Q. I have voracious pill bugs eating my tomato plants (starting at the stalk at ground level).  These are the bugs that resemble armadillos and can roll themselves into a ball.  Is there anything I can do to protect the plants or get rid of the bugs? Pillbugs. Thanks Texas A and M University! A. If they roll into a ball then they are considered pillbugs. The pillbugs or sowbugs, even though they do help in the decomposition of dead plants into organic matter, will damage soft fruit and other soft plants. Particularly if there are large numbers. They like to congregate under boards, cardboard, rocks and other flat surfaces that stay moist and have plenty of air. Sometimes you can lay out boards or cardboard and let them congregate under the surfaces and then scoop them up and get rid of them. You can also put out semi rotten tomatoes or other vegetables which will act like magnets and attract these varmints. Then you can scoop up these rotting fruits and vegetables along with the pillbugs and dispose of them. That won’t get rid of them but it will take the numbers down. You can protect the plants with cardboard collars such as the inside tubes in toilet tissue, spray the soil surface around young plants with pyrethrum or dust with diatomaceous earth.

To protect vegetable and herb plants from chewing insects you should be spreading with an insecticidal soap every 3 to 4 days. Insecticidal soaps can be purchased or made at home using 2 ½ tablespoons of a liquid detergent such as unscented Ivory liquid, Amway or Dr. Bronners in a gallon of water. However, insecticidal soaps are expressly manufactured for this purpose and are preferred. Insecticidal Soap Don’t use liquid detergents with additives such as scents or hand conditioners. This spray must come in contact with the insects. Make sure you spray on the undersides of the leaves and stems where most of the insects party. Any residue left behind does not do very much. Spray when bees are not present and don’t spray plants that are in bloom unless it is at sunrise or sunset since it is also lethal to bees. Dr Bronners Peppermint Soap

Mulch Applied to New Fruit Trees With Growth Difference In One Season If you planted fruit trees this spring please apply 3 to 4 inches of course wood mulch, not bark mulch, around the trees a distance of 3 to 4 feet from the trunk. You must keep the wood mulch away from the trunk but distance of 6 inches so the trunk does not rot at the base. After the tree is 3 to 4 years old and the trunk is mature with bark you cannot allow the wood mulch to lie against it. After these very high winds you can see the wisdom in securely staking newly planted trees in our climate. Stakes should be removed if possible after the first, full growing season. These young fruit trees need to be protected from our high intensity, desert sunlight for the first few years of growth. I would not recommend a protective wrapping around the trunk as this can actually create higher temperatures than just leaving it uncovered. You can use flat boards if you choose on the west or south sides of the trunk but it may be easier to paint the tree trunk and lower limbs with dilute, white latex paint. Diluted White Latex Paint Applied to Peach Tree to Help Prevent Sunburn in Hot Desert Climates Make sure the paint is latex and make sure it is diluted to at least a 50/50 mixture with water. You can use more water than this as long as painting the tree results in a much lighter surface that will reflect sunlight and help to keep the surface of the plant cooler than unprotected surfaces. Paint all surfaces of the young tree which would be exposed to direct sunlight. Most importantly paint the south, west and northwest sides of the trunk as well as the upper surfaces of major limbs or scaffolds. Reducing the sunburning of juvenile woody plants will help to minimize attacks by boring insects.

Asparagus Ferns – Asparagus Uncut The asparagus harvest season is almost over and you should begin to not cut anymore spears and allow your spears of asparagus to grow and feather out as soon as it gets hot.  It is important to feed your asparagus as it ferns out to help it rebuild its crowns for next season’s crop.  You should add a high phosphorus fertilizer of your choice along with compost or light monthly applications of a high grade of fertilizer.

Peach twig borers are flying now and some are getting into early maturing peaches, nectarines and apricots. These small, brown flying months cause some slight damage to new growth in these trees and cause wormy fruit.  Damage to New Growth of Peach Due to Peach Twig Borer They usually enter the stem end of the fruit where you can see some frass or light brown grounds left behind by the larva or worm. Peach Twig Borer Frass Near Stem End on Apricot  These can be easily controlled with sprays of either spinosad or Bt, both of which are organic sprays. Follow label directions and apply regularly. Add a surfactant such as a spreader/sticker or small amount of unscented liquid detergent. Spray the entire tree, particularly the fruit.  Peach Twig Borer Larva Causing Wormy Peaches   Spinosad by Ferti-Loam  Spinosad by Monterey

The past few days have been unusually windy.  In fact, this entire spring has been a windier year than normal.  The saving grace is that it is unusually cool for this time of year.  Normally I would be irrigating immediately following strong winds such as we had.  If the plants were on drip irrigation I might even be irrigating during the heavy winds. There are four factors which are the primary driving forces behind the use of water by plants.  The two which are most responsible are wind and bright, continuous light or light intensity.  The other two, temperature and humidity, are also important and increasing temperature nearly always accompanies increasing light intensity.  Bright days nearly always indicate warmer days regardless of whether it is winter or summer. Why is this important to know?  Daily changes in the weather are what I use to fine tune my irrigations from week to week.  For example if my normal days to irrigate in May are on Tuesdays and Saturdays and my plants just went through some horrendous winds on Saturday and Sunday I might irrigate the day after the heavy winds.  So instead of waiting until Tuesday I might elect to irrigate one day earlier (or even during windy weather if everything is being drip irrigated).  Late next month in June is a time normally when temperatures start approaching or exceeding 110° F.  As we begin to break 110° F on a regular basis, I will consider adjusting our irrigations of deep rooted plants like trees and shrubs to three times a week instead of two.  However, if weather stays relatively cool I might keep irrigations to twice a week unless there are strong winds which will substantially increase the use of water by plants.  High temperatures and gusty winds always drives water use up and should make you consider running an early irrigation cycle if you are permitted.

