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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 several types of trees with small infestations of Ball Moss. I was told this fungus had roots going below the bark and would not be killed by topical treatments. I was told of a systemic treatment but not the name of the chemical. Can you help?

    9/25/200811:56:05 AM Link 0 comments | Add comment

    Potassium Bicarbonate

    Hello Gary.

     

    Ball Moss is not parasitic to your tree; It grabs nutrients and moisture from the air.  Eventually ball moss can create a large colony in your tree and hinder the tree's ability to photosynthesizes, which would weaken the tree.  Ball moss is easy to remove with a gentle brush or the careful use of a power washer. Common baking soda can be used to kill ball moss but a better product offered by Garden Ville is potassium bicarbonate (the sodium in baking soda is removed and potassium is added in its place, too much sodium can be detrimental to a plants health). The ball moss will die but not fall off the tree until it is physically removed. 

     

  • 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

    5/12/200812:25:19 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

    12/19/20079:40:26 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?

    7/23/200711:04:52 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.

    7/23/200710:57:52 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?

    6/5/20073:06:37 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

    5/8/200711:09:40 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?

    5/3/20073:23:52 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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