Xtremehorticulture

Why No Fruit on Kumquat?

Q. Just this last year we have had very little fruit on our Kumquat whereas prior to that the tree was ample with fruit. The tree appears to be healthy, just no fruit. The only difference I can think of is that in previous years I covered the tree whenever the temperature was below freezing. However, this past year I only covered it when the temperature fell to the upper 20’s.  A. Kumquat is a very winter hardy citrus and can survive most winter temperatures here without any problems provided it is in a sheltered spot. It is considered one of the most cold tolerant of the citrus. The key question you have to ask yourself is whether it produced any flowers or not this past year. No flowers equals no fruit. The major reasons for early fruit drop are temperature and irrigation problems. If we have freezing temperatures or if the plants become water stressed from not enough water, they tend to drop fruit and flowers if they were produced. Flower buds and fruits are much less hardy to freezing temperatures than the plant itself. Kumquat may produce fruit all through the year but tend to produce fruit in the spring and fall months and through the winter. If it does get some winter damage, you would have seen plant dieback. When dieback occurs, the plant will regrow to the height it was before it had damage and produce very few flowers. Once it reestablishes its previous size it will then begin to flower again and produce fruit. If there were some spring freezes the flower buds would be killed before anything else would show any damage. This would tend to minimize fruit production. If the plant receives a lot of fertilizer, particularly nitrogen, it may tend to put on new growth with few flowers and of course very little, if any, fruit.

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Buckets Can Be Used for Drip Irrigation

Q. My pine trees are over 20 years old and very tall.  I looked on the net and found a YouTube video out of Kansas showing the man using a 5 gallon bucket with a pin hole in the bottom for the purpose of watering them. I called out my landscaping guy and he said that I am wasting water by watering that way. He said to dig a trench and fill it with water so it can be soaked into the ground and reach the roots of the tree. I do not have the ability to dig trenches.  Am I doing right by watering with the buckets or is he correct about his method? A. Using a bucket with a small hole in it works just like drip irrigation. I would use about five or more buckets and distribute them under the canopy, about three or 4 feet apart, if you don’t mind looking at them. Using buckets is the easiest and similar to the very first form of drip irrigation which was sinking unglazed ceramic pots into the soil. Make the holes small. Should run out in about one hour or so. The water will not run off and accomplish the same thing as a drip system but with more work on your part and kind of ugly. But it will work. Make sure the water leaks from the bucket in the 12 inches depth of soil beneath the tree. If it runs into the soil below this 12 inch depth it is possible it may miss the roots that actively take up water. In our urban landscapes these roots are typically close to the soil surface. Roots for anchoring the plant usually run deeper than this and are not as responsible for water and nutrient uptake as the surface roots. There is another form of using buckets for irrigation. This concept was pioneered by a hero of mine of the name Dick Chapin who passed away a couple of years ago. He is the father of American drip irrigation and developed the first drip tapes that were used in the greenhouse and nursery industry starting back in the 1960s. Regardless of your religious beliefs, what he was able to accomplish in the distribution of low-cost, drip irrigation systems using buckets (aka bucket irrigation) was truly remarkable. This is what made him a hero of mine. You can learn more about his foundation below.  I have implemented the strategy in my international work and it will also work here if you have a small garden area. If you want some classes on how to construct these or information posted on my blog showing you how to do it, just let me know. Dick Chapin’s living water foundation

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Sometimes Amaryllis Can Get Big

Q. What do I do with my 4 foot high amaryllis plants?  How much should I cut them back?  A. That is a large one from your description. The size of this plant may vary with a variety and light exposure. If they are not getting enough light the leaves will be very succulent and long. With adequate light believes should be leathery, stouter and more durable. You have your amaryllis in good exposure it sounds like with it in the East side with some filtered light during part of the day. Amaryllis does well with half-day sunlight in the mornings. As you’ve already expressed I’m sure that you amended your soil with compost the time of planting and mulched the bulbs. Sometimes the flowers need staking because they can get a little top-heavy. They will die back at the first frost. At this time feel free to cut them back to the ground. Cover the bulbs with 4 to 6 inches of wood mulch through the coldest part of the winter. When all danger of frost has passed go ahead and uncover them and let them warm up. I would fertilize lightly once a month. On a side note the term Amaryllis in English includes plants that are not truly Amaryllis. The one we see in stores most of the time is Hippeastrum but the trade has called it Amaryllis for so long the name has stuck and it’s easier to pronounce. One comes from South America and the other comes from South Africa. One is a little more cold sensitive than the other.Both of them produce gorgeous flowers.

