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.
Black Diamond Garden Centers Welcome Black Diamond Nursery & Lawn Service. We been a local business in Toledo for over 70 years!
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
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.
Black Diamond Garden Centers Welcome Black Diamond Nursery & Lawn Service. We been a local business in Toledo for over 70 years!
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
Have a show topic, send us a message or call 567-343-1349 and leave an old fashion voice message!
Scott:
Sadly everybody. it's another alert episode And he always has to do this.
Scott:
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:
What do you? think it is Talking to the Mike, talking to the.
Scott:
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:
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:
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:
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:
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:
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:
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:
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:
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:
Right, So it's. overcast means clouds. Hit us with all your knowledge, Mike.
Mike:
I happen to have a plethora of it. Now see that stands Yeah but on this subject.
Mike:
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:
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:
Now the benzene is killer.
Mike:
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:
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:
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:
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:
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:
I'm not growing any, but you can ask the audience.
Mike:
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:
Yeah, the moon is orange, at night, the sun, the sun is really orange, really orange, if you look at it.
Mike:
Yeah, so again, folks. I mean, wash your plants Now remember. that's kind of contradictory.
Scott:
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:
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:
I'm talking you know, a head that you put under a hose that's gonna give you a shower spray.
Mike:
It's not gonna be a direct, so you're knocking the dust off.
Scott:
You're washing it off, not knocking it off.
Mike:
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:
I mean you're not, but you're not hand rubbing it off.
Mike:
No, you're not beating the plant up, but what?
Scott:
towel or something?
Mike:
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:
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:
Yeah, they need a little extra kick Right Because of the stuntness that's happening. It's the byproduct.
Mike:
It's the results of what's going on with this activity the smoke.
Scott:
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:
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:
I'm not doing it.
Mike:
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:
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:
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:
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:
I mean, come on, you want to? make sure that you're indoors, forget that noise.
Scott:
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:
Yeah, you put it on full blast.
Scott:
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:
I mean, that's why they have this control handle.
Scott:
You have that same control for your water spigot. 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:
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:
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:
baby.
Scott:
Well, what about the green side up? No green thumbs, Green thumbs up.
