Road Salt and Your Soil

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By Dr. Avishesh Neupane, UConn Soil Nutrient Analysis Lab

When I was a graduate student from Nepal living in New Haven from 2012 to 2014, I kept noticing the same winter aftereffect across town. Along busy streets, the first foot of lawn by the pavement turned yellow and matted, and the road-facing sides of yews and hollies burned while the yard sides looked fine. Coming from a place that does not spread salt each winter, it felt backward. We made the road safer, but the plants and soil paid the price. At UConn’s Soil Nutrient Analysis Lab, we hear versions of this every spring. People send soil from a strip along the road or from a bed near the driveway and say that spot never greens up like the rest.  

You have also likely noticed the symptoms. Fine particles form a crust on the soil surface where water evaporates. Turf browns right at the pavement edge. Buds on the roadside of a shrub fail to break. Evergreens brown on the street side when traffic spray carries salty water, while the interior needles stay green. Vegetable beds that sit too close to plow piles can exhibit poor emergence, tip burn, or slow growth, even when the rest of the garden appears fine.  

What road salt does to soil 

Sodium chloride (rock salt) is the most widely used deicer. Once it dissolves, it separates into sodium (Na⁺) and chloride (Cl⁻). Chloride is highly mobile. It moves with meltwater, so in a wet spring, it can leach through the soil and, where conditions allow, reach groundwater, affecting well water quality. 

Sodium changes how soil behaves. In healthy soil, calcium and magnesium sit on exchange sites; repeated sodium inputs displace them, sealing the surface, reducing infiltration, and making the soil feel tighter right where plants already struggle. Sodium also competes with potassium uptake, so salt-burned spots can look nutrient-deficient even when tests show adequate levels. 

Alternatives to sodium chloride are often less harsh but cost more. Magnesium chloride and calcium chloride melt at lower temperatures but still add chloride and can injure plants and corrode concrete and metal. Calcium magnesium acetate (CMA) is chloride-free and generally gentler, yet it’s pricier and harder to find. 

Lab testing and management options 

If you inform the lab that the sample is from a salt-affected area (such as a roadside, plow pile, or splash zone), they will interpret the numbers with that history in mind and, if necessary, use the appropriate salinity method for your sample. 

  1. Soil pH and texture (and organic matter). Sandy roadside fill flushes salts quickly but is more susceptible to damage due to its low buffering capacity. Heavier soils with more organic matter hold up better but can crust at the surface after repeated salting. For optimal plant health and reduced salt uptake, aim for a pH of approximately 6.5–7.0; your report will include a lime rate if your pH is below this range.
  2. Soluble salts / electrical conductivity (EC). EC shows how salty the root zone was when you sampled. It is most informative right after winter or snowmelt, when salts are near the surface. For mineral soils, labs typically measure EC from a simple soil–water extract. 

    Dense green shrub with numerous small, bright red berries growing along its branches, situated against a brick and white wall in a landscaped area.
    Plants like the Winterberry Holly (Ilex verticillata) may be able to stand up to some salt exposure in the landscape. Some varieties may be more resistant than others. (Photo by H. Zidack)

    Start with prevention. Before winter, top-dress the first 1–2 feet along the road with a thin layer of compost to improve structure and exchange capacity. Keep that strip covered, overseed thin turf, or use a salt-tolerant edge, and ask the plow operator to place piles where meltwater drains to the street or to vegetation that isn’t over your well line. Where meltwater goes matters as much as how much salt you use. 

    After winter, fix what the season left behind. If the roadside sample shows elevated EC, lightly loosen any compacted or crusted soil so that water can infiltrate. Then, leach the area with two or three deep soakings a few days apart to push salts below the main root zone. If a hedge or shrub burns on the roadside year after year, consider moving it back or replacing the front row with more salt-tolerant plants. 

    For chronic hotspots, shift from one-time flushing to long-term protection: use less deicer, keep piles away from beds and wells, maintain dense groundcover in the first foot along pavement, and in harsh exposures, consider stone mulch plus seasonal compost topdressing to help the soil rebound. 

    If your well water tastes salty, check the state’s road-salt guidance and contact your town. When the damage is limited to curb strips or driveway beds, soil testing and better winter practices usually solve it.  

    The UConn Home & Garden Education Center supports UConn Extension’s mission by providing answers you can trust with research-based information and resources. For gardening questions, contact us toll-free at (877) 486-6271, visit our website at homegarden.cahnr.uconn.edu, or reach out to your local UConn Extension center at extension.uconn.edu/locations. 

    This article was published in the Hartford Courant November 23, 2025

    Winterize your Garden Gear Before It’s Too Late!

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    By Heather Zidack, UConn Home & Garden Education Center

    Outdoor water spigot with attached green hose and rust around the base on concrete.
    Y Connectors like this should be removed and stored inside to keep the plastic from cracking in the winter. Photo by H. Zidack

    It’s already November! It doesn’t seem like that long ago when we were giving advice about seeding lawns and watering in new fall plantings. Now that the time has changed, the days feel shorter, and the nights are getting colder, it’s important to remember to take the time to properly store your garden equipment and accessories before locking up the shed for the season.

    Freezing temperatures are on the way fast. Drain and roll up any hoses to remove tripping hazards from the landscape. Store them inside a garage or shed to keep them out of the elements and lengthen their lifespan of use in the garden. Make sure that your outdoor water systems are properly winterized. Whether that means flushing your irrigation system, or simply shutting off your outside water, don’t forget this important step to protect your pipes! Once lines are turned off, open external valves to relieve any remaining pressure.

    Water can not only wreak havoc on pipes but many garden accessories, too. A glass rain gauge left outside can and will freeze and shatter outdoors. Ceramics like pottery and bird baths are susceptible to cracking, so store them either in the shed or upside down in a sheltered area. Stash your garden gnomes, garden flags and solar pathway lights to protect them from fading and damage. Brittle cold, freezing water, and a careless throw of the snow shovel could spell disaster for garden décor left out in the open.

    Inside the shed, take a quick inventory. Leftover seed or bagged mulch could be rodent attractants. Seeds should be stored in areas safe from extreme temperatures to preserve germination rates. Bird seed should be stored in animal proof containers. Chemical products like pesticides and fertilizers may be adversely affected by temperature fluctuations and freezing. They could also make a real mess if a water-based or pressurized solution were to burst. Products leftover from the growing season should be evaluated and moved into a space safe from freezing temperatures. Product labels or manufacturers will have storage and disposal information to help you make the best decision about what to do with your garden chemicals at the end of the season.

    Close-up of a rusty metal latch with a padlock on a weathered gray wooden door.
    Before you lock up the shed for the winter, remember to winterize! Photo by H. Zidack

    Winter will be a great time to thoroughly clean, repair, and sharpen tools. Store them somewhere that is easy to get to later so you can make sure your tools are fresh for the new season! If you have to do the seasonal shed shuffle, this is also a great time to rotate the lawn mower and snow thrower to prepare for the first storms of the season.

