Gardening Test Quiz Results

Well, I could hear the moans and groans. And any minute, the emails will arrive, complaining or commenting about last week’s quiz. And on a holiday weekend no less.

But here are the answers so read and reap. Hope you did well.

Q: Heirloom garden vegetables are just old varieties that are being reintroduced and there is no taste or quality differences from modern hybrid vegetable varieties.

A: False. There are a number of reasons for growing heirlooms. One of them is that the distinctive taste and flavor that has disappeared from most modern hybrids remains present in the heirlooms.

Q: The vegetable gardening season on the East End is approximately how long (frost free)?

A: Long Island has the highest quality and quantity of sunlight in the state, with a frost-free growing season often longer than 190 days.

Q: A synoptic garden is one in which...

A) Synoptic orius is the only plant B) A garden for contemplation C) A garden where plants are alphabetically organized D) a garden of organized synopses.

A: A garden where plants are organized alphabetically. Long Island’s Planting Fields Arboretum in Oyster Bay has a very large synoptic garden.

Q: Which vegetable garden plants benefit most from bee pollination?

A: Cucubrits, which include not just cucumbers but melons and other vine crops, are mostly dependent on honeybees for pollination.

Q: Suffolk county has legislation in place that is intended to control the use of which plant nutrient?

A: In Suffolk County, the new rules are intended to control the use of nitrogen, while in Westchester County, the rules prohibit the use of phosphorus in lawn fertilizers.

Q: Russian sage

(perovskia atriplicifolia)

is a garden perennial with a nearly woody stem. Should it be cut to the ground each spring to encourage new growth?

A: Gardeners often make the mistake of cutting this perennial back to the ground in the fall. As it flowers and grows from the previous year’s growth, it should be only slightly pruned and only in the spring.

Q:

Poa annua,

or annual bluegrass, is an important grass plant whose seed should be included in all lawn seed mixtures on Long Island.

A: False.

Poa annua

is actually a grass that should never be in your lawn. It is not winter-hardy and dies out in high heat. It should not be in any seed mixture that you buy, so check the label.

Q: Damage from summer drought on trees and shrubs is always clearly visible within a month or two of the end of the drought.

A: Drought damage can be immediate but it can also take years to see the results of drought damage on large trees.

Q: Which of the following is an invasive pest that all gardeners should be on the lookout for: emerald ash borer, giant hogweed, Asian long-horned beetle?

A: All three are invasives that we are concerned about in this area.

Q: Once you find a repellent that works on deer in your garden you should stick with it since you know it works.

A: False. The general rule is to use one repellent three times then switch to another. What works is highly dependent on the feeding pressure and time of the year but you should always have several repellents that you use on a rotating basis.

Q: Which of the following trees are referred to as “bleeders” and should not be pruned in late winter? Pine, maple, birch, beech or elm?

A: Pine is not a bleeder. While it may run some sap or pitch it is not considered a bleeder.

Q: Corn gluten is an effective organic herbicide that will control growing weeds as well as keeping weed seeds from germinating.

A: Yes and no. Because corn gluten is a natural product made from corn, it’s often assumed that it’s organic. However, it usually isn’t unless it is produced from organic corn. Nonetheless, it is still preferred over chemical controls.

Q: Deadheading the flowers from shrubs and garden plants is unnecessary and just a remnant of old-fashioned garden practices.

A: Not true. Though some hybrids are mules and thus the need to deadhead and remove spent flowers isn’t necessary, however, it is still necessary on non-hybrid flowers and shrubs where reblooming is desired.

Q: All types of clematis regrow from the previous year’s vine wood and should not be pruned until right after flowering finishes.

A: Not true. There are three classes of clematis and each class has a different pruning schedule.

Q: A commercial activator is necessary to begin and maintain the biological action that makes composting work.

A: Not true. Compost that is made with the right ratios of carbon (brown) to nitrogen (green) materials needs no activation.

Q: Lawns should be watered after 8 p.m. and before 4 a.m. to reduce evaporation and increase penetration down to the soil.

A: Not true. Lawns should be watered so that the grass blades do not remain wet at night. Watering between 8 p.m. and 4 a.m. will encourage diseases, including fungus and molds.

Q: Ferns can easily be propagated by either dividing the crown or from collecting and germinating the seeds.

