Keep the grass and weeds away
swineinsanity
17 years ago
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marymd7
17 years agoHeathen1
17 years agoRelated Discussions
blueberry questions, pruning and covering
Comments (0)I have six bushes, four that are 19 years old, two that are six. They are on a slope at the edge of the flatter "yard". They have always done extremely well for me. I try to keep the grass and weeds trimmed away, and once a year I pour on a dose of Miracid (my soil is already pretty acid here in southwest NH). I prune out anything broken in late winter, and the obviously shaggy barked old branches in the middle. First question: the four older ones are very woody, with the fruiting branches getting longer and longer. They are also getting very tall, especially the two Earliblues which top six feet easily. My soninlaw is just shy of six feet tall, and he is shorter than the big bushes. We had heavy rain last week, and the branches arched over just like some of my rose bushes, with the weight of foliage and fruit. Can I just whack back all the branches to say 4' when they are done fruiting? I thought that doing it in August would give the plant time to set up new growth to strengthen the roots before winter. Second question, the setup: I used to cover them with old tobacco netting that my mother gave me, but that eventually disintegrated. The last year that I had enough to cover the four larger bushes, I had forty quarts. Without covering, I get to enjoy the cardinal and bluejays... So, a friend spoke to a local man for me, who makes aluminum frames for greenhouses. The suggestion is that he put sleeves in the ground, into which adjustable uprights will go. That way we can account for the slope. The uprights are connected with aluminum cross lines, and the whole thing is covered with greenhouse cloth to keep out birds but let in enough sun for ripening. He suggests a butterfly door in an aluminum frame as well. The door comes off, the cloth comes down after berry season for storage. He says I can leave the frame up year round. The question: does this sound feasible? I know it may not be economically justifiable, but my daughters grew up picking berries under my mother's woodensupported tobacco netting berry house, and I want my granddaughters to have the same experience. The four year old is already a good clean picker. There is something magical about going into a tent to pick berries... I appreciate your thoughts....See Morekeeping the weeds away
Comments (10)Weed Management 1. Dont disturb the ground Except for actually planting new plants or cultivating for a new vegetable garden or flower bed, avoid breaking the surface of the soil. That includes avoiding pulling, digging, tilling to remove weeds. Yanking out even the tiniest weed makes two mistakes; it: -- brings up weed seeds that have been too deep to germinate but now are and -- creates a disturbed bit of ground that weed seeds blowing in find suitable for setting anchor. 2. Hoe The best way to eliminate weeds for the long run is to "shave" them off with a SHARP hoe. A Dutch or onion hoe is ideal. This works on weed seedlings. The larger the weed, the more difficult it becomes to actually be able to scrape them off with a hoe. Use the hoe as you would a razor, scraping toward you with the blade level from side to side against the ground and the handle tilted up enough to allow the sharpest part of the blade to cut at the base of the weeds. Just as you would a good kitchen knife, sharpen the hoe blade regularly with a fine rasping file. The soil is best hoed when pretty dry. The hoe doesnÂt cling to the soil and neither do the weeds. Hoeing works for all young weeds. Annual weeds (our most common type) once hoed, do not return. Perennial weeds will resprout from storage roots, tubers, underground stems and the like. The resprouting does, however, use up the food in the storage organ, thereby weakening the plant. A second hoeing of these, within a week of their resprouting will rid the plant of its ability to photosynthesize (which puts more food back into the storage organ). With older perennial weeds, the storage organ will continue to send up a new sprout and your persistent hoeing will eventually totally exhaust the organ. 3. Mow Where seasonal weeds have grown too tall for a hoe to scrape them off efficiently, mow them down with a regular lawn mower. If they continue to grow, mow them again. Repeat. This works best if you mow them early, before they get too tall. The idea is to keep them mowed beyond their blooming period so that they never set seed and become a worse problem or at least a continuing problem. Annual weeds eventually give up and peter away. Tall-growing perennial weeds also give up and fade away. Low-growing perennial weeds, however, are persistent  maybe even more vigorous -- under this process. Hoeing (early on, of course) and mulching are better methods. 4. Cover the ground Mulch. The best mulch for smothering weeds is a semi-composted organic material of medium diameter particles (about ½-inch) that is applied four to six inches thick. Geotextile fabrics (plastics, "landscape cloth") do not work well in the long run and actually lead to more weeds. Plant groundcover. Use low, dense, mat-forming groundcovers to truly "cover the ground". Some of the most effective weed-supressent groundcovers: Acacia redolens, Baccharis pilularis ÂPigeon PointÂ, Ceanothus thyrsiflorus ÂYankee PointÂ, Campanula poscharskyana, Cerastium tomentosum, Gazania rigens (gray-leafed trailing), Ajuga reptans, Aptenia cordifolia, Dymondia margaretae, Thymus citriodorus ÂDoone ValleyÂ, Thymus polytrichus ÂPink ChintzÂ. Plant other plants (low, dense, spreading shrubs and/or full clumping perennials) densely enough to leave no room between them. The idea is to cover the ground so thoroughly that: -- no weed seeds can find their way to the ground -- those that do make it to the ground cannot make their way up In the lawn: 1. Mow high. 2. Water deeply and infrequently (let the soil surface dry out between waterings) 3. Don't fertilize often. Joe...See More***help*** lemon tree dying ***help***
