Farm & Garden - Newz Group...witch hazel, cotoneaster, enkianthus, PeeGee hydrangea, climbing roses,...
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LETOURNEAU UNIVERSITY www.BelcherCenter.com Longview, TX 903-233-3080 Season Sponsor: KLTV Marquee Sponsors: Komatsu, Carol and Richard Manley, Transet Co. March 29 American Girl Musical Sponsored by Lou Ann and Joe Bob Joyce F ARM & G ARDEN PAGE 2C / SUNDAY, MARCH 17, 2019 news-journal.com RANDY REEVES During late spring, lawn grass planting time, the question often is asked, ‘What is the perfect lawn grass to plant?” There is no perfect lawn grass. Every choice has good and bad qualities. A good turf selection will depend on the conditions under which the grass must grow and the landscape need or demands made on the grass. There are six basic permanent lawn grasses from which to choose in North and East Texas: ! St. Augustine, which is popular on average-sized lawns, is perhaps the best known for its shade tolerance. It is also known for its serious insect and disease problems. St. Augustine, which cannot be planted from seed, demands high mainte- nance with regard to fertilization, summer watering and frequent mowing and insect and disease control. This grass will offer the grower a dark green turf of reasonably fast growth and coverage. ! Common Bermuda is perhaps the most popular lawn grass in North and East Texas. This grass, which may be estab- lished from seed, is quick and compara- tively inexpensive to establish. The major disadvantage of common Bermuda is its inability to grow in shade or beneath trees. Bermuda grass insect and disease problems are not serious; yet its maintenance is high in regard to fertilization, summer watering and control of the underground runners in flower beds and cultivated areas. ! Hybrid Bermudas are high-mainte- nance grasses and are relatively expensive to establish, as they cannot be planted from seed. Hybrid Bermudas, which are popular on highly maintained golf greens, demand continual and exacting mowing, fertilization and summer watering. These Bermudas, which include U-3, Texturf 10, Tifgreen, Tifway, No-Mow and others are slow to establish compared with common Bermuda and are not recommended for the average gardener. ! Zoysia, another grass selection for our area, cannot be seeded and is rather slow to be established. It, too, like the hybrid Bermudas, is a fine-textured grass that demands high maintenance. Three types of Zoysia are used in Texas; Zoysia Meyer, em- erald and the very slow growing Midwest. The fine texture of Zoysia will form thick turf that requires a pull-type mower for proper mowing. ! Centipede grass is at home in the sandy, acid soils of East and North Texas. Compared with other lawn grasses, this one demands the least maintenance in that it does not like high fertilization, is moder- ately heat tolerant and has few insect and disease problems. Centipede will grow in partial or filtered shade and may be planted from seed. Seedings, however, may result in erratic germination; therefore, it is best planted from vegetative parts. Centipede is slow to establish, yet its moderate rate of growth is an advantage when mowing. Regardless of the type of lawn grass a homeowner selects, the real success of the grass will depend on proper planting and care. Late spring is grass planting time. Time to fertilize March is an ideal time to fertilize fruit and nut trees. An annual application of fertilizer is critical to the maintenance of healthy, pro- ductive fruit trees. The fruit plants must achieve sufficient growth each season to replenish the food reserves exhausted the previous year. Carbohydrates and other food materials required to develop fruit on the plant are produced in the leaves by photosynthesis. When the plant is under fertilized, it pro- duces fewer leaves, and fruit production is often limited. Peach and plum trees should receive a half-pound or 1 cup of ammonium sul- fate (21-0-0) per year of age or per inch of trunk diameter with a maximum limit of 5 pounds per tree. In addition, mature trees should receive an additional cup of ammonium sulfate in late August. First and second year-old trees should receive one-half cup of ammonium sulfate during April, May and June. Apples, pears, and persimmons normally require little fertilization. This is to prevent the stimulation of excess growth that is sus- ceptible to fire blight. Severity of fire blight infection also can be decreased