Xeriscaping isn’t limited to the desert or areas with drought; everybody can actively work to conserve water in their gardens. You can xeriscape your garden to help save water, time and money. Here are the best xeriscape ideas to try and some drought tolerant plants to include in your design.
With extreme drought gripping most of western North America, it’s a good time to look at ways to conserve water in your garden. Even if your area is not currently experiencing drought, employing the principles of xeriscaping will benefit your garden and save you time and money.
Xeriscaping means conserving water through creative landscaping. There are a few basic principles in xeriscape: water conservation, drought-resistant plants, little or no lawn, improving soil, mulching, and watering wisely.
Using these xeriscape ideas will not just save water; your landscape and garden will require less maintenance, thus freeing up a lot of time.
This post will cover…
Agave plants are native to hot and arid places.
The Principles of Xeriscaping
Water Conservation
Since the main goal is to reduce the amount of water needed for your garden or landscape, the first thing to look at is your garden conditions. Taking note of how much sun the area gets, the natural drainage pattern of the land, and other large plants already in the area will help you determine plant choices.
With this information, you can use it to plan a sustainable garden with limited water needs and one that can rely on natural precipitation.
Grouping plants together based on similar watering needs can also establish watering zones. Watering zones maximize efficient watering by ensuring that only those plants that need a bit of supplementary water are contained in zones.
Rain barrels are excellent ways to save rainwater for use later.
Xeriscape and Drought-Tolerant Plants
The best plants for a xeriscape garden are the ones native to your area. Native plants know how to survive in the region where they originated.
When you take a plant out of its natural habitat, you have to mimic its native surroundings for it to thrive. That doesn’t mean you cannot have exotic plants. Save those types for an area where you can afford to give extra attention.
Established native plants will bounce back quickly when the rain returns. Nonetheless, many plants can survive on little water.
If you don’t need a lawn, get rid of it. Keeping a lawn green uses an exorbitant amount of water. If you want to have a green area, try using low-maintenance ground covers or drought-tolerant grass species for your area. Check with your local garden center for recommendations.
Clover is one of the best lawn alternatives.
Improving Soil
The perfect soil in a water-conserving landscape must drain well and retain moisture. What? Yes, it is possible. You can achieve this by adding good compost and manure to feed your soil.
Again, the soil needs to match the requirements of the plants. For example, succulents and cacti need sandy/lean soil and would not benefit from compost-rich soil. If unsure of your soil chemistry, get a soil test kit from your local garden center or contact your local extension service.
I consistently mix compost in my garden to feed and improve the soil. Plus, you’ll never need fertilizer!
Mulching
Mulch helps retain soil moisture, mitigate temperature fluctuations, prevent erosion and smother weeds. Organic mulch such as leaves, coarse compost, bark, pine needles or grass clippings will break down throughout the season and incorporate into the soil.
This will help improve the soil over time as well. You need to add more as it breaks down. For mulch to be effective, it needs to be several inches thick.
In the fall, leave the leaves behind. Natural mulch is one of the best ways to support local wildlife and feed the soil.
Watering Wisely
In order to water effectively, water needs to be applied to the base of the plant. Drip irrigation and soaker hoses are the easiest and most efficient way to get water to the base of your plants, not overhead sprinklers.
If an irrigation system is not in your budget, hand water in the mornings or early evenings and avoid the middle/hottest part of the day. Watering in the mornings and early evenings will ensure that the plants absorb the water, and little will be lost to evaporation.
Aim for a deep watering 2-3 times a week versus a light daily watering.
Aim to water at the base of plants for the most effective watering.
Frequently Asked Questions About Xeriscape Design
How do I xeriscape a front yard?
Get rid of any lawn, as they’re big water guzzlers and require a whole lot of maintenance. Front lawns are rarely used compared to the backyard, becoming wasted space.
You can increase your curb appeal by making the space uniquely yours. First, find inspiration about what you want your space to be. You can do wildflowers for pollinators, trees for a shade garden, a courtyard with seating, adecorated walkway to your front yard, or anything else that suits your fancy.
Once you have your inspiration, find native and drought tolerant plants to xeriscape the front yard. Also, consider watering practices and how to conserve rainwater in your xeriscape design.
Which plants are good for Xeriscaping?
The best plants you can use for xeriscaping are those which are native to your area. These plants survive on natural rainwater and will require very little, if any, supplemental watering.
Drought tolerant plants are also good xeriscape plants, as they don’t mind going through periods of no rainfall and won’t require you to step in with the soaker hose.
What’s the difference between zeroscape vs xerscaping?
Zeroscaping uses almost no plants in its design. Instead, it decorates a landscape using stones, gravel, dirt, and other non-living elements. It may use a couple of plants, but it will be very few. Overall, zeroscaping landscapes are typically plain and common in desert environments.
Meanwhile, xerscaping is about planting drought tolerant and native plants to limit water usage. You can still have lots of plants; they’re just carefully chosen.
Where does the term Xeriscape come from?
The Greek word for dry is Xēros, which has become the root for many English words relating to dry. In 1982, The Water Department of Denver, Colorado, coined the term xeriscaping to describe the practice of using plants that require little water, alongside water conservation techniques, in landscaping.
Even if your area is not experiencing a drought, xeriscaping principles can save you time and money. By employing the basic xeriscaping principles, your garden will flourish with little effort.
I have been gardening in this location in Illinois for 10 years. I have a variety of flowers, dragonwing begonias, bee balm, hostas, phlox, and balloon flowers. I have had trouble this year with deer eating hostas. I do all the planting, and my husband does the mowing.
Pots of dragonwing begonias (Begonia hybrids, Zones 10–11 or as an annual) provide a pop of color next to a spot to sit and enjoy the garden.
Window boxes full of yellow petunias (Petunia hybrids, Zones 10–11 or as annuals) overflow with flowers, while bright bee balm (Monardadidyma, Zones 4–9) blooms in the foreground.
Shady Hosta (Zones 3–9) border
Creative containers and garden art liven up the space.
Pink balloon flowers (Platycodongrandiflorus, Zones 3–8) and phlox (Phloxpaniculata, Zones 4–8), with tall sunflowers (Helianthusannuus, annual) behind
A perfect spot to sit and enjoy the garden, maybe with a cup of tea or coffee in the morning
A variety of garden art brightens up a fence, and adding a mirror tricks the eye into making the space feel bigger.
A red chair echoes the color of the red petunias in this mixed container.
Have a garden you’d like to share?
Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit!
To submit, send 5-10 photos to [email protected] along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden.
As you look over your garden, something catches your eye. There’s a powdery grayness on the leaves of your lilac and maybe your peonies. Maybe your roses or dogwoods have it too. You have powdery mildew.
What is powdery mildew, exactly?
Above: Powdery mildew on a tomato plant. Photograph by Scott Nelson via Flickr.
Powdery mildew is a fungal disease that shows up between late June and September when it’s hot and humid. Shade and poor air circulation contribute to its establishment and reach. The fungus is mainly spread by wind-borne spores; however, some varieties can overwinter in leaf litter.
There are many different types of powdery mildew, each specific to plant families. The powdery mildew on your peony won’t infect your crepe myrtle. Common ornamental plants that are susceptible to powdery mildew are roses, crepe myrtle, zinnias, phlox, the aster family (over 300 plants), monarda, and legumes. In your edible garden, grapes, beets, cucurbit family (pumpkins, cucumbers, and melons), legumes, tomatoes, and peppers are susceptible.
Above: Asters are susceptible to powdery mildew. Photograph by Scott Nelson via Flickr.
Powdery mildew starts out as white spots on leaves that grow and soon cover the tops of the leaves with a white or gray powdery film. It can look like someone had a flour fight in your yard. On some plants, it’s merely cosmetic and doesn’t harm the plant. On others it can weaken the plant and lead to other opportunistic infections.
Don’t get powdery mildew confused with downy mildew. Downy mildew loves cool temperatures of spring and needs wet leaves to infect. Powdery mildew can sometimes be controlled by water, because water can stop the spores from germinating. With downy mildew, water will make it spread. Make sure you know which one you have.
How do you prevent powdery mildew?
Above: Powdery mildew on a zucchini plant. Photograph by Scott Nelson via Flickr.
The best way to treat powdery mildew is to not let it get a toehold in the first place since it can be hard to treat and eradicate. This is a cornerstone of integrated pest management. Sunshine and good air circulation are key. Prune, at the appropriate time for the plant, to open up and allow good air flow. Don’t plant susceptible varieties too close together. Trim back tree branches where needed to allow the sun to shine on susceptible plants. Plant resistant varieties when adding to your landscape or garden. There are resistant varieties of crepe myrtles, roses, and zinnias for ornamentals. In the vegetable garden there are resistant squash, tomatoes, and legumes.
In the winter, clean up diseased foliage. While there seems to be a debate as to whether or not you can compost the affected leaves, err on the side of caution. While powdery mildew spores can live only on live plant material and won’t spread once composted, you may have other co-infections that aren’t killed by the composting process and can overwinter. When in doubt, throw it out.
How do you eradicate powdery mildew?
Above: Nasturtium leaves turning yellow and withering because of powdery mildew. Photograph by Scott Nelson via Flickr.
To treat powdery mildew, determine first how big of a problem you have. On peonies and lilacs, assuming the plant is otherwise in good health, the infection is mainly cosmetic. On roses and ninebarks, though, powdery mildew can overwinter on the plant, so you’ll have to prune the affected branches and buds.
In all other plants, start with the least toxic options first. If the timing is right, prune to increase airflow. Mist or spray with water to wash off spores. Adding moisture to a mildew may seem counterintuitive, but researchers have found that the powdery mildew spores may like humidity but not rain or water. This method can be used on cucumbers, lettuce, melons, pumpkin, and squash. But be sure to confirm the plants don’t have any co-infections that can be spread by water. For instance, roses can be infected with black spot, another fungus infection, which loves moisture.
Corn picked and eaten fresh is about as good as it gets in gardening. Some people even put the pot of water on to boil before picking their corn so they can eat it right away. The reward of fresh-grown corn awaits those who are willing to put in the extra work that growing a successful crop of corn takes. Learn how to grow corn with these ten tips.
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10 Tips for How to Grow Corn
1. Feed corn before and during the season
Corn requires rich fertile soil to meet its heavy nitrogen demands. Apply at least an inch of compost to your beds before planting. After planting, fertilize corn when the first leaves emerge and then weekly with fish emulsion. When the silks begin to appear, give plants a foliar feeding of a kelp fertilizer.
2. Choose a sunny spot for planting corn
Corn does best grown in full sun. Plant corn where it won’t shade other crops as it grows.
3. Plant corn seeds directly in the garden
Corn does not transplant well; plant corn seeds directly in the garden. Sow seeds 1 inch deep and about 8 inches apart. For hot weather plantings (such as a monsoon planting in Arizona), plant seeds up to 2 inches deep.
Keep soil moist after planting and cover with tulle or netting to protect young seedlings from birds. Remove the cover when seedlings are 4-6 inches tall.
To grow corn in containers, plant corn in containers that are at least 12 inches deep. Hand-pollination will be required.
Corn varieties to try:
4. How to grow corn? Plant corn at the right time
Wait to plant corn until soil temperatures reach 60℉ in the spring. Plant seeds every 2 weeks for a continual harvest. If you’re growing more than one type of corn, stagger the planting dates by at least 2 weeks so the corn doesn’t cross-pollinate.
In the low desert of Arizona, plant corn from mid-February through March. Long-time farmers in Arizona say planting on March 1st is ideal. Plant again with the monsoons in late July through August.
5. Plant enough corn to ensure pollination
Corn is wind-pollinated and is best grown in blocks rather than rows in all but the largest home gardens. Planting at least a 4’x 4’ block of corn helps ensure better pollination.
To avoid cross-pollination, plant different varieties of corn at least 10 days apart or space at least 25 feet apart in the garden.
6. How to grow corn? Give growing corn plenty of water
Corn has relatively shallow roots and needs regular water throughout the growing season. Water is most critical when corn is tasselling. Water stress during pollination can result in spotty pollination.
7. Give corn support as it grows
Tall stalks and shallow roots mean corn can tip and fall in the wind easily. Hilling dirt up around the roots of the corn can help. Drive stakes at the ends of the beds and run twine between stakes to give corn support.
In the low desert of Arizona, the monsoon planting of corn will definitely benefit from being staked during the higher winds of monsoon season.
8. Keep an eye out for common corn pests and diseases
Corn is a favorite of many pests. Prevention is usually the best defense. Plant disease-resistant varieties, encourage beneficial insects, and rotate where you plant corn each year. If cutworms were a problem in past years, drench the soil with parasitic nematodes a couple of weeks before planting.
Use floating row-cover to help prevent damage from birds, corn borers, or slugs. Check leaves for small holes regularly. If you find holes, spray with Bt each week as long as new holes appear. If worms have been an issue, place a few drops of mineral oil into the tip of each ear after the silk turns brown.
9. Consider hand-pollinating corn to ensure plump full ears
Proper pollination results in plump full ears
Poor pollination results in fewer kernels
Corn silks ready for pollination
Corn tassels contain pollen
Patchy spots in harvested corn indicate poor pollination. Each silk is connected to a kernel of corn and must receive pollen. Collect pollen from several tassels, and sprinkle on the silks when they first emerge. Pay special attention to corn on the outside edges of the bed. Repeat this process a time or two for best results.
