Gardening Tips, Common Problems, Vegetable Gardens, Plants

As the season changes and we start to get cold temperatures, it’s time to think about protecting your trees and shrubs from Winter.
Cold temperatures, ice, snow, wind, salt and animals can all cause damage to your trees and shrubs.

Mulch:

Mulching will keep the moisture in the ground and help protect your trees and shrubs from drying out over winter.

Mulching will give new roots more time to develop for recently planted trees and shrubs. It will help minimize the effect of freezing and thawing of the soil during the late winter and early spring season.
You will need to apply a four to six inch layer of mulch around the base of the tree or shrub. This will prevent heaving by maintaining a more constant soil temperature. You do not want to mulch up against the trunk of the tree or main stem of the shrub.
Mulch also prolongs plant dormancy in the spring and reduces the chance of late spring frost injury to new leaves and flowers.

Sunscald:

Sunscald is an injury to the trunk of young trees. Sometimes called Southwest injury, because it usually occurs on the southwest side of young trees. Sunscald occurs on warm winter days as the sun shines and heats up the bark on the tree trunk, cells within the tree break dormancy and become active. When the sun sets and the temperatures get colder and the bark temperature drops rapidly, the active cells are killed. This bark may look sunken, cracked or discolored. By spring, the discolored bark may crack and fall off. Young trees, newly planted trees, and thin-barked trees (cherry, crabapple, honey locust, linden, maple, mountain ash, plum) are most susceptible to Sunscald. You can protect these trees from Sunscald by wrapping the trunk with tree wrap.

Tree wrap is put on in the fall and must be removed in the spring to prevent disease and insect damage. Your young trees may need to be wrapped every year until their bark has thickened.

Water:

Stop watering once the ground is frozen; trees and shrubs no longer absorb water after that time.
Salt Damage:

Salt that is used for de-icing sidewalks and roads in winter can cause damage to your trees and shrubs. Damage occurs when salt is deposited on dormant stems, buds and needles of trees and shrubs. Salt can damage roots, foliage; can cause stem injury and reduce growth. To help prevent damage to trees and shrubs install a screen to act as a barrier. A screen can also protect your plants from wind and sun.

Pest Control:

Rabbits, mice and deer can cause damage to plants in Winter. These animals feed on the tender bark and foliage during winter months. Clear away weeds, leaves, tall grass and fruit from around your yard and around trees and shrubs. This will help reduce the nesting material and deter pests from making their winter home at your home. You can also put up tree guards around your tree trunks.

For products to help you protect your plants, trees and shrubs in winter, please visit Henry Fields Seed and Nursery

Need any other tips for your winter garden? Click here to send us your question!

Houseplants and other warm weather plants that have spent the summer vacationing outside will need to be back indoors before the night time temperature drops to 50 degrees. Some hardy plants can stay out until the temperature drops to 40 degrees, but if you leave them out and it gets colder than that, they may go into shock, get frost burn and eventually die.

Bringing in your house plants before it gets too cold out will help your plants avoid the shock of sudden changes in  temperature, humidity and light.

Here are a few tips to help your plants adjust to living indoors again:

Before bringing in your plants:

• Clean your windows inside and out. Clean windows let in more sunlight.
• Move plants in the shade about 2 weeks before bringing them indoors. This will help prepare them for the drop in light in your home. Once inside your house your houseplants may have some yellowing leaves or dropping leaves from not having enough light. You may need to add light from a fluorescent glow light.
• Soak your pots up to their rims in a tub full of lukewarm water to force insects like ants, sow bugs, millipedes, and ground beetles to the surface. Insects that are living in the soil will either drown or float to the surface so you can remove them.
• Inspect for other insects. Other insects like aphids, spider mites, scales and slugs will be happily living in the foliage of your plant. Inspect the foliage thoroughly. Wash the plants leaves carefully with water before bringing the plant inside. You could also use
  Plant Guardian Houseplant Insecticidal Soap to wash off the leaves.
• Stop fertilizing. Most plants need a rest period, or dormancy. Fertilizing when plants aren’t actively growing results in a buildup of fertilizer salts in the soil that can damage plant roots.
• Don’t over water You probably watered your container plants every day during the summer but indoors they will not require that much water. Let the soil surface get dry to the touch before watering.

Plants that have outgrown their pots over their summer vacation will need to be re-potted.

To check for crowded roots, turn the pot upside down while supporting the plant with one hand on the surface of the soil. Ease the plant out of the pot. You may need to give the bottom of the pot a few taps to loosen the root ball.  If there is a mass of roots and very little soil, then you will need to repot into a larger container. If the root ball looks good but there is a heavy top growth you may want to prune the top.

Add Pot Stickers to your new and old pots to help keep insect infestations to a minimum.

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 Tomato and Tobacco Hornworms are green caterpillars usually 3-5 inches long that love to eat tomato leaves and stems. The Tobacco hornworm has 7 diagonal white stripes on each side of its body and a red horn on its back end. The Tomato hornworm has white “V” shaped markings with a black horn on its back end. Both hornworms have five pairs of prolegs, which are soft legs that are on the abdominal segment of the body.

 
They can blend in so well with the green leaves of your tomato plant, you may not even notice them; however, you will notice the  damage to the leaves and stems. They will eat holes in the leaves and at times eat the entire leaf leaving no stems.  During July and August they might even chew on the fruit of tomatoes and eggplants. Tomato hornworms have also been known to eat peppers and potatoes.

How do I know if I have Hornworms?

You will most likely spot the damaged leaves and stems at the top of the plant before you spot the hornworm. Hornworms will feed on the inside of the plant during hot sunny days and move to the outside in the morning and evening. You may notice large, black droppings (frass) that will pile up on the ground below the affected plants.

 
How do I get rid of Hornworms?

Pick them off using gloves and crush them with your foot or cut them in half with a garden tool.

If your Hornworm has small white cocoons attached to its body then leave them alone. The cocoons contain the larvae of a parasitic wasp that is a natural parasite of the hornworm. The wasps will kill the hornworms when they come out of their cocoons and search out other hornworms to attack.

Rototilling your garden after the season will kill the larvae that has burrowed into the soil of your garden.

Looking for more information about growing tomatoes or getting rid of tomato pests? Visit our Tomato Page.

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