Some Eggplant Varieties That Have Performed Well in the Hot Desert

Japanese Eggplant descriptions

Millionaire. Very popular eggplant variety. Black-purple fruit about 8 inches long is an early producer. One of the most popular Japanese eggplant hybrids sold in markets.

Senryo ni  gou. Excellent for home gardens in Japan. Glossy black oval fruits to 5 inches long and weighing about 1/4 pound. Good for pickling.

Shoya long. Purplish-black fruit up to 14 inches long and purple calyx. Early producer for stir fry, grilling and tempura.

Yasakanaga. Purple-black fruit to about 7 inches long with purple calyx. Grilling, stir fry and tempura.

 

Mizuno takumi. Popular with chefs, purplish-black oval fruit weighing about 1/2 pound. Used for cooking or pickling.  Very popular in Japan.

Kyoto egg. Supposedly heat resistant according to seed catalogs but most are good producers during the heat. Round fruit to about 3 inches in diameter. Stir fry or deep frying, grilling. Purple calyx.

Kurume long. Ten inch long black fruit with purple calyx. Produces a bit later but prolific when it starts. Open pollinated.

Konasu. Very small round dark purple fruits with purple-black calyx. Can be cooked but popular for pickling when young, stir fry and grilled in a kabob.

Kamo. Round fruit with flat bottom and purple-black skin weighing up to 1/2 pound. Very well-known eggplant in Japan.

 

Ping Tung. Chinese eggplant that is purple-black up to 18 inches long with green black calyx. Good producer.

Black Beauty. Large purple-black fruit but slow to yield and low yielding but excellent quality.

Thai Long Purple. Very long, purple black fruit with green calyx. Very good quality and good producer.

 Thai Long Green. Fruit is similar to Long Purple but green. Similar quality. Green calyx.

Thai Yellow Egg. More of a novely or decorative eggplant. Fruits are golf ball sized and lemon yellow when ready to pick.

Gardenia Problems in Desert Soils

Q. I have two gardenias in the backyard in 15 gallon ceramic pots with good drainage. One of them is doing pretty well and the other not so well. Our backyard is on the north side so both are shaded most of the day. The picture I sent to you has leaves turning yellow and then brown on the interior of the plant although the ends of the branches still have green leaves. Both plants are on drip and watered the same. I added iron on top of the soil and also Vigoro 10-8-8 plant food but it doesn't seem to be helping. The one I planted about 6 weeks ago has not done well. The other one was planted 3 months ago and is doing well with lots of flowers in May. Any suggestions for the one with the yellow leaves?



Gardenia leaves yellowing in potted gardenia. This could be salt accumulation.

A. It is tough to acidify soils here in our desert due to the alkalinity of our native soils and our water. So if you can acidify the soil as best as you can, it will help. Ways to acidify the soil include using composts, raw composts, manure products, sulfur, acids and aluminum sulfate.

My best shot at the gardenia is iron even though you added some. If you don’t use the right iron, it may not work. Use an iron chelate such as EDDHA with iron. You can pick up a one pound canister of this iron chelate locally at Plant World. I don’t know any other place it is being sold. Combine it with a soil application of your Vigoro fertilizer.

You might also consider some of the Miracid products.

Try to use fertilizers specially made for gardenias in the future if you can find one. If you can’t, use one for azaleas and rhododendrons. If you can’t find that, a third choice would be to use one for tomatoes, fruit trees or roses. Fertilize about once a month during the active growing season. These should be very light fertilizer applications.

Whenever you are watering a plant in a container, you want to add enough water so that about 20% of the water runs out the bottom. This helps keep salts leached from the soil. Our tap water coming from the Colorado River is quite salty and you need to make sure the soil stays flushed of salts coming from the water.

If you don’t, these salts will build up in the container soil and also cause exactly the problem you describe. You can’t let the soil go dry so it might be a good idea to buy one of those inexpensive soil moisture meters used for house plants which can give you a rough idea when the soil is dry and you should irrigate.

You want the soil to dry down between waterings but not too much. If it doesn’t dry down, you may develop root disease problems on camellias. If you let them get too dry, they will drop leaves and the remaining leaves will become scorched.

It is hard to judge when container soils are going dry. One way is to get an idea of its weight. You don’t have to lift it but just budging or moving it a little can give you an idea.

Fertilizer Recommendations for Grass, Trees, Shrubs for Homeowner Associations (HOA)

We need expert opinion soon about what to use as fertilizer for Greenway grass, bushes, and trees. Your advice please.

Greenway grass

Q. What is the range of N-P-K in cow manure that some landscapers use for grass?

A. It's really not fair to compare cow manure to a fertilizer because it really isn't. They are using it more as a top dressing than as a fertilizer application. Manures vary in fertilizer content but are generally about 4% nitrogen and usually low in phosphorus and potassium. You should not rely on cow manure as a fertilizer. The fertilizer should be applied separately from a cow manure. An inexpensive fertilizer for starting plants and getting root growth from seeds, seedlings or newly planted trees and shrubs is 16-20-0 or DAP (18-46-0).

