Weekly Lawn &Garden Tips

7/19/08

My grapes have some black spots on the fruit. I fertilized with manure this year. Could that have caused the spotting. Can I spray now? Skip, Norwich, CT

Mort's Answer: Manure adds a great deal of texture to the soil. There are more effective sources of nitrates. Since excess nitrogen is not recommended, it is advisable to use other feeds. Manure can house fungi like black dot or measles. It is too late to spray since the fruit has already appeared. Do not repeat the manure next year. It will sterilized itself through the winter. You need a complete program of spraying with an oil dormant spray at 65 degrees in the fall and spring. You can use a home orchard spray in the spring as the buds swell. You can follow up repeat applications according to directions. Do not spray when the vines are in bloom.

Question: I was given instructions with the purchase of an Uva berry. I dug a hole four and a half foot round and two feet deep. I am at 50,000 feet. I soaked up the hole after planting the wet roots until the air was all out of the soil. Later, I lost all the leaves. It is starting to come back. Any suggestions? Jay, North Los Angeles, CA

Mort's Answer: You were given the right directions to plant the Uva-ursi berry plant. Arctostaphylos uva-ursi is now called bearberry. It is best transplanted when the roots are half frozen. Since this often impossible, it has to keep soggy until planted. Now that your plant is rebounding from the ordeal, you should allow the soil to dry. You cannot keep the plant soggy all of the time or the roots will rot. These roots need air to survives well as water. This handsome plant will turn a bronze color in the winter. It is sometimes called kinnikinnick and blooms pink or white. It will grow prostrate to six feet.

Question: My hedge rose has grown into two different bushes. One of the group of branches has a lot of fine thorns. Is this normal? Sharon, Taylorville, IL

Mort's Answer: It happens quite often when the soil covers the graft. Most roses are grafted onto multiflora roses because they are very hardy and roots survive. You need to remove all of the less than thorny branches at the root crown. These are just below the graft. Cover the cuts with tree seal or tree wax. This will help impede their recurrence. You should also remove the soil from five inches below the graft. Most often the graft is a knobby growth before the many branches appear.

Question: My onions that I planted this spring bolted after two weeks of high heat. Can I save them or should I start over? William, Portsmouth, OH

Mort's Answer: You can try by cutting them back by a third. You are better served by planting sets in the fall, Cover them with straw in the winter.

Question: A woodchuck (or more) has taken up residence under our neighbor's front door cement steps. What can be used to eliminate the urine odor? Elwin, Cole, ME

Mort's Answer: You have to convince your neighbor to set out a Hav A Hart trap. Bait it with graham cracker and peanut butter. Woodchuck are nasty and clever. Some lime on the ground will help dissipate the odor but will not get at the source.

Question: Can you list of shrubs and plants that will grow in partial sunlight, withstand heat and attract butterflies? I want some flowering and some evergreen. Dianne, Scurry, TX

Mort's Answer: Yaupon hollies and Mahonia are excellent drought resistant evergreens that also have flowers and berries in the fall. Almost all of the hollies will do well in partial shade. English ivies make excellent ground covers. Most pines and junipers, especially the prostrate cedars will do well but are not flowering evergreen, of course. Mimosa, Chilopsis and New Mexico Locust are all drought resistant flowering trees. Harrison yellow rose likes partial shade. Recent research shows that most roses like some shade. Live Oaks and Magnolia are good in dry , hot conditions. Butterflies will be attracted to Beauty Bush, Bluebells, Buttercups, Salvias, Mallows and Flaxes. Blue fescue, Blue Oat and tall fescue are all drought resistant grasses. Spirea Vanhoutte, Cotoneaster divaricatus , Viburnun lanatana and Amelanchier alnifolia are attractive shrubs for zone 7 with drought resistance.

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