Xtremehorticulture

Xtremehorticulture of the Desert

Trumpet Vine Adds Color to Desert Landscapes

1 Comment / desert, Does trumpet vine grow in Las Vegas, Mojave Desert, why is my trumpet vine not growing. /

Trumpet vine is commonly used in much colder, arid climates. It is not a true desert plant but can tolerate arid environments and poor soils. It does really appreciate amended soils, wood mulch and regular irrigations. Fertilize once a year in February with a fertilizer that promotes flowering of woody plants. It is a climber and under the right conditions can be extremely aggressive. Restrain with pruning the longest and most aggressive. Usual complaints are that the vine grows slowly or poorly. Make sure it receives enough water and mulch the base with wood chips. It may not do well in extremely hot microclimates. Trumpet vine over a wall in Las Vegas

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What Lawn Grasses Can You Grow in Las Vegas?

Leave a Comment / desert, Las Vegas, Selecting a lawn grass, selecting turfgrass, starting a new lawn, which grass is best /

Here is a chart of turfgrasses that can be grown in southern Nevada at the lower elevations. Not all of them will be available locally but many can be ordered over the Internet. Hopefully this will give you a basis for comparison when selecting a lawn grass. If you have any further questions on selecting a lawn grass for our area, send me an email at [email protected] For instance, be very careful if you are selecting Buffalograss.

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Lantana and Yellow Bells Should Not Be Dead from Winter Cold

Leave a Comment / cold damage, desert, freezing damage, lantana camara, Las Vegas, Tecoma stans /

Q. I have had Tecoma stans, Yellow bells, in the backyard as well as lantana for the past 3 or 4 summers. They do well but never winter over. When I dig them up to replant, the root structures seem to be healthy and alive. The tag on the plant says they are cold hardy. Is there anything I can do to help them winter over?  What is Yellow Bells? Picture of Yellow Bells from Arizona State University website What is lantana?  A. Are you thinking they are dead because the tops die back? It is seldom that I see these plants totally die out in the winter here. They do frequently die back to within a few inches of the soil surface during the winter.             They then can be cut back to about one inch from the ground in February and they come back like gangbusters in early spring with some water and fertilizer. Lantana cut back in the winter to about two inches in a rock mulch in Las Vegas.             If they are dead, I am wondering if they are not getting enough water during the winter months to keep the roots from dying out. Normally a watering schedule of about every ten days or so would be enough during the winter to keep them alive.             Otherwise try mulching over the tops of the plants with a few inches of wood mulch to keep the winter cold from damaging the roots. It is very rare these would die out in the winter here under normal landscape situations.

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Will PawPaw Fruit Trees Grow in the Desert?

2 Comments / desert, how to grow, Las Vegas, paw paw /

Q. Do you know if paw paw trees will grow here? If so, what type of conditions (partial shade, full sun etc) and what type of soil amendments?  A. I have wondered the same thing myself. I have never tried them here in our desert but there are some pawpaws out there I would like to try. I have been told by Dave Wilson Nursey that they will struggle here but that just gets me more interested in trying them. I think if you have the right exposure, modified the soil and mulched them, they have a chance. These are the conditions I would try to meet if you decide to give it a go: They are very sensitive to full sunlight and requires filtered sun when young. Once established they can handle more sun but not OUR sun. Plant on the east side of the home landscape. Amend the soil with good compost to a depth of 18 inches. Amend the soil with AT LEAST 50% good compost. Acidify the soil with very fine sulfur or aluminum sulfate to help keep the soil pH acidic. They can have a pretty good taproot. Provide plenty of water just like you would any normal fruit tree but like any fruit tree do not water daily. Mulch the trees with wood mulch to a depth of three to four inches and keep it away from the trunk the first four years. Apply fertilizer twice a year; once in early spring and again in the fall. They can tolerate very cold winter temperatures. Also they do not set fruit very well so you may have to hand pollinate the flowers to aid them in fruit set and get more fruit on the tree. Some good information on pawpaws can be found at Kentucky State University where the national repository is located. Kentucky State University website for repository 

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How to Prune My Blackberries?

