Gardenias Need Acidic
Soil For Best Growth
DEAR NEIL: I took some cuttings from my aunt's gardenia bush in South Carolina several years ago and rooted them. I gave some of them to several friends and they have bloomed, but mine have never bloomed. The plants are very healthy looking and have grown a lot. What can I do to get them to bloom?
You need to assess the differences in what your friends are doing for their plants and what you are doing for yours. Gardenias require acidic soil. If you have alkaline soil in your area you need to plant them in pure organic matter, preferably half Canadian peat moss and half finely ground pine bark mulch. Keep them moist at all times and treat as needed to eliminate white flies that may gather on their leaves. Apply a high-nitrogen fertilizer in spring and early summer to keep them growing vigorously, then apply a high-phosphate azalea/gardenia food in September. Prune them only after their flowering season.
DEAR NEIL: I am a retired arborist. Recently you addressed ants in trees. They are probably there living off sticky honeydew secreted by aphids on the tree's leaves. Not only is the honeydew a mess but the aphids can lead to problems with the trees. If you see aphids you can control them with a suitable spray. If only the ants are a concern use a product called Tree Tanglefoot. It's a sticky material that stops their climbing.
Great advice, and I thank you! I have recommended and used Tree Tanglefoot for years to persuade sapsuckers to move to other trees. Sounds like a great solution for the ants.
DEAR NEIL: Can Image be used for nutgrass in our vegetable garden? Is it safe around vegetables?
You must follow the label directions. Image is not approved for use around existing vegetables. However, if you wait until the garden is empty in mid-summer you can do whatever you need to treat it.
DEAR NEIL: Is it OK to trim the lower limbs off young live oaks now or should we wait for winter?
If you're talking about small branches and twigs one-quarter inch and smaller you can prune them off now. For most oak pruning mid-winter is best. The hottest part of mid-summer is also good. At those times the beetles that transmit oak wilt are not active.
DEAR NEIL: You can see the photos of my corn plant. I guess it's in flower. The smell of the blossoms is heavenly. Are these flowers? This is the third year it has done this.
Those are flowers. Once a corn plant attains a certain size it will very likely produce flowers. I've had one that also blooms every spring. The people in my office love it for a few days, then it turns overwhelming. I have a collection of snake plants. Believe it or not they are fairly closely related and they produce the same wonderful fragrance.
DEAR NEIL: We have an oak tree that is losing all its bark. The leaves and branches seemed healthy at first but now the lower branches are dying. I have attached photos of the tree and its trunk. What can I do?
You really need to hire a professional arborist to look closely at your tree. It looks like there might be an insect invasion or perhaps some type of disease involved. I can't tell from your photos even though they were excellent.
DEAR NEIL: I have red plums coming ripe now but one of my two trees has plums that look like they are molding and decaying on the tree. Should I cut and burn the bad tree? It is within 10 feet of the other one. I have been generous with dormant oil.
It's likely that your fruit has been invaded either by disease or by plum curculio worms or both. Dormant oil alone won't do the job. You need to follow the Homeowner's Fruit and Nut Spray Schedule from Texas A&M. Do a Web search for that exact phrase and it will take you to an Entomology Department printable file. However, don't remove your tree simply for the symptoms you described.
DEAR NEIL: I have a lot of poison oak in the yard. How can I kill it out?
Use a broadleafed weedkiller spray (containing 2,4-d) in open areas or with turf. If you have other broadleafed plants such as trees, shrubs, vines, groundcovers and flowers and vegetables nearby you will have to spot treat very carefully to avoid damaging the desirable plants. Read and follow label directions carefully and do not touch any part of the poison ivy plant as all parts contain the irritating oil.
DEAR NEIL: I have a Meyer's lemon and satsuma. Both have long, branch-like sprouts that look nothing like the rest of the plants. They have different leaves and thorns. Should I do anything with them?
Those are probably originating from the trees' rootstocks. They are not the same varieties as the main trees and should be trimmed away. This same thing happens with budded roses and many other plants.
DEAR NEIL: We are renovating a 150-year-old, 2-acre cemetery. We are even trying to locate the graves. Each year we spray for vegetation but there is always more grass there. Should we use a soil fumigant to eliminate all the vegetation? We are senior citizens and we would like to get this task done as efficiently as possible.
I would not recommend using any type of soil fumigant to sterilize the ground. There would be too much risk to near-by trees and you might be looking at bare ground for an extended period of time. This year has been exceptional for encouraging vigorous grass growth. The various glyphosate products such as Round Up control grasses very effectively without contaminating the soil at all. You could include a broadleafed weedkiller spray to control non-grassy weeds such as poison ivy. This is not my field but I'll bet historic genealogists and local historic societies will have special ways of helping you locate the graves. Maybe you can get by with minimal grass kill.
