GARDENING: Now is best time for rooting of new seeds

This is the time of year dead patches of lawn area should be repaired, either by seed or sod. If disease was the problem the time for summer patch, the most common one on tall fescue, is over. It is also the best time for rooting of new seed and sod into the soil. If the area was previously planted to grass, there is no soil preparation necessary other than scuffing up the soil prior to seeding or sodding. You can do this with a lawn rake.

Apply a starter fertilizer such as a 16-20-0. Select seed of a high quality.

Top dress the seed with no more than a quarter inch of topdressing and water it in daily. If sod is laid then wet the soil prior to laying the sod and press the sod into the soil beneath it with a roller. This will provide good soil and seed contact.

This is also the time of year to plant bedding plants for winter color. You need to plant bedding plants early enough so they get enough size before cool temperatures set in.

Question: I have a problem with one of my fan palm trees. The new fronds that came

up during that last two months are a pale yellow, both the frond and the stem. When the fronds reach the point where they should be spread out like a normal frond, they do not spread but just lay over. It acts like something is attacking the palm from the root area. The older fronds are the normal green and the palm next to it, 3 feet away, is just fine and looks normal.

Answer: This is not a good sign. This usually means that the central bud, where the fronds originate, is dying or is dead. The easy way to tell is to grab the inner most fronds at their base, wearing gloves, and pull up. A healthy bud will stay intact even though you tug hard. A bud that is dying will pull away from the palm fairly easily.

I would pull up on it with the force you would use as if you were lifting a bag of groceries (not potato chips) with one hand. If it pulls free, which I am fairly certain it will, you will notice that the bottom of the fronds are most likely rotten.

It is most likely palm bud rot caused by disease. There are several organisms that can cause this, but the disease organisms can be transported by birds from a diseased palm to a healthy one. Usually palms that come down with bud rot are already unhealthy and don't have the energy and good health to fight off an infection.

Frequently I have seen this on newly transplanted palms, particularly if they are planted in the fall. Palms should not be fall planted if possible. They transplant best during the summer heat, unlike many other plants.

Secondly, if they are managed poorly such as too much, too little or too frequent irrigation, it can contribute to poor health and susceptibility to bud rot. There is an insect called the palm tree borer that can get into the bud and trunk, tunneling through the inside of the tree and finally exiting.

Over time, and multiple attacks, palm trees can die from this borer through their attacks on the bud. Usually, though, the entire crown dies, not just the center. With palm borer you should be able to see exit holes in the trunk about the size of a quarter or Anthony dollar.

Q: I had an African Sumac tree on the north side of my house. It blew over and did not survive replanting from the last windstorm. I want to replace it now. Would a mimosa or silk tree do well in a northern exposure? Also, which would be better suited to winds from the west? Can it be planted in the same hole? How much water will it need?

A: Blowover, like you describe, usually means the root system did not establish itself in the surrounding soil. This could be from caliche layers restricting root development, poor root development in the container and continuing in the landscape or growth of the top of the tree outpacing the growth of the root system. In any case, if these were the problems it won't make any difference what tree you plant, the results may be the same.

If a caliche layer is the problem, you may want to consider mounding or berming any new tree you put into that spot. You would berm or mound enough soil in the planting area to provide a soil depth of at least 24 inches for rooting. The berm should be about the same width as the mature spread of the tree.

Trees with roots circling in their containers will not provide adequate rooting in the landscape as the tree matures. Inspect plants coming from the nursery for circling roots. You can frequently see these roots on the soil surface circling the trunk before they enter the soil. These plants should not be purchased. Healthy trees will be firmly anchored in their containers.

Frequent watering and fertilizing, particularly with high nitrogen fertilizers, will encourage fast top growth. If most of the plant growth is in the top, root growth may not keep pace and blowover can occur. This is particularly true if drip emitters are used and they are located close to the trunk. As trees grow, new emitters must be added to the area under the canopy to encourage new root growth into soil beneath the growing canopy.

You should not plant into an old planting hole. Dig a new hole free of potential problems. A mimosa or silk tree is not a particularly long-lived tree in Las Vegas. Give it plenty of room for growth. It should get sunlight for most of the day and not planted into a desert landscape with rock mulch. Water use as moderate to high. It does better in a turfgrass landscape or with groundcover like gazania.

Bob Morris is a horticulture specialist with the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension.


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