Desert Blooms

Southwest Yard & Garden by Dr. Marisa Thompson UPDATED 3-21-22 with some very uplifting news... scroll to the bottom! Plum buds (left) are in “bud burst” and “first white” stages of floral development.  Thirty minutes of exposure to temperatures in the mid-20s are expected to kill 10% of buds in these stages, and temperatures in the low 20s might kill as much as 90% of the flower buds. Peach buds (right) in this “first pink” stage are slightly more resilient than plum buds. Temperatures in the mid-20s are still expected to kill 10% of the buds, but in order to kill 90% temperatures would have to drop into the mid-teens. Photo credit J. van der Ploeg. Question : How can I protect my backyard peach tree from losing fruit to late frosts? -       Submitted via Patrick Kircher, Roosevelt County Extension Agriculture Agent, Portales, NM Answer : This is a tough one. There’s lots of advice out there for things that might help (emphasis on the “might”). Your options for protec

  Southwest Yard & Garden by Dr. Marisa Thompson Pomegranates can create beautiful color when leaves turn bright yellow in fall. In this October photo taken at the NMSU Los Lunas Agricultural Science Center, ‘Afganski’ cultivar pomegranates are the foreground and tall ‘Encore’ peaches with dark orange leaves are in the back. Photo credit M Thompson. Question: When should I prune my pomegranate tree and how much wood should be removed during pruning? -           Extension Master Gardener Trainees in Valencia and Bernalillo Counties Answer:  Pomegranates ( Punica granatum ) are monoecious plants. Monoecious is a flowering term that means it has both male (pollen-forming) and female (ovary- and fruit-forming) reproductive organs on the same plant. The individual flowers can be perfect, meaning both male and female parts are found together in a single flower. Other flowers found on the same shrub can be imperfect, meaning they are single-sex. The imperfect flowers on

Southwest Yard & Garden by Dr. Marisa Thompson with guest contributor Dr. Gill Giese Powdery mildew evident on leaf top surface is easier to see when the leaf is turned “sideways” to catch the light on infection sites that are in sporulation. Photo credit G. Giese. Grow tube in late summer on vine near Tularosa. It appears the grow tube was used to protect the vine trunk from weed trimmer used to cut the Bermuda grass ground cover. Photo credit G. Giese.   Question: My husband and I are planting a few Marquette grape vines this year in Santa Fe. I would like to plant a tree approximately 8 feet from the vines. Could you recommend some trees that would be “a good idea” to plant close by? I read that planting a rose bush at the vines will help to indicate any diseases since the roses would get this first. Is this a good thing to do? Are rabbits a problem with grape vines? We have quite a few roaming freely. Should we protect the vines with a net around them? -     

Southwest Yard & Garden by Dr. Marisa Thompson ( Piñon Needle Scale – Part 1: Identification Tips and Life Cycle Secrets ) with guest contributors Dr. Carol Sutherland and Dr. John Formby Black specks on these older browned piñon needles at a park in Albuquerque back in March 2018 are a sign of a piñon needle scale infection. Photo credit M. Thompson. Piñon tree in an Albuquerque park (March 2018) has browning needles, but it wasn’t until I got close that I could see the piñon needle scale evidence. Photo credit M. Thompson. Question: I took these photos on one of the piñon trees nearest our house. We have thousands of piñon here on our land and our neighbor’s land, some of which have died within 12–14 days of turning brown. We would hate to see an epidemic, but it does seem to be spreading. What is it and what should we do? - Paula P., Mora, NM (submitted via NMSU Extension Agent for Mora County, Suzanne DeVos-Cole) Answer: Last

Southwest Yard & Garden by Dr. Marisa Thompson with guest contributors Dr. Carol Sutherland and Dr. John Formby (Part II of this column covers what you can do for trees in your yard if they are infested with piñon needle scale:  https://nmsudesertblooms.blogspot.com/2019/03/pinon-needle-scale-part-2-suppressing.html ) Piñon needle scale seen here as black bumps on a piñon branch sample; note that older, lower needles have browned, but the newer growth is green… for now. Photo credit P. Pinson. Piñon tree with tell-tale browning older needles near Mora, NM. Photo credit P. Pinson. Question: I took these photos on one of the piñon trees nearest our house. We have thousands of piñon here on our land and our neighbor’s land, some of which have died within 12-14 days of turning brown. We would hate to see an epidemic, but it does seem to be spreading. What is it and what should we do? - Paula P., Mora, NM (submitted via NMSU Extension Agent for Mora County, Suz