Xtremehorticulture

Xtremehorticulture of the Desert

Which is Better? Miracle Gro or Compost?

2 Comments / benefits of compost, compost tea /

Q. Compost or Miracle Gro? Which is better? A. No question that good quality compost is usually the best choice. Problem is finding a good quality compost and using it appropriately. Good quality composts are expensive.             There are potential problems with compost. These include unwanted salts that can come with the compost, its potential problem with food safety issues like E. coli and other microorganisms that accompany the use of manures, the development of some insect problems such as fungus gnats and grubs and potential weed problems if the compost was not handled properly. Yellowish brown leachate (liquid) from the compost. A compost tea full of lots of stuff.             High quality agricultural fertilizers can be big help in our landscapes. They can be applied to the soil and usually to the foliage as well. They can supplement a good fertilizer program whether you use compost or not. I will talk more about this on my blog.   fecal matter safety compost –

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Trees Growing But Lacking Leaves and Not Full

Leave a Comment / not filling out, shade trees, thin canopy /

Crepe myrtle lacking leaves Q. I am one of your long-time readers and fans. I am attaching pictures of four different trees from our backyard in Queensridge (basically Summerlin) that seem to be challenged.  In each case, the tree is definitely alive, but simply lacks enough leaves – or so it seems to us.  All of the trees have received plenty of organic matter, fertilizer (possibly not enough, fish and iron chelate is what they get), water, and all are mulched in with organic mulch (compost under-layer and wood chips on top).  The backyard faces North and West and, as you can see, is quite open as it is surrounded by a golf course.  Why are there so many naked branches, weak-looking leaves, and not enough leaves?  Thank you for your help.  A. Thank you for the great pictures and breaking them into two emails. That helped quite a bit. Here are some comments on what I saw. First general comments. The plants are actually doing quite well, maybe even a bit too well. There is plenty of new growth which is what you want but because they are so “happy” they are growing very quickly and thus you are getting big spaces between leaves and buds. This results in an “open” appearance. Persimmon tree with open appearance Many of your plants, now that they are getting lots of nutrients, water and in a great growing condition are now growing as fast as they can. This will result in larger plants that will start to flower or fruit further and further from the ground as they get closer to their mature size. Plants do this naturally because in nature they are always competing for sunlight and other resources that keep them alive. How do slow them down? We focus on two things: reduce those “goodies” they are getting that encourage a lot of growth (water, fertilizer) and (this next part is harder to realize a bit) get the plant to reduce its own growth in each of its growing branches by increasing the total number of branches it has to support. This then causes the “goodies” that encourages growth to be divided up among many more growing points and slows it down. It’s like having an income of $50,000 a year and having to support three children or 20 children; your resources are divided up many more times  so each “child” gets less. Generally speaking, reduce “goodies” by reducing your watering frequency (how many times you water per week if possible) and cut your fertilizer application in half (but not to the point where it is starving or gets leaf scorch) and (increase your children) prune. The type of pruning you will mostly do this winter will be what I call “heading cuts” rather “thinning cuts”. Heading cuts increase the total number of shoots in a tree while thinning cuts typically do not. If you want to see the difference, please visit my Youtube video on this subject http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKDSzCfvqe0 Now your individual trees, you must decide what you want for the ultimate height on these trees. If you want them to be large (such as flowering trees for beauty, shade or screening) then let them go and don’t do much pruning. If you want trees to be smaller and more compact (fruiting and harvest for instance) then you will cut them back pretty hard and take away from them their luxurious growth. You will prune these trees twice each year; once in the winter and again (taking away new fast luxurious growth) in April (summer pruning). Magnolia with open canopy. Crepe myrtle. I would assume you want a larger tree, perhaps with multiple trunks (3 to 5) coming from the ground. Don’t reduce the height. Let it go. Pruning will focus on removing dead, twiggy growth (it has lots of these due to flowering) and use thinning cuts to eliminate branches growing too close together, one branch growing on top of another, branches crossing each other, etc.).You can reduce the height by making thinning cuts and removing the tallest limbs and branches back to a “crotch”. I would not do much of this until it gets closer to the height you want it to get. You will fertilize in January with an all-purpose soil applied fertilizer such as 16-16-16 or even a rose fertilizer. You will see benefits from adding iron chelate to the soil in January and foliar applied fertilizers such as Miracle Gro about two or three weeks after the leaves emerge in the spring. Magnolia. This is another tree you could elect to let it grow. Having a multiple trunked tree will help to keep it smaller. You realize that this tree is not a terribly good choice for our climate so you will spend more effort and money on this tree than many others. It will need the mulch which you are doing. This will give it some soil improvement near the soil surface as it decomposes. It will require a fertilizer application in January to push new, healthy growth. It will also benefit from an iron chelate. It will not most likely need a foliar fertilizer but it will not hurt it if you chose to apply it in February or March. Your choice but it might do better if it is kept smaller than the mature height it will try to reach. Perhaps if you can keep it in the 25 to 30 ft. range it will be easier to keep healthy. Perhaps saucer or star magnolia might work better in the future. Not as pretty but still pretty. There is a southern magnolia called Little Gem that is smaller. Persimmon. Cut this tree back hard if you want your fruit closer to the ground. Your tree is too lanky. Cut back into older wood about half way in where it is too long in late January or early February. Don’t be afraid to do this. It will handle the hard cuts. Fruit

