Q. I found grubs in the soil with many established plants. Are these just a seasonal thing? How do I get rid of them now and prevent them in future? Are some plants more susceptible than others?  A. I will tell you is much as I know about them. Their adult form is a large flying beetle called a chafer or June beetle that you see in June and July. Their immature form is a white grub that feeds on dead organic matter in the soil, but I think also will chew on tender roots of plants like Lantana.             A few of them munching away on some plant roots here and there causes little plant damage. In fact, you won’t even know they are there. It’s when several feeding on the roots of one small plant, or your landscape is inundated with them that you start to see plants struggling or even dying. So, unless there is a problem I would leave them alone.             There are biological control pesticides such as bacteria (several commercial names of products available such as Grub Control) and nematodes (mostly online sales) that you can use in place of conventional insecticides like Sevin. They may take a year or two to get fully established in the soil.

Q. I have a key lime tree that’s 4 years old.  The first year it was full of fruit.  The next 2 years no fruit, then this year only 3-4 limes.  My neighbor has a regular lime tree full of fruit.  What’s wrong? A. Freezing temperatures in the spring. If you have several light freezes that go through the valley in the spring you will have no citrus fruit. If you have one freeze that goes through the valley in the spring you will have some fruit.

Q. I would like some more of your expert advice if you have time. As part of our landscape renovation completed last November, a Sago Palm and a Bay Laurel were planted. The Sago Palm is approximately 7″ in diameter and 3 feet tall while the Bay Laurel is about 4 feet tall. They both have one drip near the base and two further away with 1 GPH Emitters, They are watered for 90 minutes following the water district watering schedule for lawns this first year. Is this adequate watering and what would you recommend as the plants grow? A. If you are watering for 90 minutes then I would recommend four each, 5 gallon per hour emitters on the Sago palm placed about 12 inches from the trunk in a rectangular spacing for the first year after it is moved. The second year I would keep the same emitters but move them out to about 18 inches from the trunk. Unlike the Bay Laurel the amount of water will not change as they get taller.  Make sure the hole dug for the Sago palm is three times the width of the root ball. Make sure the soil is amended with compost at the time of planting with one shovelful of compost mixed into 2 to 3 shovelful’s of soil for the backfill. You will use this ratio of compost to soil also on the Bay Laurel. Bay Laurel Water Use The Bay Laurel is still quite small and so about 15 gallons per application is all that is needed. However, in two years you will bump that up to 30 gallons per application as the tree gets larger. Because the Bay Laurel will be a larger tree I would recommend using drip tubing coiled in a spiral around the tree instead of drip emitters. This spiral of drip tubing will be attached to the mainline spiral around the trunk of the tree and reconnected back into the mainline. Spiraling the drip tubing around the tree and reconnecting it back to the lateral will eliminate the need for flushing for that tree. If the drip tubing dead ends at the tree then the drip tubing must be flushed on a regular basis.  If you use drip tubing with 1 gallon per hour drip emitters embedded into the drip tubing every 12 inches then you will only need about 10 feet of drip tubing spiraled around the tree to give you 15 gallons of water in 90 minutes. If you use drip tubing with drip emitters spaced every 12 inches and the drip emitters emitting 1/2 gallon per hour then you will need about 20 feet of drip tubing spiraled around the tree. The spiral should be staked so that each spiral is about 12 to 18 inches apart around the tree.  Personally I would use the 1 gallon per hour drip tubing with emitters spaced 12 inches apart. It’s very easy to come by locally. As the tree gets larger every two or three years you will splice in another spiral of drip tubing To give it more water because it’s larger.

Q. I reached out to you a couple of years ago regarding the lime and lemon trees we planted about three years ago.  Here they are, both are filling out and growing taller.  My question is why no fruit?  This year we had two tiny limes and no lemons.  We follow fertilizer instructions. The tag on the lemon and lime trees stated pollination not required.  I understood that bees are not required.  We do not recall a freeze last spring.   A. Citrus of all forms does not grow well in the Las Vegas Valley. You will have good years and bad years. If there are freezing temperatures in the spring you will have spotty production of fruit. If it’s a warm spring with no freezing temperatures than you will have good fruit set if you saw flowers. If you saw no flowers, there will be no fruit.  All Fruit Trees Need Bees When you see flowers make sure that you see some honeybees. To attract honeybees to your yard plant some rosemary or other herbs that flower during the winter time that attract honeybees. Put out a tray of water and change the water weekly to keep it clean. Water will also attract honeybees but flowering plants in the winter that they like are better. Las Vegas is Not Known for Citrus Production. Why? FYI if we didn’t have freezing temperatures here there could be a vibrant citrus production area. That production area in the desert occurs in Yuma where it’s less likely to freeze in the spring. Winter temperatures in Yuma, Arizona, are warmer than they are in Las Vegas. Citrus are subtropical. Any fruit trees that produce flowers before freezing temperatures are finished are likely to not produce fruit. That’s true for peaches, apricots, nectarines, plums. It’s a basic rule of fruit science. Pollenator vs Pollenizer Saying that the trees don’t require pollination means that they don’t require another tree to make fruit. They will still need honeybees as pollenizers not pollinators. Pollenizers are insects. Pollinators are other trees. Freezing Temps Can Happen at Sunrise Had one freeze that came through this past spring. It’s very easy to miss if you’re not looking for it. The coldest temperatures are just before sunrise. After sunrise the temperatures get warmer. Use an inexpensive low temperature thermometer and check for yourself.

