decatur - Wise County Messenger

6 ALL AROUND WISE, Decatur, Texas, Thursday, October 21, 2010
Outdoor
Wait until spring to trim oleanders
By NEIL SPERRY
Dear Neil: Our oleanders grew back
trongly this year. When will it be OK
o trim them back We want to do so for
he winter.
Pruning plants stimulates
new growth. That’s not exactly
what you want with oleanders
going into the winter.
Trim them lightly as needed
to shape them now. If they
need more major trimming,
do that after they bloom late
next spring.
Dear Neil: We are losing
live oaks along our driveway.
Two have died this past summer,
and a third doesn’t look
good. Their leaves turn brown, and
the trunks are dry and brittle. These
were planted five years ago. We water
them every two weeks. In fact, we put
a sprinkler system in two years ago.
Woodpeckers riddled the trees three
years ago during the winter. We’ve kept
Gardener’s
Mailbag
them away since, but now the trees are
declining. What could the problem be
Too much water Too little We see no
insects or diseases.
You may want to hire a certified
arborist to do a quick assessment
of these trees.
Obviously, we all need to be
concerned about oak wilt.
However, this really doesn’t
sound like that would be the
problem.
If I were to guess, I’d wonder
if watering on two-week
intervals with a sprinkler
system might be enough.
Since the problem started in
the summer when it was hot
and dry, there’s very little
chance of their having been
over-watered. You might monitor the
sprinklers, to see if the trees with the
issues get equal amounts of water at
each irrigation.
Dear Neil: My St. Augustine has
been overtaken by crabgrass. Short of
SUDOKU SOLUTIONS
starting the lawn over, is there anything
I can do
You won’t need to start the lawn over!
I hope you’ve identified the weed correctly.
So many people mistake dallisgrass
and call it crabgrass or Johnsongrass.
St. Augustine is the dominant
grass that should crowd out all weeds
– except dallisgrass and nutsedge.
If you have crabgrass, you should
step up your maintenance program
(watering, feeding and mowing) for the
St. Augustine, and it should crowd out
the crabgrass. Crabgrass is an annual
weed, so you can apply a pre-emergent
weedkiller in early March, repeated
in early June to keep its seeds from
sprouting.
Dear Neil: I have 40 mountain laurels
in 6-inch pots. They are starting to
die. What can I do for baby mountain
laurel seedlings
I have never seen a disease bother
Texas mountain laurel. The only insect
Continued on page 11
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Meet & Greet
for
Republican Candidate
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Hopkins
HAYS
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Justice of the Peace, Pct. 3
Saturday, October 23 at 5 - 7 p.m.
Boyd Community Center
Chili, beans and cornbread will be served.
Your candidate looks forward to meeting you and
answering any questions.
Feel free to bring a non-perishable food item to benefit
the South Wise Services Food Pantry in Boyd
Vote
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Hays
Republican for Justice of the Peace, Pct.3
mandyhaysforjp3.com
political ad paid by Mandy Hopkins Hays, Rebecca Parr, Treasurer, Boyd
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