I have a garden that I want to let my tortoise roam in. What plants do they like and which ones are bad for them?
Home and Garden
Double-potting plants exposed to the sun is recommended for two reasons: The heat kills roots in the side of the container facing the sun and smaller pots blow over in the wind.
After a tree is damaged during a windstorm, healing can take two to three years if the tree is kept in good health. To do that, clean up the wound and apply management practices that encourage it to heal.
One way to find out if an unnamed plant is xeric is to water it less often during the cooler months. If it starts looking bad to your eyes or dies, then it is most likely not xeric.
When phosphorus is available, it helps plants flower and grow roots. But for new plants, it’s a good idea to have it present from the start. If phosphorus is in short supply, it can cause stunting and poor growth.
Dormant oil sprays are applied on warm, windless days during the winter to trees and shrubs after they are pruned. That’s when insects susceptible to these sprays are most vulnerable.
This is the best planting time of the year right now. When planting trees, shade the south and west walls and windows of a home to reduce the cost of summer cooling.
Somewhat tender plants like roses and crape myrtle can handle the intense desert heat and sunlight if they are growing in soil amended with organics and the soil is covered with mulch that rots or decomposes. Roses and crape myrtle will struggle after a few years when planted in soils covered by rock
Cool, rainy weather when pear and apple are in bloom is perfect weather for fireblight disease. Fireblight is a very aggressive and dangerous plant disease that shows up as new infections in about May in Asian pear, European pear such as Bartlett and some apples. It can be a major problem on quince too.
Q: When can I put tomato plants outside in the garden?
Q: We have a 30-foot-tall lemon tree planted in late 2006. This tree produces large fruit, averaging 15 ounces to more than a pound. I consider this tree to be perpetual as it flowers fruit and maintains a crop in development at the same time. My question is, do we pick the ripe fruit or let them fall as they may?
I am giving a class on pruning fruit trees at the Master Gardener Orchard, 4600 Horse Drive in North Las Vegas, from 9 a.m. until noon Saturday. The class is free and open to the public. For more information call the master gardener help desk at 702-257-5555. More classes will be offered at the orchard on pruning fruit trees every Saturday during the month of January.
Q: I have a young, fruiting mulberry and realized too late that it’s planted too close to a wall. When would you recommend is the best time to dig it up and transplant?
Leafhoppers are very small and jump rather than fly. There can be hundreds if not thousands right about now on grapes. They cause some leaf yellowing, black specks on the leaves and fruit.
Question: I planted some bare root fruit trees earlier this year, and unfortunately, several did not survive. This was my fault because I didn’t get them planted right away, and the roots may have dried out. I want to replace them with container nursery stock.
