This Week in the Landscape

Where to look out for this week in the landscape: deadhead your spent flower heads, especially the ones in containers to keep them bushy and flowering. Fertilize every couple of weeks in those containers because of the limited root area. I like to use a water-soluble fertilizer like Miracle-Gro.

In your pine and spruce trees, you should be seeing new growth (candles) at the tips of the branches. If not, the branch is dead and should be removed. A lot of tops broke out of the trees last winter. Hopefully, there is a branch pointing upward to become the leader. If not, you may have to create a branch going upward by tying a stick or broken broom handle to the branch and trunk. Same way with young broken fruit and shade trees. For large pine or spruce trees, you might just wait to see what happens.

There have been a lot of herbicide injuries showing up in tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants. Do not use grass clipping as mulch until after the 3rd mowing if you used a Weed and Feed product. The plant may grow out of it, however, if the plant just looks too bad for wear, you still have time to replace it with a short-growing variety. Another reason the tomato leaves may curl is aphids which you can see underneath the curled leaf.

Cabbage caterpillars will be showing up soon damaging the Cole crops along with cucumber beetles on vine crops. Use a pyrethrum or Sevin spray when do see the damage.

What is Happening to My Tomato Leaves

Last week there were a lot of questions about what is happening to my tomato leaves. To me, it seems that tomato diseases have become more prevalent due to warmer springs and longer dew times.

One is an early blight which was showing earlier this year. It looks like dark brown spots or blotches surrounded by a yellow color affecting older leaves gradually moving up the plant. If not treated this fungus knocks the plant down quickly. Treat with a garden fungicide to protect the non-affected leaves. Remove the affected leaves. There is a late blight that occurs later in the summer which is more virulent.

Septoria leaf spot is another fungus that looks like early blight. The dark spots are smaller and more round with yellow coloration between the spots. Again, a garden fungicide will protect the new leaves.

If your newer leaves are curling and becoming distorted, twisted, and curled now without any spots, it may be herbicide injury. It is common now with spraying weeds and using weed and feed products with 2,4-D or Dicamba in the product. On a warm, windy day, sprays with 2,4-D can vaporize and be carried by the wind for a long way. If the plant is not too badly damaged, it may outgrow this effect. If the plant is too badly damaged, it may be quicker to replant within a short day producing tomato plants. Never mulch with treated grass clippings until you have mowed at least 3 times.

Later on, there will be a leaf curl where the leaves curl upward making the plant look sick. This is a response to the foliage growing faster than the roots. Water uptake is insufficient, making the leaves curl upward to reduce transpiration. This condition will stop as the plant foliage catches up to the root growth. To reduce plant transpiration, keep even soil moisture and mulch to keep the soil cool. Heirloom tomatoes are more prone to this than hybrid tomatoes. Some areas call this summer blight, even though there is no disease cause.

To prevent or lessen the fungus, use crop rotation, grow the tomatoes at one end of the garden, and switch to the other end of the garden the following year. Remove all old plant debris from the area this fall. Most importantly, do not overhead water. This splashes the spores onto non-affected leaves. Use a drip form of irrigation. If you have to water overhead, water in the early morning. Remove affected leaves and discard. Use plastic or organic mulch on the soil to prevent the splashing of spores.

Use fungicides to prevent the new leaves from getting infected. An all-purpose garden fungicide will work making sure that blights and Septoria are listed on the product. Some types are Daconil, Serenade (which is a biological fungicide), Mancozeb Flowable (a fungicide with Zinc). Follow the directions and reapply every 10 days and after a rain.

Working in the Garden this Week

Crabgrass plant along sidewalk

If you are working in the garden this week, here are a few things to consider. Crabgrass is now germinating and growing. If you have a lot of this grass, use a post-emergent crabgrass killer as long as the plants are under a couple of inches in diameter. This grass shows up as a light green low-growing plant growing in areas with numerous plants.

Plum curculio

Ants on peony plants do not hurt the plants. They are eating the sap from the flowers and will go away after the plant has done blooming. If you have young apple trees or trees with apples on them, now is the time to spray apple scab (a fungus coming from juniper trees) is now with an all-purpose orchard spray. If you have some good-looking plums, the plum curculio is out eating holes in the fruit. You can use a pyrethrum or malathion spray.

Poorly pollinated yellow zucchini squash

Some people have early blossoms on summer squash (and soon with cucumbers) that do not set any fruit. For most vine crops the first flowers are male and will not set but later on, the female flowers come out and the plant will start producing. For little squash fruit rotting before getting big is caused by inadequate fertilization and they will grow out of this condition. I remove fruit if the plant is little thereby giving more energy to the parent plant’s growth.

If you have time, remove the spent lilac blossoms, they will produce more flowers next year. If any trees or shrubs have dead canes or limbs, remove them. Do not use any paint or black tar on the wound for this causes rot and decay because the air can not dry the area out.

Blossom end rot on tomatoes

Many use eggshells or tums around tomato plants to prevent blossom end rot on tomatoes or peppers. I found placing the plants in a mulch (plastic or organic) keeps the soil evenly moist and cool will help. Some varieties of tomatoes are more prone to this condition than others like early girl and the smaller cherry tomatoes. Epsom salts used heavily can harm the soil because it is a type of salt.