texts: Chrysanthimum-based pesticide killed my young plants

texts:
Recently, a pesticide that I used to treat a number of my young plants killed everything I applied it to. I applied it in accordance with the directions, and the brand is well-reviewed on Amazon, but that didn't stop my melons, tomatoes, okra, and bottle gourds from deforming and slowly dying.  Thankfully, I only treated my first crop of the season, and by now, I have a whole second generation of plants fruiting, but that doesn't stop it from being a huge bummer and a great material lesson.

I know some oil-based pesticides can cause stress, and it's my own fault for not testing this new treatment on a smaller population first, but I'm wondering if anyone else had any experience with this, and what steps I can take to keep this from happening again. Should I apply pesticide to older plants only? If so, how can I protect my younger plants in a more gentle fashion in a bug-rich environment? I'm also (of course) VERY open to recommendations for other organic or at least naturally sources pesticide options.


texts: Measuring soil dampness with terracotta pot

texts: I recently got this small citrus tree and it says it is supposed to be watered when the soil is dry 1 - 2 inches deep. I've been measuring this with my finger. This is my first time using a terracotta pot and I've noticed that I seem to see the pot drying when the soil is dry as shown in the picture. I was wondering if this is considered a reliable way to judge when to water.


texts: I saw these in Florida. I’m not sure if it’s a fruit, but it looks like a miniature pumpkin:


texts:
Please help me identify my cactus :)

It is about 20 years old at about 3 feet tall.

It has 6-7 ribs near the top that fill out towards the middle and bottom.

Here are some more closeup pictures showing the ribs of each arm and how they are more defined at the top and more filled out toward the middle and bottom.

I've tried a few online cactus identification tools, but maybe I'm using the wrong search terms because I can't seem to find anything that quite matches (as far as I can tell).


texts: I found this growing on my lawn. My garden is located in Budapest, Hungary. Can this be identified? Could my dog become sick from eating it?


texts: Tomato plant flowering but falling before fruiting

texts: Hi i have started a tomato plantation on my balcony and its flowering but the flowers are falling without fruiting, i am using cocopeat and natural fertilizer.


texts: I've got some basil plants outside (Spicy Globe Bush), which have gone to seed. I'm wondering if there's any chance the seeds will survive a northern (USA) winter and germinate next year. Is there?


texts: For tomato allergies, finding/shipping Seviocard and other European cultivars to the US

texts:
I have a tomato allergy and so am looking for a specific cultivar, Seviocard (hybrid), which is known to be low in the allergen.  It's not available at any USA seeds supplier that we can find. There are a select few European websites which ship it, but cannot find one that ships to the United States.  these websites also seem to charge a very high amount, around $100 USD, for just a few hundred seeds,  to ship to people within their own country.

does anyone know why this is only available in Europe?  is it just this cultivar or is this a common thing?
why is it so expensive for Europeans to buy this seed?

other cultivars:

Rugantino
Rhianna
Orama
Messina


texts: Could anyone identify the trailing plant with star shaped leaves in this photo please. And if you could tell what are its ideal conditions to grow


texts: I have a driveway that has a slope. I have a flowerbed right next to the driveway that wraps around the front of the house. The slope causes water to stand after rain or water use and dirt runs onto the driveway in the slope. How can I drain this low area. I put concrete scallops along the driveway and it helps some but having to re-do and need help. Any ideas would help.


texts: What is this plant with five petal flowers and serrated leaves?

texts:
So I have had this plant for a while, it blooms with gorgeous flowers.
However, I really want to know what is it called, how to better care for it and how to collect its seeds or propagate through cuttings if possible.
Any information would be great, thank you.


texts: What's attacking one Lupin but not its neighbor?

texts:
I have two Lupin plants next to each other in my front yard:

They are both Russell hybrids, both grown from seed and planted there at the same time in Spring 2009.  The one on the left is healthy, but recent growth on the one on the right is stunted and deformed.  The leaves are smaller, with narrower leaflets, and there are large gaps between individual flowers on the spikes.

I don't see any sign of insects on the affected plant (or on nearby plants, which include roses, lavender, Lithodora and Dianthus).

If it's any clue, I had several other Lupins near that spot that didn't grow this year, but that may be because it's been a colder than usual Spring here (Pacific NW, USA).

Is this curable?  If not, should I dig out the affected plant?  Can I replace it -- and the ones that didn't grow this year -- with more Lupins, or should I plant something else?


texts:
These were planted in 12 inch pots with around 2 parts old self-made potting soil (vermicompost+perlite+vermiculite+cocopeat) and 1 part garden soil. I fell sick and was unable to walk up and water the plants for 3~4 days. Don't know how dry they got. Two of them died then, but afterwards one was alive. However, it died too even after watering. Was there a problem in the soil/sunlight or did these die because of the lack of optimal watering?
Here is how the plants dried up.


texts:
The tree lost a lot of it leaves over the last year and the upper parts seem to be dead wood by now. However it has sprouted a lot of new branches in the bottom portion as visible on the picture. The soil is probably not ideal (heavy clay), but it must have been standing here for a while judging by its size.

Is the tree even having a chance long term?

Will it help to trim the dead top portion?


texts: Where to place grapevines in the hot Australian sun?

texts:
I have three young grapevine cuttings about the size of a 30cm ruler (above ground). They rooted last spring (Australian spring), which was three months ago or so, and had a few leaves growing. I placed them in a really sunny spot next to an iron fence (which radiates heat).

After reaching 46C (115F) a few days ago, their leaves burnt off (they were doing quite well in 'normal' hot days though). So I moved them to a place that gets like 3-5 years of sunlight (also near a metal fence). Now I'm beginning to regret it, really, as I read grapevines need 7 hours (or more) of sunshine. But the Australian sun is really intense. What a predicament.

Here they are before and after:

In the second photo, they have been transplanted in the shadier area.


texts: Venus flytrap to catch fungus gnats and mosquitos

texts: Is it a good idea to use a Venus flytrap to catch flying pests?


texts: What is this low-growing weed with purple flowers in Australia?

texts:
Can anyone please tell me what type of weed this is? It is growing spread throughout an area of grass/lawn, in mid-spring in Toowoomba, Australia.

What would be an effective method to control it?


texts: How should I select the proper location for my garden?

texts:
I am about to buy a house with about an acre and a half of property. I'm going to start with a 20'x40' (~6mx12m) vegetable garden. Primarily tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, onions, garlic etc.

How do I go about selecting the optimal plot for my garden? Should I focus on shade/sun exposure, soil quality, drainage or all of the above?


texts: Are there five Fresno pepper fruits growing from this flower?

texts:
This picture is of a capsicum annuum Fresno pepper plant.

What is happening in this particular flower? Are there five fruits growing from it?
How common is this?
Is this normal or is this a problem?

Edit: Unforunately, the flower/developing fruit dropped from the plant only 3 days after taking this picture.


texts: How regularly should I fertilise my bonsai plants?

texts: Is there a need to fertilise my bonsai or should I just stick with replacing the soil once every 18 months to 2 years?


texts: Can lawn grass be cut higher than most people do for the purpose of reducing water consumption?

texts: I wonder if cutting my grass long will compensate for the fact I don't have sprinkler system. Does this really work? Surely different grasses have different max heights. My grass is in South Carolina, has mature trees 30ft apart, and poor red clay soil. There are 25% gaps of strong sunlight between the shade of the trees.  I need to optimize the grass type and cutting height to minimize water consumption. I am using tall fescue, but  am considering something either self-seeding or rhizoidal so re-seeding is unnecessary.


texts: Should I let new Ash trees grow up after emerald ash borer attack

texts: I bought a house on 1.5 acres about 2 years ago, and by the time I got there, all of the large ash trees were killed off by emerald ash borer. I'd say there were 5 really large ashes that have already fallen or are dead and bound to fall soon. After clearing out an enormous amount of honeysuckle, I stumbled upon hundreds of baby ash trees less than a foot tall. And then at least a couple dozen ash trees about 5 feet tall. And then maybe about 5 ash trees a few inches in diameter. So, a lot of ash trees. Getting to my question, should I really let these trees grow up? I know I'll have to pull some of them since they're growing right on top of each other, but I know emerald ash borer is in this area, it's already killed off ash on the property, so they seemed doomed to die and become an expensive liability if I leave them. Any advice?


texts: How to treat a succulent with holes in its leaves?

texts:
I have a succulent plant that got some disease and is covered with holes. The holes started to appear a month ago. At first they were green (like something was eating it), probably growing and then they dried out and turned brown.

There are no bugs/insects around. Ants are everywhere in my garden but not on this tree. What is it and how can I treat it?


texts:
I was walking home and spotted this really pretty bush. Would anyone possibly know what kind of flowers these are?

Thank you.


texts:
I bought a little sandalwood plant from a nursery. But, after 20-25 days, its leaves started growing yellow. While planting, I used red mud, cow-ding as manure, and neem oil for pest control.

  What other steps should I take in order to nourish sandalwood plant, before it is too late?


texts: How is natural stone sold and what should I know?

texts:
What types of places can I buy natural stone for various landscaping uses, like steps, patios, and walls?

What are the different kinds of stone that are available?

What do I look for when making a choice?


texts: What is this plant that sprouted when I planted pepper seeds?

texts: I thought I had bought shishito pepper seeds and this grew.  What is it?


texts: Overwintering green-leaved potted strawberry plants

texts:
I have a healthy, fruit-producing 'Elan' strawberry plant that created six runner plants this year.  It's now November and I want to overwinter all seven pots.  I plan to put them in the cellar (we live in a flat in Bavaria, Germany).  I have read online that I should wait until the temperature has dropped to around freezing for several nights in a row before I move them to the cellar.  However, nowhere can I find out if the leaves should still be green or not.

It's now about 0°C outside,  but my plant still has mostly green leaves and even some fruit buds, and I don't want to kill it by moving it to somewhere with no light.

