Nature's Landscape Services

Be on the look out for Spider Mite damage to landscape plants.  Damage most often manifests as a loss of vigor and color, eventually leading to dropping of leaves.

If you have plants that are experiencing this, you can verify if spider mites are part of the culprit relatively easily.

1. place a white sheet of paper beneath foliage and then tap the foliage so as to dislodge any spider mites that may be present, as they are most frequently on bottom side of foliage
2. look for tiny critters, less than 1/16^th inch in size, moving around on the sheet of paper.  Using a 10x magnifying glass can help.

If there are any spider mites at all, there will not be just one, but rather hundreds or thousands.

Left uncontrolled, spider mites can kill host plants.

If after sampling you suspect that spider mites are the problem, it can be verified via the UGA Cooperative Extension Service or by a knowledgeable landscape professional.

Spider Mites are not insects, and therefore can’t be controlled with insecticides.  Rather, a miticide is needed.

If you are planning on pruning Crape Myrtles, now is the time!  Take a few minutes to watch this video on the proper way to prune these trees.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hZJRWkRH5M  Many professional landscapers and homeowners incorrectly prune Crape Myrtles every year.  We see these beautiful trees chopped down in our neighbor’s yard or in the grocery store parking lot.  Share this video with others and help us stop our fellow citizens from “murdering” these great trees!

With the extremes in weather that we’ve had, you may not have been in the landscape long enough to tally any cold injury to landscape trees and shrubs.  No worries, for cold injury only becomes easier to spot over time, as tissue death is realized.

Ordinarily, cold injury occurs when plants are “triggered” to grow prematurely, as a result of an out of season warm spell during the winter months.  In this scenario, plant sap flows upward and cell water content increases.  In the event of a freeze, respective cellular water freezes and therefore ruptures cellular walls, resulting in cold injury.

However, the weather this winter has remained consistently cold.  So the scenario above has not occurred, at least not yet.

Still, cold damage is manifesting with some ornamentals within the landscape.  Examples of plants that have exhibited cold injury include Wax Myrtle and Tobira Pittosporum.  Unexpectedly, several Japanese Hollies have displayed cold injury as well.

A pretty good article on Winter Protection is at http://pubs.caes.uga.edu/caespubs/pubcd/c872/c872.htm , if you are concerned.

Since it’s not likely I’ll be able to work on my lawn this weekend, or even see it, I’ll take the opportunity to dust off my snow shoes and do some pruning.  After all, now is a great time to prune most plant material, and it’s not supposed to rain.

By pruning now, plants won’t waste energy producing leaves on limbs that are to be pruned off anyway.

There are exceptions of course, as pruning spring flowering shrubs, such as azaleas, will result in loss of flowers.  These trees and shrubs should be pruned after flower.  Check out http://pubs.caes.uga.edu/caespubs/pubcd/B949/B949.html

for some really good information, and get out there!