Is Xtremehorticulture Advice Transferrable to St. George?

Q. I live in the St. George Utah area and use your horticulture advice regarding many of the plants in my yard. Three small questions if I may ask?

1) Is your advice, on the broad list of subjects flower-plants-shrubs- trees, ok to follow for this area?

2) I have never raised vegetables before and would the Moapa publication be a good guide for this area for a beginner grower?

3) I have two Arizona Ash on my South West side of the yard. 15 ft apart on a drip line. One had aphids this year which I watched closely and removed them with chemical spray.  However, the lower limbs continued to have leaf curl all summer with no bugs and no real damage to the leaf other than the curl.

A1. I view your climate similar to Kingman AZ and Pahrump NV. It doesn’t get as hot as LV and it can get a bit colder. You have an excellent extension guy in Rick Hefflebower located on the way to Hurricane. By all means use my information as best you can but if you aren’t sure about something run it by Rick and get his take on it. I think your soils are better than LV and you may or may not need as much soil amendment as we do in LV. The color of your soil should tell you. Certainly if you are growing vegetables or annual flowers you ALWAYS will need to add it.

A2. I attached his pamphlet for you and my planting calendar. whenever you can get local information is usually better.  You have some excellent gardeners in Washington county. I think Dr. Wittwer has some excellent info in his Moapa Valley vegetable guide but just tailor it to your climate. I think you are colder than our 3000 ft elevation I have on my calendar. I could be wrong but that is my take on it.

A.3. I think you may be more isolated in St George regarding ash decline but that is always my concern in the LV area. I saw this ash disease active in the LV community in the late 1980s so it is coming if you don’t have it.

The use of chemicals or not is a personal choice. I don’t support one side or the other. I use chemicals when all else fails. I don’t believe in throwing out the baby with the bath water.

Probably the biggest factor is wind. If its windy then irrigate that day and throw out the one day between irrigations rule. Listen to my podcast on heat and plants and it will apply to St George I think.