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Friday, November 6, 2009
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Food for thought on bird feeders Ask a master gardener
I would like to feed birds this winter. How should I proceed?
Feeding and watching birds is a very enjoyable and rewarding hobby. To help birds survive our harsh winters and increase your viewing enjoyment during our cold, snowy months, the arrangement of your feeders and the food you offer should be modified for winter.
November gardening tips
If you have not already done so, bring any liquid garden supplies, such as herbicides, pesticides and repellants, indoors. Freezing may change their chemical composition.
Pine needles make excellent winter mulch for perennials, shrubs and trees. They are not too acidic, as was once thought.
If your lawn has only a moderate leaf cover, mow it and leave the mulch on the lawn. It will fertilize your spring lawn.
Start amaryllis bulbs for holiday bloom.
Mulch by midmonth even if the ground isn't frozen.
Eradicate buckthorn now when it is easy to identify. Its leaves are still green after other leaves have fallen.
Water houseplants with room temperature water.
Move houseplants to brighter spots to make the most of the low winter light.
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You may want to place a group of feeders close to your house so they are easy to access when the snow gets deep. If they are too close to your house and you are experiencing bird-window collisions, you may want to get stick-on window feeders or place the feeders 1-2 feet from the window. You may want to cluster a group of three to four feeders and have a ground feeding site.
The most effective bird feeders are platform or tray, hopper-style and cylindrical. A very important component to taking care of birds during the winter is to provide them with water in a heated bird bath.
According to the DNR, chickadees and cardinals are dependable visitors every year; however, some winter visitors are birds of boreal regions. Their feeding patterns are unpredictable and tend to be cyclic. If some seeds are in short supply, some species, such as red-breasted nuthatches, common and hoary redpolls, pine siskins, red-and-white-winged crossbills and pine grosbeaks, may wander far from their normal ranges in search of food.
The birds you want to attract to your feeders will determine what type of bird food to buy. Black-oil sunflower seeds and cardinal mixes appeal to the largest variety of winter birds and contain high energy content. According to the DNR, birds that favor sunflower seeds are northern cardinals, blue jays, black-capped and chestnut-backed chickadees, house and purple finches, American goldfinches, evening and pine grosbeaks, gray and steller's jays, nuthatches, crossbills, titmice and many more.
Peanuts provide a nutritious diet for birds, including black-capped chickadees, nuthatches, woodpeckers, blue jays and even northern cardinals. Niger seed (thistle) is an excellent all-winter staple for American and lesser goldfinches, common and hoary redpolls, house and purple finches and pine siskins.
To accommodate Dark-eyed juncos, mourning doves and sparrows, scatter a small amount of millet on the ground or on tray feeders. Suet, suet mixes and peanut butter provide high-energy, nutritional benefits to many wintering birds. Suet can be placed in wire mesh feeders, onion sacks or wooden dowel (cage) feeders.
Pileated woodpeckers seem to prefer suet on solid platforms instead of suspended feeders. To prevent starlings from taking over your suet feeder and driving away the songbirds, you can get a "starling-proof" feeder that forces birds to feed upside down, which is not a problem for chickadees, woodpeckers and nuthatches. Peanut butter smeared into pine cones or filled in a log-style feeder is another excellent and nutritious choice.
I have heard contradictory opinions about wrapping trees. Should I wrap my tree trunks for winter protection? What else should I do to protect trees during the winter?
Minnesota's severe climate, rodents and deer can all be very damaging to trees and shrubs during the winter. More damage occurs when lower-than-normal temperatures occur in early fall or late spring or there is little snow cover during the winter.
Young trees, newly planted trees, cherry, plum, crabapple, maple and mountain ash are most susceptible to sun scald, which occurs when the sun heats up the bark on a sunny day to the point where cambial activity is stimulated, then the sun is blocked by clouds, or a building, and the bark temperature drops rapidly.
You can prevent sun scald by wrapping the trunks of your trees with a commercial tree wrap or any other light-colored material, or use plastic tree guards. The wrap reflects the sun and keeps the bark at a more constant temperature. Put the wrap on in the fall and take it off in the spring after the last frost.
Certain evergreens, such as yew, arborvitae, dwarf Alberta spruce and hemlock are susceptible to injury from winter sun and wind. Damage to foliage usually occurs on the south, southwest and windward sides of the plant so these plants should not be planted on south or southwest sides of buildings or in windy locations.
You can protect these plants by making a barrier of burlap on the south, southwest and windward sides of evergreens. Make sure to leave the top open for air and sunlight. Sometimes, anti-desiccant sprays are recommended to prevent winter burn; however, they have not been proven to be effective.
To protect your trees and shrubs from root injury and frost heaving, mulch them with 6-8 inches of wood chips or straw. Mulch and snow cover insulate the soil and keep the temperatures higher. In the sandy soil we see up here, frost penetrates deeper and the soil temperatures are colder, so mulching is important.
Mice, rabbits and deer can also cause severe damage to plants in the winter by feeding on the tender bark, branches and foliage. Protect trees and shrubs from rodents by placing a cylinder of mesh hardware cloth around the trunk. Sink the metal hardware cloth into the ground 2-3 inches to prevent mice from damaging the trunks.
Plastic tree guards are also effective. And if you have too many trees and shrubs to protect, you can use a repellent. The most effective repellents for rodents are those containing thiram, which is a fungicide. Deer feed on and damage small trees and shrubs so repellents with thiram or rotten eggs may deter them. Fencing is very effective if done correctly.
My neighbor moved recently and gave me her Christmas cactus. How do I get it to bloom and how should I care for it?
Are you sure that it is a Christmas cactus and not a Thanksgiving cactus? (There are also Easter cacti and Mothers' Day cacti, but we will eliminate those.) They are both short-day plants, which means that when daylight decreases, flowering is initiated. In natural light, Thanksgiving cactus (Schlumberga truncata) initiates flowering about 6 weeks before Thanksgiving and Christmas cactus (Schlumberga buckleyi) about 6 weeks before that holiday.
Though they are called short-day plants, it is the number of hours of darkness that are significant. Place the plant in a totally dark room or closet for 13-16 hours each night for six weeks. Any light at all, such as car lights or streetlights may harm the process. Ten weeks later you should have flowers.
Care of the plants is fairly easy. Place in an east or west window where temperatures are between 65 and 74 degrees. Keep soil barely moist but not wet. Between April and September, fertilize monthly with a mild houseplant fertilizer such as 20-10-20. When the plant is blooming, keep it in bright indirect light. These plants thrive outdoors in summer shade.
Sometimes these cacti will drop unopened flower buds. This happens when too many buds are present, the soil dries out too much or a sudden change in light or temperature occurs.
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