Will Eggplant Produce Through Fall and Winter?

Q. Will my eggplant plant continue to produce through the fall and winter?

Thai purple eggplant

A. They are warm season vegetables so they slow down considerably as temperatures drop.

Although eggplants will keep growing and flowering, they are more productive if cut back and allowed to regrow during late summer. Cut plants to about 6 to 8 inches in early August, cut at a crotch, fertilize and allow them to regrow.

Fertilize and keep soils moist to force them to regrow. The second crop will be ready to harvest in about six weeks after cutting them back. In Louisiana, eggplants are sometimes trellised and sheared late in the season for increased yield and quality.

The ideal temperatures for eggplant is 70 to 80 degrees F in the day and 65 to 70 F at night. Very few places, outside of a greenhouse, gives those types of temperatures consistently. Obviously, they do well in temperatures higher and lower than this. Fruit abortion can begin around 95 F even though the plant itself can handle heat.

Eggplant flower

As temperatures drop in the fall, eggplant still sets fruit but fruit set is not as reliable and fruit development is slower. Eggplant is generally more sensitive to cooler temperatures than its cousins, tomatoes and peppers.

Flowers consistently set fruit down to 60 F nighttime temperatures. Eggplants begin to get chilling injury at temperatures below 50 F.

Staking may be necessary if plants get big and full of fruit. Fruit touching the ground will spoil. Harvest fruit when they are one third full size and shiny. Over mature fruit will be spongy, the seeds begin to harden and the fruit surface becomes dull rather than shiny.

Snap fruit off of the plant but they will keep longer if they are cut from the spiny stem. Mulching helps fruit to set and improves fruit quality.

Lawns Need Fertilizer Before It Gets Cold

Q. What does a lawn need In November or December?

A. You didn’t tell me what kind of lawn you have so I will assume it is tall fescue or an overseeded Bermudagrass. I like to recommend your final application of fertilizer for the year right around Thanksgiving. This last application of a high nitrogen fertilizer helps keep it dark green through the winter.

            This application must go on before it gets really cold. If you wait too long and apply it later in December you run the risk that your lawn will enter into dormancy and start turning brown. Once it turns brown, it is difficult to get it green again until temperatures begin to warm.

            Hopefully you have been applying a decent lawn fertilizer through the year. Good turfgrass fertilizers have half of their nitrogen content in the organic form or slow release. They also are relatively low in phosphorus compared to the other numbers. If you have been using good turfgrass fertilizers through the year, all you need to apply is straight nitrogen now such as ammonium sulfate or blood meal for organic growers.

            The usual rates recommended on the bag, in my opinion, are much too high. You can usually reduce that rate by 25% easily. If you are returning your lawn clippings to the lawn with a mulching mower you can reduce it to half of the recommended rate.

            You missed the ideal time to remove thatch with a dethatcher. That should’ve been done in mid-September to the first part of October. You can aerate your lawn or punch holes in it with an aerator any time of the year but mid-to-late spring is a great time for that.

Wait for Cold to Pass Before Pruning Grapes

Q. Should I cut my grapes back now or wait until spring?

A. I don’t like to finish pruning my grapes until about March 1. This is because I don’t know what kind of damage they will sustain this winter because of the cold and wind. If I prune them back to very short spurs or canes now, I run the risk of losing my crop or a majority of it.

            I usually prune grapes in two steps in our Las Vegas climate; the first step I remove most of this last year’s growth down to about 18 to 24 inches long. Then I wait for the majority of the winter to pass.

Leaving growth really long through the winter

            The second step occurs close to the first week of March. This is the time when I prune the remainder of last year’s growth down to about one or 2 inches long if I I am producing on spurs and about 12 to 15 inches long if I am producing on canes.

Spur cut back leaving only 1 to 2 inches

Do not cut your grapes back yet. Wait until the major cold weather has passed.

Assess Plant Cold Damage in the Spring and Fix It

Q. Are there are any plants I need to prune or trim down before the frost comes to the Las Vegas valley this year?  I noticed that oleander suffers greatly from frost, foxglove, asparagus ferns, potato vine and a purple flower trumpet flowered plant are kissed when the frost comes. Should these be covered also?

