Sub Topics
TOPIC: Home, Garden, and Yard
- Some of the bottom leafs on my tomato plants have turned brown and are dying. I have lost one plant and it looks like another may go soon. I am watering three to four times per week and I have been putting a liquid fertilizer on the plants about once a week. Any ideas about what I may be doing wrong?
- Someone told me not to use cherry tomatoes in my spaghetti sauce due to inadequate acidity. If I pressure can the sauce and it also includes zucchini, onion, eggplant and fresh herbs, could it not also include some quantity of cherry tomatoes as part of the mix? I like to use up excess veggies in my sauce.
- Something is eating my garden. HELP! At first I thought it was snails because there were quite a few holes in the leaves of my beans and squash. Now, there are just skeleton leaves left of half my garden. I have treated for snails with PAX and for other insects with Seven. I have looked for squash bugs but to no avail. I have seen a great many ants and earwigs. Oh, and my tomatoes seem fine. Any tips?
- The grass in certain areas of my lawn is not growing well. I've been told it may be due to the fact that they're adjacent to pine trees, and that fallen pine needles have caused locally acidic conditions. It is suggested that I apply Gypsum in these areas. Are the diagnoses and suggestions plausible ?
- The grass under my english walnut tree is not doing well. What can i do to help the grass grow?
- The leaves of our sweet cherry tree have yellowed and our falling off at an alarming rate. This started two weeks ago and in another week ALL the leaves will have dropped except for a few on the tips of new growth (i.e. water spouts). This happened last year to two of our other sweet cherry trees. They did NOT come back this spring. Dead! The trees are 25 years old and pruned yearly. I've been fairly diligent about spraying (dormant oil, fruit fly, and borer) for the six years I've owned the house. At times they have shown signs of borer (or other insect) damage since there has been gumming spots on the trees. When I bought the house I removed the grass around the trees (not quite to the drip line,but a about four feet from the trunk. The trees get water from the lawn sprinklers, but I regularly (every 2-3 weeks) let a hose run water around the tree and soak in for a couple hours. When I fertilize the garden (commercial IFA garden chemical fertilizer)I toss a couple handfuls at the base of each tree. So some fertilizer about twice a year. The soil around the house is mixed. I would guess that most of it is moderate clay. We live on the edge of the bench not far from the mouth of Hobble Creek Canyon. If I had just walked into the yard, I would guess that the trees were getting too much water (yellowing leaves) instead of not enough water (dry crisping leaves). But I really don't water the trees that much and not at all in the last couple weeks when this yellow & leaf drop started. My only other clue is some leaves have brown spots. About the time we bought the house, a neighbor had a cherry tree drop most of its leaves and they were told (USU ext?) that it was a fungus; they sprayed and saved the tree. They've moved so I can't ask them specifics. I don't remember if the leaves had yellowed and then dropped. Too long ago. Help?
- The leaves on my grape plants have turned yellow. The veins are still green but the rest of the leaf is yellow. I added some iron about a week ago and have not noticed any change as yet. Is there something else I need to do?
- The leaves on my snowball bush are withered and the flowers almost nonexistant. The neighboring lilac doesn't look to good either. What could be causing this problem.
- The leaves on my strawberry plants have turned a very pale green or yellow with some brown on the edges what do they need?
- The leaves on our maple tree get little spikes on the top of it and then dry up and fall off. Can you tell me the problem and how we may solve it?
- There is a pecan tree where I work that is dropping leaves like crazy. Can I add the leaves to my vegetable garden and let it compost over the winter? Is there any toxicity in pecan leaves?
- This year a majority of our tomatoes have brown spots on the bottom. Some of them as soon as they are ripe they have mold growing on them. Are these safe to eat an can or what do I need to do. We have about 8 or 9 plants. They are not producing that well. It seems to be on all of are tomatoes except for the grape. What can we do to get this problem taken care of?
- This year we planted our first home garden. It was a lot of fun, but we need to know what to do to make it better next year. Specifically: our plants grew VERY large, but did not yield much fruit. What fruit we did get was typically small and misshapen. We did not fertilize, except some nitrogen along with dead lawn clippings last fall. What should we do this fall to get the soils ready for more fruit and less leaves next year?
- Two Questions: 1. When do Gooseberries flower? 2. When is the best time to plant tulips?
- Two questions; I have an dwarf Honey Crisp apple tree that is about 5 years old. Last year it had a dozen apples. I didn't disturb the fruit spurs when I picked the fruit. This year there were no blossoms on the tree. I didn't prune it at all. What can I do to help it produce every year? Second question; I have peach borers in the main branches of my nectarine tree. The tree seems healthy other than the borers. What can I do about them at this point? Will it help to dig them out? Will it help to spray? Will they winter over to next year?
- Two years ago I moved into a house that has a large apricot tree in the backyard. Last year was our first apricot harvest. The apricots got large a ripe, and looked great. But when I picked one and tasted it, is was VERY mushy and bland. Upon further investigation, all the fruit was this way. Does this mean that the tree is too old or maybe just a bad tree? I don't want to deal with the hassle of a fruit tree if I can't use the fruit.
- We are putting in a backyard with grass seed instead of sod. I am wondering if we need to add lime to our soil to change the pH and also what types of grass work best in our area. I assume that Kentucky Bluegrass would be best, but should I get a mix or just the Bluegrass? Are certain brands better than others?
- We are putting in sod in our front yard - not a lot of traffic. Would like you opinion on if we should put in Kentucky Blue Grass or a biograss?
- We bought a home in East Millcreek w/out any trees in the front yard. We really like the look of the Sycamore tree (with the mottled bark), but don't know if that is the best choice. Is it possible to get one that doesn't bear fruit (itchy-bombs, as we called it as children)? What other trees would you suggest as a large shade tree? Once we decide on a tree, I was planning on checking with all our neighbors to see if they want to plant the same tree so that 20 years down the road, we have a beautiful street. So, I want to plant something that won't make my neighbors despise me down the road!
- We bought a house that has quaking aspens around the perimeter of the yard. About half of them are dying or are already dead. What can we do to prevent the rest of them from dying, and what should we do with the dead trees?
- We bought a house with horrible "goat head thorn" problem, all summer we have been pulling them out and collecting the thorny seeds as much as we can. We are now looking to plant grass seed. And are wondering what seed with grow faster than the goat heads, do well with high traffic (2 dogs) and in a semi shady area?
- We created square foot gardens last year and have discovered the cat has used them for a litter box over the winter and spring. There isn't a large amount of feces,which we remove, but we are concerned that it may have contaminated the soil. Should we dig it out and start over?
- We currently have an elm tree in our front yard. It has been diagnosed with slime flux. We would like to plant another tree next to it,seeing as they said the stump was so big that they would just leave it. Will this cause a problem for any other trees? We want another large shade tree. Will it get the slime flux too if we plant it near it?
- We don't have morning glory in our lawn, but it is taking over our strawberries. Is there anything we can do? If we decide we'd rather get rid of the morning glory instead of saving the strawberries, will roundup get rid of it?
- We have 2 honeylocust trees in our yard. I would guess "Imperial honeylocust". They seem to be about 15 years old or so. They are spaced about 20 feet apart. This spring one has leafed out and the other is still not budding or leafing out. Over the winter, the one that is not budding turned bright red on the trunk, which we have never seen before. The tree is getting a very few buds and leaves on some main branches (like suckers) but no buds or leaves on the outer limbs. Is there anything we can do to save this tree?