10. Harvest corn at the right time
Check daily for mature ears once the silks begin to turn brown. Look for plump and full ears. When you puncture a kernel, the juice should be milky. Clear juice means corn is not quite ready. Corn quickly loses its sweet flavor after being harvested. Harvest early in the morning when temperatures are cool, and store in the fridge in husks until it’s time to eat.
Do you have more questions about how to grow corn? Ask me in the comments.
Do you have some tips about how to grow corn? I’d love to learn more. Please share in the comments.
Southern blight is dreaded by home gardeners and commercial growers alike.
The Sclerotium rolfsii fungus that causes the disease is believed to be able to lie dormant in the soil for up to four years.
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Once temperature and humidity conditions are right and it finds a host plant on which to become established, it is extremely difficult to eradicate.
Rather than trying to treat an infection, it’s far better for vegetable gardeners to concentrate on preventing southern blight in their tomato plants before it gets established.
In this guide, we’ll share tips for cultural control, as fungicides available to home growers are largely ineffective against this pathogen.
Here’s what to expect:
Symptoms of Southern Blight in Tomatoes
Symptoms of infection are hard to miss in once healthy, green tomato plants. The leaves turn a sickly yellow color and begin wilting very quickly.
Unlike bacterial wilt or other common tomato ailments, this blight also causes a lesion to form around the collar of the tomato stem, girdling it where it comes in contact with the soil.
The lesion is usually covered in a white mold, called mycelium.
Within the patch of mycelium are round, beadlike fungal structures of a white or cream color.
They turn brown at maturity and look a bit like mustard seeds, readily falling to the ground to rest in the soil.
These beads are called sclerotia and they are small enough that many gardeners do not even notice them, inadvertently spreading them around the garden via footwear or tools.
Mature sclerotia. Photo by Jason Brock, University of Georgia, Bugwood.org.
The sclerotia can endure through several seasons, living through harsh heat. Their main vulnerability is that they can’t survive extreme cold.
The reason the disease is called “southern” blight is because it is more prevalent in the warm, humid conditions of the southern US.
Sclerotia attach themselves to decaying plant matter on and in the ground before infecting healthy plants. In addition to causing the plants to wilt, within three or four days of infection they can cause the fruits to ripen prematurely, ruining some or all of your harvest.
Plants suffering from southern blight may also form “adventitious root formations,” little roots on the lower stems that look like yellow stubble.
In the absence of any other symptoms these roots are not a reliable indicator that your plants are suffering from southern blight, as they may be caused by other stressors.
Tomatoes are not the only plants susceptible to infection. Southern blight can infect over 500 different plants.
If the sclerotia from these other infected vegetables remain in the soil where tomatoes are later planted, the fungus can infect the new seedlings.
Read on to learn about other factors that encourage southern blight.
Sources of Infection
Several fairly ordinary gardening conditions can lead to southern blight infection, or make it worse.
Seedlings purchased from any nursery that reuses potting soil or does not sterilize reused containers are an often overlooked source of initial infection.
Sclerotia multiply more quickly in humid conditions combined with temperatures between 77 and 95°F.
A long period of hot, dry weather followed by heavy rain will spur the fungus into action. Once it starts to spread, a blight attack can destroy an entire crop in days.
Sclerotia stay confined to one area of soil in a garden if they don’t have a host plant to live on.
But many gardeners plant multiple varieties in different parts of the vegetable garden on the same day, digging in one part of the garden and then digging in a different part.
Failing to sanitize gardening tools between plantings is similar to a surgeon operating on a patient without cleaning their scalpel or hands first or afterwards.
This is the quickest way to spread southern blight and infect an entire garden.
While this is easier than digging in tough earth, the buildup of heat and moisture in containers can create an ideal environment for the fungus to thrive.
How to Prevent Southern Blight
Your odds of avoiding southern blight are greater when tomatoes are planted in the ground with wide spaces between plants to allow sufficient air circulation, rather than planting densely or in containers.
Air circulation helps to ensure the stems remain dry at the soil line where the fungus is known to attack.
It’s also a good idea to keep plots weeded to deprive the fungus of additional potential hosts and to eliminate debris where they could overwinter at season’s end.
A commonly overlooked source of sclerotia is the dirt caught in the treads of garden shoes.
Walking through infected soil and then tramping through the garden may allow southern blight fungi to hitch a ride, and you may carry spores or sclerotia into other sections of the yard.
Some gardeners employ crop rotation to help decrease the number of sclerotia in the soil.
The idea is that over time when the sclerotia cannot find a suitable host, they begin to die off. This is a plausible method that could feasibly take two or three years to succeed.
Rotating with crops that are somewhat resistant to the disease such as corn, wheat, sorghum, or oats can help reduce the sclerotia in the soil.
Removing plant debris and keeping a tidy garden can help prevent the sclerotia from getting a foothold.
You can find Tenet® WP available at Arbico Organics in 16-ounce packages. Be sure to read the directions carefully before application.
Treatment Options
Unfortunately there is no treatment for a southern blight infection. Certain chemical fungicides are available for commercial growers but these are not feasible for use in the home garden.
If you discover your tomato plants are infected, you’ll need to dig them up and dispose of them in the trash – don’t put them on the compost pile!
If you are growing your crop in containers, dispose of the soil and be sure to sanitize the pot with a 10 percent bleach solution (nine parts water to one part bleach) before reusing.
You can solarize the soil in the infected garden bed, by placing plastic sheeting over the surface of the soil for about eight weeks during the summer months.
After solarization and prior to planting, you can treat the soil with Tenet WP, mentioned above.
A Pox on Tomato Southern Blight
Sound gardening practices and a sharp eye for early indication are your best defenses against southern blight in a homegrown tomato crop.
Do you have any further suggestions for coping with this dreaded garden foe? The comments section below welcomes your input and questions.
Propagating wandering jew plants is very easy and makes a cost-effective way to expand your collection.
In this post, I’m going to describe how to multiply Tradescantia (also known as inch plant or wandering dude) by rooting the cuttings in water or soil.
I’ll provide step-by-step instructions and a list of all the essential supplies you’ll need. I’ll also explain the best time to propagate them, and share my tips for success.
Wandering Jew Propagation Methods
There are two methods you can use to propagate a wandering jew – you can divide it, or root the stem cuttings in water or soil.
Rooting the stems is the easiest option and the method I’ll focus on in this guide, but below I’ll introduce you to both.
By Division
Division involves separating a mature wandering dude and its roots into several smaller sections, then planting each division into a new container.
This is the quickest way to get a sizable plant, but also the most labor intensive, since you have to pull the plant out of the pot or dig it up.
The vines are also tend to become intertwined on a mature plant and they are very fragile, so it can be difficult to separate them without breaking off several of them in the process.
From Cuttings
Propagating wandering jews from cuttings is the most common method and the one I recommend. This is because it is the easiest way to expand one plant into several.
You simply take stem cuttings that contain leaves and nodes from your mature plant, then root them in soil or water.
Roots quickly develop from the nodes, and new leaves begin growing after a month or so.
While it may also be possible to propagate a wandering jew from a single leaf rather than a stem, it’s not a method I recommend. Even if a leaf forms roots, it likely will never grow into a full-sized plant.
Cutting wandering jew stems for propagation
When To Propagate Tradescantia
The best time to propagate wandering jew cuttings is in the spring or summer when the plant is actively growing.
The warmer temperatures and humidity at this time of year are helpful, too, improving the chances they’ll root quickly and successfully.
Propagating Wandering Jew From Cuttings
Rooting stems is the easiest and most popular way to propagate Tradescantia, so I’m going to walk you through the process step by step.
First, though, let’s look at how to take and prepare your cuttings for the best results.
How To Take Wandering Jew Cuttings
Using a clean, sterilized pair of precision pruners or micro snips, take a cutting that’s about 4 inches long from anywhere on the stem. Make your cut just below a leaf node, at a 45° angle.
Leaf nodes on wandering jew plants are around an inch apart, which is why it is also known as an inch plant.
Roots develop from these nodes, and a 4-inch cutting should contain at least two, along with several leaves.
I recommend wearing gloves while handling the stem, as the sap may irritate your skin.
To prepare your wandering dude cuttings for propagation, remove any leaves from the lower section to expose a few inches of the stem. You can do this by snipping or pinching them off.
Don’t remove all of the leaves, be sure to keep a on the top, because they need them to survive.
Fresh wandering jew clippings
Tips For Propagating Tradescantia In Water Or Soil
Once you’ve prepared your wandering jew cuttings for propagation, you can either root them in water or soil.
Do this as quickly as possible so that they don’t dry out or shrivel, as this might stop them from rooting.
Propagating Wandering Jew In Water
After preparing the stem, submerge them in a vase of tepid water deep enough so all of the exposed nodes are covered. I like to use a clear vase for this because it’s fun to watch the roots develop.
Keep the vase in a warm, bright place and ensure the water remains topped off and clean. Then watch for the roots to form. Once they’re 3 to 4 inches long, pot them up.
The disadvantage to this method is that the roots tend to be thinner and weaker than those propagated in soil.
It can also be difficult for your plant to make the transition back to soil if it stays in water for too long. This is why it’s important to pot it up as soon as the roots are long enough.
Rooting wandering jew cuttings in water
Rooting Wandering Jew Cuttings In Soil
This method takes a bit more time and effort, but the cuttings will develop stronger, more robust roots in soil than they do in water. This gives them a better chance of survival once they’re potted up.
For the best results dust the stems with rooting hormone, then place them at least 3-4 inches deep into lightweight, moistened growing medium or a soilless mix. Gently press the medium around them so that they can stand on their own.
Tent a plastic bag over the top, or place the lid on your propagation chamber if you are using one. Move the container to a warm spot with plenty of indirect light and keep the soil moist.
Dusting wandering jew with rooting hormone
How Long Does It Take Tradescantia Cuttings To Root?
Wandering jew cuttings root quickly. As long as the conditions are right, roots will begin forming within 2 to 7 days.
If you put them in a clear vase of water you can easily see when they are ready to be potted up. This is usually after about two weeks.
You can tell they’re rooted in soil when new leaves begin forming on top. Alternatively, you can gently tug the cuttings – if they have roots, they shouldn’t move.
Why Won’t My Wandering Jew Propagate?
There are several factors that can stop your cuttings from rooting successfully.
Warmth is important, so consider using a heat mat if your house is very cool. Plenty of indirect light is essential, too, so use a grow light if your home is too dark.
Check that the soil is evenly moist, or that the nodes are fully submerged if you’re propagating them in water.
Also, consider the time of year. If you’re trying to propagate your wandering dude during the cooler months, it will be more difficult.
Your wandering jew cuttings will need adequate moisture to survive, and plenty of warmth and light to form roots.
If you are propagating them in water, this means ensuring the roots remain submerged at all times. If you’re using soil, then make sure it stays evenly moist.
Keep them in a warm, bright place, but avoid direct sunlight, as this can burn the leaves or cook if it gets too hot under the plastic.
Potting Up Rooted Tradescantia Cuttings
Once your Tradescantia cuttings have 3-4” long roots, it’s time to pot them up.
Fill a clean pot with good quality, pre-moistened general potting soil. Then plant the stems at the same depth they were in the water or growing medium, ensuring the roots are fully covered.
Gently press the soil around them and water lightly. Then place them in a warm spot with plenty of bright but indirect light.
The following are some of the most commonly asked questions about propagating wandering jew plants. If yours isn’t listed here, please ask in the comments section below.
Can you propagate wandering jew leaves?
You may be able to propagate wandering jew leaves, but I don’t recommend it. It can be difficult to grow a healthy, full-sized inch plant from a single leaf, and it most likely would not get very large.
Where is the growth node on a wandering jew?
The growth nodes on wandering jew plants are located along the stem or just below a set of leaves, and look like small bumps. Some may even have tiny root nubs already forming.
Can you grow wandering jew from cuttings?
Yes, you can easily grow wandering jew from cuttings by rooting them either in water or soil, even if you’re a beginner.
Where do you cut wandering jew to propagate?
To propagate a wandering jew, cut them anywhere along the stem, just below a leaf node and at about a 45° angle. Make sure the stems are 3-4″ long for the best success.
Can you propagate wandering jew directly in soil?
Yes, you can propagate wandering jew directly in soil, and this is my preferred method. It gives the cuttings strong, robust roots, and improves their chances of survival once potted up. Use a propagation chamber or tent plastic over the top to speed up the process.
Can you root wandering jew cuttings in water?
Yes, you can root wandering jew cuttings in water. It’s a quick and simple method that makes it easy to monitor the growth of the roots. I like to use a clear vase for this so I can watch as the roots form.
More About Plant Propagation
Share your tips for how to propagate wandering jew in the comments section below.
Step By Step Instructions
How To Propagate Wandering Jew (Tradescantia)
Learn how to propagate your wandering jew plant in water. Discover my tips for rooting them successfully, including how to prepare your cuttings, and how to tell when it’s time to pot them up.
Prep Time 15 minutes
Active Time 5 minutes
Additional Time 7 days
Total Time 7 days
Difficulty Easy
Notes
The sap from a wandering jew can irritate your skin, so you might want to wear gloves while taking cuttings.
Be sure to place the cuttings into the water as quickly as you can so they don’t have a chance to dry out, or they may not root.
Once your cuttings have 3-4” long roots, pot them into fresh soil. Leaving them in water for too long can weaken the roots and cause severe transplant shock.
If you prefer to propagate your cuttings in soil rather than water, be sure to dust the stems with rooting hormone and use a lightweight medium. The soil method may take longer, but it is more likely to result in hardier roots that transplant successfully.
