Xtremehorticulture

Xtremehorticulture of the Desert

Joshua Pups Can Be Transplanted

3 Comments / baby agave, desert, Las Vegas, Mohave Desert, Mojave Desert, moving, nevada, relocating, transplanting agave, when /

Q. I have a Joshua tree that is sending out what I’ve been told are “pups”.  In other words, more trees are coming up around the main tree.  Can I transplant the pups to a new area and how do I do that.  Thanks for your help. A.   Pups are produced normally from underground stems or rhizomes.             Not all Joshuas will produce rhizomes that are usually three to ten feet long. If they are closer than this then they could be seedlings and not on rhizomes.            Native Joshuas growing at higher elevations have a greater chance of producing rhizomes than those at lower elevations. I am not sure if this is due to the type of Joshua or the elevation since the research does not say but kind of suggests they are different types of Joshuas.             As you probably know, a Joshua tree stand can be an interconnected web of plants connected by rhizomes or underground stems. Joshuas can also occur from seed. This is not a Joshua but another agave, Agave americana. You can see its “pup” nestled next to the mother plant.             They are difficult to move. Many people believe they must be oriented the same compass direction as they were in the wild to do well.             I would wait about another month before I moved them in early spring. You could take a shovel between the mother plant and the pup and sever the rhizome now. It should not be very deep. Just slice the soil with the shovel as deep as you can in a swath between the two.             Hand water the pup once only. Move the pup around mid-October by taking as much of the soil with it as you can. It does not have to be around the roots of the pup. You just want some of that soil from around the roots to “inoculate” the hole you are putting it into in case there are some beneficial organisms in it.             Make sure the new spot drains easily of water. Water it thoroughly once after you plant it and don’t water it again until next spring and water it deeply again. Water two or three times a year from that point forward. Collecting any Joshua from the wild is illegal and can result in a very stiff penalty.

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What Makes a Good Compost?

Leave a Comment / compost test reports, compost testing, desert, good compost, Las Vegas, Mohave Desert, Mojave Desert, nevada /

Compost quality can be hard to judge. Part of the quality is what you see and what you feel and smell. It should smell good. A good quality compost should smell good. It should not have any off odors. No smell of rotten eggs, no smell of ammonia. Compost should look and smell good. It should look good. It should be dark brown when moist. It should be ALL brown and not some of it brown and some of it not. It should be consistently brown throughout. You should not be able to discern or see any of the products used to make the compost. Leaves and stems should not be discernable. It should be screened so that larger materials have been filtered out. Some composts are screened with multiple screens to include 1/2 inch and smaller particles (1/2 inch minus). Some are screened even smaller than that… 3/8 inch minus or even 1/4 inch. Screening depends on its use. If it is used on let’s say a golf course on greens then large paricles of compost will interfere with the roll of a golf ball when grass is cut at 3/8 or 1/4 inch. It should be cool. Good quality compost has matured to the point where it no longer produces alot of heat. Compost that is still hot has not finished composting and is immature. Part of the compost process is setting it aside to “cure” after the composting process has completed. Compost also has qualities that you cannot see. Pathogens. Generally speaking, commercial composts usually have fewer pathogens that can affect human health than homemade composts. Commercial operations can spend time monitoring and managing a compost pile more effectively than a gardener. Good commercial operations monitor the temperature and moisture contents (and even the oxygen and carbon dioxide levels) so they know when to turn the pile for better aeration, better temperature control and more even processing of the compost. Techniques like in-vessel composting and windrows can generally make a product that has fewer human pathogens in it than static piles that are not monitored carefully. Chemistry. Even though not considered a fertilizer by law, composts contain plant nutrients. They will add “fertilizer” to a garden. They add lots of other things as well. Trace minerals are present along with organic acids that improve soil chemistry. It is always a good idea to ask for compost test results. All commercial compost operations have them. They should provide a copy if you ask them about it. There are potentially some things in compost that we need to take a close look at. Salts. All composts will have salt in them. Fertilizers are salts. Some salts are good and some are not as good. Major salts that can be problems for us in our soils are salts of sodium, chloride, sulfates and boron. Salt levels should not be excessive and the salts that concern us should be minimized. I will give more information on these in future postings. Composts that come from large urban centers can contain heavy metals. In commercial composts the level of heavy metals allowed in commercial composts is highly regulated and monitored. They are not in non commercial composts. Biosolids. Some composts contain biosolids. Biosolids is the preferred name to sludge. This is becoming more and more common as our federal and municipal governments are trying to find an alternative to placing them in landfills. This will become even more common in the future. The use of biosolids is highly regulated in the commercial compost industry with federal limits established by the federal government. I will be discussing this important issue in future postings. In short, you should and must know what is in your compost before applying it to your gardens. Ask for reports on what is in the compost you are purchasing. Make sure that the facility is submitting samples regularly to compost testing facilities.

