Pets and pesticides

Do you remember the Crosby Stills and Nash song from the 70’s called “Our House”? When I was growing up, for some reason that song epitomized my idea of the perfect home and relationship, all the way down to the “two cats in the yard.” For a good part of my life, I was a real “cat person” and letting my cats wander around outside just seemed natural.

Then, one of my favorite cats came home poisoned. The vet thought she had ingested transmission fluid and we assumed that it was an accidental ingestion (certainly, no one would have poisoned her on purpose) and we paid the exorbitant vet fees and she got better. Another time, she ate a poison lizard and almost died. Again, we paid the fee and the vet fixed her up. She finally died from being hit by a car. There was no fixing her up that time.

Eventually, I quit letting my pet cats roam outside. After that, my tolerance towards other people’s roaming pets changed pretty quickly. I’ve had my screened patio torn up by free-roaming cats. I’ve been chased indoors by mean, snarling dogs. And I often step in both dog and cat poo, because I assume that  I shouldn’t have to look out for it on my own, petless property. But now that I garden for wildlife, my biggest problem with free roaming pets is that they chase, maim and kill birds, rabbits and other forms of wildlife that visit my yard.

In my mind, there are many reasons to NOT let domesticate animals roam free in neighborhoods, including possible harm to both the pets and wildlife and inconvenience or property damage to fellow homeowners. (As a gardener, there are few things as unpleasant as running your fingers through your beautiful soil and finding a pile of newly deposited cat poop). But since this is an eco-friendly garden blog, I have decided to focus this message on pets and pesticides (and other garden chemicals).

Let’s face it. If there is a chemical on the ground, it is very likely that it will end up inside of a pet. Cats and dogs walk and sit on chemically treated lawns and gardens and then lick their paws and.….sitting areas. They also dig in chemically treated soil, eat plants and  kill and eat birds and rodents which have ingested posions. And even if you don’t use chemicals in your own yard, letting your pet roam free can subject them to the chemicals found in the yards of your neighbors.

So whether you are a gardener, trying to decide if you want to keep using chemicals in your landscape or a pet owner who allows your pet to go on the occasional (or frequent) unsupervised romp around the neighborhood, here are some facts about Pets and Pesticides. Although many of these facts specifically mention dogs,  keep in mind that pesticides that are toxic to dogs will have adverse effects in cats also, due to their more delicate digestive system.

• A study published in 1995 in the academic journal Environmental Research shows a “statistcally significant” increase in the risk of canine malignant lymphoma in dogs when exposed to herbicides, particularly 2,4-D, commonly used on lawns and in “weed and feed” products.
• One product of particular concern is snail bait. A common ac­tive ingredient, metaldehyde, is tasty and attractive to mammals. Unfortunately, it is also highly toxic to all mammals, and causes blindness, excessive salivation, seizures, and sudden death.
• A study by Purdue University found that Scottish Terriers ex­posed to pesticide-treated lawns and gardens are more likely to develop transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder, a type of can­cer.
• Avermectin B1: An insecticide used for fire ants, causes leth­argy and tremors in dogs.
• Allethrin: Used on flies and mosquitoes, has been linked to liver cancer in dogs.
• DCPA: An herbicide used in lawns and gardens,  is suspected to cause adverse effects in the liver of dogs.
• Dogs and cats use their noses to poke around and explore. The nose is a mucous membrane and an easy place for pesticides to enter their bodies.
• Dogs, in particular, absorb pesticide residues by chewing or eat­ing plant material that was treated with pesticides.
• Cats absorb more chemicals than dogs due to their grooming habits.
• Because cats are specialist carnivores, they lack certain en­zymes in their liver that decontaminate chemicals,  making them especially vulnerable to the effects of toxic chemicals.
• Cats and dogs hunt, and it is natural for hunters to pick the weakened animals as prey. Animals that have been poisoned are easy targets for predators because they are easier to catch.
• Symptoms of secondary poisoning may not occur for weeks after a dog or cat eats a poisoned animal, and may not be recog­nized as such.

The topic of free-roaming pets, or cats in particular,  is a touchy one with strong opinions on both sides of the issue. But no matter what your opinion is, the fact is that chemicals in the landscape can be harmful – to pets, to people and to the environment. The best answer for most of us is to learn to get by with fewer chemicals. We can spot treat weeds or pull them by hand and learn to attract ladybugs and other beneficial insects.