by applying a cover spray of streptomycin or Kocide to apple, loquat and pear trees immediately before, during and after the bloom period. The trees should make 6 to 12 inches of an- nual growth, otherwise nitrogen fertilizer will be required. Follow the formula above for peach trees if growth is poor. Fertilizer requirements for fig trees should be gauged by the amount of growth made in the previous year. The shoots should grow about 12 to 18 inches each year. In general, one-half pound of ammonium sulfate per year of tree age should be ap- plied with a maximum limit of 10 pounds. Pecans require one pound of ammonium sulfate per inch diameter of tree trunk of established trees. Fertilizers with zinc added are of little benefit in alkaline soils — zinc will have to be added to the tree foliage by spraying zinc sulfate or NZN solutions directly on the leaves. This is very import- ant for young pecan trees that have been recently planted. Blackberries should be fertilized twice each season: in early March and when har- vest is completed, usually in June. About a half-pound of ammonium sulfate fertilizer scattered around the plant is recommended for each application. Grapes should receive a half-pound of ammonium sulfate per vine depending on the vigor of the vine. Overly vigorous grapes are undesirable because they are not as productive. — Randy Reeves is a Texas A&M AgriLife extension agent for Gregg County. Join him on his horticultural blog at www.news-journal.com. FROM STAFF REPORTS Stephen F. Austin State University’s SFA Gardens has scheduled its annual Garden Gala Day Plant Sale from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 6 at the Pineywoods Native Plant Center, 2900 Raguet St. in Nacogdoches. The sale will feature more than 300 varieties of hard-to- find, “Texas-tough” plants, including Texas natives, edibles, heirlooms, tropi- cals, perennials, shrubs and trees, with an emphasis on pollinator-friendly selections as well as exclusive SFA introductions, according to SFA Gardens officials. The featured plants are trialed before being offered to the public and are pro- duced by SFA Gardens staff members and volunteers. The sale benefits the SFA Mast Arboretum, Piney- woods Native Plant Center, Ruby M. Mize Azalea Gar- den and Gayla Mize Garden, along with educational programs that are held monthly at the gardens. Educational programs provided at the SFA Gar- dens reach more than 15,000 participants annually, officials said. Parking is available at SFA’s Janice A. Pattillo Early Childhood Research Center, 2428 Raguet St., and visitors are encouraged to arrive early and bring a wagon to haul their plants. For information and a list of available plants, call (936) 468-4404 or visit sfagardens. sfasu.edu beginning March 23. BY LEE REICH Associated Press Deciduous shrubs — those that lose their leaves each winter — are always sending up new stems at or near ground level. This makes them forgiving plants to prune. New growth, wherever needed, can eventually correct any mistakes. Still, there’s no reason to butcher these plants. Forsythia is one of many deciduous shrubs that look their best with their stems rising up in a clump from ground level to create an informal, graceful fountain of foliage and flowers. The way to maintain this graceful appearance is by “renewal pruning.” Renew your shrub With renewal pruning, work with the plant’s natural growth habit. Every year, remove old, decrepit stems that no longer flower well to make way for exu- berant, young ones. And if these young stems are elbowing each other for space, remove some of them also. The tools that help achieve graceful form in these shrubs are not hedge shears but a lopper and hand-held prun- ing shears, perhaps also a small pruning saw. When to prune is dictated by a plant’s blooming season. Prune early flowering shrubs right af- ter their spring show is over. If you were to prune now, you’d be pruning off many stems that were going to bear flowers. Reserve your late-winter pruning enthusiasm for shrubs that flower from summer on. How much pruning? Variations in the growth habits of deciduous shrubs dictate the degree of renewal pruning needed. Those that can handle a lot of pruning include red-osier dogwood, Russian sage, butterfly bush, St. John’s wort, and other shrubs whose newest shoots are the ones that carry the best flowers or, in the case of red-osier dogwood, the brightest red or yellow stems. These shrubs also