fruit trees – Page 2 – Xtremehorticulture

Application of Insecticides Depends on the Label

Leave a Comment / fruit trees, imidacloprid, soil drench, vegetables / xtremehorticulture

Q. Please advise where I can find this borer control product you recommended to me for soil drenching. The product I found has only 1.47% imidacloprid in it. Is this strong enough for soil drenching? A. This question opens a “can of worms” I tried to avoid earlier by only recommending a single product. Initially when evaluating a product for borer control as a liquid soil drench, two questions should be asked: 1. Does this product contain imidacloprid in the ingredients? 2. Do the instructions explain how to apply it as a soil drench to the type of plant I am treating? The instructions will tell you how to use it correctly. Homeowner vs Professional Concentrations There is frequently a difference in concentrations of imidacloprid between “homeowner products” and “commercial products”. The obvious difference of course is availability to homeowners of commercial products but the other one is in the lower concentration that you mentioned. Homeowner products are frequently less concentrated than commercial products. This is because commercial applicators should have more knowledge about safe use of these pesticides and access to PPE (Professional Protective Equipment) when applying it. Plus, the homeowner uses less product. For commercial applicators, imidacloprid is contained in several products and atconcentrations much higher than 1.47%. “The dose makes the poison” and having a less concentrated product available to homeowners can be “safer” for the uninformed to use. It also means less “left over” product when finished. Read the Label Is 1.47% strong enough to use as a soil drench? Look at the directions for use. Does it say you can use it as a soil drench for your purpose? A reliable manufacturer will want you to be successful, tell others about your success and use their products again. A reliable manufacturer will give you the right instructions and concentration that will be effective. This formulation of imidacloprid allow for a soil drench of vegetables and fruit trees. It has 0.233% imidacloprid and the label tells you how to mix and apply it. If the label doesn’t allow it, then by law it is not allowed. It’s up to you to read the directions and make sure this product is applied correctly as a soil drench and for your purposes. Make sure it is applied after the plant flowers in the spring to avoid “honeybee” problems which it clearly states on the label.

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Multiple Reasons for Spring Yellow Leaves

Leave a Comment / asian pear, fruit trees, yellow leaves / xtremehorticulture

Q. My Asian pears look sickly again this year with yellow leaves. Last year after their planted the new growth was yellow and again it’s happening this year. New growth on Asian pear is light colored or yellow. This can be for many reasons. A. There are several possibilities why plants have yellow leaves when they’re young. Some plants have light colored leaves when they are young and get darker as they get older. If this is the case, don’t worry about it. Chojiro Asian pear growing in the Las Vegas Valley in the Eastern Mojave Desert. Planted too deep The first is rather simple. Their planted too deep. Fruit trees must be planted the same depth they were when growing in the nursery. Those fruit trees that are grafted or budded must have the dogleg above ground. If the hole is dug too deeply and the soil is amended, it’s possible the tree will sink deeper after it’s planted and soil will fall around its trunk. Wet soil around the trunk can rot it. This is the reason it is best not to dig the hole deeper than is needed for the roots unless there is a drainage problem. This pomegranate was planted in a depression in a lawn. Are the roots staying too wet? No way to know until you check the soil and see how wet it is just before the next irrigation. Soil doesnt drain water The first sign there is wet soil around the trunk and it’s starting to rot are yellow leaves. If not corrected, it can kill the tree. If the bud union is below the soil, water can rot the union and it will die. In milder climates the top part of the tree can grow roots and you will lose the benefit of the rootstock. This is an apple tree growing in an orchard in the mountains of Lebanon on terraces. The soil was kept too wet near the trunk the tree developed collar rot. Borers Another reason for yellow leaves are borers. You would think that trees coming from a nursery wouldn’t have insect problems but they do. After supervising the planting of hundreds of fruit trees, I would estimate there are borers in two out of every 100. Trees most susceptible include peach, nectarine and apple. Others are also susceptible but less so in my experience. Borers in ornamental plum Water drainage through the soil can also be a problem. If watering too often and the roots stay wet, they will begin to rot. Rotting roots decrease the plants health and this shows up as yellow leaves in the top. Check the soil moisture and make sure the soil is not watered daily. Soil improvement Sometimes the soil is not improved enough at the time of planting. I like to see about 50% of the volume of the soil used for planting amended with compost if this is desert soil. Less compost is needed in other soils but it’s still a good idea. Compost improves water drainage through the soil but it also helps the soil hold water. I know it sounds crazy but the soil structure where air is contained is improved while also the channels for draining water are improved at the same time. It is either drainage/water problem, planted too deep, borers or lack of fertilizer. If this lack of color continues, spray the leaves with a liquid fertilizer spray. Mixing a liquid fertilizer and spraying the leaves. Use either a Fertilome, Grow More or even Miracle Grow product with high nitrogen. A lawn-type fertilizer would be good for young trees. You will need: Distilled water (tap water in Las Vegas is pretty bad quality) Water soluble fertilizer Use liquid spreader (baby soap or Castile soap liquid or EZ wet from Viragrow) to help fertilizer get inside the leaves and. Add what it recommends on the label or ½ tbs per gallon. Steps Add water to the sprayer so it is half full Add water soluble fertilizer at rate on label. Finish adding water to the spray so that it mixes all well. Add spreader (EZ Wet) to the mix and stir. Spray leaves to runoff, top and bottom. You should see a change in leaf color in 48 hrs

