Q. 1) what should the watering times be for Vegetable beds planted with typical vegetable seeds at this time of year? 2) Should the length of time be different when the beds are first seeded, as opposed to a month later when there are plants growing? 3) How should those times change seasonally with the temperature changes, that is, spring, summer, fall and winter? A. Those are great questions and thank you for asking them. I hope that you will take my suggestions as just suggestions, and not as the “gospel”. It’s better if you use these as starting points and adjust my advice to fit your needs. I use 1/2 inch drip tubing with the emitters embedded into the walls of the tubing every 12 inches. I use 1 gallon per hour emitters.  When installing this drip tubing, I make sure that the neighboring irrigation emitters offset the neighboring emitters by 6 inches. In other words, the emitters are spaced from each other in a diamond or triangular pattern. Drip tubing with embedded drip emitters every 12 inches and spaced in a diamond or triangular pattern on a raised bed without permanent sidewalls Let me go through a list of general rules that I use and let’s go from there. I soak large seed such as corn, peas, beans and even garlic cloves in tepid water for several hours before I plant it. The first step in seed germination is the uptake or imbibition of water. Doing this can speed up germination and reduce it by two or more days. Otherwise, you have to keep the soil constantly wet and can be nearly impossible for seed germination when air temperature gets above 90° F.   Raised vegetable bed mulched after seeding and irrigated using drip tape. I mulch the area where seed is sown with a 1/2 inch layer to help keep the soil and seed wet. I have tried a number of different mulches including sand, straw, compost, perlite, vermiculite, and peat moss and found that bedding used for horses (pine shavings) to be the best. These thin shavings “dissolve” into the soil over several weeks while straw does not and can sometimes interfere with soil preparation. This can be bought at Viragrow (www.viragrow.com) or any farm supply stores.  Seedlings mulched with horse bedding, pine shavings, to help preserve a soil moisture after seeding and seedling emergence. I work with 12 inch spacing so the number of minutes of run time may be shorter or longer for spacing different from this. The number of minutes should be long enough to get water the entire 12 inch depth each time you water. Use a soil moisture meter (like for houseplants) to see how deep it goes.   Houseplant moisture meter used to gauge the depth of watering. Surface mulch helps when starting plants from seed in containers. 1) what should the watering times be for beds planted with typical vegetable seeds at this time of year? Make sure the seeds are planted the proper depth and it’s best if they are covered with a 1/2 inch layer of horse bedding/mulch. If it is, you can water daily for 30 minutes. If you don’t cover it with mulch, small seeds planted shallow, water three times a day for 15 minutes each. Large seed, 1 to 2 times per day for 15 minutes. It’s easier with mulch. After the seeds germinate and you see their first true leaves, switch to once per day. Seedling emergence through the surface mulch. Drip tape used for irrigation. 2) And, should the  length of time be different when the beds are first seeded, as opposed to a month later when there are plants growing? A month later you could be watering once a day at 8:53 AM just before it starts to get warm. You want the plants to have access to water before he gets warm or windy. If these are smaller plants, water them for 30 minutes. If these are large plants, water them for 60 minutes. The progression of watering is from frequent, shallow irrigations after seeding or transplanting to deeper more widely spaced irrigations as they get more mature and bigger. 3) How should those times change seasonally with the temperature changes, that is, spring, summer, fall and winter? Plant water use increases by 400% from the first month, January to the sixth and seventh months, June and July, in Las Vegas Nevada. Inches of water per day. Water use in December and January is about 1/10 of an inch per day. In June and July it is about 4/10’s of an inch per day, a 400% increase. The change is in the frequency water is applied, not necessarily the number of minutes. So, after germination and establishment the water might be on for 60 minutes in December, the same amount in July. The difference is that watering in December might be every four days while in July it is daily. Mulch, as I described above, really helps a lot when temperatures get above 90° F. You will see a difference in the plants when mulch is applied to the soil surface. Pine shavings such as horse bedding disappears in about 2 to 3 months and needs to be renewed. With mulch applied, daily irrigations are enough during the middle of summer. If no mulch is applied, you will probably have to irrigate twice a day; once in the morning For 60 minutes and a second one midafternoon for another 60 minutes. These irrigations will be different if these raised beds were not amended each year with fresh compost. Amending them each year keeps the pore spaces in the soils open and plant roots will grow deeper. Plants with deep roots are less likely to become stressed during the heat. Moisture meters like this one for houseplants are very inexpensive and not very accurate, but accurate enough to gauge if a soil is wet, moist or dry. The moisture sensor is in the tip

