Xtremehorticulture

Xtremehorticulture of the Desert

What Lawn Grasses Can You Grow in Las Vegas?

Leave a Comment / desert, Las Vegas, Selecting a lawn grass, selecting turfgrass, starting a new lawn, which grass is best /

Here is a chart of turfgrasses that can be grown in southern Nevada at the lower elevations. Not all of them will be available locally but many can be ordered over the Internet. Hopefully this will give you a basis for comparison when selecting a lawn grass. If you have any further questions on selecting a lawn grass for our area, send me an email at [email protected] For instance, be very careful if you are selecting Buffalograss.

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Don’t Use Containers to Store Plants until You Move

Leave a Comment / buying on sale, Container plants, fruit trees, landscape trees, storing plants in containers /

Q. I’m new to Nevada and currently renting a house.  I’m looking for plants that can stay in containers for at least a year, as we plan to take them when and if we move. I tried to grow some herbs, an eggplant, cacti, flowering plants and they all died.   Strawberry’s and vegetables grown in containers at Viragrow A. If you are renting I would certainly encourage you to focus on annuals that you can use. I would not encourage you to buy fruit trees or landscape trees now and keep them in containers for planting later when you move. You are better off buying those plants when you are ready to put them in the ground. There is just much too high of a risk that you’ll lose them before you plant them. If you are fond of cooking and focus on some vegetables and herbs that you would be using for cooking. I would not use containers smaller than 5 gallon unless they are cacti are succulents. The small containers just do not hold enough water for these plants to make it through the summer months. Be prepared to water them daily. Use a good container soil when planting and avoid the cheapest soil you can buy. Fruit trees and landscape trees never do well stored for long periods of time in containers Most plants usually do better with an Eastern exposure rather than a southern or Western exposure. In the wintertime annual plants will frequently do better in the south and west exposures. Take a look at my blog and do some reading up on growing container plants here. Tricks to container gardening

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Red Bird of Paradise Is Poisonous but….

Leave a Comment / bird of paradise, children, desert bird of paradise, dog, poisonous, Red bird of paradise, sick, toxic /

Q. You had a post on your blog about red bird of paradise. posting on my blog Will this bush hurt my dog?  I don’t think she would grab the flowers.  I want to grow a big bush in this area of my back yard as my deceased husband loved the flowers.  I heard the bush is poisonous. Flower of the red bird of paradise A. Like so many plants, the dose makes the poison. Yes, this plant if it is taken in large quantities would be poisonous to dogs, cats, humans, etc. However, I would point out to you that this plant is also sold, the leaves and stems primarily, for Ayurvedic medicine and has been found by researchers to have antiulcer and anti-inflammatory properties. Please keep in mind that about 80% of all landscape plants are poisonous. Some are more poisonous than others. Take as examples oleander and the castor bean plant. Many of our houseplants are also poisonous such as mother-in-law’s tongue or snake plant and many others. All I can tell you that in small quantities I would not be too concerned. However if an animal consumed a lot of the plant it might cause harm or worse. My former floriculture teacher once went on television around Christmas time and demonstrated by eating the leaves of Poinsettia that it is not poisonous in small quantities. The white milky latex found in the plant may cause some burning but it does not kill you as the press has portrayed. I will not tell you that it is non-toxic and not to have some concern about it but on the toxicity list I would probably put it as mildly toxic and keep your pets away from it if they tend to chew on things. I would also not use the flowers as a garnish for a meal.

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Tanglefoot and Plant Damage

1 Comment / How to prevent ants from crawling up the tree, tanglefoot /

Q. I recently purchased the product Tanglefoot for ants around my pomegranate tree however after reading the directions, it states not to use it on fruit trees. Is it ok or should I get something else? Tanglefoot used on Peach tree A. Tanglefoot is a product that can be applied to the trunks of trees and vines. It is like a petroleum jelly or “grease” that stops insects from climbing the trunk with a sticky barrier they cannot cross. We have used Tanglefoot on fruit trees with no problems. From the manufacturer, “Do not apply directly to young, thin-barked trees or to bearing fruit or nut trees.” Sometimes Tanglefoot applied to the trunk can cause the trunk to overheat if it is in the sun and scorch and girdle it. It can also prevent thin barked trees from “breathing” through the holes or lenticels in wood that has not yet formed bark. It can be a problem for young thin barked fruit trees, mostly the stone fruits. Apply to older fruit trees per the label.