So, my question is, when overwintering potted strawberries in a cellar/garage, is it OK to move them when the leaves are still mostly green?


texts: Poppy seedlings - dried out or saveable?

texts:
I'm growing some poppies for the first time and they were doing okay until we had a snow storm. Then I noticed they were wilted/dried out. I did some research into the waterbottle greenhouse and they seem to be doing better. They are pushed down a bit today as the picture was taken right after a top watering. Can they be saved? I really need them to be saved and have hope they can as they are still green!

Some things you should know:
-This is a grow kit so the soil was a pellet.
- It lives in a window and will get taken a foot over to a table if it gets too cold.


texts: A friend took the images below in a Vienna park in late April.  The woody shrub has flowers with four petals; the size I'm not sure of, but I'd guess they're at least a couple inches across and probably more.  There are some old fruits in the pictures which we believe are from the same plant.  I don't pick up on too many distinctive features, but perhaps a knowledgeable person here will be able to recognize the plant. (The images have more resolution than the StackExchange question format shows, so you may want to follow the link to the source.)


texts: What is this weed and should I get rid of it?

texts:
I just planted a set of very low water use grasses in my high desert zone 7B New Mexico yard. Some little spouts came up that I at first thought were one of the grasses, but it turns out they're weeds. Now I see that they're growing all over the neighborhood. Here's what a larger one looks like:

What is this thing called? And, more importantly to me, is there any reason why I should get rid of them? They're green, sprout without supplemental water, and are reasonably pretty. Unless they sprout thorns or totally die in the cold, I'm wondering if I should just keep them.


texts: I am trying to identify a hot pepper plant in my garden

texts: I got a bag with a variety of hot pepper seeds. I cannot identify this one type that is growing in my garden. The peppers are growing upwards and are a bulbous green right now. I need to know what type so I know when to harvest etc.


texts: Something is eating the leaves on my pepper plants. Any idea what it could be?


texts: Will mint die if planted within a month of early frost?

texts:
I'm trying to propagate my mint plant, intending to eventually transplant the main growth (maybe next year). For now, I've taken some cuttings and I'm waiting for them to root.

As of writing, it's now end of August. According to my local area notes, early frost is the first couple of days of October.

How close to early frost can I plant something like mint, which is generally hardy and resilient? Or rather, what is the right combination of age and time to early frost that will make my mint survive?


texts: This is in a garden in a 6b zone. The garden is shaded a big part of the day. I don't live nearby, so I can't watch what's happening there.


texts:
I have two lemon trees which have been hesitant to branch anywhere but at the tips where I trimmed them because they were growing too tall. They're about 1 year and 8 months old now. I grew them from seeds from a lemon bought from local grocery store.

Would you have expected the lemon trees to have branched out more by now? How do you recommend I encourage them to branch out more?

The taller tree actually did sprout three branches at the very top where I had trimmed it; I pinches all those branches off because I did not want it to become top-heavy.

My apologies for the rotated pictures - that's not fixable to my knowledge within Stack Exchange, and rotating them on my desktop prior to uploading didn't help.


texts: I want to build a small concrete raised pond (about 6' x 3' x 2.5') and recycle some broken concrete in the process

texts:
I broke up some concrete in my back yard with a sledgehammer and now it's lying in a pile. Can I use some of it in the walls of a concrete pond, so I don't have to haul so much away?

I hope this isn't a silly question.

If it is, my fallback question is: how can I build a smooth-walled concrete pond in the dimensions stated in the title?


texts: Propagate Ti Leaf Plant Cuttings In Water

texts:
Recently from my trip to Hawaii I brought back some Ti Leaf (Red Cordyline) cuttings. On the package it says to soak them in water until they develop roots around 5cm long. I have had them in water for about 1 month and I see no sign of roots or growth. The instructions told me to remove the wax coating on each end of the cuttings so I did that with a knife, I didn't damage the cutting itself.

I replace the water around every 2-4 days and the cuttings aren't rotting or anything like that. What should I do?


texts:
I was gifted the plant about 3 years ago and don't know what it is. It's grown a ton in that time, but no sign of fruit or flowering at all. This is the first plant I've been able to keep alive and I'm very attached to her! I want to be sure I'm taking care of her perfectly. :)
(Reverse image search on Google says Prickly Pear, but I highly doubt that's it.)
Any help is appreciated]1


texts: Do plants germinated in heated bed need special care after emergence?

texts:
I am planning to start  some seed indoors for next spring season. Since the weather is still a bit cold, I am going to be using a heated bed (actually it's a styrofoam box with some sensors and a heat element to control the temperature quite precisely).

The seeds will germinate on paper towels, and then I will move them to small pots and into an outdoors greenhouse until the minimum daily temperature is about 10-12c/50-55f, then they will be planted on the soil.

The greenhouse is covered with polyethylene plastic, the temperature inside is not controlled or monitored. I haven't checked but I think it stays above 10c degrees.

Wont the seedlings have issues with emerging on a ideal temperature and moving them to an environment that while not cold, it has no temperature control?

My concern is that the seedlings may get shocked and die when moving them to an environment that is colder of where they sprouted. Is not that the growing environment will be so cold that is hazardous for the plant, but the germination box temperature will be almost perfect. So, I don't know if the difference between the two environments will cause issues.


texts: How can I protect my citrus tree leaves from being eaten?

texts: A couple of years ago I planted a lemon and a lime tree in my garden. They've been growing quite well but recently I noticed the leaves are patchy and holey - something has been eating them. What's the best way of protecting the trees, preferably not involving the use of pesticides?


texts: What kind of worm is this which lives in the soil of my potted mango tree?

texts:
When I was replanting my mango tree to a bigger pot I found some weird, very small, worms crawling around in the now rotten mango seed. I made a macro picture of them which you can see here:

I also made a macro video, for my blog, were you can see them crawling around. You can find the video here: https://youtu.be/6jNTeVrTAtU. The last scene has most of them.

My question is, what kind of worm is this? Could this worm be of local origin (Swedish) or could it have infected the mango seed before being imported to Sweden and therefore originate from the country which produces the mangos?

I also found some kind of insect living together with the worm in the mango seed. You can see the macro picture below. I am not sure if this insect is related, but it was actually this insect I discovered first when repotting the tree. It was when searching for more of these insects, to remove them, when I discovered these worms.

I would say the insect was about 0.5 to 1 mm big and white/yellow:ish, the color is different in the picture as I tried to make it more visible. I think the worm was longer than the insect but much thinner. It would probably have been impossible for me to discover the worm at all if it wouldn’t have moved so much.


texts: Identify plant with long narrow paired leaves and reddish stems

texts: Is this a chilli plant or am I nurturing weeds. I planted chillies last year but thought they died. Then I find this..


texts: Is it possible to keep peonies standing upright?

texts: My peonies quickly drooped over and became quite unattractive.  Is there a way to keep them upright?  I'm not thrilled about the idea of putting in stakes for each plant if that's my only option.


texts: Should a freshly-graded yard have temporary grass seed planted if landscaping can't begin for 3-4 months?

texts:
I'm doing a fairly large backyard remodel and I guess I'm managing it myself with subcontractors doing different pieces of the work. I just had trenching done and a retaining wall added. The soil was compacted and graded for "next steps," but I'm forced to wait for the pool contractor to finish the coping before I can move forward with the poured concrete for the pool decking and patio.
This means I'm looking at having a bare dirt backyard for the next 3-4 months due to the pool contractor's timeline. Can I / should I put down some temporary grass seed (ryegrass in Southern California) on the compacted soil or will this just create more work down the road to re-work the soil once it's finally time to pour the concrete? My goal is to reduce the amount of erosion and really just the amount of dirt blowing around and into my house.
Thanks in advance!


texts: Mass Earthworm Suicides on the Back Veranda

texts:
I live in Adelaide, Australia and during this winter season during rainy weather I have been finding large numbers of earthworms dead and stuck on the concrete of our back veranda (porch.)

This isn't just a few worms, but dozens to hundreds of them at a time. It hasn't rained much this year, but when it has, the next morning there's a new bunch all dead and stuck to the cement. I figure they're breeding in huge numbers for this result.

The area just beyond the concrete is a fairly large lawn with garden beds at the back and sides. The lawn is mowed regularly, but it's been a long time (at least 15 years) since it was last aerated.

I was wondering if it was something to do with the drainage, does anyone have any (other) ideas?


texts: I have two small children so I’m concerned this tree may be unsafe. It’s about 35 feet tall, and the “rot” has been getting larger.  It began as a discoloration/texture and has turned into a canker that seems to be getting deeper. We recently purchased this house and I believe there were 2-3 years prior where they tree wasn’t properly cared for. I’ve started to increase watering, but the issue persists. The frawns have started to look drier than it’s twin 20 feet away. Can this be fixed? Will it get worse and require removal? Soon? Bay Area, hot dry summers, temperate winters, rarely ever below 50.


texts:
I have two cupresocyparises (aka leylandiis) that each developed two leaders. They are both around 8m (25ft) high now, the leaders start at appr. 2m above ground, so I guess it is too late just to remove one of the leaders in its entirety. The distance between leaders is small - 10 cm, and each leader 'has' its own half of the tree (above the starting point of leaders of course), but those two halves are knitted closely, impossible to move separately.

This is not my photo, but in the center right of following photo there is a tree with double leader somewhat similar to mine (but in an early stage of development)

This is one of mine double-leader Leylandiis:

From aesthetics point of view, they look fine to me.

What is the significance of double leaders regarding other aspects of health and development?

What if I just leave them?