Q. Is there a mulch will not lower the pH of my garden beds as it decomposes? I have Goji berry plants which do best at a pH of 6.8 to 8.1.  I want to use something to protect the soil from the summer sun and to prevent the winds from blowing the soil away.  A. Surface mulch always lowers pH as it decomposes. In normal desert soils, you can expect it to drop to about 7.6.  Hopefully you used a good compost when you amended the soil at planting. This will also help a lot. If you want to drop it more than that you have some options such as sulfur that has been ground to a dust rather than large granules.  Soil sulfur is granular sulfur and slowly breaks down in soils. Its effect at lowering soil pH is minimal at best in desert soils. Water dispersible or degradable sulfur is like a powder or dust. Because of its small size and large surface area, it breaks down very rapidly in warm soils and is a bunch better choice to lower soil pH than granular sulfur. An example is Dispersul which is water dispersable sulfur. Should sell for about $1 per pound or so. Sulfur granules just sit there and don’t dissolve in our soils and about the same price. Sulfur needs moisture and warm soil temperatures to work.  I was surprised when this product dropped the pH of water down to 3.5 in about 15 seconds. It doesn’t need warmth or microorganisms to work. The other is a product I have worked with called Garden Magic which drops the soil pH without warm soils. It will drop pH in water to about 3.5. Works very very well and also sells for around $1 per pound and it is in a $30 bag. I think the Dispersul is a 50 lb bag. Both you can get at Viragrow in North Las Vegas. I don’t think any other retailer carries it. They all carry sulfur granules instead. The other option is aluminum sulfate.

Q. I am considering planting three, 22″ box African sumacs along a 40′ block wall behind a 1.5′ retaining wall. Is this feasible? How far away should they be from the block wall? Is there a better option for shade that isn’t poisonous to dogs and that have no invasive root issues? African sumac planted near a wall flowering in February  A. 80% of all landscape plants are poisonous. If your dogs eat enough of any of your plants, they can get sick.  Plant them no closer than 3 feet to the wall and 4 feet would be better, and 8 feet is ideal. This tree can grow to 40 feet and consumes a fair amount of water. These trees are really not intended to be used for planting along tall walls because of their shape.  Put your permanent irrigation away from the wall so that roots will grow in that direction and less towards the wall. It is very difficult for me to make plant recommendations when I don’t know what is available. Consult sites such as the plant list found at the Las Vegas Valley water District  and consult with your local nursery about availability of the plants that you like.

Q. The second pertains to the attached photo. Specifically, what will it develop into? I found only one of these, about 6″ down as I turned over my garden beds. The last thing grown in the raised beds were two very successful crops of grape tomatoes. One in the spring, and another from the same plants in the fall. Tomato hornworm pupa Tomato hornworm larva before it turns into the pupa Sphinx moth or Hummingbird moth, the adult which he emerges from the pupa. These 3 inch long moths fly at night and at dusk visiting the flowers of plants just like a hummingbird, hence the name. A. The photo is the pupa of the humming bird moth aka tomato hornworm as a larva. Voracious feeder of many plants Including tomato, grapes and ornamentals.. A bad guy. Easy to control the larva with handpicking in home gardens. Easy to see at night with a black, UV light because the irridesce green under a UV light. Otherwise they blend right into the foliage of the plants and are difficult to see during the day.  Sprays of Bt (Dipel, Thuricide) or Spinosad. Don’t spray Spinosad during daylight hours because it is lethal to honeybees.

Q. After reading your list of recommended fruit trees I see that Fuji apple trees would do good in Las Vegas? A. Yes, they will do well. Don’t expect to get the same quality of Fuji Apple you might expect when grown in cooler climates. The tree as well is the fruit itself will respond differently in our climate because of higher light intensity, temperatures, lower humidity and our alkaline soils. Fuji Apple growing in North Las Vegas Nevada              Apples grown in our climate tend to have a thicker skin and more wax development on the outside. Expect to get fruit with a higher sugar content and less acidity. The fruit may not be first-class but it will be better than what you’re buying in the grocery store.             Most tree fruit is harvested too early; mature enough to meet the minimum requirements by the buyer but not fully ripened. You have the luxury of leaving the fruit longer on the tree where it will develop more sugar and flavor.

