All About Vegetation, House Plants, Gardens, Trees ect.

[bighomer]

QS I give mine a good cussing when they don't do right. My ole momma loved flowers and I guess I was kinda born to it, my bride learn her love for them from my mother to some extent.
Momma loved African violets a we had them all over the house, the ladies of the neighborhood used to come and marvel at her violets and outside flowers. They would tell her that she had a green thumb, she'd say she didn't know about that, she thought it was about 10% luck and 90% hard work.

[bighomer]

[bighomer]

[bighomer]

One of my favorite pondering spots.

Ole humble abode, pore a$$ people got pore a$$ ways.

[Quick Steel]

bighomer, you have created a lovely property, home, and ponder site.

[CamMan21]

I agree! Absolutely beautiful!

[CamMan21]

Looking good! Been raining here nearly every day (and again today) for the past two weeks...

What I wouldn't do for some of that rain!!! We had about an inch total the whole month of March, an inch total in April, and a half inch so far in May. For an area that gets about 55 inches a year, its DRY OUT THERE!

[Mumbleypeg]

Beautiful home Joe. The care and work spent on it is obvious and you are deservedly proud of it. Thanks for showing it.

Ken

[WillyCamaro]

Beautiful home Joe. The care and work spent on it is obvious and you are deservedly proud of it. Thanks for showing it.

Ken

Exactly mate.

[TPK]

One of my favorite pondering spots. 20210526_092747.jpg
Ole humble abode, pore a$$ people got pore a$$ ways.

Wow Joe! No wonder all them Turkey, Deer, Birds & Critters come by to visit you! I would too!
Looks like a front row seat in "Better Homes & Gardens"! Very nice!

[TPK]

Not plant pictures but pure nature. Taken about 15 min. ago.

[bighomer]

Thanks for for the kind words fellers I appreciate it. Some gorgeous pictures there Tom, great stuff bro.

[Quick Steel]

In the bottom 4 photos it looks like there is at least the beginning of a double rainbow. I once saw a clear triple in Hawaii.

[doglegg]

Very nice Tom.

QS I once saw a triple in Yellowstone.

[Working Edge]

Our crape myrtles took a hard hit in the January/February freeze, several days of temps below -10 degrees.

These six-foot tall plants are showing green under the surface bark to only about 24 inches above ground level, with new growth coming in, only at ground level.

Everything higher than 24 inches just appears to be dead wood.

Should I prune away the dead wood, or leave it alone, or wait a few more weeks before deciding?

Any advice much appreciated,
Mark

[bighomer]

Our crape myrtles took a hard hit in the January/February freeze, several days of temps below -10 degrees.

These six-foot tall plants are showing green under the surface bark to only about 24 inches above ground level, with new growth coming in, only at ground level.

Everything higher than 24 inches just appears to be dead wood.

Should I prune away the dead wood, or leave it alone, or wait a few more weeks before deciding?

Any advice much appreciated,
Mark

I ain't a expert by no means, but I think you should go ahead and cut it back to the 24 inch mark where it is green, now I figure that it may be dead back to the ground. In my limited experience they will sucker out from the roots and be okay. I would thin the suckers out to keep them from being to bushy, but you may want them to bush out. I've got one that keeps me busy cutting off suckers at ground level 3 others that never give me a problem.

[Mumbleypeg]

Having had the problem before, I agree with what Joe says. Remove the old trunk at ground level. New shoots will sprout from the base. Let several shoots grow up to about two feet tall. Then depending on whether you want a tree or a bush, trim accordingly keeping the most vigorous shoot or shoots. You’ll be surprised how fast they grow.

I have two crape myrtles that have been damaged by freeze twice before and that’s what was recommended to me by a horticulturalist. I did it, it worked. Also had another crape myrtle that outgrew it’s location (got bigger than the label said it would) so I had to remove it. Cut it off and dug out the root ball. That was four years ago and I’m still digging up shoots coming up from its roots, some as far as 8 or 10 feet from the old trunk.

Ken

[mrwatch]

the Iris are blooming.

