Q. How often should I water my California pepper tree, Mediteranean fan palm and my Canary Island date palm These are the only trees I have on my property. I hand water them. How often should I be watering them with the extreme temps we are having? A. We have to take into consideration both how often and how much to water. The “how often” will be the same. Or in other words all the trees you mentioned will all be watered with about the same frequency.             How much is also going to be about the same except for their size. The larger the canopy, or size of the tree, the more water it uses. This time of year, with temperatures in the triple digits, I would be watering two to three times a week depending on your soil and if you have mulch on the soil surface. Generally speaking, a layer of mulch will save you about one extra day that you do not have to water.             Make sure, though, that you are leaving at least one day dry between irrigations. Watering too often and keeping the soil sopping wet will lead to roots rotting. If soil is piled against the trunk and kept wet, the trunk will rot.             I would suggest that you put a “moat”, depression or basin around the trees to contain the irrigation water from your hose. This depression, if it is maintained so that it stays at the same capacity around the tree, will guarantee that the trees get the right amount of water each time. Irrigation basin for watering with surface mulch applied             The depression can be a moat that is a wide donut or trench around the plants. This can be a small one when first planted but must be increased in capacity as the plant gets bigger. The depression or donut should be 3 to 4 inches deep and wide enough to contain 5 to 10 gallons of water when young and expanded to contain up to 40 gallons when thre tree is larger in a few years.             The only exception to this is the palm. Many palms have the same size canopy when they are five feet tall as when they are 20 feet tall. With the same sized canopy later in life, they will use the same or similar amount of water. So for these types of palms, one sized depression should be fine during its lifetime.             There have been criticisms with this type of watering that letting water surround the trunk might cause the trunk to “rot” or become diseased. Watering with a moat or donut around the tree is far more likely to cause problems if wet soil is left in contact with the trunk. Water against the trunks of trees when irrigating does not kill the tree UNLESS you do it too frequently and keep the trunk wet. In many cases it is worse to have wet soil against the trunk.             For this reason I prefer a depression around the tree rather than a “moat” or “donut” around it. As long as the trunk dries for 24 hourse after an irrigation, trunk or collar rot will not be a problem. It WILL be a problem, however, if wet soil is left in contact with the trunk. So don’t pile soil against the trunk that will get and stay wet between irrigations.             These depressions should be gentle, sloping depressions and not deep trenches from World War I!. When constructing these depressions, I like to start on the “high side” of the tree and use a common hoe to construct it. Pull soil to the low side when you create the depression so you can “berm” up on the low side and contain the water. The bottom of the depression should be as flat as possible.             Start creating your depression and run your hose with a gentle amount of water coming out. Craft your depression or moat so that the water begins to fill this moat as you are constructing it. Running the water will help you get the bottom of the moat level and fill the basin around the tree without moving the hose.             Buy one of those inexpensive hose water timers that you turn on like a kitchen timer. It will turn off the water depending on the number of minutes you dial in. It will save you water in the long run because, if you are like me, we tend to forget what’s cooking if we don’t use a timer.             Don’t just dig a trench and fill it with water when you are done. It will never be level unless you dig it at the same time you are running the water. This type of irrigation is called “basin irrigation”, a type of flood irrigation but you are using a hose. Fill this basin twice when you water. The basin can also be used for applying fertilizer.