For more information, see the publications listed below:

Who Let the Dogs (and Cats) Out – Protecting backyard wildlife from our pets

Avoiding Chemicals helps keep Pets Safe

Pesticides and Pets – pdf file

Pets and Pesticide Use – pdf file

Dogs and Pesticide Use – pdf file

Avoiding chemicals helps keep pets safe

To go along with today's post about Pets and Pesticides, here is some information about ways to control weeds in a landscape without resorting to chemicals. These suggestions are from the document Pesticides and Pets from BeyondPesticides.org  

Lawns, Landscapes and Gardens  

Prevention: Again, the most effective way to treat unwanted plants is to stop them from establishing themselves on your prop­erty at all.  

Do this by creating a thick, healthy turf:

• Mow at 3-3.5 inches to shade out weed germination and foster deep roots.
• Leave the grass clipping on the lawn after mowing. Grass clip­pings are a free natural fertilizer and will improve soil conditions!
• Aerate your lawn in order to help air, water, and fertilizer to enter.
• After aerating, fertilize lightly in the Fall with a natural, slow-release fertilizer. Re­quest organic fertilizers at your local nursery or order online.
• Overseed with a grass spe­cies that is naturally resistant to fungal diseases and/or insects. Use native species.
• Use corn gluten meal on weed prone areas in the ear­ly spring and early fall. Corn gluten keeps selected weed seeds from germinating, yet is high in nitrogen so it fertil­izes your lawn at the same time. Do not seed at the same time.

Control: In addition to prevention, there are easy and direct ways to control unwanted plants without the use of toxic herbicides.

• Hand pull weeds from the roots.
• Flame weeding machines use a targeted flame to kill weeds. This option is not advisable for drier climates.
• High-pressure steam and boiling water can both be used to kill weeds.
• Goats and geese can both be used to remove weeds.
• Horticultural vinegar is a powerful acid that will non-selectively kill weeds. You can buy horticultural vinegar at a plant nursery or even make your own. Avoid contact with skin, as it is an acid.
• Herbicidal soaps are refined soaps that dry out plants and kill them.

From Pesticides and Pets

Critter cams - the next best thing to being there

Nothing keeps me quite as warm in the winter as cuddling up with critters.

When the days are cold and dreary,  I curl up in my nest (which is a big old comfy arm-chair) with my laptop and check out other nests (hummingbirds and eagles are some of my favorites)   through webcams and online videos.  There may not be much critter activity in my own yard right now, but there is always plenty of it online.

A webcam is a video camera that feeds its images in real time to a computer or computer network. They are great for  checking the weather conditions before a vacation, among other things. For nature nerds like me, they also allow a birds-eye view of wildlife.

Lately, a very popular webcam in the Virginia area is the Bald Eagle nest at Norfolk Botanical Garden.  The second eagle egg was laid in this nest on Sunday, February 6th. Since eagle eggs typically take 32-36 days to incubate, I'll mark my calendar and make sure I start checking the webcam on around March 10th or so to see if I can see the babies hatching. There is another eagle cam at the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in Cambridge, Maryland.

There are many other nature webcams online. Here are websites to find a few, suggested by some of my online wildlife loving friends:
Webcam List Animal Cams Part 1 ; Cornell Lab of Ornithology Nestcams ; webcamlocator.com

Of course, you can't see much on a webcam after dark. But there are plenty of online videos to help keep the wildlife gardener enthused until spring brings the little fluttering critters back to our gardens.

There is a great site called Myoutdoortv.com which allows you to explore the wildlife in your state by watching online  videos. The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries offers several videos on this site to help you create wildlife habitats at home. The videos are titled: Landscapes, Butterfly Gardens, Native Plants, Shrubs and Woodlands.

 Maryland videos include a nice one called Springs Wings about butterflies and their habitats and another one on Bayscaping.

And of course, there is always YouTube, where you can search for almost anything like "hummingbirds in the snow" and find great little videos like the one that I shared at the beginning of this post. It might just be enough to inspire you to create your own environmentally friendly hummingbird garden so that you can share some videos of your own come springtime.