    Speaking of your gas-powered equipment, check your owner’s manuals for winterizing recommendations and instructions to help maintain the life and quality of your equipment. You may need specific maintenance before long term storage.  Contact a professional for any maintenance tasks that you do not feel confident performing on your own.

    If you’re running out of space in the shed and garage, consider covering lawn furniture with UV and mildew resistant covers. Take down awning covers and temporary structures. I, myself, have fallen victim to the false sense of security of a mild winter, only to be devastated by the collapse of my garden tent in the first, albeit belated, heavy snow.

    While all of this seems like common sense, the mad dash from here to the holidays will have many of us pulled in different directions. Our equipment, tools, and garden infrastructure are some of the biggest investments we put into our gardens. Hopefully this short checklist will help you knock out those last few chores that come with maintaining a four season New England garden.

    The UConn Home & Garden Education Center supports UConn Extension’s mission by providing answers you can trust with research-based information and resources. For gardening questions, contact us toll-free at (877) 486-6271, visit our website at homegarden.cahnr.uconn.edu, or reach out to your local UConn Extension center at extension.uconn.edu/locations.

    This article was published in the Hartford Courant November 8, 2025

    Chestnuts: A Tasty Thanksgiving Treat

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    By Dawn Pettinelli, UConn Home & Garden Education Center 

    Seven brown chestnuts resting on two yellow autumn leaves on a wooden surface
    Photo by Dawn Pettinelli, UConn Home & Garden Education Center

    With Thanksgiving approaching, many of us will be sitting down to hearty feasts with family and friends. Time-tested recipes on worn index cards or heavily thumbed cookbooks are combed through/uncovered. Many of us gardeners pick a few new plants for our gardens each year, so why not try a new plant on the dinner table? Chestnuts were reputedly served at the first Thanksgiving and thanks to dedicated breeding programs may be available locally today.  

    It’s hard to imagine that a little over 125 years ago there were probably 4 billion American chestnuts (Castanea dentata) spread out from southern Maine to northern Georgia. They were an important food source for both indigenous people as well as wildlife. Early European settlers found their rot resistant wood useful for many building purposes.  

    Unfortunately, a disease (Cryphonectria parasitica), known as chestnut blight, was unintentionally introduced in 1876 on imported Japanese chestnuts (C. crenata). These were sold via mail order throughout the eastern U.S., and our native American chestnuts soon became infected. This fungus spreads by windblown spores. Signs of infection include a reddish-orange ‘rash’ on the affected bark and as it reproduces, an orangey substance oozes from pores in the bark. Cankers form and eventually the plant can no longer internally transport water and nutrients. Chestnut blight kills the parent tree but not the roots so even to this day, you are able to find sprouts growing from chestnut roots. As the sprouts develop, they too will be killed back by the blight so while the tree is kept alive, American chestnuts are considered functionally extinct, but all is not lost.  

    Fortunately, both researchers and chestnut lovers have been working pretty much for the past 100 years on developing varieties resistant to chestnut blight. Breeding work has been done in many locations but the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station began their program in the early 1900s and it is the only program that has continued uninterrupted to this day. Presently this CAES program is led by Forest Pathologist and Ecologist, Dr. Susanna Kerio.   

    Various chestnut species including American, Chinese Japanese and European have been crossed, backcrossed, planted, evaluated, culled and selected by researchers and enthusiasts all over the eastern U.S. As one can imagine, it takes more time to evaluate a tree’s characteristics than say, an annual plant like a tomato.    

    Organizations like The American Chestnut Foundation started in 1982 have been championing the search. According to Deni Ranguelova, the New England Regional Science Coordinator, the goal is to develop blight resistant chestnuts and restore this magnificent tree to its native range. Members of this organization have the opportunity to obtain straight species or hybrid seed to try their hand at growing chestnuts and add observations to the chestnut knowledge base.   

    Why all this work on chestnuts? Well for one, they are deliciously mild and sweet. They are low in calories and high in fiber. Chestnuts are a good source of potassium and other nutrients. Eat them freshly roasted (just like in the song!), in holiday stuffings, soups, in main dishes and glazed. To cook them, they do need to be scored whether oven roasted, boiled, steamed or microwaved to keep them from bursting. Lots of instructions, recipes and videos can be found online.   

    Second, plants are productive. In fact, it was estimated that before their demise that a mature American chestnut may be able to produce 6000 nuts! They can serve as a food source to both people and wildlife as researchers and enthusiasts create blight resistant strains to plant in our natural areas or in commercial orchards.  

    Aside from being a member of The American Chestnut Foundation and obtaining seed, one can order chestnut seedlings from several online nurseries. Keep in mind that chestnuts do best in a sunny area with well-drained soil. Root rots can occur in poorly drained areas. Plants are being bred to be straight and tall for timber, or shorter and wider for nut production. Make sure you have enough space for a mature chestnut tree, or most likely 2 trees as chestnuts need another plant for cross pollination.  

    Even if a chestnut tree is not in your future, do try some chestnut dishes at your Thanksgiving table. They may start a new tradition.  

    The UConn Home & Garden Education Center supports UConn Extension’s mission by providing answers you can trust with research-based information and resources. For gardening questions, contact us toll-free at (877) 486-6271, visit our website at homegarden.cahnr.uconn.edu, or reach out to your local UConn Extension center at extension.uconn.edu/locations.

    This article was published in the Hartford Courant November 15, 2025

    Bugs, Supermoons, Oaks & Other November News

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    November 2025

    “Even if something is left undone, everyone must take time to sit still and watch the leaves turn.”

    —  Elizabeth Lawrence

    Who's Buggin You?

    multi-colored Asian ladybeetle on a flower

    Photo by Pamm Cooper, UConn Home & Garden Education Center

    Stink bug

    Photo by David R. Lance, USDA APHIS PPQ, Bugwood.org

    You may find yourself with an abundance of Asian Lady Beetles and Brown Marmorated stink bugs in your home as the weather cools down. There are many ways to keep these pests at bay over the winter months:  

    • Use weather stripping or caulking to prevent them from entering through cracks in doors or windows 
    • Remove them with a vacuum and immediately dispose of the contents to prevent them from returning.  
    • They dislike strong smells. Place cloves, citronella candles, bay leaves near windows or doors to repel them. Similarly, you can make a spray by mixing water with a few drops of spearmint, peppermint, lavender, or lemongrass essential oil and spray it around entry points.    
    • Plant or place chrysanthemums around your home, as they have a natural ladybug-repelling chemical 
    • Scrub areas where the insects congregate with soapy water or vinegar to get rid of their pheromone trails, which could attract more insects.  

    Supermoons

    A supermoon in the night sky
    Photo by Sean Flynn/UConn Photo

    With our gardens cleaned up, it's time to embrace other natural wonders. On Wednesday November 5, we will see the second of four consecutive supermoons! This November supermoon will appear 7.9% larger than what we see in the sky on an average night. It is expected to be the largest and brightest of 2025.

