Ciscoe Morris: Worry about rain, not caterpillars

If anyone is tingling with excitement over the promised
first day of (unofficial) good weather next week, it’s
Master gardener Ciscoe Morris.

“Spring doesn’t start here until July 4. Summer starts
Sept. 21 I think.”

He says he’s been receiving a ton of mail from gardeners
complaining about their vegetables going to bloom. The
spinach and lettuce are tall and flowering. Ciscoe assures
you, it’s nothing you’re doing wrong. Blame Mother
Nature. In fact, he’s nearly given up on the tomatoes he
planted early in May.

If you are also ditching your spring tomatoes, try to find
the little orange, cherry Sun Golds at the nursery.
Ciscoe says they’re always a hit.

“It’s been scientifically proven that no one can taste one
of those without their socks rolling up and down,” he
says. “They’re so good and when they’re warm in the
sunshine…Oh baby.”

While most gardeners might be groaning over another day of
rain, others are worried about tent caterpillars in their
trees.

But Ciscoe says there’s nothing to worry about if only a
third of a tree’s foliage gets chewed off; it doesn’t harm
it a bit.

If you’re determined to take them out, Ciscoe recommends
doing it after the sun goes down because they tend to go
back to their nests at night.

“You can take them down and squish them. You can spray
something called BT (bacillus thuringiensis), it’s a
bacteria that occurs in nature that only kills
caterpillars.”

Ciscoe says the BT won’t hurt the birds if they happen to
eat one of the caterpillars.

Gardening with Ciscoe can be heard on 97.3 KIRO FM
Weekends Saturdays at 10:00 a.m. and anytime at KIRO
Radio. Get more
tips from Ciscoe and learn about his plant of the week at
MyNorthwest.com/Ciscoe