DEAR NEIL: We have a large oak tree with a nest of ants. My husband thinks they are termites. We have noticed a lot of bark is peeling away from the limbs and trunk. Is it dying? The tree is huge and close to my home. I'm also concerned about the roots hurting the foundation.
If the bark has been damaged or is separating because of decay or injury to the wood of the trunk, the insects see that void as a place to set up shop.
They are not the primary invaders, but secondary to the problem. If this tree is that large you probably already would have seen any possible damage to your foundation. However, if it is declining for whatever the reason you really need to be concerned about its coming down on your home. It could do a lot more damage from above than its roots might do from below. Have a certified veteran arborist take a close look at it.
DEAR NEIL: About 7 years ago I brought back lilac plants from Pennsylvania. I know they're not supposed to grow down here, but from them I now have a 5-foot plant that has grown. Unfortunately it never has bloomed. Any suggestions?
It's not adapted here. You're lucky the plant has even grown for that many years. It may eventually throw out a few tiny flower heads. They'll probably be 10 percent the size of the heads it would have produced in the Pennsylvania climate. We always need to focus on the plants that are best suited to our locale. Oh, beyond a different climate, lilacs will benefit from fall applications of an azalea/gardenia food to provide phosphorus for bud set. But that certainly won't turn them around.
DEAR NEIL: My fruitless mulberry is covered with webworms. What is the best control?
This is a 30-times-per-week question for me right now. They're covering mulberries, persimmons, pecans and walnuts, among others. My advice always is to trim them out. It is very difficult to get sprays into webs that are high in trees. When they first show up their webs are only a foot or so in diameter. Those webs would be easy to prune. Within a week the webs will be several feet long. Use a long-handled pole pruner to reach them but be aware of power lines nearby. You can also use a hooked wire or rake to break the webs open so that birds can feed on the larvae.
DEAR NEIL: We moved to our current house in 2005. There are 18 crape myrtles here. They bloomed beautifully last year but only one has buds so far this year. What is wrong?
Take a deep breath. They'll catch up. Many parts of Texas have had weeks of cloudy weather. Crape myrtle bud set and bloom have been drastically slowed. Hopefully you did not prune these plants back last winter. Topping slows their bloom time and ruins their natural form. Your plants will catch up.
You need to assess the differences in what your friends are doing for their plants and what you are doing for yours. Gardenias require acidic soil. If you have alkaline soil in your area you need to plant them in pure organic matter, preferably half Canadian peat moss and half finely ground pine bark mulch. Keep them moist at all times and treat as needed to eliminate white flies that may gather on their leaves. Apply a high-nitrogen fertilizer in spring and early summer to keep them growing vigorously, then apply a high-phosphate azalea/gardenia food in September. Prune them only after their flowering season.
DEAR NEIL: I am a retired arborist. Recently you addressed ants in trees. They are probably there living off sticky honeydew secreted by aphids on the tree's leaves. Not only is the honeydew a mess but the aphids can lead to problems with the trees. If you see aphids you can control them with a suitable spray. If only the ants are a concern use a product called Tree Tanglefoot. It's a sticky material that stops their climbing.
Great advice, and I thank you! I have recommended and used Tree Tanglefoot for years to persuade sapsuckers to move to other trees. Sounds like a great solution for the ants.
DEAR NEIL: Can Image be used for nutgrass in our vegetable garden? Is it safe around vegetables?
You must follow the label directions. Image is not approved for use around existing vegetables. However, if you wait until the garden is empty in mid-summer you can do whatever you need to treat it.
DEAR NEIL: Is it OK to trim the lower limbs off young live oaks now or should we wait for winter?
If you're talking about small branches and twigs one-quarter inch and smaller you can prune them off now. For most oak pruning mid-winter is best. The hottest part of mid-summer is also good. At those times the beetles that transmit oak wilt are not active.
DEAR NEIL: You can see the photos of my corn plant. I guess it's in flower. The smell of the blossoms is heavenly. Are these flowers? This is the third year it has done this.
Those are flowers. Once a corn plant attains a certain size it will very likely produce flowers. I've had one that also blooms every spring. The people in my office love it for a few days, then it turns overwhelming. I have a collection of snake plants. Believe it or not they are fairly closely related and they produce the same wonderful fragrance.
DEAR NEIL: We have an oak tree that is losing all its bark. The leaves and branches seemed healthy at first but now the lower branches are dying. I have attached photos of the tree and its trunk. What can I do?