 Summer heat can be brutal on plants. Maybe it isn’t always the heat.

 The University Orchard is located 100 yards east of the corner at North Decatur and Horse Road in North Las Vegas in Aliante. Mulch Update: open at 7 AM! Load your own: please bring your own tools to fill your own containers! Tractor filled pick-up trucks by appointment: call 702-786-4361.

Q. I think I don’t have enough bees to pollinate my vegetables. What should I do? Honeybee pollinating peach flower. A. To improve vegetable pollination, plant herbs in the garden or in containers such as rosemary, dill, lavender and tarragon to attract bees. Herbs that flower during the winter like rosemary are a good choice for cool season crops. Other herbs that flower in the summer keep pollinators coming back.             Water also attracts pollinators in the summer so put out a shallow tray of water with some rocks in it and clean the tray and water once a week.             Remember pollination will be erratic in the garden anytime temperatures climb above 90° F. Its not because the pollinators like honeybees are not active. They are. Many are busy during summer heat hauling water back to the hive to keep it cool. Once temperatures exceed 105° F,  few plants get pollinated during that kind of heat because of “pollen failure”. Successful pollination occurs again when the air temperatures start dropping in the late summer and early fall and pollen tubes and sperm can succeed in pollination.

Q. We are next to Santa Cruz, Ca. A skilled gardener friend of ours suggested one could support the palm, dig a hole below it, and drop it down the necessary foot or so. I haven’t explored the extent of the rooting, but I may attempt that if it doesn’t have any depth to it. A.  Is that a broken container around the base of the plant? It looks like the palm was in a container and rooted into the soil beneath it. Then broke the clay container as it got larger and the owners let it root. Queen palm? I am used to the Mojave Desert so that is my focus. It looks like queen palm. Problem What worries me is how constricted the trunk is from being in that container. I am not sure how weak the trunk is from that constriction and how strong it will be in the future as the top gets heavier.  Solution To be on the safe side I would get rid of it or, if you want to be daring…try burying the trunk as you replant it so the constriction is below ground and hopefully the trunk will send out new roots from that area. That does work in some palms as long as you don’t keep the soil around the trunk too wet. Otherwise it looks like its in good health. I would be concerned what kind of liability this tree might have on other people who visit, property or neighbors. Good luck! https://www.hunker.com/13428846/what-is-the-root-base-of-a-queen-palm-tree https://www.researchgate.net/publication/242586654_Palm_root_growth_and_implications_for_transplanting  

Q. About one month ago my landscaper recommended watering six days a week for 20 minutes because he thought one of our Japanese blueberries and Podocarpus (Japanese Yew or Yew pine) were not getting enough water. They were planted about six months ago during the winter months when it was cool and now they are not looking healthy. A. If you follow me here or on my blog you know I’m not a big fan of planting Japanese blueberries in our desert climate and soils. Maybe one or two as specimens but not a bunch in a straight line and used for privacy. I don’t like Yew pine either for similar reasons, but I seldom get questions about yew pine. I get more complaints about Japanese blueberry failing in home landscapes than any other plant except maybe bottle tree. Wrong Exposure             People buy both Japanese blueberry and yew and put them in the wrong places in a landscape, fail to amend the soil properly at planting and surround them with rock. Someone is doing a good job selling them as privacy hedges near a wall. That’s a mistake in my opinion and I wish it would stop. Watering             I am assuming you are watering these plants three or four times a week and your landscaper is suggesting watering daily. Watering three or four times a week will be enough water for these plants during the summer if they receive enough water each time. Daily watering any types of trees and shrubs is a mistake. That’s not an opinion. That’s a fact. Don’t go there if you don’t have to. Your plants may not be any better off after this change if they were planted in the wrong place at the start.             I suspect that both types of plants were planted in the wrong location in the landscape. Both plants like shade in the afternoon when temperatures are above 100° F. They struggle if planted in full sun in our desert climate. They will look bad during the hot summer months when planted near hot walls. Remember this when you are evaluating your plants. Amend Soils             Both plants prefer highly amended soils at the time of planting. They are not true desert plants, so they will require extra TLC. If these plants are surrounded by rock they will begin to struggle in 3 to 5 years. If you do plant them, make sure the soil is amended with a good quality compost at planting and surround them with 4 inches of woodchips on the soil surface rather than rock. What to do?  Rather than increase your irrigation to daily, increase the number of emitters or size of emitters around those plants. Increase the amount of water delivered to them so that it wets the soil to at least 18 inches deep. This can be done without increasing the minutes needed. The soil should be wet out to the dripline of the plant. Irrigate them deeply 3 to 4 times a week, not shallow irrigations daily. The only plants in a landscape that require daily irrigations during the summer are lawns, raised beds and annual flowers.             If you think these plants should be moved to a different landscape location, replant them during the fall and winter months. Remove 1/3 of the tops after they are moved. You can successfully move plants that were growing up to two or even three years in the ground if done correctly.

USDA to Host CFAP Producer Webinar August 19 to Discuss Newly Eligible Specialty Crops, Nursery Crops, Cut Flowers and more The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will host a webinar on August 19 at 3 p.m. ET to discuss recently added commodities eligible for the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP). Join the USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) for detailed examples on specialty crops, nursery crops, cut flowers, eligible aquaculture and more. USDA has extended the deadline and is accepting applications for CFAP through September 11. Visit the Website and Register