We use a white, breathable fabric for some of our tender desert plants when there’s a chance of freezing temperatures.
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.
Pomegranate bugs can be defeated
Grape leaf skeletonizers have multiple generations during the growing season and protection from Bt only lasts a few days.
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.
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.
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.
Basil, cilantro and Italian parsley are easy to grow here if you prepared your soil adequately and grow them at the right time of year.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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?