tend to send up many new shoots from ground level each year. Shrubs whose newest shoots put on the best show are the easiest to prune: Simply lop the whole plant completely to ground level each year. This admittedly drastic pruning keeps them from becoming con- gested at their centers, and stimulates the season’s flush of lanky, new stems. Shrubs whose best show is on stems that are 1 year old — common ninebark, flowering almond, rambling roses, kerria, and pussy willows grown as shrubs for their catkins — require slightly less se- vere pruning. Prune these shrubs by lopping to the ground all flowering stems, that is, those that are a year old, right after they finish their show. Stems of forsythia as well as those of lilac, mockorange, clethra, honeysuckle, shrub roses, and weigela keep bearing flowers even longer, so can remain a few years before needing to be cut away to make room for younger stems. Use your lopper or saw to first cut some of the oldest stems right to the ground, or to low, vigorous side shoots. These few quick cuts quickly and easily rid the plant of decrepit wood, make way for young wood, and reduce the plant’s height and width. Next, with hand shears, go for the young sprouts at ground level. Cut to the ground any that are spreading too far out from the base of the plant or that crowd too thickly. It’s impossible to prescribe how long to leave an older stem, or to say how many new stems to leave each year. Such details depend on the soil and the nature of the plant, as well as how high and how wide you want it to grow. Finally, the easiest plants to prune are witch hazel, cotoneaster, enkianthus, PeeGee hydrangea, climbing roses, tree peonies and many viburnums. All these shrubs are reluctant to send up new sprouts from ground level, and the relatively permanent framework of branches that they build up typically puts on a good show year after year. This growth habit means you can prune these shrubs rarely, or not at all. Choosing the right lawn grass Pruning tips will keep those shrubs in blossom AP Photo A shrub is pruned in New Paltz, N.Y. Maintain a natural, graceful form to a flowering shrub with renewal pruning, starting with lopping back some of the oldest stems to ground level. SFA Gardens sets spring plant sale
Transcript of Farm & Garden - Newz Group...witch hazel, cotoneaster, enkianthus, PeeGee hydrangea, climbing roses,...
LETOURNEAU UNIVERSITYwww.BelcherCenter.com
Longview, TX 903-233-3080
Season Sponsor:KLTV
Marquee Sponsors:Komatsu,
Carol and Richard Manley,Transet Co.
March 29American Girl Musical
Sponsored byLou Ann and Joe Bob Joyce
Farm & GardenPAGE 2C / SUNDAY, MARCH 17, 2019 news-journal.com
RANDYREEVES
During late spring, lawn grass planting time, the question often is asked, ‘What is the perfect lawn grass to plant?” There is no perfect lawn grass. Every choice has good and bad qualities.
A good turf selection will depend on the conditions under which the grass must grow and the landscape need or demands made on the grass. There are six basic permanent lawn grasses from which to choose in North and East Texas:
St. Augustine, which is popular on average-sized lawns, is perhaps the best known for its shade tolerance. It is also known for its serious insect and disease problems. St. Augustine, which cannot be planted from seed, demands high mainte-nance with regard to fertilization, summer watering and frequent mowing and insect and disease control. This grass will offer the grower a dark green turf of reasonably fast growth and coverage.
Common Bermuda is perhaps the most popular lawn grass in North and East Texas. This grass, which may be estab-lished from seed, is quick and compara-tively inexpensive to establish. The major disadvantage of common Bermuda is its inability to grow in shade or beneath trees. Bermuda grass insect and disease problems are not serious; yet its maintenance is high in regard to fertilization, summer watering and control of the underground runners in flower beds and cultivated areas.
Hybrid Bermudas are high-mainte-nance grasses and are relatively expensive to establish, as they cannot be planted from seed. Hybrid Bermudas, which are popular on highly maintained golf greens, demand continual and exacting mowing, fertilization and summer watering. These Bermudas, which include U-3, Texturf 10, Tifgreen, Tifway, No-Mow and others are slow to establish compared with common Bermuda and are not recommended for the average gardener.
