This is a nursery I visited in Kosovo but they are all much the same. There you can find plants that can be planted in many different places in the yard. It is your decision to find one that will grow into the right size, survive the winter cold, locate it in the right spot (shade, sun, wind?) and take care of it. Your Nursery Visit There are many plants to choose from when landscaping your home. But which will perform best? How and where should they be grown in your yard? Landscape plants can be chosen from your local nurseries and garden centers which, for the most part, grow well in our desert environment. Your job is to choose the right size plant, put them in the best location, and amend the soil where they are growing. Pick the right soil amendment such as this rich compost from Viragrow. This compost, because it is loaded with plant nutrients, is mixed with the soil about 25%. This compost contains about $150 of plant nutrients. Landscape plants planted with this compost in the soil surrounding the roots probably wont need any fertilizer for two years. Make Two Trips This may take two trips. The first is just to gather information, take this information home and investigate your choices. Your second trip is to purchase the plants and proper soil amendments. Select plants that have a winter cold tolerance you can live with. This cactus had freeze damage one winter in Las Vegas. Very winter hardy plants, like the one behind it, can handle lower winter temperatures than the cactus that was damaged. Winter Hardiness Your first selection criterion is winter hardiness. This information can be found online. Major trees and shrubs important to your landscape should withstand temperatures to 20°F during the winter months for their long-term health and survivability. Plants that can be lost or damaged in the landscape should tolerate winter temperatures to 25°F. If you want to experiment and have some fun with plants, select plants that don’t handle any freezing temperatures at all. If the mature height was researched on this tree before planting, maybe it would not be chosen to shade the house. Avoid later cost and disappointment. Pick plants that are the right size for its location. Plant Size You can reasonably reduce the size of a plant to about two thirds of its mature height and width. This takes work and expense on your part as it gets older. It’s best to choose a plant that’s closer to the right size at the very beginning. Microclimates Another factor is landscape location. Some plants tolerate the hotter Western and Southern exposures. Plants that perform best in these hot, dry, and isolated locations frequently originate from hot, desert climates in the southwestern US (Chihuahuan, Sonoran, Mojave and Great Basin deserts). Other plants will struggle in these locations and should be planted in Eastern or Northern exposures. Again, online research helps you in this decision. Some plants can handle rock mulch while others may struggle. This hawthorne is a poor choice when covering the soil with rock. It will stay green for a few years because of the soil amendment added at planting but eventually the “organics” in that soil “run out” and the plant turns yellow. Rock or Woodchips? Some plants grow well for many years surrounded by rock. Others may grow there okay for a few years and then begin to suffer. Plants from places like the East Coast, Asia or tropical areas should be surrounded by woodchips rather than rock for long-term health and well-being. Research Three Plants Select three plants for each location before you do your online research. Online databases from the Southern Nevada water Authority and Arizona State University are good places to start. You can always contact me for more help if you need it.

Q. Two years ago I had grape bunches that were shriveling up in the middle of summer while they were still green. I think it was a disease, but it spread and killed off nearly all my grape bunches. How can I prevent this in the future? Grape diseases can be divided into two main groups; those that attack the fruit and those that attack the vines. This is a bunch rot disease of grapes in Las Vegas. The link is only for Botrytis bunchrot disease. There are several kinds. A. Grapes don’t typically get borers, but they can get diseases that attack the bunches or young stems. Another disease attacks the new growth. The other problem commonly found on grapes growing in the desert is damage from our intense sunlight. This was unofficially diagnosed as Eutypa disease on table grapes, a trunk disease of grapes.             The most common diseases of grape bunches are the so-called powdery and downy mildews. You will not see them, but the disease is flourishing, invisible, right under your nose. This might be a problem later with grapes when there is snow or rain falling on the new growing vines in the spring. It will cause the bunches, all of a sudden, to die green. During February and March, hope for dry weather when grapes are first starting to grow. If this kind of weather is present then, it’s a good idea to spray a fungicide two or three times during the growing season to prevent bunch diseases like these from becoming a problem. Spray the first dose when bunches are small to protect them from infection. The usual fungicides for homeowners are copper fungicides like Bordeaux. And for heaven sakes, when you are pruning, sanitize your pruning shears Damage to the bunches or older stems from intense sunlight is not a big problem if grape stems and fruit are grown in the shade of their own leaves. About the only chemical protectants you can spray as a homeowner are the copper based fungicides, Bordeaux probably leading the group. Remember, fungicides like Bordeaux are protectants and much more effective at protecting new growth from infections. Watch for wet or rainy weather during new growth. If this happens, it is much more likely a disease will occur. Spray with Bordeaux mix after new growth has started and then again as the berries start to enlarge.

