Ask The Expert
Our knowledgeable staff here at Garden-Ville are available to answer many of the questions you might have about gardens, landscaping, and trees. Many problems with plants, however, cannot be responsibly diagnosed other than in person. We're located in central Texas and may not be familiar with the details of gardening in very different climate or soil zones. One of the guiding principles of organic growing is adapting methods to the particularites of local soil and climate. With that in mind we'll do our best to answer your question, but if we can't we'll be happy to help you find the appropriate resources or professionals in your area.
Feel free to browse the topics below to see if we've already answered a question similar to yours. If you can't find the information you need, the question submission form is located at the bottom of the page.
I have a plum tree that I planted several monts ago (San Antonio). It appears that it is dying, The leaves are falling off, after turning brown. I am watering every five to seven days. There are several other fruit trees that seem to be doing fine. Any thoughts?
11/28/20089:42:02 AM Link 0 comments | Add comment
Sick Tree Treatment, Tree Questions
Sounds to me like its just going dormant for the winter. Nothing to worry about. Be careful not to overwater. If you have some concerns about the tree you can put down some of our Sick Tree Treatment. It's got lots of minerals and micronutrients that boost the tree's natural defenses against disease and insect attack.I live in Central Texas and our back-yard has many oak trees. I have mulched the entire area once a year, but wondering if it is becoming too thick for trees. Can I rake some layers of mulch away, and spread it on my lawn (then run a lawnmower over it)?
11/23/200811:42:15 AM Link 0 comments | Add comment
Lawn Questions, Living Mulch, mulch, Tree Questions
It depends on what you're using to mulch the area and how much you add each year. Optimal mulch depth is 3-4". More than that is only called for to protect trees in extremely high traffic areas (construction sites, for example). If you're using a long lasting mulch such as hardwood you may not need to add it every year, or only add an inch or so. There's be natural compaction, some erosion (depending on the site), and gradual decay of old mulch into the soil. I would recommend using our Living Mulch for annual applications. This is a 50/50 mix of compost and shredded hardwood. The advantage of this product is that the compost will feed the trees, whereas a straight hardwood mulch is nearly all carbon and doesn't provide much in the way of nourishment to the soil.If you have been using a wood mulch I wouldn't recommend applying it to the lawn as you described. The reason is that there is so little nitrogen in the wood itself that it will actually pull nitrogen out of the soil as it decays, which can be detrimental to the lawn. Compost is a much better option for lawn top dressing--our Alamo Gro is great for this, and this is the right time of year to make the application.What is the best soil amendment to lower soil ph? will 7-2-2 fertilizer work as well?
11/23/200811:23:48 AM Link 0 comments | Add comment
7-2-2, Fertilizer, Soil Questions
Sulphur is the best option for lowering ph. It's sold either powdered or pelletized--the pelletized is more expensive but is a slow release product, so its better as a soil amendment. You can apply up to 5 pounds per 1000 square feet on grass or 10 per 1000 in beds. The 7-2-2 doesn't have any sulphur in it, so if you have alkaline soils you'll need to add sulphur along with the 7-2-2. High ph limits the uptake of nutrients and hampers the efficacy of fertilizer.DOES MULCH HAVE PESTICIDES IN IT? ' IF YOU MIX LEAVES AND BARK WILL THERE BE ANY PROBLEMS WITH BUGS?
11/18/200811:12:22 AM Link 0 comments | Add comment
Whether or not mulch has pesticides in it depends on the source. We recommend only mulching with materials if you know where they come from and are sure they don't have exposure to any undesirable chemicals. Our Garden-Ville products are free of chemicals or pesticides. We've got several varieties of mulch to suit a variety of applications. Bugs are generally not more of a problem with mulch then without. Some customers report that our cedar mulch actually repels bugs.
Our mulch products are listed here: http://www.garden-ville.com/6451190_36600.htm. All mulch products are available in bulk quantities as well.DOES MULCH HAVE PESTICIDES IN IT? ' IF YOU MIX LEAVES AND BARK WILL THERE BE ANY PROBLEMS WITH BUGS?
11/18/200811:11:55 AM Link 0 comments | Add comment
Whether or not mulch has pesticides in it depends on the source. We recommend only mulching with materials if you know where they come from and are sure they don't have exposure to any undesirable chemicals. Our Garden-Ville products are free of chemicals or pesticides. We've got several varieties of mulch to suit a variety of applications. Bugs are generally not more of a problem with mulch then without. Some customers report that our cedar mulch actually repels bugs.