Q. What inorganic fertilizer would you recommend and the amount/acre?

A. For turfgrass you should never apply more than 1 pound of nitrogen every 1000 ft.² or 43 pounds of nitrogen per acre. In my opinion, this is excessive and should be closer to 1/2 pound of nitrogen per thousand square feet or 22 pounds of nitrogen per acre. This would be for inexpensive, quick release agricultural nitrogen fertilizers. If you are applying more expensive horticultural fertilizers that contains slow release nitrogen, then you can bump it up. How much to bump it up depends on what percentage of the nitrogen is slow release in the fertilizer.   

Q. Use 10-10-10 at 500lbs/acre maybe?

A. The fertilizer you mention has 10% nitrogen. It is not a good turfgrass fertilizer but it's fine for trees and shrubs. In fact, turfgrass fertilizers are fine for trees and shrubs as well. The best turfgrass fertilizers are in the ratio of 3-1-2 or 4-1-2. An example would be 21-7-14, a 3-1-2 fertilizer. To apply 1 pound of nitrogen requires 10 pounds of fertilizer. Using your fertilizer you would apply 430 pounds of the fertilizer to get 43 pounds of applied nitrogen. Like I said, I think this is excessive and you will not see the difference once you exceed three quarters of a pound of nitrogen per thousand square feet or about 33 pounds of nitrogen per acre. In fact, if you apply 1 pound of nitrogen per thousand square feet it will push turfgrass growth quite rapidly.

Q. How many times per year and which month(s)?

A. For tall fescue turfgrass I would apply nitrogen four times a year; Labor Day, Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Thanksgiving. During the hot summer months I would always make sure you do not exceed 1/2 pound of nitrogen per thousand square feet or you could end up with some burning if people are not careful. If you are using mulching mowers you can skip the Fourth of July application. If you are using mulching mowers you should never exceed 1/2 pound of nitrogen per thousand square feet in a single application.

Q. Should a roller of punchers be used immediately after fertilizing?

A.I assume you mean aeration. Core aeration can be done any time of the year and does not really relate to a fertilizer application. The only exception might be when you are applying a high phosphorus fertilizer.                           

Q. Should organic fertilizer (cow manure) even be used to fertilize grass?

A. Cow manure is not a fertilizer.

Bushes

Q. What inorganic fertilizer (N-P-K) would you recommend and the amount/bush?

A. Turfgrass fertilizers in the ratio I mention above are good for most trees and shrubs. You would apply this fertilizer in the very early spring or late winter. The amount to apply is similar to the amount you would apply to turfgrass but is calculated under the canopy area of trees and shrubs. A small tree that occupies 100 ft.² of canopy space would get 1/10 of a pound of nitrogen. A tree that had 1000 ft.² under its canopy would get 1 pound of nitrogen. The driver of growth for trees, shrubs and turfgrass is nitrogen.

Q. Applied dry, or liquid, in the gravel around bushes?

A. Dry fertilizers are applied near the irrigation source. If trees and shrubs are irrigated by sprinklers, then you distribute the fertilizer so that the sprinklers pushed the water into the rootzone. If these are drip irrigated, it is applied in the soil next to the drip emitters and the water carries a fertilizer into the rootzone. If you are applying a liquid fertilizer to the foliage obviously you have to wait for the foliage to appear in the spring to make an application. If this is a liquid fertilizer applied to the soil and make the application close to the drip emitters within a few inches under the mulch or under the turfgrass. Never apply a fertilizer to trees and shrubs deeper than about six or 8 inches. Fertilizer spikes are convenient but expensive. Liquid applications to the foliage last about 4 to 8 weeks. Dry fertilizers applied to the soil last longer if that's important.

Q. How many times per year and which month(s)?

A. Most trees and shrubs will require a single application of a fertilizer to the soil during the months of December through about March. In a pinch you could go as late as April. Some plants tend to get yellow due to iron chlorosis or a lack of available iron. Usually a single application of an iron fertilizer that contains the chelate EDDHA is enough to keep them from yellowing. If these plants have been yellowing and are in poor condition for several years, this will probably not work in correcting a severe problem. The iron fertilizer should be applied at the same time as the other fertilizers, in early spring or late winter.

Tall trees

Q. What inorganic fertilizer (N-P-K) would you recommend and the amount/tree?

A. You can use a good turfgrass fertilizer for most tall trees and shrubs. To be effective this fertilizer should be applied close to a source of water for the trees so that it is washed into the rootzone. It should not be applied deeper than 6 to 8 inches in the soil. Other fertilizers in ratios like 1-1-1 are also okay but the high phosphorus of the middle number is really not needed unless these are flowering trees.

Q. Applied dry, or liquid, near the end of branches around trees?

A. Fertilizer is fertilizer whether it is applied dry or liquid. The amount of nitrogen applied per tree is what is critical. Liquid fertilizers applied to the foliage are short lived. Dry or liquid fertilizers applied to the soil last longer. For this reason if you feed plants through the foliage you will have to do it more often. If you feed plants through the soil as soil applications you would just do it once a year in most cases for general purpose areas. You do not have to “deep root” fertilize if it will cost more to do it.

Q. How many times per year and which month(s)?

A. Once per year is enough in the very early spring just before new growth or not long after it begins.

 

How Tall Should a Wall Be to Keep Out Rabbits?