Q. I have been having problems with my shrubs and plants growing this year and am hoping you can help. I started planting in April, I planted mostly evergreen shrubs because I like to look at the green all year around. I used top soil to plant them, and they have all died. Is there something I am doing wrong? Can you tell me what evergreens I should plant(ones that stay green all year around), what month I should plant them and exactly how I should plant them? What soil to use? And how often I should water them? I don’t have a watering system so I water them myself. I aprreciate it so much and am hopeful you can help me. Thank you.     A. You have asked for a whole book worth of information. It is not something that I could do or explain to you easily. Any planting you want to do now that is summer should be delayed until the end of September to the middle of October, no later. Dig and prepare your holes BEFORE you buy your plants. Start with trees first. This is a “window shopping” trip. Don’t buy them yet. You will leave with something, but not the trees. When you leave the nursery you should be leaving with the plant, the phosphorus fertilizer, a bag of soil amendment for each plant. Stake the trees. If the tree is really small and you plant it correctly, you may not need to stake it. Shop for trees that will shade the south and west side of your home for some break from the summer heat. For these two spots I would pick trees that don’t get more than 20 to 30 feet tall for a one story house and they should drop their leaves in the fall. Leaf drop in the late fall will allow some winter sun in that can warm the house and reduce you heating costs. Do not plant these trees any closer to the house or themselves than half of their mature height. Once you have found the trees you want, then go home and dig the holes and take all the soil prepartion stuff with you. All these plants will need to have soil improvement before you plant them. This means you will have to dig each hole about five times wider than the container it comes in. It should be the depth of the container, not much deeper. Next, remove rocks larger than a golf ball from the soil taken from the hole. When this is done you will mix a “planter mix” soil amendment with the soil removed from the hole. I would also add a phosphorus fertilizer to this soil as well, something like 0-46-0 or similar. About two handfuls of this for each hole will be enough for shrubs and small trees. This is all mixed together and put back into the hole and soak it with water as deep as you can. The next weekend buy your plants and plant them in this improved soil. Plant them in this hole the same depth as they were in the container. Add water to the hole as you are putting the soil back in around the roots. Make a tall ring around the plant about two feet from the trunk and six inches tall. This will be the basin or container you will use for adding water with your hose. This is important to do. Water twice a week for three weeks. Each time you water, fill the basin twice. Water once a week the same way after this. Most of the plants you are looking for are sold locally. If you go to a nursery and ask someone for help and explain to them what you are looking for, they will direct you to “foolproof” evergreen plants for your home. There are plants that will be fairly easy to grow and then there are plants that are difficult to grow. They can help guide you. Always buy the smallest plant that is in good health you can get. Why pay the grower more money when you can grow it larger yourself? Also, if you have been losing plants then you will not want to invest a lot until you get this growing thing down pat.  

Several have asked about grafted vegetables and what is the advantage. Grafting vegetables has been around for a number of years now and has had some success in greenhouse production primarily. It started in Asia and has spread to Europe, primarily where heavy cropping (high yields) and disease problems can build rapidly. So here are some Q and A’s I grabbed from some sites to further explain it. It is not hard to do, easier than woody plants. The method I am most familiar with is using plastic tubing to hold the top and rootstock together until they grow together. Other methods are done as well. For backyard gardeners it is mostly just for fun right now but you can buy grafted transplants for the home market. In vegetable production in greenhouses, most of the damage from continuous cropping is caused by soil-borne diseases and nematodes. As a countermeasure to the damage caused by soil-bone diseases such as Fusarium wilt, bacterial wilt and nematodes, grafting of fruit-bearing vegetables is popular in Japan. Plants are grafted onto various rootstock species and varieties, by a range of grafting methods. Recently, the tube grafting method has been developed for plugs. This is popular in the manual grafting of tomato, eggplant and cucumber plants. Grafting robots and healing chambers have been developed, and are used in nurseries producing grafted plugs. Since grafting gives increased disease tolerance and vigor to crops, it will be useful in the low-input sustainable horticulture of the future. Application of Grafting to Vegetable Production The production of grafted plants first began in Japan and Korea in the late 1920s with watermelon grafted onto gourd rootstock. Eggplant was grafted onto scarlet eggplant in the 1950s. Since then, the area of fruit-bearing vegetables based on grafted plants has increased. The proportion of the area in Japan producing grafted watermelon, cucumber, melon, tomato and eggplant reached 57% of the total production area in 1980, and 59% in 1990 Objectives of Vegetable Grafting The main objective of grafting is to avoid soil-borne diseases such as Fusarium wilt in