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Local Columns

Want the scoop on your landscape soil? Try the jar test

With the valley’s housing developments, landscape soil can undergo a wide variety of changes that might not relate to the original soil at all.

Is vertical farming the answer to feeding the world?

There is some discussion in academic circles whether crops grown in vertical farms aimed at feeding the world should be the higher-value horticultural crops or staple crops like multiple crops of wheat but with 70- to 80-day turnovers.

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African sumacs sometimes grow shoots from epicormic buds

Lumps or bumps on the trunk are probably epicormic nodules, places on the trunk covered by thin bark that have a cluster of buds under it. These buds will sometimes grow into shoots. On some trees removing these shoots as soon as they are seen may cause these nodules to stop producing shoots or fewer of them.

Watering cactus too often can lead to plant death

Be careful when putting cactuses on an automatic water or irrigation timer. They are watered so infrequently that it sometimes makes sense to water these plants manually with a hose rather than automating the task.

Yellow leaves not necessarily caused by fertilizer

Q: I see many times where you’ve said fruit trees only need feeding in the spring. However, without periodic applications of nitrogen, my 3-year-old peach tree leaves become yellow. Could there something going on I should investigate?

Most fruit trees are pruned during winter months

The time of pruning varies with the fruit tree but generally most fruit trees are pruned during the winter months, beginning at leaf drop. When you have a lot of fruit trees, pruning may start early and not end until after flowering has started in spring.

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