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I
bought a fungicide for my lawn last year and the
clerk was kind enough to explain the label recommendation
rates for me. He showed me that there was a preventive
spray rate for the fungicide which would prevent
the diseases from occurring in the first place and
a higher rate that would cure the disease. This year
the disease is back. Why didn’t the fungicide
cure the disease? |
A: |
First
of all, this was not one our people giving this advice!
Fungicides can not be counted on to prevent a disease
on a lawn. That is a waste of money, time and simply
not effective. You would literally be spraying the
lawn every two to three weeks in anticipation of a
problem that may or may not occur. What you may end
up doing is building up a disease’s resistance
to a particular fungicide. This is not a good thing.
Cure means to correct the problem at the current time,
not for good. Most pathogens already exist in the soil
and environment. They are simply waiting for the right
conditions to occur that will allow them to complete
their life cycle. Spraying a fungicide at the higher
cure rate, say four ounces per thousand feet to cure
versus 2 ounces per thousand to prevent simply takes
care of the immediate disease problem. What are the
right conditions for cooking up a good disease problem?
Overloading the lawn with lots of nitrate based fertilizer
in the spring, watering at night, cutting more than
25% of the grass off at one time and cutting the lawn
when it is wet from dew or rain. Poor drainage and
the lack of good air circulation are also factors.
Pounding the lawn with a mower large enough to mow
a forty acre field in thirty minutes is also not a
good thing.
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What
is the latest date I can prune my azaleas and rhododendrons? |
A: |
In
the Piedmont they should be pruned within two or three
weeks after the blooms have faded. These plants form
next years buds during the summer and they need a period
of time to form buds and store energy for next year.
You can prune azaleas and rhodies later than this but
we do not recommend pruning later than July 1st. If
you prune in late June and July there will often be
a period where there are scorched leaves created by
the removal of shading upper canopy leaves. This will
not harm the plant permanently. You can do some corrective
pruning in the winter but we do not like to see large
scale removal of wood at this time.
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My
wisteria has been in the ground for several years now
and it has not bloomed. What can I do to correct this
problem? |
A: |
Some
publications state that wisteria can take ten to fifteen
years to bloom. We had cutting grown vines at the store
that were two to three years old and they bloomed in
three gallon pots. Now if they bloom after three years
they should bloom in the subsequent years. Wisteria
should be planted in full sun and soil that is definitely
well drained. I do believe that blooms are initiated
on well grown plants that are fed regularly but lightly.
Feed them 4-6-4 (organic formulations) every three
to four weeks from late February through August. Every
time you buy a plant from us we give you either triple
super phosphate (0-46-0) or a sample of 4-6-4. The
0-46-0 would be a better choice for establishing a
wisteria vine. Phosphorous promotes rooting and flower
bud formation. When wisteria bloom they do it so prolifically
that good nutrition is a must. Some folks also believe
the plants should be root bound to bloom. I do not
go along with that because our three gallon plants
were not root bound at all. The vines were cutting
grown and they were extremely healthy. One other point
to be made; do not put the wisteria near a shade tree.
First of all the shade tree will win for several years
and could actually keep the wisteria from blooming.
In subsequent years if the vine survives it will seriously
damage the form and possibly the life of your tree
by wrapping it up. You will eventually get blooms but
the tree will be ruined. I like trees more than I like
wisteria.
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Can
I feed my lawn in the summer? It looks yellow. |
A: |
This
is not an easy answer. There may be a problem other
than food. Is the yard well drained? Has the ph of
the yard been checked within the last year and was
it between 6.0 and 6.5? Is the yard drought stressed?
If the yard is drought stressed it may just need supplemental
watering to release nutrients. Do you have an insect
problem? Are you mowing with a sharp bladed mulching
mower and cutting no more than 25% of the grass blade
off per mowing? Lots of questions for such a supposedly
easy answer are generated. Generally a lawn should
have been fed at regular intervals that would have
kept it going till fall. This has not been a normal
year. The exceptional amount of rainfall may have leached
out quite a bit of your fertilizer and/or also made
it more readily available to the lawn. (Thus you have
been mowing twice a week like us) If you are going
to feed the lawn in the summer, try using very low
concentrations of slow release nitrogen, say no more
than a quarter pound per thousand square feet. You
could also try using a formulation utilizing iron (Fe)
on the lawn to green it up. Another possible solution
is the use of specialize compounds such as calcium
chelate with a low concentration of liquid nitrogen
or a product containing high concentrations of humic
acid. We have been using these compounds for several
years and have had very good success with them. They
basically help the existing nutrients in the soil be
utilized more efficiently.