Can I just shorten one by lets say 40cm, hoping that the remaining will become the only leader over time?


texts: Should I re-plant my unbalanced indoor lucky bamboo plant, or will something else work?

texts: What is the best way to re-plant this plant, or help it to support itself?  The shoots are a bit too tall for the original stalk.


texts: Table of chilling requirements for temperate zone plants?

texts:
Most plants that live where there is a a real season called "winter" have what botanists call 'chilling requirement'  A certain number of hours/days below a certain temperature.  Sometimes this is expressed as a smaller number and a temperature range.
Chilling requirements are a survival mechanism to prevent the tree from breaking bud during a warm spell in winter.
E.g. coastal sitka spruce have a chilling requirement of 300 hours below 40 F.  For interior Englemann spruce that requirement is 1500 hours. If you plant Englemann spruce in a zone 8 climate it won't break bud it's second year.
The chilling requirement is why many types of bonsai need to overwinter outside.
I've been unable to find chilling requirements for more than a handful of plants.
Does anyone know of a source for chilling requirements?
It would seem that given the hardiness zone of a plant, that a first approximation of chilling requirement might be calculated.  Something like K * (November_ave + December_ave ... April_ave) where
the averages are average temperature.  K is a constant, and months with averages above N are ignored.


texts: Feasibility of transplanting a mature rose

texts:
This rose is in the way, and I would like to move it about 20 feet back and towards the fence in the next week or two. It's about 6 feet tall; the largest stem is about two inches in diameter at the base. I don't know the specific species or anything else about it.

The plant was here when I bought the place 18 months ago, and I have not done any kind of maintenance on it (if that's not obvious). I wouldn't be sad to just remove it, but:
Would it be feasible to transplant without too much effort? If so, what techniques would give the best chance of success?
I'm in the Seattle area, if that makes a difference.


texts:
I'm looking at buying a house.  There's a belt of trees on the south-west side, which is inside the property boundary but outside the fence.

The local council has a covenant on the property that says the trees are not to be removed ever but does permit periodic trimming, so its a glorified hedge.

Questions

What trees are these, and how could they impact my new home in the future?  Do they drop leaves all year long and block up guttering?

The area is known for cold antarctic winds from the south and southwest so this line of trees is a good thing for wind reduction.
Latitude is around 43.6 south and an elevation of about 50 metres.
Its in the South Island of New Zealand, in Canterbury.
Trees are definitely evergreens not deciduous.
Snow is rare but not impossible.  These trees will have survived at least three snowfalls in 2010 (and none since)
There appears to be a "dead" core visible in the aerial photo - Trees are definitely more than 9 years old and probably 15-30 years old.

  2009 photo showing a recent cut/prune

  2009 growth

 2012 growth

All imagery is from Google maps or streetview and their licence applies.

Update   The local Council has them listed as Macrocarpa trees.


texts: What are these pests? Harmful? How to get rid of?

texts: I recently decided to have a vegetable and herb garden and put in raised planters along my house. Two of the 4 raised gardens have a TON of these tiny pests in the soil. Interestingly enough they don’t seem to be on the plants, just in the soil. I tried neem oil and an insecticidal soap for organic gardening and no such luck. Attaching a picture I got of them - they’re tiny, this is zoomed in and they’re next to a gnat. I also have a video of them (https://youtu.be/3WZ-HC0ogSU). Any ideas what they are, how to get rid of them and if they’re harmful?


texts:
I think that my dragon fruit has scale. This is my first encounter with scale so I want to check first. I assume that any plant can get scale. When researching it I never saw it mentioned on cacti so I was surprised when I saw it on the dragon fruit. Is this scale? If not, what is it?

Location: Phoenix, Arizona


texts: Orchid has browning foliage. Can you help diagnose the problem?

texts:
My Phragmipedium is showing some symptoms. I am wondering if it is a nutrient deficiency or disease. I water them once a week and with the occasional ice cube that doesn't touch the foliage. Fertilized every 3-4 weeks with a 20-20-20. SW facing window with a partial blind shade. The cuticle distortion is a breeding defect. Does anybody have some advice for helping this Phrag to health?

May 19th: Read that the tip browning could possibly be from a high salt content in the water. Still curious about the base browning.

May 21st: Added more photos to see the browning of the basal leaves. If anyone knows how to format the photos smaller on here it would be appreciated.

May 22nd: Found these watering preferences at orchidplantcare.info

May 26th: Found a new spot of brown in the middle of the leaf. Also ran a pH test of my tap water vs some DI water. The tap was 6.32 and the DI 4.86. Have switched to the cleaner DI water and not allowing it to dry out between watering with a Sphagnum top dressing to the orchid bark.

  Phragmipediums like clean water such as rain water, distilled, or reverse osmosis (R.O.) system water. Almost all of the Phrags in nature grow slightly on the acid side with a pH ranging from 5.5 and lower.

Below is the flowering orchid for reference.


texts: Need short details about perlite, Vermicompost, bone meal and such

texts:
I am not looking for definitions or such, but a quick rundown of what is better for soil aeration and drainage? I will need to purchase a few stuff depending on what they do. I already got vermiculite and it's not good for water drainage and succulents.

Coco peat: retains water but improves drainage, right?

Vermiculite: retains water and improves drainage?

Organic matter: Improves aeration and drainage?

Perlite: Aeration and drainage? Perfect for Succulents?

Bone meal?

Vermicompost?

What combination should I use for succulents? I am thinking of organic matter with soil and perlite. What about bone meal and vermicompost? Should I also add them?

I have few succulents and more "normal" plants. So I am confused what I should get, cause I have limitations on what I can buy.

I won't mind if this question gets closed being too broad. Thanks, anyway.


texts:
It’s my second season growing tomatoes in a greenhouse. All of my plants are shooting up these last few weeks/months apart from the Cherokee Heritage plant which seems to have.... well.... topped out with a single truss of flowers/fruit and does not seem or want to grow any further! It’s about 1 foot high.
As far as I know it is indeterminate. I don’t recall pruning incorrectly. It looks healthy in every other respect.
Is it doomed to produce this one truss and that’s it?
Opinions welcome!
Jerry.


texts: Potted small bushes put in the ground without removing the pot, just for this coming winter

texts:
I have an azalea bush and a Japanese barberry bush that are still in their original pots. Since we have not decided on the layout of our garden I would like to put them in the ground just to shelter them from the bad weather (5b) with the intention to plant them where we decide next spring

Is this a good idea?
Any recommendations?


texts: Can Tillandsia Antonio be grown as an air plant without soil?

texts: I bought it rooted in soil, though as other air plants it is watered into the leafs. Can I remove it from its pot?


texts: Pest, etiolation, soil or overwatering? Other causes of pale-brown tips in Aloe Vera

texts:
A friend has just given me an Aloe Vera with pale brown tips. Different sources  have lead me to multiple non-conclusive possible causes; mainly: pests, etiolation, wrong type of soil or overwatering...

"The Guide for House Plants", for example, warns that brown stains and seeing insects are a sign of pest or disease (I saw a small insect that looked like a black aphid but haven't seen it again)

On the other hand, the post "Why are my aloe leaves turning white and brown?" here in Stackexchange, points to etiolation as the cause of this, mainly because the center steam is somewhat pale. Yet, in my case, the pale part is mostly covered by the soil.

Moreover, the soil of my plant looks dark and peat-like rather than "desert-like" (which would drain faster), and it also looks pretty soaked. My friend told me she watered it yesterday and that she did it about each 3 weeks (when the soil looked totally dry), pouring about half a glass of water into it. It doesn't sound enough for a 20cm radius pot (near 8 inches) but I could introduce my finger almost through the bottom and it is all wet. So it might have been overwatered... (?)

I'm not able to reach a conclusion and obviously the treatment for each of the causes would be different...  Is there any way to nail down the cause?


texts: Ideal climate for germinating nightshades

texts: I have built myself a simple heated environment to start growing some plants (in the middle of winter).   Reading online I was surprised to see that the optimum temperature for germination of nightshades is around 29 degrees c - a lot higher then I had thought (I previously did it at 20 degrees c) - this got me thinking - does anyone have any insights into if temperature fluctuation is beneficial during germination and if so what the ideals are - also, will germinating at cooler temperatures make for a hardier plant - I can't keep them at that temperature once they start growing !)


texts: What is a plant-and-animal safe way to kill a hive of yellowjackets?

texts:
I’ve seen plenty of questions on here about what wasps are doing to plants. Specifically I want my hive gone.

I have a large backyard where I try to keep grass, cloves, and insects plentiful. (These are food for my chickens [check my bio for adorable pictures]). Yellowjackets of the Vespinae subfamily are dangerous to me and prey on the insects in my yard.

I need a way to eliminate the hive in the chicken coop that won’t harm me or the plants and insects in my yard. (Leaving the bodies in the coop is fine. My chickens love spicy food and have rendered multiple ant mounds extinct in the past.)

What do you guys recommend?


texts: How to graft my 3 year old Avocado tree?

texts:
I have a 3 year old avocado tree about a meter and a half high. I planted it from a seed of an avocado I ate. I was told I need to graft it for it to hold fruit. What kind of graft should I do? What time of the year?
Thank you :)


texts: Yesterday I noticed that my cactus had a white tuber type thing growing out of it. Is this normal? It's almost doubled in length in the past 36 hours.


texts: What kind of tree is this, and is the white "powder" on some leaves mean it's diseased?

texts:
I live in southern California and moved into a new house a few months ago which had this tree planted in front of the house.  When we moved in, it was basically bare, but over the past couple months it has grown a lot of leaves.  I think I remember it having some purple blooms when we originally saw the house last November.

In any case, I noticed that the leaves on a good number (maybe 10-20%?) of the branches are covered with a fine white powder.  If I shake the branch, it comes right off into the air.  It definitely doesn't seem "right" but I know very little about this.

Is the tree diseased in some way, and if so, what should I do?  Also, what kind of tree is this?  I am attaching some photos below.

Thank you!


texts: What is this brown seed pod found under a large evergreen tree?

texts:
Please help me to identify the seed.
I was thinking it was a sweetgum tree of some kind, but then it is a bit different, so I remain in doubts.
I attach the image of the pod and the tree under which it was found in great quantity.
It is taken in South Florida.
I would appreciate any input.


texts:
I have a Dracaena marginata that I've had for a few years now. I moved it to a new location about a year ago - with the only noticeable difference being that it's a lower-light environment.
Similarly, for the last year or so, I've noticed that it's been dropping a fair number of leaves in a progression similar to the attached image. Usually a few dark spots appear somewhere in the middle of the leaf, and then the entire section turns limp and brown, before the leaf completely dies.
Is this related to moving the plant to a lower-light location, or is there something else happening? There continues to be new growth, but the plant looks sparser than I recall...


texts: Cleaning the outside of a black concrete fountain

texts: I have a black concrete fountain which has white buildup,like salt,on the outside. Does anyone know what I can use to  remove the white and return the fountain to original black colour?


texts: During a warm-spell in early winter, can dormant hardwoods survive planting? Even if frozen temps are a day away?

texts:
Zone 5 northeast USA has had an early winter in some places, getting slammed with many evenings in the 20s and a few even lower. Some snow but it's come and gone, eventually melting after a couple weeks. A warm spell has melted most snow recently and the ground is still soft, it didn't freeze deep yet.

