Murray Wood: International community needs to help in Gaza
Murray Wood says Hamas is a terrorist group that has committed acts of evil, but it's also true that the situation in Ga...
Jill and Rick Van Duyvendyk answer all your gardening questions in Garden Talk on 650 CKOM and 980 CJME every Sunday morning at 9 a.m. Here are some questions and answers from the July 27 show:
Read more:
- Garden Talk: Tips and tricks for growing vegetables and fruit in Saskatchewan
- Garden Talk: How can I prevent maggots in my cherries?
- Garden Talk: Give your summer lawn some love
- Garden Talk: Save money by being water wise in your yard this summer
These questions and answers have been edited and condensed for clarity.
Q: What can I do about mushrooms in my lawn?
A: Mushrooms grow on organic matter like a buildup of thatch from your lawn grass, or an old tree root.
The best thing you could do is to aerate the soil in those places where you have the mushrooms. Then water and put fertilizer in that area.
If you have a lot of them, you can also use a compost accelerator. It comes in a in either liquid or powder for use in compost bins and that, but it also will help break down organic matter.
If you don’t mind the mushrooms, just leave them alone — they’ll actually help break down the organic matter. If you don’t like them, pick them because they will spread by spores as well but you still need to get rid of what they’re feeding on.
Next spring do a power rake on the lawn and keep the fertilizer up because a higher nitrogen fertilizer will help break down that organic matter as well.
You can also cut back on your watering a bit and that’ll help dry them out.
Mealybug infestation on a Hoya. (Submitted)
Q: What are these white spots on my Hoya that are spreading to other plants?
A: It looks like mealybug, which can be in the soil and roots as well as the leaves. You have to sterilize your pot if the roots show signs of infestation.
Every week or 10 days and use a Q-tip dipped in rubbing alcohol and get the Hoya leaves cleaned out that way.
If you have a really bad infestation, take all the soil off your plant and wash the entire thing with a soapy water solution including the roots. Rinse it well, dry it off and and then plant it again.
Q: What is the large creamy-coloured mass I found at the base of my rhubarb?
A: It is likely a fungus. The best way to get rid of it is to expose it to sunlight. Don’t use any chemicals. When it dries up a bit take some gloves and get a lot of the spores out if you can. It’s not harmful to the plant.
Q: My 40-year-old Siberian elm trees are weeping a lot of clear liquid like water and shedding bark. What causes that?
A: Probably caused by the drought and the age of the trees — they’re coming to the end of their time.
I suggest you cut the affected trees out but don’t keep them for firewood, they should go to your local landfill so they don’t attract elm beetles.
Keep any healthy trees clean by trimming dead and dying branches and then they’ll put on some new growth and they’ll fill out back again.
Don’t trim elms until after Sept. 1.
Q: My crab apples are full of brown spots and are soft and spongy. What causes that?
A: It’s an apple maggot from a fly that comes up out of the ground at the end of June or beginning of July, and lays eggs in the developing apples.
The best thing to do if you’ve got lots of them is pick every apple off the tree and throw them in the garbage. Don’t put them in the compost, you need to stop the cycle.
Next year, you can also put up some lures which are like fake apples or tennis balls with some Tanglefoot on them. The flies get stuck to the Tanglefoot and can’t lay their eggs.
Rust fungus on citronella leaf. (Submitted)
Q: What is this spotty, rusty brown on a citronella leaf?
A: Anything reddish brown is usually a rust fungus. Spray it with a garden fungicide to prevent it from spreading.
It’s not going to fix any leaves that have that issue on it and make them green again but it’s not too late in the season to trim off some of that fungus so the plant will produce new leaves.
To keep it healthy, fertilize citronella plant with a 20-20-20 fertilizer right up until the first frost. Also watch when you’re watering, that you’re watering into the soil and not on the leaves.
Q: Why are all the inside leaves on my hydrangea turning yellow?
A: If the flowers are not wilting or to turning brown, then yellow leaves can be caused by a couple of things.
One is is not enough light. If it’s in an area that is too shady you also wouldn’t get many blooms. The second is the plant is either too wet or too dry. The best way to figure out if the plant is too wet or dry is to probe the soil with a piece of reba.