Q. We are planning a wall to surround our yard so we can keep the rabbits out.  We live in Sun City Anthem in Henderson. We have been told that the local rabbits can jump very high, and our 3 foot wall will not work to keep them out.

A. We have both the Desert cottontail and the jackrabbit. I don’t agree with the advice you were given. Our chicken coop wire at three feet tall was very effective at keeping them out of our vegetable plots as long as they could not lift the bottom edge of it with their noses or dig a little bit and get under it.

Black-tailed Jackrabbit

            Usually animals will not jump walls if they cannot see the other side. If they can jump to the top of it and look then that is different. I have never seen rabbits do that. But check and make sure there are not gaps in the wall itself. If they can get their head through a hole, they can get the rest of their body through it as well.

Bottle Tree Dropping Leaves Could Mean Trouble

Q. My Australian bottle tree and African sumac are shedding leaves like a maple tree during fall.  However, they are also putting on new growth.  I specifically chose these trees because they remain green all year long. The bottle tree is about 20 ft. tall, on the north side of the house and gets about 20 gallons of water every day during the summer.  The sumac is on the west side and is about 12 ft. tall and gets about the same amount of water.  I’m about ready to cut them down due this leaf shedding. Were they stressed during the heat wave or what?

A. These two trees have very different watering requirements. The bottle tree is a true desert adapted tree while the African sumac is not. Their watering needs are very different for this reason.

            The bottle tree should never get daily watering. Even though the watering needs of the African sumac are more frequent, it should not get watered daily either. It is possible that these trees are dropping leaves excessively because their roots cannot “breathe” due to excessive moisture in the soil.

Bottle tree in desert landscape

            At the most, the sumac should get watered deeply twice a week right about now. The bottle tree less often than that but when it does get water it should be deeply as well.

            Evergreen trees do drop their leaves. No plant is without leaf drop. Some keep their leaves longer than others.

            Normal leaf drop time for evergreen plants is during or shortly after new growth. As they put new growth and new leaves on new branches they drop older leaves from older wood. This is normal. However, excessive leaf drop is not. This can indicate stress ranging from drought to overwatering.

            Please get on a deep and infrequent watering schedule rather than a daily one. This time of year the only things watered daily are fescue lawns, annual flower beds and vegetables. The larger the plant, generally speaking, the deeper the root system, the less frequent the watering but the amount of water applied each time is higher.

            Frequent, shallow irrigations force roots to grow shallower and decrease their tolerance to droughty conditions. Both of these trees can develop root rot from frequent watering and death. Excessive leaf drop can be a sign that this is happening.

Bottle tree in lawn

            I would begin to back off to watering every other day for right now but increase the amount you give them each time you water. Both can handle the heat but not daily watering, particularly the bottle tree.

            Make sure the applied water is distributed evenly under the canopy either by having several drip emitters under them or watering them in a basin and flooding the basin. The water should not be applied in one location under the canopy. Back off on the daily watering. I hope they are not in stages where you can keep them from getting worse.

Barrel Cactus Too Big and Must Be Moved

Q. I have a golden barrel cactus that has grown to 3ft wide in a place that I cannot leave where it is. It's a beautiful specimen, but I have to remove it. Any ideas on how to move it?  The thorns are lethal.

A. Now is actually a good time to move cacti. They can be moved any time except during, and about two months before, winter weather sets in. Unlike many other types of plants they do well moved in the summer.

            When we have moved these sized cacti in the past they were easy to move, taking the relocation without a hitch. We used a lot of thick gloves and old carpet remnants. We dug a trench around the cactus with a pick about 12 to 18 inches from the plant to a depth of about one foot.

            We then watered the trench to loosen the soil a bit and make digging easier in that lousy soil. We then began under cutting the plant to loosen the soil and cut the roots. We stopped when the roots had mostly all been cut and the plant seemed easy to roll with leverage from a shovel.

            Laying the carpet remnant to the side of the plant we were able to free the cacti and roll it on to the carpet pad. We then placed the cactus in a shady spot to heal the cut roots for two to three days before we planted it again.

            Our hole was dug and amended with compost, phosphorus and large rocks removed. The hole was cleared so that it was larger than the root ball of the cactus.

            After that healing period we moved the cactus to its new location and gently rolled it into its new location.  We then placed the amended soil around the roots and watered it in to remove air pockets.

            We tried to get the cactus at the same depth as it was in its old location. After the soil had drained of water we came back and added more amended soil until it was at the same depth and watered it in again.

            Once planted at the right depth we then watered deeply around the cactus no more than once every two to three weeks in the summer heat. In the fall it dropped to once a month and the winter only once during the winter cold.

            The next spring we watered once a month and increased it to every two to three weeks during the summer heat until we saw signs of growth. We then had to make a decision whether we wanted to make it grow more or not.

            If we wanted it to grow, we kept it on the same watering routine and added nitrogen every few months. If not, we reduced the watering to twice or three times during the summer and once during the winter with no additional fertilizer. I hope this helps.

