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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.

Clean tools when pruning Canary Island date palms in Las Vegas

Canary palms are susceptible to a disease called Fusarium that can contaminate the soil in the planting hole and prevent you from planting a new one in that spot.

Now is not the time to replant Joshua tree in Las Vegas

The best time to transplant a Joshua tree is in mid- to late spring, but with this plant it could be done in summer as well. The worst times are fall and early winter months. Stay away from these months for planting a Joshua.

Roses grow well in desert climate of Southern Nevada

Q: I enjoy your column, but you never write about roses. We inherited 14-year-old bushes. The bushes are important, and they should look nice.

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Leafhoppers are a nuisance on grapes in Las Vegas

Leafhoppers are very small and jump rather than fly. There can be hundreds if not thousands right about now on grapes. They cause some leaf yellowing, black specks on the leaves and fruit.

Potatoes won’t thrive if planted in summer

Question: I want to plant potatoes here in Las Vegas. Our season is timed different than others, though, so there aren’t seed potatoes available now for a mid- or late July planting.

Never put your Las Vegas lawn to bed wet

Q: I read with interest your column in the Review-Journal on watering. Our small lawn seems to be dying in patches. We water four days a week for 20 minutes at 11 p.m. We regularly feed with Turf Builder Plus and Ironite. What should we do?

Dealing with Las Vegas insect invasion

Q: I took your advice and am treating pill bugs in my garden like slugs. I have drowned them with beer but they keep coming back. My neighbor is giving me his old cans of beer. I had to dig up the rhubarb plants and put them in pots. This is sure a frustrating year.

Protect your plants from freezing temperatures

The freeze is coming. Remember that the coldest is just before dawn. Clear, cloudless skies are more likely to give us lower temperatures and freezing; windy cold is worse than just cold. Cover tender plants before you go to bed and uncover them when it is no longer freezing.

Temperature, irrigation troubles can hamper kumquats

Q: This last year we have had very little fruit on our kumquat, although the tree had been ample with fruit before. The tree appears to be healthy, just no fruit. The only difference I can think of is that in previous years I covered the tree whenever the temperature was below freezing.

Debunking the myths of pine needle mulch

Q: We have 14-year-old pine trees with large water berms under them for collecting water. The inside of these berms are full of pine needles that I hoped would help hold moisture but they do not deteriorate. Should they be left under the trees or be removed?

Ash trees not good choice for Southern Nevada climate

Q: I am having trouble finding a tree to replace ash trees. I want something that doesn’t grow so tall and does well in our climate. We took out our ash trees because they were giant and the roots were all at the surface. I am now guessing we have a soil issue. True?

Ash trees do not fare well in desert Southwest

Q: I have two 20-year-old ash trees that appear to be dying. I have attached pictures. The smaller tree is a Modesto ash and it started losing limbs about a year ago. The bark is now separating and it looks like an old stump with a few sprouts. The other is a Rayburn ash. Its limbs started dying this summer, but the limb deaths are accelerating.

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