Xtremehorticulture

Xtremehorticulture of the Desert

Precautions When Planting Peach After Borers

Leave a Comment / are borers in the soil, can i plant a tree after borers, sterilizing soil for planting /

Q. You recently identified that my peach trees had borers in them. I found the oval larval holes under the loose bark. Can I plant a new peach tree where I removed the afflicted tree? If so, are there any preventive measures I should take? A. There is no problem planting in the same hole. This insect burrows into the tree, not the soil. However, make sure you whitewash the next tree with either tree whitewash made from lime or dilute white latex paint, or nearly white latex paint, not an oil-based paint, with about the same amount of water and apply it to the trunk and main scaffold limbs. Prune the tree so the canopy shades as much of the trunk and scaffold limbs as possible. Make sure the tree receives adequate water and if you can apply 3 to 4 inches of a woodchip surface mulch the tree will perform better and have less stress. Peach tree with whitewash and mulch Make sure you keep surface mulches a safe distance from the trunk so it does not cause it to rot from excess moisture. That has a known history of good performance in our desert. You can go to my blog, extremehorticulture of the desert, and search for recommended fruit tree varieties if you don’t have one in mind. This borer can fly and comes in from other infested trees including many landscape trees and shrubs in the area. Sunburn or sunscald is the main culprit so providing shade on the trunk and lower limbs and giving it protection from whitewash helps reduce sunburn. Good luck.

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Velvet Mesquite Favored over Chilean Mesquite

2 Comments / pluses and minuses of mesquite, which mesquite tree is best /

Q. I want to plant a mesquite tree but I’m not sure whether to buy a Chilean or a velvet mesquite.  Do you have an opinion on these two trees? A. Both trees will do well in the Mojave Desert climate. They both have a similar shape and size, tolerance to winter cold but there are a few differences. Wikipedia on velvet mesquite Chilean mesquite Chilean Mesquite is also called thornless Mesquite. So a major advantage of the Chilean Mesquite is supposedly its lack of thorns. However, I have heard of it developing thorns later in its life. Chilean Mesquite is faster growing then velvet Mesquite but this can also be a disadvantage. Sometimes Chilean Mesquite grows so rapidly its canopy can become top-heavy and may suffer during severe winds and get uprooted. Chilean also tends to throw a lot of its energy into top growth rather than a good balance between root and top growth. Winter form of young mesquite Velvet Mesquite grows rapidly but not as rapidly as Chilean Mesquite. It has much more balanced growth where it develops a good deep root system along with good canopy development. Sometimes Chilean Mesquite will develop a lot of surface roots and not develop the deep rooting that mesquites are famous for. Velvet Mesquite on the other hand does develop a very deep root system if you will encourage it with good soil preparation and deep, infrequent waterings. I tend to favor velvet mesquite over Chilean Mesquite even though it has thorns. Pruning its structure early in its youth will go a long way to having a beautiful tree later on. Mesquite blown over due to shallow irrigations As I said, water these trees deeply and make those roots “chase” the water so it establishes a deep root system. Don’t be afraid of water stressing these plants to the point where they start to shed leaves during the summertime and then give it a good deep watering. You should put this tree on a valve with other desert adapted trees and shrubs with deep root systems.

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Why Are My Pomegranate Seeds White?

6 Comments / color of pomegranate seed, splitting of pomegranate, when to pick pomegranate, why are the seeds white /

Q. This is my first year growing pomegranates. I harvested three. The first two I picked too early because the skin broke and I didn’t want something to go after them. I expected them to be red inside. They weren’t. They were an off-white color but they do taste good and sweet. Did I pick them to green? A. The best time to pick pomegranates are when they are sweet. We use visual indicators or a calendar to tell us when they are ripe. These visual indicators include fruit splitting. However, they can split early if they get irregular irrigations or after a rain. There are varieties of pomegranates which ripen in September and others we are more familiar with, like Wonderful, don’t ripen until about Halloween. Ambrosia pomegranate Some varieties like Utah Sweet don’t get red inside. They are the color you are describing but they are sweet. Others, like Wonderful, will be bright red inside. Pomegranates come in a wide variety of colors You were right in picking when the fruit splits. Even if it’s too early they will get destroyed by vermin or disease once they split. By picking it you prevented vermin from getting the arils or seeds. Great job! Mark your calendar for next year’s harvest.