[Working Edge]

Having had the problem before, I agree with what Joe says. Remove the old trunk at ground level. New shoots will sprout from the base. Let several shoots grow up to about two feet tall. Then depending on whether you want a tree or a bush, trim accordingly keeping the most vigorous shoot or shoots. You’ll be surprised how fast they grow.

I have two crape myrtles that have been damaged by freeze twice before and that’s what was recommended to me by a horticulturalist. I did it, it worked. Also had another crape myrtle that outgrew it’s location (got bigger than the label said it would) so I had to remove it. Cut it off and dug out the root ball. That was four years ago and I’m still digging up shoots coming up from its roots, some as far as 8 or 10 feet from the old trunk.

Ken

I tend to agree with both Y'all, about cutting the dead wood down.
However, gonna wait a few more weeks before making a move on these plants. My neighbor's 12-foot tall crape myrtles, having suffered the same freeze, are actually sprouting new growth, very close to the tops of the plant. Go figure..!!
Thanks again for your advice, much appreciated..!


Mark

[TPK]

In the bottom 4 photos it looks like there is at least the beginning of a double rainbow. I once saw a clear triple in Hawaii.

Yes, there were two rainbows. The second one was hard to get on the pictures because it was so faint it was barely perceptible. I have seen double rainbows pretty often over here but t don't think I have ever seen three of them at once.

[TPK]

the Iris are blooming.

Iris blooming already. You guys are way ahead of us. Our spring time has been so cold this year. Coldest spring time I can remember in the last 25 or so years. Didn't even get around to planting anything because it just started warming up the last couple of days.

[1967redrider]

In spite of the rain, my brother and I did some more garden planting yesterday. A guy he works with at the railroad plants corn and his planter screwed up an dumped a pile of seeds so he asked my brother if he wanted them. We tried separating the individual 4" stalks and re-planting them, keeping as much of the roots intact. Probably around 300 plants, we'll see if they take root. Also planted 2 more rows of sweet corn seeds, peppers, eggplant, cucumbers and watermelon. We're trying staking up the tomato plants this year to see how that works out.

[Mumbleypeg]

John, looks like a lot of work! Hope it pays off. All we can do is plant and tend - it’s the Lord God who makes it grow!

I noticed your comment about staking tomatoes. I used to stake my tomatoes years ago, until I learned about caging them. I make cages using 6x6 inch concrete reinforcing wire mesh. Just buy a 5 ft or 6 ft wide roll of the concrete reinforcing wire and cut sections 6 ft long, then roll into a circle. You’ll then have a cage 5 or 6 ft tall by 2-1/2 ft diameter which you then put around each tomato plant. Just keep the plant growing inside the cage (a couple of times a week you’ll need to push the growing vines back inside the cage, so they grow “up” and not “out” of the cage). The cages support the vines and their fruit so they don’t sprawl on the ground. And unlike with stakes there’s no pruning or tying the vines, just let them grow and pick the fruit.

Here’s a couple of pictures I just took today. (In the immediate foreground are some peppers in smaller store bought cages). BTW all those cages are at least twenty years old. I just keep them and re-use them.
Here’s a good tutorial on how to make the cages. https://www.growbetterveggies.com/growb ... y-don.html I don’t anchor mine with stakes, I just cut the outer wire from one end which leaves 6 inch long wire ”spikes” that I push into the ground.

[1967redrider]

Greatly appreciated, Ken. Will have to try this next year and the fact they can be reused is a bonus. I bet page wire would work too.

[Mumbleypeg]

Greatly appreciated, Ken. Will have to try this next year and the fact they can be reused is a bonus. I bet page wire would work too.

One good thing about concrete reinforcing wire is, at 6x6 inch mesh, if you grow a tomato so big you can’t get it through the mesh and have to take it out via the top, you’ve got something to brag about!

Seriously though one of the big reasons caging works so well is that you don’t prune out ”suckers” or other parts of the plant like you do when staking. Foliage left on the plant helps increase fruit production, protects the fruit from sunburn and makes it harder for birds to spot the fruit. And contrary to what some believe, if left in place those “suckers” do produce fruit. So you get higher yields.

Ken