A: While some ferns can have their crowns divided, no ferns can be grown from seed. Ferns are grown from spores.

Q: Lawns need to be treated annually for the control of white grubs and crabgrass.

A: The most recent wisdom from a Cornell Cooperative Extension researcher says annual treatments for either are not necessary and can probably be done every two to three years instead, and only if necessary.

Q: You are most likely to pick up a tick from: tall grasses and weeds, your lawn, your vegetable garden, your cat, or white-footed mice?

A: While the white-footed mouse is important in the life cycle of deer ticks, you are much more likely to pick one up by brushing against tall grasses and weeds.

Q: Since we primarily have sandy soil out here, pesticides get tightly bound to the sand particles and don’t enter the water table.

A: Wrong. Pesticides generally bind to organic soils and not sand particles.

Q: Biostimulants are natural and organic materials that can be used in the place of fertilizers.

A: Wrong again. Biostimulants are just that, stimulants. They are not nutrients.

Q: Garden flowers for use as cuts can be cut any time of the day as long as they are immediately put into cold water.

A: Wrong. Cuts should be cut very early in the morning or toward dusk.

Q: Once called “funkia” and also known as the plantain lily, this perennial is primarily grown for its foliage.

A: The correct answer is hosta.

Q: Moles primarily feed on roots, tubers and bulbs.

A: False. Moles are insectivores, feeding mostly on grubs and worms. They do not eat plant material.

Q: Which of the following garden insects cannot be seen with the naked eye: aphids, two spotted spider mite, emerald ash borer, black vine weevil?

A: Unless you are well trained to spot their damage, most people will need a 10x magnifier to see the spider mites.

Q: Forsythia should be pruned in late summer in order to set new buds for spring flowers.

A: False. If you prune this shrub in late summer, you remove all of the flower buds that have set for the following spring. Pruning should be done after flowering in the spring.

Q: The color of hydrangea flowers can be changed by adding aluminum sulphate to the soil.

A: This is a trick question. Only the flower color of one type of hydrangea can be changed and aluminum sulphate will work only if the soil acidity is the issue. And it’s easier going from pink to blue than blue to pink.

Q: Biennials are plants that flower for two years and then die.

A: False. Biennials grow foliage during their first season then flower and die in their second growing season.

Q: Privet is a disease- and insect-free shrub that’s a ubiquitous Hampton hedge plant.

A: Once true, but now false. Privet is now in danger of being infected with prunicola scale, which is killing this shrub in some areas of the Hamptons.

Q: Neem oil is a natural product derived from the neem tree. Is is used as a plant fungicide or insecticide.

A: True. While its effectiveness is still debatable, it is used as a fungicide and insecticide.

Q: There are no native cacti on the South Fork of Long Island.

A: False. Opuntia, or the prickly pear cactus, has been known to be growing on the East End for at least 200 years.

Bonus Round: You have a lawn that covers a modest 10,000 square feet. You had a soil test done and the results show that you should apply 3 pounds of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet during the gardening season. But, when you mow the grass, you use a mulching mower and return the mulched grass blades back to the soil. This reduces your need for nitrogen by 30 percent. You buy an organic fertilizer with an 18-0-5 analysis in 50-pound bags. How many bags do you need in one gardening season to feed your lawn?

A: Most of the gardeners I know hate doing math but being able to figure out this one is really important to understand what you are paying for when you buy fertilizer of any kind.

Three pounds of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet on a 10,000-square-foot lawn would require 30 pounds of nitrogen. But this would be reduced by about 1/3 since you return your clippings to the lawn and these clippings provide a source of nitrogen. So instead of needing 30 pounds, we really only need 20 pounds of nitrogen.

Now, a bag of 18-0-5 fertilizer contains 18 percent nitrogen, the first number. The bag weighs 50 pounds, so 18 percent of 50 pounds is 9—so each bag contains 9 pounds of nitrogen. Since we need 20 pounds of nitrogen in total, we’d need a total of three bags and we’d have most of a bag left over. I’d save the money and just buy two bags but the correct answer would be three bags.

I hope you did well. Email me if you have questions, corrections or gripes. You’ll have another chance next winter in the winter quiz and watch for the Hampton Gardener crossword puzzle coming soon. Keep growing.