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Spider Mite Problem from Nursery Tomato Transplants

Leave a Comment / disease, fruit trees, insects, nursery plants, transplants / xtremehorticulture

Q. Two years ago, you correctly diagnosed our tomato plants with spider mites from pictures we sent. Last year we got spider mites again. We started most of our tomatoes from seed last year but bought a few plants from a local nursery and planted them in each of the vegetable beds. Is it common to get spider mites from nursery plants? A. I don’t know how common it is for pests to be brought in from plant nurseries but I know it is more common than I would like. I have personally witnessed and identified disease and insect problems coming from nursery plants (houseplants, transplants, fruit trees and landscape container plants) before they were planted. Some disease problems on locally purchased container fruit trees. Sometimes insects and diseases can be problems when purchasing nursery materials. This disease infection may have started in the wholesale nursery first and passed on to the local consumer by the retail nursery.Avoid buying problem plants and introducing them into your home garden or landscape. Some plant problems are easy to see and others are not and don’t develop fully until later. Growing plants free of insect and disease problems requires knowledge about the pests, a clean growing area and a regular prevention and treatment program. Off-color leaves and spotting of leaves can be indicators that they are not healthy or they were poorly cared for. Purchasing nursery transplants can sometimes bring problems into the garden. It can be a problem when low prices are an expectation by the nursery or garden center which may encourage a lack of care or over application of pesticides by the greenhouse producer. Inspect your plants before purchasing and avoid buying those with problems at the get-go. If possible, put plants in isolated areas until you are sure they are “clean”. This is a common recommendation when buying houseplants. Houseplants are frequently loaded with disease and insect problems and infest other plants once inside the house. Fireblight disease was brought into this planting of apples and pears by introducing an infected Bartlett pear tree from a retail nursery. Once established, this disease spread to other European and Asian pears causing a lot of destruction and loss of plant life. When bringing home plants, spray them with oils and soap and water sprays before planting. Don’t bring home “bargain bin” or dumpster plants thinking you’ve got a deal. You are asking for trouble unless you know what you’re doing. Don’t risk contaminating pristine plants by mixing them with plants unknown to you.If you must do it, keep them isolated from other plants until you are sure they are healthy. As far as spider mites on tomatoes are concerned, inspect plants using the “white paper method” and a hand lens. Remove weeds growing in the containers, remove dying or damaged leaves, spray plants with soap sprays, and alternate with neem and other oils when you see them. Inspect plants

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Organic Soil Amendments at Planting vs No Organic Amendments

Leave a Comment / class, Desert soil, fruit trees, landscapinglearn, lawn, understand, Vegetable growing / xtremehorticulture