Q. We have a ‘Majestic’ ash tree that was planted a few years ago.  It was doing extremely well until a year ago. All the new growth is just tiny bits of mostly dried green on the ends of the branches. A few leaves have appeared, but mostly it’s just the little spikey tips. The older leaves are just fine. It just won’t sprout new growth.  Any help? A. I don’t know this variety of ash but sometimes we collectively call this group of ash Shamel or Evergreen ash. It is evergreen, keeping its leaves all winter long, but that’s only in warmer climates.             When the temperatures drop into the 20s it drops its leaves and becomes deciduous. When the temperatures approach 20° F it is possible they can have winter dieback or cold damage, particularly if it was fertilized late in the summer.. This may be what you are seeing in your tree.             As the tree gets older it should be more tolerant of freezing temperatures. The only other possibility is chemical damage from weed killers applied to close to the tree or during a time of heat and wind. If this has been winter damage and the tree has not been damaged too badly, it will come back very strong this growing season. Right now it’s early in the season so give it a chance.

Q. I have several Carolina Cherry Trees in my yard.  Last year the leaves started to turn brown and flake off.  I have attached some photos.  Can you tell me why they are doing this and how I can correct the problem. A. I had to study your picture carefully and so some investigating on what might be going on. Let’s get one point out of the way before we begin. This plant is native to the southeastern United States It is not native to the arid and desert southwestern United States. When it is grown in our climate and soils it will struggle compared to growing in the soils and climate of the Southeast. This means it requires extra care on your part when planting and growing it compared to growing it in the southeast. Add amendments at the time of planting Carolina Cherry Laurel here it is very important to add 50% compost to the planting mix and dig the hole at least three times the width of the container. Five times is better. Never cover the soil above the plant roots with rock. Always use organic mulches or groundcovers on top of the soil a distance equal to at least the diameter of the plant canopy. This would chip mulch, not bark mulch, should be at least 4 inches deep and renewed every 2 to 3 years as it “dissolves” into the soil as it decomposes and adds nutrients and organics back to the soil. This is very important for this plant. I believe that this is the reason why you are having problems with this plant in your location. Many of the same problems as plums and peaches The major problems with this plant, because it is so closely related to plums and peaches, are many of the same problems as fruit trees. When I look closely at the pictures you sent, which are very good and thank you very much, I see root weevil damage on the leaf edges. These are the notches that you see on the margins. These insects feed at night and are in the soil beneath the plant. There is not much you can do about them except perhaps apply a systemic insecticide around the roots after the plant has finished blooming. Use the Bayer insecticide if you go down this route. Water/fertilizer/pruning problem The second problem is probably the reason you are most concerned. This is the discoloration and death along the margins of the leaves. I believe this is primarily a water/fertilizer/pruning problem. Let me explain why. I believe if these plants were in good health you would see little to none of this type of damage. I believe the plants would be very full and the leaves would appear healthy. Make sure you apply either wood chip mulch around the trees as I suggested earlier and combine that with a yearly application of a tree/shrub fertilizer in late January or early February. Only use mineral fertilizers if you have wood chip mulch surrounding the trees. Again, I repeat. This should not be bark mulch if you want to improve plant health. Don’t get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with bark mulch. It can be very beautiful but it adds nothing to the health of the plants. It is purely decorative. Wood chip mulch, trees and shrubs that are shredded in their entirety and applied to the soil surface, improve plant health when they begin to break down/decompose a.k.a. “melt” or “dissolve” back into the soil. Irrigation should never be daily.  Give these plants at least one day without irrigation so that water can drain from the soil. The roots of these plants are very susceptible to suffocation a.k.a. root rot when soils remain wet and cannot drain adequately. Another problem with this plant is a plant disease called shot hole fungus. We see this leaf disease on peaches and plums when our humidity is too high. In climates with higher humidity, like some of those in California, this disease can be a severe problem. In fact, varieties of peaches and plums are grown in certain areas with high humidity strictly because of this disease problem. This disease causes spotting on the leaves and sometimes the leaf margins. As this disease worsens, sections inside of the spots die and drop from the leaf leaving “shot holes”. Some varieties of plants are much higher susceptible than others. If the health of the plant is improved, I am guessing this disease will disappear or minimized. Bottom line Improve the soil and drainage. You can do this by drilling holes in the soil with an auger as deep as possible. Fill these holes as best you can with compost. This will improve the soil and improve drainage. Cover the soil with wood chip mulch at least 3 to 4 inches deep. Fertilize with compost this year and next year you can use a mineral fertilizer if you wish provided wood chip mulch has been on the surface of the soil for 12 months. Avoid daily irrigations.