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Black Spots on Peach Leaves May Be from Lack of Light

Q. Can you tell me what this is on one of our peach trees? The leaves are developing black spots on the margins. A. I am looking at your picture now of the peach leaf. It was hard to see what the problem might be with only one picture and that picture was low resolution. What I saw was one leaf inside the canopy in some shade with some black spots developing on the leaf margins. I couldn’t be certain but it looked like there was a yellow halo around the black spots on the margins. I don’t know if this is typical of all the leaves or just the leaves in the shade. For me there were two possibilities; irrigation or a disease called shot hole fungus or Coryneum Blight. If it was over the entire canopy and it involves leaves in full sunlight then I would tend to think it was irrigation related. It usually occurs if the tree is not getting enough water at the time of an irrigation or if you waited too long between irrigations. If the tree has gotten considerably larger in the last two years than I would add any emitter or two to the irrigation of the tree. I would also mulch the surface of the soil to conserve water and reduce water stress. If this is Coryneum Blight then you would spray the tree with a copper-based fungicide such as Bordeaux mixture immediately when the leaves fall from the tree this early winter. You would follow up with the spray in the spring as the leaves are coming out and new growth is emerging but after blooming has finished.

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Texas Sage and Sage Herb Allergies

Q. Is the Texas Ranger shrub in the Sage family? This question is prompted by allergies to the Sage family of plants. A. No, Texas Ranger or Texas Sage is not part of the Sage family. Texas Ranger is also known as Leucophyllum fretescens. The following is from Wikipedia and it is a breakdown of its taxonomy. It is in the same Order, but not the same Family. I would guess that they do not have a close enough association to cause the same types of allergies but this is not a guarantee. Taxonomies are a human invention and plants may or may not follow these classifications regarding their physiology. This is a breakdown of the taxonomy of Texas Sage or Texas Ranger. Kingdom:        Plantae (unranked):     Angiosperms (unranked):     Eudicots (unranked):     Asterids Order:             Lamiales Family:           Scrophulariaceae Genus:             Leucophyllum Species:          L. frutescens Texas Sage on Wikipedia This is the herb called Sage known as Salvia officinalis. This is also from Wikipedia and a breakdown of its taxonomy. Kingdom:        Plantae (unranked):     Angiosperms (unranked):     Eudicots (unranked):     Asterids Order:             Lamiales Family:           Lamiaceae Genus:             Salvia Species:          S. officinalis The herb Sage on Wikipedia

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How Do I Keep Grubs Out Of Rose Bushes

Q. How do I keep grubs out of my rose bushes soil? I have used Bayer advanced complete insect killer for soil and turf. Active ingredients are Imidacloprid 0.15%   B-Cyfluthrin 0.05%   and other ingredients  99.80%. I don’t like using poisons as there are plenty of birds here. However, my roses end up with no roots and miniature leaves and blossoms as they try to survive. I ran out of wood mulch and have been using pinecones from the golf course as a temporary mulch. Could this be the problem? I don’t want to pull up the roses and toss them. They have been beautiful in the springs and falls of past. Every pinecone I turned over had 2 or 3 grubs under it, on top. Imagine what is down in the soil. Last year just one rosebush had them. I dug out all the soil and replaced it. I have used this product twice this year and still have a zillion gross grubs. Please help!!! A. Take a look at my blog, in particular this one posting http://xtremehorticulture.blogspot.com/2014/08/poor-growth-of-lantana-due-to-grubs.html Look at the first comment by a reader regarding grub control.  I knew about these beneficial nematodes but this person is reporting a significant reduction in them over time.

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Controlling Grubs Is a Big Topic

Q. I have just been told that I have “Grubs” here in Las Vegas, NV.  What do I do to get rid of them? Grubs from compost A. You have two approaches to controlling grubs; conventional pesticides or organic controls. The conventional pesticides are usually much more effective and fast in getting rid of the problem. Organic controls are slower to work and may not give you the same kind of control you can get with conventional pesticides. I would suggest purchasing a conventional insecticide in granular form and watering and in around the base of your plants. There are several products on the market that will give you good control. You can also use a liquid but you would applied as a drench, diluting it as the label recommends and pouring it around the base of the plant where the irrigation water is applied. You would lightly water both of these products into the soil. Do not over water or you can push the chemical beyond the depth where the grubs are feasting. Any of the conventional pesticides that are labeled for grub control will give you good control. Because these grubs are immature forms of flying insects, they may be back in future years and you will have to re-treat. Organic controls rely on other living organisms to give you some measure of control. There are three posts on my blog that refer to controlling grubs. The links should take you to these posts and you can read more about them if it fits your particular circumstances. Grubs in Container of Garden Soil Killing Plants Jul 21, 2012 Q. I have discovered over 200 huge grubs in a 15 x 24 inch container that is about 2 ft deep. I had filled this container with a bag of garden soil from a garden center and planted strawberry plants. Of course the plants all died, … Is Grub Guard Safe to Use in my Landscape?  May 18, 2014 Q. I ran across an item called Grub Guard in the catalog. It contains beneficial nematodes. Would these be the same kind of nematodes that attacked my tomatoes last year? A. These are entirely different nematodes. These are … Poor Growth of Lantana Due to Grubs – Xtremehorticulture of … Aug 14, 2014 These are the immature of one of the scarab beetles such as June beetles, metallic June beetles, dung beetles and rose chafers which we have here. Another one that attacks lawn grasses is the “white grub” or sometimes just …

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My Strawberries Produce Great Leaves. Now What?

