by Ray Bodrey | Jun 29, 2017
Although we’ve received much-needed rainfall of late, it’s still a struggle to manage moisture levels in our Panhandle landscapes this summer. During wet summer seasons, one recurring issue is that watering plants too much can have as much of an ill effect as not watering enough.
Shallow rooted plants, as well as newly set plants can easily become water stressed. Some people lightly water their plants each day. With this practice, one is only watering an inch or less of the topsoil. Most roots are deeper than this. Instead of a light watering every day, soaking the plant a few times a week works better. A soil that has been soaked will retain moisture for several days. This is a very good practice for young plants. In contrast, some people soak their plants to often. This essential drowns the roots by eliminating vital oxygen in the root zone. This can also cause root rot. Leaves that turn brown at the tips or edges, as well as leaf drop, are displaying signs of overwatering.
The following are tips from the UF/IFAS Florida-Friendly Landscape Program. These tips will help conserve water by providing best management practices for your landscape:
- Choose the right plant for the right place: Be sure to place plants in your landscape that match existing environmental conditions.
- Water Thoughtfully: Water early in the morning and water when plants and turfgrass start to wilt. Refrain from watering in the late afternoon or evening. This is when insects and diseases are most active.
- Perform regular irrigation maintenance: Remember, an irrigation system is only effective if it is maintained regularly. Check for and repair leaks. If using a pop-up heads for turfgrass, point heads away from driveways and sidewalks.
- Calibrate turfgrass irrigation system: Ideal amount of water to apply to turfgrass is ½”- ¾”. A simple test can be done to calibrate. Place a coffee or tuna cans throughout the landscape. Run the irrigation system for 30 minutes. Average the depth of the water containers. Adjust running time to apply the ½”- ¾” rate.
- Use micro-irrigation in gardens and individual plants: Drip, or microspray irrigation systems apply water directly to the root system with limited surface evaporation.
- Make a rain barrel: Rain barrels are an inexpensive way to capture rainwater from your roof. This can translate into a big impact on your water bill as well.
- Mulch plants: Mulch helps keep moisture in the root zone. Two to three inches in-depth, for a few feet in diameter will work well for trees, shrubs, flowers and vegetables.
- Mow correctly: Mowing your grass at the highest recommended length is key. Be sure to cut no more than 1/3 of the leaf blade each time you mow. Keep mowing blades sharp as dull cuts often cause grass to be prone to disease.
- Be a weather watcher: Wait at least 24 hours after a rainfall event to water. If rain is in the forecast, wait 48 hours until irrigating. Use a rain gauge or install a rain shut-off device to monitor irrigation scheduling.
For more information on water conservation principles contact your local county extension office.
Supporting information can be found at the UF/IFAS Center for Landscape Conservation & Ecology’s Drought Toolkit: http://clce.ifas.ufl.edu/drought_toolkit/
by Mark Tancig | Apr 24, 2017
Source: UF/IFAS.
Impatiens are a very popular annual, bedding plant that provide a nice burst of color in the landscape. The traditional Impatiens (Impatiens walleriana), or touch-me-not, is the one that most gardeners know as needing part shade, but there are also the New Guinea Impatiens (Impatiens hawkeri) that are able to tolerate more sun. In addition to being able to withstand more sunlight, the New Guinea Impatiens also have larger flowers and leaves. Another highlight of the New Guinea impatiens is their increased resistance to downy mildew, a major concern for growers of touch-me-nots, especially in south Florida.
While native to the Old World, Impatiens are not known to invade Florida natural areas but may reproduce by seed. Touch-me-nots are known to spread easily be seed. An interesting fact about Impatiens is their bursting seed pods that can send seeds several feet from the parent plant. This characteristic is what led to the scientific name Impatiens – for impatient – and one of the common names – touch-me-not.
May is a good time to plant Impatiens in north Florida. They prefer slightly acidic soil and should be planted at a 12-18 inch spacing. Impatiens work well as a border planting or in mass plantings. While New Guinea Impatiens tolerate more sun, they still would prefer some afternoon shade. Those growing in full sun will need extra care to ensure they remain well watered. An all-purpose plant food can be applied at monthly intervals for best performance.