Brown Spots a Big Problem with Lawns this Time of Year in Las Vegas

Lawns are getting toasted right now. This is a truly stressful time of year for plants, particularly plants that are not truly desert plants. Temperatures are out of their “comfort zone” and they become highly susceptible to diseases because they are less capable of fighting through a problem.

I warned on June 10 of 2012 and July 1 of this year on my blog that lawn diseases were“right around the corner.” If lawns are going to have problems, they will happen now. Sign up for my free newsletter through my blog and you will receive notices when things like this are happening in our community. Your email address is never shared.

 

Move Sago Palm to Bigger Area this Fall

Q. I have a healthy sago that is outgrowing its space rapidly. When is the best time to relocate it? Is relocation successful usually? It is such a nice plant that I hate to risk endangering its life.

 

A. You would move it this fall, some time between the end of September and mid-October, or next spring. You should not have a problem relocating it. I would not put it any closer than five feet from anything you don't want it to touch or invade like a sidewalk or wall.

            Hopefully you will put it on the north or east side of a building or in a spot with a little wind and sun protection and not use rock mulch around it. Pre-dig your hole for the plant. Make sure the hole and soil for replanting are prepared well with compost and a starter fertilizer high in phosphorus.

            Remove the bottom tier of fronds from the trunk. I would leave only the fronds which are at about 45 degrees from horizontal and the inner fronds. Remove the older ones that are below this point. Bend the remaining fronds up around the central bud and wrap some twine around them to hold them together if they are pokey.

            Take as much of the root system you can when you move it. Cut deeply with your shovel all the way around the plant about a foot to 18 inches from the trunk. Cut the roots in a complete circle all the way around the plant at least twice making sure all the roots are cut. Cut as many of the roots as deeply as you can.

            On the third trip around the plant cut in the same spots but push down on your shovel handle and begin leveraging the palm upwards. Move to a new spot and repeat it until you have gone around the plant, leveraging and lifting, the third and fourth time with your shovel.

            The plant should almost be free now or, if you are in luck, it can be lifted by the fronds. If not, then push the plant on its side and cut any remaining roots with your hand shears to free it. Tying the fronds up should make it easier to do all this and move it.

            Move and orient it so it looks nice. Don't worry about orienting it the same compass direction as it was before. Backfill around the plant and run water in the hole at the same time you are backfilling to remove any air pockets.

            Plant it the same depth as it was in its original hole, no higher or deeper. Put a small moat around the plant to contain water from the hose when hand watering. You can drip irrigate the plant but still hand water it for the next 2 to 3 weeks, filling the moat each time. Untie it and release the fronds.

            In the spring, remove the bottom layer of fronds at the base of the crown just leaving juvenile fronds that are upright. You will see new growth from the center and it should regrow and fill the canopy in the first year.

Brown Spots in Lawn Probably Summer Patch Disease

Q. I believe I am dealing with some fungal outbreak on my new lawn. About a month ago I started to see faint circles of stressed lawn. They range from 24 to easily 48 inches wide. They are certainly not dog urine spots. I know the difference.  Also confident it's not a watering problem. All spring and early summer the lawn has been healthy and looking great. But now these circles are appearing everywhere.  Am I going to need to just throw in the towel and start over?

A. This is most likely a fungal disease called Summer Patch. Buy a lawn fungicide at your local nursery that either says it controls Summer Patch or (less likely) as well as necrotic ring spot disease.

            Fungicides are primarily preventive so making an application now during this hot weather will arrest the disease from going any further but not reverse the damage done. Look for a turfgrass fungicide that states it will control Summer Patch disease, Fusarium diseases or "frog eye" on the label. Follow the label precisely in application. If the label states it also controls Necrotic Ring Spot as well, so much the better.

            This is a “hot weather” disease of lawns and favors soils that stay wet and don't drain readily. Since this is a hot weather disease, you can always expect it to occur when temperatures are rising and become particularly aggressive during the "summer monsoon" season where relative humidity takes a bump along with high temperatures.

            Next year anticipate an outbreak to start in June and make your preventive fungicide application then or when you start to see those “faint circles” appearing.

            I would aerate the soil now as well. You can use a simple hand aerator that you can buy at the nursery or you can rent a power aerator from a local rental company. Don’t use the shoes with the spikes on the bottom. They are a gimmick.

            Remember this problem area in the future. Prior to the onset of hot weather, aerate to improve water drainage from the area around grass roots. Mow the lawn at its minimum acceptable height (usually 1 1/2 inch for tall fescue) to improve air circulation in the stand of grass.

            Avoid excessive applications of nitrogen fertilizers but keep the lawn fertilized "adequately". This will usually mean about half the label rate mentioned for lawns on the fertilizer bag.

            This is particularly true if you are mulching the clippings back into the lawn with a mulching mower. Returning the clippings to the lawn with the mulching mower has no bearing on this disease in a lawn.

V Shaped Cross Marks on Tomato

Q. I have 'Vee’ shaped cross marks on my tomatoes (especially from Celebrity tomato) starting from the stem and reaching out and down about 1/4 the side.  I always thought these were from lack of water but we try to give all extra water by letting the hose end flood each for 5-10 minutes at least once a day in addition to drip irrigation at 1am, 3am and 5am for 6 minutes each.