Fruit Tree Recommendations for Southern Nevada –

Q. We have nine, 12-yr old butterfly irises is 3 groups of 3 that have outgrown their locations. They have grown/spread from their centers to become about 2 ft. in diameter and now only develop little new growth at their perimeters. I’ve attempted to prune them back by removing their dead center growth hoping that they will regrow from the center but to no avail. I’d like to replace them with some colorful, attractive ornamental grasses that do not grow taller than 3 ft. and don’t spread like the irises. A. I would keep the butterfly iris and just dig them this fall, divide them and replant them. Sometimes called Spuria or Spuria iris, these are some of the best iris for our desert climate and can be quite showy if managed properly. They must be divided regularly. Some of the spurias originate out of Persia and Afghanistan. Many of these varieties like the high temperatures and dry humidities of the desert but not our infertile soils. They will perform best if they get some relief from late afternoon sun but should be in full sun most of the day. They do not like rock mulch at all and should never be planted in rock mulch. Always use wood chips (not bark) mulch of two to three inches as a surface mulch to enrich the soil and keep it moist. They must be dug every three to four years and divided to perform well. And they must be fed regularly as they are heavy feeders during the growing months. This can be done by applying regular fertilizers regularly or using slow release types less often. Fertilize during the bloom period with formulations of Osmocote, Peters or Miracle Gro for flowers. Divide them with a sharp, sterile knife, cutting the rhizomes at a bud and allowing the rhizomes to heal for a couple of days. Or you can dust them with a fungicide after they are cut. Throw out any rhizomes that do not appear healthy or robust looking. Plant these divided rhizomes about two to three feet apart for solid stands in the future. Since these iris (depending on the variety) can range in height up to four feet it is best if they are used toward the back of the planting area. When planting or replanting the soil should be reworked with about half compost by volume and add treble super phosphate to the planting mix if you want good bloomers.

Slug Q. I have learned about slugs two years ago and thought I won the battle. I notice my marigold plants are withering. Went out at night with flashlight and YES!!! Found some big fat ones. The next day lifted a decorative plaque which is on the ground and I got the whole army and their children. Horrible. So I am squishing again and putting the snail dry stuff I got from store. I read about beer and wonder if I should do that. Any suggestions? A. Stale beer works great as a slug bait. Put out a bowl of day old beer in the garden, sinking it slightly so they can get entrance and they die a happy death. Cover it with some cardboard to give them a place to party. You must clean out the former partiers and replenish the keggers frequently.

Q. Could you tell me where I could find irrigation instructions in gallons rather than hours and minutes? I am having difficulty in calculating how much to irrigate larger established plants and trees.  PET Table for Las Vegas; Months Correspond to 1=January and 12=December, Inches of Water Per Day  A. No one puts it in gallons because there are too many different manufacturers and rates of deliveries of different irrigation emitters and sprinklers. These can vary from 1/4 gallon per hour (1 liter) to five gallons per hour. Then there are the types that are variable and can be twisted open to give you more or fewer gallons per hour. You have to figure make the conversion and convert it yourself. It is not terribly hard to do, particularly in drip irrigation. Each emitter is labeled or color coded to the gallons per hour that they emit.  Drip Emitters Color Coded to How Many Gallons Per Hour They Emit The hardest emitters to figure out are the types that can be adjusted to different amounts of water. Many of these are adjustable between 0 (shut off) to 10 gallons per hour. It seems simple. You just twist the emitter open and it delivers more gallons per hour. But in actuality it begins to defeat the purpose of drip emitters: precision. Also many of these variable flow emitters are not pressure compensated. If it is not pressure compensated, then opening one emitter and allowing more gallons to flow can affect the number of gallons on all the other non pressure compensated emitters on the same line. This can mean you have to twist open or twist close each emitter along the same line perhaps multiple times to get the flow that seems to be appropriate. Not only that but these variable output emitters frequently emit so much water so quickly at the higher settings that it results in water puddling and running off to low spots. This is exactly contrary to the reason we should use drip emitters.  Drip Emitters are Precision Applicators of Water  With many different types and sizes of plants along the same line the next difficulty for most people is to figure out what size (gallons per hour) to match up with each plant along the line. So this is how I do that. The first thing I do with an emitter line attached to a single valve is determine how many hours or minutes the valve will be left open for watering. Frequently for drip irrigation the shortest time is one hour. “Yikes” you might say because most people want to irrigate fifteen or twenty minutes. The problem with these short irrigation times is that it may force you to use the variable output emitters. Or it results in water applied so rapidly it does not penetrate the ground and instead runs and puddles somewhere else. Start with a minimum of one hour. In some cases you might water for two or three hours on a single line. What difference does it make? You are not standing there with a hose and it can take all night if you want it to. There is no problem watering at night with drip irrigation. Let it soak long, slowly and deeply. Try to use at least two emitters per plant in case one plugs. Distribute the emitters under the plant canopy, one foot from the plant with distribution tubing and secure them in place with rock mulch or stakes to hold them in place. Emitters should be above the mulch so you can check them for plugging. Plants that are spaced closely together can and will get water from each other.