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.
Question: We have small butterflies on our plum tree. There are hundreds of them. Are they pollinating our trees? The bees were here, but these have taken over.
Question: My husband asked me to contact you about how to trim our pistachio nut tree and how to get it pollinated.
Question: I recently purchased male and female Hardy Kiwi starts form Parks Seed Company. I was wondering if you might be able to give me any tips for growing them here in the Las Vegas Valley. I have done some reading on pruning and training them into a trunk and building a T-trellis. In what I have read, they need full sunlight, but I am of the mind that perhaps afternoon shade might be a bit better.
Question: My Texas mountain laurel has yellow leaves, and they continue to get more yellow as time goes by. It faces southwest, has two adjustable emitters turned down low, watering once a week for one hour in the winter.
Question: Can you tell what is damaging my 7-year-old blue ghost tree? This damage is about 12 feet high on the north side, and there is a line of holes in the trunk.
Question: I have a good-sized area covered with rock mulch. A flowering plum tree is struggling in this area. Can a Myer’s lemon tree do well in a rock mulch setting?
Question: My crocuses and tulips are poking their heads out of the dirt in my garden. They’re growing. We have had great spring weather in January. Should I let them continue, or should I put some more dirt on them?
Question: I heard it is best to move rock away from my shrubs and replace it with mulch. What is your recommendation?
Question: I removed a peach tree that had borers. How soon can I plant another peach tree in the same hole?
Question: What do you say is our planting zone? I got a Plant Smart Sensor for Christmas, and it says we are a 7B, which is way lower than I’ve read. Just because a website says a tree or plant will be OK for a certain zone doesn’t mean it is necessarily, right?
Question: When is a good time to plant fruit trees?
Question: I would like to cut back some cassia, Texas ranger and Rosemary plants that have grown too large. When is the best time to do so?
Question: When should I cut my grape vines back? They’re on a trellis and are 1 year old. During the summer, they spread out very well and produced several large groups of table grapes.
Question: I remember you said to apply fertilizer to a lawn around Thanksgiving. But during that time, it was cold, and the fertilizer bag says to water frequently.
