Gardeners Supply Plant Care & Gardening Advice/Tips/Secrets @ HortChat.com®

The deer have nibbled off many of the branches of two Rose of Sharon bushes. Can I trim the branches now to make it look better or should I wait? Some of the branches were eaten almost to the ground and I am afraid that it will look bad as well as take away from branches that will grow.

Late winter before bud break is a good time to prune your Rose of Sharon, Althea (Hibiscus syriacus) . They are moderate growers but will fill in nicely after the severe pruning by deer. Cut out any dead branches and try to even out all the stems so you don’t have an odd shaped shrub.   They bloom on the current seasons growth  (new growth), therefore should reward you with lots of flowers  in late summer.

My lucky bamboo has a gel like substance in the roots and I am wondering if  I should rinse it out or leave it there?

The jelly-like substance is a polyacrylamide, white crystal granules that swell up like a sponge and  holds up to 200 times its weight in water. It is not harmful to the roots.  In fact, it reduces the need for watering as it slowly releases the absorbed water over an extended period of time. Once all the moisture is gone, the gel shrinks back to its original size and will need to be rehydrated.  This polymer will not harm the plant, perhaps save you some watering time. You can leave it or rinse  off the slippery gel.  Lucky bamboo stalks are often shipped in this polymer to maintain moisture on the roots.

I received a potted Calla lily as a gift and don’t know anything about it.  I would like some information on how to care for it.

A potted Calla lily will usually bloom for 4-6 weeks. They do well in bright filtered light in the winter months and partial shade in the summer and prefer temperatures of 70-85F in summer and 60-75F in the winter/spring. Cooler temperatures will help keep the plant and flowers longer. Keep the soil evenly moist but not soggy. Wet soil can lead to a fungus rot that affects the roots and rhizome.  It is important  to allow the water to drain from the bottom of the pot.  During active growth and blooming  feed your Calla every 2-3 weeks with a well-balanced fertilizer.

When the plant  stops blooming and the leaves start to yellow and die back, reduce watering and let the soil dry. Clip off all brown foliage and store the tuber in a cool (42-45F)  spot for a resting period of 2-3 months and as long as 8-10 months.   This period is important for tuber renewal. Calla tubers can also be stored in paper bag or cardboard box in slightly moistened peat, perlite or vermiculite.  In late winter/spring, replant the tuber in pots of fresh, loose soil.  Colored callas planted in the spring will bloom in summer and then go dormant in the fall.
If you live in zone 8-10  Calla lily can also be planted outdoors and left year round.  In cooler climates they need to be dug up before frost.

The center of my African Violets are leaved very tightly and not blooming. They look like healthy plants otherwise. I have tried to thin the packed leaves but it doesn’t help.
What do I do now?

First check for cyclamen mites a serious pest of African violets. These tiny arachnids like to hide in the growing center of the plant causing leaves to curl up and dry, grow tight center leaves, deform, twist and stunt the leaves-giving them a grayish or discolored appearance. They feed by sucking on plant sap and inject toxins that disrupt normal growth. If you take a magnifying glass and look in the crown or creases of the leaves you may see small eight legged creatures.  Cyclamen mites thrive in high humid (80-90%) and warm temperatures in the 60’s. 
To treat for cyclamen mite: Isolate the plant from all others to prevent infesting other plants. An old -fashioned treatment is to plunge the plant in a pot of 115 degree water bath for 15 minutes-which should kill the mites but not the plant. After treatment, place the plant in another area so that it doesn’t get re-infested.  Another method is to spray the plant with Neem (check label directions before spraying) or treat with a miticide labeled for indoor use such as Avid, Akari or Bonide Mite-X.  Once you get rid of the mites and removing the dried distorted leaves from the center,  it may take some time for the plant to return to a normal growing pattern.

The second possibility is that the African violet is getting either too much light or too much fertilizer causing the leaves to form a tight compact rosette in the center of the plant.

I recently moved to Jacksonville, Florida and we planted a pair of bougainvilleas 20 months ago. They seemed to thrive last year even through the winter and are now about 5-6 feet tall. Then last week we had a rare freeze where the temperature dropped to approximately 20 degrees F. Now the plants have lost all their leaves. Is there any hope the the plants will survive and is there anything I can do to help at this point? We also had some injury to our mature hibiscus plants. Any help would be appreciated.

Bougainvilleas can recover from some frost damage as long as the roots were not frozen. Not much you can do at this point but wait and see .  Wait until all danger of  frost has passed in your area.  See if some of the damaged branches recover.  They may surprise you and resprout with new growth in the spring. Prune your bougainvillea in early spring,  if you prune too early and get hit by another frost any new growth will be especially sensitive to frost. You can prune the plant by 1/2 or cut away and trim thin and leggy growth in the spring and begin fertilizing monthly once it starts growing. If another frost is eminent cover your plant with a blanket.  Hibiscus are treated the same way.  Hopefully, your plants will recover and return twice as beautiful.

I received a rosemary plant for Christmas and it seemed to be doing fine, but I just noticed that the leaves look like they have dust or powder all over them. What do I do? It is in an upstairs room with a southern exposure. It gets sun during the day.

The whitish powder on your rosemary leaves is powdery mildew.  This specific  fungus (unlike other fungus) thrives in a warm and dry environment. It attacks healthy rosemary.  Once the plant is back outdoors, it should be fine.  Spraying the plant with a baking soda ( 3 tsp of baking soda to 1 gal water) mix should be a safe solution to the problem.  Several applications may be needed. Provide good air circulation around the plant. If you use your rosemary in cooking , a chemical treatment should not be used.

America has become lazy on growing Gardens?

Growing up was hard for me here in eastern Kentucky, being raised up in a family of 14 people on a twenty six acre hill side farm.  We worked the land and raised almost all the food we ate.  We were poor to some people standards but we never once starved, because my father always said that if a man lost little willie , referring to will power that he would starve to death setting on rich soil.  If a man is able to work and want because he is lazy or thinks he is too good to get his hands dirty he should starve for the punishment of being lazy.. my father had a eight grade education but he had little willie in a big way and raised us all up to learn the value of working and being ourselves and not afraid to get our hands dirty for the sake of eating and our well being… Just some thought from and old Kentucky hill billy.               

Growing gardens could help stimulus plan
With hard times in the United States, why don’t folks go back to raising food on the land they have.  This would help in these hard times to put some food on the tables.  You would be surprised what difference it would make if everyone (that could and had enought land to grow) grew some of the food for the family to eat. By doing this it would make the market food cheaper and then it would level out for good for consumers over all… just some thoughts from and old Kentucky hill billy.
What do you think about my idea? If there was less demand for food in the market place it would make food prices go down and help the stimulus plan.