Yuccas, Yucca spp., are succulents that grow in full sun and rocky, dry soil in USDA Hardiness Zones ranging from 3 to 11.
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They have mounds of sharp, sword-shaped foliage, attain heights of two to 30 feet depending upon variety, and produce tall stalks bearing clusters of creamy white to pink blossoms.
This article zeroes in on how to prune yuccas for health and aesthetics.
Here’s what we’ll cover:
There are many types of yuccas. Yours may be trees, shrubs, or houseplants.
Regardless of their stature and growth habit, periodic pruning is a beneficial part of a standard care regimen.
The Best Time
The best time to prune is when new shoots appear in the spring or early summer. Regrowth occurs rapidly during this time.
Clean, sharp tools are essential. For smaller varieties, garden scissors may suffice for snipping off unsightly lower leaves.
If you have ground-level mounds, you may find pruners strong enough to cut out clumps of spent bloom stalks and withered foliage. If not, use a pruning saw to sever them from fresh green clumps.
Tree loppers are suitable for reaching overhead to make crisp, clean cuts.
While working, a hat, leather gloves, safety eyewear, and pruning sleeves or a thick shirt offer protection from sharp leaf margins.
With your supplies assembled, let’s discuss different reasons and methods for trimming yuccas.
Deadheading Flowers
Deadheading is the process of removing entire stems of flowers before the color completely fades and they set seed.
Unless you want to collect the seeds for future sowing, cutting off the spent flowers and directing energy back to producing lush greenery is best.
To deadhead, place your pruners around a stalk as low as you can without marring neighboring foliage and snip it off.
Removing Damaged and Dead Foliage
Like a palm tree, the leaves of a yucca turn brown and wither with age. Sometimes they are damaged by pests or pathogens.
Removing damaged and dead material supports a plant’s health and improves its appearance.
Older, desiccated foliage is easier to remove than younger green growth.
A gentle tug is sometimes all that is needed. If it doesn’t come away easily, use pruners to sever it by slicing down through each leaf base with a downward motion.
Sculpting a Tree from a Bush
A stemmed specimen may have leaves all the way up its trunk, like an elongated bush. The lower leaves that point downward are called a “skirt.”
Remove the skirt one leaf at a time to make it more tree-like, cutting each off as close as possible to where it meets the trunk.
Removing lower leaves decreases a plant’s footprint in the landscape, making room for understory flora that thrives in the partial shade it casts.
Shortening a Tall Plant
Sometimes an outdoor or indoor yucca gets so tall it dominates its setting and/or becomes top-heavy. The remedy is to shorten it by up to one-half for more compact growth.
If you are cutting an outdoor tree-like specimen, estimate where the middle is and use a pruning saw to slice straight through the middle of the trunk just above a ridge, as this is a natural growing point. The remaining bare trunk will sprout side growth from its ridges.
If your outdoor tree has a skirt of lower leaves, remove them from the bottom two-thirds of the tree and slice across the middle as described above.
When shortening a houseplant, unpot it and lay it on its side. Estimate where the middle of the stem is and proceed as above, making a straight slice just above a ridge line to jumpstart new side shoots.
Don’t panic at the sight of leafless trunks. They will regrow with vigor.
The upper portions you removed are also useful, so read on!
Taking Cuttings to Propagate
The top you cut off your tall tree or houseplant can regrow.
Bury a third to a half of the bare trunk or stem in a container of potting soil. The pot should be as deep as the buried portion, and the cutting should stand firmly upright.
Another way to make new plants is to dig up the new spring shoots from a ground-level mounding variety, sever the roots to separate them from the main clump, and plant as desired.
Be sure to get roots and shoots and set them at the same depth they were planted to initially.
Taking cuttings is an affordable way to make new plants to keep and share.
Thinning Dense Growth
And finally, whatever the variety, you can thin dense mounds to improve airflow, reduce susceptibility to pests and pathogens, and improve the overall appearance.
Reducing ground-mounding plants and bushy taller specimens creates more opportunities for companion flora in the landscape around and beneath them, respectively.
Well-Dressed Yuccas
While pruning yuccas is unnecessary, it benefits them by stimulating growth, inhibiting pests and pathogens, and showing them to best advantage in the landscape or in the home.
Evaluate your plants each spring and decide if they need sprucing up to look their best for the growing season. Remember to use sanitary pruning equipment and wear a hat, gloves, eyewear, and arm protection to avoid contact with sharp leaf edges.
Now that you know how to deadhead, remove damaged and dead material, sculpt a tree, shorten trunks and stems, take cuttings, and thin dense clumps, you’re ready to showcase your yuccas handsomely.
Which of these tactics have you tried? Have questions we didn’t cover here? Don’t hesitate to drop us a line in the comments below!
Some weeks ago I was driving my son’s car on the interstate and it blew out a tire about 45 minutes from home.
I was able to pull over safely and put on the donut emergency tire, but it effectively ended the trip to Georgia I was taking with three of the children.
Since it wouldn’t be safe to continue on the Interstate with a donut tire, we navigated our way home via a series of back roads a little north of the Florida border.
Somewhere east of Brewton, we came across this beautiful little Cracker house:
It’s a fantastic specimen, and still looks pretty solid. Note the “dogtrot” breezeway right through the center.
Down in Grenada I wanted to build a Cracker House but never managed to pull it off. Of course, it ended up not mattering since we had to move back to the states during the pandemic, but it was something we researched extensively.
We corresponded by email as well – he is an excellent architect, with some creative additions to the original Cracker design.
However, I prefer the original, two-cottages-connected-by-a-roof design. The simplicity and usefulness of the design in the heat of the Deep South is near perfect.
It may become even more perfect as the economy declines and they take away our fuel, air conditioners, gas stoves, etc.
You start with the “single pen” house in the graphic above, then make a second one with enough spacing for your dogtrot, then put it all under a big, wide roof. The cooler air that comes in through the porches and breezeway keeps the house much more pleasant than a concrete Modernist home.
The architecture matches the environment, unlike most new houses which are built for AC.
It wouldn’t be all that pleasant to live without AC in the heat of summer (it’s nearing 100F today), but it would be better to live in a Cracker House without AC than in a concrete box with windows that barely allow air flow.
One day, I may still build one. It was wonderful getting to see a classic example that was still standing.
Meadows are one of my favorite places to be, largely because of the lovely milkweed that I often find there.
Tall and topped with sprays of flowers, an arrow-straight stem with funky looking oval leaves, and crawling with caterpillars, beetles, and butterflies? Yeah, that’s the plant for me.
You’re probably familiar with the common milkweed seen in meadows and roadsides across the country, but the milkweed family is actually huge. We’re going to take a look at some different cultivars used in gardens and learn how to grow this plant.
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More important than that, though, we’re going to talk about the importance of milkweed in the environment. Here’s what’s ahead in this article:
Buckle in, we’re going to get started.
Start with the Basics
Milkweed is botanically known as Asclepias spp. and has over one hundred known species. It was named by Carl Linnaeus after the Greek god of healing, Asclepius, and the species is native to the Americas.
This nod to a god of healing is because of the use of the sap as a medicinal aid, namely for dysentery and warts, by the native people in the Americas.
While the milky white latex inside the stems is often toxic, the rest of the fibers in the plant have earned Asclepias the nickname “Silk of America.”
These fibers have been used for insulation and cleaning oil spills and can be found in some hypoallergenic pillows.
But most of us know the value of milkweed because of its necessity in the life cycle of the monarch butterfly.
The Milkweed and the Butterfly
As a kid, I remember learning that milkweed sap is toxic. But monarch caterpillars can eat Asclepias safely and then become toxic to predators later on in their life cycle.
Our teacher went into the meadow outside of the school, found a monarch caterpillar on a piece of milkweed, and brought it in to show us.
Photo by Matt Suwak.
Hoards of children watched the chrysalis formation and waited impatiently for the butterfly to molt. It did, eventually… over the weekend, when nobody was around!
Our teacher said she released it into the wild to prevent it from being cooped up for too long.
Photo by Matt Suwak.
I don’t know if the thing simply died and she didn’t want to break our tiny seven-year-old hearts, but I do know that the lessons she taught about the natural dynamic of milkweed and butterfly stuck with me for the rest of my life.
How Integral Is this Relationship?
In a word: it’s absolutely integral!
Monarch caterpillars utterly depend on Asclepias for their diet, but so too do a number of insects all specialized in dining on the otherwise-toxic milky sap of the plant.
A monarch butterfly will lay its eggs on the underside of a leaf. In fact, this is the only place where a monarch will lay its eggs.
When the eggs hatch, the tiny caterpillars start going to town, and chomp down on the Asclepias.
Amazingly, the plants have built-in defenses like irritating hairs and their aforementioned natural toxins to slow the buffet line down, but they do not altogether prevent the insects from using the plant as a food source.
Most monarchs live for an average of four weeks, but every fourth generation lives for six to eight months!
This is the generation that will complete an incredible flight to the southern regions of North America, to roost and overwinter before continuing the journey northward to start the cycle anew.
This plant is also a primary food source and shelter for a variety of beetles and has earned its place as a vital native plant species for healthy ecosystems nationwide.
The Butterfly Garden
The popularity of butterfly gardens was spurred in a big way because of the plight of the monarch, and this style of garden has attracted plenty of folks to the realm of gardening. That makes me love butterfly gardens!
The biggest benefit of a healthy butterfly garden is that it strengthens the rest of your local ecosystem.
When butterflies are present, that means birds, bats, and other critters that feed on butterflies are able to make a resurgence as well.
Photo by Matt Suwak.
Think of a butterfly garden, and milkweed’s place in it, as an essential strand in the food web!
Ideal Planting Conditions and Potential Problems
Despite sharing a name, many milkweed types require different growing conditions. Some prefer hot and dry areas while others thrive only in moist conditions, but they all need ample sunlight to do their best.
The common milkweed does well in what might be considered average conditions: moderately dry and well-draining soil, no special fertilizers or nutrition requirements, and about eight hours of sun a day.
Most of the species I’ve worked with prefer that “average” blend of characteristics. These plants can be plopped into the garden and be given a springtime coating of compost, then be on their way to growing lovely and stunning flowers.
Most don’t require any extra watering except during the hottest dry spells.
Because of their toxicity, Asclepias also attracts few ailments or problems.
Besides typical fungal issues that can be found in many areas of the garden with an abundance of moisture, milkweed can suffer from general heat stress and damage. Remove yellowed leaves and those with lots of damage from insects.
Mites can become a problem, but any general insecticidal treatment works; just be careful not to poison those desirable insects, as well!
Milkweed yellows phytoplasma is a more serious issue identified by malformed, yellowish growth and branch dieback.
The only solution here is to remove and destroy the infected plants before they spread the ailment to other plants.
To avoid these conditions, keep your plants thinned out and avoid standing pools of water and over-watering in general. Milkweed would rather be too dry than too wet!
How to Start Growing Your Own Milkweed
Many garden centers will sell a variety of milkweed species during the growing season, but finding live plants online can be difficult.
That’s because, for all of their toughness to natural predators and tolerance of growing conditions, Asclepias can be very sensitive to transplanting and handling.
For that reason, I recommend starting yours from seed. Fortunately for those who really like to do it all yourself, milkweed plants produce extraordinarily generous bounties of seeds for you to harvest.
Each individual seed pod can contain a hundred or more seeds, and plants have multiple seed pods each!
I usually collect my seeds from the gardens of friends and clients, but I’ve snagged a single pod or two when out hiking as well.
Asclepias seeds need a period of cold to become viable, with some added moisture. This process is called “cold stratification,” and you’ve got two easy options for how to accomplish this task:
1. Chill Manually
Place your seeds on a damp paper towel and plop them into a ziplock bag.
Label the bag with the date, and keep it somewhere in your refrigerator where it won’t be bothered; you need to leave the seeds largely undisturbed for about thirty days before they become viable.
After stratifying, you can start your seeds in a growing medium about three to four weeks before the last freeze date.
2. Direct Sow in Cool Climates
Directly sow your seeds in the garden in the late fall and let the winter weather take care of cold stratification for you!
If you’re cold stratifying the seeds yourself…
Start the seeds, preferably in peat pods.
After wetting and preparing the growing medium, add one to three seeds per pod. If you use more than one seed you’ll have better luck that at least one will grow, but you’ll need to thin out the weaker seedlings.
Layer about a quarter of an inch of soil onto the seeds and keep them in a warm area with lots of light.
Be very careful when moving and planting your Asclepias seedlings; they are very fragile and need delicate care.
Plant the pods directly into the garden before the plants reach about three inches in height to avoid damaging the sensitive taproot and wait until after the last freeze date before planting.
All of these steps can be skipped if you’re sowing the seeds outdoors, but I would recommend planting lots of extra seeds if you take this route.
You can thin them out later as the season goes on, and this helps to avoid the frustrating experience of having none of the seeds germinate because you sowed too sparsely.
If you want to plant the common milkweed (A. syriaca), you can find seeds available from Earthbeat Seeds in packets of 30.
The swamp variety of Asclepias will grow in Zones 3 to 9 and can reach a height of five feet tall!
The whorled milkweed (A. verticillata) is a lovely plant for those who want something a bit more shy – reaching about two feet tall max – that grows in Zones 4 to 9.
Want to add a splash of dazzling color to your flower beds? The bloodflower, or sunset flower (A. curassavica) is another stunning variety, with red and yellow flowers and a max height of about 36 inches.