A. Damage from frost will be variable in different places throughout the Valley. There are places which are naturally cold spots and others in windy locations. These areas will be hit the hardest.

            Then we have the variability of the weather. It was not too long ago that we had unusually

Difference in cold damage between two different types of Oleander

warm winters where it hardly froze at all. Then we had a terribly brutal winter with the coldest temperatures hitting us in February when plants were just waking up from dormancy.

            Then we have variability in the plants themselves. As far as oleanders go, there are winter tender types and there are very cold tolerant types.

            My basic advice is to leave most ornamental plants alone. Wait until the coldest part of the winter has passed, or you begin to see the beginnings of new growth, and then remove what has been damaged. Oleander and asparagus fern can be pruned to within a few inches of the ground and they will recover.

Oleander will recover by summer if it is pruned to within a few inches of the ground. in late winter

            This doesn’t hold true with citrus. Citrus planted in cold locations will have to be protected if you want it to survive or you want fruit.

Green Bell Peppers Turn Colors When Mature

Q. Some of my California Wonder bell peppers are turning half black instead of red. Otherwise, they seem fine. It seems it happens the most when it cools down. Are the safe to eat?

 

Mini red bell peppers

Yum Yum Gold Peppers

A. There is a huge assortment in bell peppers. Years ago they all stayed green and when they ripened, they became partially red. People liked them. The market grew for red bell peppers.

Then breeders bred for the development of a solid, red color. Now we have beautiful red peppers that are held on the plant a little longer to get that red color to develop. The same was true of yellow, orange and even purple peppers.

But nearly all of the bell peppers start off green. Producers harvest them when they are large but immature so they stay green. If producers spend a little bit money for seed, get hybrids that turn a beautiful solid color and leave them on the plant long enough, they will get more money for them. And you get charged more at the store.

 We harvest peppers before they are mature if we want them green. However, if we get a cold snap this may cause them to develop their mature color sooner. In your case, I am guessing you have a pepper that turns dark purple when it is mature.

The clue was it was half black instead of red. Your pepper is just fine to eat and it actually might be a little sweeter because of the cool weather. By the way, that purple color is probably anthocyanin, a rich antioxidant.

How to Correct Brown Spots on Indian Hawthorne Leaves

Q. Two of my Indian hawthorn bushes developed unhealthy looking brown spots on their leaves. It started on the southernmost of the two bushes and then the second was affected. These are in the middle of a row of bushes planted along the sidewalk when the house was built in 1986. None of the bushes get a great deal of direct sunlight, but bushes on both ends of the row, with conditions about the same as for these, are looking all right. Can you tell me what is wrong with these two bushes and how to fix it?

 

Indian Hawthorne with leaf browning

A. From the picture this looks like a soil related issue. The soil around the plant looks like it is fairly rocky and I am guessing unimproved over the years. 

I think you'll see a big response by taking a bag of decent compost and spreading it under the plants one or 2 inches thick and watering and in. The other thing you might try is replacing any rock mulch under the plants with wood chips that will slowly decompose and improve the soil. 

If you put the compost down now and water it in, you should see some improvement in the plant when it continues growing in the spring. The second thing you could try doing is spraying the foliage with liquid good quality fertilizer. 

Miracle Gro or Peters would be a good choice. Use one or 2 teaspoons of liquid detergent in a gallon of fertilizer spray to help it penetrate the leaf surfaces. I would try spraying the foliage during the winter. If it's in a warm spot, you may see a response before next spring. Otherwise you'll have to wait until growth resumes early next year.

Download My Notes and Presentation on Salinity

You can download my two presentations, and the presentation notes, on salts and salinity problems in landscapes that I presented at the Desert Green Conference in November. The Presentation Notes should be downloaded to read along with the presentation.

Click on the link below. Viragrow sponsored my presentations at the conference and they are posted on their website, not here. As with all of my presentations, they are copyright protected but are free for use by individuals, any nonprofit organization or corporate trainers.

These are PDF files. The presentations are quite large so it will take some time to download if you have a slow connection. I have tested all of them and they all download. They are on the website. Just scroll down to find them.

Go on this link to download my presentations and notes.

Do You Have Bottle Tree Problems? Contact This Guy.