    A great place to view the supermoons in Storrs is from the top of the Horsebarn Hill pasture at UConn. The moon will begin to rise in the east around sunset.

    Identifying Oaks by Their Leaves & Acorns

    Two acorns attached to an oak branch
    Turkey oak leaves and acorns. Photo by Pamm Cooper, UConn Home & Garden Education Center

    All oaks belong to the genus Quercus and belong to one of two groups- white oaks or red oaks.
    The white oak group has leaves with seven to nine rounded lobes and are a deep green to blue-green with pale green leaf undersides. Leaves are widest in the middle.

    The red oak group has leaf lobes with bristled tips, and some have deeply cut sinuses and very narrow leaf bases.

    Acorns of the white oak group mature in a single year, while the acorns of the red oak group mature in two years. Fall is a perfect time to identify our native oaks as acorns are present and leaves are still on the trees.

    Native Plant: Sourwood

    A tree turning red against a brick building
    A Sourwood tree in South Windsor, CT. Photo by Pamm Cooper,
    UConn Home & Garden Education Center

    Sourwood, Oxydendrum arboreum, is a small to medium tree that is native to eastern and southern U.S. Small, bell-like flowers on large downward flowing panicles appear in summer and are very attractive to bees. The dry, creamy to silver fruit capsules are a striking contrast to the red fall foliage.

    Word from the WiSE

    Women in Soil Ecology, UConn Student Chapter

    When the Worlds of Wine and WiSE Collide!

    This month, UConn’s Women in Soil Ecology brings you a word on soils and wine from one of our students currently studying abroad in Italy:

    What does soil science have to do with wine? Well, everything! The same as other plants, grapes prefer certain climates, soil types, and nutrient levels. Additives to wine can cover up these imbalances in the ground. The real magic is when a farmer can monitor the terroir, all the natural environmental factors affecting a wine, just right to display the true farm-to-table taste.

    Depending on the climate of the vineyard, different soil types will be beneficial. What you would consider necessary for other plants, like well-draining soil or adequate plant hydration, may be the opposite for a vineyard. This is because sometimes, in the case of grapes, it is good to stress them appropriately to improve the flavor concentration.

    Soil fertility refers to the well-balanced mix of nutrients in the ground. For grape vines, it's very important to ensure that there is just enough of vital nutrients, since too much nutrition would encourage overvigorous growth, creating a diluted flavor.

    So next time you drink your favorite wine, remember how well balanced the soil had to be to get that perfect glass!

    By Ella May, Plant Science Undergraduate Student

    Weather Outlook

    A seasoned gardener always keeps their eye to the sky at any time of year! Maps and the 30 day outlook from NOAA will help you stay prepared for any and all of your gardening chores! (Click image to see larger map.)

        Temperature map

    Precipitation Outlook

     

    Upcoming Events and Things to Do

               

              Educational Opportunities & Workshops

                        2025 UConn Native Plants and Pollinators Conference

                        UConn Native Plants & Polinators Conference November 13, 2025 Storrs CTInformation & Registration

                        Join Us at Upcoming Talks

                        Good Bug/Bad Bug with Pamm Cooper
                        November 3, 2025 - 11:00 AM
                        Hosted by the Old Saybrook Garden Club
                        Grace Episcopal Church, 336 Main Street, Old Saybrook CT

                        Lichens and Slime Molds of Connecticut with Pamm Cooper
                        November 10, 2025 - 7:00 PM 
                        Hosted by the Manchester Garden Club
                        Assumption Church Hall, 27 Adams Street South, Manchester CT

                          Supplement Your Garden Produce with CT Grown Products! 

                          Connecticut is rich in agricultural history, with many operational farms that have lots to offer local markets! As you plan your holiday feasts this season, consider buying local, CT grown products.

                          Supporting local CT Agriculture is a way that gardeners can supplement the fresh foods they grow in their garden, with seasonal offerings from year round operations.

                           

                          November Gardening Tips

                            • Wait to spread winter mulch until after the ground has frozen. Mulching beforehand can delay dormancy and makes a good home for voles. Once the ground has frozen (but before it snows), mulch fall planted perennials by placing 3 to 5 inches of pine needles, straw, chopped leaves around them
                            • Finish the cleanup of the vegetable garden or beds, removing all plant debris
                            • Cut back perennials that were covered in powdery mildew during the summer. Cut stalks to the ground and dispose of them
                            • Continue to thoroughly water trees, shrubs, planting beds, lawn areas and recently planted evergreens until a hard frost. Plants should go into the winter well-watered
                            • Beets, parsnips, and carrots can be covered with a thick layer of straw or leaves and left in the ground for harvest, as needed, during the winter. This may not be an option in areas with heavy vole populations
                            • Keep mowing your lawn as long as the grass is growing. Meadow voles and field mice will damage turf and nearby trees and shrubs if they have long grass for food and cover
                            • Remove any mummified remaining fruits from trees, rake up and dispose of old leaves
                            • Pull stakes and plant supports. Clean them with a 10% bleach solution before storing for the winter
                            • Shut off and drain outside faucets
                            • Consider providing sunflower hearts instead of whole seeds. It will provide a better source of calories for the birds and eliminates hull waste beneath the feeder
                            • Clay and ceramic pots can crack over the winter if they fill with rain or melted snow that subsequently freezes and expands. Empty pots and place upside down under a tarp or store them in a shed or the garage

                            This Month’s Newsletter Contributors: 
                            Heather Zidack, Pamm Cooper, Holly McNamara, Ella May, Emily Leahy, Dr. Nick Goltz

                            Office Closures in November 2025

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                            The UConn Home & Garden Education Center will have a brief change in our regular schedule on the following dates in November. Hours on the listed dates will be as follows:

                            • November 7th: Office closed in the morning. Due to high traffic on campus from a student event, we cannot guarantee parking for our walk-in clients. Please plan to visit at another time.
                            • November 11th: Office Closed – Veterans Day
                            • November 13th & 14th: Office Closed. Sample drop-off box still active.
                            • November 26th: Office Closed for walk-ins. Email/Phone support still available. Please plan walk in visits after December 1st.
                            • November 27th & November 28th: Office Closed – Thanksgiving

                            Our office will run on regularly scheduled business hours on all other business days during the month.

                            The UConn Plant Diagnostic Lab will be closed November 7th through November 11th and November 27th & 28th. 

                            Please plan your visits accordingly and thank you for your understanding!

                            Your questions are important to us! Please continue to send your questions to ladybug@uconn.edu or call us and leave a voicemail at 860-486-6271.

                            You Are the Sunshine of My Life

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                            By Dr. Matthew Lisy, UConn Adjunct Faculty

                            Small potted plants inside a clear plastic dome under bright pink LED grow lights.
                            The pink/purple light caused from a combination of red and blue LEDs are great for growing these Cissus discolor cuttings, but it does not help humans to see their true colors (photo by M. Lisy).