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Figs Dropping From Tree

Leave a Comment / desert, falling off, fig fruit, green, irrigation, Las Vegas, Mohave Desert, Mojave Desert, mulch, nevada, not mature, small /

Q. We planted a fig tree a couple of years ago. Year before last it produced a couple of figs. Last year there were perhaps a dozen figs which never got larger than a small grape. These did not emerge until November and never grew to full size. The tree was fertilized with 16-16-16 commercial fertilizer, and had plenty of water. Can you tell us why the fruit did not mature and what we might do to have a better result this next season? A. The usual problem is not watering at the right time and keeping the soil moist during production of fruit. We can get two good crops of figs here. The first one is called the Briba crop and is borne on last year’s wood (2013 growth). This is the Briba crop. Notice how the figs are developing on older, brown wood from last year. You can see the new growth pushing from the terminal bud, is green and about two inches long.             The second crop is the Main crop and grows on the current season wood (2014 growth). If the tree is pruned or last years wood is killed by freezing weather, you will only get a main crop. This picture shows you the larger Briba crop still developing at the bottom on older wood. Above these fruit are smaller fruit still developing on this years growth, the main crop. The Briba crop will be harvested while the main crop is still developing.             The main crop occurs when it gets hot and if the tree is not getting enough water the figs will get button sized, get hard and drop off. There is a potential third crop in about September and October but the weather does not stay warm enough in the fall for it to mature.             This third crop will get button sized and will fail to develop due to winter weather coming in. That third crop may form without the summer crop if the tree is not getting enough water. Then in the fall it is getting enough and tries to set fruit but it is too late and fails. Although this is another readers picture, this is what this reader is probably talking about. Late season figs never get to ripen. However, if you keep the soil moist during the summer months, the first two crops will ripen.             I would mulch around the tree with about four inches of wood mulch and cover the soil to a distance of about six feet from the trunk. Water in a basin around the trunk about six feet in diameter.             The basin should be able to hold at least two inches of water but four would be better. Fill the basin with water each time you irrigate. Water once a week now, twice a week in May, three times a week in June, drop it to twice a week in September and once a week mid October.             Once the leaves fall off in winter you can water about every 10 to 14 days. Fertilize once in February with a fruit tree fertilizer or four fertilizer stakes per tree, one in each quadrant of the irrigation basin.

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What To Do to Fruit Trees Now

2 Comments / desert, how much to water fruit trees, Las Vegas, Mohave Desert, Mojave Desert, nevada, when to fertilize, when to prune /

Q. What should we be doing to our fruit trees right now? A. You should be finishing your winter pruning now. Bloom on some fruit trees started early this year and if you haven’t finished it you can still go ahead while it is in bloom. Be careful of the bees.             Hold off on pruning grapes until later in February when the chance of freezing temperatures has passed.             Fertilize your fruit trees now if you haven’t. Use a balanced fruit tree fertilizer high in phosphorus. If you miss this application you can use three or four liquid applications to the leaves (spray) a week apart in the coming weeks.             If you suspect you will have yellowing due to an iron deficiency, apply the iron chelate EDDHA to the base of the tree with your irrigation water. Trees susceptible to iron problems include peach, nectarine, plums, apricots, almonds, apples and pears.             Before or immediately after bloom, but not during bloom, apply dormant oil to limbs and trunk making sure you spray the undersides of the leaves, not just the tops.             Irrigations should be once a week as soon as you see new growth. Newly planted trees can receive 5 to 10 gallons. Trees that are up to ten years old should receive 20 to 30 gallons each time you irrigate. Irrigations should be applied to at least half of the area under the canopy.             Prepare for thinning fruit trees of excess fruit in about a month. Summer pruning will occur in about April. Watch for my postings on future activities and when to do them.