Some common varieties of touch-me-nots include ‘Accent’, ‘Blitz’, ‘Carousel’, ‘Dazzler’, ‘Impact’, ‘Impulse’, and ‘Super Elfins’. Common New Guinea Impatiens varieties include ‘Celebration Candy Pink’, ‘Celebration Light Lavender’, ‘Nebulus’, ‘Equinox’, ‘Sunglow’, and ‘Tango’. The newer ‘Sunpatiens’ variety is quite popular and comes in different forms – compact, spreading, and vigorous.
Source: UF/IFAS.
If you have any questions regarding Impatiens, please contact your local UF/IFAS Extension Office or visit our EDIS website at www.edis.ifas.ufl.edu.
by Sheila Dunning | Apr 13, 2017
This month, recognized by the Senate and Florida’s governor, reminds diggers why calling 811 before all outdoor digging projects is important to your safety. Before installing a mailbox, fence, deck, garden or tree make sure to call Sunshine 811 to have underground lines marked. 811 is the free national number designated by the Federal Communications Commission. It notifies utility companies, who in turn send their professional locators to identify and mark the appropriate location of underground line with paint and flags in colors that identify the utility type. The following colors represent the seven various utilities: red – electric, orange – communications (telephone, cable tv), blue – potable water, green – sewer, yellow – gas, purple – reclaimed water, and white – site of intended excavation. To learn more about color designation and their corresponding utility go to: http://www.call811.com/faqs/default.aspx. Locating marks are good for 30 calendar days. Any work beyond that requires another call to 811. If the marks are destroyed before your project is done, stop digging and call 811.
Hitting an underground utility line while digging can cause injuries. Utility service outages can also impact an entire neighborhood and damage the environment. The depth of utility lines varies, and there may be multiple utility lines in one common area. Even if you think you know where an underground line is, time tends to change things. Erosion or tree roots can shift those utility lines. Failure to call before digging results in one unintentional utility hit every eight minutes nationwide. You could also be financially affected with costly fines and high repair costs.
The Common Ground Alliance (CGA) Damage Information Reporting Tool (DIRT) provides industry stakeholders with a way to anonymously submit data into a comprehensive database for analysis of the factors that lead to events. An event is defined by the CGA DIRT User’s Guide as “the occurrence of downtime, damages, and near misses.” The number of events submitted to DIRT for 2011 totaled 207,779. However, according to CGA DIRT “when a call is made to the one call center (811) prior to excavation, 99% of the time there will be no damage”.
Calling 811 in Florida is the law. At least two full business days before digging, do-it yourselfers and professional excavators must contact 811 by phone to start the process of getting underground utility lines marked. This is a free service. Be sure that all utilities have been marked before grabbing the shovel. If you don’t see locate marks, don’t assume there are no underground utility lines. Verify with the Sunshine 811 Positive Response system. Follow up on your one call ticket by contacting 811 again on the third day. Sunshine State One Call is a not for profit corporation which began with the 1993 adoption of the “Underground Facility Damage Prevention and Safety Act,” Chapter 556, Florida Statutes. Online you can visit: www.online811.com, or call (800) 852-8057. If you provide a valid e-mail when requesting your locate ticket, positive response updates will automatically be sent to you when all utilities have responded. For more information on Florida’s law, visit www.Sunshine811.com.
by Julie McConnell | Apr 7, 2017
It’s really tempting to buy a tree and plant it in the middle of your lawn or directly in front of your picture window, but instead take some time to choose the best spot first. Several considerations such as maintenance and mature size should be taken into account before the site is selected.
Mowing close to the trunk of this Pindo palm has caused repeated injury to the trunk. Photo: JMcConnell, UF/IFAS
Placing a tree in a lawn area without creating a bed can lead to maintenance issues for both the tree and the turfgrass. It is easy to simply cut out a small patch of turf the size of the rootball and install a tree, however, as the grass grows up towards the trunk over time maintaining that grass will become difficult. It is common to see mechanical injuries to tree trunks because weed eaters or mowers have chipped away at the bark when trying to cut the grass. Other potential problems are irrigation zones calibrated for turf delivering the wrong amount of water to trees and herbicides used on grass that may cause injury to trees.
