Week Four:
1. Spray for spider mites with Malathion or Horticultural Oil on the needles and limbs of arborvitae, cryptomeria, false cypress, fir, hemlock, juniper, pines, taxus, and spruce. Remember not to use any type of oil spray on Blue spruce as this will remove the blue pigment from the tree.
2. Replace or sharpen the blades on your lawn mower as part of your spring servicing. Dull blades will pull and tear the grass, resulting in an unsightly lawn.
3. Spray plants such as boxwood, hollies, hydrangea, and mountain laurels with Bordeaux mix as a disease preventive. Bordeaux is a safe organic spray chemical.
4. This week is perfect timing for applying a pre-emergent to stop crabgrass from sprouting. We suggest several products to do this job, and there are two ways to
do this. Jonathan Green has a spring lawn fertilizer with the chemical dimension to prevent and even kill sprouted crab grass. This product will work for 16 weeks after which time you need to re-apply another crabgrass preventative. Espoma has an organic product made from corn called Corn Gluten, which also prevents crabgrass from sprouting. This product also provides a small amount of nitrogen to jump start your lawn. Bonide also has a spray product which will also work.
5. If you spot the webs of bagworms or tent caterpillars, in the cool of the evening, scoop the tents out with a stick and destroy them. You can also spray them with Bacillus Thuringiensis (BT), liquid Sevin, Malathion, or Rotenone.
6. You can prune summer flowering trees now or in early April.
7. Harvest branches from flowering trees that can be forced into bloom indoors. Flowering cherry trees, crabapples, dogwoods, and even fruit trees especially peaches, nectarines, cherry, and apples.
8. Stunted growth and leaves on trees that are uncharacteristically red or dark green may signal a shortage of phosphate. Apply super phosphate at the package rate. Weak stems and disease problems on trees may mean a lack of potash. Apply straight potash at package rates according to the height of your tree.
9. Ground covers like Liriope, Mondo grass, and Plumbago benefit from early spring shearing.
10. Install plant supports and plant the seeds for sweet peas now. They can take a lot of cold so now is a great time to start these beautiful plants.
Tips for moving & transplanting Trees & Shrubs
1. Find some help. Large plants are heavy and cumbersome. It will take at least two people and maybe more to lift a shrub that is three feet or more wide.
2. Have a sharp ax, sharpen round point shove, or spade readily available. Use a flat file to sharpen the points of your shovel or spade if necessary. A folding saw may also aid in cutting big roots.
3. If the shrub is wide and grows low to the ground, use twine to wrap around the branches. Tie one end of the twine close to the ground on a strong main trunk. Have one person carefully squeeze the branches while the other wraps them with twine.
4. Use ribbon or string to mark the prettiest side of the plant. You do not want to
place the flat side of the plant growing close to the house in the front of the new location, and it is very difficult to spin the plant in the hole once placed. This will save you a lot of aggravation and time.
5. It is important to keep a tight root ball (roughly 2/3 as wide as the shrub) so dig a ring 4"-6" wide on the outside at the root ball. If you are not sure, you can always ask a professional. Then use a spade to dig under the plant. Do not try to rock the plant with the spade until you have undercut all the way around the shrub. Do not cut roots larger than a ½" wide.
6. Once the root ball is free, one person can tip the shrub to one side while the other slides a tarp or burlap bag under it as far as possible. Then, lay the shrub down in the opposite direction and pull the tarp all the way under the plant. Now slide the shrub out of the hole.
7. Dig the new hole 4"-6" bigger than the original root ball. In heavy clay soils mix in clay cutter or gypsum to help break down the clay, leafgro, or some other compost to promote good root development, and bio-tone plant starter to provide a good start and prevent transplant shock before placing the plant in the new hole.
8. Plant the tree or shrub so that the root ball is a few inches higher than the surrounding soil grade. This is very important in heavy clay soils because if you plant to low the roots could very well rot and kill the plant.
9. Backfill around the plant with loose dirt (large clumps of dirt trap bacteria), using the butt end of a handle, tamp the soil to make sure the dirt is settled around the root ball. Apply 2" to 3" of mulch around the plant making a mound so that the water will drain away from the plant. Do not mulch the crown (base) of the plant.
10. Water the plant thoroughly, making sure the root ball and surrounding soil are completely wet. Provide 1" of water each week for the first growing season if rain is not present.
March is for pruning:
Prune newly planted trees lightly the first few years to control the development of the scaffold or limb structure. Do this by only removing branches heading into the center of the tree or crossing others.
Never take away more than 20%-25% of a tree’s growth as this could cause "water sprouts". Always prune out any winter or storm damage. Prune out any low angle limbs growing between 12:00 and 1:30 or between 10:30 and 12:00. These low angle branches are structurally weak and will eventually break under the weight of its own leaves, fruit or snow. Thin and immature branches growing at poor angles should also be pruned out. High angle limbs are a problem and should also be pruned since they are prime candidates for weight load injury.
Flowering trees and shrubs that bloom on new wood should be pruned before growth begins in late winter or early spring. Flowering trees and shrubs that bloom on old wood should be pruned immediately after they bloom to avoid cutting off branches where its buds are being initiated for the following season.
To control height, prune after new growth has fully developed in both trees and shrubs. To slow or dwarf growth prune after the season’s new growth is complete.
To regenerate a multi-stemmed deciduous shrub that is overgrown, just before it begins its spring growth, take out a third or a quarter of the branches.
When pruning roses, place the cuts so that the center of the bush remains open for maximum air circulation. Remove dead canes, growth skinnier than a pencil, and canes crossing the center that are growing in the wrong direction or crowding out other canes. Carpet roses should be pruned back to about 6 inches.
Forsythia need to be pruned right after spring flowering pruning 1/3 of the branches back by 1/3.
For more information, contact Ken Morgan at Robin's Nest Floral & Garden Center, 410-822-8700, or http://www.robinsnestfloral.com/!