These trees are native to Australia. We have been planting Australian bottle trees here in the Las Vegas Valley since the 1980's. Doug offered to help with your bottle tree questions. 

Att: Bob Morris…That was a great answer to the Bottle Tree query about watering.

I grow Bottle trees……I am happy to assist with any queries you may have with Bottle Trees.

My site is:  www.bottletrees.info 

Regards, Doug Sowerbutts.

Bottle Tree Plantations

PH: 0412 222 535

Email: dougs@halenet.com.au

Website: www.bottletrees.info

You Can Download My Presentation on Fruit Tree Pruning

This past week I made a 20 minute presentation to the Southern Nevada Arborists Group (SNAG) on establishing the architecture on fruit trees. You can download my presentation as a PDF file as well as notes for the presentation. They are quite large so it may take some time to download if you have a slow connection. I was supported my presentation by Viragrow so it is posted on their website. I tested the link and it works.

Click here, go to the website and download my presentation and notes

How to Clean Drip Emitters That Are Plugged

Q. How do I unplug drip emitters that are plugged?

A. Drip emitters can get plugged from salt accumulation and debris. Never cut irrigation lines that have drip emitters on it with a hacksaw blade. The plastic debris created by the hacksaw blade is nearly impossible to keep out of the irrigation lines. I will guarantee you that this debris will end up

Salt accumulation on drip emitters.

in your drip emitters and plug them. Cut PVC irrigation lines with a PVC cutter. It leaves no debris to plugged emitters. You can cut polyethylene pipe, the kind used for drip emitters, with a pruning shears.

PVC cutter

Make sure the ends of the drip lines can be cleaned by opening them up and letting water flow for 15 or 20 seconds about once a month. You can buy little figure 8 devices to go on the end of the irrigation lines or you can bend them over and slip on a small piece of PVC pipe to hold that shut.

Figure 8 for closing the end of a drip irrigation line

Secondly, put drip emitters facing up, not down. If salt accumulation is the problem and the emitters can be removed without damaging the drip system, remove and soak them in vinegar for a couple of hours.

Button drip emitter

If you cannot open the drip emitters to clean them, try poking a needle or pin through the opening to see if you can unplug them. In the past I have knelt down on the ground and lifted the emitter to my mouth, after I washed the outside, and sucked on the emitter to try to get debris cleaned from the opening.

If you cannot remove the emitters from the drip line, you might have to replace them. Make sure when you buy drip emitters they are the kinds that you can open and clean easily. Flag drip emitters are inexpensive and can be cleaned easily. Button emitters can be more difficult.

Flag emitters are easy to clean

Drip tubing with built-in, in-line emitters can be the most difficult. If you buy the built-in emitters, by a name brand such as Netafim, Toro, etc. make sure you have a filter on your drip system somewhere after the valve.

If you work on drip systems and have to cut the tubing, after you repair it, flush the system with water by opening the ends and letting it run out the ends. If you don't do this, debris will get pushed into the emitters and can become a problem. 

Planting Potted Fruit Trees in the Landscape

Q. We are ripping out an old, dead lemon tree and would love to plant my potted dwarf citrus trees in its place about a foot from the garage. I have a dwarf lime, Meyer lemon and a Page mandarin. They would be getting slightly less sunlight, but still would get sun for most of the day. They have all been in pots for about 4-5 months. Do you anticipate any problems with this idea?

A. Four to five months in a pot is not a problem. The roots are still exploring the soil in the container and have not been in long enough to cause a problem. In a warm location protected from the wind they should be fine.

These are small trees but put your drip emitters a foot to 18 inches from the trunk away from the garage to encourage root growth away from the foundation. This will keep the soil close to the garage drier and less likely to cause salt damage.

It would be better and more attractive if the plants were trained against a trellis or espaliered. You will need to keep the branches pruned off of the tree that are growing toward the garage.

Espalier citrus after planting

Some people will have a problem with it being planted that close to the garage. It is not going to be a problem for the garage. The roots will not be a problem for the foundation. We see citrus espaliered near a wall or foundation a lot. 
Remember that citrus is borderline in the Las Vegas Valley at the middle elevations. It just gets cold here and they may or may not work depending on the location. Pick a warm microclimate in your landscape that doesn't get a lot of wind. Cold winter nights below freezing I would throw a blanket over them.