Other webcam sites: USA webcams
http://www.earthcam.com/

Rooting DC - February 19th

The 4th annual Rooting DC gardening forum is just around the corner. In addition to all types of edible gardening info, this year Rooting DC will be focusing on school and youth gardening. Rooting DC will be held on Saturday, February 19th from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm at Coolidge High School located at 6315 5th Street, NW.

There will also be presentations and workshops on community gardens and food policy, as well as healthy cooking demonstrations , free child care and much
more!

PRE-REGISTRATION IS STRONGLY ENCOURAGED. Please call the America the Beautiful Fund offices at 202.638.1649 to register immediately.

Coolidge HS can be reached by public transportation: From the Takoma Metro Station stop (Red Line) take the 62 bus (Georgia Ave-Petworth) or 52 bus (L'Enfant Plaza). You can also take the 70 bus toward Silver Spring, get off at Georgia and Rittenhouse, NW and walk east.

Visit Rooting DC on the web: http://fieldtoforknetwork.org/rootingdc/

Contributed by Carl Rollins, Farm Coordinator, Common Good City Farm

Meadowscaping in Urban and Suburban Spaces

Monday, February 21st, Brookside Gardens Visitor Center

Catherine Zimmerman, author of the newly released book Urban & Suburban Meadows and sustainable landscape designer, will introduce meadowscaping as a lawn alternative. Do away with pesticide-ridden, manicured, water thirsty, monoculture lawns and restore your land to a beautiful, natural habitat for native plants and wildlife. Join the movement toward making natural landscapes the new landscaping norm!

Catherine Zimmerman is an author and an award-winning director of photography with over 35 years of experience in documentary filmmaking with an emphasis on education and environmental issues. Environmental videos of hers include global warming documentaries for CNN Presents and New York Times Television; Save Rainforest/Save Lives, Fresh Farm Markets, Wildlife Without Borders: Connecting People and Nature in the Americas, and Discovery Creek Children’s Museum.

Catherine is also a certified horticulturist and sustainable landscape designer based in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. She is accredited in organic land care through the Northeast Organic Farmers Association and has designed and taught a course in organic landscaping for the USDA Graduate School Horticulture program.

Free Event Open to the Public WHEN: Monday, February 21 Doors Open at 7:30PM Speaker starts at 8:00PM WHERE: Brookside Gardens Visitors Center, 1800 Glenallan Avenue, Wheaton, Maryland

Information provided by Kathy Jentz, editor of Washington Gardener Magazine

Gardening for hummingbirds

Yesterday I posted a message about creating butterfly gardens, complete with lists of butterfly species for the area. But today, I would like to talk about hummingbirds! I love hummingbirds and I believe that the more people who garden for them, the more we will begin to see hummingbirds hanging around the area! So I hope that I can encourage you to plant a few hummingbird favorites in your garden this Spring.

Although there are more than 338 known species of hummingbirds in the Americas, only about sixteen of those are found in the United States. Of those sixteen, the ruby-throated hummingbird, is the only one that is common in the Mid-Atlantic region and it is the one that you will most likely be able to entice to your yard if you provide a habitat that they find inviting. Avid bird enthusiasts have also reported sightings of additional species in the area, including the Rufous and Allen's hummingbirds.

Hummingbirds begin visiting the Metro DC area in late March or early April and stay till August or September. According to the Virginia Department of Game and Fisheries, they also breed in the area. Like butterflies, if you want to attract these little winged beauties to your yard, your best bet is to plant their favorite plant species.

Catching a glimpse of one of these jeweled acrobats is enough to fill anyone with awe. What other creature can amaze us with feats such as flying backwards or upside down?

The ruby-throated “hummer” is only about 3 inches long and weighs about one-quarter of an ounce (about as much as a penny). For their size, hummingbirds have among the largest appetites in the bird world. Hummingbirds feed about every ten or fifteen minutes from dawn to dusk, consuming more than half their weight in food every day.

Hummingbirds are said to be most drawn to tubular flowers that are either large and showy or in drooping clusters of red, orange and pink. However, there are many other flowers that attract these hungry little scavengers. Therefore, it is best to plant a variety of species, choosing native plants when available for ease of maintenance. Since hummingbirds are very territorial, space your hummingbird plants in separate groupings around your yard and at varying heights, starting at about 18” above the ground.

