Evening Rotary hears natural farm exec
Kinston Evening Rotary Club member Emelda Pate introduced Mary Betty Kearney, from Nookerooka Natural LLC, to the Kinston Evening Rotary Club. Kearney and her husband operate the seventh-generation farm that produces all natural Black Angus beef with no hormones, steroids or additives added. The farm is in Greene County, near Snow Hill, and is named for the Tuscarora Indian fort nearby. The cattle are hand fed daily with farm raised beans, corn and hay. The herd's slogan is ‘We don’t do drugs.’ After being slaughtered, the beef is dry-aged and packaged in vacuum sealed packages that can be ordered by the pound or by the cow. Visit nookerooka.com. The Evening Rotary Club meets at 6 p.m. Tuesdays at House of Wang.
Red Room update
The Red Room is open from 7 p.m. to midnight on Thursdays and 7 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
PubStumpers Trivia will start at 8 p.m. today. This week’s prizes will be a Red Room beer glass for each team member.
A Mad Affair will return at 9:30 p.m. Friday, and The Dirty Bourbon River Show will play at the Red Room for the first time at 9:30 p.m. Saturday.
The Red Room is at 220 N. Herritage St. For information, call 252-520-2000.
Gardening Guru: Diagnosing plant problems
Plant problems come in many shapes, sizes and colors. Determining the plant problem is the key to managing the health of the plant. Diagnostics is the process of determining the reason a plant is having a problem. There are unknown variables and uncertainties with most plant problems.
Plant problem diagnostics should follow an orderly evaluation of the symptoms to find proper treatment. A wrong diagnosis can lead to incorrect treatment. If the pest is present, a quick diagnosis can be made by identifying the pest. It is possible for a plant problem to be caused by more than one pest.
The first questions to consider in solving a plant problem include: What is the plant? What is normal for this plant and what are the common problems?
Identifying a plant helps in the understanding of what is standard. Knowing the genus or family is a good starting point. What is normal for one plant may be clearly abnormal for another plant and may indicate a serious problem. All plants have their own set of common problems.
The next questions to consider are what looks abnormal and what is the health of the plant? Signs and symptoms are the terms used for the details to take into consideration.
Signs are some part of the pathogen or causal agent and symptoms are a result of the problem or pest interacting with the plant. Symptoms include discoloration or spotting of the foliage, loss of foliage, plant decline and stem dieback. The health of the plant can help determine the timing of the problem.
Look carefully at the damage noting patterns and details. Is the damage only on foliage of one age? Are the edges torn, smooth or determined by the veins? Observe the surrounding plants to look at their condition. Take note of the conditions of the site. It is wet, dry, sunny or shady?
Find as much information about the plant as possible. When was it planted? What kind of care has it received? When did the symptoms first appear? What has the weather been like in the last few seasons?
Sometimes plant problems are easy to diagnose and other times they may never be complete. Depending on the diagnosis, taking no action may be the best recommendation. At times nothing can be done to make the plant recover and removal is a good proposal. Proper timing is a key factor if a course of action is considered.
This process may not be followed step by step but the person who knows the plant and its history can supply most of the information. The more unknowns that can be answered the better diagnosis can be found.
Peg Godwin is horticulture agent, Lenoir County Cooperative Extension Center. Reach her at Peg_Godwin@ncsu.edu or 252-527-2191.