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Worm Exodus Due to Environmental Irritation

Leave a Comment / chemicals, fertilizer, landscape, pesticides, why worms leaving the lawn, worm escaping, worms dying, worms leaving /

Q. In the last 10 days we have experienced a major worm exodus out of our yard onto the sidewalk. I recently applied a lawn fertilizer with no pesticides in it. One of these die-offs was after a heavy watering and one was after no water for 2 days. Is this normal this time of year? A. It is hard to pinpoint the reason why worms did a death march out of your lawn but the usual reasons are because they can’t get enough air or some irritant is applied to the lawn. A lack of air usually occurs because the soil is kept too wet, like right after a heavy rain, or is compacted from traffic or heavy equipment. This can be corrected by aerating the lawn once a year. It is possible that a heavy application of fertilizer might irritate them enough so they would leave. Most fertilizers are salts.  If the soil becomes salinized this could be enough of an irritant for earthworms to try an evacuation. Quick release fertilizers (these are the most inexpensive types) easily dissolves in water so fertilizer salts are released into the earthworm environment very quickly. Next time apply a fertilizer that has half of its nitrogen in a “slow release” form. This releases the nitrogen more slowly, as well as the salt content, and is easier on your worms. It is also a better fertilizer for your lawn. Slow release fertilizers encourages moderate growth and is applied less often. Quick release fertilizers tend to “jolt” the grass into rapid growth and then disappears quickly.

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Delay Pruning Mockorange Till Late Spring

Leave a Comment / brown, dead when to prune, mockorange, pruning mock orange, yellow /

Q. I have three dwarf mock orange plants near each other growing in rock mulch. Two are a beautiful dark green. One has brown leaves on half the plant.  My landscaper says the cause is sunburn.  If so, do I pick off the brown leaves, let them stay on until they fall off, prune the whole plant or what? A. Yes, rock mulch is a frequent culprit in poor growth of mock orange. Its poor performance is due to sunburn and sun damage but this type of damage is accentuated by the rock mulch. Organic mulches like wood chips and the addition of compost to the top of the soil improves the health of these plants. Improved health helps these plants handle tough locations. When plant health declines they can’t handle these types of locations very well and thus they burn and scorch. The reason for it being on one plant in three is probably because the others time is coming. It is just beginning. Yes, you can cut them off or remove them but wait until spring unless it is really ugly now. If you remove leaves now you’re going to see a bunch of bare branches. Do you want to see bare branches or ugly leaves? Your choice.

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Fig Fruit Drop May Be Lack of Water

Leave a Comment / How much to water my fig tree, how much water should I give my fig tree /

Q. After reading your suggestions I have a feeling the problem could be not enough water.  What do you think?  I have been watering three times a week for 1 1/2 hours (8 gal. each hour) for a total of 12 gallons each time. I took a picture of the fig tree so you could get an idea on the size of the tree.  As you can see the tree is mulched. Readers fig tree A. A very reliable indicator that a fig is not getting enough water is poor fruit development. Fig is a very resilient plant when it comes to water and can withstand fairly droughty conditions. But one of the first things a fig will do when water is limiting is hold back on fruit production or produce fruit that is not “juicy” because that requires lots of water.  Figs produced along the Brown older wood. This is the first crop produced on the wood from last year. This is called the Briba crop. Fig fruit will be small and tough if not enough water is applied. When water is withheld even further then you will see the results in growth. At this point fruit production is no longer in the picture much but rapid and wild growth will be curtailed. Figs need new growth for fruit production. The more growth it has, the more fruit it will produce on this new growth. New growth becomes the source of fruit production this year and early fruit production (Briba crop) next year. Once fruit production is over you can pull back on watering but it needs plenty of water when fruit is being produced.   Figure leaf yellowing and leaf drop can be a sign you need to give more water It is hard for me to tell if your watering is adequate or not. The frequency, three times a week, sure seems enough. The quantity of 12 gallons each time sure sounds enough for a small tree like that. Without going down to the roots somehow and seeing if the soil is moist or not we are just guessing. Mulching helps but a small amount of mulch around the trunks a couple of feet in all directions and an inch thick will not be enough most likely. I like to put down mulch at least four inches in depth and have it out as much as the edge of the canopy (where the growth stops) to be effective. But the proof is in the pudding. If fruits are not swelling up to a good size and full of water my guess is that something is keeping the water from getting to the fruit from the roots. Either not enough is applied or often enough or there is something stopping the water from getting to the fruit such as root damage, trunk or limb damage, disease or insect problems.

