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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 have found what I think are chiggers coming into my house. They are on the window ledges and counter tops. How do I stop them?
Answer:
Every spring you will find an abundance of clover mites crawling on decks, patios, walls, and sometimes indoors. They appear to be worse if we very dry. Clover mites are insect like animals that inhabit lawns and of course clover. When it is dry they will migrate from the lawn and enter homes. They are not chiggers. Chiggers are not visible to the naked eye. But I have noticed a lot of things are not visible like they used to be. Needless to say, this is a harmless little mite. They do not feed on anything of value to you. They will not sting or bite. Fortunately, they are just a seasonal pest of springtime. But if you want to slow their progression into your home you can spray around the foundation of your home with Bayers Multi-Purpose Insect Killer or Spectracides Permethrin. Treat areas of entry to your home such as doors, porches, and patios. Treat from the foundation out 3-5 feet. Repeat weekly. You can also spray around outside windows. Indoors you can use any commercial aerosol spray that is for ants and roaches. Just spray the window sill and around doors. By the way, don't squash them on fabrics or they will leave a red stain.
Question:
Last year I got very few edible fruit from my peaches and apples. This year I am determined to have something to eat from these trees. What can I do?
Answer:
Raising tree fruit at home can be a challenge. Some are much easier than others. Peaches are the most challenging and time consuming. Next in line are apples with pears the easiest to grow. Many factors are involved with raising good fruit including varietal selection. But since changing to another variety is usually not an option, you must try to get the best your trees can offer. This will involve spraying with a product that contains both an insecticide and fungicide. They are sold as 'Home Orchard Spray' or 'Fruit Tree Spray'. Your spray regiment must start as soon as the flowers have faded. This is to protect the pollinating insects that are at work during flowering. Once flowering is over, begin your first cover spray by spraying all the leaves and young fruit every week. Hose end sprayers work well most of the time. Continue your weekly sprays until 2 weeks before harvest.
Question:
I have planted three muscadine grapes and I am getting very little fruit off of them. How long will it be before they produce a reasonable amount of grapes?
Answer:
Several factors could be causing the low grape yield. Shade and improper pruning will play a role in low yield. Grapes require full sun all day. They also require annual pruning to encourage new growth that produces the flowers. However, the most common cause of low grape yield is the varieties you have are may be all female. Many of our most popular muscadine grapes varieties such as scuppernong, Sweet Jenny, Fry, Hunt, and Jumbo are females. To improve pollination it is important to include self-fertile varieties such as Carlos, Cowart, Noble, Pineapple, or Dixieland in your planting. Everyone will be happy then.
Question:
What can be planted in the vegetable garden now?
Answer:
With all the recent warm weather I have heard reports that tomato plants have been going out of the doors of several garden centers. With our last average frost date a full 4 weeks from now, those tomato plants have a tough road ahead of them. But knowledgeable gardeners will only plant cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, head lettuce, onions sets, radishes, beets, and carrots now. Actually the sooner the better. For those other vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers, squash, sweet corn, cucumbers, beans, and okra, they should only be a passing thought. Use you spare time to look at the seed catalogs and order what you want to try new this year.
Question:
My iris and daylilly bed is full of weeds. I was told I could use a product called Preen to get rid of them. Will Preen damage my iris and daylillies?
Answer:
The Preen that is sold for weed control in flower and shrub beds will not harm daylillies, iris, or the weeds that are there. Yes, I did say the weeds will not be harmed either. Preen has no effect on existing weeds. Preen is used only to prevent weeds from germinating. I suspect your flower beds are full of annual weeds such as henbit and chickweed. In order to get your money's worth out of Preen, you must remove all existing weeds from your flower beds and then apply the Preen. It should last 8-10 weeks. But a little sweat equity is in store for you or your husband, that would rather be on the golf course, before you apply the Preen. After you have cleaned the beds out and applied the Preen, apply 2-3 inches of some organic mulch around your flowers.
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