Q: I use woodchips around my vegetables, fruit trees and landscape plants. When I turn it over after the first freeze, what should I add to counter the effects of rotting wood?
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I will be giving a series of four classes about establishing a desert orchard starting the first Saturday in November and continuing through Nov. 24. The class will be held 1-3 p.m. at Ahern Rentals Academy, 1722 W. Bonanza Road.
Q: If I prune my old oleanders this fall, will they bloom this coming spring?
Q: I have 19 mature, healthy Mexican fan palms pruned every year after flowering. This year they were pruned on June 13, but after three weeks one suddenly died and another died two weeks later. I used the same pruning crew for five years with no problems. I removed about 250 square feet of turf from in front of the trees last year with no other significant changes to their irrigation or fertilization regimen.
Q: I have one pomegranate tree in bad shape. The leaves are turning yellow and then brown; yet underneath the veins are pink. This is one tree out of my 50 that looks like this. The other trees look great with a lot of new growth. Any ideas what could be happening with this one tree?
Q: You mentioned controlling borers with chemicals, but can borers in trees be controlled without using chemicals?
Two major problems occurred to landscape plants and fruit trees these past few weeks during the summer. First was the heat. They were stressed. High temperatures seemed to linger longer than normal. In addition, minimum nighttime temperatures stayed elevated well into the 90s for more days than I remember in the past.
Q: I have a Mexican bird of paradise that was planted five years ago that suddenly died. It had flourished until now. I pulled out the plant and sent you some pictures of the dead plant, girdling or circling roots and borers that I found in the center of the stem that probably killed it.
Q: I have two paloverde trees in front of my house. One seems to be fine while the other has struggled for four years. I am told the tree is healthy, but every summer it leaks white, sticky foam from the trunk. This foam attracts bees and beetles. The tree has received professional borer treatments twice a year, but it’s still bad.
This is the time of year when borer damage in trees and shrubs is most obvious. Limbs are dying. Their damage can be seen from a distance now, but they’ve been working hard feeding on the inside of trees and shrubs for months.