Neil Sperry's Mailbag

DEAR NEIL: I need a new shade tree, but I really don’t want to wait 25 years for it to grow. What suggestions could you give me for a fast-growing type that won’t have loads of problems?

That’s the most common question nurserymen get regarding shade trees.

Unfortunately, every fast-growing tree has some form of serious problem.

Many of the speedy trees have multiple problems. Stick with trees with more moderate rates of growth. Best investments, for quality, reasonable speed of growth, good looks and durability, include live oak, red oak, chinquapin oak, bur oak, Chinese pistachio, cedar elm and pecan. You’ll be glad you made the decision to use one of these, or any other equally suitable tree.

Let your nurseryman give you more precise ideas to fill your needs.

DEAR NEIL: I have the enclosed weed engulfing my lawn under some mulberry trees. I read an article on dichondra, and I’m wondering if that’s what I have? It’s the fastest growing thing I’ve ever seen.

You have recommended a “broadleafed” weedkiller for other weeds. Would it hurt my trees?

What you enclosed is oxalis. It’s a clover-like weed with 8-inch-tall stems and bright yellow flowers. Its fruit resembles little okra pods, exploding to send the seed everywhere. Control it or any other non-grassy plant with one of the broadleafed weedkillers you alluded to.

Apply it carefully, and only to the weed’s foliage.

Several types are available that won’t harm your trees.

DEAR NEIL: This growth is on my pecan, peach and persimmon trees, also on an althaea. What can I do about it?

Don’t worry about it. Many folks would call it a moss, but it’s truly a lichen, and it’s merely using the plants’ branches and trunks as a support.

You’ll also see it and other similar lichens attached to large boulders. It is not parasitic, and it does not imply any particular problems.

DEAR NEIL: Every year about now my St. Augustine starts making seed heads. I find them particularly unattractive and was wondering if there were any way we could prevent them.

Apply a high-nitrogen fertilizer and you’ll encourage strong vegetative growth. Since that comes at the expense of the flowers you’ll solve your problems. However, if gray leaf spot has been a problem in your St. Augustine in past summers, this should be the last feeding you’d give it until fall. Nitrogen seems to accelerate the fungus.

DEAR NEIL: I have thousands of pillbugs. How much damage do they do?

Usually, very little. Sometimes, however, they’ll chew into the stems of succulent annuals and perennials near the ground line. If you see that kind of damage, apply Sevin dust onto the plants and on the soil beneath them.

You can wash the dust off the plants and soil a couple of days later, and the pillbugs (also works for snails and slugs) should be gone.

DEAR NEIL: I have several large pots of caladiums on my patio. The plants are starting to flower. Someone suggested I pick the flowers off before they open. Is that good advice?

Yes. Some plants’ flowers (coleus, lambs ear, santolina and caladiums as examples) aren’t very showy. They can actually cause the plants to become rather ragged looking and should be pruned or pinched off before they develop.

DEAR NEIL: The enclosed rose buds are samples from a plant I purchased three years ago. They do not open properly, but turn brown instead. What can I do to get better flowers?

Tear a bud open and you’ll see nearly microscopic insects where the petals attach to the stems. Those are thrips. Apply a combination product containing systemic insecticide and fungicide, the latter to control black spot and powdery mildew. Spray on 7- to 10-day intervals for a few more weeks and again in the fall. Do not apply the spray when temperatures are above 85 degrees. Early morning is best.

DEAR NEIL: We have a Holland apple tree that bears fruit reliably every year. However, about the time the fruit begins to ripen it starts to crack, both vertically and horizontally. Then, decay sets in. Eventually the apples are not even edible. Please suggest something we can do.

Cracking of fruit near the time of ripening is usually caused by high temperatures and fluctuations in the amount of available moisture. Mulch the tree several inches deep with compost or bark mulch and water it slowly and deeply every 7 to 10 days until harvest.

Neil Sperry
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