Neil Sperry's Mailbag

It's probably a little bit of both. Right-angled branches are the strongest. Very narrow crotches tend to split apart from the weight of the branches, especially in wind and ice storms.

Whatever the cause, it's a warning sign of future problems.

Heavy pruning of shrubs should be done in mid- to late winter (January or very early February).

Try to leave as much foliage as you can on the plant so that it will have the vigor to regrow. The remaining leaves will also conceal the cuts you're planning on making.

For the record, left unpruned, a redtip photinia would grow to 18 or 20 feet tall and 12 to 15 feet wide. Keeping it as short as you plan will shorten its life expectancy.

You should have an arborist examine all of your trees. This branch, from your photos, looks like it had internal decay, perhaps brought on by the prior problems. Live oaks normally do not break like this unless there is obvious reason. You mentioned ice, and that's a nemesis for live oaks in the northern half of Texas. Since they retain all of their leaves over the winter, there is a huge amount of surface area on which ice can form. But, that's not what caused this problem, of course. Let your arborist guide you. Cabling may be suggested to let branches brace against one another.

They grow fairly well so long as they have full sunlight and ample moisture. However, they're prone to spider mites from late winter into spring. Bagworms also love them, so plan on watching them carefully in May and June. Both pests can be controlled, if caught early, with a general-purpose insecticide. The plant is also winter-hardy to Zone 8, so it's best suited to the southern half of Texas. Italian cypress look best where there are hills and even mountains. They can be rather stark and overly dominant visually when used in an urban Texas landscape.

There are many possible reasons. Different varieties bloom differently under the same set of circumstances. If lighting, pruning, water or nutrients vary, so will the plants' flowering. Crape myrtles need full sun to bloom to their full potential. They flower on their new growth, so you'll want to feed them in early spring and again in early summer with a high-nitrogen plant food. Do not prune anything off their tops. Pruning delays flowering by several weeks.

You may have planted them too late. Sow watermelon seeds about two weeks after your last freeze date in the spring so they can grow and begin to mature before the hottest mid-summer weather. Choose a small to middle-sized variety. Better yet, plant some seeds right away for a fall crop. Choose a variety that matures quickly to be sure you beat the frost. Don't give up. Gardening is a challenge, but the rewards are fun. Good luck!

You can use herbicides containing 2,4-d broadleafed weed killer. Follow label directions carefully to avoid damaging desirable plants nearby. By the way, if it ever matters, Shadow is a form of zoysia, not buffalograss.

There is no preventive. Use Sevin dust around the plants' crowns to control the juvenile bugs. Once they're mature, your best bet is to remove them mechanically. Either hand-pick and destroy them or prop a wooden shingle or small board on a stick beneath the plant. The squash bugs will congregate beneath the shingle in the hottest part of the day. Merely kick the prop out and you'll be able to "squash the squash bugs" where they hide.

Greenhouse growers refer to those as "blind" shoots in their hydrangeas, and they're devastating for the sales value of that plant. If they receive much cold in the winter, the plants will freeze back rather drastically. That, more than anything, will cause failure to bloom. Hydrangeas that have frozen back respond with very vigorous new leaf and stem growth, at the very great expense of their reproductive floral bracts. Your best bet in future years would be to protect the plant just a bit when it's going to be cold.

Assuming you have the true cane (one-inch-wide leaves), you should be able to eliminate it with one of the glyphosates such as Round Up. Spray when the growth is 3 to 4 feet tall, not right after you cut it. Be sure the spray coats the leaves, and protect desirable plants nearby from any drift that might hit their leaves. Do not use the material at full strength unless it's a ready-to-use formulation. Using a weed killer at a very strong ratio sometimes can burn foliage without actually killing the entire plant as you have wished. You can also dig cane out with a steel-handled sharpshooter spade. If you decide to do that, wait until the soil is well saturated following a rain.

Neil Sperry
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