Q. I laid tall fescue sod earlier this year in my backyard. It has been great until about a week ago when half the yard turned yellow! I use an inground sprinkler system and water 7 days a week for 3 minutes at 7 AM, 11 AM and 3 PM. The soil is moist about 4 inches down. A. Why are you still watering 3 times a day for 3 minutes each time? This might be okay for the first couple of weeks after laying the sod but those times should change.             Your irrigation schedule during the heat of the summer should be once a day for a total of about 12 to 15 minutes if you are using pop-up sprinklers. The actual number of minutes depends on the precipitation rate and spacing of the sprinklers.             These are determined by the type of nozzle, pressure used and irrigation design. Poorly designed irrigation systems require more minutes than well-designed systems. With head to head coverage the water from a sprinkler is thrown far enough to reach the neighboring sprinklers             The best time to water a lawn are the hours just before sunrise when the wind is calm. If you can’t water for 12 to 15 minutes all at once because of puddling or water runoff, break your irrigation times into smaller increments, each about one hour apart. Aerifiers punch holes in a lawn for better water and air movement to grass roots.             Get all of the water the lawn needs for that day into the soil during the early morning hours. The lawn can “drink” from this reservoir of soil water until the next irrigation. Lawn grass root development after aerifying             Aerify the lawn with a core aerator 2 or 3 times a year until you can water the lawn for longer and longer periods of time without puddling or runoff. After aerating a few times, you should be able to easily wet the soil to a depth of 8 to 10 inches each time you irrigate. Readers picture of the remaining grass in his long Follow-up question: Q. laid the sod in April and was worried that it was a bit too hot but it took root and was flourishing.  The sod is a raised bed on 4 inches of topsoil from Star nursery over the local clay which I tilled.  I dug a “core” of grass that recently died and had some living grass as well.  The living grass is still rooted strong but the dead grass pulls out very easily.  I don’t see any bugs.  I was unaware of the proper watering and will adjust accordingly.  Do you think there’s any saving this lawn or do I need to re-sod? If so, I’m assuming mid-October is preferred for Tall Fescue.  Also, for the first few months I was getting a lot of mushrooms.  I no longer get them.  Could this be indicative of fungus or disease?  Again, thank you so much for your help. Mushrooms appearing in a lawn is a signal that something in the lawn has not finished decomposing. Mushrooms are decomposers. A. The mushrooms are from decomposing woodchips, probably in the soil mix. It’s not a huge problem and it doesn’t mean there is a disease going on. When the wood chips are exhausted, the mushrooms will stop. I would suggest about October 1 to rake or lightly vertically mow, also called a dethatcher, and rough up the surface of the soil. Seed a blend of tall fescue varieties at a rate of about 8 to 10 pounds per thousand square feet. Fertilize it and water it in. Then cover the seed with a top dressing about one quarter of an inch deep using a manure spreader. If it’s cool enough, you could use steer manure and a spreader. Dethatchers are sometimes called vertical mowers because the small blades that rotate on the shaft are spun vertically rather than horizontally as in a rotary mower.You can adjust the depth of the vertical cut so the soil is disturbed as much or as little as you want.These are vertically spun blades can cut grooves for better soil and seed contact. I think you’re going to have to reseed or re-sod the area and I think seeding is a better option for you. Your irrigation times after the seed germinates I don’t think you’ll have a problem.

Let’s sit down and chat Sept 16 &17 from 11 am to 2 pm!

Q. I planted a Pink Lady Apple and a Fuji apple together as pollination partners last March. My Fuji died over the summer. I like Fuji apples from the store but I’m wondering if I should try again with another Fuji tree or choose another variety? A. Whoever told you Pink Lady apple tree needed a “pollination partner” in our climate is wrong. Pink Lady does not need one and neither does a Fuji apple. They are both self-fruitful here. Fuji apples grown in North Las Vegas             Stay with the Pink Lady apple. Pick a peach, apricot, plum or pluot to replace the dead Fuji apple. Don’t plant in the same hole but plant it a couple of feet away from the old hole. Amend the soil with compost at planting time. Pink Lady apples grown in North Las Vegas             Make sure apples are semi-dwarf. Don’t expect the same apple fruit attributes you have experienced before when fruit is grown in the desert. Different climates, soils and even rootstocks can change the flavor and texture attributes of fruit.             Depending on the time of year, that Fuji apple you bought in the store was most likely a storage apple and not fresh. I like to smell fruit before buying it. When I walk past apples in the store, I want to be able to smell them as I pass by. I want to pick up a fruit, feel it and smell it before buying. Aroma is one indicator of freshness and not a storage apple. There are others.