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Young Apricot Leaves Drying Up and Liquid Oozing

Leave a Comment / damage, dogleg, rootstock, sap oozing, scion, young tree leaves drying /

Q. I planted a Blenheim Apricot in March.   At first it did not seem to take but within four weeks it began showing growth whereas all the other fruit trees took almost immediately.  Its been doing fine until just recently when I noticed some of the leaves on the main truck were drying up.   I check the moister level regularly.   Looking closer at the graft there seems to be some liquid oozing out.   Enclosed are some photos of the liquid, drying leaves, and tips of higher leaves.   Any thoughts on what I’m up against.   Rootstock is Citation Hybrid if that helps. All my other fruit trees planted in the same general area are doing just great. Iron chlorosis, inter veinal chlorosis, or yellowing between the veins typical of new growth when iron chlorosis is present A. Some great shots and I would like to post them on my blog. Your photos tell a nice story I dont get to tell very often. But first lets look at the obvious and the is the discoloration of the leaves. The yellowing between the veins is called “interveinal chlorosis”. Chlorosis just means “yellowing” so it is yellowing between the veins. The most common reason for this in our alkaline soils is nutritional and frequently it is a lack of iron. Other nutrient deficiences that can cause similar types of chlorosis can include manganese and zinc deficiencies. I would guess this is an iron problem. The picture of the sap at the place where the rootstock (in this case Citation) meets what we call the scion (in this case yours is Blenheim apricot) we see some damage. It is very close to the bud union or dogleg (where the two meet). Bud union or dogleg. Where the Blenheim apricot was budded or “grafted” on to Citation rootstock and sap The damage may have started at the time of planting and is most likely from sun damage or sunburn. This area should have been painted with whitewash or any diluted white latex paint. Dilute 1:1 with water. Or you can put anything in front of that area that would give it some shade until the tree puts on some canopy and shades itself. You can use wooden shingles, cardboard, anything to cast a shade on the trunk. Usually, if the trunk gets sunburn then it is highly likely it will also draw borers to the damage and you will get borer damage there. It is very likely this is what you are seeing. YOu can find out easily by bending the canopy of the tree over. If the trunk breaks, it will break at the borer damage and you will most likely see them there. If it does not break when you bend it, it may just be sunburn. If the sunburn is not extensive, it is posssible it could heal itself but rather unlikely. You may have lost the tree. Interestingly, this dunburn and damage at the dogleg can also lead to the chlorosis or yellowing of the leaves as well. The sunburn damage can interrupt the flow of nutrients including iron up the tree and the interruption may be enough to limit the supply of available iron and lead toward iron chlorosis. However, some iron chelate sprays on the leaves a few times, along with a teaspoon of Ivory liquid per gallon of spray, may be enough to green the leaves up. I would guess 4 to 6 applications made in the wee hours of the morning when it is cool. Next time whitewash the trunk at the time of planting or provide some shade on the trunk until the canopy gives enough shade to protect itself.

