Be patient with lemon tree

We planted a lemon tree a year ago that produced fruit but this year it did not flower. Will we see blooms this year?

Young trees can spend a lot of time growing before they resume fruit production. By being grown in a container, and likely was a bit crowded, the tree was encouraged to flower and set fruits the first year when planted in the landscape. Now it is free to make good root growth plus establish new limbs and leaves. Expect another year or two of growth before more flowers and fruits are produced.

I like bromeliads but the types we grow have cups formed by the leaves that collect water and raise mosquitoes. How can I keep the plants but control the mosquitoes?

Many colorful bromeliads collect water among their clusters of leaves. This provides the ideal environment for mosquitoes to raise a new infestation of these bloodsucking pests. One way to enjoy the plants but keep the mosquitoes from living with your bromeliads is by flushing out the central cups with fresh water once a week.

Another control for mosquitoes is applying a horticultural oil spray for insects, following label instructions. This covers the water in the cups with a film that controls the mosquito larvae. Gardeners can also gain control of mosquitoes by sprinkling Summit Mosquito Bits into the cups of water formed by the leaves, following label instructions. This is a natural control that eliminates the larvae before they become adults.

Our pony tail flowered this year and now the blooms are gone. Will the flower stalk fall from the plant?

Maybe it was a warm winter or years without severe freezes, but pony tail plants, often called palms, were frequently found in bloom throughout local landscapes. Some plants with several trunks produced a number of upright shoots full of many small, white flowers above the foliage. After the flowers fade, seed pods might form but it is not common in local plantings. If you do nothing, the old flower clusters gradually decline and break away from the plants. They can also be pruned off back into the growing plants portions if you don’t like the twiggy look at the top of the pony tail.

I have grown an heirloom tomato and would like to save seed for another planting. How do I gather and save the seeds?

Any way you can separate the seeds from the fruits works, but plant breeders often let cut-open tomatoes ferment a few days in a container of water to help loosen the seeds. Other gardeners are a bit more dainty and pick the seeds out of a saved tomato and let them dry a few days in a low-light area.

No matter how you extract the seeds, you may want to dry them on wax paper or another non-stick surface. It makes removing the seed easier for storage. Place the dry seeds in a plastic bag and store them in the refrigerator until planting time.

Some of our holly bushes are covered with a gray, scaly coating and the plants are declining. What can I do to remove the coating and save the plants?

Sometime what you see is not the real problem. Those scaly portions are lichens that encrust weak or slow-growing plants. They take nothing from the plants but can make a lot of growth when the plants lose their vigor. You may use a copper fungicide labeled for diseases of hollies to reduce the lichen growth but it probably is not going to save the plants. Look for root rot or stem disease as the real cause for decline.

My ligustrum hedge leaves gradually develop yellow to dark-brown spots. Is this a pest and is there a treatment?

If your hedge did not have a little of this spotty leaf look, it wouldn’t be normal. Ligustrum hedges and tree forms are host to the cercospora leaf spot fungus. This organism is everywhere and waiting for warm, moist condition to affect the new growths. It is most evident when plantings are pruned back to the same height and shape where older leaves with spots are constantly exposed. New vigorous shoots often hide the spotty affected leaves.

Controlling cercospora leaf spot can be as simple as keeping the ligustrum vigorous with feedings three to four times as year and watering during the dry times. When the leaf spot appears out of control, a fungicide of either Bayer Disease Control for Roses, Flowers & Shrubs, Fertilome Broad Spectrum Landscape & Garden Fungicide, Ortho Max Garden Disease Control or Spectracide Immunox Multi-Purpose Fungicide can be applied, following label instructions. Repeat sprays are normally needed during the rainy season and as new leaves form.