ALERT - Why do I have Stunted Plants??

What if the haze from the Canadian wildfires is more than just a sight for sore eyes? What if it has far-reaching implications, particularly on the size of your vegetable crops? Join us as we delve into a disheartening case of reduced crop yield and the possible connection to the wildfire smoke. We unpack the effects of the fire’s three main chemical byproducts - benzene, formaldehyde, and acrolein - on the environment. 

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Impact of Smoke on Vegetable Crops

Scott 0:02

Sadly everybody . it's another alert episode And he always has to do this .

Scott 0:12

Anyway , everybody , somebody posted on Facebook that compared to a year ago , their vegetable crop was short And they were like , well , why They had pictures from last year at the same time and this year And yeah , they were half the size . And then I kind of saw the answer and I think maybe you all know it . But then I was also driving in the country the other night . But the corn it's almost Fourth of July . The corn is knee high , so that hasn't stunted quite yet . But the reason for the stunt Do you know , mike ?

Mike 0:53

What do you ? think it is Talking to the Mike , talking to the .

Scott 0:56

Mike Talking to the Mike . So , mike , what is your guess on ? I don't think it's a guess . Oh , you know the answer .

Mike 1:03

I think it has something to do with being overcast , but it doesn't necessarily have to do directly with overcast . Now , do you want to elaborate on that ? Am I ? on a little bit of a .

Scott 1:12

No , you're on the right track . Everybody was basically saying , since the Midwest is getting hit by the smoke of the Canadian wildfires , that the smoke is clouding everything up and therefore the sun's not coming out . And therefore your favorite word is My favorite word Talking to the Mike , talking to the Mike , mike . What's your favorite word , mike ? Irrigation water . No , no , no . The other one begins with a P , a , b , that's P as in purple , the P is silent . Now come on , give me photosynthesis .

Mike 1:49

Why didn't you just tell me F ? Now people would do that generically , i mean phonetically . Yes , photosynthesis , so that means light processing . And since there's no light , well , now there is light .

Scott 2:02

Well , there's not the light that you normally would be getting at this time of year , especially since summer solstice just happened . Well , these are supposed to be the longest days of the year . They are , Well and they are , but they're cloudy , cloudy , cloudy . Well , it's not cloudy . Well , I know it's not clouds , It's smoke . President .

Mike 2:19

Let's just use our Midwest guidelines right now . The overcast cities in the United States will vary from Pittsburgh to Cleveland , to Columbus , cincinnati , detroit and Toledo . Now that's in the Midwest , that's the most overcast Most overcast .

Mike 2:33

Well , we know why . We know here . No , no , no , no , now wait a minute . Portland , oregon and Washington State are overcast almost 100 percent of the time . Downside on our end , it's caused by the clouds . Right , that's what generally , and it doesn't block the sun , but it eliminates the amount of sunlight , the UV light as well as the direct rays . It's a dimmer switch . All right , that could be part of it .

Scott 2:57

And the increased amount of , but ours is because of the Great Lakes , the way , the weather patterns , well , yeah . The clouds , increasing clouds , for Toledo , Detroit I mean for being- in the middle of this continent .

Mike 3:08

I mean it is the most humid place in North America , next to , let's say , florida Oh yeah , i mean Florida's . Shum it out there right now , but we're not talking humidity , we're talking about overcast .

Scott 3:20

Right , So it's . overcast means clouds . Hit us with all your knowledge , Mike .

Mike 3:24

I happen to have a plethora of it . Now see that stands Yeah but on this subject .

Mike 3:27

It starts with P . What On this subject ? A plethora On this subject ? Yep , All right , Hit us , Mike . Well , basically , I don't think it is the clouds . I mean , it could be the clouds , so that could be part of it , But the overcast , if you've noticed , we were walking through a cloud of smoke all the last I don't know a week and a half , And you know that there was a meteorologist that had stated that there was a . There were three chemicals that were the byproduct of the fire itself and the smoke . Somebody was complaining about the smell smelling like a plastic , right , Mm-hmm . Well , the particles that are out there . The smoke has changed everything into three basic products . One of them is benzene , the other one's formaldehyde and the other one is acrolein . You know what each one of those products are used for .

