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What are Citrus Scale Pests? Citrus scale pests are tiny insects that suck sap from the citrus tree and then produce honeydew. The honeydew is then feasted upon by ant colonies, further adding insult to injury. The female adult scale is wingless and often has no legs while the adult male has one pair of wings and notable leg development. Male scale bugs on citrus look similar to a gnat, are generally not visible, and they do not have mouth parts to feed....

Once you have the right plants, decorating your outdoor space is fun and creates a relaxing, living vision. Evergreen Plants for Patios in Winter It’s always hard to watch the trees lose their leaves and perennials die back. This obviously means winter is on its way and the landscape will have very little charm until spring. Using winter patio plants is a nice way of warming up the area near the home....

Hellebore Pest Problems Hellebore plants are generally vigorous and healthy, and they are not particularly susceptible to bug damage. However, there are a few bugs that eat hellebores. One to watch for is aphids. They can munch the hellebore foliage. They are not very serious as pests of hellebore, however. Just wash them off with hose water. Other bugs that eat hellebores are called leaf miners. These bugs dig into the leaf surface and cause “mined out” serpentine areas....

Pests Of Caraway There are both annual and biennial varieties of caraway plant. These Eurasian natives are primarily grown for their edible and aromatic seeds. They are fairly easy to grow in the right climate, but occasional pest and disease issues may arise. The primary pests of caraway are weeds, but some insects may become problematic. Caraway insect problems are generally easy to resolve once you know which culprit to target....

Diseases of Parsnip Parsnips are very easy to grow and generally don’t give too much trouble to gardeners, provided they’re raised in loose soil that drains well. Raised beds make root crops like parsnips extra easy, since you don’t have to fight with rocks and underground roots, but even in those conditions, you may encounter these parsnip diseases: Leaf spot. Leaf spot is caused by one of several fungal pathogens that feed on leaf tissues, causing small to medium sized yellow spots to form....

Problems with Growing Gladiolus If you have gladiolus that are already growing and they are showing signs of yellowing leaves or even have flowers that seem stunted without opening before they start turning brown, your gladiolus problem is probably a virus. This is the worst thing to deal with because the worst gladiola disease is a virus. You may have to dig up the gladiolus and start with fresh corms. Gladiola disease is not limited to viruses, however....

Avoiding Problems with Sycamore Trees Sycamore trees are vulnerable to diseases and insect pests, just like almost every variety of tree you can plant. Experts advise that you keep your tree healthy, with good cultural practices, as a first line of defense against problems with sycamore trees. Generally, the healthier and more vital the tree, the less it will experience sycamore tree problems. However, even well placed, irrigated, and fertilized sycamore trees can get some pests and diseases....

Does Compost Smell? A properly balanced compost pile should not smell bad. Compost should smell like dirt and if it does not, there is something wrong and your compost pile is not properly heating up and breaking down the organic material. There is one exception to this rule and that is if you are composting manure in your compost pile. This will commonly smell until the manure breaks down. If you wish to suppress the smell of composting manure, you can cover the pile with 6-12 inches (15-30 cm....

Help, My Compost Tea Stinks! If you have smelly compost tea, the question is whether it is safe to use and, more importantly, just what may have gone wrong in the process. First of all, compost tea should not have an unpleasant odor; it should smell earthy and yeasty. So, if your compost tea smells bad, there is a problem. There are many different “recipes” for compost teas but all of them have three basic elements: clean compost, inert water, and aeration....

Fireplace Ashes for Compost Composting ashes is an ideal way to put them to use in the garden. Fireplace ashes for compost can be used to help maintain the neutral condition of the compost. It can also add nutrients to the soil. Decomposing materials in the compost pile can become somewhat acidic, and wood ash can help offset this, as it’s more alkaline in nature. However, it may not be a good idea to use charcoal ashes, such as those from grills....