Cucurbitaceae (Cucumber, melon etc.) and bacterial wilt in Solanaceae (tomato, pepper etc.). Species and Varieties for Grafting Inter-generic grafting is used in the production of many fruit-bearing vegetables, i.e. cucumber grafted on pumpkin, watermelon, on bottle gourd, melon on white gourd (also known as wax gourd). Inter-specific grafting (grafting on to a different species) is generally applied to eggplant. Scarlet eggplant and S. torvum Swartz are popular rootstock for eggplant production. A large number of varieties for rootstock have been bred and released for use by growers in Japan. Grafting Methods for Different Types of Fruit-Bearing Vegetable Tomato plants are mainly grafted by conventional cleft grafting. Tube grafting has recently been developed for vegetable seedlings grown by plug culture. Cleft Grafting The stem of the scion (at the fair-leaf stage), and the rootstock (at the four to five-leaf stage) are cut at right angles, each with 2-3 leaves remaining on the stem. The stem of the scion is cut in a wedge, and the tapered end fitted into a cleft cut in the end of the rootstock. The graft is then held firm with a plastic clip. Tube Grafting Tube grafting makes it possible to graft small plants grown in plug trays two or three times faster than the conventional method. The smaller the plants, the more plants can be fitted into healing chambers or acclimation rooms. For this reason, tube grafting is popular among Japanese seedling producers. The optimum growth stage for grafting varies according to the kind of plug tray used. Plants in small cells must be grafted at an earlier growth stage, and require tubes with a smaller inside diameter. First, the rootstock is cut at a slant. The scion is cut in the same way. Elastic tubes with a side-slit are placed onto the cut end of the rootstock. The cut ends of the scions are then inserted into the tube, splicing the cut surfaces of the scions and rootstock together. Eggplant Eggplant is grafted mainly by cleft or tube grafting. The growth rate differs according to the species of rootstock used. The number of days from sowing to grafting varies accordingly. Cucumber Tongue Approach Grafting Slant-cut grafting is easy to do, and has recently become popular. This grafting method was developed for robotic grafting. It is important to remove the 1st leaf and lateral buds when a cotyledon of rootstock is cut on a slant. Planting Watermelon Cut grafting is popular for watermelon. A schematic diagram of cut grafting is shown. Melon Melon plants are mainly grafted by tongue approach grafting. Tongue approach grafting for melon is similar to that used for cucumber plants. Healing and Acclimatization Grafting should be carried out in a shady place sheltered from the wind, to avoid wilting of the grafted plants. Grafted plants are usually healed and acclimated in a plastic tunnel. The healing and acclimatization are very important for grafted plants to survive. The tunnel is covered with materials which provide shade and maintain inside humidity: silver/white cheese-cloth (outside) and transparent film (inside). During acclimatization, it is recommended to keep light levels at about 3 to 5 klx. Before grafting: Expose the scion and rootstock to sunshine for two to three days; Withhold water from the plants to avoid spindly growth, and Make sure that the scions and rootstock have stems of a similar diameter. After grafting, keeping the grafted plants at about 30°C and with more than 95% relative humidity for three days of healing promotes the survival ratio. Gradually, the relative humidity is then lowered and the light intensity increased. During healing and acclimatization, it is important to keep a constant air temperature in the tunnel, in order to maintain high humidity. If wilting is observed, foliar spraying of grafted plants with water is effective in helping them survive. The shading materials and films should be adjusted according to the daily weather, with more shade on a fine day. Healing has

From A Reader: Bob, This is mostly a thank you for your answer above and hopefully providing some info for any other of your readers. If you remember my question previously….   Tomatoes are All Vines and Few Fruits … Q. With five tomato plants all I really get is beautiful, huge green vine, why don’t I get tomatoes? Being from East … I moved our little garden from the west side of the big fig tree to the east side hoping to get more sun on the tomato plants.  I can report some success with  this move.  I actually put in three plants, a Big Boy variety (still have hopes) in one of those upside-down hanging planters just outside the little garden on the west side of it.  Then a Better Boy variety on the west end of our raised planter and a Celebrity variety on the east end.  Both of these are caged and are now about 5-6 foot high.  We have been eating very nice tomatoes since the first of June.  The plants seemed to take a breather for about a week of the very hot weather but today (6 July) we took off another tomato and there are 14-16 green ones which we hope will turn. The Big Boy did not do too well, although it may again be a sunlight problem.  It only gave us three tomatoes and they were not very big, about 1/1/2 to 2″.  I actually hung the bag from a branch of the fig tree with a pole support under.  I had to constantly trim back the fig tree, and even then it only got sunlight till about 12 noon.  Fairly close and next to it is the Better Boy.  Got several tomatoes but not very big, about 2 1/2″ +/-, and enough sunlight might be a problem here too.  The best performer was/is the Celebrity.  Got at least a dozen so far and they are 3-3 1/2″.  I do think it gets more sunlight and this is the reason it has performed better.  I tried to treat all the same with the fertilizer and watering.