1 Comment / canes, desert, how to prune, varieties, vines /

Q. Last summer I planted one blackberry bush in my little garden plot.  I got about 10 blackberries and they were delicious.  The problem I have is how to prune it.   These are pictures the reader submitted. I hope he is not training it like a vine, or, if he is, he will be replacing the vine each season with the new growth. The second year growth dies in the second year and must be replaced by the first years growth. Some blackberries will grow like vines while others are erect or somewhat erect and need little to no support. If this is blackberry it is the “trailing” type that is normally draped over trellis wires to keep it off the ground. After it produces it is cut to the ground and the new trailing growth is used for producing berries the next year. A. Blackberries can be a bit confusing at first. You are managing two stages of growth with blackberries; the canes that emerged from the ground and grew last year (two year old canes) and the canes that will emerge this year (one year old canes).             Fruit this year is produced on canes that grew last year (two year old canes). Canes that grow this year (one year old canes) produce fruit next year.             When canes produce fruit, they must then be removed or pruned to the ground. The easiest way to do it is to remove them soon after you pick the fruit.             If you wait too long to prune it can sometimes be difficult to see which canes to prune out and which ones to leave for next year.             In our climate, vigorous blackberries seldom reach the heights they can get in milder climates. However, if you have a vigorous blackberry that will get quite tall then cut the tips off of the canes when they reach about four feet in height. This helps to make them stiffer and more capable of carrying a fruit load.             Some blackberries grow along the ground and others grow more erect. If the one year old canes grow along the ground then you will have to wrap them around some trellis wires. If they are fairly erect in growth you may not need to. A bit of a disclaimer. Blackberries do not do that well in our hot desert climate with our highly alkaline soils and salts. We have followed the advice of some work done in Yuma by the University of Arizona and grew both Rosborough and Womack varieties in Las Vegas which are erect forms. Even under good growing conditions they seldom get above 5 1/2 ft tall. However, Brazos did not do well for us. Others that have not performed well in the valley include Arapahoe,  Navaho,  Cherokee, Apache,  and Kiowa. Some people have reported success with some cultivars but upon checking these plants are only one to two years old and they frequently fail after that. You will need at least five years of success, as we do at the Orchard, to call it a “success” or plant it as a biennial.

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Peas Not Germinating Evenly

Leave a Comment / dead, desert, not germinating, seed germination, uneven /

Q. I have had problems with germination of peas. Placed directly in prepared soil germination has been inconsistent and I had to reseed several times. Remembering a technique I learned years ago I diluted a quart of tap water with 1/8 teaspoon of laundry ammonia and watered them with that. In 2 days ten germinated and in 3 days almost all came up. Have you ever heard of this technique? Harrisons peas and trellis. Nice veggies!  A short disclaimer. This is submitted by someone in Las Vegas who is a very good gardener and this does not represent his question very well! Sorry Harrison! But anyone who can grow bananas here for the past few years is a good gardener. I will post his pictures soon and ask him to submit how he did it. A. No, I have not and that is pretty amazing! In every instance I can remember I do not remember peas being hard to germinate.             A technique I use with large seed like corn, peas or beans is to soak the seed in water prior to germination. I will put a small amount of fertilizer in the water as well. I would soak them for 6 to 8 hours before planting.             This is called “pregerminating” the seed. Using this technique usually cuts off the germination time a day or two in warms soils. I will also do the same thing with garlic cloves before planting. I usually get much faster and more even emergence from the soil.             Sometimes I think garden soil is too “fluffy” and sometimes seed has a hard time staying wet enough in dry soils for good germination.  Seed germinates better in a “firm” seedbed. Not hard, but firm. After garden soil preparation and if you walk on it, your feet should not sink more than an inch into the soil.

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How Much Water for My 1 1/2 inch Diameter Fruit Tree?