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Potted Meyer Lemon Flower Drop

1 Comment / container trees, desert, fertilizer, flower drop, freeze damage, fruit drop, irrigation, Las Vegas, Meyer lemon, Mohave Desert, Mojave Desert, nevada /

Q. You helped me before with my Meyer Lemon, so I hope you have an answer for this one. My tree is in a huge pot. It is about 4 years old.             Last Spring, it had massive flowers (yum) and a lot of little green buds followed. Then every single one of those buds turned black and dropped off.  Not one remained. I want to figure out why and change what I am doing so this never happens again.             The plant is fertilized with granular fertilizer 2x a year — early spring and late summer. It gets moisture and hasn’t dried out.  However the leaves could look more beautifully green. Sometimes, some of them curl and are not quite bright green.             I do not know if the two issues are related, but I sure hope you have a suggestion. A. Sounds like you had post bloom fruit drop. Fruit drop can also occur during summer months and just before harvest. The usual reasons for post bloom fruit drop is usually some sort of stress.             Four years is getting up there for being in the same pot without repotting. You might consider repotting and adding some new soil to the mix. Meyer lemon flowers             I know you said it had adequate water but if it went through just a few hours of drought during or just after pollination, fruit drop may occur. If we have some freezing weather during or just after flowering, that can cause the fruit to abort too.We had some on January 6 and 8 in parts of the valley.             When watering, make sure about 20% of the water that you apply runs out the bottom of the container each time you water. This is important for flushing salts from the soil.             Another possibility in containers is overheating them. If in direct sunlight and the outside of the container gets too hot and transmits this heat to the soil, this can cause stress and cause fruit drop.             Proper fertilization is important. Over fertilizing fruit trees, excess nitrogen, can cause fruit drop. And finally less commonly some insects such as scale or mealybug infestations can cause fruit drop as well.             What to do? Make sure your container, the soil volume, is big enough to handle wide swings in temperature and water. Monitor both closely. You might find a houseplant moisture meter to be helpful.              Keep the outside of a plant container out of the hot sun. Double potting a container is  helpful to keep the soil temperature down. Watch for freezing temperatures at bloom time and cover the plant.             Water the soil just before the heat of the day. Wet soil heats up more slowly than dry soil. If we have any frost during bloom it will affect fruit production.

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Tomatoes are All Vines and Few Fruits

4 Comments / Las Vegas, Mohave Desert, tomato growing mojave desert /

Good looking tomato transplant for home garden Q. With five tomato plants all I really get is beautiful, huge green vine, why don’t I get tomatoes? Being from East coast, I sure miss good tomatoes. A. Tomatoes are difficult to grow here. The reasons are due to our poor soil conditions and our unpredictable weather mostly. Most homeowners fail to get a good crop of tomatoes because they plant them too late, they don’t give them enough sunlight and they over fertilize them.           The best years for tomato production are when we have a long cool spring. Some of the worst times we have for tomato production are when the spring temperatures fluctuate wildly from cool to hot.           The best tomato transplants are about 6 inches tall, dark green and stocky. I don’t need to tell you that they should look healthy and free from what appears to be disease or insect problems. Look at the plant. It should be healthy or don’t plant it. Planting should occur in early March unless you have a very warm spot that can protect the plants from freezing temperatures and strong winds. Tomato staked and caged           Good soil preparation is important for tomato production. All that is necessary is good quality compost added to the soil and the soil give the chance to age and mature with this compost. Tomatoes should be fertilized with a high phosphorus fertilizer at the time of planting and not fertilized again until you see fruit. Fertilizing the plants regularly can cause them to produce lots of vine and little to no fruit.           It is important that the plants have enough room to grow and produce. When they are placed in cages or staked they can be planted closer together. When they are allowed to sprawl on the ground they must have more room and we usually see higher losses of the fruit.           If tomato plants are placed too close together they tend to shade themselves and produce very few fruit. They also tend to get more disease problems if planted too close together because of a lack of air movement. Collection of tomatoes grown at The Orchard; sweet 100, old ivory egg, black from tula, snow white, yellow pear           Like most vegetables that produce something we eat from a flower, they need a minimum of 6 to 8 hours of full sunlight for good production. With sunlight less than this they tend to get leggy and not flower very much. The best sunlight for them is sunlight in the mornings and early afternoons. The worst time for them to get sunlight is if it is only in the mid to late afternoons.           It is usually best to cage them or stake them. Don’t let them grow into each other or they will shade each other and reduce air movement through the vines. This will lead to disease problems. Don’t be afraid to thin out the canopy if it gets too dense.           If you have prepared your soil well and have enough sunlight there is no reason cherry or grape tomatoes should not produce for you. These are the easiest to grow here and are usually nearly always successful.           If you have problems with cherry or grape tomatoes, I would suggest that you pay particular attention to soil improvement, the amount of sunlight they are receiving and your planting time. I hope this helps.