Can a dormant hardwood tree be planted in the soil if it's not frozen? What if temperatures will drop below freezing the night or coming days after planting? I have some potted trees and spots ready to dig for them! Winter weather came early so I didn't plant them earlier in the fall.

My understanding is yes as long as the trees are totally dormant before transplanting. In terms of planting I've heard to pack the soil a little compressed and add lots of mulch on top to help prevent frost heave from throwing the tree back out from the ground!


texts:
I just received a flower, but I really don't know how to keep it alive as long as possible. I'm assuming that it's not going to stay alive forever as it's not potted, but is just keeping it in water enough?

As an extra, if you happen to know, I would like to know what flower this is. It was referred as "The most pixelated flower we could find." ;)

Thanks for your time!


texts: Right time to move vegetable plants outdoors

texts: I have started germinating seeds indoors and they are starting to sprout.  Once they have their true leaves I am planning to move them to 4" pots and still keep them indoors.  I am growing different types of vegetables ranging from kale, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, cucumber, zucchini, melons, carrots, etc.  I live in the San Francisco/Bay area.  My question is related to the timing of moving these young plants outdoors into a raised bed.  Is there a guide that tells me when it would be safe to move these plants outdoors given the general weather conditions in my area.  For example, I have heard that kale, lettuce and root vegetables can be grown in cold weather so those would be safe to move out any time.  Others have to wait until the last frost.  A definite guide would be helpful to refer to for now and future years.


texts: How effective is neem oil as a preventative measure against powdery mildew?

texts: I regularly use neem oil in my garden to help suppress the presence of white flies, aphids and certain soft-body caterpillars. I'm curious if neem oil can be effective in addressing powdery mildew on cucumbers or pumpkins. I'm in NY zone 7a and grow in raised beds using organic methods (best I can).


texts:
I have received these four plants as a gift and have no idea how to take care of them. I have no experience with plants. The delivery lady from the shop said that they need light but not direct sunlight, which means what exactly? Also how often do I water and do I need to give any plant food?

Thanks


texts:
My mature lemon tree is having problems. It always produced LOTS of lemons. Since I trimmed off some dead branches a year and a half ago it produces only a handful. Also, and probably more important, bark on some of the branches is splitting and those branches are dead or dying. I have looked at a lot of web sites but haven't found anything that mirrors my situation.

The trunk appears fine.
The upper branches (a lot of them) have split bark.
The exposed wood looks healthy--no sap oozing.
Lemon production is down drastically.

I am in Burbank, CA where we have very hot summers and, of course, there is the drought. About a year ago I began watering and fertilizing the tree. This hasn't had any noticeable effect. I've lived here 20 years and the tree was mature when I moved in. Don't know how old it is.

Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.


texts: What is the name of this plant with wide green leaves that develop splits/holes as they grow?

texts:
It has very large leaves and does not flower (at least I have never seen mine flower).
It grows very wide, with thin stems (seen in picture below). The young leaves will start without any holes in them, and as time goes they split and leaf has openings on them.

I would like to know what the name of this plant is, as I though it was Elephant Ears plant, but further research showed that it is not the case.


texts: How much to remove when trimming dead leaves on a squash plant?

texts: I am specifically asking this regarding a squash plant, but general advice would be useful. If I have dead leaves, which I assume I should remove, should I remove the whole stem that it is growing from, or just the leaf? The stem looks perfectly healthy.


texts:
I live in zone 3/4, I planted some Sugar Baby watermelons this year (first time!). I started them in my greenhouse and moved them outside around the time of the last frost since it was really warm out (+30C during the day, +13/14 during the night).

However, they haven't grown at all since I moved them - it's been a few weeks. The zucchini and squash (moved outside at the same time) are growing nicely in the same conditions.

I have them in full sun locations, they're growing in composted manure.

So, what's up? Are they too cold? They're not dying, but they're also not doing a whole lot. Should I just be patient?


texts: Does this bird cause any harm to the garden?

texts:
Couple of days back we had a visitor to our garden. I've never seen this bird before. Does anyone know what this bird is? And does it do any damage to the garden?

Sorry about the blurry picture. Its due to the mesh door. And I live in the pacific northwest area.


texts: Can I grow low-growing heathers in containers with soil depth of 10cm?

texts:
I am building a small shed with a heather/heath roof using low growing varieties that reach 10-15cm.
I plan to use 4 separate 60x40cm Euro trays, lined with soil barrier, so that I can lift these off individually to move the shed for maintenance. The trays will fit into a ‘box’ on the roof. The 22 litre trays would give a soil depth of 9-10cm once lined. I have left over astroturf that I'm using as liner which will ensure drainage and I'll add some pea gravel to this - giving 9cm of actual soil. This will weigh 20-25kg - I only weigh 40kg so that’s about my limit on a ladder.
I can control the soil and drainage, and I live in the Scottish Borders where heather grows beautifully. It’s a sunny position, sheltered very slightly from the prevailing wind, on a roof pitch of around 5 degrees. I have easy access for watering, feeding and weeding.
The overall height from the floor to the top of the heathers is limited to the height of the fence (as we don’t want to lose the view of the hill behind). So to optimise the shed space I need to minimise the green roof height. Adding deeper boxes later would not be trivial as I would need to shorten the shed.
Is 10cm sufficient substrate depth to support a well-tended 10-15cm heather/heath? Or will they want to root deeper to withstand the wind? I plan to mix Erica carnea and Calluna.
The standard advice of digging ground out for 30cm seems like it cannot apply equally to those that are tall and those that hug the ground. If 10cm is not sufficient, what’s the minimum soil depth I can get away with?
Edit: I am now intending to use a deeper euro crate that gives me 13-14cm soil depth over the drainage. The rest of the question remains - is 13-14cm enough?


texts: I am having a hard time finding anything that kills this. Some people say a normal fungicide will not kill them, and I can't find products made to kill it specifically like people are saying I should do, at least products that don't cost $100. I have just learned how to prevent it, now what can I use that is safe for seedlings that will kill this stuff without harming the seedlings as well?


texts:
During my travels of the Australian countryside as a tourist I encountered this flower in the wild numerous times along the Great Ocean Road. I love the bright violet color and would love to buy seeds for my garden at home.

What is it's name?


texts: How does the "Ketchup 'n' Fries" plant produce both tomatoes and potatoes? Is it safe?

texts:
A recent article has left me quite amazed at the possibility of producing tomatoes and potatoes from the same plant.

The article describes a technique called "grafting". How does it work, and are there any health implications that one should be aware of?


texts: What is the name of this tree found in Switzerland?

texts:
What is the name of this tree?
They are quite common in Switzerland.

The second picture refers to Lugano. Here a couple of pictures in summer (with leaves):


texts:
I have observed that plants like an onion or spinach, after having been harvested for their leaves, will continue to regrow their leaves.
My question is how many times can we keep regrowing them with good amount of production (i.e. not too low than the first harvest)?
I am told that it works only for few harvests (~2-3). But why so? If I 'feed' them well in a an optimal setting, can we get to regrow them for many more harvests?


texts: How do I compost a large pile of branches and heavy shrub clippings?

texts: This Spring, I pruned all my shrubs and pulled out a few pine stumps. My first thought was just to pile them all up on their own. I have never had good luck trying to compost such material with the rest of my compost. But I'm concerned that these heavy materials will take years to compost all by themselves. What can I do to speed up the decomposition of such materials?


texts: For our minimal budget garden (in LA) we have been using the city's organic compost as a soil amendment. This compost is made from yard trimmings. It's mostly broken down, but there are small sticks in it, so it's somewhere between a mulch and a compost. Are there drawbacks to using this as a soil amendment in our garden?


texts: Why are some of my pumpkin plants wilting, and showing what looks like stem rot?

texts:
Up to this date we have had a healthy crop of about 500 flowering pumpkin plants, however, over the last 3 days we have lost maybe 20 of them. They will simply wilt over 24hrs and then die:

Closer inspection shows that the base of the stem is brown/damaged and in many cases hollow - this particular plant actually appeared healthy (no wilting yet), but its stem broke very easily:

Opening up the root and stem we see no pests, larvae, etc. but similar presentation over and over:

Personally, I suspected it may have been wind damage from a recent storm, but I would expect to see more obvious damage in other areas.

Cutworms are present in the soil, but we have only ever seen them kill much smaller plants (which we now protect):

There are these guys hanging about also, but not many of them:

Finally, internet searches lead us to fungal crown rot, but that seems odd in that the field in question has been used for cattle grazing for years before this happened. We thought we'd ask here so as not to rule out anything else, and if it is crown rot or otherwise:

What if anything, can we do to fix this now, this year?

Organic solutions are preferred.


texts: Can fertiliser be spread at the same time as seed for a new lawn?

texts: I'm about to seed a new lawn and was recommended a fertilizer for new lawn. Is it reasonable to simply pre-mix the required proportions of seed and fertiliser and spread this all in one go, or does fertiliser need to wait a while after sowing?


texts:
I've recently bought a basil plant and it's having some issues I cannot understand.
Leaves are kind of curled, there are tunnels on the leaves (which i trimmed) and i'm watering it about once in 3 days , it gets full sun for most of the day.
I've sprayed it with diy pesticide (baking soda,oil,water,soap) and it isn't really recovering.


texts: Does any one know what this leaf problem is called, so that I can take action to get rid of it


texts: I have an annual Dahlia and I would like to save some seeds for next year. I've heard it is easy, but I don't know how to do it. Most of the flowers have dropped their petals. The plants are about 8" tall. What do the seeds look like and how do I collect them?


texts: What kind of fertilizer should I give to an average mature shrub?

texts:
I've got a decently mature shrub in the backyard that is about 10 foot tall. It is starting to bloom with pinkish flowers. I'm wondering what kind of fertilizer should I give it for early spring.