Mike 4:14

No hit me Hit you . I won't do that Anyhow . They're used basically for a number of reasons . One of them , formaldehyde , for instance , is a fungicide , insecticide , pesticide . You use any type of side , that means killer , all right , okay . Yeah , all right .

Scott 4:31

Now the benzene is killer .

Mike 4:33

The benzene is colorless . It's flammable . It's a flammable liquid and it has a very sweet odor . It evaporates quickly when exposed to air , but it's primarily caused by volcanic activity or forest fires . Canada , most exposure to benzene results in from human activities . I mean they use you get it from smoking cigarettes as well but among 20 most widely used chemicals in the USA is benzene , and it's mainly used as a solvent . Now do you want to solve it in your lungs ? It dissolves basically right in You . Breathe it in through your old not well , your olfactory system , your mouth , your nose . It also can be absorbed in through the skin . But benzene is a registered carcinogenic , did you ?

Scott 5:19

know that . Did you know that pretty much in Canada that I mean they were shutting everything down almost to the point of like a COVID as far as keeping people indoors . I will say it that way We have a gentleman here at the garden center whose brother lives up in Canada and he basically said everything's canceled , all outdoor activities , everybody's staying inside .

Mike 5:47

I mean , hopefully they've got HEPA filters or something You know you think this might be a continuation of the last three years with the COVID thing ?

Scott 5:54

No , no , no , this is an isolated thing , i'm just saying they're treating it , are you sure ? Yes , I am Okay . Conspiracy theorists might Conspiracy . I love them , it's anyway , but that is just how they're treating it on the safe side , because , as you said , all these chemicals are airborne and which brings something else . If they're airborne and they're landing on our plants , they're landing on our vegetables . you have to be more diligent this year as far as cleaning your vegetables before preparing or ingesting .

Mike 6:32

Well , not just that , I think it has to do . you said something about the lack of sunlight . That's part of it . Well , yeah , let's talk about suffocation , also , with those particles landing on the stomates of the plant . Now , i promised I wasn't going to be talking technical terminology , but the plant has to aspirate . You learned that , yes , it helps to cool the plant down . Yep , you clog that plant's stomates up with these particles . They're not going to produce . Are you noticing the lack of flour on your tomatoes ?

Scott 6:58

I'm not growing any , but you can ask the audience .

Mike 7:01

Well , i was checking some out the last few days . Yes , they're very , very , very slim . Now , some of them some people know the tricks to the trade . They can go and compensate for it . Yeah , but the plants are being affected by this and it doesn't necessarily mean through photosynthesis , which is part of it . It's the whole biological process that the plant has to go through . that's being affected by these forest fires and with the byproducts that are coming in . Again , you got benzene , acrylene and formaldehyde . All three of those are byproducts of the smoke . Now , it doesn't . somebody was complaining that this smell doesn't have any smell of like a forest , not a forest fire , but a campfire . Well , it doesn't . That part is dissipated . Yes , this is the product or the byproduct that's coming in from that and it's giving us overcast . I mean , it really is an unhealthy state of air quality .

Scott 7:52

Yeah , the moon is orange , at night , the sun , the sun is really orange , really orange , if you look at it .

Mike 7:58

Yeah , so again , folks . I mean , wash your plants Now remember . that's kind of contradictory .

Scott 8:03

That's the advice . We're washing our plants every few days or depending on how much early evening hour . Okay , so we're just . Why are you doing a hand wash ? Are you just sprinkling water on them ?

Mike 8:17

Get a shower , a shower head . I don't mean a shower head that you go to Home Depot or Lowe's to get .

Scott 8:21

I'm talking you know , a head that you put under a hose that's gonna give you a shower spray .

Mike 8:26

It's not gonna be a direct , so you're knocking the dust off .

Scott 8:29

You're washing it off , not knocking it off .

Mike 8:31

Knocking it off is a direct stream . Washing it off is if , when you have that thousand shower spray coming through , it's washing it off .

Scott 8:39

I mean you're not , but you're not hand rubbing it off .

Mike 8:41

No , you're not beating the plant up , but what ?

Scott 8:44

towel or something ?

