| Subject | Date Asked | Expert |
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| princess spirea bush | 6/18/2007 | Edward Gulliksen |
Q: I recently planted a princess spirea bush in front of my house that gets the majority of the sun ...
A: Holly, One of the worst times to plant is when the plant is starting to bloom. This causes extra ...
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| Nandina | 6/17/2007 | Edward Gulliksen |
Q: I have two potted Nandina in my back garden. we have had them for a number of years and were ...
A: Sarah, I hope it was not me that recommended doing a rejuvenation pruning on your nandina. The ...
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| non blooming oleanders | 6/16/2007 | Edward Gulliksen |
Q: I live just northwest of Houston and I have 4 oleanders--all planted in full sun for last three ...
A: Diane, I think with the monthly fertilization, you are forcing top growth at the expense of ...
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| cyprus trees | 6/16/2007 | Edward Gulliksen |
Q: How do I identify & move 7-8' tapered cyprus trees? All 9 are beautiful, maybe emerald green, very ...
A: Pat, To identify the trees, I would recommend taking a cutting to a local nursery, they should be ...
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| Dogwood | 6/15/2007 | Edward Gulliksen |
Q: I live in Maryland just outside DC and have a well-established Dogwood that has large leaves and ...
A: Rod, It sounds like there is something girdling the tree somewhere along the trunk. The difference ...
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| crape myrtle shrub | 6/15/2007 | Edward Gulliksen |
Q: Ipurchased a 5 gal. Cherokee Crape Myrtle shrub a few weeks ago and since I live in Central Ca. and ...
A: Wanda, If there is water in the catch tray at the bottom constantly, then you may be over watering ...
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| Rose of Sharon Not Thriving | 6/14/2007 | Edward Gulliksen |
Q: After over-watering and killing my last plants, I purchaed new ones in August of last year. The new ...
A: Stephanie, I would recommend trying to amend the soil in the vacinity of the plants. Use a soil ...
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| Curl and black-margined holes in holly leaves | 6/14/2007 | Edward Gulliksen |
Q: The new leaves in a 5' "Emily Bruner" holly begin stunted and curled (rule out aphids). As the ...
A: Donald, It sounds like the holly has holly leaf miner. Treat the plant with a systemic insecticide ...
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| scales and dormant oil spray on arbavitaes | 6/13/2007 | Edward Gulliksen |
Q: I have a scale problem on my arbavitaes. I have been told that I could not spray them until late ...
A: Dave, The problem with most oils is that they can damage the cell walls of arborvitae and some ...
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| maple tree with white looking fungi | 6/13/2007 | Edward Gulliksen |
Q: I live in central pennsylvania. Last year the leaves on my maple tree started to wilt. I took them ...
A: Teresa, The white fungal growths that you see are probably the fruiting bodies of a wood rot ...
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| verticulum wilt | 6/12/2007 | Edward Gulliksen |
Q: I live on the shores of Lake Ontario in Canada. My question concerns purple-leaf sand cherries. I ...
A: Arline, It is possible that the plants have been infected by Vert. Wilt. The following website can ...
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| white fungus | 6/12/2007 | Edward Gulliksen |
Q: My David Viburnum has a white fungus on top of the leaves. I have read that this may be caused by ...
A: Debbie, The fungus that you are seeing is probably podwery mildew. This disease does not do alot of ...
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| gardenias | 6/11/2007 | Edward Gulliksen |
Q: I have 3 grardenia bushes that were flowering nicely. Just this weekend I noticed the buds are ...
A: Connie, I found this information on the University of Florida website: Bud Drop One of the most ...
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| variegated dogwood | 6/10/2007 | Edward Gulliksen |
Q: For the last couple of years my variegated dogwood has looked bad - leaves are crinkled with holes ...
A: Dennis, From the description I would say that the dogwood has been attacked by spittle bug. Try ...
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| transplant problem | 6/10/2007 | Edward Gulliksen |
Q: My lawn man moved a 4-5 ft. tall crepe myrtle trimmed to be a tree over to a new spot about 3 feet ...
A: Linda, I am afraid there is little that can be done at this time. Continue watering the plants and ...
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| burning bush | 6/9/2007 | Edward Gulliksen |
Q: I just noticed that my burning bush has leaves that are wilted and they seem very small for the age ...
A: Gail, I would recommend that you check the undersides of the leaves for Mites. The easiest way to ...
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| Rose of Sharon/insects | 6/9/2007 | Edward Gulliksen |
Q: I have a Rose of Sharon that's not doing that great. I transplanted the shrub last year from the ...
A: Michelle, The only insect that I can think of that would effect Rose-of-Sharon that fit that ...
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| Pine/White | 6/9/2007 | Edward Gulliksen |
Q: I have at least 20 50ft. pine trees that seem to be dying. Do I feed them muracid? Obviously, I am ...
A: Susan, White pines that big may need more than just fertilizer. For trees this large to start ...
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| hydragneas | 6/8/2007 | Edward Gulliksen |
Q: we purchased a large endless summer hydrangea late summer last year and were excited to have it in ...
A: Shirley, I am not sure where you are writing from, but I think that you can find all the answers ...
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| Apple tree pruning & fertilizer | 6/7/2007 | Edward Gulliksen |
Q: Gulliksen I have planted two apple trees about three years back and they have not grown since then ...
A: Aslam, There are many reasons why the trees would not grow- improper planting, wrong soil types, ...
