Christmas cactus honors wrong holiday
Q: My Christmas cactus did it again. It flowered too early. What can I do to slow it down?
A: The most common “Christmas” cacti are in the genus Schlumbergera and should probably be called “Thanksgiving” cacti instead. They traditionally bloom in late November and early December. If that’s what yours has done, it’s right on schedule.
They are sensitive to the amount of light they receive during what greenhouse growers call their “dark period.” The rest of us call it simply “night.” If you wanted to experiment, you could turn a light on for an hour around midnight each night in October, perhaps even early November. That might fool the plant into flowering a bit later. Best advice, however, probably would be to let nature take its course and let the plant flower when it wants to.
Q: My St. Augustine started developing brown spots that have slowly grown to kill the entire lawn. I don’t believe it’s brown patch or grub worms. See the photo attached. What should I do?
A: Your photo shows totally dead St. Augustine and a lot of weed growth. The St. Augustine has actually been dead for some time — probably since summer.
My guess would be that the damage was done by chinch bugs, but there’s no way to prove it at this point. If you happened to save my column from a couple of months back, perhaps it would help you. I addressed all the common St. Augustine problems and how to identify them. I also have most of that information on my website, neilsperry.com.
Q: I planted tomatoes, serrano peppers and eggplants in a raised garden this year, but they failed to produce much. Can you give me any advice of what I might have done wrong?
A: That’s an ultimately broad question that could have dozens of answers. Please let me address those that come to mind first.
All of those plants need full
sun. They all need rich, welldraining soil 12 to 15 inches deep. That soil should be made up of several inches of organic matter, including sphagnum peat moss, finely ground pine bark mulch, well-rotted manure and compost. If your native soil is a clay soil, then you would also want to add 1 inch of expanded shale as you rototill to 12 inches deep.
You need to plant those crops at the appropriate time, which for a spring garden would be two to four weeks after the average date of the last killing frost. You would need to keep them growing vigorously and fertilize them with a high-nitrogen plant food every three or four weeks.
They would require regular watering, and you’d have to watch for insect and disease problems. Spider mites are common visitors, And so are several types of caterpillars. There are some excellent reference sheets online from Texas A&M Extension Horticulture. I hope all of that helps.
Q: I have had a potted amaryllis bulb since last Christmas. I expected it to flower again, but it’s all lush leaves. What can I do to get it to bloom? Do I need to keep it dark at night like poinsettias?
A: No. In plants that form bulbs, bulbs are storage organs that let the plants survive through difficult times such as extreme winters and, in the case of tropical amaryllis, periods of drought.
You need to simulate a dry spell the plant would have encountered in its native home by withholding water for six weeks in September and early October. It may help to lay the pot on its side so you won’t be tempted to water it out of sympathy for its withering leaves.
At that point, repot the bulb back into the same, or next size larger, pot filled with fresh potting soil. Water it, and keep it in a sunny, warm location. Chances are great that the dry period will trigger flowering.
I guess you could actually try the process now. It won’t bloom by Christmas, but hopefully it will bloom later in the winter.
Q: I have several nandina plants. One group has great
berries, but the others do not. What might the issue be?
A: There are many kinds of nandinas, and only the standard old-fashioned heavenly bamboo nandina and a slightly shorter type called Compacta produce berries reliably. So, you may have Gulfstream, Moonbay or one of the other types that bear fewer fruit.
It might also be that the barren plants aren’t getting enough sunlight, or that you’re pruning them too often or incorrectly. You should remove the tallest canes from your plants each winter. Cut one-third each year, and cut those canes completely to the ground. That will force them to resprout and fill the plants back in from the ground up.
Q: We live on rural acreage, and we need privacy fast. I want to transplant some red cedars this winter. What size works best, and how far apart should I plant them to make a solid screen from our neighbor’s land?
A: Smaller sizes transplant much more easily and become large plants much more quickly. Stick with knee-high transplants, then commit to watering them once or twice a week their first summer in their new home.
Space them 20 feet apart to prevent them from overcrowding one another, and, if possible, plant them in staggered and irregular groupings, rather than long, straight rows. It’s a lot more natural looking that way. You can even interplant a few other types of plants, such as live oaks, for variety.