Grubs Feeding on Lantana

Q. This season our Lantana has done poorly. For each plant we dig up there appears a bunch of grubs. What's going on?

A. I was alerted to this problem by a reader. The Lantanas were not doing well. That is surprising because they grow like weeds in the Mojave desert with a little bit of soil improvement, fertilizer and water. 

When they dug this Lantana to replace it, they found these grubs in the hole. Grubs like to feed on soft, succulent plant roots. They are general feeders so they will munch on many different plant roots. Fortunately they are pretty easy to control with traditional pesticides as a liquid a soil drench and organic pesticides. 

The organic pesticides that seem to work on a natural oil-based products such as thyme oil, Rosemary oil and others. They can also be controlled with insecticides made from bacteria or beneficial nematodes. They come in a variety of trade names but look for them in your organic section of the pesticides.

Grubs that were feeding on the roots of a Lantana. Taken by the reader.

Preparing Planting Holes for Italian Cypress

Q. Two of my Italian Cypress trees died so I am replacing them. What size do you suggest I buy and how to I prepare the area prior to planting and correct way to plant them?

A. Get the smallest plants you can find if that size is acceptable to you. I would start with five gallon plants if it were me. They will catch up to larger plants in a very short time.

Amend the soil with about 50% compost to a depth equal to the depth of the container. The whole should be dug a distance 3 to 5 times the diameter of the planting container. It is more important to dig the hole wide than it is deep. If the soil is particularly hard to dig beneath the container then I would take a posthole digger and dig a chimney at the bottom of the container and fill that hole with amended soil to improve drainage.

Thoroughly soak this area several times after you planted the trees. Five gallon plants should not need to be staked. With improved drainage they should be able to handle more frequent irrigations without problems if that is necessary.

Fertilize them once in January or February with an all-purpose tree and shrub fertilizer.

Put them on a valve with other trees and shrubs. They will do fine on the same valve with most of your landscape trees and large shrubs as well as fruit trees.

What Killed My Gopher Plant?

Q. What do think the problem would be with my three gopher plants? They seem to be getting enough water.

Gopher plant collapsing during warm weather

A. This plant is a Mediterranean plant which means it likes soils that drains easily, hot summers within infrequent irrigations and cool rainy winters. Normally this plant is very prolific and grows well in our desert soils. In fact you may see it pop up here and there once it's been planted.

Whenever I see branch die back on plants like this it usually indicates there is too much water remaining in the soil between irrigations. This means it is either watered too often or the soil does not drain very well or both. If this is the case, you will not solve this problem by simply giving it less water. You either have to take up the plant, amend that soil and replant it or move it to a new location that has improved soils and can handle frequent waterings.

If you cannot change how often the water comes on, you will have to change how rapidly the soil can drain the water. You will not change the soil by adding sand. This will make it worse. You have to use amendments such as compost and perlite.

Once you have solved this problem you could cut this plant back to three or 4 inches in height and have it regrow again. Dead portions of the plant you can remove completely. Fertilize lightly in the early spring.

Do's and Don'ts to Protect Plants From Freezing

Q. Are there any do’s and don’ts you can give regarding covering plants to protect them from the winter weather here in Las Vegas. I have some small citrus that are in the ground. 

A. This past week we had freezing damage up in the Northwest part of the Valley. Probably the single best publication on this topic comes out of Arizona and you can download it below. I have never thought much about using Christmas tree lights around trees or shrubs unless you can capture that heat. And those little LED lights don't put out much heat. In my opinion, the most sustainable way is to find landscape microclimates and cover plants with a blanket of some sort. 

Stay away from open areas that get windy and narrow passageways between homes. These narrow spots tend increase wind speed. The two damaging factors are low temperature and wind. Focus on these two factors to protect your plants.I worry a little bit right now with this unexpected cold weather about early snowfall. There are still a lot of leaves on the trees and if we get some snow, will see plenty of damage.

Streets that run North and South in the Valley tend to get colder than streets running East and West.I like to call these urban canyons.

