Xtremehorticulture

Xtremehorticulture of the Desert

Selecting Crabapples for the Desert

1 Comment / Crabapple selection for the desert /

Q. I am hoping to plant two semi -Dwarf Crabapple trees on the west side of my house. Could you please tell me which cultivars will do well here? I am looking for crabapples that are good for raw eating, jelly, and apple butter. I also need to know which are good for cross pollinating each other.  Also, does our local nursery stock these in the fall and spring for planting, or will I need to order them off line? A. I don’t like the idea of putting a crab apple in a Western exposure in our hot desert environment. You run a very big risk of sunburn on the limbs and borer infestations due to the sunburn. I have never done any trials with crabapple here so Information is limited. I did contact Tom Spellman at Dave Wilson Nursery in California and he confirmed that Dolgo has done well under desert conditions and the fruit has performed well under our conditions. It is an old variety with good fruit and is self-fruitful so you don’t need a pollinator.  dolgo crabapple from Dave Wilson nursery Dolgo crabapple is a good pollinator for crabs that need pollinators. I would start with this one. There are some crabs at Gilcrease but I don’t think they know the variety. It is very possible that some or all are Dolgo. Try to choose varieties that have fruit which mature during cooler times of the year for best flavor.

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Texas Sage Outgrowing Its Space after Two Years

Leave a Comment / Pruning Texas Ranger, texas ranger, Texas sage, Using hedge shears for pruning /

Q. We have three Texas Sage bushes that are about two years old and doing very well – so well in fact that they are outgrowing their area. I have seen these plants where they have been trimmed back and they look very good. Is it okay to do this without harming them, and if so, should I wait until they go dormant? A. Regarding your Texas Sage, there are varieties that are smaller than others. Perhaps it might have been better to select one of the Texas Sage which are smaller to begin with so you wouldn’t be faced with this so early in its life.  Texas Sage or Texas Ranger can be pruned with a hedge shears but really should only be sheared this way if they are intended to be in a hedge. If you intend to use a hedge shears on these plants expect them last about five years before they get really woody at the base and don’t have much foliage anymore.  Larger Texas sage pruned with a hedge shears This may not work for you if these plants are placed into a location where you need to keep them small. But the best way to pruned them is by removing two or three of the largest stems at the soil level. The idea is to continue to remove the oldest wood from the base of the plant every couple of years.  This keeps the plant juvenile and doesn’t interfere with its flowering. Hedge sharing is usually done when there has been new growth which results in removal of the flowers before you can enjoy them.

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Vinca Yellowing and Growth Is Stretching

Leave a Comment / leggy, stretching, vinca groundcover, Vinca lack of light, yellowing leaves of vinca /

Q. Our Vincas are in pots and have done very well all summer. We have noticed they are starting to be tall/ spindly, and the leaves are beginning to turn yellow. They have been watered three times per week with an auto irrigation system, supplemented occasionally with Miracle Grow from a watering can. Is it the end of the growing season for them, or is there cure? If you don’t know what Vinca looks like A. The usual problems with Vinca are soil related problems, not enough light and watering too often or the soil not draining well. Vinca likes to grow in a soil that is well amended down to a depth of about 8 to 12 inches, in full sun and fertilized with a high nitrogen fertilizer once a month. If they are in full sun then your soil is probably running out of organic amendment and you are losing pore spaces in the soil. The addition of compost to the soil at planting time down to a depth of at least 8 inches is necessary at the time of planting. If you don’t add enough compost to the soil, the soil spaces that are created by the compost and soil mix begin to collapse. As these pore spaces collapse, less aeration reaches the roots and water no longer drains through the soil like it used to. There is not much you can do about that now. It really has to be added at the time of planting. The soil will continue to collapse more and more and then you will start to see isolated plants die. Upon close examination these plans will have died from root disease or collar rot which is a rotting that occurs right at the soil surface. The other possibilities are lack of light reaching the plants and not fertilizing them on a regular monthly schedule. You have nothing to lose so try adding a complete fertilizer like Miracle Gro or Peters and see if they perk up. That will not, however, cure a problem if there is not enough sunlight.

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Community Garden Thanks First Choice Tree Service!

3 Comments / First Choice Tree Service, las vegas community garden, provident community garden, Ryans Tree Service /

A hearty thanks goes out to First Choice Tree Service and Ryans Tree Service. They helped out big time with the move of the Provident living community garden to a new location. Those guys successfully moved 24 re-enforced concrete planter beds weighing an estimated 7000 lbs each. Milan Weedman (certified Arborist) with first choice tre service was there to coordinate and supervise with the help of Jason from First Choice and Ryan Brooksby From Ryan’s tree service.  Provident Living Community Garden has a new home and a fabulous community garden! Give those guys some thanks! Pay a visit to Milan at his blog  http://milanweedman.wordpress.com/ 

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When are figs ready to pick?

Leave a Comment / how to pick figs, ripe figs, when to pick figs /

Q. We have a small fig tree, about two years old. It has figs in place, but we do not know how to determine when they are ripe for picking. A. The figs are ready when the neck on the fig starts to bend and the fruit “sags”. Here this white fig is ready and the neck is bent. The green ones are not and are straight. Once bent you must pick right away. Once they are ready you will pick nearly daily. They do not ripen off of the tree. They must be picked fully ripe.