Question(s)

I've purchased Garden Soil will this and mulch be good?
Is this Garden Soil good for flower beds as well?
What is the real difference in this garden soil and this one. Which one should I use?


texts: Which leaves should I  harvest in a mint plant?

texts:
I am trying to grow mint. I did repot the plant cutting away excess roots. I placed the plant where it gets direct sunshine for about half a day and water the plant occasionally. It does pretty well with leaves showing up in a few weeks.

The questions I have is about "harvesting" the mint leaves. I read about cutting the flowers when the plan starts flowering, but I have no idea what the flowers look like(especially new ones). Also when I cut the leaves off a branch, the branch seems to dry up and die in a few weeks. So I would like to know about which leaves to cut, where (leave a little leave stem, all of the stem, etc.), distribution(all on one stem, location), leaf size, etc.

In the picture below, the plant has plenty of leaves, but the stem on the right seems to be dying because I took all the leaves from that stem?


texts: Can I popagate this soil-suffocated Dracaena node? Is it dead?

texts: While transplanting my Dracaena into a larger pot. I noticed what looked like a stick or root laying in the soil that had shook loose. After looking closer its a underdeveloped nodeI think. Its about 5 inches long. It's not dried out, and the soil it was in is still good. It's strange... I'm wondering if this is still alive? And if so, what can I do to get it going? Help out if you know. Thanks!


texts: Can a very recently planted B & B cypress tree be moved 2'?

texts: The Leyland Cypress is now blocking the view intended so we'd like to have someone move it a couple of feet to the left.  Is this a cause for concern for the survival of the tree?


texts: Grown this avocado from seed, indoors, for three years. Recently, the leaves have been displaying a weird speckled pattern, then turning dramatically yellow very quickly and falling off. No evidence of mites but really not sure how to account for this sudden change and the damage it’s doing.


texts: 2 days ago, I put down 2 pallets of centipede sod in Lexington SC. Have watered each day. Now we have two nights of below freezing temps coming up - mid-20s F. Should I attempt to cover the grass or just let it be? Thanks.


texts: Identify these insects hiding under compost

texts:
I use a layer of compost as mulch, but every time I water, millions of tiny insects start jumping all over the place. Is it possible to identify them as I'm not sure if they're decomposing the organic matter or hurting the plants.
https://youtu.be/7wNxCE56jKE


texts: Kentia Palm (Howea Forsteriana) is drying out

texts:
I bought this Howea Forsteriana less than 1 month ago. I water it around each 7/10 days, spray some water on leaves every day, often twice a day. It used to be in front of a north west window, when I saw this change I though it was too much light and for the last 4 days I moved it around 1ft far from the same window.

I am searching for any kind of information but I am not sure the reason of this issues I am having.

Thanks for any indication
Giorgio


texts: One of two Holly Shrubs/Trees dead or dying

texts:
I have two trees/shrubs that I am assuming are a type of Holly. I believe that they are just over 10 years old. One is healthy and the other lost almost all of its leaves this winter. The stems do not break off like a dead tree though. Is it going to come back, or when should I give up on it? The healthy one is in the foreground.

Edit: As requested, I've added a picture of the healthier bush.


texts: Problem with Climbing Aloe mid-stem drying up

texts: I started this on my window sill 3 years ago. It was a lot bigger than current photo, had to cut off dying. The stems are drying up and dying. I did transplant and moved it from back yard (hotter) to front porch. Gets morning sun and we’re in Vegas so it’s hot and this happened in July, but didn’t happen in prior summer or for 5 months or so on porch, but when got hot it did this? Not sure. Also noticed that roots were exposed at top. Not sure if soil settled or if roots were searching for water. I’m really good about watering several times per week in the summer. Yes I use good organic cactus soil. Photo is of a spot where this starts to happen. I have other stems that seem to wilt mid stem


texts: Is there a plant which can withstand heat up to 40 degrees Celsius?

texts:
There are many plants recommended over the internet as heat tolerant plants. I am not sure how much heat they are talking about.

My Habanero Chili peppers are in bad shape due to the heat wave coming from the air conditioner downstairs. Now I am looking for a new plant suitable to this condition. The temperature varies from 30 to 40 degrees Celsius (85 to 100 Fahrenheit). Although 40 is rare, it is not uncommon to see 35 degree Celsius.

Are there any plant recommendations other than cactus? I don't want cactus because they grow slowly.


texts: Propagating succulents in 3 months, is it possible?

texts:
I'm planning to give succulents as wedding gift. I need more than 300 succulents in small size (5.5 cm pot) I want to propagate them myself, I believe it will be more precious than just buying from a garden.

So is it possible to propagate succulents from leaves in 3 months in 2-3 cm height? I've started to propagate, but the process seems slow. Is it possible to make it fast? For example using rooting hormone, some fertilizer vs.

I don't know the exact names of my plants but I've started a month ago now they are very little:

I've just made them for test. Now I will mass produce with lots of leaves. The progress seemed too slow, so I thought that do I need some fertilizer, hormones vs


texts: Can I allow a pine tree to share root space with a group of birch trees? If not, which should I cut down?

texts:
I have a group of birch trees, with a pine growing in the midst of them, in my front yard.  My friend is telling me the pine must be cut down to save the birches. I see her concern, however: I think the entire arrangement is pretty; the pine looks healthy; I don't like to kill anything; and tree removal in Massachusetts is very expensive. I'd prefer to leave it alone, or, if anything, take down the birch directly to the right of the pine (see the third picture below), as it's leaning over the driveway.

This view is from the road.

This is a side view from the driveway.

The roots of the pine, on the left, are virtually tucked under the birch on the right,

and are also encroaching on another birch to the left.

Is cutting one of the trees down strongly recommended? If so, which?


texts: Can a raised vegetable garden co-exist with nearby fruit trees?

texts:
I am putting in new raised beds for a vegetable garden. The beds will be 40cm (16 inches) high. The beds will line the length of a fence and I am planning to put a row of fruit trees (possibly blueberries and passionfruit) between the beds and the fence.

In order to try and prevent the tree roots from colonising the vegetable beds and stealing all the water and nutrients, I am planning on laying porous weed matting underneath the raised beds. My theory is that will keep the tree roots away from the vegetable soil but still allow drainage.

However, I have received strong advice from a family member that this isn't sufficient and that the trees will still suck the vegetable beds dry. Basically I've been told that you can't put fruit trees anywhere near vegetable beds if you want the vegetables to thrive.

Is this correct? Is there any way to make this work? If so I've considered some even more drastic measures such as hammering in sheet metal vertically down the back of the vegetable beds to keep the tree roots from growing in under the beds (they could happily grow the other way into the neighbours place as they don't have anything growing along that fence). Would this work?


texts: Why does sedum turn red? Should I do something about it?

texts:
I have a green roof covered with sedum plants and I noticed that in the late spring and summer many sedum plants turn red. The same plants placed in our garden (in the shade) stay green all summer. I suspect the cause of the sedum turning red is either a lack of nutrition (fertilizer?) or water.

The red sedum does survive but I'm worried that it may cause problems in the long run. Can sedum turning red every summer become a problem, and if so what can I do about it?


texts:
My oak appears to be dormant. I am in Cape Town, its winter and around 6- 14°C overnight.

My oak tree sprouted 8 suckers and they are growing strong. Why would the tree not sprout from the trunk or branches (buds are not swollen) but sprouting suckers with leaves?

Suckers look extremely healthy, should I take them off the tree to preserve the energy for spring? Why would they sprout?


texts: I want to plant 5 species of plants in my garden, which can purify the air around the garden and also keep away mosquitoes . Suggest some to me

texts:
I have a garden in my house where I had some plants earlier. They were mostly flowering plants. Now I am looking for some plants which can purify the air around the house, keep away mosquitoes, and also look good. Please suggest some.
I plan to keep them outdoors and my garden receives a very good amount of light, I am flexible with the container sizes as I have ample space in the garden.
PS: I live in India.


texts: Can I grow tomatoes in a warm climate that experiences monsoons?

texts: Since Tomatoes are kind of year round Vegetables, is it fine to start a few plants anytime around the year ? At my current location , I am expecting Monsoons to hit around Mid-June  . I was planning on starting or buying buds directly right now.


texts:
I have had this cactus for a while now (about 4 or 5 years) and recently noticed browning near the base. The spines at the bottom are also a different color and pressed closer to the body of the cactus.

After all my internet research I still cannot figure out whether this is just regular corking or if there is something the matter. I don't regular too often (usually once every two-ish weeks) so I don't think that it's overwatered. It looks like there is still new growth at the top (little green spines) Any thoughts or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.


texts: What happens if you don't use a trellis for berries?

texts: I hear that most kinds of berries need trellises like the one pictured below. I believe that the trellis keeps the stalks growing upright. Beyond the aesthetics, would anything bad happen if I grew berries without a trellis - just let them grow to whichever direction that they want? I'm just growing blackberries and blueberries for the taste and don't really care about the appearance of the bush.


texts: Basil leaves varying in color, shape and reflectance

texts: I have bought basil plants from two different places and so far I have noticed that one of them has developed rounder, shinier and darker leaves than the other. why would that be, I thought there was only one species of basil (Ocimum basilicum). The less shiny paler one was bought as a seedling while the darker rounder one was grown from seed. They both have the recognizeable basil smell so I do still think that they are both basil.


texts: Cactus shoots drooping and turning olive

texts:
Hey Gardening & Landscaping SE, happy to be a new member! I am concerned for my cactus shoots and hope you are willing to help me out.

Short version:
My 3,5 months old cactus shoots are starting to droop and some are turning a dull olive color (the two farthest away from the camera). The drooping is not visible in the photo as I have moved soil around the base to make them stand straight. Should I be worried?

