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Dear Amy: I live in Bastrop - have 4 Chinese Pistacios, ~ about 15 years old. Lichen or moss problem in all 4, but seems to be affecting health of only 2/4, at least presently. The two trees in northwest lawn are spectacular, 2 on Southwest lawn have had chronic problems that weakened them, including construction compaction of soil. After deep aeration/sick tree food couple times in last six years they improved but never cought up to the beauty of the other 2 on NW lawn. Increasing so over last several years the two SW trees have large burden of some type of compact lichen or moss all over the branches - not ball moss, this is light green ochre flecks and lacy/fern like. Is there a treatment I can do myself, or do you know of an arborist that will come to Bastrop? Lezlee Coghlan lezleecog@aol.com; 512-237-9321
5/12/2008 12:25:19 PM Link 0 comments | Add comment

Potassium Bicarbonate, Tree Questions
The moss on the trees are normal, they will not hurt the trees, if you would like to get rid of the moss you can spray it with Potassium Bicarbonate at a rate of 2 tablespoons per gallon of water. As for the lack of growth with your tree in the south west corner, the stress put on the tree due to soil compaction was your biggest set back on growth and will continue to show signs. Keep fertilizing and applying compost on the soil around the tree to keep it loose, it may catch up and it may not.
I have several wateroak trees in my front yard that to me are expressing some type of fungus. The leaves are turning brown in approx. 10 to 30 percent of the tree, which appears to be dead. The limbs are still alive. I bought off the self fungus liquids and sprayed as directed. The still appear to be sick looking. Can you recommend any product that I can try? The Trees are from 5 to 11 years old and 15 to 20 ft. tall. Approx. 8 watertrees total. Thank you, Don Summers
12/19/2007 9:40:26 AM Link 0 comments | Add comment

Potassium Bicarbonate, Tree Questions
Don,

From what you have described it sounds like you may have oak wilt, http://plantpathology.tamu.edu/Texlab/oakwilt.html this website from Texas A&M University has photos and a short questionnaire that will help determine if you have oak wilt or not. If you do have oak wilt you will need to treat the root system with a systemic fungicide. Two common organic fungicides are horticultural corn meal and potassium bicarbonate, which can be mixed with water and sprayed around the trees. The website link also has an address where you can send off samples of the tree to see if the fungus is in the tree.
I live in minnesota, I muched my garden with organic hay. Soon after my tomato plants started getting tomato blight. Is there anything to stop this?
7/23/2007 11:04:52 AM Link 0 comments | Add comment

Plant Questions, Potassium Bicarbonate
If the disease has not spread too much, you should trim the affected parts of the plant and throw them away.  You can then try spraying Garden-Ville's fungicide, Potassium Bicarbonate, on the rest of the plant.  It may be too late to offer a successful solution, however, and you may need to discard all of your plants this season.  Do not compost or turn the affected plants into the soil as it may spread the blight even further.  Since Garden-Ville is located in Central Texas, you may want to contact your local nursery or agricultural extension office in your area to identify your specific type of blight and future prevention.
I have several hooly ferns that are getting some yellowing, almost like they are variegated, but I know there not. It started with all of this rain. I was woundering if you had any clue as to why this might be happening.
7/23/2007 10:57:52 AM Link 0 comments | Add comment

Plant Questions, Potassium Bicarbonate
It's always challenging to diagnose a problem without actually seeing the plant itself because there can be several reasons as to why the leaves are yellowing.  It is possible that too much water (puddling) and lack of sunlight can produce some yellowing.  Other causes of yellowing in leaves can be attributed to lack of nitrogen or iron which can be remedied by applying some of Garden-Ville's 6-2-2 Soil Food Select All-Purpose Fertilizer or adding Green Sand.  You might also want to examine the leaves more closely for signs of pests or fungus.  Garden-Ville's Potassium Bicarbonate (2 tablespoons per gallon of water) or our Organic Insecticide may work well to fix those kind of problems.    
My crepe myrtles have mildew. What is the preferred method of treatment?
6/5/2007 3:06:37 PM Link 0 comments | Add comment

Potassium Bicarbonate
Try using Garden-Ville's Potassium Bicarbonate at a rate of 1-2 table spoons per gallon of water and spray the leaves of the tree to get rid of the mildew.
I am havijng a problem with what appears to be fungus growing on the mulch in my flower beds at my home in Schertz. It starts out looking like scrambled eggs and in a few days turns to black. My question is, is it a problem that I need to address and if so how do I treat it? Thanks, Ted
5/8/2007 11:09:40 AM Link 0 comments | Add comment

Potassium Bicarbonate
With all of the rain we have been getting it would not be uncommon for a fungus to grow in the mulch, it should not be a problem but if you are uneasy about it head over to Garden-Ville and pick up either a bag of horticultural corn meal or a jar of potassium bicarbonate. For the corn meal you will want to spread it in the area where the fungus is and water it in, for the potassium bicarbonate you will want to mix it in a sprayer according to the directions and spray the area that has the fungus. It should take a couple of applications of the potassium bicarbonate to kill the fungus off.

 
I have a mountain ash that developed a fungus last summer. I sprayed the fungus with isopropal alcohol and that seemed to keep it in check. The tree had very few buds last year and didn't fair well over the summer. It has almost no buds this year except in a few areas. Can I save this tree as it provides shade to our front south facing window?
5/3/2007 3:23:52 PM Link 0 comments | Add comment

Potassium Bicarbonate, Tree Questions
Garden-Ville has a product called Potassium Bicarbonate that will kill off the fungus in a couple of applications and will not harm the tree. In addition to the Potassium Bicarbonate you might also want to spread horticultural corn meal around the base of the tree and water it in, the corn meal and the potassium bicarbonate should take care of any fungal problems you have. After the fungus is gone spread compost around the drip line of the tree to build up the health of the tree and make it less susceptible to other diseases. Garden-Ville has a product called Sick Tree Treatment that is great for helping diseased trees along and is available in 40# bags. All products mentioned above are available at any Garden-Ville location or on our website.
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