You really need to hire a professional arborist to look closely at your tree. It looks like there might be an insect invasion or perhaps some type of disease involved. I can't tell from your photos even though they were excellent.
DEAR NEIL: I have red plums coming ripe now but one of my two trees has plums that look like they are molding and decaying on the tree. Should I cut and burn the bad tree? It is within 10 feet of the other one. I have been generous with dormant oil.
It's likely that your fruit has been invaded either by disease or by plum curculio worms or both. Dormant oil alone won't do the job. You need to follow the Homeowner's Fruit and Nut Spray Schedule from Texas A&M. Do a Web search for that exact phrase and it will take you to an Entomology Department printable file. However, don't remove your tree simply for the symptoms you described.
DEAR NEIL: I have a lot of poison oak in the yard. How can I kill it out?
Use a broadleafed weedkiller spray (containing 2,4-d) in open areas or with turf. If you have other broadleafed plants such as trees, shrubs, vines, groundcovers and flowers and vegetables nearby you will have to spot treat very carefully to avoid damaging the desirable plants. Read and follow label directions carefully and do not touch any part of the poison ivy plant as all parts contain the irritating oil.
DEAR NEIL: I have a Meyer's lemon and satsuma. Both have long, branch-like sprouts that look nothing like the rest of the plants. They have different leaves and thorns. Should I do anything with them?
Those are probably originating from the trees' rootstocks. They are not the same varieties as the main trees and should be trimmed away. This same thing happens with budded roses and many other plants.
DEAR NEIL: We are renovating a 150-year-old, 2-acre cemetery. We are even trying to locate the graves. Each year we spray for vegetation but there is always more grass there. Should we use a soil fumigant to eliminate all the vegetation? We are senior citizens and we would like to get this task done as efficiently as possible.
I would not recommend using any type of soil fumigant to sterilize the ground. There would be too much risk to near-by trees and you might be looking at bare ground for an extended period of time. This year has been exceptional for encouraging vigorous grass growth. The various glyphosate products such as Round Up control grasses very effectively without contaminating the soil at all. You could include a broadleafed weedkiller spray to control non-grassy weeds such as poison ivy. This is not my field but I'll bet historic genealogists and local historic societies will have special ways of helping you locate the graves. Maybe you can get by with minimal grass kill.
DEAR NEIL: We have a large oak tree with a nest of ants. My husband thinks they are termites. We have noticed a lot of bark is peeling away from the limbs and trunk. Is it dying? The tree is huge and close to my home. I'm also concerned about the roots hurting the foundation.
If the bark has been damaged or is separating because of decay or injury to the wood of the trunk, the insects see that void as a place to set up shop.
They are not the primary invaders, but secondary to the problem. If this tree is that large you probably already would have seen any possible damage to your foundation. However, if it is declining for whatever the reason you really need to be concerned about its coming down on your home. It could do a lot more damage from above than its roots might do from below. Have a certified veteran arborist take a close look at it.
DEAR NEIL: About 7 years ago I brought back lilac plants from Pennsylvania. I know they're not supposed to grow down here, but from them I now have a 5-foot plant that has grown. Unfortunately it never has bloomed. Any suggestions?
It's not adapted here. You're lucky the plant has even grown for that many years. It may eventually throw out a few tiny flower heads. They'll probably be 10 percent the size of the heads it would have produced in the Pennsylvania climate. We always need to focus on the plants that are best suited to our locale. Oh, beyond a different climate, lilacs will benefit from fall applications of an azalea/gardenia food to provide phosphorus for bud set. But that certainly won't turn them around.
DEAR NEIL: My fruitless mulberry is covered with webworms. What is the best control?
This is a 30-times-per-week question for me right now. They're covering mulberries, persimmons, pecans and walnuts, among others. My advice always is to trim them out. It is very difficult to get sprays into webs that are high in trees. When they first show up their webs are only a foot or so in diameter. Those webs would be easy to prune. Within a week the webs will be several feet long. Use a long-handled pole pruner to reach them but be aware of power lines nearby. You can also use a hooked wire or rake to break the webs open so that birds can feed on the larvae.
DEAR NEIL: We moved to our current house in 2005. There are 18 crape myrtles here. They bloomed beautifully last year but only one has buds so far this year. What is wrong?
Take a deep breath. They'll catch up. Many parts of Texas have had weeks of cloudy weather. Crape myrtle bud set and bloom have been drastically slowed. Hopefully you did not prune these plants back last winter. Topping slows their bloom time and ruins their natural form. Your plants will catch up.
FAQ
Search Forums
Log in
Register
