Yellowing Leaves of Young Apple

Leaf Cupping on Asian Pear

Persimmons for the Mojave Desert

Harvesting Green Almonds

Free Spring Planting Class Feb 10 by Master Gardeners

There are still raised beds available!!!!!

For more information contact 702-257-5555

Grow beds are still available at this community garden. Raised beds are 4 x 8 ft and only $10 per month which includes water. A water spigot is provided at each bed and they are ready to plant NOW. The $75 initial startup fee is waived this spring but will resume. For more information contact Nedra   nedrahoogland72@gmail.com

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Minor Differences between Snap and Sugar Snap Peas

Q. Have had much success with sugar snap peas, but lately I’ve been planting sugar snap peas and getting snow peas instead.  Is it because the seed is old? 

Flowering of snap peas

A. I’m not sure the difference you are seeing between these snow peas and snap peas. Snow peas have flat pods when young and we see them frequently used in stirfry. Snap peas, or sugar snap peas as they are sometimes called, have round pods when they are young and not used conventionally in stirfry.

New growth of bush form of snap peas

            Snap peas, when they first emerge, are flat. As the seed inside the pod begins to enlarge the pod becomes round. If you pick snap peas too early they will look like snow peas. When harvesting snap peas, wait a little bit longer for the seed to enlarge and the pod to become round. But harvest the pods before the seed becomes mature. If you wait too long, the seed contains more starch rather than sugar and not as sweet.

            The differences between the two are genetic so it should have nothing to do with the age of the seed. Snap peas were genetically bred from their ancestors, the English or garden pea and snow peas, to be less fibrous when they are young.

            You also might be referring to the “strings” in the pod or how tough the pod is. If strings are a problem, harvest when very young or the pod may get tough when older. If you’re having problems with strings, remove the strings from the pods before using them and start harvesting earlier.

Apple Tree Seeping Water

Q. I noticed my Anna apple tree is seeping fluid and a white patsy substance from a previous cut done last year. What shall I do to help it?

Anna apple seeping fluid from old pruning wound

A. Smell the fluid. Take your finger and wipe it against this wetness and judge your nose whether the smell is “yeasty” or not. If there is a strong yeasty smell, there might be a bacterial infection going on. If it does not smell “yeasty”, then there is probably no infection. 

Wetwood or slime flux disease on older tree from a reader. Slime flux is caused by bacteria "feeding" on inner wood of tree and causing the fluid to smell "yeasty". Often times this liquid attracts flies and has a foul odor. This "disease" is not fatal to the tree but can be unsightly and create a nusiance.

            I would not do anything to the tree regardless. The yeasty smell is caused by a non-lethal infection.

            The inside of a tree has a central core of dead wood. The living part of the tree is an outer cylinder of living wood that enlarges year-to-year. The inside of the living cylinder increases the diameter of this dead, central core each year.

            Growth in the length of branches is called primary growth. Growth in width or diameter is called secondary growth.

            Secondary growth is responsible for “rolling over” pruning cuts and they can no longer be seen. When this secondary growth rolls over a wound, it surrounds or engulfs the wound, covering it, but the wound doesn’t “heal” like it does in animals.

The  cylinder of living "wood" of a tree is alive and can "roll over" a wound, even a large one, and "bury" it in the older dead wood inside the tree.

            The central core of the tree is dead. This dead wood can “rot” due to different microorganisms. This rotting caused by microorganisms can cause the “seeping fluid” you are seeing.

            I would do nothing to the tree at this time unless you see other problems developing in its overall health. Judging from the picture you sent, the old wound seems to be healing and rolling over the pruned cut very nicely.

            I would not disturb it in any way but let the tree heal on its own. It should stop weeping when tree growth begins in earnest in the next few weeks.

Leaf Damage Can Come from Salts

Q. Do you have any idea what causes deformed leaves to appear on my shrubs? I thought it was from heat this past summer but I also see it on trees not in this sunny spot.

Readers picture of small, deformed leaves from shrub. Except for the scorched leaf margins, the plant looks healthy.

A. If you look at the edges of the deformed leaves on your shrubs, they have brown margins or edges, very typical to salt burn.

            Fertilizer? If too much fertilizer is used or placed too close to the plant, it can cause this kind of brown leaf margins. They can also cause unusual growth. Most fertilizers are salts and can cause salt burn if too much is applied or applied too close to the trunk or main stems.