Details:
This is my first time trying to propagate Echinopsis pachanoi (also known as Trichocereus pachanoi or San Pedro) from seed. I planted the seeds in a metal tray with 3 cm deep soil consisting of cactus potting mix, perlite and sand. For the first 3 months I kept the tray in a plastic bag to retain moisture. One month before opening the bag, I moved the cacti from a dimly sunlit window sill to a lighting fixture with three 18 W fluorescent lights. The tray started out 35 cm below the light source, but a week after removing the bag I noticed the shoots were rather pale, so I moved them to 20 cm below the lights. The cacti gained a nice deep green color at first, but after a week some are starting to droop and turn an olive color that doesn't look all too healthy.


texts: Why is my wild black cherry tree dropping fruit?

texts:
I have a large wild black cherry tree, prunus serotina I believe. In southeast Michigan, USA.

For the past several weeks, it has been profusely dropping immature fruit. It bloomed nicely, and the petals fell. But then the buds started to fall in great numbers, with what appeared to be a very small, immature cherry in them. And now a few weeks later, the fruit is still green but getting to be the full size of 6mm or so, and still dropping with every slight breeze. From inside the house, it sounds like hail.

It's done this in previous years. It always manages to make some fruit, but maybe only 5% of the blooms it puts out. It's such a lovely tree and I'd really hate to lose it. Should I be concerned, and should I do anything to assure the tree does not die?

(I really don't care about the fruit production, and actually it's nice most of the berries fall off before they are ripe and stain the deck.)

Here are some of the fruits that have fallen:

You can see most of the stalks have only a few berries left on them. It looks like the remaining fruit is a mix of green and browned.

The tree is quite large. There are a couple dead branches in the canopy that I can't reach to remove, and there are some dead twigs here and there, but to my untrained eyes this tree isn't in bad shape.

The only thing otherwise obviously wrong with it is a wound at the trunk, which the tree had when I bought the house:

(I don't think those lights are girdling the tree. They've been up only for about 6 weeks and are wound loosely.)


texts: My plants are dropping leaves suddenly and dying. Are they being poisoned?

texts:
We have got a Japanese maple plant in the back garden in a pot that has suddenly seemed to have died.  There are absolutely no leaves on it at all now.  I asked my dad who said this is perfectly normal, but I find it strange because there's been no frost or anything.

Anyway, now another one of our plants (not sure what it's called), which had been really thriving up until a few days ago has also died suddenly.  All the leaves and flowers are look charred, black and shriveled up. Another plant in a pot is also starting to die.

The reason I am concerned about ruling out possible poisoning is because the plants are all along our back fence which our neighbours next door were not happy about us putting up and have stopped speaking to us as a result.  The soil had been treated with manure as well.  Our climbing roses are fine, but they are not right next to the fence.

I still can't get over how quickly the plant died.  It was almost overnight.  What do you think is the cause?


texts:
Started noticing this from last summer(December, NZ) and now getting bigger. Had a good harvest last season, but, getting worried :( any information on what it is and whether to treat it or not will be very useful.

New closer images added


texts: Take care of gap in lawn before winter or wait until spring?

texts:
I had a concrete walkway removed that separated my lawn into two sections. Now I need to fill the gap with soil. It is November already and sod is not available anymore. Should I do something now or can I wait until spring and leave the soil as is over autumn and winter?

I am in the US, New York State.


texts: Can scale reattach after being physically dislodged?

texts: I have a large stag-horn fern . This spring after moving it out side ,I found it heavily infested with scale. I choose to scrape them off with my fingernails rather than use oil spray or wait for a systemic to work. Two weeks ago i scraped off about 300 scale over 2 days. Today I checked it expecting to find some ,like 20 ? There were more like 60 but they smaller like 1 to 2 mm. Original scale was about 1 to 4 mm. So is it more likely that smaller scale reattached or the tiny scale grew in 2 weeks ?  When I scrape them off ,some are wiped away and some debris stays on the frond.


texts: Can you please identify this alpine, evergreen plant?

texts:
Can anyone identify this plant? I've found it multiple times in Idaho's mountains and have been unable to identify it.

It's about 8 inches high,
Grows in small, sprawling clumps, maybe 1 foot across, with multiple clumps growing close to one another.
Single evergreen needles,
The flowers are pink and white (I've seen them blooming throughout the month of July)
I have found it high in the mountains of Idaho, above 9000 feet, growing on mostly open, and mostly flat, south facing slopes among whitebark pine, engleman spruce, and subalpine fir in dry soil, but very close to lakes or springs.


texts: How to transform an area of pasture to a vegetable garden?

texts:
What is the best way to transform a 300 m2 area of pasture land to a vegetable garden? I do not mean lawn, but real grassland previously cut down regularly by farmers to feed animals.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/habitats/grasslands/

How would you tackle this and how long does it take for soil to become appropriate for crops?


texts: What is wrong with my kalanchoe blossfeldiana?

texts: I bought this lovely girl for my mom last May at Vons, and kept it alive since then. It's been in continual bloom. It gets plenty of shade and sun, and I bring it inside at night and back out in the morning so it doesn't run risk of frost. I believe the huge leaves decaying in the middle are just the old ones and so those don't concern me as much because they've been there since day 1 so they're probably on their way out as it is, but now even these new leaves on the sides are starting to crisp and wither. I don't want it to die :( I use the yellow and green bag of soil and have never fertilized, as this is the only plant I've ever taken care of in my entire life.


texts: How can I make a soiless mix for raised beds?

texts: We are making numerous raised beds and have been playing around with various combinations of bagged garden soil, compost, etc. to fill them but this method is both expensive and providing less than perfect results.  Just read a gardening book that talked about instead using a soil less mix involving three materials: compost, peat moss and vermiculite. I had no problems finding the first two but the vermiculite I can only find in very tiny and expensive bags.  When you compare the vermiculite package with the peat moss package, it reads like both products do the same thing.  So can I just use the peat moss mixed with the compost/manure to make my soil less mix?


texts: Planted my tomatoes two weeks ago, and returned from a week long trip to find them full of holes and generally looking sickly.  The last week has been very rainy and borderline cool, which I know is not weather that tomatoes like, but I also see some tiny little bugs on the plants that I think might be the culprit.  Seeing the damage on 4 different varieties, with pics posted below.  In central Virginia BTW.


texts: Building a planter box against a wall with above-ground footing

texts:
I am trying to build a rectangular wooden planter box up against a backyard wall, but the wall's footing is above the ground and differs in height at different points along the wall.  The picture below shows the wall footing.

The left side of the footing is a whole cinder block higher than it is on the right side (about 6" difference in height).

The planter box will be rectangular and 4-sided.
I've thought about raising the ground height of this area until it's above the footing, or cutting the wood to conform to the general shape of the footing, or simply moving the planter box away from the wall far enough to avoid the footing.
All of these options have pros and cons.

What's the best way to deal with the issue of the protruding wall footing?


texts: What is this plant that has light trumpet-shaped flowers and smells great?

texts:
Could anyone identify this plant (bush/flower)? Sorry for the poor quality of the images.

Picture taken in the north Serbia on 07.09.2017 at 5pm. Maybe that's important for bloom state.
The leaves are hairy, but not sticky.
This plant has a very strong smell that could be felt in the radius of 10 meters (32 feet). First you feel the smell and then look for the source of it.
This smell is sweet, pronounced floral, but not cloying. Maybe if you mix up tea & floral honey you'll get something similar.
Actually I felt smell yesterday at 8pm and it was 25° Celsius (77° Fahrenheit). Today it is 16° Celsius (62° Fahrenheit) and no smell at 5pm.


texts: They do not seem to be harming the plants (yet), but I am concerned because of their sheer number!


texts:
cedar tree was damaged by storm.  Large section torn off.  Can I reattach the bark with duct tape and help it to heal?  I can cut the branches and just leave the bark and tape it back to tree.
Please help.


texts: Can I use antique kitchen shears for gardening?

texts:
I recently purchased a pair of antique shears intending to use them for pruning bushes and stems. When searching for information on the shears I found out they are antique poultry shears. Is there any reason they couldn't work well for gardening?

My primary concern is the convex blade but also I didn't know if there's something I am missing.

EDIT:
I wanted to add some clarification (I don't have the rep to comment)

There is a hidden, internal spring it works very well.

On the bottom there is a latch which keeps them closed.

I do have a modern pair, I intend to use these for small jobs, maybe a novelty when showing off my garden. I was unable to find information on the differences between poultry shears and gardening. Much in the way a metal cutting saw is ineffective on wood, I wanted to know if there was a reason these wouldn't be useable in the garden.


texts: Rose has small leaves maybe nutrition issue?

texts:
I bought this rose from David Austin

https://www.davidaustinroses.com/us/the-poet-s-wife-shrub-rose

It had rabbit eating the top part down to the ground in beginning. My past question

David Austin rose from pot growing low on the ground

Now several months later the leaves coming back but I wonder if the leaves are too small:

Is it normal or too small? If not normal, should I do something about?


texts: If the tree roots must be reduced, is it wise to reduce the crown too?

texts:
Let's say a driveway must be dug in the vicinity (but not closer than 1m) of a large tree (in my case it is a Juglans regia, but I would like the question, and possible answers, to be as generic as possible). This means that certain portion of the tree roots must be removed, inevitably.

Is it wise to do at the same time certain crown pruning too, with reasoning to keep the balance between the roots and the crown?


texts:
I've noticed that my pepper leaves starting to curl and not grow. And the peppers that grow are not fully growing. I thought it was over watering, but I don't know.![Cili pida
]1


texts: Repaired patches in my lawn, fantastic growth, but all died in the first week without rain

texts:
This spring I overseeded patches in my lawn, it was great because right after overseeding there was a period of about a month with daily rains. The results were fantastic, everything grew perfectly.
But after 4 weeks of rain, the fifth week was dry, and all the new grass died. The rest of my lawn, the older grass, had zero problems.
Any suggestions on why it died so early?
I live in a area with temperate-continental climate.


texts:
newbie here!
I’m looking at a little project to remove a (well existing) hedge that former part of our back garden when we bought a newbuild.
There’s a fence behind the hedge.
There’s a gradient drop to about 30cm below the current lawn level to the bottom of the fence.
I don’t want to just dig the hedge trees out and fill in with topsoil(etc) as it’ll all lay against the wooden fence directly.
Any tips or guides on what I could do?
Do I need a retaining wall?
Could I get away with laying some subbase somehow?
Or should I layer up some sleepers?
The result should be a level continuation of the lawn.
Thanks!!


texts: Do some phalaenopsis have naturally weak blooms?

texts:
I have eight or so phalaenopsis of varying colors. Except for my newest plants they have all bloomed multiple times under my stewardship.