Q. I’m planting new fruit trees and landscape trees this year. I noticed there is a consensus out there that fruit trees, trees and shrubs should be backfilled with native soil without using any amendments. However, is there an exception in Las Vegas with the soil is exceptionally poor? Typical “native” or “natural” desert soil in Las Vegas. Would you plant directly in this? I hope not. Here is the SAME soil (25 feet away) ten years later after wood chips were spread on the soil surface and water was applied for fruit trees. Now which soil would plants be “happier” growing in? A. You are right and my advice is bucking conventional advice from most places. For instance, using native soil for backfill in North Carolina will be fine in most cases. But it also depends on what is planted. Many urban landscapes have “fill” that was brought in by the developer or general contractor. Most fill…No, I take that back…ALL fill… used in urban desert settings is junk. Using soil amendments depends on the soil and also the plants. Let me explain why. Desert Soils Vary in Organic Content Some desert soils are okay to plant into directly and you will have few problems. Others are not. Much of it depends on the organic matter content of the soil and the type of plants. If your soil contains at least 5% organic matter at the time of planting, the addition of organics to the soil as a soil amendment probably won’t do much. If the plants going into the soil prefer growing in highly organic soils, you are probably going to see a problem if the organic content is only 5%.For instance, a soil with low organic content but suitable for lawn grasses or some trees and shrubs will not be suitable for annual flowers or vegetables. Soils are a Mixture of Sand, Silt, Clay AND Organics Soils are a mixture of minerals and organic content that results from dead plants and animals that decompose into the soil. Desert soils with very low rainfall like ours. This is a jar test. I have students do this to their soils at home. First of all, the soil is darker in color which means it has organics in it unless it is a soil like a Latersol in the tropics. This is NOT a desert soil. I can tell from the color. The organic component has mixed in with the soil particles and colored it darker but the larger stuff either floats on the surface or is the very top layer on top of the clay layer. When planting without soil amendments such as compost, soil organic matter content should be at least 5% if you don’t want the plants to be “unhealthy”. If it is lower than this, add organic content to the soil such as a good quality compost. Mix it with the soil taken from the planting hole. Another option is to use a soil mix for filling the planting hole around the tree roots or container roots. Soil mixes are like Hamburger Helper; they contain organics and it is convenient and easier to use than mixing the soil yourself. Soil color can tell you alot about a soil. This cark soil color tells me there is a good amount of organics in it and will not need to be amended for lawns and some trees and shrubs. Be careful of adding too much organic content to the soil. This can work against the establishment of the plant in the surrounding soil. This is the situation with research done in Oklahoma, Arizona and other states. These practices of “not adding organic matter” to the soil at planting is from their research with soils already high enough in organic matter to make little difference after platning. This is the same desert soil you saw above. Organics are added to this desert soil AND the soil is covered in wood chips to add organics to the soil over time as long as there is rain or irrigation. Many soils of the Mojave Desert with very low rainfall are extremely low in organics. Soils in the desert that are relatively high in rainfall or were previously farm land (under irrigation). These are usually already high enough in organics and adding more does little, if any, good. Using the deserts of the Southwest as an example (Sonoran, Mojave, Chihuhuan, Great Basin) they range in historical rainfall from 4 inches to over 10 inches of rainfall each year. This is a 250% difference depending on locale!!! Of course we will see different types of plants and a difference in plant density and canopy size when we compare desert environments with a difference in rainfall of 250%!!! This is reflected in soil differences there as well. We see differences in organic content, salts, pH, etc. Map of the US showing organic content of soils and how it varies with rainfall. Desert soils are always lower in soil organics than soils in wetter climates unless they are amended. How Do You Know the Organic Content of a Soil? We can send it to a soil testing laboratory and spend maybe $75 to $100 and wait for three weeks for a reply or use our noggin and get a rough approximation. The soil testing lab will give you a precise amount in the sample sent to them. If the sample sent to them is representative of the soil that interests us, then it may be fairly accurate. But, garbage in, garbage out. If the sample is NOT a good representation of the soil that interests us then it is garbage. Look at the soil Soil color is a pretty good indicator of soil organic content. Rich soils, full of organics are brown to black. The lighter the color, the less organics in it. If the soil is moist and dark brown, you probably don’t have to add anything. If

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Got Wind? Consider Windbreaks for Fruit Trees in Containers

