Horticulture Hotline 03/05/18
By Bill Lamson-Scribner
With all the hurricane, cold and ice, now is a great time to
inspect your trees for torn limb remains that need to be properly pruned. Many
of my deciduous trees (trees that lose their leaves) are either just starting
to put on new leaves or still naked. The green weeds are easy to spot in the
lawn or beds (yes, I get weeds too). Insect inventory, especially scale, is
easy to evaluate at this time. Any sooty mold left behind from last year
indicates other insects. Have you inspected your yard for mosquito breeding
areas? I hate to ask this, but does anyone have moles?
Right now, before your deciduous trees put on new leaves, is
an excellent time to take a close look at them. If your trees are larger, it is
a great time to get a professional tree company in to look at them. Look for
crossing and rubbing limbs or limbs that are growing towards the middle of the
tree. Look for limbs that have died, damaged by ice or wind or just look
unhealthy. By pruning these limbs now you can direct all the new leaves and
growth to limbs you want to keep long term, and not waste the energy of the
tree to put on new leaves that you are going to remove later.
Dr . Shigo (the main man as far as early tree knowledge
goes) found that trees do 85% of their growing for the year by May, so it is
very important to have fertilizer available to your trees at this time. Either
hire a professional to soil inject your trees or use a granular. SeaHume
granular along with a 17-00-09 will get the tree headed in the right direction.
A soil test is always the best way to determine your soil’s needs.
When your tree is naked, vines growing up into the canopy
are easy to spot along the trunk of the tree. Since the tree does not have any leaves,
these vines are easier to remove than when the tree and vine have leaves. I
pull these vines away from the tree, scrap off some bark and apply my “vine
killer” to the open wound.
Weeds growing beneath the tree are easier to spot and deal
with if you have a low branching deciduous tree. My fig tree has these big
leaves, so once the leaves come out, it is very hard to spray a herbicide
underneath the tree without hitting the fig tree’s leaves. Some herbicides
volatize, so without leaves a tree is less likely to get damaged. Spray now
before the flush of leaves.
If you have any Asiatic Jasmine or Ivy that has grown into
areas you do not want it, right now, while it is putting on young tender
growth, is going to be your best time to control it. Consider using a product
like Brushmaster mixed with Roundup for these hard to kill vines.
If you have been plagued by black sooty mold in the past,
right now, apply Dominion Tree & Shrub as a drench to these plants to
control the insects that produce the black sooty mold. Get it out now to
protect the new foliage from insect attack. Insects like that young tender
foliage like us (cabbage, spinach, lettuce).
I’m hearing the Weed & Feed commercial (some guy named
Scott) playing on the radio, and I think most people in the Lowcountry know it
is too early to fertilize with a fairly high nitrogen based fertilizer. And
spreading a root absorbed chemical for killing weeds across your lawn where
roots of desirable trees and shrubs might be, is not the best idea either
(their label does warn against this; however, it is difficult to tell where
roots extend to).
The cooler nights have given us a longer window for
preemerge products. Get them out now for less hot, gnatty, summertime weeding
and competition for your plants.
A question we have been getting in the Possum stores and on
the radio, “is this the worst year for moles , ever?”
Always read, understand and follow product label. The
product label is a Federal Law.