The aptly named butterfly weed (A. tuberosa) is another colorful variety, with vibrant orange flowers. It will grow to a height of 24 to 36 inches in Zones 3 to 9.
Most of these companies recommend cold stratifying the seeds before spring planting to further guarantee germination, so order early! Otherwise, they’re ready to go if you sow outdoor in the fall.
If you REALLY want a live plant, I recommend ‘Ice Ballet,’ available from Nature Hills Nursery in #2 containers It grows to about two to three feet in height and has a lovely shade of white to its flowers.
I’ve seen it in a few select gardens, and I wish I saw it in more because this plant is a real beauty.
Get Planting and Attract Those Butterflies!
While they are sensitive and require special handling when young, Asclepias become hardy and easy to care for within a few weeks.
Better yet, they attract a veritable swarm of wildlife, and that’s always a good thing for the eco-conscious gardener!
Photo by Matt Suwak.
Asclepias are at their best when they’re given room to grow and do what they want to do, but with the right attention, they can shine in even the most well-manicured garden.
Do you have some extra tips on growing milkweed to share, or maybe a few questions? Please drop us a line in the comments below. Thanks for reading, and check back soon!
Boosting your soil’s health is crucial for cultivating a thriving, vibrant garden that’s not only beautiful, but also kind to our planet.
In this guide, we’ll explore natural techniques such as composting, cover cropping, and crop rotation that can significantly improve soil health while benefitting the environment.
Key Takeaways
Adding compost and organic matter is an effective way to enhance soil health in organic gardening. Compost consists of decomposed plant materials and can be added through a method like sheet mulching.
Cover crops are another technique to improve soil health naturally when gardening organically. These plants prevent erosion, suppress weed growth, and fix nitrogen from the atmosphere into accessible forms for other plants.
Crop rotation involves systematically changing the types of crops grown on a particular plot to maintain and enhance soil fertility in organic gardening. This practice breaks up pest and disease cycles, reduces erosion, and supports nutrient availability for future plantings.
Improving soil health has many benefits, including increased nutrient availability, improved water retention capacity, and enhanced beneficial microbial activity that helps break down existing nutrients into more readily available forms for plant uptake.
Techniques for improving soil health naturally in organic gardening
To improve soil health naturally in organic gardening, gardeners can add compost and other organic matter to enrich the soil, use cover crops to prevent erosion and fix nitrogen, practice crop rotation to prevent depletion of nutrients, and mulch to retain moisture.
Adding compost and organic matter
One of the most effective techniques to enhance soil health naturally is by adding compost and organic matter to your garden. Rich in nutrients, compost is made from decomposed kitchen scraps, leaves, grass clippings, and other plant materials that have broken down over time.
A great example of how you can add organic matter to your garden is through sheet mulching. Start by layering cardboard or newspapers on top of the soil, followed by layers of green (e.g., freshly cut grass) and brown (e.g., fallen leaves) materials.
Finally, add a generous layer of well-aged compost or manure on top.
Using cover crops
A key technique in naturally improving soil health is the use of cover crops. These plants, such as legumes, grasses or even certain garden vegetables like mustard, provide a wide range of benefits when grown alongside your primary crop.
Cover crops are effective at preventing soil erosion and nutrient leaching by anchoring the structure with their roots. Additionally, they can suppress weed growth by competing for resources, reducing maintenance work in your garden.
Some cover crops also have the ability to fix nitrogen – an essential plant nutrient – from the atmosphere. This fixing process turns the nitrogen into a form that’s easily accessible by other plants within your garden space.
Crop rotation
Crop rotation is a time-tested technique that plays an essential role in maintaining and enhancing soil fertility in organic gardening. By regularly changing the types of crops you grow in a particular area of the garden, you can effectively combat soil erosion, limit pest and disease cycles, and enhance nutrient availability for future crops.
To maximise the benefits of crop rotation in your garden, it’s vital to plan ahead and consider a sequence compatible with your desired plants. A simple four-year rotation guide might involve moving from potatoes to legumes, followed by brassicas, then root vegetables, before transitioning back to legumes.
In addition to boosting soil health naturally, adopting effective crop rotation practices will contribute towards more successful harvests from your very fair priced greenhouses year after year.
Mulching
Mulching is a useful technique that involves applying a layer of organic material, such as leaves or grass clippings, on top of the soil around plants.
This layer serves as a protective barrier against harsh weather conditions, reduces moisture loss through evaporation, and regulates soil temperature.
When adding mulch to your garden bed, ensure it is not too thick. Aim for around 2-3 inches, and avoid piling it up against plant stems or tree trunks. Wood chips can also be used for mulching, but they should be aged before application to prevent nitrogen depletion in the soil due to decomposition.
Benefits of improving soil health in organic gardening
Improving soil health in organic gardening has numerous benefits. Nutrient availability increases, soil structure and water retention are improved, and beneficial microbial activity is enhanced.
Increased nutrient availability
One of the key benefits of improving soil health is an increase in nutrient availability for your plants. When you add compost and other organic matter to your soil, it helps to break down existing nutrients and make them more readily available for plant uptake.
In addition, healthy soil also promotes the growth of beneficial microbes that help convert organic matter into nutrients that can be absorbed by plants. Cover crops and crop rotation are also effective ways to improve nutrient availability as they help balance out the levels of nitrogen, phosphorus, and other important elements in the soil.
Improved soil structure and water retention
Improving soil structure and water retention can be achieved through the addition of organic matter such as compost, which helps to create spaces within the soil for air and water to move through.
This allows roots to penetrate deeper into the ground and access nutrients that were previously unavailable.
Mulching with materials like straw or leaves will also help retain moisture in the soil, decreasing the need for frequent watering during dry periods. In addition, mulch provides a protective layer over your garden beds, preventing evaporation from direct sunlight and keeping temperatures more consistent throughout the day.
Enhanced beneficial microbial activity
If you improve soil health, you should automatically enhance beneficial microbial activity. These tiny microorganisms help break down organic matter and release nutrients for plants to use.
To improve this activity, gardeners can add compost or manure to their soil regularly.
Another way to enhance microbial activity is by using cover crops such as clover or buckwheat.
Mulching your garden beds with leaves or straw can also contribute to enhancing beneficial microbial activity in your soil. The mulch will provide a food source for microbes while helping retain moisture in the ground.
Overall, improving beneficial microbial activity is an essential aspect of organic gardening that helps promote healthy plant growth while reducing reliance on synthetic fertilisers and pesticides.
If you’re a gardener in a hot climate (like me), you may have grown okra and wondered what to do with the excess harvest. How about using the abundance to make okra water? In this blog post, I’ll share the health benefits of okra water and show you how to make and use it.
Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. See my disclosure policy for more information.
How to make okra water
To make okra water, all you need is fresh okra and water.
Start by washing the okra pods and cutting off the stems.
Then, slice the okra pods in half or coarsely chop them.
Place the okra in a jar or a large bowl and cover it with water.
Refrigerate and let it sit overnight or for at least 8 hours.
The water will turn slimy, slightly thick, and have a neutral or somewhat earthy taste.
Once the water has infused with okra and turned into a gel-like substance, strain the liquid through a fine-mesh strainer or cheesecloth.
Add lemon juice or honey to the water to add flavor.
Store the okra water in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Health benefits of okra water
This tender vegetable is an excellent source of fiber, vitamins, and antioxidants and has many health benefits.1 Okra water can help boost your immune system, fight inflammation, and improve your heart health.2
Okra water contains a high amount of soluble fiber, antioxidants, and vitamin C, which makes it a nourishing drink for your body. Here are some of the health benefits of okra water:
Boosts immune system: Okra water contains vitamin C and other nutrients that can help strengthen your immune system and protect your body against infections, viruses, and diseases.
Prevents constipation: The soluble fiber found in okra water can help regulate bowel movements and reduce symptoms of constipation, as it acts as a natural laxative.
Regulates blood sugar levels: If you have diabetes or pre-diabetes, drinking okra water may help stabilize your blood sugar levels and improve insulin sensitivity. The fiber in okra water slows down the absorption of sugar from your intestines and into your bloodstream, which can prevent blood sugar spikes.
Lowers cholesterol: The soluble fiber in okra water can also help reduce harmful cholesterol levels in your blood. By binding to bile acids in your gut, the fiber prevents them from being absorbed, forcing your liver to produce more bile from existing cholesterol, lowering your cholesterol levels.
How to use okra water
You can drink okra water as a refreshing beverage by adding ice cubes, lemon wedges, mint, herbs, or your favorite sweeteners. I like to use 2 parts water to 1 part okra water, and add lemon, mint, and ice.
Okra water can also be used as a base for smoothies, juice blends, or tea infusions. Use okra water in recipes that call for liquid, such as soups, stews, and sauces.
When using okra water in cooking, remember that it has a neutral taste and can thicken liquids due to its natural mucilage. To avoid slimy textures, use okra water in moderation or mix it with other liquids.
Tips for growing and harvesting okra
Okra water is a simple and affordable way to boost your health and enjoy the benefits of this nutritious vegetable. Whether you grow your own okra plant or buy fresh okra from your local farmers’ market, you can enjoy the many flavors and nutrients that okra has to offer. So try okra water and see how it can benefit your body and taste buds!
Sources that offer more information on the health benefits of okra:
Disclaimer: The information provided in this blog post about the potential health benefits of okra water is for educational purposes only and not intended as medical advice. Always consult with a qualified healthcare professional before changing your diet or lifestyle. The author and publisher of this blog post are not responsible for any adverse effects that may arise from using the information provided herein.
If this post about the health benefits of and how to make okra water was helpful, please share it:
The first time we spotted an olla (pronounced oh-ya) watering vessel, we were immediately intrigued. An ancient method of irrigation, watering via an olla involves burying an unglazed clay vessel (the olla) in the earth in your garden and filling it with water. The water slowly seeps out of the porous clay into the surrounding soil, providing continuous moisture to the nearby plants.
Olla irrigation is making a comeback as summers get hotter, and also as more gardeners have taken an interest in growing their own food, says Josh McWilliams the co-founder of GrowOya, a 10-year-old company that makes modern-day ollas. McWilliams read about olla irrigation when researching ways to water his vegetable beds while working as a chef and raising two young kids. “I wasn’t looking for a solution for my 30-acre field, I was looking to support gardening as part of a busy lifestyle,” he says. “I wanted to be able to go away for a weekend, but drip irrigation didn’t make sense for one or two beds.” At the time, McWilliams couldn’t find any ollas to buy, so he found a partner and started making them and selling them at farmers markets in Vancouver. GrowOya has sold hundreds of thousands of them since.
Above: GrowOya’s olla. To use, bury the vessel but leave the hole exposed so you can refill it easily with water.
A raised bed is an ideal place to use ollas. McWilliams notes that they work best with plants with creeping vs. tap roots. You can still use them, but you’ll need to be strategic where you place your carrots and parsnips.
If you’re intrigued by this low-fi, eco-friendly method of watering read on for five reasons to love this ancient practice, and six ollas you can buy:
1. Olla watering is low-tech.
If you can dig a hole, you can install this irrigation. Olla watering is the epitome of low-tech, which is especially appealing to anyone with a small garden bed for whom drip irrigation would be overly ambitious. And being low-tech, it is also relatively affordable.
2. It’s also super-efficient.
Not only are ollas a low-effort style of watering, they are a very efficient one: Watering below the soil reduces evaporation. The non-profit organization Ecology Action tested five 5-gallon ollas in a 100-square-foot garden plot and found that 1.25 gallons of water per olla seeped into the soil every four days. Olla watering can also encourage roots to grow deeper, making for more drought-resilient plants.
3. Ollas are inherently plastic-free.
Almost all modern irrigation systems, including water-saving drip irrigation systems, rely on PVC pipe and drip lines that do not biodegrade but must be replaced with some regularity as they wear out.
My name is Stephanie Stewart, and I live in Averill Park, New York.
Lately I’ve seen a lot about coneflowers (Echinacea species and hybrids, Zones 4–9) and I’m not surprised! They add color and texture and height to my gardens—and they are so easy to care for. Mine range in color from whites, to pinks, to neon orange and reds. Heights range from 8 inches to 36 inches.
I started buying coneflowers a few years ago after reading about them in Fine Gardening and have added a couple more each year.
Butterflies and bees love them, and so do I.
This looks to be ‘Cheyenne Spirit’, which boasts a great mix of colors on healthy, long-lived plants. And as you can see in this photo, the bees enjoy them as well.
That’s an incredibly rich, saturated pink on this coneflower.
The classic, original Echinaceapurpurea is still a beautiful plant well worth growing despite all the new hybrids in other colors.
Hybrids between pink Echinaceapurpurea and the yellow Echinaceaparadoxa allowed for the development of all these new varieties with brilliant colors.
It’s beautiful to see how the look of the flower changes as the petals fully unfurl and open up.
Many new selections of coneflowers are shorter, but taller forms like this add great presence to the garden.
A perfect pink coneflower
Have a garden you’d like to share?
Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit!
To submit, send 5-10 photos to [email protected] along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden.
Asparagus beans, also known as yardlong beans, snake beans, or Chinese long beans, are a summer favorite that flourish in hot weather and produce abundantly. In addition to being easy to grow, they are rich in protein, vitamin B, iron, and calcium. Learn how to grow asparagus beans with these 5 helpful tips.
Disclaimer: this post contains affiliate links. See my disclosure policy for more information.
