Water-loving pecans not recommended

Question: What pecan varieties do best in Las Vegas?

I don't like to recommend pecans for our area because it is such a large tree and uses a lot of water. However, it does well here.

I have never grown them here, but if I were pushed into a recommendation, it would probably include varieties that do not need a pollinator such as Mahan, Mohawk, Tejas and Western Schley.

Q: I've enjoyed your articles in the Las Vegas Review-Journal over the years. I love my backyard garden here on Sunrise Mountain, but it's been a challenge compared to growing a garden on the island of Maui. I would like to augment my garden soil with the wood ashes from my fireplace. Would that be good for the garden soil?

If these ashes are from plants, then there should be no problem incorporating some of it. Much of this has to do with the volume that you want to add.

Small volumes of this distributed over a larger area will be no problem as it will be high in some nutrients.

If this ash is coming from plastics or other manufactured products, then I would not use it.

Bob Morris is a professor emeritus in horticulture with the University of Nevada and can be reached at extremehort@aol.com. Visit his blog at
xtremehorticulture.blogspot.com.