Zoysia, another grass selection for our area, cannot be seeded and is rather slow to be established. It, too, like the hybrid Bermudas, is a fine-textured grass that demands high maintenance. Three types of Zoysia are used in Texas; Zoysia Meyer, em-erald and the very slow growing Midwest. The fine texture of Zoysia will form thick turf that requires a pull-type mower for proper mowing.
Centipede grass is at home in the sandy, acid soils of East and North Texas. Compared with other lawn grasses, this one demands the least maintenance in that it does not like high fertilization, is moder-ately heat tolerant and has few insect and disease problems. Centipede will grow in partial or filtered shade and may be planted from seed. Seedings, however, may result in erratic germination; therefore, it is best planted from vegetative parts. Centipede is slow to establish, yet its moderate rate of growth is an advantage when mowing.
Regardless of the type of lawn grass a
homeowner selects, the real success of the grass will depend on proper planting and care. Late spring is grass planting time.
Time to fertilizeMarch is an ideal time to
fertilize fruit and nut trees.An annual application of
fertilizer is critical to the maintenance of healthy, pro-ductive fruit trees. The fruit plants must achieve sufficient
growth each season to replenish the food reserves exhausted the previous year.
Carbohydrates and other food materials required to develop fruit on the plant are produced in the leaves by photosynthesis. When the plant is under fertilized, it pro-duces fewer leaves, and fruit production is often limited.
Peach and plum trees should receive a half-pound or 1 cup of ammonium sul-fate (21-0-0) per year of age or per inch of trunk diameter with a maximum limit of 5 pounds per tree. In addition, mature trees should receive an additional cup of ammonium sulfate in late August. First and second year-old trees should receive one-half cup of ammonium sulfate during April, May and June.
Apples, pears, and persimmons normally require little fertilization. This is to prevent the stimulation of excess growth that is sus-ceptible to fire blight. Severity of fire blight infection also can be decreased by applying a cover spray of streptomycin or Kocide to apple, loquat and pear trees immediately before, during and after the bloom period. The trees should make 6 to 12 inches of an-nual growth, otherwise nitrogen fertilizer will be required. Follow the formula above for peach trees if growth is poor.
Fertilizer requirements for fig trees should be gauged by the amount of growth made in the previous year. The shoots should grow about 12 to 18 inches each year. In general, one-half pound of ammonium sulfate per year of tree age should be ap-plied with a maximum limit of 10 pounds.
Pecans require one pound of ammonium sulfate per inch diameter of tree trunk of established trees. Fertilizers with zinc added are of little benefit in alkaline soils — zinc will have to be added to the tree foliage by spraying zinc sulfate or NZN solutions directly on the leaves. This is very import-ant for young pecan trees that have been recently planted.
Blackberries should be fertilized twice each season: in early March and when har-vest is completed, usually in June. About a half-pound of ammonium sulfate fertilizer scattered around the plant is recommended for each application.
Grapes should receive a half-pound of ammonium sulfate per vine depending on the vigor of the vine. Overly vigorous grapes are undesirable because they are not as productive.
— Randy Reeves is a Texas A&M AgriLife extension agent for Gregg County. Join him on his horticultural blog at www.news-journal.com.
FROM STAFF REPORTS
Stephen F. Austin State University’s SFA Gardens has scheduled its annual Garden Gala Day Plant Sale from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 6 at the Pineywoods Native Plant Center, 2900 Raguet St. in Nacogdoches.
The sale will feature more than 300 varieties of hard-to-find, “Texas-tough” plants, including Texas natives, edibles, heirlooms, tropi-cals, perennials, shrubs and trees, with an emphasis on
pollinator-friendly selections as well as exclusive SFA introductions, according to SFA Gardens officials.
The featured plants are trialed before being offered to the public and are pro-duced by SFA Gardens staff members and volunteers.