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Parrys Agave Good Choice for Mojave Desert Landscapes

Leave a Comment / agave, desert landscaping, parrys agave, perrys agave /

Parry’s Agave Andrea Meckley, Certified Horticulturist [email protected]   Description:  Evergreen succulent Mature size: 2’x 2’ Flower:  with aged plants Water use:  low Exposure:  all day sun Origin:  Arizona, New Mexico, and Northern Mexico Parry’s Agave Hardy:  to 5 degrees F Uses:  Landscape accent plant, potted plant One of the many hardy agave species for our southwest landscapes and gardens is Parry’s agave (Agave parryii).  The grey green leaves grow slowly as a compact rosette.  Adding interest are patterns of indentations of previous leaves showing on the back of each new leaf.   In late spring to early summer old Parry’s agaves, 20 years or more, produce a twelve-foot stalk of blooms that can grow four inches a day. Hummingbirds are attracted to the flowers which begin as red or pink buds, opening to a bright yellow bouquet.  The plant dies after blooming but during its lifetime produces offsets assuring more plants will replace the original.   Planted in groups or alone this plant is attractive in the succulent garden, in pots, or in the landscape.

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Readers Success with Sago palms and Saguaro in Las Vegas

2 Comments / Growing Sago Palm in the desert /

After reading your column in the R-J for 10/25-26, specifically your response to a question about Sago palms, I thought I would share my Sago success with you. To summarize, the main plant in the 1st picture was started from a “pup’ off of a neighbor’s plant in La Verne, CA, in 1972.   The 2nd pictured tree began as a “pup” from the 1st one.   I kept both trees in 5-gallon rolling redwood tubs with full exposure to afternoon sun.  When we moved to Tucson, AZ in 1994, the tubs went with us.  I then moved the trees out of the tubs and into the ground where their exposure was pretty much limited to the morning sun.  When we retired and decided to relocate to Las Vegas in early 1999, both trees were moved back into redwood boxes and made the relocation with us.  After substantial changes to our new backyard in Las Vegas were completed in early October 1999, I once again moved the trees into the ground.  For esthetic reasons, I have allowed both trees to keep “pups” of their own.  These trees have a main exposure to the south and receive direct sun all day.   The 3rd picture is a view looking from the WSW and captures both trees.  I think they are both doing quite well. Another plant we are quite proud of is the Saguaro cactus shown in the last photo.  This plant, which was in the ground at our new LV home in early 1999, was just under 2 ft tall.  During the course of our backyard remodel, this plant was moved 2 times before its present location while being very careful each time to maintain its “clock” orientation…lessons learned from our Sonoran desert experience.  The rear fence is 5-1/2 ft tall to give you a perspective of the trees’s height today.  You will also notice the arms that have emerged…4 that you can see with 2 others on the far side. I trust you will find this Sago success story interesting and enjoyable.

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Reader Success with Celebrity and Beefmaster Tomatoes in Las Vegas

Leave a Comment / fall production of tomatoes, how to grow tomatoes /

I received this email from a reader who wanted to tell me about some of his successes. The following are his successes with some of the pictures he sent to me. This year I planted Celebrity & Beefmaster, one each in hanging planters and one each in our little raised garden.  I can tell you the hanging planters are a waste of time and money.  We got maybe 6 or so tomatoes off the two plants and none were even 3″ size. Readers Beefmaster tomato in small raised bed In our raised garden the other two plants gave us a pretty good harvest with tomatoes from late June to early August.  I think I need to put even more straw for the Celebrity.  The Beefmaster gave us actually bigger tomatoes and they gave us more, but they sometimes were a strange shape, although the taste was great. Readers Celebrity (smaller, round) and Beffmaster tomatoes What I really wanted to relay is the story about the tomatoes shown in the photo.  These were picked a few days ago in early October.  As I said the plants were planted in early April, I was late this year.  They stopped producing around mid-July.  I was going to remove them and put in new plants but ran out of time as we left for travels to Europe in late August. Surprise!!   When we returned 1 Oct these two plants had continued to grow (see other photos in separate emails) and were bearing new tomatoes as shown.  The plants are huge, probably at least 10 feet in height/length, leaning over due to the weight.  The Celebrity has produced the smaller tomatoes.  The Beefmaster is still producing large tomatoes, but they do have shapes just a little different than beefsteak, but they do remind me of such.  Served some at a dinner party last weekend and all were amazed at the get taste. There are still at least 12-15 tomatoes on these two vines, currently all green, bit they continue to ripen. i just think it great to continue to have fresh vine ripened tomatoes this time of year.

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