                            This old song seemed like the perfect title for talking about artificial lights for houseplants.  Even if there are windows in a room, the amount of light is very low.  Fortunately, there are relatively cheap LED options available.  Light is made up of the different colors, or wavelengths, of the visible spectrum – Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet.  A plant’s pigments capture light energy and use it to make food.  Chlorophyll production peaks in the red and blue spectrums, but accessory pigments help plants capture additional wavelengths of light.  As such, there are optimal wavelengths of light that will better support plant growth.  This is known as Photosynthetically Active Radiation, or PAR.  We measure PAR by using the Photosynthetic Photon Flux Density, or PPFD.  This measures the amount of photons of light in the correct range hitting a specific area, and is measured in micromoles per square meter per second (µmol/m2/s).  A PAR meter is an expensive way to measure how much usable light is available for your plants.   

                            LED specialty lamps that have a good spectral output (PAR) are easily acquired.  I would caution the buyer to read the reviews to help judge the quality.  Good lights will generally include some description of PAR and/or PPFD.  Light quickly diminishes with distance, as it essentially becomes less concentrated.  Look in the product information for how close the plant should be to the light for maximum effectiveness.  Generally, keep the plant 12-18 inches away from the light source.  If it is too close, or the light is too bright, plants can be burned, drop leaves, or become spotted.  A cheaper option is to use existing light fixtures and replace the bulbs with either full spectrum or plant grow bulbs.  The ideal plant grow bulbs look pink, as they have red and blue LEDs.  Full spectrum bulbs tend to have a better mix of wavelengths to make the light appear more natural to us, but still have good PAR.  CRI, or Color Rendering Index is a measure of a light’s ability to accurately show colors compared to natural light.  The closer to 100, the better the light’s appearance.   

                            We can also judge a bulb by “color temperature” reported with a Kelvin number.  For example, a 2700K bulb is commonly referred to as a warm white.  This is reminiscent of the light given off by a traditional incandescent bulb, and shows heavier output in the red end of the spectrum.  A 6000K bulb would be called a “daylight” bulb, and has a heavier output in the blue end of the spectrum.   

                            Many people confuse quality of light with brightness, which is measured in lumens.  Light can be very bright, but of poor quality.  Too bright, and it may burn the plants.  Also, buying a light that throws out a lot of green light does not do much, even if it has a high output (lumens).   Lastly, Watts are used as a measure of energy consumption.  While it is true that higher wattage may mean a greater output of light energy, the efficiency of LEDs means that a lot less watts are needed to put out the same number of lumens as compared to an incandescent bulb. 

                            So, then, this begs the question: What light is best for growing plants?  To answer, I am going to assume that the plants are going to be displayed in the living area and viewed by people regularly.  In this case, I would try and find a 5000K bulb with a CRI close 97 or 98, and a PPFD rating that matched the requirement of my plants for the given distance from the light fixture. 

                            The following is a quick list of what is useful and what is not useful as a metric for plant growth:

                            PAR - Photosynthetically Active Radiation. It is the ideal measurement for plant growth.

                            PPFD - Photosynthetic Photon Flux Density. It is a useful metric to judge output at a particular distance from the fixture.

                            Kelvin - Kelvin refers to “color temperature” – lower number more red (ex. 2700), higher number more blue (ex 6500). It is not detailed enough as a metric for plant growth.

                            CRI - Color Rendering Index. It is useful for how true-to-life the plants will look.

                            Lumens - A unit to measure brightness. It is not particularly useful as a metric for plant growth.

                            Watts - How much energy is used to run the bulb/fixture. It’s not useful as a metric for plant growth, but lower wattage costs less to run equipment.

                            Warm vs Cool - Warm indicates the red end of the spectrum while cool indicates the blue end of the spectrum.  See Kelvin. It is not detailed enough as a metric for plant growth.

                            The UConn Home & Garden Education Center supports UConn Extension’s mission by providing answers you can trust with research-based information and resources. For gardening questions, contact us toll-free at (877) 486-6271, visit our website at homegarden.cahnr.uconn.edu, or reach out to your local UConn Extension center at extension.uconn.edu/locations.

                            This article was published in the Hartford Courant November 1, 2025

                            Don’t Let Dry Soil Follow Your Plants Into Winter!

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                            By Holly McNamara, UConn Plant Diagnostic Lab

                            This year, Connecticut’s notably dry summer conditions have continued into fall. According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, all counties are abnormally dry for this time of year, and some are even considered to be in a moderate drought. Thus, many trees, shrubs, and perennials are heading into winter low on moisture. These conditions combined with the dry air, low precipitation, and fluctuating temperatures characteristic of Connecticut winters can lead to plant damage if no supplemental water is provided. Many of your plants will benefit from a deep final soak before the ground freezes.

                            Fall drought stress often doesn’t show up until spring, or even the following summer.Affected plants may appear perfectly normal and resume growth in the spring, using stored food energy. Plants may be weakened or die in late spring or summer when temperatures rise. Browning evergreens, delayed leaf-out, and sudden dieback are common signs of plants that went into winter too dry.

                            Moist soil is so important in the fall and winter months because it provides insulation to the roots. It may seem counter-intuitive, but properly hydrated soil does a much better job at protecting roots from freezing temperatures than dry soil. Root damage occurs for this reason when plants do not receive enough late-season moisture.

                            Woody plants with shallow root systems require the most supplemental water during extended dry periods in the fall and winter. Trees in this category include maples, birches, willows, and dogwoods. This category also includes perennials, and shrubs like hydrangeas, boxwoods, and azaleas. These plants benefit from mulch to further conserve soil moisture and buffer the roots from temperature swings. Apply mulch about 2 to 4 inches away from the trunk all the way to the outermost reach of its branches in a doughnut shape.

                            Evergreen needles up close
                            Evergreens need sufficient water in dry falls to help prevent winter injury. Photo by Heather Zidack

                            Evergreens also benefit from fall and winter watering because they do not go dormant in the winter. Evergreens of any age are still actively respiring during the coldest months of the year and will continuously lose water through their needles. If they go into the winter with dry soil, they are more likely to have a difficult spring recovery. This is especially true for those in open or windy areas.

                            Only water when daytime temperatures are above 40°F, ideally in the late morning or early afternoon so the water can soak in before possible freezing at night. Feel the soil at a depth of 4 to 6 inches to ensure that supplemental water is necessary. Soil should be consistently moist, but not oversaturated or muddy. Stop supplemental watering after the ground freezes because plants cannot absorb water through frozen soil. To water, use a soaker hose to provide a slow stream of water that can penetrate deeper into the soil with limited runoff. If your hose is already stored away for the winter, and your tree or shrub is small, consider drilling a 1/8-inch hole at the bottom of a 5-gallon bucket and filling that with water for a slow, steady stream. If dry weather continues into the winter and there’s little snow cover, additional watering once or twice a month may be needed until the soil hardens.

