Bob Morris

Desert willow can look shaggy during the winter because of the brown seedpods that hang from the tree. The seedpods provide a good supply of birdseed for various desert birds during the fall and winter months.

If freezing weather came through your yard, fruit trees with open or partially opened flowers will lose fruit.

Now is the time of year for pruning roses. Make sure they are given fertilizer plus iron by the end of January.

Flowers and small fruit will die with the slightest freeze. Freezing temperatures can eliminate all or some of the fruit you normally would harvest this next fall or winter.

Verticillium wilt disease plugs the internal tubes that carry water from a tree’s roots to the leaves. It commonly infects a single branch, causing it to die and appear like it is not getting enough water.

There are two strikes against citrus growing well in the Mojave Desert. The first is their variable tolerance to freezing temperatures during the winter. The second strike is that oftentimes citrus trees flower in early spring when very light freezing temperatures are possible. Tolerance to these freezing temperatures is practically nil.

Whiteflies are a bad insect problem for any plant. Their populations grow so quickly that small numbers lead to large numbers very fast. For that reason, it’s important to get them under control early, as soon as you see them.

Gardeners who are new to Southern Nevada might want to check out resource books written for the Las Vegas climate or secondly Tucson, Arizona, and lastly the desert Southwest.

You can typically remove about one-third of the total tree roots with no problem. This is done sometimes when trenches are cut in the soil for burying irrigation lines. But when roots are cut, about one-third of the top should be removed as well.

Bagged steer manure was used in the past as a topdressing for lawns when overseeding. It was smelly but it worked well. Now there are commercial topdressing products available.

Spraying insecticides make mite problems more likely on susceptible plants such as Italian cypress. Miticides, unlike insecticides, are less likely to cause mite problems later.

The ground is still warm enough to plant. The magic number for landscape plant root growth is about 50 degrees.

The annual South Valley Rose Show will be held Nov. 9 at the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension offices on the corner of Windmill Lane and Paradise Road. Rosarians will be present to answer questions about growing roses in our hot desert climate and poor soils from 1 to 4 p.m.

Trees grown in containers are more finicky than those planted in the ground because the roots don’t have access to as much soil mass. The limited soil volume in containers makes watering and applying fertilizers more complicated; the tree runs out of both more quickly.