What is Guttation? Plants gather a lot of the moisture and nutrients they need to survive through their roots. In order to move these things upward, the plant has tiny holes in its leaves called stomata. Evaporation of moisture through these holes creates a vacuum that pulls water and nutrients in the roots up against the pull of gravity and throughout the plant. This process is called transpiration. Transpiration stops at night when the stomata close, but the plant compensates by drawing in extra moisture through the roots and building up pressure to force nutrients upward....

Apple Twig Cutter Insect Damage What are twig cutter weevils? Rhynchites weevils generally host hawthorn, apple, pear, plum or cherry trees. Adults are 2-4 millimeters long, reddish brown and slightly hairy. The larvae is 4 millimeters long, white with brown heads. The rarely seen eggs are about 0.5 millimeters, oval, and white to translucent. Adult weevils drill small holes in the flesh of fruit. The females then lay eggs in these holes, crawling out of the fruit and partially cutting the stem that holds the fruit on the tree....

Gluten Cornmeal as Weed Killer Researchers at Iowa State University discovered by accident that cornmeal gluten acts as an herbicide while they were doing disease research. They saw that corn gluten meal kept grass and other seeds, such as crabgrass, dandelions, and chickweed from sprouting. It is important to note that cornmeal gluten is only effective against seeds, not plants that are mature, and is most effective with corn gluten having at least 60% proteins in it....

How to Make Pumpkin Planters Any pumpkin is suitable for making pumpkin planters, but a round, fat pumpkin with a flat bottom is easier to plant in than a tall, skinny pumpkin. Purchase two or three nursery bedding plants to plant in your pumpkin. To turn a plain old pumpkin into a flower pot, use a sharp knife to slice off the top. Make the opening large enough to allow for digging and planting....

Pruning a Croton Plant Croton care is very straightforward and generally something even a novice gardener can accomplish with ease. So, should you prune crotons? The plant only needs rejuvenation trimming when it gets too sparse and light pruning to remove dead leaves. Pruning a croton is not rocket science, but you should use proper sanitation procedures to prevent the spread of disease. Crotons can easily get 6 to 10 feet (2-3 m....

Cucamelon Harvest Info If you have yet to discover and grow cucamelon in your vegetable garden, it’s time to try out these fun little fruits. A cucamelon in Spanish is called a sandita, or little watermelon. Both names describe just what this fruit is like: it looks like a miniature watermelon, and it is a member of the same family as cucumbers. The cucamelon is small and can be eaten whole and fresh but are also great for pickling....

How to Naturalize Daffodil Bulbs The proper soil is key to naturalizing daffodils. The bulbs do not perform well in heavy clay soils or in beds without excellent drainage. Amend the bed with leaf litter, compost, perlite or even a bit of sand to achieve good porosity and drainage. If the soil is just too soggy, build a raised bed for daffodil naturalizing. The soil should hold just enough moisture to keep the roots lightly moist but prevent a constant boggy mess around the bulbs which can cause rot....

Dallisgrass Weed: A Good Idea Gone Bad The dallisgrass weed (Paspalum dilitatum) hails from Uruguay and Argentina. It was introduced into the United States back in the 1800’s as a fast-growing forage plant that could survive our southern climes. Its common name is a tribute to A.T. Dallis, who was an ardent supporter of its use and import around the turn of the century. Too bad he made a mistake, and his name is now attached to such a pernicious weed....

Celery Types Grown for its succulent stalks or petioles, celery dates as far back as 850 B.C. and was cultivated not for its culinary use, but its medicinal purposes. Today, there are three different kinds of celery: self-blanching or yellow (leaf celery), green or Pascal celery, and celeriac. In the United States, green stalk celery is the usual choice and used both raw and cooked. Stalk celery originally had a tendency to produce hollow, bitter stalks....

Different Types of Moss There are 22,000 varieties of moss worldwide, so you have quite a few options. A good way to narrow down your choices in what garden moss types to use is to determine what you want to do with your moss. Nothing says a lawn has to be grassy, and a damp, highly shaded yard, in particular, may perform much better with a type of moss that can handle high foot traffic....