5 Tips for How to Grow Yardlong Beans
1. Plant asparagus beans at the right time
Asparagus beans are a warm-season crop. They should be planted outdoors once the danger of frost has passed and soil temperatures are consistently above 50˚F (10˚C). This is usually late spring or early summer. Asparagus bean seeds sprout and grow best in warm weather, and need a long, warm growing season (at least 75 days of frost-free weather).
When summer temperatures climb, many vegetables can’t take the heat – but asparagus beans flourish.
In the low desert of Arizona, plant from March 15 through July.
Varietiesto Try:
PLANTING GUIDE: Each month lists vegetables, fruit & herbs to plant outside & seeds to start indoors.
HARVEST GUIDE: Photos show what may be ready to harvest that month.
Planting dates are for the low desert of Arizona (zone 9b).
2. Choose a good location to plant snake beans
Asparagus beans thrive in well-drained soil. Beans don’t need overly-rich soil, but appreciate some extra compost when planting. Asparagus beans prefer full sun, so choose a location that receives at least 6 to 8 hours of direct sunlight. If you live in a hot climate, consider planting your beans in a spot that receives some shade during the hottest part of the day.
These beans love warmth and grow best when the air temperature is between 77-95˚F (25-35˚C).
Don’t grow where legumes (peas or other beans) have grown the previous year.
3. Plant seeds in the garden – don’t transplant them
Beans, as a general rule, should be direct sown in the garden. The root systems of beans are shallow and grow best when undisturbed. Plant seeds 1 inch (2.5 cm) deep. Space beans 3-4 inches (7-10 cm) apart. Once your seedlings emerge, thin them to 6-8 inches (15-20 cm) apart.
Asparagus beans need consistent moisture to thrive. Water them deeply once a week, and more frequently during hot, dry weather. Avoid getting the leaves wet when watering, which can lead to fungal diseases. Overwatering, however, can cause the roots to rot.
Common diseases include bacterial blight and mosaic virus. To prevent these, ensure good air circulation around your plants and avoid working in your garden when the foliage is wet.
Pests can include aphids, spider mites, and bean beetles. Regularly check your plants for signs of these pests. Check plants daily, remove infected leaves, and handpick pests to prevent problems from becoming larger.
Spider mites on bean leaves
4. Give snake beans something to climb
Asparagus beans are happiest when growing up, and will easily climb 10-12 feet (3-3.6 m) or more. Plant bean seeds at the base of a trellis or cattle panel with plenty of straight vertical supports. Put supports in place at planting time to avoid disrupting roots of growing plants.
Growing asparagus beans vertically not only helps manage the plant’s growth but also keeps the beans off the ground, reducing the risk of disease. It also makes harvesting easier, and keeps the beans from being eaten by ground-living insects (rollie-pollies, I’m talking about you!)
5. Harvest asparagus beans correctly
Although called “yardlong” beans, harvest the beans when they are between 10-12 inches (25-30 cm) long for best flavor. Pick the beans when they are still slender, before the seeds inside have fully developed. If the pod becomes soft or spongy, you’ve waited too long; the beans inside the pod are developing and the pod’s flavor changes.
To harvest the beans, twist the bean off the vine rather than pulling. Asparagus beans are usually produced in pairs at the terminal bud. Twisting off the beans will leave the vine intact and ready to produce more beans.
Terminal bud on asparagus beans
Snake beans grow fast and should be harvested often. Keeping beans picked encourages more production. Leaving plants on the vine signals to the plant that its job is about over, and it slows down production.
To save seeds from asparagus beens, leave several beans on the strongest plant until they are mature with large seeds inside a papery husk. Save them inside in a brown paper sack until completely dry to share and plant next season. Store the seeds in a cool, dry place until you are ready to plant them.
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Worm composting directly in the garden bed simplifies the process of vermicomposting. When you use in-bed vermicomposting bins, the worms live, work, reproduce, and make worm castings in the garden bed, right where they are needed.
In-bed vermicomposting solves the problem of what to do with the worms during extremes of hot and cold. For example, vermicomposting in hot weather places (like the low desert of Arizona) is difficult unless you bring the worms inside during the summer months. With in-bed vermicomposting, the worms simply burrow deeper in the beds during the heat of an Arizona summer, and then emerge again in the fall.
Disclaimer: this post contains affiliate links. See my disclosure policy for more information.
How does vermicomposting work?
Worm composting – also called vermicomposting (‘vermi’ = worm) – is the process of using worms to compost food scraps into vermicompost.Worms eat up to half their weight each day in kitchen scraps, and the byproduct of all that eating is worm castings. Worm castings = GARDEN GOLD!
During the digestion process, the worms secrete chemicals that break organic matter into nutrition that is readily available for plants. Worm castings, along with the chemicals secreted during digestion, make up vermicompost.
What are the benefits of worm composting (vermicomposting)?
Vermicompost improves soil texture and structure, and aerates the soil.
Vermicompost increases the water-holding capacity of soil.
The nutrients in vermicompost are immediately available to plants.
Worm castings contribute to faster plant growth and higher production.
Worm castings are dense in microorganisms and nutrients.
The chemicals in worm castings help prevent “damping off” and other diseases.
What is the easiest way to make and maintain a vermicomposting (worm composting) bin?
A vermicomposting bin built into your raised beds, containers, or in-ground garden bed is the easiest way to make a worm composting bin.
No need to harvest the worm castings or move the worms inside for extremes of hot and cold temperatures. The worms live, work, reproduce, and make worm castings in the garden bed, right where they are needed.
Adding worms to an in-bed worm composting bin
When should I add in-bed vermicomposting bins to by garden beds?
If you live in a hot summer climate, do not add worms during the hottest months of the year. In the low desert of Arizona, the best time to add in-bed vermicomposting bins to your garden is from mid-September through May.
Nighttime temperatures should be consistently below 85°F when adding worms to your beds.
Which type of worms should I use for in-bed vermicomposting?
Red wigglers are composting worms that hang out in the top six inches of your garden. “Earthworms” is a generic term for one of the hundreds of varieties of worms. If you dig them from the garden, they won’t stay in the compost level.
That’s not bad, but they won’t hang out in the habitat we set up. Most bait worms need cooler temperatures than Arizona summers. If you are buying nightcrawlers, you will probably lose them in June or July. We want all worms. Red wigglers will stay and live better, but no worm is bad.
Purchasing red wiggler worms locally is the best choice. I get my worms from Arizona Worm Farmhere in Phoenix. You can also buy them online.
How do I make an in-bed vermicomposter (worm composter)?
Supplies needed for in-bed vermicomposting:
The 24-sheet shredder I use to shred cardboard for my vermicomposting bins
Bin (see options below).
Shredded cardboard – I use this shredder from Amazon to shred my cardboard boxes (remove tape and labels first).
Worms – Red wigglers are preferred. The earthworms typically found in the garden aren’t suitable for vermicomposting.
Bin options for in-bed vermicomposting:
The bin helps designate a place in your garden for the worms to go. Choose one slightly smaller than the depth of your garden bed. There are several options:
Shape hardware cloth into a cylinder slightly shorter than the depth of your garden bed.
Wire the ends of the hardware cloth together.
2-gallon bucket (with the bottom removed and holes drilled in the sides)
I used this drill bit (for drilling holes) and a Dremel (to cut off the bottom of the bucket).
If you use this type of vermicomposting bin, it is STRONGLY RECOMMENDED to remove the bottom of the bucket.
Directions for installing and using an in-bed vermicomposting bin:
1. Dig a hole in the garden bed the size of the bin.
2. Place the bin in the hole.
3. Fill the habitat with shredded cardboard, and wet it down. Allow cardboard to absorb moisture overnight.
5. Begin feeding worms – see worm feeding details below.
6. Cover the food scraps with a layer of “brown” materials. Examples: wood chips, dried leaves, soil, shredded cardboard.
7. Cover the worm habitat. Use a thick layer of wood chips. You could also use a piece of wood or a tile. If you are using a bucket, the bucket lid works well.
8. Check back occasionally and add more food scraps. (Always top with browns). Remove any large pieces of uneaten food.
9. When food scraps are gone, and the bucket is empty, you can harvest the castings. (The worms will leave the bucket and migrate to other areas of the bed). Spread the castings around the garden bed. You can also leave the castings in place.
10. Begin the process over again, starting with fresh shredded cardboard, food scraps, and browns—no need to add additional worms.
A note about sizes of in-bed vermicomposting bins:
I have two worm habitats in each bed. If your beds are smaller or larger, adjust the size and number of buckets accordingly.
I split one bag of worms between two worm habitats. Each bag contains about 3/4 of a pound of worms (around 500-700 worms, including babies, cocoons, and habitat).
What do worms eat?
Good for feeding worms
Avoid feeding worms
Coffee grounds, grains, tea bags, vegetables, fruit, eggshells, paper
Add equal amounts of greens and browns each time you feed.
Greens
Fruit scraps, vegetable scraps, bread & pasta (small amounts), coffee grounds, crushed eggshells
Browns
Cardboard, mulch, dry leaves, shredded paper
Make sure worms have eaten previously-added food scraps before adding more. Plan on feeding worms about once per week.
Cut or blend food before adding to bins. Smaller pieces of food break down faster and speed up the composting process.
After adding food scraps (greens), cover with browns to avoid attracting fruit flies.
Remove large pieces of uneaten food. Pay attention to what the worms are eating and not eating.
The interior of the bin should have the moisture consistency of a wrung-out sponge (damp but not overly wet). Spray lightly with a hose if necessary.
Replace lid on bucket after feeding.
Frequently asked questions about in-bed vermicomposting:
Question: I have a ton of black soldier fly larvae in both of my bins. Will they be detrimental to my red wigglers?
Answer: Black soldier flies are unusual in the Phoenix metro area because it is so dry here. They won’t hurt the worms, and within two or three weeks they pupate into harmless flies (the live fly has no mouth – the only stage of the insect that eats is the larvae) that die within a day or two.
The larvae are voracious eaters so someone that finds them in the bin should feed much more than normal. If they put buckets or bins in the ground like your set up, they may observe fewer worms in their bucket or bin as the worms will move away from the heat the larvae produce.
The worms are fine and will return when the larvae leave. The larvae don’t bite – if someone wanted to remove them (easiest is with a kitchen strainer) and toss them, that is a fine option too.
Question: I dug into two of the buckets to see how my worms were doing, and they were missing. Not a worm to be found in either bucket.Would you expect the worms to stay in that bucket full of compost, or have they perhaps left their original home and are now crawling around through the rest of my garden, maybe just coming back to the bucket for their meals?
Answer: The worms go throughout the beds and then there are usually some in the buckets with the scraps. I’m guessing with the intense heat we are having they are burrowing down as deep as they can go.
Adding fresh shredded cardboard after emptying the bucket of the worm castings. The worms will return to the bins.
Question: I have two guinea pigs, and feed them alfalfa hay, organic alfalfa pellets, and leafy greens such as romaine lettuce, spinach, swiss chard, and parsley. They produce a lot of waste (approximately 1 quart of waste hay and pellets daily). I read that I can add their waste and their waste hay directly to my raised bed gardens, which I have been doing and have been digging it in with a hand spade. Will red wiggler worms compost the guinea pig waste and waste hay?
Answer: Red wigglers will eat guinea pig manure as it decomposes – and, they will not eat anything that they don’t like until it decomposes enough for them to eat. A pound of worms will eat about a pound of waste a week. You are likely to be producing a lot more than that, but that’s not harmful either. The worms will eat what they want, and the rest will feed your beds as it has. Your current process is probably producing good results – the worms will make it better.
Full bin of food and castings. Let the worms complete the food before harvesting the castings.
More frequently asked questions about in-bed vermicomposting:
Question: How often do you have to add water to the compost buckets in Arizona heat?
Answer: The beds get watered 2-3 times a week during the summer and about once a week in the winter. The buckets are in the middle of one of the watering grids in my beds and get watered as well.
Question: Can you add chicken poopto the buckets?
Answer: You can, in small amounts. Too much will overwhelm the worms. Just mix the poop with bedding (anything that was a tree…leaves or shredded cardboard or mulch) and they will do great.
Question: Do the finished castings seep into the garden through the holes in the bucket or does it need to be scooped out?
Answer: Both. It is carried out of the bed by the worms movement. When the worms have completed the food scraps you can also scoop the castings out and spread them around the bed. You then begin the process again, adding fresh cardboard and food scraps. The worms will come back into the bin.
Red wiggler worms are perfect for in-bed worm composting.
More frequently asked questions about in-bed vermicomposting:
Question: How do the in-bed vermicomposting worms do during the summer? Is there anything special you do to keep them cool during Arizona summers so they don’t die?
Answer: They burrow down into the beds and look for cool spots to stay cool. In-bed worm composting in Arizona is a great option for our hot summers. Beds should be at least 12 inches deep.
Question: Do you ever have problems with ants attacking the worms in the in-bed vermicomposting bins?
Answer: Ants don’t generally attack worms. By making the area a little moister, you can discourage ants and make the habitat better for the worms. You can use these ant bait traps.
Question:WIll in-bed vermicomposting work in containers?
Answer: Generally, it will work fine. The challenge with worms in pots for most people is that they tend to let plants get root bound and there is less soil than the worms like. As long as you have organic material and space for them to move they will do great. You don’t need to bury a bin in the container. You can do the same thing if you just dig out a hole and put a lid on the hole.
More frequently asked questions about in-bed vermicomposting:
Question: Can worms eat bokashi compost?
Answer: Absolutely. Done right, bokashi produces lots of microbes and breaks down waste to make it easier for the worms to consume.
