Lawn, Gardening & Pests
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Recent News
Grafting as Plant Propagation
Vegetative, or clonal, propagation is the only way to get genetically identical copies of an individual plant.
Fruit trees and ornamentals are propagated by using vegetative parts of a plant and placing them onto another plant through a propagation technique known as grafting or budding.
Read Grafting as Plant Propagation
Legumes & Nitrogen Fixation
Garden crops, such as peas and beans, are unique plants that can establish a nitrogen fertilizer factory in their roots. Members of the legume family develop a symbiotic relationship with Rhizobia bacteria that operate the nitrogen factory.
Read Legumes & Nitrogen Fixation
How Pathogens Infect Plants
Pathogens are disease-causing organisms usually in the group of microscopic biotic agents. These organisms can survive all over the environment – air, water, soil and even on the surface of seeds and transplants.
Different varieties of crop plants have different levels of tolerance and infection-preventing capacity against these pathogens. However, in conducive environments – when temperatures are 68° to 77° F and foliage remains wet due to rain or overhead irrigation, followed by high relative humidity or cloudiness – these pathogens can infect plant parts. Here’s a little bit more about how different pathogens can infect plants, causing them to get sick and sometimes die.
Read How Pathogens Infect Plants
AgAlert! Fall Armyworms
Fall armyworms have been reported causing significant damage on forage grasses, turfgrasses and pipeline vegetation cover in West Virginia. Fall armyworms feed on over 80 plants species, but prefers grasses, including rye and wheat. This insect also frequently damages field crops, including alfalfa, barley, bermudagrass, buckwheat, clover, corn, oats, millet, sorghum, sugar beets, sudangrass and soybeans. Occasionally, fall armyworm injures apple and peach trees, grapevines, and strawberry plants.
Putting Down Roots
Roots are an essential organ of the plant. Understanding how roots function related to plant growth and development is the key to successful gardening.
Roots anchor plants to the soil or other objects, transport water and nutrients, as well as store many important compounds for plant growth and development.