                            A final round of watering now can prevent root injury that won’t be visible until much later. Evergreens, deciduous trees, and other landscape plantings will head into winter stronger with a little extra attention this month. Giving the soil one last watering before it freezes is one of the simplest ways to protect your landscape from winter stress.

                            The UConn Home & Garden Education Center supports UConn Extension’s mission by providing answers you can trust with research-based information and resources. For gardening questions, contact us toll-free at (877) 486-6271, visit our website at homegarden.cahnr.uconn.edu, or reach out to your local UConn Extension center at extension.uconn.edu/locations.

                            This article was published in the Hartford Courant October 25, 2025

                            Why is My Lilac Blooming in the Fall?

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                            By Pamm Cooper, UConn Home & Garden Education Center

                            Bumblebees on fall blooming lilacs
                            Photo by Pamm Cooper, UConn Home & Garden Education Center

                            Spring-blooming woody plants like lilacs (especially the old, grafted varieties), ornamental cherries, forsythia, crabapples, azaleas and some magnolias set their flower buds for the following year in early summer shortly after flowering.  Usually, flower buds are triggered to bloom by environmental conditions which normally occur after an extended fall and winter cold period, followed by longer days and warming temperatures in spring. It is not typical for these plants to have a second bloom in the fall, but environmental conditions sometimes trigger premature flowering in the fall. Some plants may have only a few flowers rebloom, while other plants may have more flowers open in the fall.  

                            Some of the reasons for this out of season bloom are extended summer heat and drought conditions where supplemental water is lacking.  Severe early defoliation, especially from certain fungal pathogens, can also contribute to reblooming. The past two springs have been very wet and diseases such as anthracnose and Pseudocercospora spp. leaf spot may have caused leaves to brown, shrivel and drop early. This stresses the shrub and contributes to out of sync rebloom if other conditions are right. Good sanitation practices such as cleaning up infected leaves will be helpful in reducing fungal infections the following year. 

                            If a plant is healthy and relatively unstressed, the normal seasonal move to cooler weather triggers dormancy. Plants that are deciduous will drop leaves as daylight length and temperature both decrease. Next year’s leaf and flower buds will also remain in a dormant state. Flowering and leafing out will be triggered by increasing daylight and air temperatures the next spring. 

                            Lilac flowers opening in October
                            Photo by Pamm Cooper, UConn Home & Garden Education Center

                            If certain woody plants have been stressed during the growing season, however, the change to cooler weather followed by some warmer weather can trigger some of the flower buds to open prematurely. This false dormancy especially affects flower buds near the tops of old-style lilacs where it is sunnier and warmer. Ornamental cherries may show sporadic flowering all over the tree where there is a southern exposure.  

                            While fall reblooming of ornamental trees and shrubs can lead to a disappointing floral display the following spring, it is not harmful to the plant. After a less showy spring bloom period, flower buds will be produced normally. If stressful conditions caused by environmental conditions, insect pests or fungal pathogens are minimal, then a second bloom in autumn is unlikely to occur. Gardeners and landscapers can only do so much, and while the weather is out of our control, making sure plants are maintained properly to avoid stress during the summer will go a long way in helping them remain as healthy as possible.  

                            The UConn Home & Garden Education Center supports UConn Extension’s mission by providing answers you can trust with research-based information and resources. For gardening questions, contact us toll-free at (877) 486-6271, visit our website at homegarden.cahnr.uconn.edu, or reach out to your local UConn Extension center at extension.uconn.edu/locations.

                            This article was published in the Hartford Courant October 18, 2025

                            We Asked Gardening Pros If You Should Rake Leaves From Garden Beds—And They All Agreed

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                            We Asked Gardening Pros If You Should Rake Leaves From Garden Beds—And They All Agreed

                            The Spruce – Heather Zidack and other professionals give their insight on raking leaves from your garden beds.

                            Fall Gardening and Preparing for Winter on CRIS Radio

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                            CRIS Radio: Focal Point 10/13/2025

                            Heather Zidack from the UConn Home & Garden Education Center talks to host, Stephen Thal, about the summer weather patterns, and how they have impacted our fall garden chores!

                            Transcript

                            00:00:01 Stephen Thal 

                            Hi, welcome to another segment on Focal Point. This is Stephen Thal, your host. And boy, we got another exciting program for our listeners. Today we're going to be talking about plants and gardens and how to take care of them, especially with the challenging weather- humid, hot. Oh, the plants must be having a tough time and garden things. What's happening? 

                            00:00:27 Stephen Thal 

                            Well, here to help us work this all out is Heather Zidack, and she's from the UConn Plant and Garden Education Center. Welcome, Heather. 

                            00:00:40 Heather Zidack 

                            Hi, Stephen. Thanks for having me. 

                            00:00:42 Stephen Thal 

                            Oh, it's always a pleasure. So what did the weather do to the plants this year? 

                            00:00:49 Heather Zidack 

                            So, this year was a wild year for our plants. It was a wild year for us too. Some of the weather that we noticed was quite crazy. But in particular, we had a very hot, very humid summer that led us to see a lot of fungal diseases. We got a lot of phone calls, a lot of emails, a lot of samples into our diagnostic lab that had a lot of diseases in the garden. So that was something that we saw. We actually have also been getting reports right now. People are asking us why are their lilacs blooming? And it's because of the stress that we've had this season. 

                            00:01:28 Heather Zidack 

                            So with that heat, that humidity, we've also had some really dry stretches that have kept us kind of right on the border of a drought. We're not quite there yet, but we are in abnormally dry conditions. So when plants are stressed, sometimes they do some really strange things and so people have been seeing their lilacs blooming in the fall when that's normally a spring blooming plant. It's not something that's normal, but it's definitely it's an environmental thing and it's not going to be like detrimental to the lilacs if you are seeing that. So it's it's worth noting, but it's not necessarily need for alarm. 

                            00:02:06 Heather Zidack 

                            We had earlier in the summer, we had the wildfires and smoke from that may have affected some of your plants. Because believe it or not, the air quality can affect your plants in the garden. And so that could have led to some ozone damage, which we see is like curling in the leaves. It can look like distortion in the leaves. So some weird things with that. 

                            00:02:29 Heather Zidack 

                            And then the other thing is that we saw temperatures whenever we went over 85 degrees, usually our common vegetables like tomatoes, peppers, things like that will actually kind of put a pause on. And so, they will not ripen or they may not fruit as heavily. So, we got some calls in saying, “Hey, why have my tomatoes been green for so long?” And it was probably because of the weather. 

                            00:02:56 Heather Zidack 

                            So a lot of things happening, the swings in moisture, so we'd have some really warm days, some really dry weather, and then we'd get kind of a deluge of rain. That kind of also stressed the plants out as well. 

                            00:03:12 Heather Zidack 

                            So we are advising right now to water your plants, especially your evergreens going into the fall. If we're not seeing an inch of rain forecasted, you want to make sure you're out there watering during any of your new plantings, any of your evergreens, anything like that. 

