Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 17, 1993 TAG: 9310180309
SECTION: HOMES PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: John Arbogast
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
October
Take soil tests from your vegetable garden, flower beds and other landscape uses that are to receive fertilizer in the spring. Tests should be done once every three years. The pH of the soil controls the availability of nutrients to plants.
Thus, if soil pH corrections are necessary, begin applications of pH adjusters (lime or sulfur) in the fall so that the pH can be a little closer to the ideal by spring. This way, the fertilizer materials can be used by the good plants rather than leach or run off to create water pollution.
Conduct end-of-the-season cleanup in the flower beds, vegetable garden and around fruit crops to cut down on next year's pests, in an attempt to reduce the need for pesticides in '94.
November
Mix leaves into the top 6-8 inches of annual flower bed or vegetable garden soil where winter cover crops are not being grown. This addition will add a free source of organic matter to that soil. Shred the leaves with a lawnmower first so that they will decompose more quickly. Save some, if not all, of your leaves to use next growing season as a carbon source (brown material) in the compost pile or as organic mulch around flowers or vegetables.
If you desire a very nice bluegrass or fescue lawn, make a late fall application of any turf-type fertilizer whose nutrients are readily available this month before the lawn loses color for the winter. This timing will insure that the nutrients are beneficial to the grass plants rather than being wasted or used to promote excessive spring clippings.
December
Apply winter mulch around roses and over perennials after the soil has chilled. Replenish your normal 2 1/2-inch thick layer of organic mulch in other parts of the landscape at the same time. Mulch will be valuable to control winter erosion as well as to help prevent fluctuations in soil temperatures.
Q: I have 25 rose bushes. This year I left the blooms on and they didn't make rose hips. The flower stems died down to the leaves below; the stems don't have a good green color like they usually have. What seems to be wrong with my roses? What can I do for them this fall? N.B.W., Buena Vista
A: Production of those fruits produced by roses is not an automatic function for all rose varieties. Most rose varieties have the ability to make a few small hips. However, the fact that your roses did not produce any hips does not tell me that there is any particular problem.
Also, flower stems dying down to the leaves can occur when the faded rose blooms are not removed. So, that also is not a clue that your roses are in trouble.
Look on the rose canes that don't have their usual green color for brown cankers, a fungus disease that causes chestnut-brown areas surrounded by deep purple margins, or reddish purple areas on the canes, which would be infections caused by the black spot fungus.
Right now, I would suggest removing all the dead rose blooms as well as brown stem parts. In late fall, prune out and remove all diseased canes that show symptoms mentioned above.
To get more specific information contact your local Rockbridge County Extension Office at (703) 463-4734 and arrange to take them some samples of your rose stems and canes.
Q: I have a birch tree that lost leaves on one side very early. Please tell me what is wrong. Mrs. C.G., Fincastle
A: Two possible explanations for that leaf loss are: the July and August drought, particularly if the root system of that birch was already weaker on that side of the tree or if the soil there tends to be drier. Or it could be some physical injury to the stems, trunk or roots on that side.
Examine the birch carefully and then call your local Botetourt County Extension Office in Fincastle at 473-8260 to discuss the problem. Be ready to answer questions such as: How long has that birch been planted in its present site? Has this happened in past years? Is there any physical covering such as sidewalk or driveway near the tree? Are other plants affected also?
Q: A rhododendron and azalea fertilizer I bought last spring says on the box that oak leaves, while decidedly acid when fresh, eventually produce an alkaline reaction. Have I been insulting my woods plants all these years? E.C.M., Salem
A: In my opinion, you have not been insulting your woods plants by using oak leaves as mulch. Most shade tree leaves are thought to be acidic when fresh, but oak leaves that have aged may have little effect upon soil pH.
Send short questions about your lawn, garden, plants, or insects to Dear John, c/o the Roanoke Times & World-News, P. O. Box 2491, Roanoke, Va. 24010-2491. We need your mail, but this column can't reply to all letters. Those of wide appeal will be answered each week.
John Arbogast is the agricultural extension agent for Roanoke.
by CNB