A. I think you either are explaining either “catfacing” or “cracking” of the fruit. This is a surprise since Celebrity is known for its lack of both and was developed with one of its intentions to reduce cracking. Some of this type of prevention is by picking the right variety (Celebrity should be one!) for growing and some is garden management.

Fruit cracking on Caspian Pink heirloom tomato

            Two things I can think of contribute to cracking. Catfacing is a different issue. I gave you a couple of links to look at to determine what  you might have. Cracking can be down the side from the stem or around the circumference of the fruit.

            Two things important in cracking are how well the tomato skin will expand without breaking (cracking) and soil moisture. Try to water in the early moring hours several hours before it gets hot.

            Secondly, cover the soil with a light mulch like straw to help slow down the loss of water from the soil.

Radial cracks on Caspian Pink

            The last thing is something that I think most people neglect. Good soil preparation at the time of planting. If the soil is pretty heavy and not “fluffy” or what we call “crumby” (like bread crumbs kind of crumby or a cake-like texture) the roots of the plant will be forced to grow close to the soil surface.

            If the majority of the roots are close to the surface where water is lost quickly during the heat the plant will go into water stress (drought) very soon after an irrigation. If the soil is prepared well so that it has a “crumby” structure then plant roots are distributed through the soil so that it can take up more water before it becomes water stressed.

            Going from water stress to water abundance leads to expansion of the fruit and can lead to splitting. Having enough foliage covering the fruit can also reduce cracking so good canopy coverage of the fruit is important.

Topdressing with straw mulch

            So make sure you soil is well prepared to a depth of at least 12 inches when planting or plant in a raised bed with well prepared soil. Secondly, apply a surface mulch no later than when the fruit begins to set.

            Third, water at the beginning of the day before it gets hot to reduce water stress. Fourth, make sure the plants are healthy and have good foliage covering the fruit. This means the right fertilizer at the time of planting and followup monthly fertilizer applications when you see fruit setting and you are harvesting. These are small applications of fertilizer or lightly foliar feed in the early morning hours.

How Safe is Wood for Smoking if Pesticides Were Used?

Q. I have searched online for an answer to the question, is using wood from a commercial orchard safe to use for smoking meats? I live in Tulsa, OK and have several local orchards that use pesticides, fungicides, etc. in their operation. I found your contact info on a flyer online. I don't know whether or not you use any of these but i figured you might have an answer or direction to the question. I would appreciate your input very much.

A. I think this is a matter of opinion. Some people would be adamantly opposed to using wood unless the tree was grown “organically”.

            Having a background in pesticides and the use of pesticides in orchards I would not be afraid of using wood from such an orchard provided it had been applied several months prior to it being cut. Most pesticides don’t have a particularly long life once they have been hit by the environment (sunlight, air, rain, etc.)

            What residue is left is on the surface of the trees (bark) and not “inside” the tree. Most pesticides that end up inside the plant are called “systemic” and almost none are allowed for use in fruit and vegetable production. This is because it is thought that this pesticide would be moved around or translocated to the fruit and vegetables we eat.

            If they were used they would be “translocated” through the layers of living wood just under the bark of the tree. This is the pathyway that “systemic” pesticides would take to allow it to move around inside the tree.

            We have had similar questions about smoking wood where the bark  has been “painted” with latex paint for sunburn protection. I have told people in the past when they had some concerns to remove or burn off the outside bark of the wood with some high temperatures and then turn down the temperature and put in your food for smoking.

            If you are using wood with no bark on the outside then you don’t have to do anything. The “wood” of the tree is “dead” and an accumulation of the tissue which was alive previously and transported stuff inside the tree.

Date Palm Not Producing Fruit

Q.  I have a 5-year-old date palm that this year for the first time had a wonderful display of fruit. It is a Medjool date palm that I grew from seed. The fruits are at least 1.5 in long and round. But now they are falling off in great numbers. I thought that birds were on them thinking they were grapes which I have nearby. But I have covered the Medjool dates with cloth and still they are all almost gone. Another date palm nearby, a Deglet Noor (8 years old) has a great fruit set but just very few drops. Could it be that my Medjool has not been pollenized?

Flower spikes coming from Canary Island Date Palm

A. Exactly right. The fruits dropping have not been pollinated. No, or poor pollination, can happen for a number of reasons but I am guessing the reason in this case is because there was no male pollinator in the area with open flowers.

            I wish it was easier but what can you can do, outside of planting a male Medjool palm, is create a source of pollen for your female tree and hand pollinate the female flower cluster when they open.

            You will have to find a male Medjool date palm (flowers will be produced at the same time as the female Medjool but not produce any fruit at all) that is low enough to the ground for you to reach.

Flowers not yest open on CI date palm

            When the male tree is producing its floral spike next early summer and near flowering, prune several spikes out and put them in a clean bucket of water. Move the bucket close to the base of your palm and let the flowers open. Replace the water daily with clean water.

            When the flowers are open, shake the male flower spike and flowers pretty hard against the female spike attached to the tree. Replace the male flower spike in the bucket of water and repeat over the next couple of days as more and more flowers open.  