Comments (14)Oh boy. Even this "citrus nurse" is going to struggle, here. Okay, first off, let's get rid of all that grass under the tree. This poor tree is struggling enough as it is for nutrients, but the grass is simply using up any Nitrogen that might be made available to this tree's feeder roots. So, clear a very large circle under the tree. For this tree, I would suggest twice the drip line (edge of the canopy). Mike is right - paint the trunk white, never black. This may be the cause of the issue - you may have literally cooked the cambium layer with black paint. It is customary to use flat latex house paint cut in 1/2 with water to paint tree trunks. I would definitely try re-painting the trunk. The dog's damage may have girdled the tree, in which case nothing we tell you to do will save the tree. This tree is too small to have this many dead branches requiring pruning, so that clearly should be a clue something is drastically wrong. The leaves appear to be burnt. If you're applying any kind of oil to the leaves, you must make sure your outdoor temps do not exceed 35 degrees F (29 degrees Celsius), or you'll risk burning the leaves. Again, spiders are the "good guys". If you're referring to spider mites, that's an entirely different insect, and is often a sign of a stressed tree. Find out what insect you think is a spider, and get it ID'ed so you know whether or not you're dealing with a pest or a beneficial. CLM can be treated with Spinosad, with or without a hort oil added in (depending upon your air temps). You should be able to find it where you live. Be sure to use Spinosad in the later evening, when the bees have gone back to the hive, as Spinosad can kill bees. Spray every 3 weeks, 3 applications during your CLM season. You can use a hort oil to help the product stick better, but only if your air temps are low enough. Lastly, back to the watering issue. It looks awfully wet in the soil. We need to know what kind of soil you have. Is it clay, loam, sand, DG? You say you "water occasionally". Is this tree getting hit by lawn sprinklers? If so, that is certain death for citrus. They don't like their trunks constantly hit with water. It will damage the bark and leave the tree open for all kinds of fungal infections. If you're watering by hand, you want the roots to receive a good, deep (to about 18 - 24", or 7 to 10 cm) watering once to three times a week, depending on your ambient temps, humidity and type of soil. Check to make sure the tree actually needs to be watered, before you water it, so you can gauge your soil's water retention. I just use a cheap green plastic-covered plant stake, and push it into the ground. For me being on DG, if I can't push it in at all, my soil is dry (turns into cement when dry). If I can push it in, and the stake comes out moist, I'm good. You're heading into Fall now, but I think you can still get away with another application of fertilizer. Use a good quality citrus fertilizer with the proper NPK ratio (citrus require a lot of nitrogen, so you'll see the N will be higher than the PK, the best ratio is 5:1:3 in general for citrus), with the full complement of micronutrients as well (Ca, Zn, Mg, Mn, Fe). Stay in touch with your local gardening center, someone who knows citrus. Let us know how your little tree fares. I'm a little concerned about all the damage. I'm not sure if it is just how the tree is being managed, or if we're looking at something more serious, like a virus or infection of some sort. The good news - citrus are very resilient. Let's see if some better management allows the tree to spring back. It may take until next spring until you see some serious recovery, so be patient. And, remove all the fruit for now. Your tree cannot possibly support fruit production, it needs to use all its energies into recovery. Patty S....See MoreCovering the Ground to Keep the Weeds Away
Comments (2)Old carpet is good, but bermuda grass will actually grow through it. Last year I had between all my rows "carpeted", and the blasted stuff came right up over it. When I pulled the carpet up last fall I had to get my sons to help, the bermuda grass had literally pinned it to the ground! Best thing to do to kill the stuff is a substance that the grass can't grow through... Tamara's pictures with the black stuff were great, that would kill anything. I've also used tin sheets (the kind they used to make tin roofs out of), great big sheets of cardboard (these are great, plus they enrich the soil as they degrade). Good luck, that stuff is insidious! Casey...See Morepablo_nh
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