Regulars (All)

Article - Sky Watch by J. Alex Knoll; by J. Alex Knoll - 11/8/12

From Fireballs to Neighboring Galaxies

Look for Andromeda while waiting for meteors

The moon wanes through morning skies before reaching new phase in the nether hours between Tuesday and Wednesday. Before then, look for the waning crescent near brilliant Venus before dawn over the weekend. By early morning Sunday, a thin sliver of moon is just five degrees below the dazzling morning star in the east. If you have a clear view of the horizon, scan it for Saturn, reemerging from the sun’s glare. Monday before dawn, the ringed planet is a half-dozen degrees below the razor-...

Article - The Bay Gardener by Dr. Francis Gouin; by Dr. Francis Gouin - 11/8/12

Leave the Bugs Out in the Cold When You Bring Your...

More Bugs: Soft-shell scale, mealy bugs, spittle bugs, spider mites and cyclamen mites

A number of insects feed unnoticed on houseplants until perplexing changes alert you. Yellowing leaves are often seen as an indication that the plant is hungry and needs a dose of fertilizer. Yellowing leaves can also mean soft-shell scale insects are feeding on your rubber tree, crotons, philodendrons or related foliage plants. In sufficient numbers, these insects can cause leaves to turn yellow and appear deficient in nutrients. Look for scale insects on stems, veins in...

Article - The Dish; by Lisa Knoll - 11/8/12

Food and Drink to Warm Hearts and Fill Stomachs

Whet your Thanksgiving appetite this weekend at Whole Foods in Annapolis, where an array of traditional holiday dishes will be showcased on Saturday noon-2pm. There is no charge and no registration. Show up and enjoy samples of turkey, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, corn pudding, pies, dips, relish and the like. Of course, you’ll be in the right place to start shopping for all those yummy dishes once you’ve been inspired. Also at the Annapolis Towne Centre at...

Article - Sky Watch by J. Alex Knoll; by J. Alex Knoll - 11/1/12

Looking for the Lonely Star

Fomalhaut glows in the south

Shortly after the sun sets, test your eyes searching for Mars low in the southwest. To the right shines similarly colored Antares, the heart of Scorpius, the gap between the two widening noticeably over the coming week, but they both set before 7pm. Around the same time, Jupiter rises in the east-northeast, with the red eye of Taurus the bull shining to its right. Thursday and Friday the moon visits old Jove, with the stars of the Pleiades cluster between the two Friday....

Article - Sporting Life by Dennis Doyle; by Dennis Doyle - 11/1/12

Fishing in Sandy’s Wake

We may have a week of clean water before Conowingo’s mud plume

We were quite fortunate in avoiding the predicted calamity of Superstorm Sandy. New York and New Jersey did not share our good fortune. The northern winds that blew the whole of the three-day tempest emptied the Bay of water and protected us against the massive storm surge that flooded the coastal areas and created such devastation. After Sandy passed over us, however, it traveled on up through the Susquehanna drainage into Pennsylvania, all the way to the Great Lakes,...

Article - The Bay Gardener by Dr. Francis Gouin; by Dr. Francis Gouin - 11/1/12

Bring the Houseplants Inside; Leave the Bugs Outside

Bug 1: Wax Scale

One of the problems of moving houseplants outdoors during the summer months is that they often become infested with insects. You’ll want to control those bugs before bringing your plants back indoors. A Bay Weekly reader sent me a sample of Christmas cactus that had been outdoors along with her other houseplants. She wrote that the plant had not been growing and, despite her care, continues to decline. On the five-inch-long piece of stem in the envelope, I counted 12...

Article - The Dish; by Lisa Knoll - 11/1/12

Oysters Are in Season

Enjoy them at home and at local festivals

Crabs and oysters are the culinary pride of Maryland. As local crab season ends, likely hastened by Hurricane Sandy, the winter oyster harvest has begun, with its variety of oyster celebrations and events. This Saturday, November 3, take a trip to St. Michaels for the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum’s OysterFest. Visit from 10am to 4pm to enjoy live music, Chesapeake fare, boat rides, oyster demonstrations, harvesting displays and the always-popular oyster stew...

Article - Sky Watch by J. Alex Knoll; by J. Alex Knoll - 10/25/12

A Sky-full of Halloween Treats

No goody bag needed

As the sun sets Friday, see if you can spot Mercury dangling low against the southwest horizon before it too sets within a half-hour. While fleeting, this is Mercury’s best evening apparition. At this point, Mercury is at its greatest eastern elongation, meaning that, as seen from Earth, the innermost planet is its farthest to the east of the sun, in this case 24 degrees. Even at its best, Mercury is a tough target, often easier to spot scanning the horizon with binoculars. ...

Article - Sporting Life by Dennis Doyle; by Dennis Doyle - 10/25/12

Rockfish Futures Bright?

Not by my math

By now I’m sure you’ve heard the news. The 2012 rockfish spawn was a disaster: the lowest on record. Last year’s warm winter followed by unusually low rainfall and high water temperatures in the spring set the stage for a .90 Young of Year count. That number means almost no yearling rockfish survived from this year’s spawn. Maryland Department of Natural Resources has been quick to point out that big swings in reproductive success...

Article - The Bay Gardener by Dr. Francis Gouin; by Dr. Francis Gouin - 10/25/12

A Mutation for the Season

Add witches broom to your Halloween hunt

A Bay Weekly reader asked if I had seen an odd-looking pine tree growing on the west side of Rt. 4 about a quarter-mile south of the Patuxent River Bridge. It’s a witches broom, and I have been admiring it for at least 10 years. The tree is some 20 feet tall and grows on the edge of the woods about 100 feet from the side of the road. Witches brooms are abnormal dense growth on a branch or stem of a tree or shrub. On high-bush blueberries, they are...