Nectar feeders can also be used as a supplemental food source for hummingbirds. A simple nectar can be made by combining 1 part granulated sugar to 4 parts water in a saucepan and boiling for two minutes. Let the mixture cool completely before filling feeders. Be sure and replace the mixture every couple of days because heat from the sun can cause rapid bacterial growth in the nectar solution which is potentially fatal to the hummingbirds.

Eliminate the use of pesticides in your yard if you plan to garden for hummingbirds and keep cats indoors!

For more information about hummingbirds in the DC area, read:

Plants to Attract Hummingbirds

The Natural Capital: Look for Ruby throated Hummingbirds

Hummingbird Tidbits - Virginia Department of Game and Fisheries

The Hummingbird Garden (pdf)- Virginia Cooperative Extension Prince William County

Creating a Wild Backyard: Hummingbirds, Butterflies & Bees, Maryland Dept. of Natural Resources

Hummingbird Handout - Virginia Cooperative Extension

Attracting Hummingbirds - Penn State

Create a butterfly garden ~ easy as 1, 2, 3

 

Providing Habitat for Butterflies (with lists of local species)

Providing habitat for butterflies is as easy as 1, 2, 3!
1) Eliminate chemicals from your landscape
2) Plant plenty of flowers for the adult butterflies
3) Plant host plants for the caterpillars

Nothing brings life to your yard and garden like an abundance of colorful, carefree butterflies! Since there are so many species of butterflies in North America, providing any type of flowering nectar plant will probably attract one or two to stop by your yard from time to time. But if you really want to make your yard something more than a fast-food fueling spot for these beautiful creatures, you must provide both nectar plants for the adult butterflies and host plants for the larval caterpillars. Yes, caterpillars will leave holes in the plant leaves and chew certain species of host plants down to the ground. But the joy and educational experience of being witness to the entire butterfly life-cycle makes it worthwhile to buy some plants specifically for that purpose.

When an adult butterfly lands on a host plant, if you watch closely, you may see them curve their ovipositor up under the leaf to deposit an egg. Although females can produces hundreds of eggs, most are deposited singly or in small clusters, either on or under a leaf of the host plant. The eggs are sometimes as small as the head of a pin, but within a few days a tiny caterpillar emerges and begins pursing its life’s purpose—to eat!!! Caterpillars eat constantly, until they get too big for their own skin. Then, they shed their skin to make room for more food. This process is repeated numerous times until the caterpillar reaches many times its original size. Once fully grown, the larva seeks a safe place to pupate. This can be a branch, a twig or the eave of your house or other structure. It will attach itself with a fine strand of silk-like material and form a chrysalis. This is where the transformation to a butterfly takes place. When the butterfly is ready to hatch, the process happens very quickly, so only the most observant catch a glimpse of this “birth”. However, if you have butterflies in your yard, you will often be able to witness the newly hatched butterfly as it hangs from it’s chrysalis drying its wings in preparation for its first flight. To be able to witness all or part of this wonderful garden miracle, you must select the right plants.

For nectar, choose plants that are brightly colored and fragrant. Large blooms provide a place for the butterfly to land while feeding. Plant a large variety of different flowers and be sure to keep different blooming times in mind so that you can feed the butterflies throughout the garden seasons. Many adult butterflies prefer to feed in full sun.

For larval, or caterpillar plants, most butterflies feed on only a limited number of species of plants. If you are trying to attract a certain type of butterfly, it is important that you plant the larval food for that species. Remember that if you are successful in attracting the caterpillars to your yard, your host plants will be chewed, sometimes down to the bare stems. Therefore, buy your host plants in quantities and intersperse them with your other garden plants to hide the chewed leaves and to give the caterpillars a certain amount of cover from birds and other predators.

Also, it is important to avoid pesticides in your yard if you want butterflies. Both the butterflies and the caterpillars can be harmed by any sort of toxic chemical. Even "benign" insecticides, such as Bacillus thuringiensis, can be lethal to butterflies and caterpillars.

Here is a list of some of the butterflies common to DC, Virginia and Maryland. Complete lists are available here: Butterflies of DC , Butterflies of Maryland , Butterflies of Virginia.