Over time, as the tree canopy grows, it will create shade and any grass trying to grow in that area will thin and be more susceptible to disease and insect pressure. By creating a large ornamental bed for your tree, you will prevent some pitfalls associated with placing the tree in the lawn.
Another common mistake is planting a tree too close to a house or other structure. It can be difficult to imagine how large a tree will grow at maturity because it is not a quick process. Trees placed close to houses may grow into eaves and shed leaves onto roofs and into gutters. This adds to maintenance and can provide mosquito breeding grounds. Also, some tree roots may interfere with walkways or septic systems and should be sited far enough away to avoid these issues.
These Japanese Maples are planted in a bed separate from the lawn making care for both plant types easier. Photo: JMcConnell, UF/IFAS
Be sure to research any tree you plan to install to find out ideal growing conditions and mature size. If you plan ahead and use good maintenance practices, a tree can become an valuable part of your home landscape to be enjoyed for years to come.
by Daniel J. Leonard | Apr 27, 2016
People are, by nature, skeptical. Humans are and have always been questioners of the world around them and that’s a good thing! For instance, when one reads a sensational article on Facebook or watches an infomercial selling a too-good-to-be-true product he/she is immediately dubious of the veracity of the claim. Given this innate sense, why do consumers take plant tags displayed on retail plants and the information listed there as infallible fact when in reality they are often full of hyperbole and misleading?
I do not mean to insinuate that nurseries and landscape professionals are intentionally leading consumers astray. They are not. However, there is much incorrect information disseminated to consumers by the green industry on plant fact sheets. Take my titular example, ‘Little Gem’ magnolia is widely advertised and sold as a “dwarf” magnolia, only growing 15’-25’ tall. If given proper care, it will grow to that height…in seven to ten years. Given enough time, ‘Little Gem’ has will grow in excess of forty feet. People plant this cultivar under the eaves of single story houses on a regular basis! I promise that cute little magnolia you were told would grow 15’ tall will look rather silly when it is four times the height of your house. Take another example, how many times have you seen or heard of ‘Acoma’ crapemyrtle being sold as a “semi-dwarf” cultivar that grows to 10’ in height for use in a tight spot of the landscape in lieu of the much larger ‘Natchez’? It will fill that tight spot and fill it rather quickly. ‘Acoma’ can easily reach 20’ in height and width at maturity, engulfing its intended area.
Typical plant tag. Notice the “Average Size” section. This is where consumers should use discretion.
So why does this happen? Why are plant tags so often mistaken? There are two primary reasons that correct mature sizes are not given. First, in the competitive world of plant breeding and introduction where there can be hundreds or thousands of cultivars of a single species, it is of utmost importance to introduce plants as quickly. Quick introduction is necessary because others are probably working to find similar traits; therefore, if one notices that a plant possesses a drastically different flower, flowering pattern, leaf shape, leaf size, or growth habit, the plant is often rushed to market. This leaves little time for complete trials of the plant to see what it would look like at maturity.
Secondly, most well-adapted or native trees/shrubs have relatively long life spans. A crapemyrtle or magnolia can easily grow and thrive in a landscape for thirty years or more before reaching maximum size. Nurseries simply do not have time to evaluate plants that long. Many nurseries, due to vagaries of economic cycles and length of career spans, don’t even exist for thirty years much less trial a single plant for that length of time!
In conclusion, nurseries are not likely to change their plant tag practices, but there are a couple of checks consumers can use to make sure they buy an appropriate plant for the scale of their site. First, it is a good rule of thumb to double the advertised plant height to arrive at a better idea of the plant’s mature size. Second, drive through established neighborhoods and observe what certain plants look like in a mature landscape. This will give one an idea of what the plant is capable of. The third and best option is to consult your local County Extension Office. They will be able to offer research-based information to help you make the right decision in your plant choices. Keep this in mind the next time you are thinking of buying the latest, greatest plant at your local nursery!
Happy Gardening!