Q. I have never seen this on a plant before and I have never had a problem with pests on this plant.  What am I dealing with here?  A. Great pictures, that helps a lot. I am going to take an educated guess that this is water being released from small openings on the leaf edges called hydathodes. The release of excess water from inside the plant is called guttation. You can read more about hydathodes here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydathode http://www.sbs.utexas.edu/mauseth/weblab/webchap9secretory/9.3-10.htm Pictures of guttational water What is gutational water? These can be very complicated explanations and I don’t know about your background and whether they will confuse you or if you understand them. Basically, small plants can push a lot of water inside of them through a mechanism called root pressure. Root pressure takes water from the surrounding soil, if there’s plenty of it, and push it inside the plant. Sometimes the root pressure can be so great that the plant needs to release some of this excess water. Many plants have specialized openings on the leaf edges called hydathodes that allow it to do this. Technically, the process of taking excess water inside the plant and releasing it through hydathoes is called guttation. Back in the day…. Golf course superintendents are very familiar with this but may not know the correct scientific terms. Years ago golf course superintendents would go to the putting greens early in the morning and “whip the greens” with a long bamboo pole. It was found when plants are growing very close together in places like golf course greens that this excess water, guttational water, could encourage diseases if it was not removed from the leaf blades. They used to call it dew but the main problem was from guttational water full of plant sugars and a good “food” for plant diseases.Whipping the greens with a bamboo pole knocked the water off of the blades of grass and reduced the possibility of disease. Very few whip the greens anymore but instead they use a short irrigation cycle to wash off the leaves of guttational water (which is high in plant sugars and disease prone) and replaces it with irrigation water which has no sugars in it. So what does this have to do with you?  If this is guttational water it simply tells you that the soil is full of water. Little leaf Cordia is a desert adapted species and does not have to be irrigated frequently. It tells you that the soil around these plant roots is full of water and you may or may not be watering too much if you see this water present frequently. Make sure that you give the plants a “rest period” without water before the next irrigation. Other than that, nothing to worry about.