Question: My bed is raised completely off the ground, due to the previous owner PLANTING Bermuda grass (sigh). I’ve been reading that these sorts of beds are not a good home for worms since they may get too hot or drown. We are in Arkansas, so it doesn’t typically get above 100, the bed has good drainage, and has a soil depth of about 10″. Do you think worms would be OK to add or no?
Answer: We never worry about drowning worms. They will find dry places to hang out. If she can grow vegetables, the worms will be fine. Fully-raised beds (off the ground) do tend to get hot. She should shade it in the summer, but they will probably be fine. The worst thing that might happen is they die over the summer and she has to add more in September when they start getting cooler nights.
Question: Will chemical fertilizers hurt the worms?
Answer: In small amounts, probably not, but direct contact or a large amount could. The whole idea of worms is to let them convert organic materials into a natural source of nitrogen. The worms should reduce or eliminate the need for inorganic fertilizers. Chemical fertilizers such as inorganic nitrate salt will reduce the pH, but they also kill some of the microbes we like.
More frequently asked questions about in-bed vermicomposting:
Question: Can I use earthworms or do I need to use red wrigglers for in-bed vermicomposting?
Answer:Red wigglers are composting worms that hang out in the top six inches of your garden. “Earthworms” is a generic term for one of hundreds of varieties of worms. If you dig them from the garden, they won’t stay in the compost level. That’s not bad, but they won’t hang out in the habitat we set up. Most bait worms need cooler temperatures than Arizona summers. If you are buying night crawlers, you will probably lose them in June or July. We want all worms. Red wigglers will stay and live better, but no worm is bad.
Question: Can I feed my vermicomposting worms bread?
Answer: Yes. Grain-based items are fine (i.e., crackers, cooked rice, pizza crust, and bread).
Question: What do I do about cockroaches in my bins?
Answer: Cockroaches can be hard to eliminate completely, but the best bet is to aggressively cover the food waste with browns. Adding at least an inch of browns on top will help.
Want more information about composting? This article shares 10 simple steps to get you started.
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Cantaloupe thrives in warm weather and needs a long growing season; great news for desert dwellers. Learn how to grow cantaloupe, and add this tasty fruit to your garden and table.
Once cantaloupe is picked, it continues to ripen but does not get any sweeter. When you grow your own cantaloupe, you can pick it at the peak of sweetness. It is so good!
Disclaimer: this post contains affiliate links. See my disclosure policy for more information.
9 Tips for How to Grow Cantaloupe
1. Choose the best location
Cantaloupe prefers a sunny location with well-draining soil that is rich in organic matter. Amend the soil with compost and a balanced organic fertilizer prior to planting.
2. Choose a cantaloupe type suited to your needs
* = My favorite varieties to grow in the low desert of Arizona.
3. Plant cantaloupe at the correct time
Cantaloupe prefers warm weather, so don’t plant it before temperatures have warmed in the spring. Cantaloupe does best when direct sown. Sow seeds outside about 2 weeks after the last frost date when soil temperatures are about 65℉. In the low desert of Arizona, the best time to plant cantaloupe is from February 15 through July.
In cooler zones, start seeds indoors about 3 weeks before the last frost date, and transplant outside when the soil is at least 65℉ and nighttime temperatures are above 50℉. Be careful not to disturb roots when planting to avoid transplant shock.
4. Reduce chances for pests and disease
Rotate where you plant cantaloupe and members of the cucumber family (Cucurbitaceae), such as other melons, squash, or pumpkins.
Once fruits have formed, raise them up off the ground with melon cradles or pots; this increases air circulation and helps with rot and insects.
Grow cantaloupe vertically; they love to climb. Use a melon hammock to support the hanging fruit if desired, but it often isn’t necessary.
If powdery mildew is a problem, consider growing Ambrosia or other disease-resistant varieties.
Inspect leaf undersides daily for aphids and other pests. Consider spraying with water or treating with insecticidal soap if problem persists. Readthis post for more ideas for pest control.
Rat damage on cantaloupeSplit cantaloupe after a heavy rain
5. Give cantaloupe plenty of room to grow
Thin seedlings and keep only the strongest seedling in each group.
Space plants 24-36 inches apart if left to sprawl on the ground.
Space plants about 12 inches apart if growing up a trellis.
Be on the lookout for bees. Male flowers will appear first, followed by female flowers. If female fruit withers and dies, consider hand-pollinating future blooms.
Cantaloupe that was not pollinated properly
7. Learn how to grow cantaloupe that is sweet and full of flavor
Don’t overwater while fruit is growing. Too much water (or rain) produces bland-tasting fruit.
Pick off additional fruit once several fruits have formed. Ripening only one fruit at a time maximizes sweetness. The more fruit ripening on a vine at the same time, the less sweet it will be.
Do not prune off leaves or shoots. The leaves produce the sugars which sweeten the fruits.
About a week before melons are ripe, cut back watering as much as possible to concentrate the fruit’s sugars.
Harvest cantaloupe at the right time (see chart below).
8. Harvest cantaloupe at the right time
Cantaloupe will continue to soften once picked, but it won’t get any sweeter. Leaving it on the vine as long as possible gives you the sweetest flavor.
Not Ready to Harvest
Ready to Harvest
Overripe
Rind is green or gray
Rind is yellow
Fruit cracks
“Netting” on cantaloupe is smooth
“Netting” on cantaloupe becomes rough
Stem has to be forcibly removed from melon
Stem easily separates from melon
Fruit falls off stem
End opposite of stem is hard
End opposite of stem is slightly soft; rind has a little “give”
Fruit is mushy or soft
No aroma
Musky, sweet aroma
Rotten or overripe smell
Green vines
Tendrils around fruit dry out and turn brown
9. Don’t let cantaloupe harvests go to waste
Melons last 3-5 days if left at room temperature. Uncut cantaloupe stored at 45℉ to 50℉ lasts up to 2 weeks. Once fruit is cut, it will keep for about 3 days in the refrigerator.
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Homegrown watermelon picked at the peak of sweetness tastes so much better than store-bought. Impress friends and family with your green thumb by adding this beloved fruit to your garden. Learn how to grow watermelon, and you’ll be enjoying juicy, homegrown watermelon all summer long!
Disclaimer: this post contains affiliate links. See my disclosure policy for more information.
7 Tips for How to Grow Watermelon
Watermelon needs plenty of space and at least 80 days of warm temperatures to grow well. If you have both, learn how to grow watermelon with these tips.
1. Select the best variety of quality seeds for your climate and location
In hot summer climates like the low desert of Arizona, choose short-season varieties or types adapted to the heat of the summer such as Desert King and Hopi Yellow.
2. Choose and prepare a good location for planting watermelon
Watermelon plants require a lot of space to grow and thrive, with some vines reaching up to 20 feet or more. Give them ample room. Planting at the edge of beds or growing watermelon vertically gives watermelon room to grow.
Choose a site for planting that receives plentiful sunlight (at least 6-8 hours).
3. Plant watermelon seeds directly in warm soil
Wait to plant watermelon until the soil temperatures reach 21ºC (70ºF). Plant outside 2-3 weeks after your last frost date. Sow 3-4 seeds 2.5cm (1 inch) deep, 1.2-1.5m (4-5 feet) apart. Water well with seaweed emulsion after planting. Thin to the strongest plant when plants have 3-4 leaves.
If using square foot gardening, plant shorter bush varieties, plant at the end or corner of a bed, and plan on one plant per 3-4 squares.
The best time to plant in the low desert of Arizona is from February 15th through March.
If desired, start seeds indoors one month prior to planting outside. Because watermelons can be very frost-sensitive, it’s important to avoid planting until there is no danger of frost.
4. Water watermelon correctly for the best-tasting watermelon
5. Feed watermelon throughout the growing season
6. Mulch the plant and protect the fruit
Mulch plants well to prevent weeds and conserve moisture.
Once the fruit is set, use cardboard or a melon cradle to lift the fruit off the ground to protect it from pests and diseases.
Growing watermelon vertically? Use melon hammocks to support growing fruit. I use zip ties to attach the melon hammock to the trellis.
All tools are not created equal. Spend the extra few dollars for equipment with soft grips, easy-to-hold handles, an ergonomic form, and a manageable length.
If you have arthritis, hand tools with specially designed grips can be a game-changer!
The Bernini Ergonomic Garden Tool Set is a three-piece ensemble made of durable, rust-resistant steel. It includes a hand trowel, fork, and cultivator with slip-resistant, upright grips.
If you or someone you love has security or emergency services set up in case of a fall or accident, ensure that the service area extends to the outdoor living space.
If you don’t have an alert system set up but want extra assurance when working outdoors, be sure to carry a cell phone in a pocket.
Test its signal in the yard for peace of mind before relying on it, and don’t forget to keep it charged.
Reduce color confusion and accommodate low-vision seniors by investing in brightly-colored tools and supplies.
The Roamwild Multi-Digger Dual Grip Garden Hand Trowel has a bright red soft-grip ergonomic handle with two grasping options to support the forearm and relieve wrist and hand pressure as needed.
With two LED lights and two high-power lenses, small print, tiny seeds, and emerging sprouts may become clear and distinct.
The Pineapple 30X 60X Jewelers Loupe Magnifier with Light is available via Amazon.
Gardening as Therapy
These tips go a long way toward improving the quality of life of an aging plant lover.
A daily or weekly gardening session with hands in the soil surrounded by flowers and foliage is relaxing and rejuvenating.
With our knowledge of the benefits of horticultural recreation, we are seeing a proliferation of programs for seniors.
Many retirement communities and assisted living facilities are incorporating plant-related activities into their event schedules.
From a therapeutic standpoint, they may contribute to a reduction in health costs and an improvement in residents’ quality of life.
Tending plants may be a gardener’s best medicine.
What adaptations have you made to keep tending plants accessible and enjoyable? Please tell us about them in the comments section below.
If you enjoyed this article and would like to read more about gardening topics helpful to seniors and plant lovers of all ages, we recommend the following:
The scent. The sound as the needles jostle in the breeze. The enduring color.
Pines are extraordinarily popular for a reason. They’re beautiful, long-lived, and they give our gardens color during the coldest winter months.
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These trees range from tiny dwarf options that happily fill an itty-bitty corner of the yard to massive trees that tower over your home.
Pines are such an iconic part of the landscape that I can’t imagine the jagged Rocky Mountains or the windswept beaches of the Pacific Coast without them. But they’re just as ubiquitous in our cultivated landscapes.
If you can’t imagine your own space without a pine in it, we feel you. This guide will help you select, plant, and nurture that evergreen marvel.
Here’s what we’re going to go over to make that happen:
When we talk about conifers, we often just call them “pine trees,” whether we’re talking about a cedar or a spruce.
That’s not a bad bet, since they grow all over the place in the Northern Hemisphere, from coast to coast.
Cultivation and History
The pine family, Pinaceae, encompasses a broad range of conifers.
Fir trees (Abies spp.) are in the Pinaceae family, as are cedars (Cedrus spp.), hemlocks (Tsuga spp.), spruces (Picea spp.), and larches (Larix spp.).
Within the pine genus (Pinus) there are at least 180 species, known as “true pines” to set them apart from their other coniferous cousins. I say “at least” because classifying these trees has been complicated by their ability to readily hybridize.
More than five needles in a cluster? You’ve got a larch. If the leaves are more scaly than needle-like, or the needles aren’t clustered, it’s a fir, spruce, yew, hemlock, cedar, or juniper.
Found growing indigenously in all parts of the Northern Hemisphere as well as Australia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea, pines are the most economically important trees in the world, providing timber for humans throughout recorded time, and probably long before that.
In North America, indigenous people used the plants as ceremonial emetics, as laxatives, to treat coughs, tuberculosis, headaches, and toothaches, and for general health.
Topically, pine was used to treat rashes, scabs, boils, arthritis, burns, and many other skin complaints.
Some species even produce a sugar-like resin, and pine nuts are a rare treat.
You’d be hard-pressed to find a culture that didn’t use the wood to build shelter, furniture, and tools. The resin is also exceptionally useful for sealing things like ships and water bowls.
Settlers in North America shipped wood, tar, and pitch from the abundant pines found there back to Europe, and a vast majority of the tar and pitch used in England in the 1700 and 1800s came from North America.
Many of the wild stands in North America were under threat of being completely wiped out in the 1800 and 1900s due to unregulated logging.
And some were, like the eastern white pine. It wasn’t until President Theodore Roosevelt stepped in and created federal reserves that native pines were rescued from the sawmill.
These trees are native to all parts of the Northern Hemisphere and have been introduced and cultivated in all parts of the Southern Hemisphere except for Antarctica.
They grow from the equator up to the Arctic in environments as diverse as bogs, rocky cliff sides, and deserts. You’ll find the greatest diversity in western North America.
One major reason for the success of these trees is that they’ve adapted to survive fire.
Some species, such as ponderosa pines (P. ponderosa), have developed a thick bark that can protect the living tissue inside the trunk from the sort of low-intensity but frequent fires that move through their native range.
They also tend to drop their lower branches, which prevents flames from catching them and climbing up the tree.
Keep that in mind as we talk about pine growth in the coming sections.
Other species, such as scrub pines (P. virginiana), have serotinous cones, which are sealed by the sticky resin produced by the tree. When a high-intensity fire comes along, which typically used to be infrequent in their native range, it melts the resin and the cones release the seeds.
Once released, the seeds have little competition in the burned landscape, so they take hold and grow.
The minority of pines that don’t have some sort of clever fire adaptation tend to grow in inhospitable areas where they don’t have to battle other species for resources.