Make sure the plants are getting enough food as well — a 20-20-20 fertilizer might brighten the plant up a bit.
Q: When can I prune my maple tree?
A: The best time to prune them is in starting July 15 up until about Sept. 30.
Q: When’s the best time of year to plant plum trees?
A: You can plant them throughout the growing season as long as you just don’t take off on vacation and not water them. You have to keep them moist because of all the leaves on them when it gets warm in the summer, it will dry out the root ball. Water them by letting a garden hose and trickle right onto the trunk of the tree.
Q: What causing browning and needles to fall off a mugo pine?
A: There’s a couple of things that can happen with pine trees.
If they get scale, you’ll see white speckles on the needles, caused by an insect that sucks on it. You have to take care of those when they’re in the crawling stage. When they look like paint flecks, you can’t get them, but as soon as they turn fuzzy, you can hit them with End All, or Bug X-out.
The other one is spider mite, and that works from the inside out. You can’t really see the spiders or the webbing, it’s right between the needles, and where the needles come out of the stems.
You’ve got to look with a magnifying glass or give the stems a tap; you’ll see these little bugs. You can just blast them with cold water or use Malathion or Bug X-out, which will work better because the canola oil in the product will keep them from reproducing.
Q: What caused the leaves of my palm to turn silvery white?
A: There’s two things that can cause that. Usually it’s over watering, but then you’ll usually see the leaves turning brown as well.
It could be spider mite, which is common on palms. Look on the backside of the leaf and you’ll see these little speckles and a very fine webbing, almost like dust. If that is the case then use End-All for three treatments every 10 to 14 days.
Q: How can I make a torenia flower again?
A: Torenia does better in a shady location. It might be getting too much sun. A good fertilizer to get a plant to re-bloom one with a larger middle number, like a 15-30-15. You can also do some deadheading, pinching and pruning and that will help.
Q: Why are my Seascape strawberries not fruiting?
A: Seascape is known for being a great ever-bearing variety that’s going to produce all season long. They need lots of sun and they don’t like a lot of nitrogen. so make sure you use a low nitrogen fertilizer.
If the the leaves look really green, and they’re getting lots of runners. they might just be getting a littletoo much fertilizer. So you might want to
slow down on the fertilizer.
You can trim some of the runners off and sometimes that will promote flower growth as well and try aerating the soil.
Q: Why do I get a lot of tops on my radishes, beets, and carrots but nothing underneath?
A: It could be a few things. One thing is heat, especially if they are in a raised bed or the garden’s really sunny. Some root crops like radishes are cool weather crops.
Another thing is too much fertilizer, which can cause a lot of top growth, but not a lot of bottom growth. Too much manure or too much compost will also cause it.
They could also be planted too close together, they need to be thinned out as soon as possible. It is best to do it as soon as they start sprouting. When they get bigger and you pull them it disturbs the plants around them.
Q: How do I fix my honeysuckle tree that is getting large bare patches and looks entire limb sections are dying?
A: You need to trim it back and let it grow back again. Honeysuckles age and then you will get some branches that will die out. After trimming, fertilize especially from May until the middle of July and new growth will fill in the bare spots.
Q: Is it okay to put alfalfa tea on pines and spruces and birches right now?
A: Yes, alfalfa tea is very low in nitrogen and has lots of all the micronutrients, which is a good thing for this time of the year. Normally we say stop fertilizing now, but the exception would be alfalfa tea.
Q: Can I store elm wood and use it for firewood if all the bark is removed?
A: The law says you can’t store elm wood at all.
Q: The fruit on my Prairie Sensation apple tree is small and really sour. Will they get sweeter over time?
A: Prairie Sensation apples ripen about the first week of September, so you’ve got a whole month yet. You can use fruit and berry fertilizer one last time and keep the tree moist but not wet and they’ll be fine.
Q: What cause a row of six holes about three feet up the trunk of a linden tree?
A: Those are caused by a bird called a sapsucker, like a woodpecker. They love linden trees. They come through in the spring when the sap’s are running and then they migrate further up north to nest.
The thing best to do is put a trunk guard around the tree and take it off in the spring once they have migrated.
Read more:
