WEATHER Warm days challenge gardeners

Spring flowers blooming now won't likely bloom in the spring, but the bulbs should survive, one expert said.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- Whatever happened to snow days?
It's December, for heaven's sake.
It's supposed to be cold, dreary and snowing.
Instead, temperatures have been in the 70s, roses continue to bloom and some early spring plants have been fooled into sprouting.
Ernie Oelker, Ohio State University agriculture extension agent for Columbiana County, said the warmer weather means challenges for farmers and backyard gardeners.
Problems: Warm soil doesn't hold nutrients, so the benefits of manure application on fields for fertilizer won't be as great, he said.
Winter wheat crops could grow too large, and then will be unprotected from the wind and other elements without a protective blanket of snow.
Without snow cover, unprotected winter wheat can be damaged by the wind.
Oelker said rainfall in November and December isn't a bad thing, however.
He said spring and summer were dry, so the soil could absorb the water. Melting snow would have put the moisture into the soil at a slower rate, but the few downpours that occurred weren't hard enough to cause damaging loss of soil, he said.
Bulbs: Backyard gardeners concerned about spring bulbs such as crocus or daffodil may prevent the plants from poking through the soil by adding mulch.
If the plants sprout and bloom, however, Oelker said the spring bloom could be lost. He doesn't believe the early bloom will kill the bulbs, however.
If crocus and daffodil bloom now, they aren't likely to bloom in the spring, but the leaves will grow, Oelker said. If that happens, Oelker's advice is to leave the plant alone as if it were blooming.
If the leaves are cut, then the bulb could be lost he said. Left alone under normal weather conditions, the bulbs should be fine and the flowers bloom normally the following spring, he said.
Yellow jackets: Oelker issued an additional caution for warm weather in the spring. If the soil does not freeze deep enough this winter, there will be an overabundance of yellow jackets next year.
He said yellow jackets that nest on the ground or in trees for the winter usually die, as do the adults that burrow into the ground.
Under normal conditions, adult yellow jackets that burrow generally die as the cold penetrates the soil, leaving only the eggs to survive in the spring. If the soil remains too warm, however, the adults may survive, significantly increasing the spring population, he said.