Q. When I spoke to the master gardener volunteers last year about watering peaches (I had a Stark bare root from Gurney’s that only made it until August) I received a wide range of answers including 35 gallons per week. Any recommended rule of thumb for watering these? A. There are two things we have to consider when watering; how much and when. A third thing to consider is where and should be considered as the tree gets older. The how often part doesnt change as the trees get bigger. The “how much” does since “big trees use more water than little trees.” The  “where” to put the water is important. As tree roots have to spread wider to anchor the tree against wind and carrying its fruit load and get enough water to support its size we have to encourage growth away from the trunk as well. How Much. Regarding watering, give them the same amount of water as the container you would find them growing in, in the nursery. If it is equivalent to five gallon container, give them 5 gallons, 15 gallon container then 15 gallons. Even though these containers are not actually five or fifteen gallon capacity it still gives you about the right idea. Of course you can give them more than that but that would be the minimum and gauged according to size, increasing yearly until their mature size. Fully mature trees might require 30 to 40 gallons each time you water. If  possible, try to change the number, size and spacing of emitters instead of the number of minutes on the irrigation clock.   Example: Newly Planted 5 gal Fruit Trees (Number of Minutes Kept the Same)  1st to 2nd Year – 4 to 6 gallons (ex. 2 each 3gph emitters, one on each side) 2nd to 3rd Year – 8 to 10 gallons (ex. 3 each 3gph emitters, triangular spacing) 3rd to 5th Year – 10 to 15 gallons (ex. 4 each 3 gph emitters, square spacing) 4t Year and Up – Replace emitters with more gph and/or more emitters Where. Wet to an area equal to the canopy when young. As it matures the wetted pattern should be at least half the area under the canopy if possible. In commercial orchards of smaller trees like peaches and almonds under drip irrigation this “wetted area” is genearly considered in two stages. The first stage is when they are young and a drip line is laid near the trunks with two emitters; one on each side of the trunk about 18 inches from it. The second stage as the tree approaches production, in the third and fourth years, a second drip line can be added on the opposite side of the trunk and the two lines places about 18 inches from the trunk on either side. Two more emitters are added to this new line so that the emitters are in a “square” pattern surrounding the trunk. This wets a larger area under the area under the canopy. When. You should never have to water daily even in the hottest time of the year. The most frequent in our hot dry desert climate will most likely be every three days in peak summer water use. If you do, you run the risk of root rot or collar (lower trunk) rot. The dormant winter frequency may be 10 days to 2 weeks apart if you have mulch. Water to a depth of 18 – 24 inches each time you water. When to Water February 1 – April 30   Water once a week May 1    Water twice a week (or sooner, depends on weather) June, July, August Water three times a week if excessively hot, sandy soils and no surface mulch September 1    Water twice a week October 15   Water once a week December 15 (leaf drop) Water every ten days to two weeks through the winter

Q. My trees are growing quite well and I was wondering what to do next to my magnolia, persimmon and crepe myrtle.   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. 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 but not by too much) and cut your fertilizer application in half (but not to the point where it is starving or gets leaf scorch) and (increase the number of growing points or “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.  Crape myrtle showing some impressive growth 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). Crape 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 open growth with sparse leaves 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 growing perhaps a bit too erect and fast for its own good 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 is produced on current season wood so it will flower and fruit from new growth. I hope this helps.