Our mulch products are listed here: http://www.garden-ville.com/6451190_36600.htm. All mulch products are available in bulk quantities as well.I have some hardwoods in my yard in west central Ga. I have noticed in the last two months that a lot of branches the size of my little finger & smaller are falling off. It appears they are being eaten in a pattern that looks like a copper tubing cutter has been used to cut them off. What kind of varment do I have & how do i get rid of it??
11/10/20083:56:41 PM Link 0 comments | Add comment
I hesitate making the diagnosis without being actually seeing the damage, but it sounds to me like you've got a problem with twig girdlers. The good news is that they're not a terribly serious pest in terms of overall tree health. The bad news is that there's not a whole lot you can do about currently active beetles. Gather up all the fallen twigs and burn them--the beetles lay their eggs in the fallen side of the twig or branch there. The other thing you can do is over the winter to fertilize your trees with a low nitrogen, high micronutrient fertilizer. This will help the trees bolster their natural defense mechanisms.
I have some hardwoods in my yard in west central Ga. I have noticed in the last two months that a lot of branches the size of my little finger & smaller are falling off. It appears they are being eaten in a pattern that looks like a copper tubing cutter has been used to cut them off. What kind of varment do I have & how do i get rid of it??
11/10/20083:56:31 PM Link 0 comments | Add comment
I hesitate making the diagnosis without being actually seeing the damage, but it sounds to me like you've got a problem with twig girdlers. The good news is that they're not a terribly serious pest in terms of overall tree health. The bad news is that there's not a whole lot you can do about currently active beetles. Gather up all the fallen twigs and burn them--the beetles lay their eggs in the fallen side of the twig or branch there. The other thing you can do is over the winter to fertilize your trees with a low nitrogen, high micronutrient fertilizer. This will help the trees bolster their natural defense mechanisms.
Dear Amy, recently I bought couple of bags of [brand name topsoil]. I took some earthworms from my own organic compost and let them into the soil to test if they adapt. The result was a disaster. The worms wiggled like crazy...then died :( The soil itself looks great, rich and black with a strong scent of ammonia. I tried contacting Scotts company; they don't know the answer. Can you please tell me what caused the worms to react like that? And what can I do to the soil so its worm-safe. Thank you very much.
11/10/200810:45:29 AM Link 0 comments | Add comment
It's hard to say why the worms died. The soil may have been too "hot" (i.e. too much ammonia), although that's unlikely to have killed them right away as you described. It's also possible the soil was contaminated somehow during manufacture or storage. Either way, if it kills earthworms I personally wouldn't use it for anything, particularly if the manufacturer wasn't able to answer your question. If you decide to use it I would let it sit open for a few months. And don't use it on anything edible regardless. Our Lawn and Garden top soil is a premium product that we recommend for any gardening application. You might try that instead--it certainly isn't going to kill any earthworms!
we recently purchased our house and when the bermuda sod was placed the water had not been turned on, so the lawn had not been watered. I finally got the lawn to turn green but now i have spaces in areas of the lawn where it was not installed properly. When do i fill these spaces in and what do i use?
11/4/20083:10:57 PM Link 0 comments | Add comment
The Bermuda will send out runners and fill the empty areas, so if you don't mind waiting a season or two the problem will take care of itself. It will do this faster if you maintain a healthy lawn, which is best done by fertilizing with our 7-2-2 lawn fertilizer and top dressing with a half inch of compost. This can be ordered from any Garden-Ville store if you live in the central Texas area. Right now is the best time to apply both of these. If you prefer to fill in these areas you can either seed it or buy replacement squares of sod. If possible it would be adviseable to find out exactly what kind of Bermuda was used so that you can use the same. Either seeding or sodding should be done in the spring.
I put down squares of St Augustine in late September (not complete coverage). These are starting to produce runners & I put down 7-2-2 & plan on putting down compost next week, but I have alot of clover, especially in the areas where there is no grass. What can I do about this? When is the best time to put down corn meal gluten? Is this OK for the grass? Someone told me it's too late now & to wait until 2 weeks before spring weeds come up, but I'm not sure exactly when that will be. Thanks.
11/4/20083:00:57 PM Link 0 comments | Add comment
The corn gluten meal is strictly a pre-emergent herbicide, so it won't harm any established grass. All it does it kill germinating seeds. We recommend two applications a year, one in fall and one in spring. It may be a little late for fall application, although our weather around here has been such that there may be seeds germinating right now. If you water in the corn gluten meal (which you should) it'll prompt some germination too. I would apply again in late February or early March.
