Garden Pro Radio » Peter’s Blog

Arborvitae leafminer before and after

PeterFelix — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 02:57:02 +0000

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

Black Turpentine Beetles kill Pines

PeterFelix — Sat, 09 May 2009 02:08:51 +0000

Black Turpentine Beetles are destroying Japanese Black Pines And are now boring in to other pine species as well. I have seen recently Tanyosho Pine, Eastern White Pine, and Scot’s Pine with pitch tubes of frass from successful beetle attacks. ...CLICK HERE TO HEAR SHOW and READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE

Hemlock Wooly Adelgid

PeterFelix — Mon, 04 May 2009 23:07:09 +0000

Hemlock wooly adelgid is a persistent pest of hemlocks. It is an imported pest from asia and thrives here because it has no natural predators to keep populations in check. The white cottony sacs are actually females surrounded by 100 – 300 eggs. Eggs hatch into a "crawler" stage. Crawlers move out and settle on other unoccupied parts of the tree. It is at this stage that adelgids catch rides on birds, wind and other creatures spreading to other hemlocks. ...CLICK HERE TO HEAR SHOW and READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE

Weed Wacker Damage to Trees

PeterFelix — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 01:51:56 +0000

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!

PeterFelix — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 03:18:21 +0000

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

PeterFelix — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 02:59:43 +0000

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

PeterFelix — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 01:28:53 +0000

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

Construction Damage to Trees

PeterFelix — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 02:22:24 +0000

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?

PeterFelix — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 22:07:56 +0000

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

PeterFelix — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 21:13:41 +0000

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