  ‘Flame’ table grape growing in Las Vegas. How do those grape berries get so big in the grocery store? Yes, its true they sometimes use hormone sprays to increase their size but you can do it naturally. Whether you are growing wine grapes or table grapes, it is important to “thin” the fruit to get larger or more flavorful berries. In table grapes the result is larger berries. In most wine grapes, the berries will not necessarily get larger (berry size is ultimately regulated by genetics) but they will get more flavorful. Here is how. Fewer Bunches Make Larger Berries “Balance the fruit load.” It is important in wine grapes as well as table grapes. That is a common moniker but what does it mean? It means to reduce the total number of bunches growing in each vine. The minerals taken up by the roots are divided up into fewer bunches and consequently fewer berries. Figure one good sized bunch every 6 to 8 inches. Reduce Bunch Size This is done by “pinching” or removing the bottom of the bunch when very young. Sound familiar? You do the same thing to peaches, plums and apples. Then it is called “thinning”. The concept is the same. Fewer “mouths to feed” results in larger fruit. The same is true in grape berries. If you reduce the number of bunches AND remove the bottom third of each bunch, the remaining individual berries get larger. Pinching or removing the bottom third of the grape cluster results in fewer berries and the remaining berries can get larger. Variety Determines Results The ultimate berry size is governed by its genetics. The variety ‘Italia’ is a seeded white grape that grows well in the desert and can be used for fresh eating or making wine. It can get very large berries. While the variety ‘Pinot Noir’ doesn’t seem to get a much larger berry size by thinning but the flavor is more flavorful!

Q. I have a grape, with dark colored fruit, growing on my established trellis. It’s already pruned. What should I do to it now? Fantasy table grape growing in Las Vegas. A. Of course your grape plant will need water and fertilizer when it starts growing in March. I would apply the fertilizer the first week of March and begin watering weekly during February. As new growth appears, you should already be watering once a week and have any fertilizer applied. to help push new growth. Which fertilizer to use? Any fertilizer used for fruit trees will work. It’s applied where the water is delivered to the plant but at least 12 inches away from its trunk. I prefer using a rich compost as a fertilizer instead, but it must be watered beyond any surface mulch so it comes in contact with the moist soil underneath it. Whether you apply compost or mineral fertilizers to help new grape growth push, do it just before new growth appears for best results. Grapes grow better in the hot desert if there is “plant litter” (surface mulch) on top of the soil where they receive their water. This surface mulch of 3 to 4 inches deep helps keep the soil surrounding their roots moist and cool. Woodchips from landscape trees make an ideal surface mulch for grapes and fruit trees because they easily rot and decompose into the soil. Wood, whether its from “forests” or urban forests is a valuable and rare commodity in the desert. Here woodchips are being dropped at the Ahern Orchard in Las Vegas to be used for soil enhancement around fruit trees and grapes. It’s helpful to determine if your grape should be “spur pruned” or “cane pruned”. Bunches of grapes are always produced along last year’s growth. The difference when pruning different types of grapes is where the fruit is produced along this new growth. Spur pruned grapes produce their bunches at the base of last year’s growth. Cane pruned grapes produce their bunches from buds further out from this. Buds that produce grape bunches further out, when spur pruned short, are void of grape bunches. Pay attention to your variety of grape and whether it prefers spur or cane pruning. Grapes and fruit trees grow much better and with fewer problems when NOT grown in bare soil but the soil covered in woodchip mulch. Simplest way is to delay pruning until you see grape bunches starting to form. I know it can be heart-wrenching, just like thinning peach trees, but removing extra bunches will make each of the berries in the grape clusters larger. When it’s an unknown grape variety I’m not sure about, I look for old grape clusters, remnants, produced last season. (I will take a few shots of this and insert later. I dont have any shots of this yet.) These can be subtle differences and not obvious to the casual observer. Count back the number of bumps or “buds” where these remnants were attached to older growth. Do this in several locations and get an “average” distance from where it grew. This tells you where you can safely prune last years growth and how much can be removed. Doing this can insinuate if a grape should be spur pruned or cane pruned in the future.

