Question: I have a 2-year-old apricot tree that had loads of blooms on it this year. It appears the fruit has set, but the leaves are a very light green color. I can see the veins in them and they appear to be a slightly darker green than the rest of the leaf and they are starting to curl.
Answer:If you did not fertilize the tree this winter, then apply a fertilizer to the tree as soon as possible. Light green foliage can be common early in the season with it greening up later. It also can be a sign of watering too often. Water deeply and infrequently.
On a 2-year-old tree, you should be watering now about once a week (twice at the most) and giving it about 30 gallons of water each time. Use wood mulch around the base. Make sure it has at least two drip emitters at this early stage about 1 foot from the trunk. Run the emitters for an hour, not 10 minutes.
If it is adapted from a valve that can only run for 10 minutes like a lawn, then you have to install another valve for trees.
Apply iron right now if you haven't. Use an iron product on the soil and water it in. The best one is Kerex or a similar product. Follow label directions. Curling leaves may be aphids. Spray with insecticidal soap weekly until it gets hot. Aphids don't like hot weather and they will be gone from the leaves. Otherwise use Neem oil. I hope this helps.
Q: We have a 4-year-old live oak tree which is growing fairly well. But we have noticed leaves falling off the last two or so spring seasons. Last year we noticed and later found that it was infected by galls. I was advised that it was harmless and no need to do anything. We probably lost many leaves during the process, but we manually removed about 500 cocoons.
A: You have at least two different insect problems on the oaks. One is the galls, which are most likely caused by a tiny wasp that lays its eggs on expanding buds. We have them here on native oaks growing in the canyons.
The information you were given is correct. It is not a problem for oaks and nothing realistically can be done about it. But they do not cause leaf drop.
For the galls, the larvae or young are inside the galls. You mention "cocoons" and removing them by hand. There is another pest called a tent caterpillar that can get into them and cause webbing and defoliation. They can be controlled easily with a product called Dipel or Thuricide, which is organic. This product is a bacterium.
If the webbing is thick, you may have to destroy webbing and spray inside the webbed area. Also, combine it with a spreader/sticker when you spray.
A third problem this time of year is aphids, which suck plant juices and cause leaf drop and some leaf distortion. They are easy to control with most insecticides labeled for aphids and ornamental trees.
Also, remember that live oak has a natural leaf drop in the spring of every year.
Q: What makes tomatoes split before they are ripe enough to pick?
A: There are two types of cracking. One is called concentric cracks, which circle around the stem end, and the other are radial cracks, which usually run top to bottom. We are talking about the latter cracks or splits. There are some tomatoes that are more prone to splitting than others. If this is a tomato that you have never grown before, this might be the problem.
If this is one that you have grown before and you are experiencing this for the first time, then it is probably a management problem on your end. This is typically due to uneven growth, which can be caused by uneven irrigations, poor canopy cover of the fruit and exposure to the sun, fertilizer applications and growth "spurts," to name a few.
As the fruit is expanding, you want to make sure all of your cultural practices are consistent. Water should be applied so the soil does not go from dry to moist and back again. Besides timing your irrigations so the soil maintains an even moisture content, you might want to mulch the top of the soil to slow evaporation of water from the soil.
Get a good canopy coverage of leaves set before fruit set, or as the fruit is setting, so that fruit is not exposed to direct sunlight as much as possible. This will mean making sure you are applying fertilizers evenly through the growing season or using a slow-release fertilizer.
Q: The front of our house faces west. Until noon, part of the front yard is shaded and after the shade, it receives the hot afternoon sun. We have a problem keeping the foundation plants alive. Can you recommend bushes that can do well in such an environment?
A: I would recommend that you consider planting some smaller shade trees to help shade the front of your home. This also will help provide a more hospitable microclimate for other plants you could use as foundation plants.
In the desert, we really do not use the term foundation plants when describing landscape plants. That is an eastern landscape design term that meant plants that were located around the perimeter of the home to visually help tie in the home and the yard.
In the desert, we have a greater concern with shading the home's walls on the hot exposures of west and south. This helps to reduce air-conditioning costs about 20 to 25 percent. Next, we pick plants that are in scale to the home, which makes it more visually appealing over time and helps to lower water use.
In a single-story home, it is seldom wise to plant trees with a mature height over about 25 feet tall. Bigger trees use more water than smaller trees. Shading walls usually means selecting shrubs with a mature height no taller than about 12 feet. There are several so-called shrubs that, when pruned correctly, will make great small trees.
Bob Morris is an associate professor with the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension.
If you have gardening questions, call the master gardener hot line at 257-5555 between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, or contact Bob Morris by e-mail at extremehort@aol.com.
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