Q. I have several bay leaf bushes but one appears to be dying.  What can I do, if anything, to nurse it back to health? A. Two things are going to be a problem for you, maybe three. First, judging from your picture, it is in rock mulch. This plant will not handle a rock mulch environment very well. If it is going to work for you in rock then it should be in an eastern exposure where the wall would be to its west. Picture will not insert properly in Blogspot. Bay Leaf of reader.             If your plant is in this environment then it might be getting hammered by being fully exposed to the southern sun as well. It will do much better with some protection from that hot, blazing sun in the summer. That is why you are seeing the leaves with brown tips and edges.             Secondly is the yellow color developing on the new leaves, leaves at the ends of the branches. Most likely this is a nutrient deficiency due to the poor nutrient capacity of that desert soil. Rock mulch adds nothing to a desert soil. It needs a more fertile soil and should not be planted like it is growing in the middle of a desert somewhere.             Thirdly, you might have trouble keeping it through the winters here. It is not terribly tolerant of real low winter temperatures. If it is in the open and can get hit by cold winter winds then it may freeze back yearly or every few years when we hit a good cold spell.             I would move it to a new location this fall, about mid-September to October. Move it somewhere where the sun won’t hammer it after noon or two PM. Heavily compost the soil when you plant it. Use organic mulch around it, not rock mulch. Put it somewhere the plant will be protected from freezing winter winds. Hope this helps.

Meyer Lemon with deficiency Q. We have went to the nursery a couple times about this tree. First we got the water cycle correct, then iron was suggested which we did as they directed then Gold Dust was suggested. Online I read possibly the tree suffers from a magnesium issue. I thought these photos would give a better picture. All we did as directed and the tree is not responding in fact it is getting worse. I am wondering if it is because of where it was planted which is a confined root growing area. Any insight would be appreciated. Meyer lemon another shot. A. By looking at the leaves I have to assume this is a Meyer Lemon (which is, by the way not technically a lemon but an unknown hybrid found in a Chinese back yard by USDA researcher D. Meyer in the early 20th century). Your pictures are all pretty good with the exception of not showing a critical view of the trunk where it is just out of the soil. Just for future reference always look at and show this interface of the trunk and soil. W/o that view I have to only guess that the rootstock/trunk union is well out of the soil and we can eliminate that issue. And, a shot of the soil might show how the plant is getting watered. I have to assume drippers and I would guess they are in the same locations as when the plant was planted. The leaves show two distinctive symptoms that often occur in concert: 1. There is some salt burn and 2. The common symptom that comes with salt issues is the magnesium deficiency. Just FYI Iron def. only occurs on the new leaves. For the salinity (salt) issue we usually look first at the watering and with watering comes knowing if the water can even be applied uniformly all around the edge of the canopy, sometimes called the ‘drip line’. Citrus are botanically a shrub with shallow and wide spreading roots that are tough to grow to maturity with drippers unless they are closely spaced in a wide band around the canopy’s edge. There is one picture showing the plant is right next to a step wall with no water being applied in that zone of the root system. I would not worry too much about adding any supplements and see if you can begin to manage a watering system of application that would give a long deep soaking water application out near the drip line. The ‘soaker’ hoses could be laid out on the ground out near the drip line and let it run for hours and hours to try and leach out the excess salts that may have accumulated over time with the drip system. Drip systems are fine but, due to their limited water output salts can begin to accumulate thus impacting citrus’ sensitivity to salts. Give it a long deep watering about once every few weeks from now on all during the growing season (May through October)  to supplement the regular water to leach out the salts that inevitably are deposited with the limited volume of drip systems . .This leaching watering is also the great time to add fertilizer and get it into the soil evenly all around the active roots near the drip line. Terry Mikel

Q. My husband found your site. We are facing the possibility of a move to Las Vegas. We have never lived in a desert climate. I am hoping to continue my love of gardening with vegetables, flowers, and a water garden like I have here in the San Francisco Bay Area. My biggest problems here have been raccoons, squirrels, aphids, and powdery mildew. Will any of those be things I will face in Vegas? What are the biggest pests/problems I should prepare for? (I’m praying you don’t say scorpions or fire ants!)             Also, my great love is dahlias. I have about 44 plants here, though ironically our summer was so cool that it was a poor year for us (our tomatoes were also a disappointment, and I sure hope that won’t be the case in LV). How well to dahlias fare in Vegas, and will they bloom at a different time of year? Should I consider putting them in double pots and not in the ground (we’ve talked about raised beds with high quality soil)? Someone told me that grasshoppers are so bad there that I will need to completely fence in the whole garden area with small mesh wire to block the bugs out, is this true? What are your thoughts?             I realize this letter contains a lot of questions… but any help you can give a life-long gardener or who very nervous she will have to give up all the plants she loves would be greatly appreciated A. Well Shannon… we do have bark scorpions but we don’t have very many fire ants. Those are pretty rare and relatively easy to control so far. So take a deep breath… it’s not so bad. The desert can be beautiful.             No raccoons in the Las Vegas area. No grey squirrels but we do have ground squirrels which some call chipmunks which they aren’t but they do look a little like Chip and Dale. They can be pesky.             We do have some aphids in the spring but they disappear when it gets hot. Powdery mildew is relatively rare compared to San Francisco. Dahlias will be tough for you in Las Vegas. We can produce some wonderful vegetables and fruits here and you will find them rivaling in quality to what you can find at the Farmers Markets in San Francisco. Ground squirrel             Now the bad news. This is the desert. Growing things here will be NOTHING like what you are familiar with. You will have to relearn your gardening skills and adapt them to the desert climate. Your new mantra will be compost, compost, compost. And everything will revolve around water.             Yes, you have a lot to learn but think of it as an adventure and your gardening skills will be tested here. No “throw a seed in the ground and watch it grow” here. Thats why I am here. Feel free to ask. By the way, the grasshopper story is totally far-fetched. You will need a shotgun. (Just kidding, it is not that bad ……… most years) 🙂 Maybe some others here can give you some pointers.