Some lawns experienced disease problems that lingered after we had high humidity because of the rain. That change in our weather encouraged plant diseases to occur.
Bob Morris
Bob Morris is a horticulture expert living in Las Vegas and professor emeritus for the University of Nevada. Visit his blog at xtremehorticulture.blogspot.com. Send questions to Extremehort@aol.com.
Creating shade that doesn’t use water requires brainwork but may be necessary in the desert. Usually, a home’s hottest areas are the exposed south and west walls and windows.
The Center for Urban Water Conservation in North Las Vegas will host an educational event Oct. 14 for homeowners and HOA members who want to save water on their landscapes.
It’s expensive to have them trimmed twice a year. If their beauty outweighs their expense, keep them. But if you don’t enjoy them anymore, have them removed.
Apples that stay on the tree longest are the most heavily infested by codling moths. Apples harvested early are the least infested. Populations of this pest increase with each generation produced.
Plants originally coming from a desert are watered less often than those that don’t come from deserts. This is because desert plants have methods of surviving a longer time between irrigations.
There are three reasons why sago palms are yellowing: their location, needed soil amendments and improper watering.
The SNWA offers a list of water-smart trees that are supposed to use less water than other types. But they still need to be managed.
Iron shortages in plants are notorious for yellow foliage. Try applying an iron chelate to the soil when growth is first starting.
Most tubers require about three months to fully mature and get some size, but you can start harvesting anytime after you see lots of flowers.
New residents should plant older varieties that are known successes until they get the hang of growing vegetables in this climate.
When moving any kind of tree from one location to another, I recommend removing about one-quarter to one-third of the tree’s canopy to compensate for the loss of roots.
The Extension Botanic Gardens feature more than 1,500 species of plants, including many found nowhere else in the Las Vegas Valley.
Branch dieback in citrus, particularly lemon, is very confusing. Most likely it is a disease issue called “shoot and twig dieback” of citrus.
Privacy shrubs should be tall enough to create the privacy needed but not much taller. Bigger shrubs need more water than smaller shrubs, and they need more maintenance as they get older.
