Dear Neil: What would be causing this to happen to my peach crop? I’ve Googled until I’m cross-eyed.
Google me one more thing. Search for “Plum curculio peaches” and you will find a ton of matches on this serious insect pest. It’s the larval stage of a snout beetle. Look for university websites for the most trustable information. You will need to be on a regular spray program beginning as the plants come into bud in early spring, again as the petals fall, and on 10-day intervals until harvest. Use a labeled organic or inorganic insecticide according to label directions.
Dear Neil: Are those ugly galls on my peach tree harmful? What can I use to treat them?
That’s peach leaf curl. It’s a bacterial infection that overwinters on the tree’s twigs, then infects the new growth in the spring. It doesn’t do a lot of damage, but if you want to try to reduce its impact, apply a copper-based fungicide soon after all the leaves have fallen in autumn. The curled leaves on your peaches will be dropping soon if they haven’t already.
Dear Neil: How would you compare fescue, zoysia and hybrid bermudagrass for Texas conditions? Much of the information I have found seems to be for other states.
Fescues are cool-season grasses, meaning that they do most of their vigorous growing in fall and spring, and that they stay green during the winter. Their biggest struggle comes in summer, and it’s especially bad where nights stay warm. Fescues are best adapted to the Texas Panhandle and not so much in East or South Texas. Fescues require more water than other grasses.
Zoysias are well adapted to all of Texas. They have a somewhat longer dormant season than other warm-season grasses, but they do well across the state. Lots of research and development work is being done for zoysias in Texas. As zoysias are becoming more prevalent, I’m seeing more questions about gray leaf spot, take all root rot, and other diseases that bother St. Augustine show up with zoysias, too.
Hybrid bermudas are just as well adapted as common bermuda. They all do well in all of the state except the northern Panhandle. If you’re talking about the dwarf hybrids that are used on athletic fields and golf courses, those are started vegetatively (plugs, sod, or by hydromulching sprigs). If you’re talking about the seed-grown hybrids, those are probably superior to common bermuda, but they are hard to tell apart from common.
Dear Neil: We have a 25-year-old redbud tree in our backyard. We had a branch removed a few weeks ago and found that it had some darkening inside. I have also noticed vertical cracks on one of the branches running almost the entire length of the branch and into the main trunk. I removed that branch. A few days ago, a calm weather day, a branch broke off spontaneously. See the photo for what the break looked like. What would have caused all that?
As trees go, redbuds have relatively short life expectancies. It’s quite common for the tops to develop problems just as you have documented, then for the trees to die back to the ground, and new shoots to sprout up and fill in. Those new shoots can actually develop into very attractive multi-trunk trees on their own and start the cycle over again. You can see that starting to happen where you are holding the pruned branch. Those leaves are large and very healthy.
As to your tree’s specific issues, most of this has to do with the tree’s age. I do see spirals within the wood of the broken piece that would suggest that borers have been in it. Borers are larval stages of insects that tunnel through wood of weakened trees. They’re fairly common in older redbuds, usually coming in after something else such as old age has caused the tree to decline.
Dear Neil: I followed your advice in pruning back my oakleaf hydrangea, and now it’s blooming beautifully. Thank you! Do you ever try to divide them as they age?
I’m glad it worked. It always has for me as well. Mine are in flower now, too, and I’ll be reshaping them as soon as they finish. No, to the dividing. They’re woody shrubs and not perennials. There is no clump of stems and roots that would allow us to separate them into two or more plants. They are propagated by stem cuttings.
Dear Neil: Are you familiar with butterfly vine (not butterfly bush, and not butterfly weed)? It is a comparatively lightweight vine with seeds that open to look like a small butterfly trying to spread its wings. Do you ever see it in nurseries?
I know it well. I think you’re talking about Mascagnia macroptera, yellow butterfly vine. As you described, it’s a small vine that grows quickly to 10 to 12 ft. tall. It will survive most winters along the Texas Gulf Coast and in South Texas. Elsewhere it’s easily treated as an annual or tender perennial. It produces bright yellow blooms that attract butterflies from late spring until frost, but it’s the fruit that really give it the name “butterfly” vine. They’re brown and fun in arrangements. Unfortunately, we don’t see it in nurseries as often as we should. Searching online I did find that many of the large wholesale growers do offer it to their customers, so you can always ask that it be brought in for you. It’s also available from mail order sources online. Search for it using the scientific name along with the common name.
— Have a question you’d like Neil to consider? Mail it to him in care of this newspaper or email him at mailbag@sperrygardens.com. Neil regrets that he cannot reply to questions individually.
