THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 14, 1996 TAG: 9604120105
SECTION: HOME & GARDEN PAGE: G4 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Gardening
SOURCE: Robert Stiffler
LENGTH: Long : 120 lines
Can you help me with a stinkbug problem? About halfway through the growing season last year, our tomatoes were overcome with stinkbugs. They ruined the flesh of the tomatoes by leaving a white scar tissue just under the skin. Apparently they puncture the skin and then it heals itself, leaving a scar tissue. We have tried liquid Sevin and malathion, to no avail. The bugs take flight when any spray hits them, but young ones hatch. We clean and burn old plants each fall to eliminate hiding places for bugs. There seems to be more than one species of stinkbugs. Can you help?
Mrs. Jones, Portsmouth
Hampton Roads Research Center experts say you are correct in that there are several species of stinkbugs. They say that sometimes you have to accept a few blemishes on home-grown tomatoes, because, ``they taste so much better.'' Diazinon is labeled for controlling stinkbugs but follow label directions carefully. The botanical insecticide sabadilla is also labeled to control them. It may be harder to locate.
We have a prune-type plum tree in our back yard, but there is a sticky mass coming out at several places on the trunk. Is this the work of a borer? How do I treat this?
Mrs. J.E. Andrews Jr.,
Virginia Beach
Sounds like your tree has borers. You can stick a wire coat hanger up into the holes where the gummy mass is coming out and try to kill the borer. The spray recommended by Virginia Tech is Thiodan, sprayed July 15 and Aug. 15. Follow label directions carefully. Thiodan may be difficult to find, but Southern States stores usually carry it. If you lose the tree, three home remedies to prevent borers are: put mothballs in the soil when you plant the tree; plant mint around the base of the tree; or hang a bar of old-fashioned lye-type soap, available in some supermarkets, in the crotch of the tree. Rain causes the caustic soap to run down the trunk and supposedly prevents or kills borers.
My Cherokee Chief dogwood had beautiful red blooms and was healthy in its third spring. Then one day last June, it looked wilted, but it didn't need water. From then on, it went downhill. In only two weeks, it was a mass of brown, dead leaves that never fell off the tree. Was it dogwood anthracnose? Various nurserymen tell me that disease usually occurs in the wild. Did the problem come with the tree, which was purchased locally. Can I plant again in the same spot?
We pulled up the tree but leaves still clung to it and the roots looked fine. We dug up the spot and used a fungicide on the soil. I have been told that red dogwoods can take full sun. As you can see from the photo enclosed, nothing else was planted near it.
Also what is wrong with redbuds in our area? I see a lot of dieback. I planted one two years ago. It had beautiful blooms, but last summer its leaves became mottled and splotched, turned yellow and fell off. It appears to be a fungus. When do I spray and what should I use? Will it succumb to this fungus?
I want you to know that Mole-Med works! The moles left my yard and came into my garage last winter. I thought I had mice! I used peanut butter in traps and caught five. Now they are back again, tunneling through my flower garden. Why does castor bean oil (Mole-Med) have to be so expensive? It lasted about six months.
I've had to stop feeding the birds, because rats moved in under our deck and came every afternoon to eat from bird feeders on the ground. When I used baited traps, the rats went to our pool to drink and couldn't get out! I have resorted to old-fashioned metal rat traps and use chicken for bait. Randy Jackson says we have a severe rat problem in Virginia Beach, and I believe it. I trapped four of them in one week. Will you comment on this?
Chloe Long, Virginia Beach
Your letter is certainly one of the more interesting received this year. I'd not heard of moles moving into a garage, but more about that later.
As to your dogwood, Virginia Tech horticulturist Dan Milbocker says you most likely had verticillum wilt in the soil. When planted, the tree may have had injured roots. The disease gets into the roots and finally the wilt overtakes the tree and kills it. Did you overwater the tree?
In replanting, after using a fungicide like Funginex or Daconil on the soil, do not overwater a dogwood or any other tree you plant. Anthracnose is not a problem on dogwoods in this area but is harming dogwoods in the mountains.
It sounds like your redbud had canker, which is common with redbuds and can kill them in three to four years. Replant with a Chinese redbud that does not get canker.
I'm glad you've discovered that Mole-Med works. The directions say it should be applied three times per year to be effective. But I don't think it drove moles into your garage. Moles are as large as rats. You may have been catching voles, a cousin of the mouse, with a short tail and protruding teeth used to eat plant roots. Mole-Med does not claim vole control, but some states do use it for that purpose.
As to your rats, I talked to Virginia Beach extension agent Randy Jackson. He confirms there is a rat problem in Virginia Beach. The Blackwater area has lots of brown rats. Bird feeders placed on the ground attract rats, so be sure to continue to trap. Anyone seeing a rat should immediately get rat poison or a trap and work hard to eliminate this dirty pest. It carries diseases and has been known to bite pets and children.
We are losing many English boxwood. Replanting and reworking the soil has made no difference. We use a chemical lawn service and have a sprinkler system. My question is could the combination of one or the other be doing the damage? My husband believes in much watering.
Sally C. Condrey, Virginia Beach
As you're aware, boxwood in this area has many problems. Virginia Tech officials believe your problem is the sprinkler system. Turn it off automatic and only water the boxwood when you are sure it needs moisture.
Please help me identify what type of tree I have from the leaf being sent you. I dug up a seedling from under a tree at my mother's house. We always called it a snowball, because it had white snowball type flowers.
D. Byrnes, Virginia Beach
Hampton Roads Research Center horticulture experts believe yours is a white mulberry tree. They're rare, but there are white-blooming mulberries. Proper name is Morus alba, commonly called the white mulberry. It is a spreading, round-headed tree from China that grows to 50 feet with bright green leaves 5 inches long, often lobed. MEMO: No gardening questions will be taken over the phone. Write to Robert
Stiffler, The Virginian-Pilot, 150 W. Brambleton Ave., Norfolk, Va.
23510. Answers will be published on a space-available basis. For an
earlier reply, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope.
by CNB