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Snake Squash Growing in Mesquite Tree Not Fruiting

1 Comment / not flowering, not setting fruit, snake gourd /

Q. This is the second year I planted Snake squash. As you can see by the attached picture they are very healthy and happy growing up my Mesquite tree. Last year I tried growing them in my garden and had the same problem, beautiful plants and no fruit. The blossoms appear, open then shrivel and fall off. What am I doing wrong? A. I think you are always going to have problems with any plant that produces vegetables from flowers when it is growing in such low light levels with so much shade. Vegetables that you grow for their leaves do not require very high levels of light but vegetables grown for something they produce from their flowers usually requires much higher light levels. If flowers do appear, try to discern the difference between male and female flowers. Like most squash, male flowers come first followed by female flowers. The female flowers need to be pollinated either by hand or by insects. If bees are few and far between then this may be a problem. Also they have a tough time setting fruit at high temperatures. All or any of these might be a problem for your plant. I would recommend that if you want a vegetable that you consider enriching the soil and try to orient the plant so it gets a minimum of six hours of full sunlight. The of course  you want to fertilize it so that it can handle this type of production.

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Leaves Burning Up on Cherry Tomato Plant in Container

Leave a Comment / tomato plant in container /

This is not the readers tomato plant. These are some leaf spots on tomato that were never identified but probably diseased. Make sure your leaf scorch is not a disease problem. Q. Hi, I just read your gardening article in the Summerlin South View paper and thought I would take a shot at sending you an email with some concerns I have with my tomato plants. I moved down here a year ago from MN and was an avid gardener up there.  Down here?  It’s a different story.  I have cherry tomato plants on my patio.  Not always in direct sunlight, but I water every day.  They seem like the leaves are burning up on the plants and the fruit has tapered off.  Any suggestions or ideas?  If you aren’t able to answer this, can you point me int he right direction please?  A. I dont know how you prepared your soil for the container but that is important. So make sure it is a good quality soil if you prepare it yourself or buy it in bags. Tomato production tapers off when temperatures consistently stay above 95F. Tomatoes and many other vegetables do not set very well under high temperatures. As temperatures drop, they will begin to set again.Vegetables that set fruit will need at least 6 hours of strong sunlight every day.   Morning sun is preferable to afternoon sun because usually afternoon sun also means a hotter microclimate. Direct sun on containers can fry a soil, particularly if the container is small, single-layered, dry when it gets the direct sunlight and dark colored. I would double pot containers (one container inside another) to help reduce direct sunlight on the growing container. Put the plants in direct sunlight in the morning hours, make sure you use a good soil each time you plant and modify it with good compost.

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Cukes Yellowing and Deformed and Beans Not Producing

Leave a Comment / beans not producing, cucumbers no fruit, timing of vegetable planting /

