Things to do in January

Holiday Plants can be saved as houseplants, given to friends, or tossed in the compost pile. Some plants including Jerusalem cherry and Christmas pepper are meant to be discarded after the holidays. Christmas cactus, Norfolk Island pine, amaryllis and spathiphyllum or peace lily make nice houseplants. It is very difficult keep a poinsettia lush and healthy throughout the year. See Care of Poinsettias. Hibiscus is prone to bugs.

Wait to divide and repot houseplants until you see signs of new growth. The plants in dish gardens may be separated into individual pots. Don’t over water houseplants. Plants enter a resting phase this time of year and they use a lot less water. Let soil become dry to touch before watering.

Check your houseplants for pests, such as spider mites that thrive when the humidity indoors drops. The first symptom you will see is a salt and pepper type of stippling caused by their feeding. Fine webs become visible when the population is huge.

If your floor is sticky under a houseplant, it maybe honeydew dripping from insects feeding on your plant. Scale, mealybugs, and aphids produce honeydew. Each type of pest is controlled differently.

Protect your trees from mice and voles Young trees, especially apple and crabapple and burning bush are common targets. These critters thrive under the protective cover of snow. If you haven’t already put wire mesh or plastic spiral mouse guards around your younger trees, shovel snow away from the base of the trunk about 12 inches back.

Take time now to set up an area in your home to for staring seeds indoors, but don’t start them yet. Most seeds don’t need to be started until mid March or early April. Keep a record of when you planted each type, where you got the seeds, now many you  planted and how well they did. January is a good time to review your notes.

If you saved left over seeds from last year, check a seed viability chart to see how long the seed is supposed to be viable (leeks and onion seed only last a year). Also do a simple germination test. Place 10 seeds in a moist paper towel, roll it up loosely and place in a plastic bag. If fewer than 75% of the seeds sprout you should order fresh seed.

Order vegetable seeds now. To help you plan this summer’s garden, the 2007 edition of Cornell’s “Selected List of Vegetable Varieties for Home Garden Use in New York State” is ready. For a free copy, call our office or download it from Cornell’s gardening Web site at http://vegvariety.cce.cornell.edu/.

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