Leave a Comment / desert, fruit tree, irrigation, Las Vegas, mohave, mojave, PET /

Q. How many gallons should a fruit tree receive for each watering if it’s trunk is 1.5 inches in diameter 24 inches above the ground? A. Watering amounts are usually related more to the size of the canopy or total height than the trunk. Trunk size is sometimes used more for estimating how much fertilizer to apply.             That tree size would require around 10 to 15 gallons for each watering. If you are using drip emitters, you should be using four (4) emitters in a square pattern 12 to 18 inches from the trunk. So running 3 gallon per hour emitters for one hour would equal 12 gallons. Just to remind readers we follow the PET curve developed for here and is below. Months are January=1 to December=12. Numbers on top of the bars represent inches of water per day. We would change irrigation frequencies in months 2, 5, 7, 8, 10 and 12.The amount applied each time stays relatively constant, just the times per week is changed.

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Not Too Late to Trim and Fertilize Lantana

Leave a Comment / camara, desert, how to prune, lantana, Las Vegas, Mohave Desert, Mojave Desert, montevideo, nevada, pruning, when to prune /

We generally grow two types of lantana in the landscapes in southern Nevada; the purple one and the one that is multi-colored, usually with some yellow and rose or pink flowers. Both are handled about the same way in watering, pruning and fertilizing. Multi-colored lantana (L. camara) but at this point only showing just yellow flowers but can change to orange or pink later. The flowers can vary in color.   This is the purple species (L. montevidensis) sometimes called trailing lantana or weeping lantana. It was collected and propagated for sale near Montevideo, Uruguay, hence the Latin name. Come take a tour of Montevideo and see where L. montevidensis came from Both of these plants came out of South America, around Bolivia, Peru and Uruguay area where it does not freeze where it is a widespread native. Not truly a ‘desert’ plant but tolerates dry or semiarid environments near the coastline. It is now widely planted all over the tropics and subtropical parts of the world where it does not freeze back in the winter. It showed some promise in the desert and arid parts of the southern US and now is quite common. Some people would say now it is over planted but it still gives a nice show of color in the summer with little care. It will freeze back here and rebound in the spring. Pruning or Cutting the Back. The purple lantana is common now and I get alot of questions about how far back you can trim them. Take a close look at this picture. I took it a short time back when I first saw green coming from a winter pruned shrub.They can get kind of lanky and loose some eye appeal as well as die back in our colder climate so many people cut them back in the winter. It is always a good idea to wait until the coldest part of the winter has past before you cut them back or the may freeze back further. Lantana pruned back. This is fine.   See how the new growth is coming from the “joints” or “nobs” on the stems? These are nodes where buds or stems were located. They are places that contain the potential for new growth. Cut them back leaving a couple of these or more between your cut and the ground. Then they will have these spots to generate some new growth for this season. Fertilizer. Just before the really start pushing some new growth (late January or even into Februray), fertilize them. Liquid fertilizers like Miracle Gro or Peters do a great job as long as you apply enough water when the plant is growing. Less expensive fertilizers will work as well but just make sure you use one that is used for flowers or tomatoes or other flowering plants. You can apply the fertilizer dissolved or diluted in water in a plastic bucket and pour it slowly around the plants or you can apply it dry just under the drip emitters. One application is normally enough until next year. Never apply it after about August or you could affect how much winter dieback you get. It normally does not need any iron added but doesn’t hurt either. Hmmm…. none say to use on Lantana! What do I do now? You like the flowers. Promote the flowers. Use a fertilizer that promotes flowers. So you can use tomato fertilizer or rose fertilizer as a substitute. What’s wrong with this lantana? Just TLC; water, soil improvement and fertilizer. AND it was planted too close to the curb. It should be back in about three feet. It’s growing toward the south where there is more light and probably the one emitter it has.

