sell the garlic I grew this summer and I’m not sure how much to charge for it.  Can you tell me how much organic garlic is selling for?” The staff, seeing how well the Library Sprouts’ garden was growing, could understand how the questioner was finding that he had enough to sell.

GreyDuck Garlic is certified organic and sells thirteen varieties of garlic. We were able to obtain their phone number and online order form for our patron.

Searching online for “mahoning valley garlic farm” we were able to answer the second question.  Miller’s Garlic Farm, a locally owned farm, has a small retail store at The Coin Shop located at 5160 Youngstown Poland Road. Their garlic may be ordered online.  The medium sells for $15 a pound, the large and extra large for $17 per pound. Our patron was happy to have the information he needed in order to price his product.

If you are looking for ideas for using your garden produce, check out the library’s Harvest display.  There is also a large selection of cookbooks which may be borrowed.

Why Does the Center of My Tree Look Like This?

Patrons visited the Newton Falls Public Library with a small section of wood which had been cut from an ash tree. They explained to the staff that it had not been affected by the ash borer, but part of the center was very unusually shaped and discolored in reds, tans, and browns.

We first looked in Diseases of Trees and Shrubs by Wayne A. Sinclair, Howard H. Lyon, and Warren T. Johnson. Using the index to find diseases of ash trees, we came across the section on Trunk and Limb Rots of Hardwoods (p.342). The trunk of a tree contains sapwood, which is alive and carries the sap through the tree, and heartwood. “Heartwood is dead, brightly to darkly colored wood that forms normally in the centers of trunks and large branches . . .” This is usually caused by decay due to rot caused by fungi.