Q. We love lilacs. My wife saw a new breed of lilac called ‘Boomerang’, a dark purple Syringa. What can you tell us about it? Can we plant it and can it survive?  A. These 2 links to my blog might help. http://xtremehorticulture.blogspot.com/2016/04/how-to-care-for-lilacs-in-desert.html http://xtremehorticulture.blogspot.com/2012/03/lilac-pruning-and-selection-for-desert.html             I do not know this lilac and I have never grown it in the Mojave Desert. All I can do is look at its description, the type of lilac it is and make some educated guesses. You can read about this lilac on the Monrovia Nursery website  http://www.monrovia.com/plant-catalog/plants/3042/bloomerang-purple-lilac/             It has been touted as a dwarf, “re-Bloomer” which means it continually produces flowers all through the growing season and stays small which fits nicely into smaller residential landscapes.             Reblooming lilacs are not new. But most of us think of lilacs that bloom only once for a couple of weeks and then it’s just a green bush the rest of the year until winter. Calling it “reblooming” is good for marketing. Talk about Town  Internet discussion groups say that the word re-Bloomer applied to this lilac is not very accurate. It does stay small, but people who have grown it say it’s more of a season-long “trickle of blooms” rather than reblooming over and over.             I would not recommend planting this lilac in our hot, desert environment. First, it is not a Persian lilac, the type of lilac best suited for our hot desert climate. The breeding of “Boomerang” occurred in Canada and was intended for cold climates.             If you decide to go ahead with this plant as your own personal experiment, locate it on the east or northeast side of the home in a place that protects it from afternoon and late afternoon sun. Let me know how it does.             Amend the soil with compost at the time of planting and apply a surface mulch of woodchips to the soil that will continue to improve it, keep soil temperatures cooler and prevent the soil from drying too quickly.

Q. This is a picture of my hibiscus leaf but my star jasmine and rose leaves have the same damage. Also, my hibiscus buds are falling off. I don’t see any creatures. What do you think? Hibiscus leaf with damage   A. When thinking about damage to leaves, the possibilities can be mind-boggling and confusing. The fact you tell me this same type of problem exists on the leaves of other plants usually means it is not a plant disease. If that is true, we can narrow down solutions to the problem better.             Sun damage? When I first saw the damage to this leaf my first thought was “sun damage”. If this is an older leaf, then it could be damage caused weeks or months ago. If this damage is on newer leaves, then it is more recent damage and could still be going on.             I am guessing this is damage to older leaves. I am guessing the damage occurred one or two weeks to a month ago, or perhaps even longer. The most important question is whether the newest leaves are showing this damage or not. If they are not, then the problem is gone and we are talking historically.             If the problem is persisting on new leaves, then the problem still exists. Sticking my neck out somewhat, I think this may be an old watering problem during the very high temperatures of summer. If the younger leaves are not showing the same problems, then the plants were not getting enough water during the heat, but now are, since it’s cooler and the need for water is less.             If you have not done so, applying a 2 to 4-inch layer of woodchips to the surface of the soil helps during times of extreme heat and preventing this from happening.             The issue of flower bud drop on hibiscus is usually water or temperature related; the soil is too dry or the air temperatures are too high. Woodchip surface mulch helps but make sure the plant is getting enough gallons of water each time it is watered. Growing it in bright, indirect light rather than full sunlight also helps.             This plant may require adding another drip emitter. When temperatures begin cooling, you should start seeing flowers and less bud drop.

Q. I have never had fungus in my front or back lawn for decades. My front yard is good, but my backyard is absolutely horrid now. I had a clock problem but I never water during the night. I sprayed a fungicide and it did not help. Everyone tells me the fungus will always be there and continue to cause problems. I am concerned about the cost of continually buying and spraying fungicides in the future.  A. Three problems cause lawns to fail; irrigation, disease and insects. By far, the majority of problems in the desert are irrigation problems. Without irrigation, lawns cannot exist. The reason for a lawn browning, however, can easily be misidentified.             I follow a three-step process in lawn problem identification that relies on the elimination of problems in this order; insect, irrigation and finally disease.             Insect problems are the easiest to identify between the three. Insect damage to a lawn may not follow any type of visual pattern because they usually involve some sort of “eating” of the roots, stems or leaves. Lightly pulling on damaged grass that neighbors dead areas usually reveals if it is insect damage.             Irrigation. Browning of the lawn because of inadequate irrigation usually resembles the irrigation pattern. Identifying where the sprinkler heads are located, and then identifying the pattern of damage, oftentimes confirms if the damage is related to irrigation. Sometimes looking at individual blades of grass reveals tip burn or dieback from a lack of water.             Disease. Browning from diseases may or may not follow a pattern depending on the disease and are the most difficult to identify. In the case of diseases, the only sure way is to send a sample to a pathologist but by the time you get the results it’s too late.             Another way is to apply a fungicide. If the disease stops then it’s possible, but not always correct, the problem was caused by a disease. Browning of the grass caused by diseases can reveal some very interesting patterns when it is first starting. These patterns might be circular brown damage with a green center (frogeye) or in the shape of horseshoes, or no pattern at all.             Looking for disease problems usually involves getting on your knees and looking at individual blades of grass growing closely to the brown area. Sometimes spotting or discoloration of individual blades of grass may indicate the presence of a disease.             In any case, spraying a fungicide when insects or irrigation are the problem will not correct it. Go through this three-step method first before jumping to a conclusion about a disease problem and applying pesticides.