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Please Dont Prune Your Palo Verde LIke This

6 Comments / desert, Las Vegas, Mohave Desert, Mojave Desert, nevada, pruning palo verde, topping, trees /

I was dumbfounded. I saw it from the bus. I take the bus to the Orchard in North Las Vegas up Decatur when I go there to teach or just volunteer. I got off the bus and walked over to this tree because it was sooo obvious. What in the world was going through this person’s head? A beautiful tree and its form butchered. The tree could have been pruned with fewer cuts and not so much to clean up after you were done. This will take years to correct by a competent, skilled tree worker. Some say “arborist” but there are skilled arborists and unskilled arborists. There are skilled tree workers and unskilled tree workers. There are skilled gardeners and unskilled gardeners. Some of the best tree work I have seen was done by an indvidual (now passed) many years ago who had no training (at the time) but was sensitive to the look and needs of the tree. He went on to become an excellent arborist. (Steve Hines where are you?) Heading cuts. The cuts made at the very top are what I call “heading cuts”. They were made anywhere  along the length of a branch. When this is done we call this “topping” a tree. This is not a good idea for many reasons. From the looks of all that growth at the top, the tree has been topped at least one other previous year. Pruning in the spring invigorates the tree. One heading cut results in three to four new stems growing from buds immediately beneath the cut. One cut branch now = 3-4 new branches that need cutting next year. When topping is done the new growth is prolific. This prolific growth shades the interior canopy resulting in death of branches inside where there is too much shade. Thinning cuts. Cuts lower on major limbs on this tree were made with what I call “thinning cuts”. Thinning cuts are made at a juncture of two limbs leaving one limb remaining. This type of cut should be made 95% of the time when we prune. Thinning cuts leave another branch to take the place of the one just removed. This helps decrease the amount of new growth we get from pruning. This type of cut helps retain the natural form of the tree. Determine what you want the tree to do. What do we want from the tree? Is it to give shade? Will people walk under the tree? Does the tree need to be shrunken in size? What we expect from the tree dictates how we will prune the tree. Prune with a purpose in mind. The right approach to pruning a tree like this is to start at the bottom and work up. Make sure the major limbs are necessary. If there are too many, you might consider removing a major limb at the very beginning. This is true particularly if there are just too many larger limbs, if they are crossing, broken or damaged. If the tree needs to be shorter then identify the limbs that need to be lowered and follow them down inside the canopy to a place where you can make a “thinning cut”. Lower the tree’s height be identifying each of these limbs that are too tall and reduce their height with thinning cuts. If the tree is growing toward a building or structure then remove limbs growing in that direction or that will interfere. Make the cuts using what kind of cut? That’s right, a thinning cut, not a heading cut. If we need to allow people or vehicles to pass under the tree identify the offending branch or branches and remove a portion of that limb with what kind of cut? That’s right. A thinning cut. So when do we make a heading cut? Not very often but when we do it is usually for three reasons: increase the density (more new growth; 1 cut=3 to 4 new branches) where the canopy is not dense enough, to add dimensional strength to a limb that is thin and spindly, to increase side branching to increase fruiting or flowering on trees that produce flowers/fruit on spurs. A correctly pruned landscape tree should not appear to be pruned when it is completed and done right.

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Pick Fruit and Check for Circling Roots When Repotting Lemon

Leave a Comment / citrus, container, desert, girdling roots, Las Vegas, Mohave Desert, Mojave Desert, nevada, planting, pot bound, potbound, replanting /

Q. I purchased a lovely Meyer Lemon tree in a one gallon pot in middle of the spring. It already had 6 lemons on it. I have the original fruit, have new fruit growing, and still am getting blossoms. Should I transplant it now into a larger pot or wait until after the fruit ripens and is used? A. Remove any mature lemons from the tree.  Lemons should not remain on the tree longer than about late December and possibly early January at the very latest.  Check for circling roots in the container before planting. This is early enough you might be able to correct it.             Leaving lemons on the tree can disrupt the flowering fruiting cycle for the next season.            If you are planning on putting it in the ground then I would just wait until you have that spot prepared if it is this spring. If you are planting this fall then you might want to repot it into a larger container and wait for fall planting. When circling roots get to be this far along they can no longer be corrected.             If you do repot, check the roots for circling inside the container. This is a common problem in nursery grown trees, called “potbound”, sold in containers. Planting a tree with roots circling in the container and not trying to fix this problem before planting can lead to some serious problems down the road.

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