February is a good time for photographing wildlife from the inside. Get books and pamphlets about birds and learn to identify the different species. You might also want to listen to bird songs to help identify birds.

Keep wildlife stations and bird feeders supplied with food and water.

If you are planning to build new birdhouses now is the time to do it. Decide what kind of birds you want and make the entrance holes the size for that bird.  Place outside so it can weather and give the birds time to accept them.

If an unseasonable warm spell causes bulbs to break ground, cover them with 3 inches of mulch or straw. Otherwise they may suffer in the next freeze.

Look for bagworms on your conifers. The lag looks like small pine cones but is made of tiny bits of plant material.  Remove the bags and destroy.

Check euonymus, pine, hemlock, and magnolias for soft or armored scales.  They blend into the bark but can be popped off using your thumb. Use caution as some trees have bark with indentations and other features that might be mistaken for scale. Look for Eastern Tent caterpillar egg masses, which are black styrofoam-like egg masses wrapped around twigs.  These masses should be pruned out at this time.

Mid-winter through March is a good time to prune deciduous trees, with the exception of trees such as birch, maples, and walnut.  These trees bleed sap if pruned when the sap is rising (from mid to late winter to mid summer).  They should be pruned in the Summer.  Japanese holly and boxwood can be pruned and shaped now.  Pear and apple trees should be pruned at this time also. Remove water sprouts and basal suckers from landscape trees, particularly crabapple.

Check for heaved perennials and replant, if necessary.

Clean and sharpen all your garden tools and get your lawn mower serviced. Check your indoor plants for insects such as mealybugs, whiteflies, aphids and scale.  Mealybugs look like small pieces of cotton found in the leaf axils and growing tips. Suspect insects if the foliage of your indoor plants begins to yellow or brown or if you see a clear sticky film on the foliage. Treat by washing off the insects and dabbing mealybugs with alcohol.  Consider using insecticidal soap, Neem oil, or horticultural oil, three pesticides of low toxicity.  Check the label to make sure you can use the pesticide on your plants. For example, you can’t use insecticidal soap on Gardenias as it damages the foliage.
If you are start seedlings, it is time to plant begonias, vinca, impatiens, nierembergia, geraniums, and torenia. They are annuals that require 10 to 12 weeks of growth before transplanting in the garden.  Also start cabbage, broccoli and brussel sprouts for transplanting in early Spring.

For additional information on the above topics, contact the OSU Extension, Union County, 246 West Fifth Street, Marysville, 937 644-8117.

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All educational programs conducted by Ohio State University Extension are available to clientele on a nondiscriminatory basis without regard to race, color, creed, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, gender, age, disability or Vietnam-era veteran status.

Keith L. Smith, Associate Vice President for Ag. Admin. and Director, OSU Extension TDD No. 800-589-8292 (Ohio only) or 614-292-1868

Revised November, 2001