 

            Alternatively, you can tie the male flower spike to the female flower spike and cover with a bag. Beat the bag pretty hard and leave the bag in place for a couple of days and then remove.

Cactus Dead or Near Dead in Summer

Q. Our cactus has started to die from the top down. We lost our first one in May, before the summer heat even started.  Do you have any idea why this is happening?  We were watering, with bubblers, three times a week, for about 5 minutes. We increased that when they started to die, but it did no good. Any information will be appreciated. 

Readers cactus dead or with severe damage

A. Wow, judging from the pictures you do have a problem. The plant looks dead from top to bottom. This looks like one of the Cereus or night-blooming cacti, a pitaya type.

            When did you see this happening? This looks very similar to freeze damage from the winter but if you are just seeing this now then of course it is not. Another possibility is root rot if watering too often and not giving it a break of dry soil between waterings.

            Three times a week is going to be excessive for this plant and may be the problem. The plant would prefer a large amount of water and then long times between waterings, much like rainfall in dry climates.

Another view.

            But bottom line the soil needs to dry thoroughly between waterings to prevent root rots. When planting, make sure the soil is amended with some real good stuff at planting. Cacti can survive poor soils better than many plants but also perform better with an enriched environment provided the soil drains water freely and dries between irrigations.

Should I Plant Lemons or Limes?

Q. Will either dwarf lime or lemon trees do well here? We consider pots but our patio faces the west and gets very hot. We have a small space for pots in the front yard which faces east. Any suggestions?

 

A. The principle limitation for citrus here is winter cold. Cold tolerance in citrus generally follows this progression of tolerance from the most hardy to least goes something like this: (most) kumquat, Meyer’s lemon, grapefruit, Mandarin or Satsuma orange, navel orange and lime (least).

Eureka lemon tree in Las Vegas. Fruit still immature.

            Once you get to navel orange the rest will not handle any freezing. You should locate citrus in the part of the yard that is the warmest in the winter and protected from cold winter winds.

            If you like lemons, Meyer’s is a good choice and very popular in Las Vegas even though it is not a true lemon. I would put limes only in much protected locations.

Water Your Trees With a Hose Instead of Drip Works!

Q. How often should I water my California pepper tree, Mediteranean fan palm and my Canary Island date palm These are the only trees I have on my property. I hand water them. How often should I be watering them with the extreme temps we are having?

A. We have to take into consideration both how often and how much to water. The “how often” will be the same. Or in other words all the trees you mentioned will all be watered with about the same frequency.

            How much is also going to be about the same except for their size. The larger the canopy, or size of the tree, the more water it uses. This time of year, with temperatures in the triple digits, I would be watering two to three times a week depending on your soil and if you have mulch on the soil surface. Generally speaking, a layer of mulch will save you about one extra day that you do not have to water.

            Make sure, though, that you are leaving at least one day dry between irrigations. Watering too often and keeping the soil sopping wet will lead to roots rotting. If soil is piled against the trunk and kept wet, the trunk will rot.

            I would suggest that you put a “moat”, depression or basin around the trees to contain the irrigation water from your hose. This depression, if it is maintained so that it stays at the same capacity around the tree, will guarantee that the trees get the right amount of water each time.

Irrigation basin for watering with surface mulch applied

 

          The depression can be a moat that is a wide donut or trench around the plants. This can be a small one when first planted but must be increased in capacity as the plant gets bigger. The depression or donut should be 3 to 4 inches deep and wide enough to contain 5 to 10 gallons of water when young and expanded to contain up to 40 gallons when thre tree is larger in a few years.

            The only exception to this is the palm. Many palms have the same size canopy when they are five feet tall as when they are 20 feet tall. With the same sized canopy later in life, they will use the same or similar amount of water. So for these types of palms, one sized depression should be fine during its lifetime.

            There have been criticisms with this type of watering that letting water surround the trunk might cause the trunk to “rot” or become diseased. Watering with a moat or donut around the tree is far more likely to cause problems if wet soil is left in contact with the trunk.

Water against the trunks of trees when irrigating does not kill the tree UNLESS you do it too
frequently and keep the trunk wet. In many cases it is worse to have wet soil against the trunk.

            For this reason I prefer a depression around the tree rather than a “moat” or “donut” around it. As long as the trunk dries for 24 hourse after an irrigation, trunk or collar rot will not be a problem. It WILL be a problem, however, if wet soil is left in contact with the trunk. So don’t pile soil against the trunk that will get and stay wet between irrigations.

            These depressions should be gentle, sloping depressions and not deep trenches from World War I!. When constructing these depressions, I like to start on the “high side” of the tree and use a common hoe to construct it. Pull soil to the low side when you create the depression so you can “berm” up on the low side and contain the water. The bottom of the depression should be as flat as possible.

            Start creating your depression and run your hose with a gentle amount of water coming out. Craft your depression or moat so that the water begins to fill this moat as you are constructing it. Running the water will help you get the bottom of the moat level and fill the basin around the tree without moving the hose.

            Buy one of those inexpensive hose water timers that you turn on like a kitchen timer. It will turn off the water depending on the number of minutes you dial in. It will save you water in the long run because, if you are like me, we tend to forget what’s cooking if we don’t use a timer.

