Change insecticides as chinch bugs build resistance

label instructions. Check with your local garden center for one of these products. The insecticide Arena is more likely found at independent garden centers and pest control stores.

I want to plant a hedge of edible fruits around my garden. Can I grow blueberries and raspberries in Central Florida?

While you may have a yearning for both of these fruits, it’s better to select from the southern highbush blueberries for your garden hedge. Most of these varieties tolerate our warmer winters to give good fruit production. Raspberries may grow bushes the first year or two, but they do not give repeat fruiting due to the mild winters.

Don’t be confused by the term highbush for these blueberry varieties, as they only grow to between six and eight feet. They need to be kept even lower with periodic pruning to give good production and make a nice hedge.

Southern highbush blueberry varieties to plant locally include Emerald, Jewel, Windsor, Springhigh and Sharpblue. Plant two different varieties to form the hedge to ensure good pollination. Do note, blueberries need a very acidic soil for best growth. Adjust the soil acidity to a pH between 4.0 and 5.5. Higher pH soils can be adjusted to the proper acidity with applications of soil sulfur as recommended from a soil test or use of pine bark fines as a soil amendment or mulch.

Spikes of red blooms appeared recently in neighborhood landscapes on plants that resemble bromeliads. Do you know the name?

What has been filling landscapes with these brilliant displays is possibly the most popular bromelifore in Florida often called Flaming or Summer Torch. Its scientific name is

and has been said to be one of the easiest to grow bromeliads. The clusters of blooms producing the torch-like inflorescence appear in midsummer and sometimes during spring.

Plantings of this billbergia take to most soil types and grow expanding clusters in shade to filtered sun locations. Flaming or Summer torch bromeliads have some cold tolerance and have survived dips into the upper 20s. Rains normally supply adequate moisture but do provide irrigation during the very dry times. Fertilization is usually not necessary, but plants make the best growth with light feedings of a slow-release product in April and August.

I know soon it is time for the poinsettias to produce their blooms. Can they still be pruned, and what other care is needed?

Pruning time is over for poinsettias, as the plantings begin the flower initiation process around the second week in October. It is best to let the plantings mature their growths at this time to have full stems of the colorful bracts we often call blooms. Do keep the soil moist, and continue monthly fertilizer applications or use one of the slow-release products, following label instructions. Stay alert for whitefly, mite and caterpillar infestations and control as needed.

I would like to trim my citrus trees. When is the best time to do the pruning, and how much can I remove?

If only light trimming is needed, you have until the end of October to do the work. Most gardeners like to complete pruning during early fall so new growths encouraged by the trimming can mature bead winter. Major pruning to reshape or reduce the size of citrus trees is normally performed during February before spring growth and flowering begins.

I am planning to resod an area of my lawn later this year that is full of crabgrass. Should I eliminate the crabgrass now and leave the area bare until I am ready to plant?

Unless you like the looks of bare ground, why not keep the green a little longer into the fall? Actually, crabgrass isn’t that bad looking, but it’s not dependable and has little wear or drought resistance. Do make sure you mow the grass to keep seeding to a minimum.

When sodding time arrives, anytime between October and early May, remove the crabgrass, till the ground and lay the new sod. If there are other perennial and harder to remove weeds in the site, you should kill everything with a herbicide that allows planting after use. When the unwanted greenery turns yellow to brown, remove the debris, till the soil and install the sod.