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Understanding and Controlling the Leaffooted Plant Bug

2 Comments / biology, how to kill /

Q. What is the best attack for these pesty, scary looking creatures.  We had them last year.  Haven’t seen them yet this season.  Is there something to keep them away?  A. This first part I am explaining will be a bit late for you now but prevention should start during the winter months when they can be seen in the landscape as overwintering adults ready to lay eggs in the spring. I have seen adults on bottlebrush in home landscapes in southern Nevada and I am sure they are probably overwintering on a number of evergreen plants in winter months.  Leaffooted plant bug on nopal cacttus. Leaffooted plant bug on pomegranate. From: http://www.whatsthatbug.com/2009/02/25/mating-leaf-footed-bugs-3/ Eggs of leaf-footed bug. Photograph by Lacy Hyche, Auburn University. Nymph of the western leaffooted bug. Photograph by Henry Fadamiro, Auburn University. Since these insects can fly as adults they will move from plant to plant for sources of food. This means that they will come into your yard from neighbors as well all during the growing season. So just because you control them once during the season you will have them again as long as there is food in your yard for them to eat. What do we know about leaffooted plant bug? They like to feed on pomegranates, almonds, pistachios, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, squash, corn, peach, nectarine and I am sure some others. They are closely related to stinkbugs and squash bugs, feed and reproduce like them and can be confused with them because they look kind of similar. They overwinter from year to year in the landscapes. It takes about 50 or 60 days to produce adults from eggs laid in the spring. They feed with a long hypodermic needle-like mouth that is inserted into soft plant tissue like leaves and fruit. Their feeding early when fruit is developing can cause threads of sap to stick out of the fruit. Their feeding causes misshapen fruit or causes fruits or nuts to drop off of the tree. Their feeding can also cause diseases to enter the fruit. How to Control Them They are difficult to control because they hide unless they are swarming and reproducing near the fruit. Hard or conventional pesticides such as Sevin or synthetic pyrethrins are the most effective for rapid kill. These can be found as ingredients in some common vegetable or fruit sprays in nurseries or garden centers.  These same ingredients are used commercially where leaffooted plant bug is active. These types of chemicals leave behind a residual on plants that offer some protection for a number of days after they are applied. They also present some safety concerns for homeowners when used without caution in home landscapes so make sure you read the label thoroughly if you choose to go this route. Organic control is more difficult because these chemicals are short-lived and don’t leave behind much of a residual. You will not control this pest without more work on your part when using organic methods. That is the tradeoff when using organic methods. With conventional pesticides like Sevin a few passes during fruit set and development will give you some good control. Organic methods may require more inspection of the tree and fruit on your part and spraying more frequently.  Soap sprays like Safers insecticidal soap will give good control if the spray lands on the insects. It leaves no residual once sprayed. Oils like Neem have been reported to give good control. Other oils include horticultural oils and canola oil. Organic sprays like Bt will not work on this insect. Spinosad has not been reported to work on this insect either. Another possibility are pyrethrin sprays which may give you good knockdown when sprayed on them directly. A common mistake is to think that just because they organic sprays they will not hurt anything except the enemy insect. This is not true. Organic sprays will kill many different insects, good and bad. So directing the sprays at the enemy insects is important. It is also important to spray very early in the morning or near sundown. Spray when there is no wind and cover both the upper and lower sides of the leaves. Do not use one spray over and over. Use several sprays in rotation with each other so you do not end up with an explosion in the population of insects not controlled or building up insect immunity to the spray.

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Oleanders Will Grow in Containers

Leave a Comment / container, no flowers, oleander /

Q. I have two pink dwarf oleanders planted in 18 inch clay pots which have very healthy looking foliage but very few blossoms. One of my “expert” gardener friends says simply that “oleanders don’t like pots”. Another “expert” says that I’m watering too much. Are either of these guys right or do you have any suggestions that might get some me some blossoms? Dwarf oleander A. We have dwarf oleanders at the Research Center in containers and they bloom just fine. Thge dwarf oleander might be a better selection for containers. There might be a couple of things you could try. If the container is small you might have to water more often to compensate for the small soil volume. Plants in containers need to be repotted every two or three years. Very small containers, every year. Large containers might make it up to five years. Dwarf oleander pink flowers. Oleanders that are not getting enough water will look normal but have a very open canopy and not bloom well. Oleanders are high water users and love fertilizer. They do not like to be watered daily but will not do their best if the soil starts drying too much between waterings. You can try using a soil moisture meter sold for houseplants that you can buy from the nursery for about $7. Water when the dial is about half way between wet and dry, do not let it get totally dry. Next, use a fertilizer like Miracle Gro and water it into the soil about once every six to eight weeks. Cover the soil in the container with mulch to help keep the soil moist. About three inches would be enough. If oleanders are young, or if they are pruned with a hedge shears, flowers will be delayed or produce very few. Don’t prune with a hedge shears if possible. They should be pruned with pruning shears but not hedged or gimbaled.

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