            Don’t just dig a trench and fill it with water when you are done. It will never be level unless you dig it at the same time you are running the water. This type of irrigation is called “basin irrigation”, a type of flood irrigation but you are using a hose. Fill this basin twice when you water. The basin can also be used for applying fertilizer.

Help! All My Shrubs Died! Steps for the Brown Thumber

Q. I have been having problems with my shrubs and plants growing this year and am hoping you can help. I started planting in April, I planted mostly evergreen shrubs because I like to look at the green all year around. I used top soil to plant them, and they have all died. Is there something I am doing wrong? Can you tell me what evergreens I should plant(ones that stay green all year around), what month I should plant them and exactly how I should plant them? What soil to use? And how often I should water them? I don't have a watering system so I water them myself. I aprreciate it so much and am hopeful you can help me. Thank you.

 

 

A. You have asked for a whole book worth of information. It is not something that I could do or explain to you easily. Any planting you want to do now that is summer should be delayed until the end of September to the middle of October, no later. Dig and prepare your holes BEFORE you buy your plants.

Start with trees first. This is a “window shopping” trip. Don’t buy them yet. You will leave with something, but not the trees. When you leave the nursery you should be leaving with the plant, the phosphorus fertilizer, a bag of soil amendment for each plant. Stake the trees. If the tree is really small and you plant it correctly, you may not need to stake it. Shop for trees that will shade the south and west side of your home for some break from the summer heat. For these two spots I would pick trees that don’t get more than 20 to 30 feet tall for a one story house and they should drop their leaves in the fall. Leaf drop in the late fall will allow some winter sun in that can warm the house and reduce you heating costs. Do not plant these trees any closer to the house or themselves than half of their mature height.

Once you have found the trees you want, then go home and dig the holes and take all the soil prepartion stuff with you. All these plants will need to have soil improvement before you plant them. This means you will have to dig each hole about five times wider than the container it comes in. It should be the depth of the container, not much deeper.

Next, remove rocks larger than a golf ball from the soil taken from the hole. When this is done you will mix a “planter mix” soil amendment with the soil removed from the hole. I would also add a phosphorus fertilizer to this soil as well, something like 0-46-0 or similar. About two handfuls of this for each hole will be enough for shrubs and small trees. This is all mixed together and put back into the hole and soak it with water as deep as you can.

The next weekend buy your plants and plant them in this improved soil. Plant them in this hole the same depth as they were in the container. Add water to the hole as you are putting the soil back in around the roots. Make a tall ring around the plant about two feet from the trunk and six inches tall. This will be the basin or container you will use for adding water with your hose. This is important to do. Water twice a week for three weeks. Each time you water, fill the basin twice. Water once a week the same way after this.

Most of the plants you are looking for are sold locally. If you go to a nursery and ask someone for help and explain to them what you are looking for, they will direct you to “foolproof” evergreen plants for your home. There are plants that will be fairly easy to grow and then there are plants that are difficult to grow. They can help guide you. Always buy the smallest plant that is in good health you can get. Why pay the grower more money when you can grow it larger yourself?

Also, if you have been losing plants then you will not want to invest a lot until you get this growing thing down pat.

 

Some Q and As on Vegetable Grafting

Several have asked about grafted vegetables and what is the advantage. Grafting vegetables has been around for a number of years now and has had some success in greenhouse production primarily. It started in Asia and has spread to Europe, primarily where heavy cropping (high yields) and disease problems can build rapidly.

So here are some Q and A’s I grabbed from some sites to further explain it. It is not hard to do, easier than woody plants. The method I am most familiar with is using plastic tubing to hold the top and rootstock together until they grow together. Other methods are done as well.

For backyard gardeners it is mostly just for fun right now but you can buy grafted transplants for the home market.

In vegetable production in greenhouses, most of the damage from continuous cropping is caused by soil-borne diseases and nematodes. As a countermeasure to the damage caused by soil-bone diseases such as Fusarium wilt, bacterial wilt and nematodes, grafting of fruit-bearing vegetables is popular in Japan. Plants are grafted onto various rootstock species and varieties, by a range of grafting methods. Recently, the tube grafting method has been developed for plugs. This is popular in the manual grafting of tomato, eggplant and cucumber plants. Grafting robots and healing chambers have been developed, and are used in nurseries producing grafted plugs. Since grafting gives increased disease tolerance and vigor to crops, it will be useful in the low-input sustainable horticulture of the future.

Application of Grafting to Vegetable Production

The production of grafted plants first began in Japan and Korea in the late 1920s with watermelon grafted onto gourd rootstock. Eggplant was grafted onto scarlet eggplant in the 1950s. Since then, the area of fruit-bearing vegetables based on grafted plants has increased. The proportion of the area in Japan producing grafted watermelon, cucumber, melon, tomato and eggplant reached 57% of the total production area in 1980, and 59% in 1990

Objectives of Vegetable Grafting

The main objective of grafting is to avoid soil-borne diseases such as Fusarium wilt in Cucurbitaceae (Cucumber, melon etc.) and bacterial wilt in Solanaceae (tomato, pepper etc.).

