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A plant problem is a "snapshot" in time; issues led up to the problem and issues may continue after the problem has been "solved". Oftentimes desert plant problems boil down to where its planted, if it needs soil improvement or not, watering and drainage. Deserts oftentimes have fewer disease problems and more insect and weed problems. Weed control is always #1! So if you think its a disease problem you are usually wrong! (Not always but 90% of the time you will be.) But about 50% of the problems have to do with how the plant was managed.
1. Tell me where you are living. Knowing where you are and what your climate is like will help me a lot toward answering your question.
2. Tell me what you think it is? Knowing what you think helps me figure it out. Sometimes I agree and sometimes I have an alternate idea. Sometimes its more than one problem all wrapped together.
3. Send some pictures. Usually more than one picture is best. Send closeups. Different angles. Distance shot. Several pictures are better than one. I may use your question and picture on my blog or in my weekly Las Vegas Review Journal newspaper article!
3. Send some pictures. Usually more than one picture is best. Send closeups. Different angles. Distance shot. Several pictures are better than one. I may use your question and picture on my blog or in my weekly Las Vegas Review Journal newspaper article!
Email questions to Bob Morris at Xtremehorticulture@gmail.com
1-702-972-7642
Having difficult time finding trees on list for tomorrow. Suggestions on how find for purchase? Looking for twisted acacia, texas olive and sweat acacia. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteSorry I did not see this comment to one of my pages until now. If you are in the Las Vegas area try the State Forest Nursery at http://forestry.nv.gov/ndf-state-forest-nurseries/las-vegas-state-tree-nursery/
DeleteThere are commercial nurseries that produce them in Arizona. How to get them from there is a problem unless you buy online. Send questions to me at xtremehorticulture@gmail.com
Can you give me information on pherimone traps? When do I put them out? How often do I need to change the traps?
ReplyDeleteI am a master gardener at the Research Orchard in NLV.
Thanks!!
The 2 insect pests you probably want to control are the Apple coddling moth which also gets into pear and quince and the peach twig borer which gets into soft peaches, mid-to-late apricots and sometimes almonds.
DeleteBy the winged traps and not the Delta traps. The size of your orchard would require about 6 traps total; 3 of coddling moth and 3 of peach twig borer. Buy enough sticky bottoms for the traps to replace them weekly starting in April and extending through the growing season. Buy enough lures to change them monthly during the same time. Store the lures sealed in the freezer. By the most concentrated peach twig borer lure and coddling moth lure that you can get. Put out one trap of each in about April. Put the codling moth trap in the Apple row. Put the peach twig borer trap in the peach row. Monitor the sticky bottoms of the traps daily. Replace the sticky bottoms and lures as I mentioned. When you see the sticky bottoms on the traps filled with moths, deploy the other 2 traps in each of the rows. Replace the lures and sticky bottoms as necessary and as I told you. You can stop using the traps at the end of the growing season. The purpose of the traps and lures is to release enough pheromone and capture enough moths to prevent their mating and egg laying on the fruit.
I bought "pineapple guava" shrub about 4 years ago and I have yet to see any fruit. I get plenty of blossoms but no fruit. I even tried manually pollinating it with a soft brush and pollen from some flowers but still no fruit. It gets enough water and fertilizer. How do I get it to bear fruit?
ReplyDeleteOftentimes pineapple guava needs another different kind of pineapple guava to pollinate it. With another variety in the area fruiting will be better. Hand pollination is a good step but use pollen from another variety. It is old enough to have fruit.
DeleteI live in St George, Utah. I am looking to buy a dwarf Owari satsuma mandarin tree to grow indoors. Are there any nurseries in Las Vegas or St George that have them in inventory? or must I buy online? Jim Blakesley
ReplyDeleteI got an email from you as well. I replied to your email but this would leave out others who might be looking as well. To my knowledge, very specific varieties of citrus like yours can be hit or miss in this case since we are not in citrus country. I would suggest you order online. The closest shipping area would be southern California or Yuma, Arizona. In southern California I would order from Four Winds Nursery, Pearsons Nursery or Paradise Nursery. Shop around, look at buyer reviews and purchase.
DeleteYou won't find anything that specific locally. You might find a satsuma or mandarin orange but nothing that specific. If I were you I would consider purchasing from four winds nursery online or pearsons nursery or Paradise nursery all of them in California. I would order it now but make sure the delivery comes after February is over to avoid freezing temperatures. Dig the hole two to three feet wide and amend that soil taken from the hole with about 25% compost. Water the tree as you're planting it and stake it as soon as it's planted. The climate in southern California is not going to be the best so I would shade the tree from late afternoon sun with a couple of boards on the South and West sides of the trees for about 6 weeks. That's called plant acclamation which can be important for a radical change in climate to the desert.
DeleteI live in Phoenix AZ. I am a landscaper trying to help a resident with a live oak tree (Quercus virginiana)that is dripping sap from the leaves. It is next to a driveway and the sap gets all over the car parked there. The leaves are sticky and I suspect aphids but I can't see any bugs on the leaves even with a magnifier. I treated it with Mauget injection of Imicide but it still has sticky leaves. I talked to another resident who has the same problem and told me that her tree has always dripped sap. The trees seem to be healthy otherwise. Is dripping from the leaves just something you have to live with if you have live oak trees?
ReplyDeleteThe active ingredient of Imicide is imidacloprid which is a plant systemic. The insects that normally cause the dripping from the leaves are aphids in the spring of the year and typically disappear when it starts to get hot. However, the shiny residue will still remain on the leaves but the dripping should stop. I checked the label and my knowledge of that insecticide and it should be very effective on aphids and aphid control. I will control the ants in the area as well as putting a treatment down like imidacloprid. I have never used it in a Mauget application, only as a soil drench applied an insecticide and letting the roots of the tree take up the solution after the application. I can understand why you chose that route and it should work. The fact that you not seeing aphids anywhere kind of tells me they are gone. By the way I only apply this type of insecticide after it flowers in the spring to reduce the criticism of toxicity to bees. Which might be true there isn't enough evidence to prove one way or another but it's a good precaution to take. I also control ants in the area with a bait applied at the entrance to the nest to prevent them from spreading the aphids around to different leaves and increasing the problem.
DeleteWe live on the most southern side of Las Vegas and the wind here is just brutal for our fruit trees which are apple, citrus, guava, plum, figs and peaches. When flowering, most are either blown away or being dried out and fall off.
ReplyDeleteIs there any evergreen fruit trees we can plant or other recommended options to break the wind so fruit will set?