Protect from cold damage click here

Cold damage to Sago Palm

Cold damage to bottlebrush

Cold damage to star Jasmine

Cold damage to Mesquite

Cold damage to agave

Creosote Bush for Desert LandscapesIn the Mojave Desert

Don't overwater this plant! And it doesn't require much in the way of fertilizers.Like any desert plant, they perform better if there is some organic matter added to the soil at the time of planting. In our Mojave desert soils there is almost 0% organic matter so a little bit will help get them established.

An old stand of creosote in the background and creosote which have been cut off with a road grader and re-grew from the base.

Scorpions Entering Home Since September

Q. I thought I would send this to you about scorpions in our neighborhood.  I live in the Coventry homes area adjacent to Anthem Country Club.  In the past 17 nights armed with a UV light, screw drive and instant light propane torch I have killed 205 scorpions around our house. So far we have only had two in the house, lucky us.  Is there a better way to control the scorpions than getting out every night and hunting them down? 

Bark scorpion

A. They have been trying to get in to warm locations since it started getting cold. All of these critters are cold-blooded so they will tend to migrate into warm locations when temperatures cool in the fall.

Homeowners threatened by having scorpions in their home or landscape may not get much comfort from this comment but these guys do a lot in controlling insects. They are insect predators. The good thing is they go after bad guys. The bad thing is they also go after good guys. They don’t discriminate between good insects and bad insects (from a human perspective).

There are different approaches regarding the management of scorpions. One method is total extermination such as you are trying to do. It will seldom be totally effective but it will reduce their numbers considerably.

Another management method is to put barriers down that prevent entry into the home. These also will not be totally, 100% effective but they should greatly reduce the numbers that enter the home. I generally recommend applying a barrier spray to the outside of the home, similar to the type of spray used to keep out spiders and cockroaches.

Actually scorpions are quite easy to kill with insecticides. They are very susceptible to them and often times are killed when they eat other insects that have come in contact with many insecticides used for spider and roach control. Any barrier spray application to the foundation of the home will work. I wrote a piece on this for Viragrow. I will attach a link to that publication.

Barrier Spray for Controlling Pests

Rosemary likes infrequent Waterings Or There Will Be Problems

Q. My Rosemarys are dying.  I planted quite a few thinking that I won't have a problem with them.  I lost two already that were planted about five years ago.  I just planted six more this last spring. What is going on? They get enough water and fertilizer.  I am afraid that I'll lose them all. The Rosemarys that died were planted on the east side about two yards away from the house.  They got a hole about 1, 1/2 feet deep and wide with mixed soil. They get sun in the morning and afternoon sun from the west.  The sprinklers go on only four days a week for 10 minutes in the summer, but in the winter I set the clock to go on only twice a week. It could be that there is bad drainage so close to the house. What else should I plant?  I noticed one Rosemary in the front of the house which is the west side, getting dry shoots, which I cut off.

Healthy Rosemary on top picture. Rosemary with problems on the bottom two pictures. The middle picture is most likely a water or drainage problem or possibly salinity.

A. It is possible that it is due to poor drainage but I still think your watering too often in the summer. They should be able to last longer between irrigations.

Posthole digger

Usually the soil surrounding the foundation is compacted for the slab’s stability. You could take a posthole digger and go down two or more feet and backfill this hole with amended soil and replant again.

I would dig a hole 3 to 5 times the diameter of the container you are planting anything in our soil. Three times a week in midsummer might be too often for rosemary unless you have really good drainage. It is not a desert plant but it does not like wet soil.

The soil amendments I am suggesting is really good for any plant, including desert adapted plants so you should be doing this anyway. It is hard for me to recommend something without knowing your needs, the site better and what is available.

The most common reason for Rosemary to die is because the soil stays too wet. You definitely do not want to water this plant daily unless the soil it’s growing in drains water exceedingly well.

The principal reason for the soil staying too wet is a lack of drainage. Typically if soils growing Rosemary stay too wet the roots will develop a disease called root rot and they die and collapse.

Shortly after that you begin to see the top die. Often times you'll see one or two shoots dying and then typically in the heat of the summer the whole plant suddenly dies.

Once the soil gets contaminated with this disease organism other plants susceptible to that disease and placed in that soil might also become affected. Replanting Rosemary in the same soil where it died is not a good idea.