Mike 8:45

No , the finer the product I mean for the byproduct the better off the plant's gonna be . It's contradictory to what we have told everybody else . as far as watering , never do it in the middle of the day and never do it at the top of a plant , unless and this is one of those caveats- Yes , it is .

Mike 9:00

This is the in-last situation . Do it , you're gonna have to , and I'm recommending strongly that they go out there and wash their plants . Sounds silly , but I think you're gonna appreciate it . Not only that , use a little bit of the espomotones to go ahead and give it a little bit of a kick in the derriere .

Scott 9:16

Yeah , they need a little extra kick Right Because of the stuntness that's happening . It's the byproduct .

Mike 9:23

It's the results of what's going on with this activity the smoke .

Scott 9:27

Right . So the advice is , with the smoke , that we give our plants a shower every once in a while , as needed , and then also , let's be smart and also really go ahead and wash all the fruit that does grow for you . Clean that up and maybe not be so liberal and popping them off the vine and chugging them down without washing , or wiping .

Mike 9:53

It's kind of like you know , Because of this fire . You've got these three byproducts from aldehybenzine and acrylene , which just took me a week and a half to figure out how I can say them , let alone spell them . That's why .

Scott 10:07

I'm not doing it .

Mike 10:08

Give the plant some type of organic blooming agent , the nutrient that you put at the base of the plant . Some of it's , for instance , rock phosphate . Put it at the base , help to stimulate you know all of it your tomatoes and peppers . A little bit more flour And it wouldn't hurt to help them along . I mean , all right , come on , guys , yeah and gals , let's go ahead and take a Q-tip , rub it inside the flower of the plant and go to each one of them , not each one of them randomly . Help to cross pollinate so that we do get the fruit .

Scott 10:35

So for our Canadian friends , please don't go camping , do-do-do-do-do-do . Or if you do go camping , put your fire out completely . I mean , i know most of your fires are lightning strikes , but as human beings let's do what we can do . Are they really lightning strikes ? Yes , conspiracy Mike .

Mike 10:58

I think . are you sure there's not some heathen that's sitting there in the backwoods going take fire and then go for that ?

Scott 11:06

Unless you know somebody . Oh , so that's our quick emergency tip alert for all the smoke that's landing on your plants because it is coming down . I mean it's at low levels and it will cover your plants And obviously it is stunting people . So take all that information and run with it Not in this weather .

Mike 11:28

I mean , come on , you want to ? make sure that you're indoors , forget that noise .

Scott 11:31

I'm going to do a little housekeeping . We're going to do it on the tail end of the show When we were talking about watering a couple episodes back , and then we had a listener write in a question to us and we discussed that last episode , i believe . It came to me and I noticed I started doing it here at work a little bit more just to see how it worked . The valve on your faucet , you don't need to have that full blast to water , ok , so it's like you know when your kids into Scott when your kids were young and they were brushing their teeth ?

Mike 12:07

Yeah , you put it on full blast .

Scott 12:09

You don't . A , you don't need water for running full blast , you didn't . And B , you don't need water running while you're brushing your teeth . you know , maybe a little pre and a little post And you're done . But you know , my kids , i was always yelling at them . Well , i was not in my son over .

Mike 12:24

I mean , that's why they have this control handle .

Scott 12:27

You have that same control for your water spigot

Tips for Watering Delicate Plants

Scott 12:30

. So when you're watering especially delicate plants , only open it halfway And that will help tremendously . Over spray , you're saving money , you're putting the water where it needs to go , not watering the the bugs in the mulch , you're just watering the ground or the medium that the plant is in And you're saving yourself some water . So I created a monster . Well , you know , i thought about that after because I listened to all the shows and make sure they play back correctly in . I was like you know , that's the point I should have made . I forgot about that one . So there is a little bonus for you on this alert Episode . No , i do the alert .

Mike 13:18

OK , this is a what do you want to call it ? An emergency broadcast by Scott and Michael Rourke , with your Midwest Garden podcast .

Scott 13:27

All right , everybody . I hope that helps if you're trying to figure out why your plants are a little stunted . It's , I mean , it's coming back to that fire . Yeah , just wash them off As we leave . What do we always say Green ?

Mike 13:40

baby .

Scott 13:41

Well , what about the green side up ? No green thumbs , Green thumbs up .