Royalty Purple Pod Bush bean growing at The Orchard Q. I am a fan and follow your column religiously. I have planted a garden for the first time this year. Out of three tomato plants two gave a good yield, the other had blossoms but nothing. The cucumber plants are growing like crazy, and have a bumper crop of cukes, but now they are turning yellow, and some are deformed. The leaves are turning yellow, and there are hundreds of these tiny little flies all over. I have sprayed with water but they come right back. The string beans have tons of blooms, but no beans, even though the vines are growing like crazy. My dill didn’t make it. I have some sorrel, and the basil did well. My strawberries gave three or four little berries, and that was about all. Dragon Tongue bush bean growing at The Orchard. Very susceptible to crown rot by the way.             I need and would like to take some classes, if I could find the time, but my husband has dementia, so I am kept quite busy. If you could shed a little light on my problem I would appreciate it. Do you think I should tear it all out, and start to get ready for Fall planting? A. I am sending you a copy of Sylvan Witwer’s vegetable production book. He was retired from Michigan State University and was a celebrated horticulturist and vegetable scientist living in Overton, NV, after retirement. He has since moved to Utah. I would read through this and follow his planting guide for time of year for planting things. It is pretty hot right now for alot of things to set fruit. Many have trouble setting fruit when tempertures top 95 to 100F. Your beans are out of season now. Start ripping out the things that are not producing or producing pooly. Reamend those spots with compost, a GOOD compost. Good composts are expensive. Use a preplant fertilizer at the time of planting  high in phosphorus and mixed with the composted soil where you plant. If you are organic, use bone meal or equivalent high in phosphorus. Variety selection is important. Record which varieties worked for you and which did not. If you plant at the right time, your beans and cucumber production should be better. Crooked cucumbers. Generally, misshapen fruit are the result of stress or poor pollination. Poor pollination (cukes require about 8 to 10 visits by a bee) result in crooked cucumbers. However, fruit shaped like a lady’s figure may be the result of drought during its development or not enough visits by bees. As temperatures get hotter, bees are less efficient as pollinators. They spend alot of their time and energy trying to cool down their hives or homes. We have to rely more on our native pollinators like the leafcutter bee.   So poor pollinations can cause crooked, misshapen and yellow cukes to form. As temperatures drop and if you keep your plants alive and healthy, you should see your production pick up again. However, replanting cukes from seed will also work and then you get the advantage of having younger, more prolific plants. As far as your “flies” are concerned, I am not sure what they are or if they are causing problems but if you feel they are then usually frequent applications of insecticidal soap like Safers can reduce pest problems if sprayed directly ON the insects. This means spraying UNDER the leaves as well as on top of the plants. Never spray plants when they are in bloom unless it is at dusk or a few minutes after sunrise.

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Asparagus Crowns Not Covered Deeply. Bury them now?

Leave a Comment / Uncategorized /

Asparagus started in a trench from seed and on drip irrigation at The Orchard Q. I planted asparagus crowns in March at at depth of 12 inches. They are in a pit and my plan was to cover the shoots with soil, an inch at a time, as they grew. Well, they grew rather sporadically so I didn’t want to inadvertently bury a new shoot…so I never backfilled the pit to the level of the surrounding soil. Currently, I have about five shoots (out of 12 crowns) that have ferned. The crowns are about two inches underground and about 10 inches below the level of the surrounding soil. Is it OK to backfill the remaining 10 inches at this point? Or would that damage the plants? On the watering, there’s no set schedule. Just keep the ground moist, but not too damp, at a certain soil depth, correct? A. I would slowly add the soil over time up to the correct level. The problem you have now is that the crowns have adjusted to this soil level and I would be worried that completely covering the crowns might damage what you have already. When you begin to backfill, mix in plenty of compost with the soil you are using for backfill. Asparagus started from seed and the trench is all filled in. The asparagus spears are not harvested the first year from seed. Spears are allowed to grow and fern out to help get the crowns established. Dont just use desert soil. Make sure the soil is loose and can drain easily. Remove any large rocks so that these rocks do not cause the spears to emerge damaged or interfere with their emergence. Part of the sporadic emergence, I would guess, would have been your watering or how the soil drained. Asparagus loves to grow along streambanks or irrigation canals. It is an oasis plant so to speak and loves the same environment as palms, grapes, figs and even pomegranates. I hope this helps.

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Prune Out All Dead Areas of a Bottlebrush?

Leave a Comment / bottle brush, pruning /

Q. I have a Bottlebrush shrub with a dead area. My question-What would be the best course of action to improve the condition of this shrub, pruning out all dead areas, then cutting it back? Bottlebrush A.  On your bottle brush I would guess this is either lemon or Scarlet bottlebrush. Depending on the bottlebrush it can get anywhere from 15 to 25 feet tall. You can train it as a large shrub if you want or small tree. This is an Australian plant that is not really considered a desert plant. However, they are typically fairly drought tolerant which just means they can survive periods of time with little water and recover when water is reapplied to them in sufficient quantities. They don’t particularly like desert soils and have a tough time in our alkaline soil environment. For this reason they tend to go yellow which is chlorosis most likely from a lack of available iron. They also would rather be growing in soils heavily amended in organic material such as compost at the time of planting. They will also grow better in a wood mulch, not rock mulch. To correct iron deficiency apply an iron chelate to the soil in early spring or late winter. You can do it now and still get some response from it. The best iron chelate for the job is iron EDDHA (check the ingredients label on the label). You can spray the foliage with an iron solution several times and get a similar result but the soil application is much more ineffective and efficient. Another bottlebrush showing extreme chlorosis in rock mulch You will have to do this every year particularly if you continue to grow it in bare soil or rock mulch. This plant should be fertilized in January with an all-purpose fertilizer for trees and shrubs as well. You should make a determination about whether you want it to be a shrub or tree. I like them better as small trees. If you decide to keep it is a tree then prune at the soil level so that you have 3 to 5 major trunks originating from the soil surface. Remove everything else and keep that area under the tree free from new suckers. Remove any broken or crossed limbs. After you have fertilized this tree with an all-purpose fertilizer and iron for the next two years, then begin to work on developing the architecture of the trees canopy.