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Orchard April Todo List

Leave a Comment / Mohave Desert, Mojave Desert, orchard what to do in april, what should i do now /

This is what you are trying to avoid by thinning apples Apple before thinning •     Thin fruit, apples and pears. You should be removing or thinning fruit so that the resulting fruit receives more “food” reserves from the leaves and gets larger. The larger the fruit, the greater the distance between them. Nut trees are normally not thinned. Leave one fruit per cluster in apples and European pears. Peaches and nectarines are four to six inches apart. Asian pears are thinned very early; sometimes in the flowering stages if you know you have had good fruit set in the past; perhaps leaving no more than one fruit a foot apart if you want Japanese-style large fruit. Apple after thinng •     Apply calcium chloride sprays to pears and apples susceptible to bitter pit or corky spot, five times in the spring, spaced about one to two weeks apart. Bitter pit or corky spot might appear on Comice pears and Mutsu apples for instance. These are sunken brown spots in the flesh just under the skin. Food grade calcium chloride is applied as a spray to the tree (focused on spraying the fruit) along with a wetting agent to aid in absorption through the skin of the fruit. Corky spot in Comice pear •     Thin corn to 12 inches apart. I like to plant seed fairly close together in March and then remove plants so the remaining plants are 12 inches apart in the rows. No, you cannot replant these plants to fill voids. Kernels in the ears fill in better if you have a minimum of three rows of corn since they are wind pollinated. Corn likes lots of nitrogen fertilizer applied frequently. •     Weeding. Stay on top of your weeds and remove them as soon as you see them. •     Flower thinning of Asian pears. Mentioned earlier. •     Harvest asparagus daily. Now that it is getting warmer the spears are growing faster and need to be harvested more often. You should stop harvesting asparagus after about 8 to ten weeks of removing spears. After harvest you must let the spears mature (let the spears become that five foot tall, ferny growth) which is cut down in December or January. •     Wind protection on the emerging corn. If we get some high winds this time of year and you planted corn in a potentially windy location the wind can flatten your corn rows. A wind barrier such as some fencing like chain link with pvc slats or chicken wire with vines can prevent this from happening. Pull or cut off onion flowers •     Mulch. As temperatures rise and with our low humidity surface mulches can help keep seeds planted in the summer from drying out and not emerging. Straw, shredded paper and other surface mulches can preserve soil moisture and aid in more complete germination. Presoak large seed for 12 hours in cool water prior to planting. •     Fertilize corn every four weeks. •     Pull onion flowers. Remove any flowers from onion plants and use them in cooking or as garnishes to keep them from robbing energy from developing onion bulbs. •     Mulch garlic and onions. Mulching garlic and onions before it gets hot will aid in getting larger bulbs and reduce stress. •     Fertilize onions and garlic and all vegetables in the ground every 3 to 4 weeks. If you used a good fertilizer at the time of planting then all you need is a high nitrogen fertilizer. If you used compost or decomposed manures you may be able to skip these applications. •     Harvest beets and peas. Peas and other cool season vegetables are coming to the end of their growing season. Replant in mid fall. Pheremone winged trap in tree. Pheremone lure is orange inside the trap. •                  Set pheromone traps for peach twig borer (PTB). PTB causes wormy peaches, nectarines and apricots. You first see their evidence on the occasional death of new growing shoots on these trees. Traps help you to reduce their populations or determine when or if spraying is required. I would suggest purchasing lures and complete wing traps from Alpha Scents: (http://www.alphascents.com/Lures/lures.html; http://www.alphascents.com/Traps/traps.html#wing ) Insects caught on sticky insert on the bottom of winged trap. Here the lure is hung from the bottom of the top of the trap. I prefer placing directly on the sticky bottom instead. •     Spray for peach twig borer if necessary using BT sprays or spinosad. •     Spray for Western flower thrips on nectarines using spinosad. •     Spray insecticidal soap for artichokes and aphids. Spray the upper and lower surfaces of the leaves. •     Stake tomatoes, peppers to keep fruits from lying on the ground. Expect more fruit losses if plants are allowed to sprawl on the soil surface. Green almond stage for harvesting immature nut •     Mulch tomatoes, peppers, eggplant. These plants will benefit from surface mulches. •     Label vegetables in vegetable plots. Keep track of what varieties you are planting so you know which ones to purchase or not to purchase in the future. Immature almond nut in the “green” stage •     Green almond harvest. Almonds can be harvested green when they are very small (1/2 inch long) and the entire small green nut can be eaten raw or in salads or allow the nut to enlarge and harvest the immature nut for salads or cooking such as stir fry. •     Young garlic harvest. If garlic was planted 2 inches apart in the fall you can now harvest immature garlic (before the bulbs have enlarged) and use them for roasting or grilling resulting in the remaining garlic plants four inches apart and harvested when fully mature in May or early June. Young garlic stage •     Fix irrigation leaks. •     Prune palms. •     Reapply iron where necessary or spray iron. If you see some trees or grape vines starting to yellow on new growth then reapply iron chelate to the soil now. Spraying fruit trees now with iron may result if iron-stained fruit. •     Dig up

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Will Tree Roses Grow in the Mojave Desert?

