NEWS for North Dakotans
Agriculture Communication, North Dakota
State University
7 Morrill Hall, Fargo, ND 58105-5665
February 4, 1999
Hortiscope
Ron Smith, Extension Horticulturist
North Dakota State University
Q: Can you tell me what we should do to treat our ash and apple trees with scale? (Breckenridge, Minn.)
A: Heavy infestations of scale need attention during the late winter or early spring while the trees are still dormant. Use dormant oil spray, and be sure to cover all branch surfaces.
You may have to repeat this a couple of years or more to get good control. But it is worth the effort to save ash trees. Dormant oil is effective and nondamaging to the environment. It also has essentially no mammalian toxicity when used properly.
Q: Should I put my pygmy water lilies into a new pot of dirt after blooming all winter in water, or should I wait until fall and repot them? (Valley City, N.D.)
A: If you purchased the water lilies within the last year, you do not need to repot them for three to four years. Be sure to keep dying leaves removed so they do not rot and pollute the water.
Congratulations on your success! I'd bet your plants are a beautiful sight to see!
Q: Though my gardening limits itself to sansevieria indoors and greenhouse petunias for outdoor pots, your column in the Farmers' Forum always interests me, especially that list of elm varieties resistant to Dutch elm disease. (Moorhead, Minn.)
[EDITORS: The following poem was included with the preceding correspondence.]
Garden Columnist
The garden columnist requests
that readers, when submitting pests
or plants to be identified,
observe the following simple guide.
Our staff has sometimes been appalled
by envelopes whose contents crawled,
and house plants in our office need
no plaguey parasites to feed.
Bugs should be dead. Use alcohol,
the rubbing kind, inside a small
vial of plastic sealed inside
a bubble envelope. Leaves dried,
but not composted, neatly pressed
between two tissues, travel best
in padded ziplocks, well addressed
"Handle With Care." If ground like spice,
plants give no clue to guide advice.
For telling wintergreen from kelp,
your detailed observations help.
No answer? Well, your query came
no zip code, street, or even name.
We are not psychics to unmask
our questioners by what they ask.
Please, send good evidence, sole basis
for solving horticultural cases.
A: Thank you for so clearly saying what I rambled on about! I admire anyone who can put together words like you did. Good luck with you sansevieria and petunias!
Q: I thought I was planting ground cherries, but this is what I got. I can't seem to get rid of it! What kind of weed is it and how do I get rid of it? (Gary, S.D.)
A: I'm sorry, but I cannot identify this weed. I have asked a few others, but they don't have an answer for me either. Destroy the weed with Roundup before it goes to seed and spreads any further, and hopefully next time you plant you will get ground cherries. Thanks for the great sample!
Q: Can you identify the enclosed seed pod and seeds? We were going to try planting them, but I am afraid that they are not something I want to have planted in my yard. (Newport, Neb.)
A: It looks like you may have seed pods of common burdock. This is definitely one you don't want to encourage! Let it stay putalong roadsides and in ditches.
Q: I planted my amaryllis outside last summer, brought it in this fall and replanted it in a large container in November. Now it has four extremely long, healthy leaves, but no sign of a bloom stem. Why isn't it blooming? (New Rockford, N.D.)
A: The reason for not blooming is not enough energy. The green healthy leaves are helping to supply the bulb that energy for future bloom. Allow the leaves to stay on until they die down naturally. Allow the soil to stay almost completely dry until growth begins again, which hopefully will result in a flowering stalk this time.
Q: Last fall I repotted some house plants in some new potting soil. Now when the soil on the top gets dry it starts to get white like the enclosed sample. Can you tell me what the problem is?
I also am wondering if I can spray my iris bed with anything this spring to control the weeds. (Tripp, S.D.)
A: The white you are seeing is salt crystals. Nothing to worry about, unless the plants' quality starts to decline.
Once weeds get started in an iris bed, they are difficult to control. I've dug a couple up in my lifetime to get rid of weeds, and it is not fun.
Q: I am looking for a climbing vine that will attach to a stucco wall without support. Do you have any suggestions? (Carrington, N.D.)
A: The quickest one to come to mind is the woodbine, or Virginia creeperParthenocissus quinquefolia. It is deciduous, has good fall color and grows quickly.
Q: Do you recommend growing Canada red cherry pruned like a tree or left unpruned to grow like a bush? (Leeds, N.D.)
A: Life would be a lot easier for you if you could accept it as a shrub.
Q: Is it a good idea to put ashes from our fireplace on our garden, lawn, flowers or trees for some nutrients? (Souris, N.D.)
A: Wood ashes are useful under several circumstances. They are a rich source of potassium, if the soil is low in that element. Encircling plants with ashes about 6 inches out from stem will repel slugs. If your soil is acid (not likely), it will elevate the pH, and you can work some ashes into the soil about five to seven days before planting.
So, are ashes useful? To a certain extent, yes. Are they needed in most North Dakota soils? No.
The greatest use for ashes right now might be on slippery sidewalks and driveways. They do a fair job of providing traction.
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Do you have a gardening or houseplant question? Write to Hortiscope, Box 5051, NDSU Extension Service, Fargo, ND 58105 or e-mail to Ron Smith at ronsmith@ndsuext.nodak.edu.
Source: Ron Smith (701) 231-8161 ronsmith@ndsuext.nodak.edu
Editor: Dean Hulse (701) 231-6136