Compost and peat moss are added to soils for similar reasons, but the addition of compost provides a lot more nutrients to the soil.
Bob Morris
Bob Morris is a horticulture expert living in Las Vegas and professor emeritus for the University of Nevada. Visit his blog at xtremehorticulture.blogspot.com. Send questions to Extremehort@aol.com.
The club welcomes the public, as well as possible entrants, to its free show Saturday on the grounds of Lorenzi Park.
Anything in flower is subject to fruit loss in Las Vegas all through January, February and the first two weeks of March.
A deep watering once a week in the winter should be all that is necessary for sago palms in most soils and locations except the hottest.
Smaller plants do the same job as larger plants and use less water. If you already have large trees and shrubs, prune them smaller.
I have had some reports of poor fruit production with Gala grown in the desert, but I have not found that to be true.
There is a trend of growing plants that take a lot of care to flourish in the desert. These include tropical or subtropical plants. Some of these plants grow better in the desert than others.
Now is the optimum planting time during the fall and also the time when nurseries begin their fall planting sales. Location is all-important when selecting landscape plants and matching them to their correct landscape microclimate.
Q: My young acacia tree has abundant growth but only on the top half of the branches. Each of these branches is losing many leaves halfway up the branch. There is a lot of growth at the top of the tree but not much below. Am I watering too much or too little? I water every five days during the summer.
Tomato plants that were put in the ground early, before this cold spell, didn’t grow much. This is because of cold soils. Cold air temperatures are bad enough, but when warm-season vegetables like tomato plants have “cold feet,” they struggle to put on any new growth, even with warm air temperatures. If they do get larger because of hot caps or Wall O’ Water plant protectors, it’s not because their roots got larger.
Q: How well do strawberries grow in our Las Vegas climate? When is the best time to plant and fertilize them? Any other tips?
Q: I am trying to grow an avocado tree. I have it in a container, and it’s now 22 inches tall. When is the best time to transplant, and what is the best way to take care of it in our desert?
Question: The low temperatures affected the citrus trees. Most of my new growth is on the suckers. Should I remove them or just let the tree be?
I’m an official resident of Florida now. My neighbor is also a widow and her attorney recently set her up with something called a “Lady Bird deed” to ease the transfer of her house upon her death.
The current high temperatures will have a big effect on plants’ water use and stress. Make sure landscape plants are deeply watered during this time of high stress. It is best that plants enter into the heat of the day with plenty of water rather than applying it at the end of the day.
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