The plant in question has at least twice, perhaps more times, put out blooms which are noticeably fewer in number (3-4) than all my other plants and also seem to last such a short time that it never has two open and not nearly dried up at the same time.

Is this expected behavior for some plants based on their genes, or is it possible that I'm treating this plant differently without realizing it?


texts: What is the name of this plant, please, and how do I propagate it ? (pic)

texts:
I have nursed this (indoor) fragile plant through thick and thin and now it is flourishing but desperately needs re-potting. Before I risk upsetting it, I want to propagate it but have thus far failed miserably, attempting to take a cutting and planting the cut end straight into soil.

Can anyone tell me its name and how to propagate it ?


texts: Is it possible to grow a mango plant in the Phoenix climate?

texts:
I've been wanting to plant a mango seed; though I live in Phoenix, Arizona.

Firstly, would a mango seed actually grow in my area? Secondly, I'm pretty new to any kind of plant life. So, does anyone have any information on germinating and planting a mango seed?


texts: I am having lots of difficulty with my tomato plant. It will look very health in the morning and after a few hours, start to droop completely. I am using a self watering pot and keep it filled. I thought I might be under watering and started watering more which just didn't make a difference. What am I doing wrong?


texts:
My yard has been overrun with clover and dandelions. Looking for help identifying the type of grass I have and help controlling the weeds
https://imgur.com/gallery/iFAI5dD


texts: Are woven geotextile fabric really permeable?

texts:
I plan to build a garden path covered with pine barks. To prevent weeds there should be some kind of ground cover under the barks, and this cover must be water permeable. I bought a woven geotextile fabric (polypropylene), described by the vendor as providing good permeability. After seeing the fabric I had doubts about its permeability: I tested it by pouring water on the fabric and check if the water ends in a plate I've placed underneath. At first the fabric seems perfectly waterproof, and there's no change for hours:

The water went completely through about 20 hours afterwards.
The question is: how can the vendor consider that the fabric is water permeable if the water doesn't go through for so long ? Under heavy rain we should expect the water to go through directly instead of stagnate for hours, shouldn't we ?


texts:
I want to start composting.

I live in a house of 2, and a fairly large garden, in Australia, and I am renting (therefore do not want to spend a lot of money on something that I can't take with me).

I was googling at the various approaches to DIY compost bins and was not sure on a clear winner.

What is the best approach to begin composting in my situation?  Should I pop down garden center and buy something or is it fairly easy/cheap to build something myself?  I would like some experienced suggestions.


texts: Should I remove a damaged Aloe vera leaf?

texts:
My Aloe vera plant has a leaf where there is gaping hole in it as well as some brown spots. That leaf hasn't been growing. Should I cut that leaf off?

Somewhat enhanced photo to better show brown spits on leaf -


texts: How do they know if a mower had oil in it when started?

texts: I took my mower into the repair shop because it wouldn't start after running for the first time for just a few seconds. They said they would tear the engine apart to see if oil was in it when started (which there was some). My question is how can they tell if a mower had oil in it when started?


texts: Will using dense shade grass seed in a non shaded area cause problems?

texts: I have a lawn that is mostly shaded so I have purchased dense shade grass seed. However, there are parts that get mostly sunlight and little to no shade. If I used the dense shade seed on those areas will there be issues?


texts:
I am new to growing tomatoes.  I have a plant outside that is about 3ft high but the tomatoes themselves aren't growing.

Can someone give me some tips please?

Please note I am the southern hemisphere and it's currently summer.

The plants have flowered & I have fruit but they do not seem to be getting any bigger.  I have fertilized the plant.  I wondered if I needed to nip out new growth so all the growth now goes into the fruit.

The plant has been in the ground over 4 weeks.  Temperatures haven't been what you'd call summery, but it hasn't been much below 13 degrees celcius.


texts: My garden has been on the backburner for a couple of years and my rosemary is woody and lacking leaves. I'm theoretically growing it to eat, rather than look at, so how best do I encourage soft growth?


texts: How much water does a Common Boobialla cutting need?

texts:
I have a cutting I made about a year ago which took root (not sure when, I only realized when the roots were about 2 inches long). I had the cutting sit in a basic water bottle the whole period of its duration (I didn't change the water). The plant species is a Myoporum insulare or a Common Boobialla. I took it out of the bottle 1 week ago. I found a nice bucket, drilled a few holes in the bottom and stuck it in there.

These are the photos I took 2 days ago.

I keep it on an old outdoor chair, which is now just framework. Is it too cold? It gets the direct morning sun then midday it stays under a clear roof which lets a small amount of sunlight through.

The leaves are feeling more dry than an average Boobialla to my understanding. I was thinking this is due to the sudden climate change (water to soil transition).

Also after I took this photo I realised the white stain. Unsure about what that is, maybe just some bird droppings and it slid off.

I really do want this to survive, if you could help in any way would be much appreciated.


texts: Why are the leaves of transplanted tomato seedlings curling upwards?

texts:
I am trying to grow San Marzano tomatoes from seed and having no prior experience in gardening, every step just ends up becoming an experiment.
I sowed the seeds in a home-made potting mix containing

Coco peat
perlite
sand (without it coco peat seemed to be retaining a lot of water.)
NPK 20-20-20 (trace amounts)

Unfortunately, the lack of direct sunlight resulted in leggy seedlings but I was able to correct the situation a bit by placing the seeding tray outside.

Now, I am trying to transplant these seedlings into a bigger container to support the long stems and help develop a better root system. This bigger container is about 6-7 inches deep and contains

coco peat
perlite
garden soil
compost

This is where things are going wrong. About 24 hours after the transplant the leaves of the seedlings are curling upwards or in some cases turning dark green and crispy like a roasted herb. As we can see in the following images, the veins in the seed leaves are also turning yellow.

I am trying to keep the soil generally moist. The transplants are protected from direct sunlight but they are getting plenty of light and light breeze.
I would really appreciate it if anyone could tell me the things I might be doing wrong and steps to recovery.
The temperature is consistently in the 25-33 °C and is expected to be stable for a couple of months. There is also mild rain every 4-5 days.
Thank you in advance.

UPDATE (9 August 2020):
This morning I found the transplanted seedling fallen sideways. Gentle prodding revealed that the entire stems had perished.

It may have been excess fertilizer in the soil or excess moisture or even pest.
STEPS TAKEN:
I am preparing a fresh batch of the potting mix using:

perlite
coco peat
compost
garden soil

And will try to transplant 1 seedling.


texts: How to prepare beds for trees if the goal is propagating and eventually transplanting many trees from those beds over time?

texts:
Related to my question How to amend clay soil to propagate trees for bare root distribution? I want to zoom out and ask a broader question, phrased in the title.

I'm in Zone 5/4 and get about 1 meter of precip a year. I want to be able to propagate a large variety of trees and share or sell them with people from homeowners to farmers. If picking specific types of trees, I'd focus this question on smaller trees (max height <40') and shrubs, especially edible varieties like pear, apple, apricot, elderberry, black currant, hazelnut, mulberry, raspberry, etc.

My soil is silty clay in a suburban area. Thankfully its past land use is mostly known and safe (ie. no industrial activities or gas station on site). Deer pressure is high. Sun is plentiful with a few shady spots here and there.

I know there are different types of beds like air pruning beds for seedlings of trees that have deep tap roots, and different beds for trees destined for transplanting as bare root vs. ball & burlap trees. I don't know much more than that differences exist though, so I'm looking for info pointing me in the direction of which kind of bed is useful in which cases and more details about each kind of bed for tree propagation.

To start I have 100-200 square feet to work with, that I envision having a few rows of trees growing in along with some in containers. I already have a bunch of trees in containers and can always get or make more. How should I approach prepping the rows / beds?


texts: Does a painted lawnmower blade need any care before installing?

texts:
I just bought a new blade for my Murray 30" riding mower and I noticed that the new blade I bought (not an OEM one) was painted.

Will the paint be a problem?

The blade seems pretty sharp as it's new, but should I sharpen it further or leave it as is until it needs sharpening again?


texts:
My parents have had a lilac tree in their backyard for about 25 years. It came from saplings given by a neighbour. Over the years, some secondary shoots ("suckers", I think?) were removed as they broke under the weight of snow. Up until a year or two, it bloomed consistently every spring.

This year, it looks like this:

Large areas of the top have no flowers, only dried bits from last year, although all branches have leaves. There seems to be three main shoots that are devoid of any flowers.

On the older shoots, there seems to be moss or some white stuff on the bark. I don't know whether this is normal.

I don't think my parents have done any pruning of this tree over the years, except for removing obviously broken branches. They are now thinking about cutting the base of all the trunks that have no flowers. I asked them to wait until I could verify whether they could be salvaged. Is there anything we can do to make these trunks flower again?


texts: I planted some pear seedlings this winter. They're now in leaf and some of the leaves are not looking so good. Does anyone know what this is and how to fight it?


texts: Does this look like green pepper or red pepper plants?

texts:
My hubby and I are NOT gardeners. Are these peppers (bell pepper) or weeds?
Hate to be watering weeds lol


texts:
South Florida.  Photo of tree that I can't identify.  It's been raining heavily for twelve hours and this white foam has appeared on the trunk, possibly due to water dripping.  What is this foam?

