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Gardening Tips for May: David Barkley
Now that the azalea blooms are beginning to fade, what do we do?Azaleas need good soil drainage for the root system. We often see azaleas planted too deep. Be sure to plant them at the proper depth and keep the roots out of water logged soils for long periods of time. If the area is too wet for azaleas you may want to transplant them into a raised or mounded bed system. Remember to keep the top of the root ball even with the soil surface when planting.
Azaleas require little if any pruning. The best time to prune, however, is just after flowering and before bud initiation in mid summer. This provides a great opportunity to prune away a large portion of the Azalea Lacebug insect pest - we are seeing quite a number of reports coming into the plant clinic at this time.
In general, after flowering is a great time to evaluate the performance of your plants. The plants are in good shape if the blooms were beautiful and the foliage fairly dense. Healthy plants will have lots of new growth in May and June.
Gardening Chores for May:
- Identify grass types in your lawn and what weeds you have and implement an eradication program before the weeds take over.
- "Full steam ahead" on the warm season grass activities (e.g. Bermuda, centipede, zoysia, St.Augustine)! Seed, sprig, plug or plant rolls of sod now and throughout the summer. Fertilize, water mow low and let it grow. Centipede is the exception to the typical lime and fertilizer suggestions since centipedegrass prefers acid soils.
- Aerify and dethatch warm seasoned grasses if needed to overcome compaction and thatch problems.
- Inspect vegetables, fruits, and landscape plants for the following insect problems; Aphids, Cater-pillars, Lacebug, Leaf Miner, Mites, Scales, Stem borers, Weevils and Whitefly.
- Also, inspect for the following disease problems; Botrytis Petal Blight, Die Back, Leaf Gall, Leaf Rust, Mildew, Petal Blight, Phomopsis Die back and Phytophthora Root Rot for landscape plants and other stem and root rots in the vegetable garden.
- Shield your plants from contact herbicides as you spray.
- Leaf Gall attacks azaleas and camellias at this time of year. Sprays would have helped this situation if only they had been sprayed when the new leaves came out in April. At this late stage of development hand-pick and remove the infected leaves from the area.
- POWDERY MILDEW may be a problem this month especially on Crape Myrtle and Euonymus. This fungal disease may be controlled by spraying Banner or Bayleton according to label directions.
- Disease prevention is important for people who are trying to limit their chemical spray controls. Avoid watering late in the day or at night. Wet foliage at night will enhance the development of diseases.
- Cool season vegetables will be finishing up and double cropping this garden space will increase your garden productivity. Plant warm season vegetables (melons, peppers, squash, cucumbers, snap beans, and okra).
- Now is also a good time to plant annuals and summer bulbs such as caladiums, cannas, dahlias and gladiolus.
- Make sure you are tending to the watering needs of your plants as the weather warms.
- Light to heavy pruning may be done at this time for most landscape plants but, have a good reason in mind for when you prune and what you hope to achieve with the cuts that you make - for example - crossing branches, rubbing branches, girdling roots, storm damaged parts, diseased limbs, etc.
- Mulching provides over 15 benefits to the garden and to the environment and this month is still a good time to keep weeds in check and to conserve moisture by applying mulch to areas in the garden and around the landscape. How many benefits can you name?
What to Prune: Prune deciduous spring flowering shrubs after flowers fade; quince, spirea and forsythia all flower on old growth. Heavy pruning and rejuvenation pruning of summer blooming shrubs can be done now.
What to Fertilize: Typically it is best to fertilize most ornamental plants around April 15. If you missed this date then you still have time to apply fertilizers according to recommendations from a soil test.
Pest Outlook: Check for tea scale on camellias; scale on euonymus and spider mites on juniper. Spray roses for black spot every 7-10 days. To control sooty mold, scale, mealy bugs and spider mites, use insecticidal soap or horticultural oil. Always check label recommendations.
Lawn Care: Irrigating during warm, dry and windy weather with low relative humidity levels will prevent turf grasses from dehydrating. Do not irrigate every day. Over watering can lead to many different problems. Mow lawn as grass begins to green-up.
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