Leave a Comment / container, fruit trees / xtremehorticulture

Q. We are wanting to grow a couple of dwarf fruit trees in pots. We live on a hill quite a ways above the valley floor. Our backyard faces south with nothing to block the wind so it gets very strong especially in the spring. We want to place the pot in an area off the patio between our house and the neighbors. The sunlight would be somewhat filtered there part of the time. Our first question is what kind of potting mix to use. Also, how big should the pots be and what kind of trees would work the best? Wind damage to ornamental plum A. Sounds like you’ve got several questions wrapped into one. This could be a fairly involved response. I don’t want to make this decision for you but you should be aware of all the factors involved that I can think of. Persimmon leaf wind damage Wind is not good when growing anything. I would strongly suggest you consider constructing a windbreak on your property to protect the patio area and any gardening that you’re doing. I’m sure it’s a beautiful setting but open areas with a beautiful view have its drawbacks when it comes to growing things. Wind damage to plum leaves Wind picks up speed as it moves between two homes. This is called wind channeling. Think of how a slow-moving, wide stream increases in speed as the stream narrows. The same thing is true about wind. Not a good location for a patio or fruit trees unless there is a windbreak. Container mixes are light in weight because containers are usually meant to be moved otherwise you would plant the trees in the ground. Light weight soil mixes are good for containers if the containers are meant to be moved. If you use a heavier soil mix that will hold water, don’t expect to move the containers. This is the trade-off when selecting lightweight soil mixes. If the containers are too small and you select trees that get large, they will blow over in a wind. If you select smaller containers, then select fruit trees that mature smaller in size. I would use containers that hold at least about ½ cubic yard of soil. This would be about 800 to 900 pounds of soil mix, maybe 600 pounds of potting soil. A combination of wind and freezing temperatures can be a big problem for citrus. I would stay away from citrus in Las Vegas unless your neighbors have success with it. This is what I would do if I were you. See if you can find an acceptable compromise between building a windbreak and still protecting your view. If this is not possible, be prepared that growing vegetables, fruit trees and even ornamental plants will be a bit of a challenge in that location. It’s not impossible to have both, but you need a talented landscape designer or landscape architect to help you figure that out. You will need at least six hours of full sunlight or maybe about ten hours of indirect light for flowering or fruiting trees in containers. Moving on with your idea, select smaller sized fruit trees suitable for containers that are not citrus but are able to handle the wind. Some fruit trees you might consider are the miniatures. These are not semi dwarf or standard trees on dwarfing rootstock. These are genetic dwarf trees. There are too many to list but they are out there. They are usually not the best fruit that you can grow but they’re okay.The line of Bonanza peach is one example. Another option is to select a full-sized fruit tree that is smaller at maturity. This might include pomegranates or persimmon for instance. They can withstand the cold. Pomegranate also withstands the wind better than most fruit trees. Persimmon will hold on to the fruit in windy locations but it gets a lot of leaf wind damage. Select a soil mix rather than a planter mix. Soil mixes are usually heavier and hold more water after an irrigation. Places like Viragrow in North Las Vegas handle high-quality soil mixes.

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Ants Not Good Guys in Fruit Production

Leave a Comment / ants, fruit trees / xtremehorticulture

Q. I searched your blog but could not discover if ants are good pollinators or not. I know bees are. I have over 2 acres in Sandy Valley and have seen 6 to 8 different types of ants scurrying about the property. Are ants beneficial or will they become a problem for fruit trees I am planting? Ants and aphids living and working together on apricot. The aphids suck plant juices and release sugary excrement. The ants use this sugary excrement as a food source and take it back to their nest in the ground. Ants move aphids to new locations in the tree or neighboring trees that are touching to expand their “herd” of aphids. A. The best pollinators for fruit trees, hands-down, are honeybees. More specifically Italian honeybees, the type that produce honey collected by beekeepers. They are workhorses when it comes to pollinating fruit trees and vegetable gardens. Female leaf cutter bees cut nearly perfect circles in the leaves of many plants including grapes and fruit trees. These leaf circles are used by the bees for raising their young.Leaf cutter bees are good pollinators of late season flowering plants. Other types of bees, solitary bees like the leafcutter which cuts near perfect circles in the leaves of roses, grapes and basil, are strong workers later in the year and important pollinators for late spring and summer bloomers like alfalfa and clover. Rosemary is a good winter and early spring flowering plant to encourage pollinators for spring pollination of fruit trees. Ants don’t contribute anything to pollination of fruit trees in my opinion. I consider them mostly nuisance insects that contribute to insect problems in fruit trees in a secondary way. How? They love aphids and will defend them to their death against anything or anyone that threatens aphid populations. This short video is taken at our family farm in the Philippines. It shows Weaver ants, that create their nests in the canopies of trees, protecting some scale insects they have moved and are now farming on the branches of tropical fruit trees. Ants do the same thing in temperate environments but most of our ants have nests in the ground. In fact, ants distribute aphids throughout a fruit tree canopy similar to how we move cattle to new pastures. Aphids are common in the spring of the year feeding on new growth of fruit trees. Their feeding causes leaves to become sticky, roll and curl. Ants move mother aphids around to increase populations and their own food supply for subterranean nests. While feeding on plant leaf juices, aphids drip sugary excrement that ants use for food inside their colony. Next time you find an aphid problem in fruit trees, look at the ground nearby. You will see an “ant mound”, an opening to a subterranean ant nest. There is a good reason for their close association to aphids. For this reason, I don’t like ants in orchards and I make a point of eliminating ant colonies when I see them near fruit trees. Several methods can be used to eliminate them but I find ant baits, taken back inside colony, to be among the most effective. Seldom are ants beneficial when growing plants for human food.