The sale benefits the SFA Mast Arboretum, Piney-woods Native Plant Center, Ruby M. Mize Azalea Gar-den and Gayla Mize Garden, along with educational programs that are held monthly at the gardens.
Educational programs provided at the SFA Gar-dens reach more than 15,000 participants annually, officials said.
Parking is available at SFA’s Janice A. Pattillo Early Childhood Research Center, 2428 Raguet St., and visitors are encouraged to arrive early and bring a wagon to haul their plants.
For information and a list of available plants, call (936) 468-4404 or visit sfagardens.sfasu.edu beginning March 23.
BY LEE REICH Associated Press
Deciduous shrubs — those that lose their leaves each winter — are always sending up new stems at or near ground level. This makes them forgiving plants to prune. New growth, wherever needed, can eventually correct any mistakes. Still, there’s no reason to butcher these plants.
Forsythia is one of many deciduous shrubs that look their best with their stems rising up in a clump from ground level to create an informal, graceful fountain of foliage and flowers. The way to maintain this graceful appearance is by “renewal pruning.”
Renew your shrubWith renewal pruning, work with
the plant’s natural growth habit. Every year, remove old, decrepit stems that no longer flower well to make way for exu-berant, young ones. And if these young stems are elbowing each other for space, remove some of them also.
The tools that help achieve graceful form in these shrubs are not hedge shears but a lopper and hand-held prun-ing shears, perhaps also a small pruning saw.
When to prune is dictated by a plant’s blooming season.
Prune early flowering shrubs right af-ter their spring show is over. If you were to prune now, you’d be pruning off many stems that were going to bear flowers.
Reserve your late-winter pruning enthusiasm for shrubs that flower from summer on.
How much pruning?Variations in the growth habits of
deciduous shrubs dictate the degree of renewal pruning needed.
Those that can handle a lot of pruning include red-osier dogwood, Russian sage, butterfly bush, St. John’s wort, and other shrubs whose newest shoots are the ones that carry the best flowers or, in the case of red-osier dogwood, the brightest red or yellow stems. These shrubs also tend to send up many new shoots from ground
level each year.Shrubs whose newest shoots put on the
best show are the easiest to prune: Simply lop the whole plant completely to ground level each year. This admittedly drastic pruning keeps them from becoming con-gested at their centers, and stimulates the season’s flush of lanky, new stems.
Shrubs whose best show is on stems that are 1 year old — common ninebark, flowering almond, rambling roses, kerria, and pussy willows grown as shrubs for their catkins — require slightly less se-vere pruning.
Prune these shrubs by lopping to the ground all flowering stems, that is, those that are a year old, right after they finish their show.
Stems of forsythia as well as those of lilac, mockorange, clethra, honeysuckle, shrub roses, and weigela keep bearing flowers even longer, so can remain a few years before needing to be cut away to make room for younger stems.
Use your lopper or saw to first cut some of the oldest stems right to the ground, or to low, vigorous side shoots. These few quick cuts quickly and easily rid the plant of decrepit wood, make way for young wood, and reduce the plant’s height and width.
Next, with hand shears, go for the young sprouts at ground level. Cut to the ground any that are spreading too far out from the base of the plant or that crowd too thickly.
It’s impossible to prescribe how long to leave an older stem, or to say how many new stems to leave each year. Such details depend on the soil and the nature of the plant, as well as how high and how wide you want it to grow.
Finally, the easiest plants to prune are witch hazel, cotoneaster, enkianthus, PeeGee hydrangea, climbing roses, tree peonies and many viburnums.
All these shrubs are reluctant to send up new sprouts from ground level, and the relatively permanent framework of branches that they build up typically puts on a good show year after year.
This growth habit means you can prune these shrubs rarely, or not at all.
Choosing the right lawn grass
Pruning tips will keep those shrubs in blossom
AP Photo
A shrub is pruned in New Paltz, N.Y. Maintain a natural, graceful form to a flowering shrub with renewal pruning, starting with lopping back some of the oldest stems to ground level.
SFA Gardens sets spring plant sale