Q. I contacted you earlier about my artichoke and tiny black bugs. I applied a solution of Garden Safe Neem Oil as a spray.  Hosed it down a couple times so cut off the top few inches of leaves.  No pests since then. The main plant is dying and there are several suckers growing.  I have been looking online for care of the plant. A. Care for artichokes going in the desert is different from other locales. In my opinion, artichokes are very “dirty” plants. In other words, they have a lot of different insect and disease “issues”. The main problems I had was with aphids in the spring and whiteflies during the summer but all of them collecting on the bottoms of the leaves. I think this plant is dirtier than sunflowers! Artichoke leaves at the base of the plant turning yellow because of aphids during the spring. Later whiteflies will become the major problem. You have to stay on top of spraying them if you going to keep them clean.You will find these critters on the undersides of the leaves.             Those little black bugs were probably aphids. Aphids love artichokes! The problem with Neem Oil is the quality of the oil. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. If you have found a good brand that works for you, stay with it.             I also like insecticidal soap sprays for aphids. Both are nonselective so they kill just about every insect which is sprayed; good bugs as well as bad bugs so be careful where you apply them.             Both of them usually require repeat applications a few days apart to keep levels of these pests manageable. Aphids don’t like hot temperatures so their numbers decrease during the heat of the summer and are much easier to control then.             Remove some of the artichoke leaves if they are too close together. Remove them at the base of the plant. This helps air to circulate around leaves which is important in disease prevention and insects are much easier to control.             Artichoke plants don’t like the desert; temperatures are too high, the sunlight too intense and the soils are horrible. Artichoke plants look pretty bad during the summer months because of our desert climate. They perk up quite nicely in the fall and spring months.             Do as much as you can to grow artichokes in an environment closer to their ideal; provide protection from the late afternoon sun, improve the soil with compost at planting time and apply organic mulch to the soil surface surrounding them. I have not done it, but I suspect they will perform better under about 30% shade.             We eat their flower buds before they become flowers. For this reason, this plant benefits from a spring application of phosphorus just like tomatoes, roses, squash and cucumbers.

Q. My xylosma bush leaves are dark green with yellow veins, the exact opposite of an iron shortage. I planted these from 5-gallon containers this past January. As the leaves get older, they become more yellow. What is the problem and what can I do Leaf vein yellowing on xylosma A. You are right, a lack of available iron commonly affects the color of leaves on newest growth. Mild iron chlorosis in plants is identified with yellowing leaves with their veins remaining a darker green. Newest leaves grown from the plant get yellower and yellower as the season progresses and the green color of the veins may disappear altogether.             Sometimes the chlorosis is so severe the entire leaf, including the veins, become yellow and the edges of the leaves begin to scorch during hot weather. Besides leaf yellowing, shortages of iron appear always on the newest leaves while the older leaves remain darker green.  Yellow Vein             Green leaves with yellow veins has been reported in citrus, frequently grapefruit, and called “Yellow Vein”. I have not seen Yellow Vein on xylosma but there’s a first time for everything.             In the 1950’s Yellow Vein was demonstrated to be from a lack of nitrogen. Applying high nitrogen fertilizers, like ammonium sulfate, corrected the problem in citrus the following year.             Wood chips applied to the surface of the soil can also cause a shortage of nitrogen to growing plants if they are not fertilized. Other possibilities include chemical damage but probably no other plant nutrient besides nitrogen.             What to do? Flush the soil around the roots with lots of water and then apply nitrogen fertilizers such as 21-0-0, compost or blood meal. Flushing the soil with water first might remove any chemicals present causing this problem.             Apply a nitrogen fertilizer after flushing with water or the water could wash most of the nitrogen away. Apply high nitrogen fertilizers to the soil about 12 inches from the trunk and water it in. Follow label directions on the amount to use since it varies with each fertilizer and depending on its nitrogen content.