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Small Area Will Fit Trellised Fruit Trees

1 Comment / espalier, fruit trees, small spaces, Trellis / xtremehorticulture

Q. I have a very small back yard and a 20′ x 18″ planter against the back wall of our property that is now empty. We were thinking of espalier fruit trees in the space. My wife wants a Myers lemon and I like a peach or nectarine, pear, or even an apple. A. You can fit about three fruit trees on a trellis 20 feet long. They don’t have to be dwarf except for the apple. The easiest trees to trellis are those which produce fruit on spurs; most apples, pear, apricot, plum and pluot. Citrus will work if the location is in a warm microclimate during the winter and protected from the wind. Apple trellis to close to a century fence but not on the fence Nectarine can be difficult because it frequently requires a lot of spraying for Western flower thrips to prevent the scarring this insect causes to the fruit. Peach can be more difficult because it does not produce fruit in spurs. Purchase these trees at any local nursery or garden center but reference my list for the best varieties. You will find it on my blog or email me and I will send you a copy. Buy a small tree if you are going to trellis. The wires for trellising should not be against the wall but away from it at least a few inches so you can prune behind it. Trellis wires start at a height of about 18 inches from the ground and vertically spaced 18 inches apart. Everything growing towards the wall is pruned off. In the first year cut the top of the tree about 2 inches above the bottom wire. The growth closest to the cut is directed to the next wire above it. Two side branches are tied tightly to the bottom wire. Next year repeat this process at the second wire, then the third wire and finally the last wire. Once the tree occupies the entire trellis any branches growing above the top wire are removed. Branches growing away from the wall are cut back to three or 4 inches.

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Reattach Broken Limbs Quickly

Leave a Comment / Broken limbs, fruit trees / xtremehorticulture

Q. My newly planted pluot tree produced one fruit this past season. I guess I pulled too hard and the branch where it was attached split. I taped the split back together with electrical tape. When can I remove it? A. Limbs that have split will never grow back together unless you reattach the broken limbs within a few minutes after the split occurs. Once the crack or split dries, they will never “fuse” back together. Plants grow around wounds and surround new growth by burying this damage in older wood. If the split occurs in a strategic location that supports the weight of future limbs and fruit, it will probably never be strong enough to support increasing weight in future years. Broken peach tree limbs due to the weight of a fruit load I don’t know how rapidly you got the tape around the wound but if this happens again you must reattach the split tightly in a matter of a few minutes. I like to use the expandable green nursery tape that you can purchase from most nurseries are garden centers. I am guessing the split did not grow back together, is still there and the limb no longer structurally strong enough to support fruit or the weight of new branches growing from it. Remove the broken branch with the pruning shears and reshape the tree for future growth.

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Don’t Bet on Good Fruit from Rootstock Suckers

1 Comment / fruit trees, rootstock, Suckers / xtremehorticulture

Q. I had an old peach tree of about 30 years die. We cut it down and had it removed. Last year several suckers sprouted from below the ground. They have different leaves so I know it is not peach. What are they? Should I leave them alone and allow them to grow? A. Having a 30 year old peach tree is quite an accomplishment! They are normally a short-lived tree as far as fruit trees go. Peach is hit very hard by borers and may start to decline around 12 to 15 years of age. A 20 year old tree is really getting up there in age. Rootstock on apricot When you purchase a peach tree from a nursery it is grafted (budded) onto a different tree called the rootstock. Basically, there are two different trees joined together; one is grown for its fruit and the other is grown for its roots. Frequently, the tree selected for its roots does not produce particularly good fruit. That is not the reason it was selected. It was selected because its roots had some particular quality that was desirable for the entire tree. Remove these suckers from the base of the tree. They will grow but the fruit produced will be low quality compared to the peaches that you enjoyed for so many years.

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Don’t Use Containers to Store Plants until You Move

Leave a Comment / buying on sale, Container plants, fruit trees, landscape trees, storing plants in containers / xtremehorticulture

Q. I’m new to Nevada and currently renting a house. I’m looking for plants that can stay in containers for at least a year, as we plan to take them when and if we move. I tried to grow some herbs, an eggplant, cacti, flowering plants and they all died. Strawberry’s and vegetables grown in containers at Viragrow A. If you are renting I would certainly encourage you to focus on annuals that you can use. I would not encourage you to buy fruit trees or landscape trees now and keep them in containers for planting later when you move. You are better off buying those plants when you are ready to put them in the ground. There is just much too high of a risk that you’ll lose them before you plant them. If you are fond of cooking and focus on some vegetables and herbs that you would be using for cooking. I would not use containers smaller than 5 gallon unless they are cacti are succulents. The small containers just do not hold enough water for these plants to make it through the summer months. Be prepared to water them daily. Use a good container soil when planting and avoid the cheapest soil you can buy. Fruit trees and landscape trees never do well stored for long periods of time in containers Most plants usually do better with an Eastern exposure rather than a southern or Western exposure. In the wintertime annual plants will frequently do better in the south and west exposures. Take a look at my blog and do some reading up on growing container plants here. Tricks to container gardening

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