Just a warning for people who send me emails using centurylink.net….I had several of my return emails rejected by this provider. So if you sent me emails using an email address with centurylink.net after your user name and I never responded…well….maybe it got rejected. Please use a different email address when communicating with me. Thanks. Bob Morris aka ‘Extremehort’
Centurylink.net Problems in Emails Read More »
Q. I would like to plant an “evergreen” vine/screening plant along a chain link fence to block the neighbor’s yapping dogs (little dogs). Bay Laurel recently planted That area is quite shady, as there is a row of pine trees (25+ feet tall) 10′ in front of the fence. Currently the lowest limbs are about 7′ off the ground; I can prune them higher if need be. These trees were planted too close together, so they are “wimpy”… too crowded/too much shade. If the “screening plant” could be something edible (even edible flowers) that would be even better. I’m going to plant Goji berries farther down the fence line where there is full sun… I don’t think that they would do well in this area (about 60′ long). I live in Pahrump so the winters get below freezing… thanks for any suggestions that you may have! Bay Laurel Andrea Meckley, CH [email protected] April 4, 2014 Bay Laurel 24 inch box after one year I suggest a shrub called Bay Laurel (Laurus nobilis) column form over a vine for this situation. This hardy evergreen is low-maintenance and you can use the bay leaves in cooking. Don’t trim the width and when it grows to the limbs of the pine trees, top trim and it will bush out more. Not a fast grower. An alternative plant suggestion is Vinca Vine (Vinca minor) which is an aggressive, never get rid of vine that will accept the shade and can be weaved in the chain-link fence as it grows. So space plants depending on size of plant installed and patience level. Bay Laurel (Laurus nobilis): Description: Upright shrub or tree Mature size: 20 feet high x 20 feet wide Water use: medium water user-water as a tree Sun exposure preferred: Shade to full sun-North, east or west facing will all work Origin: Mediterranean Uses: Screen, shade, leaves for cooking Bay Laurel in standard tree form Flower color and season: Spring yellow clusters sometimes Evergreen
Bay Laurel Good Choice for Chain Link Privacy Read More »
Leafcutter bee damage to bottle tree. Q. My recently planted Carolina jasmine vine and rose bush are being shredded by cutter bees!! I’ve been told there is no insecticide to kill or deter them. Is this so? Both of these plants are adjacent to other plants but the others are not affected. I’m at wits end seeing perfect circles in the leaves! Also, why would you WANT cutter bees? A. Leafcutter bees can be pretty destructive to the appearance of many plants. They are pretty selective in the plants they choose. Other plants affected besides your Carolina jasmine and roses include bougainvillea, grape leaves, basil and other leafy herbs, photinia and ash leaves. Leafcutter bee damage to grape leaves. Part of the female leafcutter bee’s life cycle is to cut circles out of soft, thin, smooth leaves and use them to build nests for their young. The nests are constructed of individual cells, each with a ball of nectar, pollen and one egg. They build these nests in cracks and crevices and holes that vary from about 1/4 inch to 3/8 inch across and deep enough to construct individual cells for their young. They also build nests in the stems of some pithy ornamentals like roses. Leafcutter bee nesting box made from a solid block of wood with 3/8 holes drilled in it. Used to increase the population of leafcutter bees in a landscape. Putting soda straws in the holes and removing them in about March reduces the population of bees. A frequent recommendation among Rosarians is to seal pruning cuts in roses with Elmer’s glue, a safeguard against leafcutter bees nesting in rose canes. Leafcutter bees are important pollinators of commercial crops and were introduced into the United States from Europe. They have been used in Nevada for pollinating alfalfa primarily. The bee is slightly smaller than a honey bee and won’t sting unless highly provoked or injured. Because they are such prized pollinators of urban vegetable crops, I encourage people to live with the damage they create or drape affected plants with cheesecloth to keep them away. If you want to reduce their populations, another method to control damage, you can put out bee boxes, which are blocks of wood drilled with holes large enough to accommodate a portion of a soda straw. The females deposit their eggs inside the soda straws. You can dispose of the straws when they are full but before the young bees emerge. Using insecticides is highly discouraged and it doesn’t prevent the damage anyway.
Leafcutter Bee Perfect Circles Now Seen on Plants Read More »
Q. Over the past two days, my two Concord grape vines have been completely defoliated by a larva-like worm. It is yellow in color with black bands around the body and a wider blue band at each end of the body. Is the vine infected and needs to be removed or can the grape vines be saved? The damage is done, but is there a preventative action I should have taken? A. This is the grape leaf skeletonizer, a dark blue black moth that lays its eggs on the underside of grape leaves. They usually begin laying eggs around April and that’s when control measures need to begin. Grape leaf skeletonizer adult. A blue black moth. The egg hatches and out comes a larva, fitting your description. This worm or larva begins to skeletonize, or nearly defoliate the grape leaves leaving behind the veins of the leaf. Hence the name, grape leaf skeletonizer. Grape leaf skeletonizer larva or worm eating the surface of a grape leaf. This is not my picture but I can’t find who sent it to me so my apologies to whomever it was. Control is pretty simple and effective with organic pesticides containing Bt or Spinosad. Sprays should be applied in April prior to egg-laying or just after. If you follow my blog via my newsletter or my tweets on twitter, I announce when to make these applications like these ahead of time. Otherwise, just mark your next years’ calendar and make this application some time in the first two weeks of April, depending on the weather. Make sure you spray the undersides of the leaves, not just the tops. The spray will work now as long as the larvae, or the worms, present. It doesn’t work on the adult moths. Your grape vine will put on new leaves to replace the damaged one so just be patient.