Butterfly	Adult butterfly nectar plant	Host Plant
Zebra Swallowtail	Redbud, lilac, verbena, milkweed	Pawpaw
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail	Flowers of many plants incl. lilac and cherry	Wild cherry, sweet bay, cottonwood, willow
Monarch	Milkweed, lilac, lantana, thistles, others	Milkweed
Red Admiral	Bird droppings, tree sap, fermented fruit	Nettles
Gulf Frittillary	Lantanas, cordias and others	Passion vines, including maypop
Common Buckeye	Aster, chickory, tickseed, peppermint	Snapdragons, ruellias
Painted Lady	Thistles, aster, cosmos, joe-pye weed	Many hosts, incl. thistles, hollyhock, legumes
Giant Swallowtail	Lantana, azalea, goldenrod, milkweed	Citrus, prickly ash, hop tree
Black Swallowtail	Red clover, thistles, milkweed	Parsely, celery, dill
Long tailed skipper	Bougainvillea, lantana, shepherd's needle	Legumes, wisteria, beggar's ticks

Montgomery County Master Gardener Clinic

The Montgomery County Master Gardeners' mini-conference for the public is being held on Saturday, February 26, 2011 from 8am - 3pm at the Montgomery County Extension office in Deerwood, Maryland.

There are many great sessions scheduled including: Landscaping for Pollinators, Community Gardens, Growing Herbs, Rejuvenation Pruning and Maintenance Pruning and more.

Click here to download brochure in pdf format: Random Acts of Gardening : Montgomery County Master Gardener Spring Mini-Conference

February Garden Tips from Maryland Extension

Here are some Garden Tips for February from the Maryland Extension System Home and Garden Center.

Lawns

• Late February through the end of March is the second best time (the optimum time is late August through mid-October) to over-seed your lawn to make it thicker or to cover bare areas. The freezing and thawing of the soil this time of the year helps the seed to get good soil contact. Read HG 102.  

Woody Ornamentals

• Trees and shrubs can still be pruned now. You may notice excessive sap bleeding from pruning cuts on elm maple, birch, dogwood, beech, walnut, magnolia, tulip poplar and redbud. This bleeding is harmless to the tree.  

Ornamental Plants

• Avoid the temptation to start seeds too early. Check seed packets for detailed information on starting various types of flowers.

• Spring bulbs are slowly emerging this month. Exposed leaves may be burned a little by very cold temperatures, but the spring flower display will not be diminished.  

Vegetable and Herb gardening

• If starting seeds indoors, set up florescent grow lights, and gather needed materials: pots, trays, soil less mix.

• Consider purchasing some floating row cover material to protect crops against insects and promote early growth. A floating row cover is a light weight spun fabric that permits light and water to enter, traps the soils natural heat and keep out pest insects.

• Fresh tarragon, rosemary, and mint sprigs can be purchased in food markets and rooted indoors in a soil less mix to be grown under cool white fluorescent bulbs. The new plants can then be set outdoors in pots or garden beds in May. Wildlife

• Continue to feed wild birds through the remaining winter weeks. Black oil sunflower seeds and suet cakes are a good choice for a wide variety of birds. Keep bird feeders clean and provide your wild birds with fresh water.

For more February Tips for the garden and other practical information, download the complete newsletter.

Casey Trees Launches Arbor Kids

Casey Trees’ has launched a new webpage, Arbor Kids to get kids outdoors to learn about trees and their many environmental, social and economic benefits.

Although created for kids, Arbor Kids is a great resource for educators, caregivers and parents, too.

Downloadable activities include:

• Name that Tree! Learn how to identify some of the most commonly found trees in the District.
• Tree Benefits Scavenger Hunt. Challenge yourself and friends to find all the listed tree benefits in the shortest amount of time.
• How Tall Is That Tree? In four easy steps, you can determine the height of any tree.
• My Trees: A Home Inventory. Name, count and map the trees at and in front of your home.

Schools and other learning centers can also request a tree planting through Casey Trees’ Community Tree Planting program. Casey Trees provides the trees, tools and technical assistance free of charge. Students participate in a tree rally and follow up care activities, complementing existing classroom instruction.

For more information, visit the Casey Trees website.

About Casey Trees:
Casey Trees is a Washington, DC-based not-fot-profit, established in 2001, dedicated to restoring, enhancing and protecting the tree canopy of the Nation's Capital.
For more information, visit www.caseytrees.org.