Heat prevents fruiting in most tomato varieties
Question: My Cherokee Purple tomato variety is flowering but not setting fruit. Is fruiting time over due to the heat?
Answer: Yes, heat has put a damper on the fruiting of most tomato varieties. Cherokee Purple is a very popular and tasty heirloom variety sensitive to temperatures consistently above 85 degrees. Even under ideal growing conditions, it sets few but large fruits. Heading into summer, cherry or grape-type tomatoes may continue to set a few fruit. The next planting time for all tomato varieties is mid-August for a fall harvest. Start the seeds in mid-July to have transplants ready.
Q: Our crape myrtles are starting to bloom. When do we apply fertilizer to keep them flowering?
A: Keep your crape myrtles healthy and help to continue the blooms into early fall with March, May and mid-August fertilizer applications where permitted. If your area does not allow summer feedings, then the May application is very important, using a slow-release fertilizer. An early October fertilizer can be applied but is not needed, as crape myrtles stop flowering and may start shedding their leaves at that time.
Q: Our sago is growing large and has formed new plants at the base. Do we remove them or allow them to grow larger too?
A: Have this sago your way by either removing or keeping the shoots. Many like a multiple trunk sago, but the plants can become congested and full of shoots. You might keep two new shoots and eliminate the rest to maintain an easy-to-care-for plant. If you want to remove the side shoots, snap or cut them off. The larger they grow, the harder it is to remove the thick portions. Cut these off at the trunk of the parent plant, and start new sagos in the ground or containers.
Q: Something is making holes in our summer squash fruits. When cut it open, there is a worm inside. What can we do?
A: Almost every squash, cucumber and melon planting is attacked by the pickle or melon worms, the larva stage of a small brown moth. The larva can feed on the foliage and stems of the plants too but are mainly of concern when they enter the fruits. The fruits are edible when you remove the affected portion. Control these insects with a natural Thuricide or spinosad-containing insecticide often found at independent garden centers. Apply when feeding is first noted and continue as needed, following label instructions.
Q: I purchased coleus plants and would like to make more from cuttings to add to the landscape. What is the best way to start the new plants?
A: Easy-to-root coleus can be started in a loose potting soil or container
of coarse vermiculite. Make 4-6-inch cuttings by snipping off the ends of the shoots and removing a few bottom leaves. Stick the cuttings about 2 inches deep into small containers of the soil or vermiculite. You can root a cluster of cuttings in a large container or tray too. They root so easily that individual pots of soil may be best.
Here is the trick to rooting coleus. Keep the cuttings moist and surrounded by clear plastic in a shady area. Roots should start to form in about two to three weeks. Loosen the plastic when they start to root, and in about six to eight weeks, the new plants should be ready for a shady garden site. When the plants start to root apply a halfstrength, water-soluble fertilizer weekly until they are added to the landscape site
Q: Our hanging staghorn
fern has become way too large and heavy to lift. What should I do?
A: Maybe it is time to start new plants and discard the older one. Remove small plants, called pups, from the staghorn, and replant them in large wire baskets lined with sphagnum moss and filled with a potting mixture. Add several poking out the sides of the baskets. You can use the new plants to replace the old staghorn and share some with friends. The original plant can be left hanging if healthy and intact or removed and composted if deteriorating.
Q: Our oak tree covers most of our yard. What type of grass can we grow under the tree?
A: No grass seems to like the shady spots, but some tolerate filtered sun. Generally, if you have more than 25 percent shade, it is not a spot for Florida turf varieties. In the heavy shade,
it would be best to choose another ground cover like Asiatic jasmine, foliage plants or mulch.
Some varieties of St. Augustinegrass offer shade tolerance, but even these do not like the heavy shade. You might choose from Captiva, DeltaShade, Palmetto, Seville and a few others for a lightly shaded area. If you decide to give turf a try, summer is never the best time to establish sod in the shade. Needed watering and summer rain often lead to rot problems that cause new turf to decline. Fall through early spring would be a better time to try sodding the shady spots.
Q: Our sunflowers opened a couple of blooms that declined, but several more are now forming. Do I cut the old ones off, and how else should I care for the plants?
A: Enjoy as many opening sunflowers as you can.
These are annual plants that soon die after the flowers set and mature their seeds. Some sunflowers produce one large flower head, and others produce many smaller ones. If you don’t like the declining plant look, you can remove the maturing flower portions and let the new ones continue the display of color. Keep the soil moist, but it is probably not worth applying fertilizer, as the plants are going to shortly decline. Many like to keep the flower heads that fill with seeds on the plants to feed wildlife or harvest and prepare for eating.
Tom MacCubbin is an urban horticulturist emeritus with the University of Florida Cooperative Extension Service. Write him: Orlando Sentinel, P.O. Box 2833, Orlando FL 32802. Email: TomMac1996@ aol.com. Blog with Tom at OrlandoSentinel.com/ tomdigs.