Species like whitebark (P. albicaulis), for example, grow in rocky, nutrient-poor soils on mountainsides.
Sadly, many of the magnificent specimens in western and central North America have been devastated not only due to logging, but because of forest fires, fungal diseases like blister rust, and bark beetle infestation, which, to date, has laid waste to an area the size of Utah in the western part of the US alone.
Sugar pines (P. lambertiana) are the largest species, with some specimens reaching nearly 300 feet tall.
In the timber industry, pines are classified as yellow, white, or red. White lumber is highly sought-after and expensive, red is softer and used for cheaper applications like paper and railroad ties. Yellow is typically somewhere in between.
Types of Pine
While we’re at it, let’s briefly talk about red, white, and yellow pine.
Red pines all have a red or reddish-brown hue to the heartwood. Yellow types come in two types: western and southern.
Western is made up of lodgepole (P. contorta) and ponderosa (P. ponderosa), and southern includes pitch (P. rigida), spruce (P. glabra), and Virginia (P. virginiana), as well as others.
Southern types can be extremely hard, even harder than white, while western types tend to be in the middle of the road. Yellow pines have yellow, orange, or reddish-brown heartwood.
White pines have light brown to faintly red heartwood, with the eastern white (P. strobus) being the most common.
If you aren’t in the lumber industry, it’s pretty hard to tell the groups apart.
White types have needles bundled in groups (fascicles) of five, and some red pines produce needles in groups of two. Other than that, there are some broad guidelines you can use to tell the two apart, but there will always be exceptions to every rule.
Cones tend to be longer in white pines, the mature bark is usually gray, and the needles are blueish, versus the reddish hue of red pine bark and its yellow-green needles.
White species tend to have a more open crown while red species have a rounder, more dense crown. Yellow pines are a bit less consistent, but the bark is generally brown or orangeish.
Before you even consider planting a pine tree, make a smart species selection. We’ll cover various species below to help you figure out what will work best in your area, so keep reading!
Understanding the needs of your specific tree is the most important part of successful growth.
Pine Propagation
These trees can be propagated from seed, either purchased or harvested from mature cones, or through cuttings. You can also purchase seedlings or saplings for moving into your garden.
Seeds require some patience, while purchasing plants is more expensive but gives you instant gratification.
From Seed
The cones on pine trees contain seeds and these can be planted to grow new trees.
You’ll need to stratify the harvested seeds in moist sand for a few months in the refrigerator and then plant them in the garden.
For a detailed explanation of the whole process, read our guide to propagating pines from seed (coming soon).
From Cuttings
Propagating via cuttings is the best way to reproduce a tree that you like.
Seeds might not grow exactly like the parent plants, but a cutting will be identical. The downside is that it takes years before you’ll be placing the new plant in the garden.
Cuttings should be taken when the tree is dormant. That means late fall, winter, or early spring. Ideally, you’ll start working after your area has experienced two or three hard frosts, which help signal to the tree that it’s time to stop actively growing.
Look for a pliable branch of this season’s new growth.
Rip off about four inches in length at the tip, with the end cut roughly at a 45-degree angle. The easiest way to do this is to make a cut halfway through the branch at a 45-degree angle and then rip it off the rest of the way.
Doing this results in a bit of bark tearing off with the cutting. We call this the heel.
These so-called heels contain more auxins than cleanly cut cuttings, a growth hormone that will encourage the cuttings to send out new roots.
Clip the heel down so it’s about a half an inch to an inch long, and remove all of the leaves from the bottom half. Dip the end in rooting hormone.
You can use older, harder wood instead, but it takes much longer to root. If you use older wood, find something about the same diameter as a pencil and take a cutting that’s six inches in length.
Fill a six-inch pot with sand or equal parts sphagnum moss and perlite and poke a hole in the center.
Insert the cutting into the hole so it’s about an inch or two deep. Firm the sand up around the cutting and moisten the soil.
Place the container on a heat mat in bright, indirect light. The idea is to keep the roots warm and the top cooler.
Cover with a cloche or tent plastic over the cutting, propping it up with a stick to keep the plastic from touching it. Keep the medium moist but not soggy.
Keep a close eye on the soil and the cutting. If you see any mold forming, spray everything with copper fungicide.
Transplant once cuttings have developed a few inches of new growth when the ground can be worked in spring or fall.
Be sure to harden the cutting off for at least a week before planting outdoors.
Transplanting
The best time to transplant seedlings, rooted cuttings, or purchased saplings is in the fall or early spring as soon as the soil can be worked. Dormant trees transplant best.
Before you put your plant in the ground, prep the area well. Remove any weeds and loosen up the soil with a fork or spade.
Dig a hole twice the width and depth of the rootball. Fill the hole with a foot of water and let it drain for 12 hours. If the hole is dry, your drainage is adequate.
If it doesn’t drain entirely, consider planting somewhere else – no amount of amending the soil is going to improve it enough for a tree this size.
The exception is if you’re planting a dwarf cultivar, in which case, you can dig down three feet deep and four feet wide and work in a lot of well-rotted compost. Then, dig a hole and test the drainage again.
If it’s adequate, prepare to plant by removing your specimen from the container and loosening up the roots. Place the plant in the hole and fill in around it with soil.
The plant should sit at the same level as it was growing in the nursery pot, or slightly higher.
The root collar – the part where the roots meet the stem – should be about two inches down.
It should be kept moist but not wet until the tree has had time to establish a robust root system, which takes about a year or so.
How to Grow Pines
Almost all species need full sun, with at least eight hours of direct sunlight to help them grow their best.
Some cultivars of eastern white pines (P. strobus) are an exception to this rule. Cultivars such as ‘Blue Shag’ and ‘Niagara Falls’ can tolerate partial shade with four to six hours of light.
And some Swiss pines (P. cembra) and Japanese white pines (P. parviflora) prefer morning sun with protection from the heat in the afternoon.
Beyond full sun exposure, they also need good drainage to survive. Poorly draining soil provides a quick way to kill your plant.
Pines are generally very tolerant of drought. Once a large tree is established, you don’t need to water it all. They have the astounding ability to send out a long taproot that can move even through bedrock to find moisture.
If you water frequently at the surface of the soil, you actually reduce the tree’s ability to withstand drought.
For younger plants, when you irrigate, make sure it’s long and deep, not frequent and shallow. Those young plants – under 10 years of age – need more water whenever the top few inches of soil dry out.
Small trees under 10 feet at maturity won’t develop this extensive root system, so they should be watered deeply during periods of drought throughout their lives.
Growing Tips
Plant in direct sunlight, though a few cultivars can handle partial sun.
These trees require excellent drainage. They will die in poorly draining soil.
They can tolerate some drought, but keep younger trees well-watered.
Pruning and Maintenance
Remember how we talked about some pine species dropping their lower limbs? This is called self-masting.
It’s not a bad thing, and it can’t be prevented. Just look at it as nature’s pruning.
Self-masting doesn’t generally happen with smaller landscape trees, but if you plant any towering pines, don’t be surprised if they drop their lower branches.
Beyond nature’s pruning, you might need to trim your tree now and then for shape or to remove unhealthy growth.
Reduction cuts help remove some of the length of a branch. Prune back by about a third to a branch junction.
You can also trim an entire branch back to the collar to thin out a canopy or remove diseased, dead, or deformed branches.
But you don’t ever want to shear a pine.
I actually don’t think you should shear confiners at all because it’s too indiscriminate, and ends up creating a plant with an outer shell of foliage surrounding a hollow interior full of leafless and dead wood.
This isn’t healthy for the plant.
Pine Species and Cultivars to Select
If I could give you just one tip when growing pines, it would be to select one that is adapted to the environment in which you want to plant.
If you choose a shade-intolerant species for a shaded spot in your garden, you’re going to be fighting to keep it alive.
There are so many pines out there, there’s no reason to pick one that isn’t adapted to the environment you’re putting it in.
Most species need full sun, as I mentioned before, but we’ll note any that don’t in more detail below.
Loblolly, slash, longleaf, and shortleaf pines are all excellent for growing in southern states.
In New England, red, pitch, and eastern white are good choices. If you live in the west, ponderosa, shore, lodgepole, western yellow, and limber will work.
And then there are those that are adaptable to almost anywhere in the US, like mugo, Japanese white, and Scots or Scotch pines!
Let’s take a look at a few that may become your new favorites.
Eastern White
The tallest conifers in eastern North America, eastern white pines (P. strobus) can stretch up to 80 feet tall and 40 feet wide when mature.
This adaptable plant is as happy in Zone 8 as it is in Zone 3, though it might not grow as tall in cooler regions.
It doesn’t do well in urban environments since it’s sensitive to sulfur dioxide and ozone, and it can’t tolerate clay. Otherwise, this species is fairly adaptable and tough.
The huge stands of native trees might be gone, but you can bring a youngster to your yard by visiting Fast Growing Trees to purchase a live tree in a gallon-size pot or one that is two to three feet tall.
Some cultivars, such as ‘Angel Falls,’ have beautiful oblong cones that are covered in a sap that makes it look like the cones have been dusted with sugar.
The pendula form of this cultivar has a gracefully weeping shape.
Eldarica
Native to modern Afghanistan, hence the alternate name Afghan pine, this tree (P. brutia var. eldarica) does best in dry, warm climates.
But it’s adaptable enough to grow anywhere in Zones 6 to 10.
At about 60 feet tall and 40 feet wide max, it’s fast growing, unfussy about soil, and has an open, airy canopy.
Plus, the soft leaves won’t stick into your bare feet if you step on them like some of the firmer-needled pines can – worth noting if you like to walk around your yard barefoot.
For a drought-tolerant addition to your landscape, purchase a four- to five-foot-tall live specimen at Fast Growing Trees.
Himalayan
This species is native to the Himalayas, but thank goodness it was carried across the ocean to North America, because the Himalayan pine (P. wallichiana) is fantastic.
This tree prefers high-altitude environments above 6,000 feet, so those living at sea level will have to live vicariously through their mountain-dwelling friends.
In its native environment, it will grow up to 150 feet, but expect it to stay about 30 to 90 feet tall at most in the home garden. It tolerates a bit more moisture than most other species and maintains a beautiful pyramidal shape.
‘Zebrina’ has distinctive yellow-tipped needles, while ‘Nana’ is a petite little wonder at just 15 feet tall.
Japanese White
If you guessed that P. parviflora originally hails from Japan, you’d be right.
This species is adaptable, drought tolerant, can handle salt spray, and produces pretty cones even when it’s young.
Once mature, the tree can reach about 50 feet in the home garden, though many cultivars are smaller.
One of the best things about this plant is that the trunk grows somewhat crookedly, which makes it look like you’ve trained a giant bonsai in your garden.
This species also produces attention-grabbing pollen cones in vibrant purple or pink hues.
‘Goldilocks’ is just right at eight feet tall with golden-tipped blue-green needles. Remember to protect it from afternoon heat to prevent leaf burn.
‘Bergman’ has unusual twisted needles, and ‘Fukuzumi’ is a compact grower with a wide and short growth habit. Both of these cultivars need morning sun exposure and protection from afternoon heat as well.
Loblolly
I highly recommend this species, and not just because I like saying loblolly.
P. taeda, native to the southeastern US, is fast-growing, with attractive red or gray scaly bark and long needles.
One of the most commonly cultivated trees in the US, it grows near streams, and tops out around 100 feet tall and a third as wide.
You often see it used as a screen because of its dense canopy and quick-growing nature. A happy specimen can grow up to two feet per year.
It tolerates drought, clay or sandy soil, and moderate flooding.
If you live in Zones 6 to 9, you can enjoy this statuesque pillar. Snag one at Fast Growing Trees in three- to four-, four- to five-, and five- to six-foot-tall live trees.
Longleaf
Longleaf pines (P. palustris) live up to their names with needles that can reach up to 20 inches in length.
The trees can grow to an impressive 130 feet tall, but they usually stay much smaller in the home garden.
Sadly, many of the wild trees have been cut down for their wood and resin. These trees were valued by European explorers and sent back to Europe by the shipful.
Forests haven’t been able to regenerate due to feral hogs feeding on the roots, loss of habitat, and fire suppression efforts.
While there are efforts today to replant longleaf forests, you can make your own contribution to the health of the environment by placing one in your garden.
Mugo
The smallest pines you can find are dwarf mugos (P. mugo).
These petite and popular conifers are slow growing and take years to reach their full size of about five feet tall and twice as wide at most, depending on the cultivar. Most stay closer to half that size.
For containers, patios, borders, and walkways in Zones 2 to 8, this is an option that’s hard to beat. These plants are exceptionally tough, native to windy, rocky areas with depleted soil in central Europe.
There are lots of cultivars of P. mugo available, like ‘Ophir,’ which has a nice rounded growth habit.
‘Jakobsen’ has an open, clumping growth habit that almost resembles a carefully-pruned topiary, with no pruning required.
‘Sunshine’ is a fun alternative to the majority of solid-needled pines out there. It has green leaves with yellow bands. This type grows two feet tall and wide, and it might, but not always, take on a pyramidal form.
‘Winter Sun’ (or ‘Wintersonne’) is an upright cultivar that will grow to just under three feet tall with twisted branches when mature.
Then there’s the ever-popular dwarf mugo (P. mugo var. pumilio).
This petite wonder only grows about five feet tall, spreading about 10 feet wide. Fast Growing Trees carries live plants in two- or three-gallon containers.
Sugar
If you have a big spot to fill, give this species a look. Sugar pines (P. lambertiana) are so large that many people don’t consider them for the garden.
