This is the Q&A for the Yard and Garden show for May 3, 2024. Yard and Garden Live is a call-in radio show I do on KUTT 99.5 FM from 10-11:30 am and it will run through July 26 and continue again in September for two fall episodes. It can also be found on kutt995.com for online listening. If you missed a show or just want to read through the questions, I have written them all in my blog and will continue to do so throughout the season.
Guest Host: George Pinkerton, Co-Owner of Roseland Nursery
- The first question was about how to manage weeds in an established asparagus patch. Can you spray anything over it?
A. Nothing is safe to be sprayed over the top of asparagus that will not harm the asparagus to kill the weeds. Hand removal is best with some mulch to help keep the weeds from growing back. You can use preen over the bed in the spring to stop the germination of annual weeds, but it has to be done prior to spear emergence in the spring. Make sure that you use the preen product that is labeled for use in asparagus.
- This caller heard us discussing using dish soap and water to treat for Japanese beetles and was curious how much soap to mix with the water in this situation?
A. Soap can help to kill insects because it get stuck in the spiracles or air tubes and kills them. It will have to be reapplied often, it will only kill those present when sprayed. There is a guide from Colorado State Extension that covers the mixtures, but 2.5 tablespoons per gallon of water should work.
3. Where can you find a good pollinator seed mix for a prairie area?
A. Stock Seed Farms, Burpee, or many other seed catalogs would have wildflower mixes.
4. A caller is looking for a medium sized tree for the front yard that is available at local nurseries. What is a good choice for this?
A. Crabapples, dogwoods, Bloodgood Japanese maple, magnolia, pawpaw, dwarf chinkapin oak are all good choices. Pawpaw should be in some shade. For a little larger options, look at Ohio buckeye, tuliptree, or sweetgum.
5. This caller is looking to plant sedges under her apple tree. Does she need to kill the grass first?
A. It would help to kill the turf first to reduce the competition. The grass could outcompete other plants and will try to sneak up through mulch for a while if you don’t kill it or dig it out of the area before replanting.
6. A caller wants to know how to tell good mushrooms from the toxic mushrooms?
A. It would be best to go out first with a person who knows the difference so they can show you what to look for when hunting morels or any type of mushroom. If you are unsure, do not consume the mushroom. Morels have a hollow stem where other mushrooms will have a cottony pith in the middle of their stem. For more information on mushrooms, visit this website from Iowa State University.
7. What mulch is best for the garden?
A. Grass clippings can be used if they haven’t been treated with any type of pesticide this year. Pesticides include herbicides and insecticides. Follow the label to determine if they can be used, but most can not for the entire season. Otherwise, you can use straw, soybean mulch, or wood chips.
8. This caller is starting a new flower garden. What are some good plant choices for drought tolerance, full sun, 2 feet tall and wide?
A. Any of the wildflowers would be a great choice. Others include bee balm, coneflowers, any aster, daylilies, or coreopsis. You can mix in some grasses including Northern sea oats, side oats grama, blue grama, and others.
9. A caller has an autumn blaze maple that is only leafing out on the bottom. This is the second year in a row this has happened. What is the cause of this and will the tree survive?
A.This would be due to some type of root issue. It could be from the drought that we have dealt with over the past couple of years as well, especially if additional irrigation was not provided. It could be that there was a large root severed at planting or since then or it could be that a girdling root is becoming problematic. Either way, because this has been the same for this tree for 2 seasons, this tree is not going to survive long-term. It should be removed and replaced.
10. This caller has a tree that is suckering a lot at the base. What can be done for it?
A. This could be from a rootstock if it is a grafted tree. When trees are grafted to different rootstock, the roots try to push growth and cause a lot of suckering. It could also be due to stress from poor environmental conditions and some trees just naturally sucker more than others. You can try sucker stop, but that isn’t 100% effective. Otherwise, just continue to cut the suckers off as they develop and keep the tree healthy with proper irrigation and mulch.
11. A caller is trying to get something growing on a sloped area. What else can she use instead of grass?
A. She could try other plants like a short growing juniper, crown vetch, or sumac. She could also try some native grasses.
12. This caller has mushrooms in his lawn. Does he need to spray them?
A. There is no spray for mushrooms. These mushrooms are growing off of decaying organic matter in the soil and will continue to show up in rainy seasons until the organic matter is completely gone. He can pull or cut them out, especially if this is an area where small children or pets frequent. Mowing over them can spread the spores out across the lawn. They will dry up when the weather dries up.
13. A caller has limelight hydrangeas with very little green growth at the bottom of the plant now. Should she give up or give them more time?
A. Give them more time, it is still early and we had a hard winter, things are a little slower than usual this year. Give them until mid-June before giving up.
14. Will we see more cicadas this year than previous years?
A. No, the periodical cicada emergence is in the eastern United States. We will have our normal populations of cicadas that are found in Nebraska annually.
15. Why did peach trees not bloom this year?
A. The blossoms were likely hit by a late frost. They will not produce fruit this year if they didn’t bloom, but the tree will be fine.
16. This caller wanted to know a good fertilizer for use on her grapes and rhubarb?
A. It is best to do a soil test first to know what nutrients are necessary and then add based on those results. Nutrients can be added to a high level that can be harmful to growth, so a soil test is best.
17. Will mint redirect wildlife?
A. Most of these types of remedies will not work long-term for wildlife management.
18.The final caller of the day has brown patches in their evergreens. What caused that?
A. This is likely due to winter desiccation. Prune out the brown patches now. Be sure to water these plants through the winter in the future to help prevent desiccation from happening again.
*Reference to commercial products or trade names does not imply endorsement by Nebraska Extension or bias against those not mentioned.
FULL PODCAST: If you would like to hear the full recording of this show, Listen to the Podcast found at: https://yardandgarden.buzzsprout.com
Plants and Pests with Nicole 