OSU Extension: Beware of potted daffodils, tulips and lilies and pets

Connie Smith
·6 min read

‘Tis the season to buy potted blooming bulbs for inside the house to celebrate the coming of spring. The most common are daffodils, tulips or lilies which may be planted outside once the foliage has died back or stored in a cool dry environment and planted in the fall. All are considered members of the Liliaceae family and can cause vomiting, diarrhea, depression, excessive salivation and death in cats following ingestion of any plant parts. Exposure to daffodils and tulips can cause similar signs in dogs. However, only mild gastrointestinal signs are reported in dogs ingesting lilies. Cats are the most at risk due to their relative low body weight, their jumping ability to get to high places basically anywhere in the house and curiosity which results in chewing (ingesting) indoor plants, especially new plants brought into the house.

Source: Dr. D. Gerken, veterinary toxicologist and Fairfield County Master Gardener

Victory Garden Seeds available

It’s time once again to get your hands dirty and start growing! The Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) and Ohio State University Extension offices are kicking off the third year of the Ohio Victory Gardens program. Seed sample kits with lettuce, carrots and sunflowers will be available for free to the public to get people planting.

Seeds packets are now available for pick up at OSU Extension in Fairfield County. Just stop by the Fairfield County Agriculture Center located at 831 College Avenue in Lancaster to pick up your seed packet. Each packet contains a sample packet of lettuce, carrots, cucumber and sunflower seeds. OSU Extension in Fairfield County is open Monday-Friday from 7:30 a.m. until 4 p.m. daily.

Be sure to pick up a Free OSU Garden calendar when picking up your seeds and maybe even consider purchasing a Soil Thermometer. Soil thermometers are great tools to keep in your garden toolbox to get your garden off to a good start each year. Vegetable seeds will have a better germination rate if you know the soil temperature. Required. As an example, spinach needs a soil temperature of at least 38 degrees to germinate while lettuces, onions and peas like a 42-43-degree soil temperature.

Other cool season crops like broccoli, cabbage, beets and carrots can germinate at a 40-degree soil temperature. Those tomatoes, cucumbers and pumpkins prefer soil temperatures in the 58-60 degree soil temperature range. The cost of the soil thermometer is $10 with all proceeds benefiting the Fairfield County Master Gardener Program. OSU Extension in Fairfield County is located in the Fairfield County Ag Center at 831 College Avenue, Suite D, Lancaster, Ohio.

Start your growing season off right. Check soil temperatures before opening your first packet of seeds to plant in your garden.

Source: Connie Smith, Program Assistant, Master Gardener Coordinator-Fairfield County

Junior Fair Exhibitors

Entries for the 2024 Fairfield County Jr. Fair Goat, Swine, and Lamb MQP programs are now being accepted. Applications for any of these contests must be received online by April 15. Find more details about MQP and links to each of the application portals here: https://go.osu.edu/mqp

Dorrin and Ruth Ross Scholarship

The Dorrin and Ruth Ross Scholarship has been extended through April 15 The scholarship was established by Dorrin and Ruth Ross. Natives of Licking County, Dorrin and Ruth married and moved to Columbus in 1935. Mr. Ross began his career as a carpenter, worked for the Curtiss-Wright Company during World War II, and spent the remainder of his career with the Ohio Parole Board, working his way from Parole officer to a supervisor before he passed away in June 1989.

The scholarship is indicative of Mrs. Ross’s interest in supporting educational opportunities for rural students, inspired by the loss of her family’s farm during the Depression, after her graduation from college. The Dorrin and Ruth Ross scholarship program has assisted 4-H and FFA youth in Fairfield County with scholarship funds for over 25 years.

Eligibility Criteria

  • Candidates must meet one of the following criteria:

  • Graduates or graduating high school seniors of Bloom Carroll High School or Fairfield Union high School;

  • Past or present members of Fairfield County 4-H or Fairfield County Agriculture’s Future Farmers of American(FFA);

  • Candidates must attend or plan to attend an educational institution in the U.S.

Deadline for the online application April 15, 2024 5:00 p.m. /NEW for this year the application is now ON-LINE and can be found at the Columbus Foundation site or at https://cfprograms.smapply.io/prog/rossschol

Junior Fair News

The time for tagging and weigh-in of Fairfield County’s dairy beef feeders, market lambs, market goats and market hogs is upon us. Based on the success of the tagging and weigh-in process that has been utilized in recent years, this year will be conducted in a similar fashion at the fairgrounds with only a few modifications.

This year’s check-in/weigh-in for dairy beef feeders, market lambs, market goats and market hogs will happen at the Fairgrounds on Saturday, June 29. The exception is that MQP goats will be weighed-in on May 18.

New this year, in advance of the check-in/weighing process youth will be required to tag their own market animals with an EID 840 tag (unless the animal already has an 840 EID tag). Visual numbered tags will not be provided or required this year but are optional and encouraged for all species.

EID tags and taggers for any market animals that do not already have an EID tag may be secured from the OSU Extension office during the normal office hours of 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. In order that the proper tags and taggers are ready for pick-up when requested, exhibitors are asked to log-in to https://go.osu.edu/fcmarkettags and make tag requests beginning now through June 24, 2024. Youth participating in Goat MQP should request their tags by May 15.

Upcoming events

Growing and using herb series: noon to 1 p.m. April 16, at the Fairfield County District Library, 219 North Broad St., 3rd Floor. To register: https://fcdlibrary.libnet.info/event/10147480

Growing Herbs: Whether you have a backyard garden or a few containers on your patio, everyone can grow herbs that transform good food into a great meal. Learn from Carrie Brown, OSU Extension Educator in Fairfield County

Using and storing fresh herbs: Noon to 1 p.m. April 29 at the Fairfield County District Library, 219 North Broad St., 3rd Floor. To register: https://fcdlibrary.libnet.info/event/10234758

Join Shannon Carter, of OSU Extension – Fairfield County to learn more about cooking with herbs can be a quick and simple way to add interesting flavors to foods without adding salt, sugar, or fat. Join OSU Extension Educator, Shannon Carter, to learn tips on using, storing and preserving fresh herbs.

This article originally appeared on Lancaster Eagle-Gazette: OSU Extension: Beware of potted daffodils, tulips and lilies and pets