Question: I’m forcing an amaryllis bulb into bloom. How long will it take it to flower as I want to give it as a gift?
Answer: Allow at least six weeks from planting your bulb to grow a bud opening several blooms. Keep the bulb moist and in a warm bright spot but out of the direct sun. The bulbs are fun to grow but the flower stalk can be a bit floppy depending on the light level. Here is another idea. Start the bulb in a decorative container and let the shoot with buds grow a few inches tall. Then give the bulb as a gift so the recipient can enjoy watching it continue to mature into a flowering plant and stake the flower stalk if needed.
Q. A Valencia orange tree I have been using for juice for more than 20 years has suddenly started producing lemon-tasting fruits. What’s going on?
Start an amaryllis bulb in a decorative container and let the shoot with buds grow a few inches tall. Then give it as a gift so the recipient can watch it mature into a flowering plant (Courtesy of Tom MacCubbin).
A. Citrus trees usually have a dual personality –— one is pretty nice and sweet and the other nasty or a bit sour. What you hope to grow and harvest is the nice, sweet main variety. But what many gardeners don’t realize is there is second, sour fruit type, at or below ground. Citrus trees are often grafted. This consists of a root stock, often of a sour lemon or similar, on which the desired variety is placed to grow the desired tree. Sometimes the root stock sends up a shoot too and it becomes one of the fruiting trunks. Get to the bottom of this problem by tracing the lemon-producing branches down the limbs to the trunk and then to near or at the ground. They are most certainly attached to the original root stock. Unless this is your only source of fruits these sour-tree portions can be removed to allow the desired variety to continue growth and produce a harvest of Valencia oranges.
Q. Young magnolia trees I’ve been growing in containers have developed dark spots on their leaves. What is this and can it be controlled?
A. Out, out darned spot or so the saying goes. But the spots pictured in your email photo have become permanent, fungal affected areas of the leaves and they won’t go away until the leaves decline. You can prevent more spots from forming by applying a copper fungicide following label instructions. Make the first application and then continue monthly as needed to protect future foliage. Your photo also showed magnolia leaves that were somewhat chlorotic — suggesting the container plantings needed fertilizer. The lack of nutrients can make the trees and their foliage more susceptible to diseases. Select a slow-release fertilizer to apply now and then in March. Then continue use as recommended on the product label for container plantings.
Plant Doctor: Sometimes a little neglect brings bougainvilleas into full bloom
Q. My older feijoa is getting too large for the site in my landscape. When is the best time to trim it and not affect next year’s flowers?
A. Some may know the feijoa as the pineapple guava — a slow-to-flower-and-fruit shrub often trained to a tree form. Ripe fruits have pulp inside that some say tastes like a pineapple guava blend. They are ready to eat during the fall. Only minimal pruning is recommended for the large shrub or tree forms. Frequent pruning keeps it in a more juvenile state and delays fruiting. If pruning is needed, perform trimming during late winter and before the start of spring growth that produces flowers for fruiting.
Q. We moved recently and want to plant a few trees. When’s the best time to plant new trees?
A. Don’t delay the new plantings one bit longer. Cooler times of the year are always best. Both you and the trees are under less stress and the new plantings won’t need quite as much care. Do make sure you use proper planting techniques, which includes daily watering for the first few weeks. Then during the cooler weather, and especially with dormant trees, you can reduce watering to what’s needed to keep the root ball and surrounding soil moist. Normally during winter months watering can eventually be reduced to every two to three days. Even though the trees may not make top growth they are making root growth. This ensures they are ready to produce new shoots and foliage come spring. The first feeding can be made when new spring growth is noted using a slow-release landscape fertilizer
Q. The leaves on my azaleas have black spots. Is this normal?
A. Leaf spots that eventually cause leaf drop on azaleas are normal but not desirable. Most brown to black leaf spots are caused by a fungus called cercospora. It’s too late in the season to obtain much control of the fungus. The leaf drop weakens the plants but they should flower and produce new growth for spring. Plants affected by cercospora could have an end-of-season fungicide spray applied at this time and resumed monthly at the beginning of the rainy season through early fall. The fungicide Daconil, and some of the newer systemic fungicides, are giving good control when used to prevent infection during the summer and early fall months following label instructions.
Q. I have a tall-growing dragon fruit plant with shoots coming off the side and one at the top. Do I leave the side shoots or cut them off?
A. Traditionally, single or multiple stems of the dragon fruit plant —also known as pitaya and night-blooming cereus — are trained up a post or trellis and left to sprout shoots at the top. These shoots then flower and support the large, odd-looking fruits. This is probably done more for commercial production and easy picking as the plants are thorny. It’s doubtful production, or the quality of the fruit, would be affected if you leave the side shoots. The only shoots that should be removed are those close to the ground where the flowers and fruits would touch the soil.
Tom MacCubbin is an urban horticulturist emeritus with the University of Florida Cooperative Extension Service. Write him: Orlando Sentinel, P.O. Box 2833, Orlando, FL. 32802. Email: TomMac1996@aol.com.