I've lived with this tree for 2 years and have never seen it happen before.  It is not there today now that it's dry.  I observed a piece of bark overhanging the area, channeling water to drip infrequently at the top portion of the bubbles, likely creating them somehow.  These do not appear to be eggs or a fungus.  When I hit them with a stick, they pop.  Has less the consistency of spittle bubbles; more like soap bubbles.  I do not use soap or detergent on my trees.

Full tree, foam to the left of the lawn gnome

Closeup of foam


texts: Is Imidan and/or Captan on fruit trees resilient to rain?

texts:
I have fruit trees that I spray with Imidan and Captan.  I try to do this during dry spells, but often the weather will change or my only opportunity to spray is right before rain is expected.

Will these chemicals last through a soft rain, hard rain or no rain?


texts: What are the benefits of greenhouses and how do they work?

texts: What are the pros and cons of greenhouses and how do they work? What are their limitations? How does one plan and build one? What is necessary to maintain the plants inside optimally? I am in Central Florida.


texts:
This shrub first appeared in my overflow garden two summers ago.  As I was missing my Snow Day Surprise plant, I off-handedly assumed it was that.  It has reappeared in the same spot two more consecutive years ~ bigger, but with no other off shoots ~ which makes me think it is not a weed.

It is about 4 feet tall (I tried adding a pic of the whole bush but I had gone over the accepted Mb limit) with thick green stalks coming out of the insignificant root; off of which there are many smaller green branches. There are lance shaped leaves (3 inches in length) on the branches.  The pure white flowers are profuse and have been in bloom for about a month now.  They close up in the heat of the day and open when the air is cooler.  There are five heart shaped petals (1 inch in diameter) and a bulbous pod immediately beneath the flower.

I would have thought with that many descriptors I could have easily found it on google; but to no avail.  Thank you kindly for your insight; I'd like to figure out what to do with it!

Sincerely, Karen
Oh, I am in Zone 5 Nova Scotia


texts: How do you guys Ripen your Fruit Produce ?

texts:
I finally had my Mango tree give me fruit this year and its the first year this is happening. However they are all green and I was wondering what is the perfect time to pluck them , and how should I get them to ripe(non-chemically) to eat them.

What do you guys usually do for this ?


texts: What is this tropical plant with speckled stems, shiny green leaves and orange flowers called?  And what care does it need?


texts: Should I wait for twigs in compost to fully decompose before adding it to the soil?

texts:
I have created a small compost pit and i have putting lot of garden cuttings and kitchen waste in it for last 12 weeks. The whole thing has turned into nice dark brown humus. It smells very nice and I am planning to spread it in my garden.

Though I noticed that some of the twigs and peanut shells have not completely decomposed. Am I just being impatient in using the humus or should I wait for few more weeks till every single twig is decomposed.

This is being done in Pune (India).


texts: Looking for confirmation: poison ivy or not?

texts:
While mucking about in my (new) yard, I found a bunch of plants that I believe are poison ivy (three shiny leaves, aggressively tendriling vines, and the bigger leaves have the little "mitten" indentation. No berries that I've seen). There's quite a lot of it, and some of the vines are encroaching onto the driveway. It seems unusual that the previous tenants wouldn't have noticed this - they did a lot of gardening - so I'm questioning whether my identification is right.

Can someone confirm whether this is poison ivy, and if it's not, tell me what it is?

I'm in Western Massachusetts, so we definitely have poison ivy in the area.


texts: Will Hydrangeas Next to a Freshwater Seawall Suffer from Occasional Flooding?

texts:
I am considering planting some hydrangeas next to the seawall at a freshwater lake. Normally the water level is about 14" below the top of the soil but about twice a month the water level will rise to about 4" below the top of the soil. It will stay for half a day then return to 14". The soil is a sandy loam and the hydrangeas will receive about 6 to 7 hours of sun. I am located in the middle part of Alabama so it is hot and humid.

It is my understanding that the root system for a hydrangea is shallow but I am still concerned about root rot.

Would hydrangeas do well in these conditions? Are there other shrubs that I could consider as well?


texts: My hyacinth has floppy leaves now; I bought it blooming, but the bloom has died back, which I understand is normal. However, the leaves have gone entirely floppy and drooping, no structure to them. What is it missing? I moved it to a regular pot with soil (it came in a fancy glass) and put it outside in the hopes it needed sun or nutrients, but more expert advice would be appreciated.


texts: Is this branch from the blueberry root stock?

texts:
So I have about 6 blueberry plants and last summer (which was very very dry, drought for about two months) there were woody plants coming up at the bases of about 4 of them. They're not the same leaves as the blueberry plants and this year their flowers aren't at all the same. Are they suckers from root stock? Are they something else?

I'm in Buffalo, NY


texts: What are the most essential things to include in a gardening journal?

texts:
I am making a web application where people can create journals about their vegetable garden or flower garden. The information that these journals include can then be used by others who live nearby (it works with GPS).

These are the things i have right now:

Time until harvest,
sow time,
sprouting date,
harvest date

Anyone else know of something i could include?

Thank you


texts:
This is probably a simple question but I just want to know any common advice for collecting seeds from mustard greens.

4-5 self-seeded mustards (Brassica juncea) popped up in the autumn and I just let them go to be green manure, but I've neglected to hoe them back into the soil so far. Now the seed pods are getting quite large and so I may as well collect those before turning the plants into green manure. Any advice on how I can collect as much mustard seed as possible from them?

Do I remove the stalks (that contain the pods) from the plant now (they're not yet brown)?
I assume I'm then supposed to hang up the stalks some place safe where they won't be disturbed until completely dried.
Do I need to put bags or containers under the stalks in case the seeds start dropping out by themselves?


texts: What is this plant with purple bellflowers on a spike?

texts: Could someone identify this flowering plant?


texts: How can I tell if a plant given to me is patented?

texts: Sometimes, I receive an unlabeled plant start from a friend, and they do not know if it is patented. If I want to grow and sell a plant in question, is it okay to just take the chance, or is there a way to find patents?


texts: Cauliflower : What is happening to these curds?

texts:
I am growing cauliflower(single plant) at my home in India. I have attached the image of the same. The head formed two weeks ago and i have started to see some pinkish- brown spots on the head.

Can somebody help me in identifying what is happening to the head part? Is it healthy or needs to be picked up?


texts: Should I place this plant directly in sunlight?

texts:
I have brought a curry leaf plant sapling from the local nursery. It was planted in a plastic bag filled with soil from the ground. I have placed it in a 12 inch pot today with fresh store bought potting mix (cocopeat-sand-vermiculite-perlite-compost-rice husk-neem meal)  Should I place it in direct sunlight (outdoors) tomorrow? Or should I gradually expose it to light? I have read it can survive full sun but I am afraid it will irretrievably wilt.
Locafion- Delhi, India with temperatures touching 40 degrees and full sun.


texts:
I have cold hardy palms (Trachycarpus fortuneii), and some of them were affected by the winter cold we had in February this year in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. We had a lot of snow and a full week frost day and night (which is quite unusual here). While some palms were not affected, the largest palm I have turned yellow and seems dead now. I have some pictures of this palm, it is in a 6.5 L container. In the pictures you can see that the core where the growth occurs is also yellow and not green anymore... Is this palm really dead, or do I still have a chance on a revival?
The situation here now is that spring has been quite cold (many frost nights), so also the palms that were not affected (which still look green), are not growing either yet. So it is hard to say if the affected palms don't grow because of this or are already dead.
What do you think, wait for summer, or remove it?


texts: Realtime landscape plus design program, final ground height

texts: I have Realtime Landscaping Plus 3D landscape design program and I cannot find any way to see what the the final height of the ground is in my design. The design has lots of slopes, height grids, terraces and such all overlayered and adding or subtracting from the final height. I need to figure out drainage, check the rise on slopes, and translate the design heights onto the yard and build it. How do I access the ACTUAL height of any given point in my design?


texts:
My seedlings trays (special the cultures that need quite some water) are infested with small flies (and larvae). I grow my seedling trays indoor.
Are they harmful for my cultures? How can I get rid of them in a natural way?
Thanks in advance


texts: How do I get my Jade plant to grow again?

texts: We've recently moved, and while traveling to our new home all my house plants have turned brown. But importantly my jade has stopped growing. It is down to two leaves that are very loose in soil. I'm not sure what to do now. Any help?


texts: How can I prevent my banana tree from drying out?

texts:
We live in Lahore , Pakistan where temperature in summers reach 45 degrees Centigrade. Our banana tree is drying out in the sun. What is the best way to ensure that it remains healthy? This banana tree is only for decorative purposes. It does not bear fruit.

Here is a picture of our banana tree:

And our neighbours banana tree pic:


texts:
I've read that you can send electric currents through plants and seeds with (low currents using DC power) and that this can increase yields and all-in-all improve the plants (provided you use the right kinds and levels of electricity). It is supposed to be ineffective on certain kinds of plants, however.

Has anyone here actually tried it? What have been the results?

I'm not looking to debunk this as a myth, because there's enough variation with electricity to make a general dismissal undesirable (voltage, frequency, offset, amps, etc.) I'm just looking for results (good or bad) and what they were.

I'm not asking about lightning bolts. Of course those would destroy plants, normally.

I'm talking about low currents (not high ones).


texts: We have a potted (Roma) tomato plant which is coming along nicely. People told us to get a tomato cage, so I did and set it up. Do I then need to manage how the plant grows into and around the cage? Or do I just let it grow on its own once the cage is in place?


texts: Best approach to take on half dead string of pearls

texts: Long story short, I placed something light on top of my basket of string of pearls and then forgot to take it off. I believe that is what killed the top ends of each string, as you can see in the picture. I’m stumped on the best way to move forward - is the plant still salvageable or will it slowly die? Can I cut each string and propagate it?


texts:
I have a "calathea mix" (that's what the label says) that's supposed to look very much like this:

It is supposed to have wavy leaf-edges and a nice, rich red coloured underside.

But it actually looks very sad, with leaves sometimes rolling up, and all brown around the edges. New leaves keep growing, but often they start to go brown before they even come out of their little rolled-up baby stage.

I've tried watering more, watering less, spraying with water, repotting, adding draining... why can't I keep this plant alive??