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Almonds Black On the Inside

Leave a Comment / almonds with soot, Black almonds /

Q. I’ve begun my almond harvest and have found black substance on the inside of some of them. It is almost like soot. Do you know what it is and is it toxic? Should I wash it off or throw them out? A. You didn’t say if it was inside the nut (kernel) or just on the husk. I am assuming it is only on the husk because this is much more common. If this mold is on the nut, discard these infected nuts and do not contaminate other nuts. This reduces the potential of a mold “toxicity” to humans due to aflatoxins. Yours is most likely one of the “bread molds” infesting the husk or hull and probably developed due to recent rains and high humidity. The nut is safe to eat if not infected. Normally hull rot, as it is called, is not as common here as it is in more humid climates where it can actually attack fruiting portions of the tree and cause a decline in production. Hull rot is accentuated if you apply too much water and nitrogen fertilizer to the tree. Let them get a little “hungry” for fertilizer and start applying less water to them 4-6 weeks before harvest (skip an irrigation day). If this problem will probably not continue in future years unless it rains again during nut hardening. Harvest the nuts, dry them out, remove the husk and inspect the nut when you open it. If the nut is infected, discard these nuts and wash your hands.

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Whiteflies Destroyed Vegetable Crops

4 Comments / damage to vegetable crops, whiteflies /

Q. I am new to gardening in the desert and am surprised at my success thus far!  That is, until the whiteflies came. It is August and they are on EVERYTHING!!  I started with insecticidal soap on the undersides of the leaves and I see dead flies there. I am getting ready to plant all new Vegetable crops for fall but need to get a handle on these flies before subjecting new plants to these insatiable pests. A. Whiteflies are a very tough insect to control once they get established in the numbers you are talking about. Females lay a couple hundred eggs at a time and these hatch and develop into sexually mature adults in about six weeks. Whiteflies on pomegranateNoticed they are on the bottom sides of the leaves. Conventional pesticides have not been very effective on whiteflies due to the development of resistance to applied pesticides. Now we rely on a more integrative approach to try to get a handle on controlling them. This includes the use of oils and soaps when temperatures permit, yellow sticky boards that are renewed on a regular basis, reflective mulches such as aluminum foil, planting trap crops such as squash, hand picking heavily infected leaves early in the season, hand vacuuming, and others. Yellow sticky trap in greenhouse. You need to stay on top of this pest early in the season if you expect some control. Their numbers explode when it gets hot. When plants are still small, remove the bottom leaves close to the ground. These usually get infested first and they are impossible to spray on both top and bottom sides of the leaves which you must do. Get on a regular spray program at their first sign, alternating with soaps and oils. Spray at least weekly both the underside and tops of the leaves. You will need a backpack sprayer if you have lots of plants or you might consider purchasing a fogger to apply pesticides. Solo backpack sprayer Foggers are quite effective but must be used when there is no wind. Use yellow sticky cards supported over the crop and replace it weekly. These can be used to help predict when to spray. Trap crops that attract whiteflies, like squash, may also help. Squash plants strongly attract whiteflies and help to deter them from infesting other crops in the garden. Sometimes it may be easier to remove severely infested plants and replant.

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Crabgrass Control Now?

Leave a Comment / Controlling crabgrass, Flame weeder, herbicides, pre-emergent weed killers /

Q. What steps can be taken this time of year for crabgrass invasion? Crabgrass, not the readers. A. It is now August. If you correctly identified your weed as crabgrass, there is nothing that you can do now except remove them by hand or do some hand weeding. Crabgrass will die when it freezes hard this winter. If it is in a location where it does not freeze, or lightly freezes, then it will survive and grow more the following year. All you can do this time of the year is soak them with water and pull or rogue them out. You can also burn them back if it is allowed. Propane weed flamers or torches work well if you use them in an area that will not continue to burn. The seed, however, will still be there on top of the soil and unaffected. The seed germinates in the spring around the middle of February in our climate or perhaps earlier if it is warm. I purchased one for weed control on my small farm in the Philippines. The more powerful ones like mine will even weeds that are wet or after a rain. Very important in the Philippines. Flame weeder I purchased Pre-emergent herbicides or weed killers can be applied about the middle of January to prevent crabgrass from germinating and getting a foothold. It should be reapplied about six weeks later or when the label tells you to. But this time of the year, all you can do is pull, burn or dig them out.If you buy a pre-emergent weedkiller for crabgrass make sure it lists crabgrass on the label, destroy any crabgrass that survive past the end of January and apply this herbicide by mid-January in our climate.