             Spur pruning of grape delayed until just before new growth occurs. Whether you are growing wine grapes or table grapes, it’s a good idea in our climate to delay the final pruning until you are confident freezing, dry and windy weather has passed. The reason for this is to minimize fruit loss because of cold, windy and dry late winter and early spring weather. If you get eager and make your final pruning early, it’s possible that cold, dry windy weather later might eliminate some or all the fruit you intended to keep. If grape pruning seems a bit daunting, go ahead and prune last years growth long (canes) even if your grape should be spur pruned. As the time approaches for new growth to occur, finish pruning with a second cutting of last years growth to the proper length. This avoids potential losses from the cold and dry winds that can sometimes happen in the desert. All grape bunches come from buds on last year’s growth. In this way, fruit is produced much like fruit is produced by peaches and nectarines. But this is where the similarity stops. Some grape bunches (Zinfandel, Syrah and Muscat for instance) grow from buds very close to where last year’s growth began. These types of grapes are “spur pruned”; leaving less than an inch of growth remaining from last year. Leave the canes a bit long and finish pruning when fruit clusters appear to “balance the load”. Other varieties of grapes (Thompson seedless and Concord grapes for instance), their bunches grow from buds several inches further out along last year’s growth. These types of grapes are “cane pruned” because last year’s growth is left longer; 6 to 10 inches in length. This allows the unproductive buds to grow without producing any fruit. Grape bunches appearing in early May in Las Vegas.             I delay pruning grapes in our cold desert climate as late as I can. Sometimes even after new growth is well underway. Delaying the pruning this long delays the chance of fruit loss because of freezes and cold drying winds. In the Las Vegas Valley, final pruning may be delayed until late February up until the first week in March. If you want to be doubly sure and a bit lazy about it, delay final pruning until fruit bunches show you where to prune. This might be as late as mid to late April or early May! You can delay the final pruning of grapes until you actually see fruit clusters (bunches) appearing. Doing this can help balance the load of fruit and make larger berries in the clusters.             This doesn’t mean you can’t do some pruning earlier. Just be careful and not remove too much of last year’s growth. It’s okay to leave last year’s growth about 12 inches long and cut it shorter than this when you are confident new growth is about to begin or later.

Q. I have a woody cancerous growth coming from my peach tree trunk. Should I remove it or leave it alone? Crown gall on peach tree A. Judging from the pictures you sent, this woody growth looks like the early stage of bacterial crown gall disease. When the tree is older, this cancer-like growth can get quite large but it’s nothing to get overly excited about. It’s not a deadly disease like fire blight can be, but it does cause a gall-like growth of woody tissue near the point of infection. Crown gall at the actual crown of a tree. Sometimes it’s seen as a gall on the trunks of infected trees that were “nicked” with a dirty shovel that contacted the soil. In any case, break off this ball from the tree when it gets larger. It will grow back again. Crown gall on the limb of a peach tree.

            If you haven’t pruned your fruit trees yet, it’s not too late. Prune grapes as late as possible; toward the end of February or first week of March in the Las Vegas valley. More will be coming on grapes in the coming weeks. Final pruning of fruit trees for less experienced pruners is best delayed until flowers appear. It’s a lot easier then to see where fruit will be produced when actual flowers are seen. If you wait to prune until flowers appear or start to swell it can be easier to see what to prune and what to leave behind. Pruning fruit trees is a two-step process; the first step controls the size of older trees and trains the developing major limbs of younger trees to eventually support smaller branches and fruit. The second step in pruning focuses on spreading fruit production throughout the entire tree’s canopy. The first step is done any time after leaf drop in the fall but before flower and fruit production in early spring. As soon as the tree is pruned for size and major limb selection is established, apply dormant oil sprays for preventing many different types of insect damage in the coming months. Do this before flowering starts. These two steps can be done separately or at the same time. I suggest two separate steps for the less experienced. Prune tree structure to either open center like this peach tree or modified central leader. During the first three years after planting the focus is on developing the tree’s structure. While the tree is in its first three years, major limbs are trained by directing the limbs to grow at 45° angles from the ground. Ninety percent of pruning efforts during the first season focus on establishing the overall tree structure; about 50% the second season and about 10% the third season. Once the overall structure of the tree is established, very little of this type of pruning needs to be done in in the future. From that point forward, pruning is focused on fruit production. Pruning to control its size is done when the tree is over four or five years old. This apple tree is pruned into a modified central leader structure because it wants that kind of structure. Peach grows more like a bush so it lends itself to open center pruning structure. No hard and fast rules to follow. On peach and nectarine, fruit production should come from all parts along the scaffold limbs, not just the tips. Pruning for fruit production focuses on developing young, newer growth horizontally like a feather, with plenty of space between branches to allow indirect light inside the tree canopy. This means removing most upward and downward growth. In the Mojave Desert because of our hot, bright summer sun, focus is on finding a “balance” between shading the limbs inside the tree as well as its trunk and opening the canopy for more light. This balances the trees need for sunlight with its potential damage.

