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Bob Morris

Gardening columnist

Bob Morris is a horticulture expert and professor emeritus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Visit his blog at xtremehorticulture.blogspot.com.

The Latest
Pruning can be done any time of year

Q: Is it too late to prune? We have artificial turf around the tree, but the borders are open for applying fertilizer. Is this good, or should we use fertilizer stakes too?

Cool, rainy weather perfect condition for fireblight disease

Cool, rainy weather when pear and apple are in bloom is perfect weather for fireblight disease. Fireblight is a very aggressive and dangerous plant disease that shows up as new infections in about May in Asian pear, European pear such as Bartlett and some apples. It can be a major problem on quince too.

Some fruit trees will grow back from stump

Q: If a fruit tree gets infested with borers in the main trunk and seems likely to die, can I cut off the trunk and allow the tree to grow back from this stump?

If planted too early, tomato plants will suffer from cold soils

Tomato plants that were put in the ground early, before this cold spell, didn’t grow much. This is because of cold soils. Cold air temperatures are bad enough, but when warm-season vegetables like tomato plants have “cold feet,” they struggle to put on any new growth, even with warm air temperatures. If they do get larger because of hot caps or Wall O’ Water plant protectors, it’s not because their roots got larger.

Recent cold temperatures may have damaged plants

Early Saturday morning I saw water that dripped from the ends of hoses lying on the ground. The water had formed icicles at the ends of the hoses, and temperatures were not freezing during the night.

Some types of fruit perform better in desert than others

Q: This past year we had lots of fruit, but the problem seems to be the same every year; when do you know its ripe? We pick one fruit every couple of days when they are looking good and try it, but they are sour and hard. Then they slowly start wrinkling and falling off at some point.

Sunlight damaged limbs more prone to borer attack

Q: I was checking today after our big rain and noticed something weird low on the trunk of my peach tree. I touched this spot and a chunk of rotten wood came off. Was this an unnoticed borer attack or something to do with the rain? Can it be fixed?

Getting poinsettia to bloom can be tricky

Q: I have had a large poinsettia since last Christmas. Is there a way to encourage blooms this year? It seems I read somewhere to put it into a dark place without water for a period of time. Anything you can tell me will help.