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Early Mid and Late Peaches for Season Long Production

1 Comment / fruit tree selection, peaches /

Q. I live in the Mesquite area (1800 ft elevation) and was looking to plant 3 differant varieties of peach’s that would not ripen all at the same time. Would also appreciate some advice on when to plant them and where I might obtain them should you recommend bare roots.  The eye-popping visual of Indian Free peach. Flavor is incredible as well when it is grown in the desert. A. It is hard to predict which peach trees will be available for you to purchase to help you plan. I can make recommendations but these trees may or may not be available. Off of the top of my head, I would probably pick a yellow peach, a white peach for sure. Something like May Pride, Babcock and Indian Free. If you look at my downloadable recommended variety list it will tell you which are early, mid and late peaches. http://xtremehorticulture.blogspot.com/2011/10/recommended-fruit-trees-for-southern.html You can also look at varieties posted on Dave Wilson Nursery at http://www.davewilson.com/br40/br40_trees/peaches.html

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The End of Ramazan. How Did I Do?

2 Comments / Uncategorized /

Children’s kite landed on our roof. Just like in Kabul they children fly kites here on windy days. Ramazan, or Ramadan in Arabic, is over. Today, Sunday August 19 is the official end of Ramazan and the beginning of a celebration called Eid. Some Afghan friends estimate that about 80% of the population in the cities probably fasted during Ramadan. In the rural areas it was closer to 100% excluding children, the elderly and the sick. Also women who menstruate are also excluded for three days during that period of the month. I have to admit it was tough when those temperatures hit 110F and above. Ramazan moves around on the calendar so it is not always during the peak summer months. I have to admit it was much easier when the day time temperatures were closer to 100F which fortunately was fairly often which was unusual here. Afghan local tomatoes. Yes, they are as good as they look.  How did I do? I came to a crisis point. One Afghan woman asked me in a rather impatient tone why I was fasting. She actually seemed like she was offended. I told her that I wanted to find out what my staff was going through. How could I know what I could ask them to do or not to do if I did not understand their situation. Her gaze softened. Her face turned to one of shock almost. She had  never considered this as a reason why someone might do this. Once she understood my motives she became a good friend but she was distant until she understood the Why. This also caused me to think through my reasoning and the fasting restrictions I had put on myself. If I wanted to understand what they were going through, couldn’t I just do it for a couple of days, understand the hardship, and break the fast for myself? I could. Would I understand the long term effects that fasting for a month had on my staff? Probably not . But certainly there was no reason for me to wait for the Mull Local higher end retail market. The low end is at thebazaar. ah to give his prayer some time around 7 pm to break my fast. I was not Muslim and I didn’t need to live by this conduct. So I would break my fast after they went home for the day and I was alone…usually around 6 pm. Did I need to get up at 230 am and eat and drink so I could start fasting when the Mullah gave his prayer at around 430 am? No. So when I got up at 5 am i belted down my cup of java and then began my fast. Water and food. The time of Eid is a time when family and friendships are renewed. The first day family visited each other. Food, massive amounts of good food they could or could not afford, was laid on the table. Candies, fruits, vegetables, meat,… it was all there. The second day close friends would visit other close friends. And the third day everyone joined in. It is a special time for children. Almost like our Halloween without costumes, children visiting and given candy and goodies at each of the houses. I have been invited to two homes so far on tomorrow. I feel honored. It is the second day of Eid. I have close friends. I feel blessed.

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