DEAR NEIL: You recently discussed cleavers (Velcro weed, sticky weed). I’ve had very good luck pulling it when it’s young. I don’t like using weedkillers on it since it so often grows among wildflowers. Thoughts?
Dear Reader: I agree with you on the wildflowers. So often the outbreaks of it that I see are so heavy that pulling would take days. In isolated instances, pulling by hand or hoeing with the corner of a well-sharpened hoe should be fairly easy, but for those of us with mobility issues or with major outbreaks of the weed, weedkillers are still an option. The way to avoid significant damage to wildflowers would be to use a tank sprayer with a spray wand and to use low pressure so that you could direct the spray specifically onto the weeds. That’s an environmentally responsible way of addressing the weeds. I appreciate your bringing it up. Good suggestions.
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DEAR NEIL: I’ve been seeing this black stuff on grass and other vegetation in our landscape. What is it, and how can I control it?
Dear Reader: Those are spores of a fungus called slime mold. It sounds worse than it is. It’s a saprophyte that lives off decaying organic matter, and other than shading the leaf blades for a short period of time it causes no harm at all (other than staining white sneakers if you walk through grass that’s covered in it). You can easily enough wash it off the leaves with a hard stream of water. In the case of your lawn, you’ll pick up the spores the next time that you mow.
DEAR NEIL: I have two spruce evergreens flanking my front door. Earlier this spring one large branch became brown. A local nursery told me it was being caused by mites and sold me a product labeled to control mites. However, it has not helped. What is affecting the one shrub? What will stop it?
Dear Reader: You have junipers, not spruces. As pretty as they are when they’re young, several types of junipers (Blue Point, Spartan and others) are known for losing one or more branches at a time due to fungal twig cankers. If you Google “university juniper twig dieback” you will find many Land Grant (agricultural) universities reporting on the problem. Those several junipers are especially susceptible to funguses such as Phomopsis and Kabatina. Sadly, reports that I’ve seen suggest that there are no effective sprays that will prevent or stop them. You can prune to remove the dead branches, but expect more to appear. I can already see discoloration in a couple of the branches on the plant on the right. I’m really sorry to have to report such dismal news.
DEAR NEIL: Can you recommend a drought-resistant grass? I’ve read conflicting information. Habiturf? Buffalo grass? A mix of different grasses? Please not bermuda!
Dear Reader: There is no way that this answer will please everyone. That’s because I can’t anticipate what each reader expects from a lawn grass. When you say “drought-tolerant,” does that mean that you do not plan to water the turfgrass at all or that you’re just hoping to cut back on water consumption dramatically? There’s a huge difference. For example, you’ll see buffalo grass growing natively along highways where there is never irrigation, just runoff. You would assume it to be very drought-tolerant and you would be correct. But it will also be brown much of the summer under no-water conditions. If that’s what you’re willing to have, then it would be very drought-tolerant.
However, most people want at least some limited green in their turfgrass, so they water at least occasionally. As soon as you do that, bermuda grass will take over the buffalo grass. Probably 98 percent of the buffalo grass lawns that I have seen planted eventually turned into solid bermuda within three or four years. It would have been easier and cheaper just to have started with the common bermuda in the beginning.
I would make the same comment about any mixture of different types of drought-resistant lawn grasses. Why would you want more than one type if one were going to be the most durable? Why bother with the others?
I know that Habiturf has gotten a great deal of publicity in the past 10 to 15 years, and in the right setting it can be very pretty, but its recommended mowing height is 6 to 8 inches. Most HOAs and homeowners aren’t going to want a lawn that’s that deep in my experience.
Keep in mind, also, that these options weigh only drought tolerances. They do nothing to consider shade tolerance. In my 53 years of advising Texas home gardeners I have taken probably 1,000 questions about shade issues for turfgrass to every one question related to drought tolerance.
You ruled out bermuda grass, so I won’t try to sway you. But for my other readers, I will say that in my opinion, it is Texas’ best drought-tolerant turfgrass for home lawns without any question.
DEAR NEIL: How do I control moldy spots on my tree? Will the disease kill my tree?
Dear Reader: This is powdery mildew. It’s unlikely to be an annual visitor to your tree. It will do little if any major damage to the tree other than disfiguring the early spring leaves. You could spray the entire tree with a fungicide labeled for powdery mildew, but as close as we are to summertime, I doubt if it’s worth doing. Once it turns even warmer the problem should go away. These leaves may drop prematurely, but all should be well very soon.
Have a question you’d like Neil to consider? Email him at mailbag@sperrygardens.com. Neil regrets that he cannot reply to questions individually.