In the wild, they can grow up to 200 feet tall, but they’ll stay smaller in your more confined space.
The pendulous branches are spaced far apart on a ramrod straight trunk with an overall narrow, pyramidal shape.
The bark is beautiful, which is good, since so much of it is visible. When young, the bark is smooth and green, but as the tree ages, it turns red and scaly.
The super long cones, up to 20 inches in length, make an oversized visual impact.
And the resin in this tree is sweet, as its name suggests. Native people enjoyed it as a sweet treat and as a sweetener.
It’s an elegant, regal garden option.
Swiss
Native to mountainous regions of central Europe, Swiss or Swiss stone pines (P. cembra) typically have a dense, pyramidal shape when they’re young.
As they age, they take on a more rounded shape and eventually reach about 40 feet tall in cultivation, or closer to 100 feet in the wild.
The edible seeds are encased in purple cones that only open in response to extremely precise environmental conditions.
Generally, most trees of this species can tolerate shade during certain parts of the day.
‘Glauca Nana,’ ‘Pygmaea,’ and ‘Stricta’ are all better off in direct morning light and afternoon shade, for instance.
Managing Pests and Disease
Pines are having a bit of a hard time in some parts of the country.
White pines in landscaping in the eastern US have been hit by fungal diseases, and wild specimens in the west are being decimated by pine beetles.
But don’t give up on them – we’re learning how to deal with these problems in new and better ways.
Herbivores like deer and rabbits will occasionally snack on parts of the pine, particularly young ones, but it’s rare. Your bigger worry is going to be insect pests, like these:
Insects
Herbivores might not dig pine trees, but certain invertebrates sure do. There are quite a few that feed on species in the Pinus genus.
Adelgids
There is an entire family of aphids known as spruce or pine aphids (family Adelgidae), aka adelgids, and it includes about 50 species of these insects.
Unlike true aphids, adelgids can only lay eggs rather than producing live larvae. All species have a wooly coating, similar to wooly aphids.
Also similar to aphids, they use their piercing-sucking mouthparts to feed on the sap in the tree.
Look for white, wooly masses at the base of needles. You might also see yellowing or falling needles.
Left unchecked, these pests can spread disease and wreak serious havoc. They can kill trees in just a few years, and if you don’t catch an infestation quickly enough, you might not be able to save the tree.
Once a tree has lost half its foliage, it’s unlikely to come back.
If the insects are present, spray the tree with insecticidal soap every few weeks during spring and again for six weeks starting in late summer.
Pick up 12 or 32 ounces of Bonide’s Insecticidal Soap at Arbico Organics.
European Pine Shoot Moths
The European pine shoot moth (Rhyacionia buoliana) lays eggs on the bark of pine trees, and the larvae that hatch out tunnel into young leaf shoots, killing the buds.
The larvae overwinter in these buds before pupating and emerging as adult moths in the spring.
Red and Scotch or Scots pines have remained this pest’s favorite types ever since it was introduced in the US from Europe in 1914, but they’ll feed on many other species as well.
The adult moths have orange and red wings and gray hindwings. The larvae are tan with black heads.
And the larvae spin webs between the needles and young stems, something that people often mistake for the presence of spiders or spider mites.
In years with warm, dry summers and mild winters, populations can grow dramatically.
You might not spot the bugs themselves, but if you see wilting, browning shoots, leading to the eventual growth of crooked branches, chances are good that they’re present. They can also kill terminal buds.
Prune any wilted or dead shoots right away. Dispose of them in a sealed bag or burn them, if that’s allowed in your area. You can also kill the larvae when they’re active from spring until midsummer.
Insecticidal soap, products that contain Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), or introducing green lacewings to your garden can help control the larvae. In fact, why not go with a one-two punch and use Bt along with lacewings?
You can buy Bonide’s Thuricide in quart- or gallon-size ready-to-use or eight- or 16-ounce contrates from Arbico Organics and lacewing eggs in quantities ranging from 1,000 to 250,000 are also available at Arbico Organics.
Pine Bark Beetles
Pine bark beetles have decimated trees across North America.
There are multiple species, including the black turpentine beetle (Dendroctonus terebrans), red turpentine beetle (D. valens), western pine beetle (D. brevicomis), Jeffrey pine beetle (D. jeffreyi), mountain pine bark beetle (D. ponderosae), redhaired pine bark beetle (Hylurgus ligniperda), twig beetles (Pityophthorus spp.) and engraver beetles (Ips spp.).
Trying to look for the individual bugs and figure out what species is attacking your trees can is irrelevant.
The easiest way to determine that you have an infestation is to peel back any loose bark and look for the frass and tunnels that the beetles leave behind.
Sometimes you’ll see sap oozing out of the tree, and dying branch tips.
These pests are extremely difficult to control, so prevention is vital. Water deeply, away from the trunk and just inside the dripline.
Be extra careful not to damage the trees when you prune or do yard work, leaving them exposed to infestation.
When you prune, be sure to burn, dispose of, or chop up the wood so you won’t invite bark beetles to your yard.
Speaking of, if you buy or chop pine firewood, cover and seal the woodpile with clear plastic sheeting and allow the sun to heat up the wood underneath to kill any hiding beetles.
These beetles have lots of natural predators, and woodpeckers and other birds will devour them. But they won’t be able to control a large infestation.
The only time you should use an insecticide is if you can positively identify the beetles before they enter your tree. Once the beetles get in, you can’t use insecticides to control them.
Since the chances are slim that you’ll see a single beetle before they find your pines, a preventative spray is useful for high-value trees.
Spray in the late winter and early spring, following the manufacturer’s directions carefully.
Look for a liquid contact insecticide like something that contains carbaryl. These insecticides are damaging to the environment, so use them carefully and judiciously.
Sawflies
Sawflies (Neodiprion sertifer, Diprion similis, Neodiprion pinetum, Neodiprion lecontei) will eat any species of pine, but they really like mugos, Scots or Scotch, and Japanese pines.
Native to Europe, they were introduced to North America in 1925. Since then, they’ve been feeding on needles every year, once they hatch in mid-spring.
This feeding can cause stunted growth and weaken the tree enough that diseases can take hold, but the pests themselves won’t usually kill a tree.
The nice thing is that these pests are fairly easy to control. Look for their gray-green or yellow-green caterpillar-like larvae. These larvae have black or red heads and cluster in groups of up to 100.
Their feeding might leave the needles looking dry and thin, like pieces of straw, or they might eat the needles down to the base.
The moment you see even one, grab a spinosad-based insecticide and spray away.
Something like Monterey Garden Insect Spray will do the job. It’s available at Arbico Organics in pint-, quart-, and gallon-size containers.
You need to spray these pests in their larval stage to control them. In a few weeks, the satiated caterpillars will metamorphose into flies and take off to lay eggs and start the cycle over again.
If you want to rely on physical control instead, don your gardening gloves and grip the branch where you’ve noted an infestation just below the cluster.
Hold it and move toward the tip of the branch, collecting the larvae as you go. Drop them into soapy water.
White Pine Weevils
White pine weevils (Pissodes strobi), also known as Engelmann spruce weevils and Sitka spruce weevils, have become a serious threat to white pines.
Eastern and western white pines are the species suffering the most damage today, but they’ll also attack other pine species like jack, foxtail, Japanese (P. thunbergii), mugo, pitch, Himalayan blue, and all red pines.
The adults overwinter under dead bark or debris on the ground. In the spring, they lay eggs in the bark of the top stem, known as the leader.
When the larvae hatch, they eat the wood of the leader, girdling it. The grubs then molt multiple times and pupate in the wood, emerging as adult beetles in the summer.
Typically, unless you notice the insects themselves, the first sign that they’re around are holes oozing resin on last year’s growth. Later, the leader will begin to wilt into a candy cane-like crook, followed by branch dieback.
Their feeding also causes stunted growth and opens the tree up to disease. Rarely, it can even kill the tree, particularly if it’s young.
In some years, predation by birds, mammals, and parasites keeps weevil populations in check. That’s why you always want to try to cultivate a healthy, balanced environment in your garden.
If you catch an infestation early, you can simply prune off the infested branches. Dispose of or burn the pruned parts.
Don’t use chemicals indiscriminately to try and kill these pests. Not only are they ineffective, they can further upset the balance in your garden.
Carefully apply a pyrethrin-based insecticide to the top portion of the plant in the spring after temperatures remain consistently above 50°F. Apply again in a month, and again a month after that.
If you don’t have a pyrethrin-based insecticide in your toolkit, pick up Monterey Bug Buster-O at Arbico Organics in eight- or 16-ounce bottles.
Disease
Pests are far more common, but don’t write off diseases entirely. They can strike now and then, particularly if a tree is damaged by pests or stressed in other ways.
Needle Rust
Needle rust looks just like you might imagine. After small, white fungal capsules release their orange spores in the spring, the needles of the tree look like they’ve started to rust.
On older trees, it’s kind of strange looking but it isn’t a big deal. It won’t really impact the tree. But this disease can stunt or even kill young trees.
Caused by the fungus Coleosporium solidaginis, there is no known cure.
Aster and goldenrod are alternate hosts of the fungus, so don’t plant or allow these to grow near your pines.
Tip Blight
Tip blight, a disease caused by the fungus Sphaeropsis pinea, can be a terrible affliction. While it can attack any pine, two- and three-needled types – such as red (P. resinosa), Scotch or Scots, Austrian, lodgepole, ponderosa, Jeffrey, knobcone, and pinyon – are more likely to be infected.
The disease won’t usually attack healthy trees, but any tree that is stressed or that has been damaged by adverse weather conditions, insects, or bad pruning might succumb.
Tip blight causes trees to be stunted and the needles to grow shorter than normal. Branches might die back. If you pull the sheath back from the bottom of a needle, you’ll usually see black fungal spores.
The first step toward controlling this problem is to prune off any twigs or branches that show any sign of infection.
Be sure to control any insect infestations and then treat the tree with a fungicide. A copper fungicide, for example, works well and won’t harm the environment as much as some chemical fungicides can.
If you don’t already have some around, pick up a 32-ounce ready to use, 16- or 32-ounce hose end, or a 16-ounce concentrate at Arbico Organics.
White Pine Blister Rust
White pine blister rust, caused by the fungus Cronartium ribicola, was a major problem for New England pine growers in the 20th century.
It was so bad that some states banned the planting of any species in the Ribes genus, such as gooseberries and currants.
That’s because the fungus needs Ribes species to develop on before it jumps to a pine tree. Once it does, the wood of the tree will swell and take on an orange hue, which is where the rust name comes from.
As the infection progresses, the tree appears to be sweating transparent orange liquid. The following year, blisters form on the bark. These will burst and the spores will travel on the wind back to Ribes plants to start the cycle over again.
There isn’t a good method of control available except for ripping out any nearby Ribes species. Don’t grow anything in this genus within 400 feet of a white pine tree.
White Pine Needle Disease
I know, another problem that primarily impacts white pines.
This fungal issue, primarily caused by Bifusella linearis, Lecanosticta acicola, Lophophacidium dooksii, and Septorioides strobi, started popping up in landscaping and in wild trees about 15 years ago, as of the time of this writing.
It causes yellow and falling needles, stunted growth, branch dieback, and even death in young trees. Older trees won’t usually die, but the stress of the disease can leave them open to other problems.
The pathogens that cause this disease thrive in the cool, wet weather of spring and early summer, especially when it’s really rainy.
Treatment doesn’t work well on older trees. Instead, support them with a boost of nitrogen-rich fertilizer to make up for the decline in nitrogen that this disease causes.
Younger trees may be treated with copper fungicide once a month throughout the spring.
Best Uses of Pines
Most pines make excellent specimens and can act as shade trees.
If you’ve never grown them before, be aware that falling needles can damage your lawn. Be sure to rake them up to keep your grass healthy.
Adelgids, European pine shoot moths, pine bark beetles, sawflies, white pine weevils; needle rust, tip blight, white pine blister rust, white pine needle disease
It’s hard to imagine a garden without at least one pine hanging out, and I certainly can’t picture a wild landscape without them.
If you’re bringing the evergreen goodness to your own space, the key is to find the right spot to set your tree up for future success. Once you have that covered, pines are pretty carefree.
Which kind of pine are you planning to grow? And how do you intend to use it? Share with us in the comments.
The Homesteading Life Conference in Hannibal, Missouri happens this coming Sunday and Monday, so I need to prepare for a long, long drive and a couple of gardening talks. It will be fun to see Doug and Stacy again.
My son Ezekiel of watermelon growing fame will also join me to give a talk on his landrace melon project.
In related news, we have finalized the details for SCRUBFEST II, and it’s going to be awesome. We have more speakers and vendors, plus Scrubland Farmz has a ton more plants. SCRUBFEST is the must-attend Gardening event in North Florida. We had a killer time last year, with a great crowd and a ton of awesome edible plants. You have to attend, if you can. It’s a ton of fun and you’ll meet people who are really serious about growing food and making permaculture work in Florida.
We may post a video this week – not sure yet, since we haven’t actually planned out our itinerary for the weekend. Once that is settled it will make other things easier. All I can think about right now is things like, “Man… I need to put the other bench seat in the van,” and “I wonder if we should bug our old friends up North and crash with them, or should we get a hotel room in some big city,” and “We should really grab some decent food for the road so we don’t end up eating Pringles and drinking Dr. Pepper again.”
Anyhow, if you think of it, pray I can organize everything well, that our vehicle runs fine, and that the trip is a blessing to others.