We just bought a new house that has been vacant for 2 years, the front lawn is sod that has dried up from not watering. Can it be saved by fertilizing and watering, or should we have it re-sod again? Which would be cheaper? We live in Central California.
11/4/20082:47:03 PM Link 0 comments | Add comment
I would recommend watering the lawn to see if it perks back up. If the lawn isn't dead you're much better off just bringing the existing lawn back. Sodding is pretty expensive. If you do have the lawn replaced it shouldnt' be done until spring anyway, so you have some time to see if the current grass is still alive. We recommend putting down a good organic fertilizer along with a half inch of compost as a top dressing.
My St. Augustine grass took on about 6' of salt water due to Hurricane Ike on 9-13-08. I could not get any water on it for about 20 days but since I have been able to water it seems to be coming back. What else should I be doing to help with this salt water bath.
11/1/20081:30:54 PM Link 0 comments | Add comment
St. Augustine is a coastal grass, so its more salt tolerant than others. If it hasn't shown damage yet it should be fine, as far as salt goes. The one thing to be concerned about is that the soil has probably been leached of most of its nutrients, which could give you problems next year. I'd recommend putting down a good micronutrient source. Our Volcanite would be a good choice; Medina has a micronutrient package that would be good as well. On top of that top dress with about a half inch of compost. This will replace the lost nutrients and build the soil.I have a problem with stickers.soil here is very sandy. Ive tried msma, which we know is a very strong and i feel leary of using this herbicide ..i have dogs and cats not to mention you cant use this stuff around any gardening. So how can i get rid of these stickers ? Bermuda grass is what i have here..HELP ! :)
11/1/20081:29:43 PM Link 0 comments | Add comment
Organic control of weeds that are grown up in an existing lawn is pretty tricky because organic herbicides are non-selective, which means they kill everything green that they touch. Here's what I would recommend.First, areas of the lawn that are more weed than grass I would spray with our Natural Weed Control or a commercial strength Vingegar. This will kill grass as well as weeds, and it may take a couple of applications to fully kill the weeds. If you don't want to lose any grass you can skip this step, although remember that the grass will grow back, while the weeds won't.The next thing is to take a blanket and drag it back and forth over the lawn. Strange as this sounds, its an effective way of picking up most of the stickers, which are the seeds that the weeds use to propagate. I'd use an old blanket or sheet that you can then throw away, as the blanket will likely be more covered in stickers than you'll want to pick out.I have a problem with stickers.soil here is very sandy. Ive tried msma, which we know is a very strong and i feel leary of using this herbicide ..i have dogs and cats not to mention you cant use this stuff around any gardening. So how can i get rid of these stickers ? Bermuda grass is what i have here..HELP ! :)
11/1/20081:29:34 PM Link 0 comments | Add comment
Organic control of weeds that are grown up in an existing lawn is pretty tricky because organic herbicides are non-selective, which means they kill everything green that they touch. Here's what I would recommend.First, areas of the lawn that are more weed than grass I would spray with our Natural Weed Control or a commercial strength Vingegar. This will kill grass as well as weeds, and it may take a couple of applications to fully kill the weeds. If you don't want to lose any grass you can skip this step, although remember that the grass will grow back, while the weeds won't.The next thing is to take a blanket and drag it back and forth over the lawn. Strange as this sounds, its an effective way of picking up most of the stickers, which are the seeds that the weeds use to propagate. I'd use an old blanket or sheet that you can then throw away, as the blanket will likely be more covered in stickers than you'll want to pick out.I live in Lincoln Ca my lawn has brown rings which I believe is brown patch. I have purchased lawn disease (Immuniox Sysmatic)which kills all major lawn disease. My questions is can or should I fertilize (if so what type) the lawn as well or just keep applying the lawn disease agent.
11/1/20081:26:36 PM Link 0 comments | Add comment
I wouldn't fertilize right now while. While the grass is diseased it may not be able to take the fertilizer. What I would do is top dress with a half inch of compost. This will provide slow release nutrients to the lawn while building the soil and making the lawn more tolerant of drought and heat. This will make it more healthy for the future and less likely to exhibit problems with disease.
I have giant live oaks which give us dappled sunlight. Can we plant zoysia grass? If not would there be anything we could plant that the kids could play on?
11/1/20081:14:08 PM Link 0 comments | Add comment
Zyosia can't take more than 30% shade, so I wouldn't recommend it under your trees. St. Augustine is the best shade tolerant grass. We also recommend maintaining a band of mulch around the trunk of the tree of at least a few feet. This protects the trunk against damage from lawn equipment.
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