Question
What is the best thing to do with seedlings that are too tall for the seed starting kits? I have cauliflower and tomato plants that are 'leggy' and now too tall, but not yet ready to go outside. I received last week an advertisement about that hybrid zoysia grass that needs little watering and little mowing. Is that for real and if so, would it work in our climate? Supposedly it is cold hardy to -30. If I think that I there are gophers in my yard, what is the best way to eradicate them?
Answer(s)
You can transplant your seedlings into larger containers. They are leggy because they haven't received enough sunlight. Shop lights hung just above the foliage can help them not to get leggy. I put my light on wooden blocks and kept adding blocks as the plants grew higher. Your tomatoes can be replanted in larger pots with part of the stem buried in the dirt. New roots will form along the buried stem.
Zoysia grass will grow here, but it is a warm season grass, which means that it won't turn green until the weather is hot (June?) and will go brown when the weather cools. It is very coarse in texture and if you walk barefoot on it, it will feal like a coconut fiber door mat. It is true that it needs little water.
As for your possible gophers. If the holes are small with no mounds of dirt around them, they are probably voles. If the holes are large and have dirt piled around them, they are gophers. Farm supply stores such as Call-Ranch, IFA, Steve Regan, etc. will have traps or chemical baits or gasses you can buy to take care of them.
If you have further questions, you can call us at 801-851-8460 ext 5. Pat Fugal, Master Gardener
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