Cactuses and other succulents are as varied in their needs as different types of landscape trees and shrubs. We can’t help but think of a cactus as just a cactus, but they are not all the same and shouldn’t be treated the same way.
Bob Morris
Bob Morris is a horticulture expert living in Las Vegas and professor emeritus for the University of Nevada. Visit his blog at xtremehorticulture.blogspot.com. Send questions to Extremehort@aol.com.
Most leaf drop of deciduous trees and shrubs occurs by mid-December. Some plants will start dropping leaves as early as the second week of November while others drop leaves later. But of course, much of that depends on the weather and tree health.
Desert climates like Southern Nevada have low humidity, so plant diseases aren’t frequently seen unless we do a poor job choosing plants for the landscape spots, planting, watering or managing them.
To increase the size of pomegranate fruit, focus on pruning, applying fertilizer and watering enough so the plant doesn’t get droughty. Right now, because it is late fall and it is getting colder, there is nothing to do.
It is true the majority of pomegranates are picked around Halloween. However, the time to pick pomegranates depends on its variety. there are varieties of pomegranates that must be picked at other times. One such variety favored in Southern Nevada is called Utah Sweet that ripens and is ready to be harvested around the end of September.
Let’s focus on controlling Bermuda grass this fall. Common Bermuda grass is sometimes called “devil’s grass” by old-timers. All types of Bermuda grass, from common (the weed) to hybrid Bermuda (think golf course), like heat, sunlight and water but can invade when water is scarce and other plants struggle to shade the ground.
This is the best planting time of the year right now. When planting trees, shade the south and west walls and windows of a home to reduce the cost of summer cooling.
Whether you add compost to the existing soil at planting or bring in a totally different soil mix, make sure the soil is as consistent as possible throughout the landscape. Making the soil the same when planting makes knowing when to irrigate much easier to figure out and schedule.
Now is the optimum planting time during the fall and also the time when nurseries begin their fall planting sales. Location is all-important when selecting landscape plants and matching them to their correct landscape microclimate.
The Moapa vegetable publication written by Dr. Sylvan Wittwer has information for cultivating vegetables for all of the different elevations found in the Las Vegas Valley.
Most of the damage done to plants during high summer temperatures was due to a lack of water. And if there are strong winds, they also use more water. The bottom line, if it’s a hot, bright, windy day, it’s time to water now.
It is important to select good varieties of vegetables to plant in the fall, and the publications by Dr. Sylvan Wittwer, formerly of Logandale, make some solid, old-fashioned varietal recommendations he has had success growing in this area.
Planting can occur almost 12 months of the year in our climate, but there are times to plant that are better than other times. For the best times, begin planting most trees, shrubs and fruit around the end of September.
Roses do not need daily watering, even during the hottest days. If the soil was prepared correctly at planting time and the soil surface covered in wood chips, they should get watered — at the most during the hottest times — every other day.
Beans, carrots and beets should have been harvest before the weather got hot. These are cool-season crops.
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