                            00:03:31 Heather Zidack 

                            The drought that we had last fall, so fall of 2024, actually caused a lot of losses in the garden for evergreens, rhododendrons, things like that in 2025 when we were coming into the spring and plants were starting to wake up. So, watering now is going to save you a headache in the spring for sure and if you've had anything like if you have had experience with like fungal disease in your garden this year we're recommending cut all of that tissue back let those leaves drop rake them up and dispose of them don't come compost it because you don't want to put it back into your garden so a lot of different weather patterns have caused the gardeners to have a little extra work this fall I think. 

                            00:04:14 Stephen Thal 

                            Okay so where do we go from here with the weather are we going to be bringing some plants into the house? And and we'll also be checking on the plants that have been in the house that may need some help for the fall. 

                            00:04:32 Heather Zidack 

                            Yeah, so it's definitely that time of year we recommend bringing in your plants when nighttime temperatures are 50 degrees or lower. And so, we've kind of been doing okay with that weather-wise but we are starting to get into that time where it's consistent and we're seeing that below 50 degrees. 

                            So, a lot of things if you keep, you know, palms outside or if you keep any citrus trees or anything outside, they need to be in if they're not already. So, some species can be a little more sensitive, so they may have needed to come in already, like even before that 50 degree mark, but that's our rule of thumb. 

                            00:05:13 Heather Zidack 

                            When you start to bring them inside, definitely look them over really well, feel them over really well, make sure that the leaves are smooth, everything is healthy, you're not feeling any kind of like insects or any sticky leaves or anything like that. If you are, it is time to kind of have a little bit of a closer look, have checked out for bugs, make sure that you're not bringing anything into your house that you don't want staying there for the winter with your plants. You know, check the undersides of the leaves, check through the soil a little bit, and identify and treat any of those issues before they come into the house. 

                            00:05:51 Heather Zidack 

                            So, we do help homeowners if you have pictures, you can send us pictures and we can take a look to see if any of those plant related insects are anything that you need to do anything about before it comes inside. 

                            00:06:07 Heather Zidack 

                            You want to give your plants a chance to transition from inside to outside. So if 50 degree nights is what they're-the goal is and we've been letting the weather come down to that 50 degrees and then you're bringing it into your 68 degree house, that's an 18 degree temperature difference. So they may show signs of stress. 

                            00:06:29 Heather Zidack 

                            They may kind of not be used to the amount of moisture in the air in your home as compared to what was outside, especially as it starts to get a little colder and we start kicking on the furnace and the air is drier inside the home. 

                            00:06:43 Heather Zidack 

                            So keep an eye on your plants, monitor them. Those stress responses may happen, but don't-go ahead and-don't overreact to it. So if you see them drying out, if you see them wilting a little bit, don't change your practices too much. Continue to water as you've always watered. Continue to take all the care that you always have to make sure that they're not drying out, but you're not over watering either. 

                            00:07:12 Heather Zidack 

                            We see a lot of people that will over love their plants and over water them. So you end up kind of seeing things come inside, the wilt, we’ll panic and then we'll put a ton of water on it, which then sends it to swing the other way into that over watering and root rot and things like that. 

                            00:07:30 Heather Zidack 

                            So just keep doing what you're doing, but keep an eye on what's happening to make sure that you can respond if there is an issue. 

                            00:07:39 Stephen Thal 

                            Okay. And that also goes for the local gardeners too. They probably experience a lot of people requesting help during the summer and now how to make best use of their garden. 

                            00:07:54 Heather Zidack 

                            Yeah, yeah. And we're going to start seeing now with, you know, again, weather related, we're going to start seeing frosts. Some parts of the state may have seen them already. 

                            If you have anything like mums or pumpkins outside, those are things that you may want to protect from those frosts. 

                            What happens is that when the dew falls at night and it crystallizes into frost on your plant material, it can actually damage the tissue and that causes your pumpkins to rot faster. It causes a lot of tender flower petals to not look so good. 

                            00:08:31 Heather Zidack 

                            So, what we recommend is to either bring them inside if you just have one mum on the front step, that's easy to bring in and just leave in the kitchen overnight. 

                            00:08:40 Heather Zidack 

                            But if you have a larger grouping of plants or if you have some, you know, some cole crop vegetables or something like that that you may want to protect, you can use something as simple as a bed sheet or a towel even. 

                            Never use a plastic tarp or anything to cover plants because that will just exacerbate the cold against the plant tissue, but definitely do find a way to cover them if frost is coming or bring them inside. 

                            00:09:12 Stephen Thal 

                            What kind of covers can you use? 

                            00:09:14 Heather Zidack 

                            So, anything that is fabric based is going to work really well. They do sell specific like frost covers, but you don't have to go that far. 

                            If you have an old sheet, if you have towels, a pillowcase even, kind of depends on your plant size, but a lot of those just to keep that frost from falling onto and making contact with the plant tissue. 

                            00:09:37 Stephen Thal 

                            Okay so now we got to get in and roll up our sleeves and begin the work to preparing the plants as Heather has been saying earlier because of the weather and now she's trying to talk a little bit more specifically about plants that come in the house to make sure they don't have some sort of a disease, which will impact the plants that are in the house as well. 

                            Now, is this the time too, because of the changing of the sunsets and amount of light coming in, you have to move your plants inside the house to different positions in the house. 

                            00:10:21 Heather Zidack 

                            So not necessarily different positions. Plants that we have indoors go through yearly cycles just like the ones outdoors. And so some of them may be able to tolerate that change in light as they adjust because it happens slowly. Always check your plant label to make sure if it needs like a full sun or indirect sun. 

                            You know, we've talked about before those differences are kind of like if you think about a cat in the living room, right? So, if it needs bright indirect light, maybe the cat is somewhere that the light is not shining through the window but it's right next door versus if it needs bright direct light, the cat is sitting right in the window and if it needs shade, it's over by the couch and you don't see it necessarily. 

                            So, if you always kind of think about in that way, you can remember where your plants need to be in terms of their labeling, which is important to follow. 

                            00:11:14 Heather Zidack 

                            But they do adapt a little bit over time when they're indoors, which is why we need to help them adapt when they go outside. 

                            So if you keep them in a place that is draft free, bright enough for whatever their requirement is, and away from any of the heat sources, so away from any radiators, vents, anything like that that can dry them out, keep them away from like being too close to wood stoves obviously, and that will help them to not be too dry so they don't lose water as quickly. But the other thing too is that like I said, they go through those yearly cycles, so they will go dormant just like the outdoor plants. 

                            00:11:58 Heather Zidack 

                            Cooler temperatures, changes in light, changes in water can trigger dormancy, but it is species dependent and so with our houseplants because we keep them in a steady environment as possible, some years they'll go into dormancy, some years they won't. 

                            And so it's just kind of knowing what plant you have and whether to expect that or not. That can be really helpful. The other quick tip with houseplants that I like to remind everybody is that we allow the soil to dry in between waterings. 