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2017/03/21/2017-05480/national-organic-program-usda-organic-regulations § 205.603 Synthetic substances allowed for use in organic livestock production. In accordance with restrictions specified in this section the following synthetic substances may be used in organic livestock production: (a) As disinfectants, sanitizer, and medical treatments as applicable. (1) Alcohols. (i) Ethanol-disinfectant and sanitizer only, prohibited as a feed additive. (ii) Isopropanol-disinfectant only. (2) Aspirin-approved for health care use to reduce inflammation. (3) Atropine (CAS #—51-55-8)—federal law restricts this drug to use by or on the lawful written or oral order of a licensed veterinarian, in full compliance with the AMDUCA and 21 CFR part 530 of the Food and Drug Administration regulations. Also, for use under 7 CFR part 205, the NOP requires: (i) Use by or on the lawful written order of a licensed veterinarian; and (ii) A meat withdrawal period of at least 56 days after administering to livestock intended for slaughter; and a milk discard period of at least 12 days after administering to dairy animals. (4) Biologics—Vaccines. (5) Butorphanol (CAS #—42408-82-2)—federal law restricts this drug to use by or on the lawful written or oral order of a licensed veterinarian, in full compliance with the AMDUCA and 21 CFR part 530 of the Food and Drug Administration regulations. Also, for use under 7 CFR part 205, the NOP requires: (i) Use by or on the lawful written order of a licensed veterinarian; and (ii) A meat withdrawal period of at least 42 days after administering to livestock intended for slaughter; and a milk discard period of at least 8 days after administering to dairy animals. (6) Chlorhexidine—Allowed for surgical procedures conducted by a veterinarian. Allowed for use as a teat dip when alternative germicidal agents and/or physical barriers have lost their effectiveness. (7) Chlorine materials—disinfecting and sanitizing facilities and equipment. Residual chlorine levels in the water shall not exceed the maximum residual disinfectant limit under the Safe Drinking Water Act. (i) Calcium hypochlorite. (ii) Chlorine dioxide. (iii) Sodium hypochlorite. (8) Electrolytes—without antibiotics. (9) Flunixin (CAS #—38677-85-9)—in accordance with approved labeling; except that for use under 7 CFR part 205, the NOP requires a withdrawal period of at least two-times that required by the FDA. (11) Glucose. (12) Glycerin—Allowed as a livestock teat dip, must be produced through the hydrolysis of fats or oils. (13) Hydrogen peroxide. (14) Iodine. (15) Magnesium hydroxide (CAS #—1309-42-8)—federal law restricts this drug to use by or on the lawful written or oral order of a licensed veterinarian, in full compliance with the AMDUCA and 21 CFR part 530 of the Food and Drug Administration regulations. Also, for use under 7 CFR part 205, the NOP requires use by or on the lawful written order of a licensed veterinarian. (16) Magnesium sulfate. (17) Oxytocin—use in postparturition therapeutic applications. (18) Parasiticides—Prohibited in slaughter stock, allowed in emergency treatment for dairy and breeder stock when organic system plan-approved preventive management does not prevent infestation. Milk or milk products from a treated animal cannot be labeled as provided for in subpart D of this part for 90 days following treatment. In breeder stock, treatment cannot occur during the last third of gestation if the progeny will be sold as organic and must not be used during the lactation period for breeding stock. (i) Fenbendazole (CAS #—43210-67-9)—only for use by or on the lawful written order of a licensed veterinarian. (ii) Ivermectin (CAS #—70288-86-7). (iii) Moxidectin (CAS #—113507-06-5)—for control of internal parasites only. (19) Peroxyacetic/Peracetic acid (CAS #—79-21-0)—for sanitizing facility and processing equipment. (20) Phosphoric acid—allowed as an equipment cleaner, Provided, That, no direct contact with organically managed livestock or land occurs. (21) Poloxalene (CAS #—9003-11-6)—for use under 7 CFR part 205, the NOP requires that poloxalene only be used for the emergency treatment of bloat. (22) Tolazoline (CAS #—59-98-3)—federal law restricts this drug to use by or on the lawful written or oral order of a licensed veterinarian, in full compliance with the AMDUCA and 21 CFR part 530 of the Food and Drug Administration regulations. Also, for use under 7 CFR part 205, the NOP requires: (i) Use by or on the lawful written order of a licensed veterinarian; (ii) Use only to reverse the effects of sedation and analgesia caused by Xylazine; and (iii) A meat withdrawal period of at least 8 days after administering to livestock intended for slaughter; and a milk discard period of at least 4 days after administering to dairy animals. (23) Xylazine (CAS #—7361-61-7)—federal law restricts this drug to use by or on the lawful written or oral order of a licensed veterinarian, in full compliance with the AMDUCA and 21 CFR part 530 of the Food and Drug Administration regulations. Also, for use under 7 CFR part 205, the NOP requires: (i) Use by or on the lawful written order of a licensed veterinarian; (ii) The existence of an emergency; and (iii) A meat withdrawal period of at least 8 days after administering to livestock intended for slaughter; and a milk discard period of at least 4 days after administering to dairy animals. (b) As topical treatment, external parasiticide or local anesthetic as applicable. (1) Copper sulfate. (2) Formic acid (CAS #—64-18-6)—for use as a pesticide solely within honeybee hives. (3) Iodine. (4) Lidocaine—as a local anesthetic. Use requires a withdrawal period of 90 days after administering to livestock intended for slaughter and 7 days after administering to dairy animals. (5) Lime, hydrated—as an external pest control, not permitted to cauterize physical alterations or deodorize animal wastes. (6) Mineral oil—for topical use and as a lubricant. (7) Procaine—as a local anesthetic, use requires a withdrawal period of 90 days after administering to livestock intended for slaughter and 7 days after administering to dairy animals. (8) Sucrose octanoate esters (CAS #s—42922-74-7; 58064-47-4)—in accordance with approved labeling. (d) As feed additives. (1) DL-Methionine, DL-Methionine-hydroxy analog, and DL-Methionine-hydroxy analog calcium (CAS #’s 59-51-8, 583-91-5, 4857-44-7, and 922-50-9)—for use only in organic poultry production at the following maximum levels of synthetic methionine per ton of feed: Laying and broiler

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2017/03/21/2017-05480/national-organic-program-usda-organic-regulations § 205.602 Nonsynthetic substances prohibited for use in organic crop production. (a) Ash from manure burning. (b) Arsenic. (d) Lead salts. (e) Potassium chloride—unless derived from a mined source and applied in a manner that minimizes chloride accumulation in the soil. (f) Sodium fluoaluminate (mined). (h) Strychnine. (i) Tobacco dust (nicotine sulfate).