Q. We have a 200 square foot lawn that gets morning sun and late afternoon shade. The whole thing is brown now and I think it’s because we overwatered it for the last few months. When we first put down the sod I don’t know if we had a good enough base. How many inches of good soil should we should have above the hard stuff? A. First things first. You cannot have a good lawn without a good irrigation system in our desert climate. Please be sure your irrigation system was designed and installed correctly.             There is a lot of engineering that must be considered when designing an irrigation system. Make sure you have “head-to-head coverage” and your operating water pressure lies within guidelines of the sprinkler manufacturer. Select pop-up sprinklers that clear the surrounding grass at the maximum mowing height.             Soil preparation is important before establishing lawn. But lawns have been successfully established on poor soils and the soil improved after lawn establishment. I don’t recommend doing it this way but it can be done.             It seems like no soil preparation before establishing the lawn would save money but it actually doesn’t. Inadequate or no soil preparation prior to planting makes a lawn difficult to manage, particularly during the summer months. Lawns established the “inexpensive way” are subject to more disease and irrigation problems.              How to improve it after the lawn has been already planted? Irrigate the lawn and while the lawn is still moist, aerate it with a gasoline driven aerator. Stay away from sprinkler heads and hopefully the irrigation pipe was installed more than 4 inches deep or you’ll break the pipe.             After punching holes with an aerator, apply a top dressing to the lawn and rake it into the holes followed by an irrigation. A good quality top dressing is screened to 1/8 inch minus and can be purchased from Viragrow in Las Vegas. It’s the same top dressing used on golf courses. Do this once a year for the next 2 or 3 years in spring or fall and you will see a dramatic improvement IF the lawn has a good irrigation system.             Don’t bag your lawn clippings. Recycle them back into the lawn. Most lawnmowers now are recycling mowers and chop the lawn grasses fine enough so there are no problems afterwards. If you have an older mower that is not a recycling mower, retrofit it with a mulching blade and mow the grass more slowly than you would normally. Don’t bag the clippings.             Ideally, new lawns should have a 12 inch base of good soil. If that is not practical, then a 6 inch base would be the minimum. Removing that much soil and replacing it with good soil would be expensive and a lot of work.             It would be better to mix a 1-inch layer of compost with your existing soil and mixing or tilling it in. No fertilizer is needed the first season after planting if a good quality compost is used.

Q. Most of the leaves on my apricot tree withered and turned brown. The same thing, to a lesser degree and later in the season, happened last year. But this spring it brought forth an abundance of blossoms, fresh, green and healthy-looking leaves and produced lots of good fruit. I checked the soil, and it is not dry, but slightly moist. I water daily on a drip system for 35 minutes.  Apricot tree browning and losing its leaves every year. Probably running out of water as the temperatures get hotter. Rock mulch is never a good idea surrounding fruit trees. Desert soils over time lose their organic content and this leads to poor drainage of the soil in the third fourth and fifth years after planting. A. I looked at the pictures and 3 things come to mind when I read your question; daily watering, rock mulch and giving the tree enough water. I don’t know how much water the tree is getting in 35 minutes but perhaps the tree is running out of water before the next irrigation.             First, the rock mulch. I like rock mulch when it is used around desert plants. I don’t like rock mulch used around non-desert plants such as fruit trees. You would help the tree by raking back the rock a distance of 3 or 4 feet from the tree and replacing it with 3 to 4 inches of wood chip mulch where there is water applied. Wood chip mulch is free from the University Orchard in North Las Vegas or Cooperative Extension just south of the airport.             Daily watering of trees during the summer is never a good thing and can be tricky to manage. If you give the tree more water during an irrigation and then wait one day before the next irrigation, it would help the tree and perhaps eliminate this leaf drop. Perhaps more water could be added if there were more or higher gph drip emitters under the canopy.             Apply water to at least half the area under the canopy of the tree. This may require more drip emitters than the tree has currently. A tree that size should have at least 5 to 6 drip emitters and would do better if there were more than that.             Place emitters about 2 feet apart under the canopy and no closer than 12 – 18 inches from the trunk. A tree that size probably requires from 15 to 20 gallons every time it’s watered. If the tree is watered for 60 minutes and the tree has 6 drip emitters under its canopy, they must be 3 – 4 gallon per hour emitters. If watering for 30 minutes, use 5 gallon per hour emitters.