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| non-blooming hydranga | 6/7/2007 | Edward Gulliksen |
Q: While my old-fashioned Annabelle hydrangas bloom faithfully, the newer blue ones don't bloom. They ...
A: Sharon, I think that the plants are sacrificing flower production for leaf growth. One of the best ...
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| Althea (tree form) help | 6/6/2007 | Edward Gulliksen |
Q: I have planted a tree form Althea last spring. It bloomed and looked wonderful during the summer. ...
A: David, The problem is that the plant is putting out a lot of elongation growth and not adding ...
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| Japanese Maple | 6/6/2007 | Edward Gulliksen |
Q: We live in NC, and just as our large Japanese Maple was leafing out, we has a freeze (21 degrees) ...
A: Heidi, You need to fertilize the tree this spring and again in the fall. This will help strengthen ...
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| purple sadn cherry disease & viburnum and mock orange problems | 6/6/2007 | Edward Gulliksen |
Q: We live in western Wisconsin. We just pulled out a purple leaf sand cherry shrub. It had a nasty ...
A: Lisa, You are right to be concerned about this insect, it could infest the crabapple as well. I ...
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| curled leaves on lilac and burning bush | 6/6/2007 | Edward Gulliksen |
Q: I have two lilac bushes that were planted three years ago. Last year the leaves started curling up ...
A: Lin, There are a few separate insects in play here- scale and possibly spittle bug on the lilacs ...
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| birch tree | 6/6/2007 | Edward Gulliksen |
Q: i have a 30ft birch tree with 3 main trunks sprouting out. One of the trunks looks like its dying ...
A: Danielle, The stem was probably killed by Bronze Birch Borer. I would not be surprised if the other ...
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| Rose of Sharon death | 6/5/2007 | Edward Gulliksen |
Q: I have a well-established hedge of Althea. One of the bushes (luckily the end one) has not produced ...
A: Lucy, The orange dots that you see are the ruiting bodies of a wood rot fungus. This fungus is ...
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| Arborvitae planting question | 6/4/2007 | Edward Gulliksen |
Q: We recently had a local garden center plant 57 arborvitae trees on our property and we're having ...
A: Nancy, Mulch should be kept away from the trunks of any tree. Crown rot can occur if the mulch is ...
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| Cedar Deodar - yellowing of new needles | 6/4/2007 | Edward Gulliksen |
Q: I planted Cedar Deodar last year. I was instructed by the nursery to use a lot of good soil under ...
A: Jacek, It sounds like the cedar has tip blight or possibly canker. I would recommend giving it a ...
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| meyer lemon tree losing leaves | 6/3/2007 | Edward Gulliksen |
Q: We live in Vero Beach, FL and our Meyer lemon is 2yrs old (since we planted it). It didn't bear much ...
A: Diane, It sounds like the tree has used up the nutrients in the soil. Have you been fertilizing it ...
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| Oleander disease | 6/3/2007 | Edward Gulliksen |
Q: My oleanders have some kind of disease or bug on them. Whatever it is attached to the underneath of ...
A: Donna, The problem with the Oleanders was not actually a disease, but the insect pest known as ...
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| moving large holly bushes | 6/3/2007 | Edward Gulliksen |
Q: this coming feb / march I plan to do some major landscaping. i've got a number of large holly ...
A: Mark, I would recommend hiring a company that specializes in moving plants. They have specialized ...
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| Rose of Sharon split at base problems | 6/2/2007 | Edward Gulliksen |
Q: I have searched through this website and can't find this particular problem with my Rose of Sharon ...
A: Pamela, This is a difficult diagnosis without actually seeing the plant. I have done some research, ...
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| lemon tree with brown leags and some discoloration | 6/1/2007 | Edward Gulliksen |
Q: My meyer lemon tree just started to have a bunch of leaves where the ends of the leaves turn brown ...
A: Evan, Tip browning can be caused by a variety of things, overwatering (which can drown the roots), ...
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| rhodeys | 5/31/2007 | Edward Gulliksen |
Q: we have many very large and tall rhodeys around our home. they are beginning to overpower the house ...
A: Ed, I would recommend taking them down to size in stages. Cut back on some of the longest branches ...
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| holly bush disease | 5/31/2007 | Edward Gulliksen |
Q: The leaves turn yellow then black many have black spots , also th tips of the stems turn black. I ...
A: Golda, The problem with diseases such as the leaf spot that is effecting the holly, is that once ...
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| Rose of Sharon roots | 5/31/2007 | Edward Gulliksen |
Q: I have rose of sharon that is out of hand. I've cut them,but they keep coming back. Could you tell ...
A: Elaine, Allow the plants that you killed to grow a little bit, then spray the plants with Round-Up. ...
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| Problems, flowering crabapple | 5/30/2007 | Edward Gulliksen |
Q: Mr.Gulliksen: I have a flowering crabapple (don't remember the name; follage is maroon in color) ...
A: Jeffrey, Well since neither you nor any landscaper that you might have hired have ever hit the base ...
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| Training an Oleander tree | 5/30/2007 | Edward Gulliksen |
Q: I just purchased a tree form oleander in a 7 gal pot. What is the best planting and pruning method ...
A: Lawrence, To shape this tree properly, you will need to keep an eye on any branches that are ...
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| purple sadn cherry disease & viburnum and mock orange problems | 5/30/2007 | Edward Gulliksen |
Q: We live in western Wisconsin. We just pulled out a purple leaf sand cherry shrub. It had a nasty ...
A: Lisa, First the sand cherry, it was effected by a peach tree borer. This insect will feed on any ...
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