It will like a place in the yard in full sun and hot. It will not like shady areas very much.

The next time you plant Rosemary make sure the soil is thoroughly mixed with compost to a depth of at least 12 inches. Rosemary originates from Mediterranean climates.

Mediterranean climates are characterized by hot and dry summers and cool and wet winters. Rosemary does very well in the heat and can tolerate the cold.

Fig Tree in November with Yellow and Scorched Leaves

Q. Can you tell me what is causing the leaf scorching on my black mission fig tree?  Is this normal for the fall?  I haven’t seen any pests or other obviously signs of disease. As you can see, it is producing its third crop of figs so I think it is receiving sufficient water. The first two crops of figs were good and juicy.  It is currently receiving 8 gallons of water of each time it is watered; just watered once a week now (as of November 1st).  Previously, it was receiving 16 gallons of water per week (i.e., watered twice at 8 gallons each).   Two days after it was watered, I checked the soil at about a foot below the surface and the soil seemed moist (not soggy).

Readers fig tree, scorched leaves and fig crop

I read in your blog that fig trees rarely produce a third crop of figs in Las Vegas so should I remove all of the figs and allow the tree to store its energy until the spring?

A. The leaf scorching that you're seeing is soil related. This usually means either the plant is not getting enough water or there are salt problems. Because you are producing nice juicy figs I am guessing it's a salt problem. I would do two things to your fig tree.

First I would move the drip emitters further from the trunk, usually about 18 inches. As this tree gets larger it will need more emitters. This tree should have four emitters 18 inches from the trunk and spaced like a square with the trunk in the center of the square.

Secondly, I would cover the area under the tree with more wood mulch to a depth of about 4 inches and covering an area at least 6 feet in diameter with the trunk being at the center of that diameter or circle.

The fact that you are getting nice juicy figs tells me the plant is getting enough water. What I sense is that the roots are now growing beyond the planted area and are encountering salty soils.

I would take a hose and flood that area with water to begin to push the salts away from the roots. You don't want to push the salts back toward the tree but you want to push them away from the tree or you want to push them deeper into the soil below the roots. This requires water and enough water to wet the soil down to a depth of about 18 inches.

If you can temporarily construct a berm or donut around the tree about 6 feet in diameter that will hold water you can fill this donut two or three times with water from a hose and that will help to flush the salts away from the roots.

The other thing you can do is take one of those small stationary sprinklers that attach to a hose and turn up the water pressure so that it sprays water on top of the soil in an area about 6 feet in diameter and flood that soil to leach the salts.

This might require that you turn the sprinkler on for 10 or 15 minutes several times with about an hour between. Otherwise you might get flooding. Once the water begins to flood or puddle you won't get very good leaching.

You want and even application applied to the surface of the soil with little to no puddling, entering the soil and pushing the salts in the wave to a depth below the roots which is typically about 18 inches deep. Don't forget to fertilize your fig tree this next January.

Buying and Planting Italian Cypress

Q. Two of my Italian Cypress trees died so I am replacing them. What size do you suggest I buy and how to I prepare the area prior to planting and correct way to plant them?

Italian Cypress

A. Get the smallest plants you can find if that size is acceptable to you. I would start with five gallon plants if it were me. If I can find 1 gallon plants, I would plant them. If they are well cared-for they will catch up to five, 15 gallon plants and even larger in just a short time.

Amend the soil with about 50% compost and to a depth equal to the depth of the container. The soil should be modified a distance 3 to 5 times the diameter of the planting container.

It is more important to amend the soil on the perimeter of the container than the soil below the container. However, and this is a big however in our soils, if the soil is particularly hard to dig beneath the container then I would take a post hole digger and dig a chimney at the bottom of the container and fill that hole with amended soil to improve drainage.

Thoroughly wet the amended soil several times after you planted the trees. Five gallon plants should not need to be staked. With improved drainage they should be able to handle more frequent irrigations without problems.

If soils do not drain freely you will have problems with these trees in future years. Fertilize them once in January or February with an all-purpose tree and shrub fertilizer.

Put them on a valve with other trees and shrubs. They will do fine on the same valve with most of your landscape trees and large shrubs as well as fruit trees.