Q. I read your article this morning in the RJ and found there to be a significant difference in the watering recommendation  you gave versus that from Springs Preserve. Currently, we have set our drip system to three days a week for one hour each day. We’re using one and two gallon emitters on shrubs and multiple four gallon emitters on palms and trees. We have read our water meter and my wife is aghast. For the one hour we are using approximately 975 gallons without using any other water in the house. We have no grass. If we cut back to two days a week, what should we look for in terms of adverse effects? A. Sorry, I am not aware of what they recommend so I don’t follow the Springs Preserve recommendations. It is difficult to give one recommendation for everyone who lives in the Las Vegas Valley because there are so many different soils, microclimates and irrigation systems. I base my recommendations on a few things that I will cover here as a result of your question. And yours is a good one. One major piece of research I follow for the area is the plant water demand (called PET; Potential Evapo-Transpiration) that we developed in the Las Vegas valley about ten years ago. Water District. I attached the PET table for all 12 months for you to see. PET table for the Las Vegas Valley. This table tells you how much water (in a range of low to high and an average) tall fescue turfgrass will use each month. So in one year tall fescue will use anywhere from about 84 to 96 inches of water with an average around 90 inches. It also gives you monthly average water use in the same table, again in inches. I know, I know…..but my  controller is in MINUTES!   This is the same PET information but in graphical form. Notice how PET, or plant water use, changes through the calendar years. Water use in June and July are about 8 times more than in January and December.   When we irrigate there are three questions we have to answer to set a controller; 1. How many minutes should I set the controller (volume of water applied)? 2. Which day or how many days of the week should it come on (frequency of application)? 3. What time of day should I start watering? These questions don’t relate at all to what the plant needs and how it should be watered. Here is where the confusion lies. The questions are only directed at the setting an irrigation controller. By answering these questions we hope to try and match the plant water needs. We hope we enter enough minutes and water frequently enough that the plants get enough water.   A major problem with irrigating plants in any landscape with an irrigation system of pipes and valves is that the plant receiving the LEAST amount of water drives the setting of the irrigation controller. If we see a plant not getting enough water (and it might be only one plant in the entire irrigation circuit) we rightfully increase the amount of water it gets. Unfortunately, ALL the plants on the same irrigation circuit are increased as well…whether they need it or not. If one plant is not getting enough water, it is possible then that we might over irrigate everything else just to give one underwatered plant enough water. This is why it is critical that the number and placement of emitters for plants on the same irrigation circuit be determined all at the same time, not independently of each other. I will explain how to do that in another blog entry.   I will make a separate posting of how to choose drip emmitters and how many to use for each plant. If I forget PLEASE remind me to post it! A plant should be watered at each irrigation so that the applied water wets the soil under the canopy of the plant to a depth just past the majority of its root system. We are filling a water reservoir in the soil for the plant to draw upon, like a gas tank for a car. The water should come on again when about half of the water in the soil is gone (gas tank is half empty). We then fill this tank again to the brim and start over again.  Bigger plants typically have deeper roots and a bigger size. This means that “big plants need more water than little plants”. I borrowed this picture from an Arizona publication on scheduling irrigations but I don’t remember the title. A very nice publication.   With a normal gas tank for a car we might fill it when it is below 1/4 full. We can’t do that with plants. At 1/4 tank there is not enough water in the soil to keep the plant from wilting or dying… with the exception of true desert plants like cacti. With true desert plants you can go longer between irrigations because many are drought tolerant (they can survive in drier soils).   Add emitters as the plant gets larger. The gas tank is made larger in diameter (not deeper) as the plant gets larger. The way we make the gas tank larger (make it wider in diameter but the same depth) is by adding emitters under the canopy. More later.   The amount of water we apply to the plant is basically the same each time we water, all year long. This is why I tell people to keep the number of minutes on the irrigation controller the same all year long. If you drive your car less you don’t stop and fill it up the same day each week. As you drive less (less water is used by the plant) you fill your gas tank less often. You change the frequency of application (days each week). But you want to fill the tank or reservoir with the same amount of water each time as long

Q. I’ve just spotted Colorado potato beetle bugs and larvae on my tomatillo plants. I didn’t even know what they were until I did some research. I’ve never seen them out here before. I can’t find an organic pesticide that will kill them without hurting the bees and other beneficial insects. Do you have any advice for me? A. Make sure it is actually the Colorado potato beetle and not a look-alike insect called the Ten-Lined June Beetle. I have not seen the Colorado potato beetle in the Las Vegas area yet but it is possible. Until recently, Nevada was one of four US states that didn’t have this pest. Ten-Lined June Beetle             But I have seen the Ten Lined June beetle here and they look very similar to the Colorado potato beetle. I posted a picture of this critter on my blog. The safest way is to pick them off as you see them. In small garden plots this works well. You can also use a cordless vacuum cleaner and suck them up that way.               As far as sprays go an organic/biological pesticide called Spinosad, which is available in many nurseries now, will give some control. Colorado potato beetle adult (striped) and larvae without stripes on potato leaves in Kosovo.             Another organic/biological control chemical is Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) var. San Diego (also called variety tenebrionis) gives some control if they are not resistant. This particular type of Bt controls beetles. But this organic spray is hard to find locally. You will probably find it only online.               There are Bt sprays in the nurseries but this is the wrong Bt spray for Colorado Potato Beetle. The one in the nurseries is Bt var. kurstaki (Btk). This Bt is used to control larvae or caterpillars that form moths and butterflies like the tomato fruit worm, tomato hornworm and grape leaf skeletonizer.