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I
have a wonderful crop of caterpillars working my perennial
hibiscus. What can I kill them with? |
A: |
Flame
thrower. Well, how about using Bt, a biological good
against caterpillars? Products containing pyrethrums
are also good as they are user friendly and are quite
effective quick knock-down compounds. There are also
several new neem and neem derivative products on the
market now for controlling a host of hibiscus pests.
We are trying a new one called Azatrol put out by Pbi/Gordon.
It is even labeled for use against spider mites, white
flies, aphids and a host of other pests. We will be
reporting on the efficacy of this product in the months
to come. |
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Why
are so many good weed and bug killers being pulled
off the market? I still love my chlordane. |
A: |
Okay,
we have a serious problem here. I did not think anyone
was crazy enough to still be using chlordane. You should
not be using chlordane, DDT, dursban or any of the
other banned or “pulled” products for a
number of reasons. No 1 reason, the government says
it is not right. When it comes to our government I
often disagree on a lot of issues but in this case
I agree wholeheartedly. As we become more acutely aware
of our environment we are discovering some sobering
things about these banned compounds. A lot of these
compounds last about as long as spent nuclear fuel
rods in the environment. They can get into our food
supply, into wildlife and into the water. What we need
are more environmentally friendly pesticides that occur
naturally in many cases. Azatrol which was mentioned
in the other question is a good example. It is a highly
refined combination of azadirachtin A and azadirachtin
B that are extracted from the Neem tree seed. It is
a certified organic formulation, is harmless to bees,
earthworms, beneficial insects and can be used on vegetable
gardens. Remember, always read your pesticide label
and pretend it is a great book!
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What
can I do to keep mosquitoes out of my water garden?
It does not have running water. |
A: |
There
are a number of possibilities. One is the use of a
form of bacillus thuringiensis israelensis which is
sold as a mosquito dunk. They are quite effective.
If you have a small garden you may want to try the
mosquito fish. The correct name of the fish is gambusia
affinis. There is quite a bit of controversy surrounding
this fish and rightly so. I would not put it in an
aquatic setting where you are trying to raise other
fish fry up to size. The gambusia has an appetite for
anything tiny in the water that moves. They are found
in a lot of ponds in the piedmont at this time. We
have them in our small tanks at the store and we have
no mosquitoes in the tanks yet. The water has been
in the tanks for six weeks now. Do we have mosquitoes
flying around in the evenings, you bet! The gambusia
are also being introduced into erosion control ponds
in several states to help control mosquitoes. Other
types of fish are also recommended for insect control.
We will check on the availability and cost of them.
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Why do you not have a price list available at the store for distribution? |
A: |
We have so many different types of plants at our store that a price list would almost require a full time person to keep updated. We grow and buy from several different suppliers. We are constantly having to change prices on some plants as different growers set different prices. We also run out of certain sizes and have to substitute plants. That is why we like to go one-on-one with you when quoting plant prices. We are also a retail nursery, not a wholesale operation. Wholesale nurseries tend to have set sizes and prices for a year at least.
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Whom should I contact about my child eating a plant that may be poisonous? |
A: |
This is a serious question considering the toxicity of some bulbs, perennials, and plants. The designated poison control center for the state of North Carolina is in Charlotte , NC . The internet address is http://www.carolinas.org/services/poison/ and the toll free number in case of an emergency poisoning is 1-800-848-6946 . You can also get a wealth of information on poisonous plants at www.ces.ncsu.edu/dept/hort/consumer/poison/poison.htm. We also have books on toxic plants at our store. If you have a question about a new plant you have or are thinking about buying, give us a call. We can give you the information via fax, email or you may come in and get the info right out of a book.
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