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Controlling Frogeye Disease in Lawns

Leave a Comment / controlling lawn disease, disease on tall fescue, frogeye, Fusarium, lawn diseases, summer patch /

Q. Can you tell me why lawn grass gets frog eyes and the best way to prevent it? Also why does some of the grass look so yellow? Summer patch, frequently called frog-eye or frogeye patch. A. This is the time of year we usually see frogeye disease, or Summer Patch, in lawns. This used to be called Fusarium many years ago, but no longer. The yellowing may be due to a lack of nitrogen or iron fertilizer or both. This disease is a hot weather disease on tall fescue in the Mojave Desert. It occurs when air humidity increases in the summer months or if we water our lawns early in the evenings. Consider the disease organism to be present on all tall fescue lawns. The symptoms of the disease appear during hot, humid weather or during a rainy period. The worst scenario is if it rains in the afternoon or early evening and keeps the lawn wet during the night. If our lawns stay wet for at least six hours at night in July and August, this tends to promote this particular disease. The disease will take about 3 to 4 days to appear when conditions are right. Apply a preventive fungicide if your lawn has been susceptible to this disease in the past. If it has, you need to plan that it will happen again. Purchase a lawn fungicide that prevents frogeye disease, a.k.a. Fusarium or summer patch and states so on the label. Apply it to susceptible areas 2 to 3 days after summer rains occur. Follow label directions for reapplication of the fungicide. Lawn fungicides aimed primarily at disease prevention and seldom cure diseases once they start. Fungicides will stop a disease from spreading once applied but seldom cure it. Nonchemical control includes aerification of the lawn in spring or fall months. Increase the mowing height or make sure lawns are mowed at 2 1/2 inches or higher. Make sure the irrigation has head-to-head coverage and prevent it from getting water stressed during the heat. Use organic fertilizers on the lawn including composts and bagged manure products. Compost applied as a fertilizer has been shown to reduce many lawn diseases. Compost should be applied monthly during the growing season. Use mulching mowers and leave the mulched clippings to decompose in the lawn and on top of the soil. Those of you living in Las Vegas can get compost for top dressing lawns in bulk at Viragrow. Viragrow website

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Globe Willow Is Frequently Short-Lived

Leave a Comment / borers in Globe Willow, dead limbs of Globe Willow, Globe Willow dying /

Q. I have a five or six year old Globe willow tree that is dying limb by limb.  I just noticed that some limbs are covered with some kind of beetle that are about the size of my thumb. They do fly and are a little green in color. I did started spraying with Sevin insecticide.  Is there something else I can do?  If you don’t know what Globe Willow looks like The one pictured above is ‘Navajo’ Globe Willow, popular in the Western states. A. Globe Willow does not have a terribly long lifespan in our climate. If you look around, you don’t see very many old trees. Borers are quite common in willow in our climate and cause them to have a short life span. The usual symptom of borers in Globe willow are limb dieback, causing the tree to die further and further each year. Globe willow is disease susceptible. Slime flux disease is a problem it faces and can attract insects that feed on the sour bacterial ooze that comes from infected limbs. In short, I think you are treating a symptom and not the problem. I do not suspect that these beetles are associated with the borers but, without a picture, I could be wrong. My best suggestion is to remove it and plant a different tree if you plant one at all.

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Horticulture Newsletter for Northeast Clark County, Nevada

Leave a Comment / Bunkerville, clark county, East Clark County, Horticulture newsletters, Logandale, Moapa, Overton, southern nevada, Warm Springs /

Those of you readers that are living in and around East Clark County, Nevada, might consider subscribing to a newsletter that was developed specifically for you by Nevada Cooperative Extension. I provided a link back to its source. September Newsletter for Northeast Clark County, Nevada

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