Q. I check all my plants weekly for possible problems. I noticed what appears to be some kind of white fuzzy things on my pear tree leaves and sent you some pictures. I didn’t want to mess with them in case they were from beneficial insects. I’ve searched on line but can’t seem to find anything. Have you ever seen them before? A. Yes, I have seen these white fuzzy, cottony things on all sorts of plants including herbs, citrus and vegetables. These are not good guys but they are also not terribly bad either. You can wipe them off or spray with soap and water.             I have posted pictures of this before on my blog but I will repost it again. These are probably the egg masses of the sharpshooter insect or a close relative. Be sure they are not mealybugs. If you don’t know what mealybugs are, ask and I will post some pictures. Truly one of the worst pests worldwide, particularly inside or in greenhouses but outside as well in wet climates.

 Q. I hope you can view the pictures that are attached. As you can see, one of my shoestring acacia is growing out on an angle and my fear is it will get to heavy and topple. Is there any way to save this tree by putting a support under the trunk or topping it by cutting it back? It was planted 7 years ago with two others and this is the only one that is doing this. It is about twenty feet high or so. A. Thanks for the pictures. Actually your tree looks nice in your setting. There are two things I am noticing from your pictures. First to answer your question, make sure the tree is getting water at distances equal to at least half the canopy area under the tree. You can do this by adding emitters or a water source in scattered areas under the canopy. If the only water sources are close to the trunk, the roots may stay too close to the trunk and begin falling over when it gets top heavy. By putting water further from the trunk it encourages a larger area of support for the tree and its growing canopy. These emitters under the canopy can be used to support other plants as well so that it is not just watering the soil for weeds to grow.  b Plant roots in container are circling. Bad, bad, bad. Borrowed from http://hort.ifas.ufl.edu/woody/container11.shtml Lawns around trees also help to support tree root growth that keeps trees from toppling over. Roots do not grow “in search of water” but will grow only where there is water in the desert. Rainfall does not count in a true desert like ours in the Mojave. If the tree or shrub was purchased in a container and the roots began circling in the container (the plant was overgrown in the container), they may continue to circle once planted and never create a strong foothold in our desert soil. The roots circle and circle and never spread out like they should. When the top gets big, these trees with circling roots tend to lean or blow over in a strong wind. They can become a liability as they get older. Unfortunately these plants can never be rescued and must be removed to prevent loss of property or cause safety concerns. Never buy plants in containers where the roots have grown in circles inside. They can never be established as healthy trees that are safe for public or private use. What to do? Determine if the plant is a liability or not. If it is, remove it. To determine if it should be removed, put enough weight on the trunk to see if you can get the trunk to move enough to get it to move back and forth. While moving it back and forth, look at the soil beneath it and see if the soil is moving or if the trunk is securely anchored into the soil. If the soil moves around the tree, you will have to remove it. It is a liability. If not, you have time to try to re-establish the roots farther from the trunk and give it more stability. This tree is too close to that wall and will probably damage the wall in future years.