Leave a Comment / Mohave Desert, Mojave Desert, tree roses /

Q. I need your advice on tree roses, please.  I’m a recent transplant from the Denver area.  I have always wanted to grow tree roses but because of Denver’s winters I never tried to grow them there. My all-time favorite rose is Double Delight. Do you think it does well as a tree? A. I went ahead and attached a copy of roses that do well in our desert climate, a publication from Weeks Roses. As you can see, Double Delight is a very good hybrid tea for our climate. It should also do well as a tree rose. Roses will do best if you do not plant them near a hot wall such as South or West facing. Get Roses for Hot Desert Climates             Having said that, the advantage of putting them in this exposure is that you have a greater chance of getting blooms all winter long in these locations provided you provide some protection from winter wind. Winter winds primarily come from the north and northwest here. These directions may change in an urban setting where winds are diverted and channel between buildings.             If you can, try to create a microclimate for them that will stay warm in the winter but provide some late afternoon shade in the summer. The disadvantage of that exposure is the amount of heat generated in midsummer and the stress which accompanies it.

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Hardy Kiwis Will Grow in the Las Vegas Valley with the Right Location

Leave a Comment / kiwi, Mohave Desert, Mojave Desert, southern nevada /

Q. I recently purchased a male and female Hardy Kiwi starts form Parks Seed Company.  I was wondering if you might be able to give me any tips for growing them here in the Las Vegas Valley.  I have done some reading on pruning and training them into a trunk and building a T-trellis. In what I have read they need full sunlight but I  am of the mind that perhaps afternoon shade might be a bit better. A Hardy Kiwi Trellis System A. Good thinking. I would be of a similar mind that if you could protect it from late afternoon sun and strong winds you will be better off. Even though they are hardy kiwis and more tolerant of winter temperatures than standard kiwis they can still suffer from some cold damage if the temperatures get low enough. And they do get low enough in parts of the Valley to kill hardy kiwis.             So a good location in the right microclimate is going to be paramount. They should still get a minimum of six hours of full sun each day. They must be planted in amended soil with good quality compost mixed in. What Hardy Kiwi Looks Like             I would highly recommend mulching them with wood mulch rather than bare soil or rock mulch. Keep the mulch away from the trunk at least 6 inches the first few years. If you can keep them in a warmer microclimate in the yard and out of strong cold winter winds will have success with them.

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March Todo List in the Orchard

Leave a Comment / definition horticulture desert, Mohave Desert, Mojave Desert, orchard calendar, vegetables, what to do to fruit trees in march /

 Sweet corn at the orchard March Todo List Plant sweet in at least three rows for wind pollination. Plant seed one foot apart and enough room between rows so you can harvest ears. Keep out of strong winds. Contessa sweet onions after harvest at the orchard Dig and replant onion transplants or plant transplants ordered. Be sure to use a high phosphorus fertilizer and compost at the time of planting. We can grow both Short and Long Day onions. Try Candy, Big Daddy, Texas Super Sweet, Red Candy, Walla Walla, Sterling. A good place to order online is Dixondale Farms in Texas http://www.dixondalefarms.com/      Harvest asparagus every 2 to 3 days. Store spears upright to prevent curving of the spears. Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, melons, cucumbers to be planted March 15. Protect from wind and strong sunlight for two weeks. Early March. Prune table grapes. Spray to prevent thrips damage on nectarine fruits. Prepare bottles for putting on fruit trees for harvesting fruit in bottles. Select early producing varieties and put the bottles upside down so they drain and in the shade of the canopy on the north side. Growing fruit in bottles partially covered with aluminum foil to prevent heat buildup  Weed vegetable plots. Cutworm control on newly emerged seedlings. Spray Bt (Dipel or Thuricide) or Spinosad over newly applied vegetables and the soil surrounding the plants. Prune palms to get them out of the way of the vegetable plots. Harvest green almonds toward the end of the month and into April. Thin apricots when dime sized. Thin peaches when nickel sized. Harvest snow peas Fix irrigation leaks Almonds harvested green. This size and smaller can be used.

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