Concord Grapes Ravaged by Skeletonizers Read More »
Q. It is my understanding that the ball growing in the middle of my Sago palm is part of its reproductive system. However, since I do not plan on pollinating the plant, how and when can I remove the growth? Also, can you tell from the images if it is male or female Sago? A. Sago palms come as male or female. The flower or inflorescence of the male is long and cone shaped while the female is flat and disc shaped. That should be easy to remember. Yours looks like a female. Female sago palm or cycad. Normally this inflorescence is not removed and you let it run its course. I am not sure why you would want to remove it anyway. It is a part of its natural appearance. Here is a nice little bulletin on it from Texas A&M on cycads or sago palm biology. http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/galveston/Gardening-Handbook/PDF-files/GH-051–male-&-female-sago-palm.pdf
No Reason to Remove Female Inflorescence from Sago Palm Read More »
Q. I have a large pine tree in my front yard. I trimmed this tree in the past and had buckets and buckets of sap coming from large limbs that were cut. I may need to prune heavily again this winter. But since I just completed relandscaping under it, I’m worried about all the sap that is going to fall on everything I just put down. I’ll never get off all the sap that will drip on everything!! Is there a way I might prevent or stop the sap from dripping such as pruning paint? Is there anything to save all my hard work from being completely being encapsulated in sap? A. Pruning paint might help in this case and may be worth a shot. Most people in the know no longer recommend pruning paints to cover wounds on trees. They just sanitize it and let it air dry. The reason for not recommending pruning paint is because research has found pruning paints to be primarily cosmetic and do not assist the tree in healing. Healing is best if the wound is left alone without the use of paints. Topworking an apple tree to a new variety using pruning sealer and nursery tape to seal in moisture until healing is underway. There is some research that supports the idea pruning paints may actually cause some harm to an open wound. But pruning paint will not kill a tree or severely weaken a tree. Compounds similar to pruning paints are still used in propagation of trees such as grafting and topworking. In this particular case I would go ahead and try it since the benefits will probably outweigh any negatives to the tree.
In This Case Pruning Paint Might Be the Right Choice Read More »
Q. This is the first year my seven year old Black Mission Fig is “behaving” strangely. The fruit came on, some even started to ripen, and now they are shriveling on the tree. The tree looks perfect and so do the leaves. I did read your article on figs but ours always seems to be treated the same, year in and out. A. All of the cases that I have seen of fig fruits drying out on the tree have been from a lack of water getting to the fruits. This can be from a lack of applied water, plugging drip emitters, damage to the tree trunk restricting water to the fruits, or an increase in tree size without the application of more water. Exactly what you don’t want to do is to mix and match high water use plants (fig) with low water use plants (cactus). Note the poor canopy development due to a lack of water. Watering for the fig will damage the cactus. Watering for the cactus resulted in this drought in the fig tree. The first response a fig tree has to inadequate amounts of water is for the fruits to shrivel. This typically leaves the rest of the tree unaffected. The leaves look the same; growth appears to be normal but usually with a smaller or open canopy. A fig tree receiving enough water will have a dense canopy. Oftentimes the canopy is so full you are unable to see through it. Fig fruits are full of water. The tree must receive adequate amounts of water and at the right time to produce fruit like this. Not enough water to a fig tree results in a more open canopy. It is common for fig trees receiving enough water to grow 6 or 7 feet in one season. My suspicion is inadequate water. Trees get bigger each year. You either have to add more emitters, increase the size of the emitters or add more minutes to the run time. I would focus on this rather than to water more frequently. As a test, try supplementing the water the tree gets by adding water with a hose once a week. Create a basin under the canopy, level, about five feet across and several inches deep. Fill this basin once a week. Also figs do much better if four inches of wood mulch is applied under the canopy in a circle around the trunk with a diameter of at least six feet.
Fig Fruits Drying Usually Lack of Water to the Tree Read More »
Q. I purchased a 5 in 1fruit tree from the recent orchard event. The two thickest grafted branches have vigorous foliage. The next smallest is marginal, with one foliage “bud” close to the main trunk, nothing distally. The two thinnest don’t look good — no foliage. Suggestions? A. I am not sure what is going on with your tree. I have heard of a couple of people having trouble but very few actually. I would wait a bit longer and see what happens. I am not a big fan of fruit trees that are multiple budded for the very reason you mentioned. Over time it is inevitable one or several of the varieties die off. I think they may have ordered multiple budded trees because of demand but, like I said, I am not a big fan of them. I prefer to use multiple trees planted in a single hole in these cases. I would send you here for more information on multiple trees in a hole. Some information from Dave Wilson Nursery. Go here!
5-in-1 Fruit Tree Growing Differently on Different Branches Read More »