Join the Garden “Pro”, Peter Felix as he talks about gardening from the soil up!

Garden Pro host, Peter Felix talks about soil and what it means for your planitng season.  Do you know the difference between light soils and heavy soils?  And what the heck are "growing degree days"?  Listen each week as Peter covers the ABC’s of growing gardens, plants, shrubs and trees.  And.. each week Peter answers your on the air questions as well as your online questions. ...CLICK HERE TO HEAR SHOW and READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE

Weed Wacker Damage to Trees

Weed wackers and lawnmowers that hit tree trunks week after week cause irreversible damage. As good as a weed wacker operator may be, it is nearly impossible to string trim grass without nicking the tree. ...CLICK HERE TO HEAR SHOW and READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE

Stop the landscape bed abuse!

Stop the madness! When landscapers “scratch” the beds to give them a fresh appearance they are doing more harm than good. Besides tearing up important fibrous roots, bed scratching disturbs soil microbes. Plants subjected to this poor cultural practice must waste energy to regenerate roots. They usually look terrible. ...CLICK HERE TO HEAR SHOW and READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE

Pruning

Pruning is essential to maintain size and reduce crowding of landscape plants. 99% of all landscapes are over planted with plants fighting for position. It is not necessarily a bad thing, it is part of the instant gratification culture that we live in. ...CLICK HERE TO HEAR SHOW and READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE

Winter Injury

Winter injury is common on evergreens usually when very cold weather follows a warm spell. Leaf dessication occurs when water loss from leaves cannot be replaced because it is frozen in the soil. I will not prune these plants until after I see what happens when new buds open and expand in the spring. The most common plants to be affected by winter dessication include: schip laurel, japanese holly, all hollies, rhododendrons, yews, aucuba, and many other broadleafed evergreens. We perform anti-dessicant sprays to protect evergreens from injury. The use of these products has been controversal, however new formulas have been created that last longer and are more rain tolerant. ...CLICK HERE TO HEAR SHOW and READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE

Garden Pro Radio Launches its First Show!

  ...CLICK HERE TO HEAR SHOW and READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE

Construction Damage to Trees

Construction projects are detrimental to trees. Heavy equipment or storing of supplies compresses or “compacts” soil in the critical root zone of trees. The critical root zone is a circular area around the tree thats radius is measured 12 inches for every 1 inch of trunk diameter measured at 4.5 ft above ground. ...CLICK HERE TO HEAR SHOW and READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE

Cedar shake?

Cedars and other evergreens shed their interior needles every few years. Sometimes the shedding is rapid as with white pines (bottom photo) and other species such as cedar takes longer because the shedded needles need to "weather off". This is a natural plant process often confused for a disease or insect infestation. ...CLICK HERE TO HEAR SHOW and READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE

Arborvitae Leafminer

Arborvitae leafminers are attacking arborvitaes on Long Island. This tiny caterpiller feeds inside the needles causing the tips to turn brown. Heavily infested trees look near death, brown, and very thin. To control this pest you must apply a systemic product or apply several treatments of an environmentally friendly product such as Conserve which contains spinosad. Spinosad is derived from the fermentation of a natutrally occuring organism. Arborvitaes that are treated and fertilized often make a full recovery. Arborvitaes have been over used as privacy screens because of the wooly adelgid infestation on hemlocks. This overplanting makes it much easier for insect infestations to spread because the insects do not have to travel far to find food or breeding partners. ...CLICK HERE TO HEAR SHOW and READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE

Got Woodpeckers?

This roadside pine tree is riddled with holes made by a Pileated Woodpecker. The woodpeckers make deep rectangular holes looking to feed on carpenter ants. This photo was taken at Crescent Lake in Wolfeboro N.H. ...CLICK HERE TO HEAR SHOW and READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE

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