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by Rett Davis | |
Gardening Q&A by Rett Davis appears in
Alamance County's daily newspaper, The Times-News,
every Sunday in the Accent section. Each week's installment is
posted to this
website, beginning with January of this year. Scroll to the bottom of
this page to navigate to other Gardening Q&As. Please contact
Rett via e-mail with questions
or
comments in regard to this column.
Question:
I never got around to trimming the lower hanging branches on
some yard trees. Can I prune them now or is it best to wait until fall?
Answer:
Prune them now. Early summer is a great time to remove
unwanted limbs, thin fruit trees, and remove basal sprouts from around
tree trunks. Summer time pruning is somewhat repressive for a tree.
Whereas winter pruning is invigorating to a tree. Summer pruning
produces less regrowth from sprouts that emerge from buds below your
cuts. So to get rid of unwanted growth, do so now.
Question:
I have an old wooden sink that I purchased recently. It has
small holes in it from which sawdust falls out onto the floor. I have
been told these are powder post beetles and that I must treat them with
an insecticide before refinishing the sink. Which insecticide is best?
Answer:
No insecticide is needed at all. This old wooden sink got
infested with powder post beetles while in storage in an unheated
building. It could have been stored outside in a barn or outbuilding.
The wood in the sink increased its moisture content therefore making it
more attractive to the female powder post beetle. She deposited her
eggs on the outside of the wood and the young larva bored into the
wood. As the larvae emerge several years later their exit holes become
very visible. The holes are packed with sawdust and overtime you move
the sink or it is used, the loose sawdust filters down on the floor.
Eventually all the larva within the sink will emerge as an adult powder
post beetle. If the sink is stored in a heated and cooled room the
moisture content of the wood will drop considerably to somewhere around
12% in most homes. This lower moisture content of the wood is no longer
of interest to the female and she will not lay her eggs there any more.
Eventually the sink will be free of this insect as they work they way
out. If you do refinish it now, any remaining powder post beetles in
the wood will just bore through the finish as they emerge. I would
postpone refinishing until you no more fresh sawdust on the floor. Wait
at least several months and hopefully they will all be gone. But leave
the sink in your home and do not return it to an outdoor storage storage
facility.
Question:
Why do some catalpa worms prefer one tree over another? I
have two side by side and they only feed on one.
Answer:
A mystery indeed! The catalpa worm is a favorite of local
anglers in our area that use them as fishing bait. Some bait stores
even have catalpa trees on their property. I have learned that the
female catalpa worm is very choosey where she lays her eggs. Why she
lays her eggs on one tree over another is not clearly understood even by
entomologists (insect experts). However old timers will tell you that
you can move the worms from one tree to another if you like and they
will feed on that tree. This is confirmed by entomologists but they
will also tell you that it must be done while the caterpillars are very
small. If you wait until they are large they will not feed on the other
tree but will just starve to death.
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If you have any horticultural questions, please direct them to Rett Davis