Q. I pruned some fruit-laden heavy branches from my semi-dwarf nectarine tree during the hot summer months last year. I think I’ve damaged the tree. The leaves on a few branches turned yellow/orange while 80% of the other leaves look dead. Should I do some heavy pruning, or wait and see? Limb breakage of peach due to heavy fruit load. Thin and prune. This opening can lead to sunburn on the branches and subsequent borer damage to the limbs. A. Leave the tree unpruned this season to protect itself as much as possible. Let it send up lots of new growth this spring and hope for the best. Right now, the tree needs to shade its larger limbs and trunk to help prevent sunburn and prevent borers from attacking the tree. Scientists report that borers love to attack peach and nectarine trees where intense sunlight has damaged it. Borers are not controlled by winter sprays of horticultural oil. Peach tree painted with white latex paint right after planting. Paint the upper surface of exposed large limbs and the south and west sides of the trunk with diluted white latex paint. Painting or covering these areas helps reduce sunburn. Sunburn results from intense sunlight shining on exposed areas. Painting exposed surfaces of the tree with any light-colored latex paint mixed half-and-half with water helps reduce this damage. It won’t eliminate its possibility, but helps to reduce it. Ready made white tree paint. It can be made by diluting white latex paint with water, 50/50. As a precaution, drench the soil around the tree with a systemic insecticide for borer control. Do this immediately after the tree finishes flowering this spring. Don’t eat the fruit, produced this season, from this tree because the insecticide is systemic and likely inside the fruit. Most of it will be gone from the tree by the next growing season. Follow the label directions exactly. Next season remove major limbs only during the winter months and always remove fruit from your tree when it’s tiny so as to reduce limb breakage.

Q. I have a Meyers lemon tree that needs pruning. How do you suggest I should proceed? A. Older citrus, including Myers lemon, needs little pruning once it’s over about four or five years old, if it’s been trained properly. When young, it should be trained to grow into a tree. If your Meyers lemon looks more like a shrub than a tree, then prune it to one central trunk.             The same structure used for training other fruit trees is applied to citrus; the central trunk has limbs removed from its trunk or multiple trunks up to about knee height. Limbs are removed from the trunk so that heavy fruit still attached to the remaining limbs doesn’t wind up sitting on the ground. Fruit touching the ground is more likely to spoil.             While it’s still young, develop the main scaffold limbs that support new growth and fruit. These scaffold limbs should grow from the trunk or trunks “like spokes on a wheel”. Make sure these major limbs have at least 6 inches between them, originate in a spiral pattern from the trunk, and they are not growing on top of one another. When limbs grow on top of one another then shading and light distribution throughout the canopy is a problem.             I always start inspecting the trees for good limb distribution at the bottom, usually on my hands and knees. First, I inspect the trunk up to my knees and make sure it’s “clean”. Next, I inspect the limb structure from my knees to my waist and make sure these scaffold limbs are well distributed. I fix any stems that are crossing over each other, broken, or creating too much shade. If the tree is too tall, I remove upright branches that contribute to its height. These pruning cuts are made inside the canopy at “crotches” where two or more limbs come together. Finally, I inspect the tree up to its top, looking for the same types of problems as before. After the structure of the tree is inspected, I then fix any problems with light distribution inside the canopy. After the fourth or fifth year, little pruning of citrus is needed.

Q. How often do you sanitize your pruning shears and what do you use? Loppers are sanitized with an alcohol wipe before pruning begins for the day. How to sanitize pruning shears A. The primary reason I start my pruning day with an alcohol spray or alcohol wipes applied to pruning blades is for sanitary reasons. First, I clean the blades with soap and water and then sanitize them when finished. Chances are probably one in 500 that it’s not needed, but it’s that one case in 500 where sanitation is important because of diseases.             I usually only sanitize the blades of my hand shears and loppers. I sanitize the saw blade only when it’s needed which is seldom if I prune every year. I start pruning with loppers first and finish pruning with my hand shears. Once the lopper blades have been sanitized, they are never placed on the ground again. There are at least five plant disease problems found in soil. Instead, they are hung around my neck or on a limb of the next tree I will be pruning.             If a tree looks like it may have a disease problem, I sanitize equipment that I use after I finish pruning. If it’s a highly virulent disease like fire blight, the blades are sanitized between each pruning cut. See the whole video on sharpening, adjust and sanitizing pruning equipment here.