It’s too late now to plant pumpkins
Some okra pests are sneaky and may come out at night while others are just hard to see. Caterpillars, the larva stage of a moth, are most likely the cause. Regretfully, by the time you see the damage, they are gone. You may want to venture into the garden after dark to check the plants. If the feeding continues, try a natural caterpillar control insecticide found at local garden centers, following label instructions.
I am having issues with several croton plants dropping their leaves and not looking healthy. What could this be?
Insects and dry soils are normally the reasons crotons drop their leaves. A few pictures with your email showed healthy but dry leaves. One picture with a root ball out of the pot showed a tightly interwoven and dry root ball. It appears you can rule out insects at this time, but start a good watering program to plump out the leaves.
When the plants recover, give them a larger container or plant them in the ground. At planting, loosen the outer roots to encourage new growth into the surrounding soil. Keep the plants moist, and most should be nice-looking survivors.
I would like to prune six-inch diameter low hanging branches from a camphor tree. Can this be done without affecting the tree?
Better get yourself a helper for this project, as these large limbs could be quite heavy. Now through late winter is a good time to do the needed pruning on your camphor tree. Start by removing sections of the limbs until you get within a few feet of the trunk. Then remove the remaining limb portion just outside the branch collar.
Check a pruning guide to find the best spot to make the final cut and the steps to good limb removal. Making too flush a cut is likely to lead to poor wound healing and trunk decay. If this looks like too large a job for your skills or there is concern about where to make the cuts, hire a certified arborist to perform the work for you. After the proper pruning, your tree should continue with normal healthy growth.
A number of my flax lilies, liriope and bromeliads have grown big and thick. Can I divide them now or should I wait until February?
Fall is a great time to do the dividing. All the plants mentioned should continue growth until really cold weather arrives. Divide the flax lilies and liriope into smaller clumps and the bromeliads into individual plants.
Dividing these plants is not going to significantly affect their cold hardiness. Liriope is very hardy where flax lilies could suffer major leaf damage during a heavy frost or freeze. Bromeliads normally need cold protection even if only in a bit warmer spot under a tree where they won’t freeze.
Portions of our shrub beds have filled with the weedy basketgrass. I know it is going to decline soon, but should I remove it anyway?
Don’t make more work for yourself than necessary. This flat growing grass with dark green leaves and a wavy texture is a warm-season annual that is about finished its growth for this year. It is going to gradually yellow and decline no matter what you do. If anything, you could eventually rake the dead plants out of the beds later this fall or winter.
Here is what you have to remember. The weedy grass has produced lots of seed that is going to sprout next year around April to grow more basketgrass. In the spring, you could either reapply a mulch layer to bury the seeds or apply a preemergence herbicide available from your local garden center for use with shrub plantings. In fact, you may want to do both.