Extreme salt damage to vegetable leaf

            Salt damage sometimes occurs after a heavy rain. This is because salts are pushed away from the roots with applied irrigation but rain can push the salts back toward the roots. The return of salts to the roots can cause plant damage. For this reason, it’s a good idea to run drip irrigation right after a heavy rain.

Minor salt damage to pepper leaf margins. Enough to cause eventual leaf cupping.

            Salt damage is much worse for plants when air temperatures are hot rather than cool.

            Not enough water applied? This has nothing to do with how often water is applied, how many days each week, but about how much water is applied during each irrigation. Drought like this can also cause smaller leaves with brown margins.

            Salt burn can look a lot like drought.

            Mulch problem? Mulch placed too close to the trunk can cause disease problems when the trunk is in contact with wet mulch too often? This is true of wood chip mulch and rock mulch.

            Zinc deficiency can cause something similar, but I don’t think this is a zinc shortage.

            What to do? Flush the area under the canopy with a large volume of water to wash salts away from the roots. Secondly, pull wood mulch or rock mulch away from the stems or trunk of the plant. Third, add one or two more drip emitters to the plant so as to increase the volume of water applied without having to change the minutes on your irrigation clock.

Cut Back Bougainvillea or Not?

Q. Should bougainvillea be cut back in the winter?  I have two in large pots. I want to see them grow fuller this spring and summer. Cut back or leave them?

Bougainvillea used as a landscape shrub in Bullhead City, Az, USA

a

A. Wait until about March 1 and see if there is any winter damage from freezing. Then decide. If there is, cut it back close to the ground and let it regrow again.

Bougainvillea will regrow after damage quickly on established roots from year to year. As long as the winter temperatures were not cold enough to damage the roots and crown. Mulch the plant during winter months if you think it will freeze.

            If there is no winter freeze damage, make this plant fuller by cutting the stems back at various heights (so it doesn’t look like a butch haircut) anywhere from a foot to foot half from the ground. For every cut you make, three new shoots will grow and increase the density of the plant.

How to Grow Oaks from Acorns. Do you really want to?

Q. I picked up 10 acorns that were laying on the ground in Illinois. If I were to plant these, would the acorns germinate and produce an oak tree? What are the chances it will survive in the desert climate? 

Acorn from southern live oak, which grows in the desert southwest, from previous submitter

A. There are about twenty different kinds of oaks native to Illinois. Two of the more common oaks are northern Red Oak and White Oak. Both of these oaks are not native to the Southwest and you will have trouble growing them here as they get older.

Oak leaf gall does occur on our native oaks in the desert southwest

           We have oaks native to the Southwest and you are better off planting those than bringing some from Illinois. But you could have fun with them for a while.

            If you found acorns on the ground, then most likely the seed inside the acorn is mature. However, the seed may not be “alive”. Put them in a bowl of water and use the ones that sink and discard the ones that float.

           Plant them on the north or east side of a building. Mix compost 50/50 with native soil in an area 3 feet wide and 2 feet deep. Plant the acorns on their side in this amended soil, about 1 inch deep, in mid-November. If the winter is cold enough, the seed inside the acorn will grow when it warms in the spring.

           If you missed this November window, put them in a plastic bag with a moist sponge in the refrigerator. Take them out after two months and then plant them in the same way.

           Oaks have a very strong taproot. If you move them from this spot, do it when they are very small. They do not move easily to new locations once they establish a taproot. Otherwise, remove extra seedlings and grow the strongest ones the same way you would grow any other landscape tree.

Urban Agriculture Pays Off

New research from collaboration between Arizona State University (ASU) and Google provides an assessment of the value of urban agriculture and the benefits it provides on a global scale.

 

“For the first time, we have a data-driven approach that quantifies the ecosystem benefits from urban agriculture. Our estimates of ecosystem services show potential for millions of tons of food production, thousands of tons of nitrogen sequestration, billions of kilowatt hours of energy savings and billions of cubic meters of avoided storm runoff from agriculture in urban areas,” said Matei Georgescu, an ASU associate professor.

Using the Google Earth Engine, the researchers analyzed global population, urban, meteorological, terrain, and Food and Agricultural Organization datasets to arrive at their global scale estimates – and then aggregated them by country. The estimated value of four ecosystems services resulting from existing vegetation in urban areas was found to be roughly $33 billion. This includes a projected annual food production of 100 to 180 million tons and energy savings of 14-15 billion kilowatt-hours.

Read more about it here