Chilling bulbs simulates winter temperatures

Please remember that my newsletters coming from the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension will stop the end of June. If you still want to get information on horticulture in our desert Southwest, become a follower at http://xtreme
horticulture.blogspot
.com. My email address will change to Extremehort@aol.com .

There is an unofficial Facebook page maintained by UNCE Master Gardener Orchard volunteers that tells you about events, if mulch or compost is available and what produce is currently available at the orchard in North Las Vegas. If you are a Facebook fan this might interest you. It can be found at www.facebook.com/pages/Master-Gardeners-Tree-Fruit-Orchard/117996858226695 or searching for master gardeners tree fruit orchard.

Another site to be aware of, especially if you are into home food preservation, is http://masterfoodpreservers.blogspot
.com. This site talks about how to can, dry and preserve foods as well as where to get the best prices here for food for home-food preservation .

Q: Could you offer any advice on what to do to keep my spring bulbs (tulips and hyacinths) healthy so that they bloom again next year? I bought them this past fall and kept them in the refrigerator for six weeks or so and then planted them. They came up and bloomed beautifully. Should I dig them up when all of the foliage has died off and store them again in a cool place until next fall? Will they survive if I leave them in the ground over our hot summer?

A: Both tulips and hyacinths are considered fall bulbs. Fall bulbs should be planted in October, November and December. Besides tulips and hyacinths, other fall bulbs include crocus, narcissus and ranunculus.

You must work the soil well with compost and some sort of phosphorus fertilizer such as bone meal. Plant the bulbs at a depth that is twice their diameters. If your soil is sandy, then you can plant deeper than this. Make sure they are mulched and receive periodic irrigations during the winter to keep them from drying out.

Remember, after the flower fades the bulb is making its flower bud for next year so try to keep the foliage green as long as you can. Don't cut off the foliage. You can pick the flowers and use them for arrangements . That will not affect next year's bulbs .

Anemones and ranunculus can be planted as early as October. Tulips, hyacinths and daffodils should spend six weeks in the crisper drawer of the refrigerator and be planted in late November or December after soils have cooled. This prechilling simulates winter temperatures and blooms will be bigger and brighter.

Don't forget to try gladiolas. They do well here. Grape hyacinth or muscari performs year after year with very little care. They might last as long as five years. Go ahead and scatter them under shrubs and trees alike. They are nice for arrangements and last for days.

Q: What does "Brix" mean?

A: Brix is a measure of the sugar content in fruit, vegetables and other plants. It is usually done with a device called a refractometer. It is one measure of fruit and vegetable quality and how "tree ripened" the fruit is.

I talk about it in my blog, along with a chart on what the Brix levels should be for different fruits and vegetables. Visit http://xtremehorticulture.blogspot.com/2011_05_01_archive.html.

Q: My corn is 3-4 feet high and has ears on it already. According to "the book" and the days to harvest guide, I shouldn't be harvesting until mid-June. The ears are about half-formed. The silks have turned dry and brown, which is when they should be harvested. I pulled one off to see what was going on inside, and it is forming, but I found an ugly green worm about ¾-inch long. Is that an army cutworm? I thought they were brown, as that looks like what is feeding on my lantana. Yuck!

A: You may have planted your corn a bit too late in the season and this may have been because of cold spring weather. This was not a good spring for corn because of the cold weather. In fact, it was not a good spring for many vegetables that prefer heat unless you had a nice warm microclimate for your vegetable garden. The cool spring vegetables were fabulous.

Another reason the corn may have been short is a lack of water. If they were stricken with drought, they will not get to their full size but try to produce ears on shorter plants.

You can try a fall crop of corn by planting the seed around the middle of July or the first part of August.

The insect you describe is corn ear worm. As your corn plant begins to silk or produce those soft silky filaments out of the ends of the young ears, you must apply an insecticide to prevent ear worms from damaging the ears. The insecticide can range from oils to Bt or spinosad to a hard insecticide such as Sevin.

The insect on your lantana was probably tobacco budworm. Bt or spinosad will work great on these grubs or larvae as well.

Q: Can peppers and tomatoes be planted next to each other? I printed a companion list off the Internet that says yes. An Ortho vegetable book I got from the library says tomatoes can't be planted near peppers because they are in the same family.

I have a yellow bell pepper plant next to a Heatwave tomato plant and although it has two peppers on it, it's not growing in height. It's just bushier than when I bought it. My banana pepper plant is tall and thin and every time it gets blossoms, they die and fall off. It was hiding under a pear tomato so I moved it out and into the sun. Still nothing.

A: Companion planting can mean different things to different people. Yes, you can plant vegetables in the same family next to each other, typically with no problems. These two are in the nightshade family. It is recommended, however, to rotate your vegetables so that vegetables of the same family are not grown in the same location year after year.

Not rotating the spots where you grow your vegetables can lead to a buildup of soil problems, primarily diseases. Get to know which vegetables are in different families and try to group them so that you rotate them in different locations. I posted the families for vegetables on my blogspot.

Make sure that you follow recommended spacings for your plants. Tomatoes can vary in size tremendously . If they are too close together, they will hinder each other's production.

Bob Morris is an associate professor with the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension. Direct gardening questions to the master gardener hot line at 257-5555 or contact Morris by email at morrisr@unce.unr.edu.