Tag: Ask Burton

Ask Burton: Q: My mature live oaks have struggled this year, and a tree guy driving up my street asking to trim trees let me know that I needed to treat my trees for oak wilt. He said that’s why my trees looked weak. They’re not as thick and healthy as last year, but they are still mostly green with only a few dead branches. Do I need to have him treat? He wants to use a spray.
Ask Burton: This week, a pair of quick questions about the vegetable garden that we hear often each September. Q: My tomatoes looked nice all the way through the summer, and I had hoped to keep them for the second crop. Spider mites have struck, and they’re terribly stressed. Is there still time to replant a second crop? Also, I plant broccoli and cabbage in my fall garden, but they always end up covered in holes.
Ask Burton: This week, a question about one of our most popular groundcovers. People have had this issue crop up in the past two to three weeks; here’s how ot fix it. Q: I have vinca major groundcover, and it’s gone from beautiful to devastated in the past three weeks. Nearly every leaf is destroyed; I see brown, translucent pieces of leaves here and there, mixed throughout. All of my stems are still green.
Ask Burton : This week, we’re dealing with – we hope! – the last of the trouble spots of the intense February freeze. Q: I have a (Japanese yew, live oak, Shumard red oak, sunshine ligustrum, eleagnus, there are others as well) that have taken a turn for the worse as the heat really started to peak this summer. My plants are well established, and my sprinkler is getting good coverage – I checked! But now I have twigs and a handful of limbs dying, and occasionally whole plants are starting to fail without obvious answers why.
Ask Burton: This week, we’re looking at grasshoppers, and some of the best ways to control them. Q: I live a little out of town, and grasshoppers are a problem. They love to eat my cannas each and every summer, but some years, it’s like they’ll leave all of my shrubs looking nibbled. How can I head this off this year?
Ask Burton: Q: I have a Japanese maple tree that I planted in my yard this spring, and the beautiful maroon leaves have turned greenish. Why is this happening? Do I have the wrong type of Japanese maple?
Ask Burton: This week, we’re addressing a plant problem made worse by the rainy month we’ve just gone through. Q: I have problems with the leaves of several of my shrubs. My Gerber daisies are odd-colored, with green veins standing out from the yellowing leaves. The holes are caused by snails, which I’ve treated for, but that’s not all that’s going wrong. Did all the rain damage the roots of my plants?
Ask Burton: This week, we’re checking up on your junipers, cedars, and bald cypress. It’s time to head off a problem before it really gets started this year.
Ask Burton: Q: The snails are eating up my flowers and I want to kill them, but I have two dogs that like to get into everything. Can I kill the snails and not hurt my dogs?
Ask Burton: Q: I have a mature live oak tree in my yard which was damaged during the February snowstorm. Most of the live oaks in my neighborhood have sprouted out green again already, but mine remains stubbornly brown and dead-looking. Also, my parents have an old Arizona ash that hasn’t leafed out. Are our trees dead, or is there hope?