Species and Varieties for Grafting

Inter-generic grafting is used in the production of many fruit-bearing vegetables, i.e. cucumber grafted on pumpkin, watermelon, on bottle gourd, melon on white gourd (also known as wax gourd). Inter-specific grafting (grafting on to a different species) is generally applied to eggplant. Scarlet eggplant and S. torvum Swartz are popular rootstock for eggplant production. A large number of varieties for rootstock have been bred and released for use by growers in Japan.

Grafting Methods for Different Types of Fruit-Bearing Vegetable

Tomato plants are mainly grafted by conventional cleft grafting. Tube grafting has recently been developed for vegetable seedlings grown by plug culture.

Cleft Grafting

The stem of the scion (at the fair-leaf stage), and the rootstock (at the four to five-leaf stage) are cut at right angles, each with 2-3 leaves remaining on the stem. The stem of the scion is cut in a wedge, and the tapered end fitted into a cleft cut in the end of the rootstock. The graft is then held firm with a plastic clip.

Tube Grafting

Tube grafting makes it possible to graft small plants grown in plug trays two or three times faster than the conventional method. The smaller the plants, the more plants can be fitted into healing chambers or acclimation rooms. For this reason, tube grafting is popular among Japanese seedling producers. The optimum growth stage for grafting varies according to the kind of plug tray used. Plants in small cells must be grafted at an earlier growth stage, and require tubes with a smaller inside diameter. First, the rootstock is cut at a slant. The scion is cut in the same way. Elastic tubes with a side-slit are placed onto the cut end of the rootstock. The cut ends of the scions are then inserted into the tube, splicing the cut surfaces of the scions and rootstock together.

Eggplant

Eggplant is grafted mainly by cleft or tube grafting. The growth rate differs according to the species of rootstock used. The number of days from sowing to grafting varies accordingly.

Cucumber

Tongue Approach Grafting

Slant-cut grafting is easy to do, and has recently become popular. This grafting method was developed for robotic grafting. It is important to remove the 1st leaf and lateral buds when a cotyledon of rootstock is cut on a slant.

Planting Watermelon

Cut grafting is popular for watermelon. A schematic diagram of cut grafting is shown.

Melon

Melon plants are mainly grafted by tongue approach grafting. Tongue approach grafting for melon is similar to that used for cucumber plants.

Healing and Acclimatization

Grafting should be carried out in a shady place sheltered from the wind, to avoid wilting of the grafted plants. Grafted plants are usually healed and acclimated in a plastic tunnel. The healing and acclimatization are very important for grafted plants to survive. The tunnel is covered with materials which provide shade and maintain inside humidity: silver/white cheese-cloth (outside) and transparent film (inside). During acclimatization, it is recommended to keep light levels at about 3 to 5 klx.

Before grafting:

• Expose the scion and rootstock to sunshine for two to three days;
• Withhold water from the plants to avoid spindly growth, and
• Make sure that the scions and rootstock have stems of a similar diameter.

After grafting, keeping the grafted plants at about 30°C and with more than 95% relative humidity for three days of healing promotes the survival ratio. Gradually, the relative humidity is then lowered and the light intensity increased. During healing and acclimatization, it is important to keep a constant air temperature in the tunnel, in order to maintain high humidity. If wilting is observed, foliar spraying of grafted plants with water is effective in helping them survive. The shading materials and films should be adjusted according to the daily weather, with more shade on a fine day.

Healing has also been mechanized. The survival ratio is consistently high when the newly developed healing chambers are used. Healing chambers in which the environment is artificially controlled are now being used by many nurseries which produce grafted plugs.

Adapted from http://www.agnet.org/library.php?func=view&style=type&id=20110803135029

Update on Tomato All Vine and No Fruit

From A Reader:
Bob, This is mostly a thank you for your answer above and hopefully providing some info for any other of your readers. If you remember my question previously....

 

Tomatoes are All Vines and Few Fruits ... Q. With five tomato plants all I really get is beautiful, huge green vine, why don't I get tomatoes? Being from East ...

I moved our little garden from the west side of the big fig tree to the east side hoping to get more sun on the tomato plants.  I can report some success with  this move.  I actually put in three plants, a Big Boy variety (still have hopes) in one of those upside-down hanging planters just outside the little garden on the west side of it.  Then a Better Boy variety on the west end of our raised planter and a Celebrity variety on the east end.  Both of these are caged and are now about 5-6 foot high.  We have been eating very nice tomatoes since the first of June.  The plants seemed to take a breather for about a week of the very hot weather but today (6 July) we took off another tomato and there are 14-16 green ones which we hope will turn.

The Big Boy did not do too well, although it may again be a sunlight problem.  It only gave us three tomatoes and they were not very big, about 1/1/2 to 2".  I actually hung the bag from a branch of the fig tree with a pole support under.  I had to constantly trim back the fig tree, and even then it only got sunlight till about 12 noon.  Fairly close and next to it is the Better Boy.  Got several tomatoes but not very big, about 2 1/2" +/-, and enough sunlight might be a problem here too.  The best performer was/is the Celebrity.  Got at least a dozen so far and they are 3-3 1/2".  I do think it gets more sunlight and this is the reason it has performed better.  I tried to treat all the same with the fertilizer and watering.