                            00:12:32 Heather Zidack 

                            So don't keep your soil wet when your plants are indoors. Let it dry out as much as you can in between to help prevent fungus gnats. Those are those little black flies that seem to get everywhere. 

                            Again, follow what your plant needs for watering, but if you can stretch it and let it dry out a little bit, you're going to help reduce that issue. 

                            00:12:54 Stephen Thal 

                            Oh, that's great. Is this also a time to take a look at repotting any of the soils or any of the plants that we're bringing in or the house plants that have already been there. 

                            00:13:07 Heather Zidack 

                            You certainly can. 

                            00:13:09 Heather Zidack 

                            People like to repot either in the fall or in the spring. Usually when you repot in the fall, it can be good if you've had them outside and you're worried about any critters that may come in with them in the soil. It's a good time to do it. 

                            You can do it in the spring if they've put on a lot of growth over the winter while they've been indoors.  

                            So it all matters on checking the plant in the pot to see if there's any presence of any kind of insect or anything. 

                            00:13:40 Heather Zidack 

                            You're definitely going to want to change out your soil. But also if the plant is, those roots are a little too tight in the pot, it starts to get root-bound, that's more your sign of whether to do it or not. It doesn't have to be on a time frame per se. 

                            00:13:56 Stephen Thal 

                            Okay, this is Stephen Thal with another segment on Focal Point, and we're interviewing Heather Zidack from the University of Connecticut Plant and Garden Center up in Storrs, Connecticut. 

                            00:14:08 Stephen Thal 

                            And she'll give us some phone numbers that we can call regarding if you need some help with your plants or the garden that you've been doing. 

                            Heather, you got some phone numbers we can use? 

                            00:14:24 Heather Zidack 

                            Absolutely. 

                            So, if you have questions about anything in the garden, anything plant related, your house plants, anything that you have that you you keep for plant material, we can help at the Home Garden Education Center. 

                            That number is 877-486-6271. Again, that's 877-486-6271 or you can always e-mail us at ladybug@uconn.edu. Again, that's ladybug@uconn.edu. 

                            00:15:03 Heather Zidack 

                            We look at pictures to help with diagnosis, so sometimes a picture says a thousand words. Also, I can give you the phone number too. It's a great time of year to be doing soil testing. 

                            So, the Soil Nutrient Analysis Lab, their number is 860-486-4274. Again, that's 860-486-4274. 

                            00:15:26 Heather Zidack 

                            So, between the services in the Home Garden Education Center, we work with our plant diagnostic lab and then the soil lab. We have pretty much everything that the home gardener or plant enthusiast needs to make sure that they're keeping their plants healthy. 

                            00:15:45 Stephen Thal 

                            That's good. 

                            00:15:45 Stephen Thal 

                            What about fertilizers? 

                            When does that come into play? 

                            00:15:50 Heather Zidack 

                            Yeah, that's a good question. So at this point, we should not be fertilizing anything. There are some exceptions for like lawn care and things like that, but my colleague is much more versed in that. 

                            00:16:05 Heather Zidack 

                            In general, it is too cold to fertilize anything right now because what's going to happen is if you were to put down any plant food,you would be pushing growth and any growth that's new on plants is very tender and very small and very susceptible to damage. 

                            So, it'll push out new growth and then it would freeze and cause damage and not do so well for your plant. So, we don't recommend fertilizing at this point in the year. 

                            The next time that you would be able to or you should would be for the springtime, once the soil temperatures start to climb up again and it starts to warm up. 

                            00:16:46 Heather Zidack 

                            If you have houseplants, you can fertilize. 

                            00:16:50 Heather Zidack 

                            However, some of them only need it once a year. It really depends on the species of houseplant you have. 

                            And so again, like I talked about over loving our plants with watering, sometimes we can over love our plants with fertilizer and, you know, overfeed them. And so sometimes we don't want to do that. So it's something to be aware of. 

                            Usually, as long as the plant is in active growth, you're able to fertilize. And so since we're kind of in that time of year where things are winding down and going to bed for the season, we just don't do it. But it all depends on what you're growing and what you have to keep an eye on. 

                            00:17:30 Stephen Thal 

                            Okay, what are some of the other things that we need to take care of in the fall? 

                            We did mention, we talked a little bit about fertilizer. 

                            We talked about bringing plants into the house. Making sure they're not bringing some critters in. 

                            00:17:43 Stephen Thal 

                            What about the compost pile? Is that something that we do all year round or just certain times of the year? 

                            00:17:50 Heather Zidack 

                            Yeah, composting is year round. So you want to make sure that you're continuously turning your compost pile. There's a couple different kinds. 

                            So there's hot composting where you keep your compost pile at 140 degrees by turning it throughout the year. 

                            There's also cold composting, which is what I'm a little better at, where you kind of throw it together, turn it when you can, but it takes longer and it may not necessarily take out all of the pathogens and weed seeds in the same way that hot composting will. So you have to be really careful with your compost at that point. 

                            00:18:25 Heather Zidack 

                            Which is a good thing to keep in mind because right now, we advise people who are doing their garden cleanup for the season. 

                            There's a lot of controversy between that going for do I clean up in the fall or do I clean up in the spring? And so, what I tell people with that is to maintain what I call goal-oriented gardening. So, if your garden is all about pollinators and wildlife support and native plants and all of that. Definitely clean up in the spring. Don't cut back your perennials right now. You can leave your leaves a little bit. That leaves habitat options like hollow stems, leaf litter, and all of that for overwintering insects. And it leaves seed heads for birds to feed on as well as for winter interest. 

                            00:19:16 Heather Zidack 

                            However, if you have had a lot of disease this year and we talked about like with all the weather conditions, we saw fungal disease, people had, you know, if you had insects in your garden this year or things like that that you needed to manage, then one of the best things that you can do is clean up your garden in the fall. 

                            00:19:37 Heather Zidack 

                            And it goes against that instinct to leave the leaves and leave that pollinator habitat, however, it does help us to reduce our need for chemicals and other products in the spring and the following season because you're taking out anything that's potentially infected and just disposing of it right now instead of letting it overwinter and come back in the next season. So, if you've had disease in the garden and your goal is to have to try to not have that happen again next year. 

                            You want to clean up all your leaf litter, you want to pull up all your sick plants, dispose of everything in the garbage, don't compost it. You know that you are removing some of those habitat opportunities for the pollinators, but you're keeping your plants healthy for them to come back to and find next season. So it's kind of a toss up between the two. 

                            00:20:31 Heather Zidack 

                            And so I always encourage gardeners to really look at their own personal goals in their garden and see what they're willing to work with. If they really want that pollinator habitat to clean up in the spring, go for it. If they want to manage the disease, then fall may be the better time. And the other thing to keep in mind that I encourage people is to think about their own time. 

                            00:20:56 Heather Zidack 

                            So your time is valuable when it comes to garden cleanup. And make sure you're doing what you have time for when you have the time. So I've explained this and I've talked to other gardeners about this and I am a big football fan and so on Sundays, I am watching football instead of being out in my garden, believe it or not.  

