Persimmon – Ripening to Remove Astringency
Q: Why do green persimmons taste so bad? A: Because they have a lot of tannin in their juice. One web site says “tannin coagulates the viscous protein on the surface of our tongues, leading to the...
View ArticleOak – Germinating Acorns
Q: A friend gave me some nuts from the endangered mossy cup oak. I would like to know how to start these trees and take care of them. I have access to more nuts from this tree and am interested in...
View ArticleGarden – Amending Soil
Q: My husband and I are novice gardeners. Last year we planted a vegetable and herb garden. It was mostly red clay so I added store-bought dirt and manure: about 20 bags of each in an 8′x10′ area. The...
View ArticlePlum – Black Knot
Q: Many of the limbs and branches on my plum and cherry trees have hard, scaley cases encircling them. I’ve tried to cut into them but it takes a strong knife. It’s almost like they’re part of the...
View ArticleBoxwood – Care
Q: On each side of my front door I have four boxwoods. For the past couple of years I have continued to lose shrubs on the right side of my door. At first we thought it was due to improper watering....
View ArticleLizard – Control
Q: My wife is deathly afraid of lizards and we just seem to have an abundance at our house. Is there any chemical I can apply to the area where they seem to live? A: No repellents work effectively and...
View ArticleSoil – Bed Preparation
Q: I recently purchased a house and all of the soil around it seems to be hard, red clay. I want to have flowers this spring but I know I’ll have to make the soil better somehow. What do you do...
View ArticleSnake – Repellents
Q: In the last two weeks I have killed four snakes, one of them in my garage. They were pretty big ones. One might have been a king snake, another was black with yellow lines. We live in a wooded area....
View ArticleFireplace ashes – for roses
Q: Can I use fireplace ashes as a source of potassium for my roses? A: Ashes do provide a slight amount of potassium for plants. They also counteract the natural acidity of soil, so they are a...
View ArticleConcrete Dust – on plants
Q: SOS!!! My husband had concrete driveway pad replaced; dust from concrete saw (used to break up old pad) covers my liriope, hosta, azaleas, impatiens, some iris. what is best way to remove it? I’m...
View ArticleBermudagrass – Too much lime
Q: I think I made a big mistake with my new bermudagrass sod lawn. Someone told me I needed to put down lime to reduce acid in my Georgia red clay. No one told me I should have the lawn tested first....
View ArticleLime – Different kinds
Quicklime (calcium oxide) is a white solid having a crystalline structure. Quicklime is highly reactive with water, generating considerable heat in the hydration process. It can be bought at masonry...
View ArticleUniversity of Georgia Soil Test Handbook
If you want to get behind the science of how fertilizer recommendations are made, there is no better source than the University of Georgia Soil Test Handbook. This large publication is developed with...
View ArticleLime Tree Success
Q: A radio caller asked about getting a lemon tree to bear fruit. I am attaching pictures of my Persian lime tree. It is about 10 years old and has had limes since it was two years old. We bring it...
View ArticleSpider Mites – On Citrus (Orange)
Q: Our 8-year-old son was 5 when he stuck a seed from his Clementine orange into a flower pot with old potting soil in it. We all kidded him, telling him that it would never grow. And just like in the...
View ArticlePollination Requirement and Seeds in Citrus
(The source of this material is unknown. Please email if you can find it.) Seeds are produced in the plant kingdom, generally, as a result of pollination. Many of the commercial species in the citrus...
View ArticleLime – Using Fast-acting Type
Q: I followed your recommendation to get my lawn soil tested. The results say I need to add 90 pounds of lime per 1,000 square feet. Is there a difference in pelletized lime and fast-acting lime? A:...
View ArticleZoysia Grass – Installing in Late August
Q: Is it too late in the year to put in Emerald Zoysia? We have a larger than average yard and will be paying close to $20,000 for this sod. I am concerned that the six-month warranty period we would...
View ArticleRaspberry – Leaf Spot
Q: My Dorman Red raspberries appear to have some sort of disease. These spots started after fruiting in June and just about wiped out the fruiting canes. Now all the new leaves on the new canes are...
View ArticleBroom Sedge – Control
Q: How do you get rid of broom sedge in the pasture? A: Broomsedge is a perennial grass that self-seeds rapidly when it finds open soil in a pasture. This plant doesn’t invade a pasture, it just takes...
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