Question: I have voracious pillbugs eating my tomato plants, starting at the stalk at ground level. These are the bugs that resemble armadillos and can roll themselves into a ball. Is there anything I can do to protect the plants or get rid of the bugs?
- Home
- >> Local
- >> Local Columns
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.
Bean plants could suffer collar rot when springtime weather is cool and causes soil to retain moisture.
By BOB MORRISGARDENING
Plant losses due to freezing temperatures involve how low the temperature drops, the time of year the temperatures occurred and for how long.
Stale beer works great as a slug bait. Put out a bowl of day-old beer in the garden, sinking it slightly so they can gain entry and then die a happy death.
THE LATEST
Rock dust is used in organic agriculture to replenish minerals that have been removed from the soils when growing and removing vegetables and fruit. I tend to favor the addition of compost to our vegetable gardens since our soils are so low in organic matter and its derivatives.
Garlic- or herb-infused oils that are contaminated with clostridium botulinum, the bacteria responsible for botulism, cannot be identified by smell, sight or taste, making it dangerous to bottle or store them at home.
Nerium oleanders might be more resilient than you think when it gets chilly. Once established, they don’t require a cover to shield them from cold.
Question: Following your advice, I am planning to replace all of the stone mulch under and around the shrubs in my yard and use bark mulch, which attracts roaches, I am told.
Las Vegas cold snaps tend to hit plants at times when they’re not prepared.
Question: I was told by a landscaping company that the fronds from Mexican fan palms cannot be chipped and recycled into mulch because they are too alkaline. This was news to me! Your opinion regarding that palms-too-alkaline-for-mulch theory would be appreciated.
Question: Can you help me identify some insects on my grapes? They are quite small and devour the leaves of my grape vines, leaving them like skeletons. There are literally thousands of them in the summer. They stay until late fall and are very annoying. What can I do to get rid of them?
MOST READ
YOU MAY LIKE