Q. My Ozark Beauty and Ogallala strawberry plants produced a few berries when first planted and now they want to propagate. This growth is filling my raised bed to my satisfaction.  I clip them down, water and watch them grow! Please provide your most welcome and appreciated advice. A. You will want to give each individual plant its own space to grow. Space plants no closer than 1 foot apart and remove all of runners as you see them. You can plant them further apart and propagate your own plants from the runners but you still want them no closer than 1 foot apart. All the rest of the runners you want to remove from the plants or they will get overcrowded, shade themselves, give you very low production and make it difficult to harvest. Strawberries growing in Las Vegas in amended desert soil demonstrating good color and good health Strawberries growing in Las Vegas soil amended with compost but showing the beginnings of iron chlorosis The plants that you decide to keep and spaced far enough apart will last you about three years. These are the mother plants. So at the beginning of the third year begin to propagate new plants from the runners of the mother plant with the idea that these new plants will replace the mother plants at the end of the third year. You can keep these new plants in place by just pegging or securing the new plants in a spot by holding down the runner and baby plant in its new location. When new roots begin to form you can cut it from the mother plant at cool times of the year such as March or September. You can move them in the fall when they are young if they are not in the right place. There are three types of strawberries classified on the time of year they produce. Main crop strawberries produce a single crop of fruit and then turn their energies to the production of runners, roots and leaves. Strawberries with damage from the vine weevil In my opinion you run the highest risk of not producing fruit by using main crop strawberries in our climate. Everbearing strawberries like Ogallala and Ozark Beauty are supposed to produce all during the spring, summer and fall months but usually tend to produce their fruit mostly in the spring with a trickle the rest of the year. Then there are the day neutral varieties like Tri-Star which are supposed to produce more consistently all through the year but usually end up producing in the spring and fall when it is cooler. So expect to see fruit most likely in the spring months and some in the fall months. The rest of the time expect to see runners and leaves. Like most vegetables and fruit trees they need at least six hours of sunlight every day. They prefer morning and early afternoon sun. They like soils with lots of compost added to it. They like to be mulched with straw or pine shavings such as animal bedding or even shredded newspaper. Generally speaking strawberries stop producing fruit when temperatures are hot (85 to 90° F) so main crop strawberries, kind of like tomatoes, are hit and miss in our climate. We are better off with everbearing or day neutral types which you have. However, yours are older varieties, very hardy with well-established names but there are better varieties out there. We are very limited here in what is available for home gardens so nurseries usually stay with varieties with names that are recognized. Some people plant all three types to improve their chances of getting some fruit. Avoid fertilizing plants with nitrogen fertilizers in the early spring. Wait for them to finish producing fruit in the early summer and then fertilize them if they need it. You can tell if they need it by looking at the leaf color and size. Fertilizing them at the beginning of summer you will be pushing new growth at a time when they normally don’t produce any fruit. The biggest problems with strawberries is iron chlorosis or yellowing leaves, keeping the soil to moist and developing root rot, Strawberry weevils, snails, slugs, pillbugs or sow bug damage to the fruits. 

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Fertilizer Injectors Are Timesavers but Can Cause Problems

Q. We have a fertilizer tank attached to our watering system.  I’ve had it checked and it is working, as in past years.  However, this summer most of the plants in my perennial flower garden, yellow bells, and bougainvillea are green but few blooms.  Lantanas and purple rubella are blooming well. A. Fertilizer tanks attached to an irrigation system can be a big plus for the overall landscape quality. However there are some things you should realize about using fertilizer tanks and fertilizer injectors.  First of all plants receiving the most water, also received the most fertilizer. When we use fertilizer injectors it is best to have them inject fertilizer several minutes after the cycle begins and shut down several minutes before the cycle turns off. This gives a better fertilizer distribution to all of the plants on that circuit and cleans the irrigation lines out of any extra fertilizer.  Water containing fertilizer sitting in irrigation lines will frequently contribute to plugging because of algae and bacterial growth that occurs in lines that contain water laden with fertilizer. If you don’t have this luxury of flushing the lines with clean water, you can flush the lines yourself once a month with freshwater by turning off the injector for a few irrigations. You might want to consider not having the fertilizer tank on all of the time but using it periodically, perhaps once or twice a month, instead. Air release valve for drip irrigation using a ball to close the valve Air release valve for drip irrigation using a diaphragm to close the valve Typically, plants at the beginning of an irrigation line receive more than those at the end of an irrigation line. You can eliminate some of this problem by installing an air release valve somewhere along the irrigation line. This allows trapped air to exit the irrigation line and speeds the delivery of water and fertilizer along the line to all of the plants. Otherwise air can be pushed ahead of the water and slow the delivery of water and fertilizer along the length of the irrigation line. The type of fertilizer you are using may impact the plants as well. Try to use general purpose fertilizers with the ratio of 3-1-2 or 4-1-2 (nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium). We usually want to apply very low levels of phosphorus if we are feeding plants continually. Phosphorus can build up in the soil and become a problem if too much is applied. If particular plants require higher amounts of phosphorus than these plants can be sprayed on their foliage with a high phosphorus fertilizer or the fertilizer can be applied at their base and watered in. From the sound of your email, you may be applying too much nitrogen. I would tend to use your injector once or twice a month if it is on continuously now. Let me know how this works for you.

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