                            And so sometimes for me, cleaning in the spring allows me to have that extra hobby and so it's kind of looking at my time and my priorities and really making sure that my garden is fitting that. 

                            00:21:31 Heather Zidack 

                            Because at the end of the day, we all do gardening as something we enjoy, and we want to make sure that we continue to get out there to enjoy it. 

                            00:21:40 Stephen Thal 

                            Okay, are there any other major things that we need to cover at this point, Heather? 

                            00:21:46 Heather Zidack 

                            One of the things that I definitely encourage people, like right now, if you're out in the garden, make sure that you're digging up any of your bulbs. It's the bulb time of year. 

                            So when I say dig up bulbs, I mean all of your elephant ears, your canna lilies, your gladiolus, any of those annual bulbs should be dug up, put into paper bags for storage. If you're growing them in containers, you can just cut them back and put the container in the garage or the basement to make sure that it will stay cool, but it won't freeze. 

                            On the other side of that, you want to start planting your spring blooming bulbs right now, you want to plant your garlic in late October, early November, you want to remove your vegetable plants that have those signs of disease, and don't compost again like I had mentioned. 

                            00:22:39 Heather Zidack 

                            The other thing that you want to do is you want to try to cover your soil in any of your garden beds. So a lot of the perennial garden beds that you have and a lot of your foundation plantings and things like that may already have mulch around them, so it might not be as important. 

                            But for your vegetable gardens and things that you're turning over every year, it's important to make sure that that soil is covered for the winter. Some gardeners were able to put in some cover crops by now and have something to hold the soil, like plant material-wise, that they'll be able to turn in. However, at this point in the season, we recommend just using something like straw, leaf mulch. You can chop up your leaves and put them out onto the garden as long as they were disease free. 

                            00:23:29 Heather Zidack 

                            And what that does is when you break up your leaves and you chop them up first, it allows them to break down faster so that there's less cleanup for you in the spring instead of having like if you've ever seen outside the dense thick leaf patches that we tend to have in the spring where leaves have collected. You want to make sure that they're chopped up, they're fine and that they're able to be turned into the soil at the end of the season. 

                            When you do, if you do have anything that you're turning in, so if you're going to do the leaves this fall and turn things in in the spring, it needs to be about three weeks before you're planting in the springtime. So, keep that in mind. 

                            00:24:11 Heather Zidack 

                            Make sure that you are cutting back any of your perennials, if fall cleanup is your goal, this is the time to do it. You want to cut back and leave one third of the perennials above the ground. 

                            So, say you have a six inch perennial, you want to cut it back to a two inch stub and that's where you'll leave it for the fall if you decide to clean up now. 

                            00:24:35 Heather Zidack 

                            If conditions continue to stay dry like they have been, keep watering all of your trees, your shrubs, your perennials, especially your new plantings until the ground freezes. So we've still got a little bit of time that we should be watering with supplemental water. 

                            We recommend one inch of water a week, which actually ends up being about, I think it's like 0.62 gallons per square foot. So that can help you kind of figure out how much water you need in a week for your plants. 

                            00:25:07 Heather Zidack 

                            And you want to wait till all your shrubs are dormant so their leaves have dropped before pruning in the fall. Do not prune any of your spring blooming shrubs. 

                            So, you don't want to prune your hydrangeas. You don't want to prune your forsythia, your lilacs, anything like that because things likely already set their buds for next year already. So, if you prune them now, you could lose your flowers. 

                            00:25:34 Heather Zidack 

                            The other thing that we recommend is, like I said, you don't want to fertilize anymore at this point. You know, consider getting your soil tested now so that you can have those results in the spring and be able to hit the ground running. 

                            00:25:48 Heather Zidack 

                            And again, like I said, our office is open year-round to help support with any of these home garden houseplant questions that you may have. 

                            00:25:59 Stephen Thal 

                            And also you have a number of local gardeners, don't you, or grangers? 

                            00:26:05 Heather Zidack 

                            We do. We have county offices that will help with garden questions as well through our master gardener colleagues will help with identification and things like that. If it's disease questions, definitely send it to the Home Garden Education Center. 

                            00:26:23 Heather Zidack 

                            But the master gardeners at the county offices are also very well equipped to help with cultural questions, how to take care of plants, how to identify them, and some of these fall and spring cleanup tips as well. 

                            00:26:36 Stephen Thal 

                            Do you have many fruit plants that need to be taken care of, or are they all pretty much gone? 

                            00:26:43 Heather Zidack 

                            They're pretty well done the only one to keep in mind is your fall blooming raspberries or your fall fruiting raspberries those you want to prune after fruiting is complete otherwise you're going to be all set um mostly in the winter when things are totally dormant so we're looking at like March would be the time to start pruning your fruit trees. 

                            00:27:04 Stephen Thal 

                            Oh okay one other thing I forgot to ask you you also have to take clean your tools that you use the garden with. 

                            00:27:12 Heather Zidack 

                            Absolutely. That's a great winter chore. Clean your tools, especially if you're between pruning diseased plants. 

                            The other thing is in the winter, it's great to not only clean your tools, but if you need to sharpen your tools or it's a good time also to make sure that you repaint all the handles so you can find them again when you have them in the garden. 

                            00:27:34 Stephen Thal 

                            Hey, Heather's going to give us the phone number one more time in case you missed it the first time. 

                            00:27:40 Heather Zidack 

                            Yes. So if you have any plant or garden questions, you can always call our office at 877-486-6271. Again, that's 877-486-6271. 

                            00:27:55 Stephen Thal 

                            That'll be great. 

                            Well, thank you again for coming again to help our gardeners or people that have interested in starting gardens or plants or whatever. Great information. 

                            Give my best to your whole team and I know when it comes around Christmas there's a lot of plants there that have to be protected once the season goes by. 

                            00:28:20 Heather Zidack 

                            Yes, yeah there's a lot of holiday plants that we could certainly talk about. 

                            00:28:26 Stephen Thal 

                            Okay well thank you again and wishing you and the whole team at UConn Plant and Garden Center continued success. 

                            00:28:33 Heather Zidack 

                            Thank you so much. 

                            00:28:35 Stephen Thal 

                            Stephen Thal with another segment on Focal Point. 

                            I want to thank all of you for listening. 

                            And a couple of things we want to remind you of is first, make sure that you wear a hat and dark glasses to protect your eyes against the sun all year around, particularly during the winter, particularly if we get snow, be a lot of glare. 

                            00:28:59 Stephen Thal 

                            The other item I wanted to mention is to make sure that you have an emergency plan and practice it. If you need any help with it, call your local fire department or police department and they can direct you to the proper resources to help you build one of these plans because someday that life may be somebody in your family that you save. 

                            00:29:23 Stephen Thal 

                            And also when you travel, make sure you know what the emergency rules are so that should you get into a situation, you know what to do. 

                            00:29:33 Stephen Thal 

                            So once again, thank you all for listening. 

                            Stay safe and stay healthy.