Good watering habits critical in summer heat

The heat is causing garden and landscape problems, many because of poor watering habits.

Question: Can I prevent seedpods from developing on my mesquite tree?

Answer: It's too late to do anything now, but experts say to use Florel, a product used to abort olive blooms.

Whenever you purchase a chemical, read the label three times: at the nursery, at home and before using it, to be on the safe side.

Q: I planted an Australian willow last fall and it hasn't done much. I know it's a drought-tolerant tree so I water it every other week, but the leaves are still scorching. What should I do?

A: It's telling you to give it more water. Yes, this tree is drought resistant after establishment (a couple of years), but until then, water deeply often and it will return to good health.

Q: Why does my bottle tree drop its leaves every six months? I water it weekly and fertilize it monthly.

A: A loss of leaves is a signal that a tree is under stress and is safeguarding itself from death. It's not getting enough water. Water the entire area under the tree's drip line often and feed it only yearly.

Q: What is causing the large, sunken, tannish spots on the blossom end of my peppers?

A: It's blossom-end rot, a problem that also affects tomatoes. It's brought on by a lack of calcium when fruit setting takes place because the plant can't get enough moisture. Water dissolves the calcium from the soil to make it available to your peppers.

Q: Can we grow annuals in containers for lots of color in our small yard?

A: Yes, but consider using colorful desert-adapted plants that use less water and are still beautiful. Watering annuals in containers is so critical because of the heat. Consider these colorful suggestions: verbena, desert marigolds, trailing lantanas, penstemons, woolly butterfly bush, tufted evening primrose, blackfoot daisies and agaves.

Q: The bottom branches of my 15-year-old Arizona ash tree are slowly dying while the top remains healthy. I haven't changed my water schedule since planting it.

A: The key here is not spreading out your irrigation basin or adding more emitters as the tree grows. I suspect that salts are building up in the rooted area. Give your tree deep irrigations from the trunk to beyond its drip line. Do this a couple of times to push away the salts from the feeder roots. If you are using emitters, expand them out beyond the tree's dripline. Finally deep irrigate at least monthly to flush the salts out of the rooted area.

Q: Now that my germander has finished blooming, do I prune it?

A: Remove the spent flowering stems back into the lush growth. Early next spring, prune out the dead growth and it will come back with a vengeance. This attractive evergreen groundcover goes unnoticed until purplish flowers cover the plant. It makes an excellent short hedge and is effective on slopes because its creeping roots prevent soil erosion. As an added attraction, the foliage turns reddish in the fall.

Q: All the sudden, my agave is developing a 20-foot tall stem, causing a stir in our neighborhood.

A: Pete Duncombe, horticulturist for the Springs Preserve, said you have what we call a century plant, meaning it blooms sometime within a century. You are experiencing that phenomenon.

Its blooming is a sign that the mother plant will soon die. Sitting on top of the stem are scores of plantlets that you can give to friends. You also have offsets coming from the plant's base. Leave one to replace the mother plant, and plant the others elsewhere.

Q: I want my Aleppo pine thinned out so that wind sails through it, but my gardener said to leave it as it is. What should I do?

A: Tony Valenti of First Choice Trees said your tree does need thinning, but wait until it's dormant. Another reason for thinning is to show off the tree's interior structure. To Valenti, the twisting and turning branches are beautiful to behold. Surprisingly, you'll still get plenty of shade.

Q: Why are my pear leaves going from green to yellow and now scorching?

A: You're describing the signs of iron chlorosis. Our high pH soils tie up the iron. For long-lasting results, add a special iron called EDDHA to the soil. This iron remains available to plants despite the high pH of our soils. For a temporary fix, apply a solution of any iron to the tree's foliage. Put two drops of dish detergent in the solution for better iron uptake into the plant.

Linn Mills' garden column appears on Sundays. He can be reached at linnmillslv@gmail.com or 702-526-1495.