FIT-N-WISE - Wise County Messenger

2 ALL AROUND WISE, Decatur, Texas, Thursday, January 15, 2009
BY NEIL SPERRY
Dear Neil: We have two
huge oaks in our front yard.
A tree trimmer was coming
through our neighborhood,
and we hired him. My biggest
concern is that he did
not paint or tar the larger
branches where he made his
cuts. Should I be concerned?
Research has shown that
pruning paint often slows
the healing of cut surfaces.
For that reason, it’s usually
not recommended. However,
my personal feeling is that a
light coat of pruning sealant
is always a good idea when
we’re talking about oaks,
particularly in areas where
oak wilt is known to be a
problem. At least it’s good
that he came by in the winter,
since that’s the best time
to prune oak trees. I can’t go
much farther, though, without
recommending that you
never again let an unknown
person do any kind of work
on your trees.
Texas is blessed with hundreds
of skilled, certifi ed arborists
whose work is stellar.
People who drive down
streets soliciting work are
suspect. I’d recommend that
you take photos of the work
he did for you and show
them to a Master Certifi ed
Nursery Professional. He
or she can advise if the cuts
were done properly. One of
the worst things that can be
done in pruning is to leave
an elongated stub of the
original branch. That kind
of pruning leads to decay of
the stub, then decay in the
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GARDENER’S MAILBAG
trunk. Also, hopefully he
didn’t “top” the trees. That’s
never a good practice.
Dear Neil: I need a tree
to cover a fl at-roofed corner
room to protect it from the
summer sun. The room is 12
by 12 feet. Please advise.
Use a mid-sized tree such
as a Little Gem southern
magnolia, golden raintree or
Mexican plum. Of the three,
the magnolia tends to grow
more upright, so it wouldn’t
necessarily hang over the
roof very far if you planted it
eight or 10 feet out from the
house. However, it’s not very
fast-growing, so the shade
may be several years away.
Raintrees and Mexican
plums are more rounded, so
they would defi nitely need
to be 8 to 12 feet (or farther)
away from the house.
Tall crape myrtle varieties
(20 feet and taller) could
also accomplish the same
thing more quickly. Many
of them grow to 20 feet and
taller. You could plant three
of them on 15-foot centers.
They should be 8 or 10 feet
out from the side walls.
Dear Neil: Moles and gophers
are ruining our yard.
The moles are eating the
roots off our grass, and then
it dies. There are burrows all
over. It’s dangerous even to
walk across the lawn. The
gophers are tearing up what
the moles haven’t gotten to.
What can we do?
I’m going to borrow the
answer directly from the
Most Asked Questions pages
of my own Web site (www.
neilsperry.com).
“First, identify the pest
accurately. Gophers are rodents
and resemble squirrels
in their head and facial
features. They feed on roots
they encounter while digging.
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They may also feed on
above-ground plant parts
that are near their tunnels.
Gopher mounds are usually
kidney-shaped and are
made of fi nely sifted soils.
Gopher mounds are usually
larger, and they often line
up with one another. Place
poison baits in the tunnels,
then seal up the holes you
have made. (Note that ultrasonic
devices and plants
that are purported to drive
gophers away are virtually
useless.)
“Moles, by comparison,
are related to bats. They
are insectivores. They have
no external ears, and their
eyes are located within their
ear canals. You will usually
fi nd them in cool, moist soils
where there are ample supplies
of grub worms and
earthworms. Moles produce
volcano-shaped mounds
of soil clods. Control them
with traps that are pushed
into depressed areas of the
surface tunnels. The traps
are activated as the moles
try to open the tunnels back
up again.”
Dear Neil: As we get
ready for the new gardening
season, I’d like your advice
on how we can fi nd a really
reputable irrigation contrac-
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tor, arborist and landscape
planner. We want to make
some big changes, but I don’t
want to get ripped off.
There are many good
ways. Ask friends who have
used the services of any of
those segments of the horticultural
industry. And, ask
the service companies for
references, and then check
them out.
Ask for credentials and
then check up on them. Deal
with independent retail garden
centers where you can
talk to the owners and managers,
and where they’ll be
selling plants and answering
questions 12 months a
year. In fact, your nurseryman
can refer you to a good
arborist in your area, and
he or she will also know the
good irrigation companies.
The nursery may have a
landscape designer, or they
can refer you to a good landscape
contractor who can
design and/or install.
!
Have a question you’d
like Neil to consider? Mail
it to him in care of the Wise
County Messenger, P.O. Box
149, Decatur, TX 76234 or email
him at mailbag@sperrygardens.com.
Neil regrets
that he cannot reply to questions
individually.
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