Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 5, 1994 TAG: 9406060170
SECTION: HOMES PAGE: D-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Lacebugs hatch from overwintering eggs in mid-May, ready to remove leaf sap. This first will result in a speckling of the normally green foliage and eventually a bleaching out of the green leaf color to a dull gray or copper appearance if damage continues all summer.
Here's what to look for: Adult and young azalea lacebugs are found on the underside of the leaves. Adults are about [-inch long and have lacy wings with brown and black markings, which gives this pest its name. The young lacebugs, which can feed like the adults, have spines or protrusions around their bodies; they are colorless at first but then become black. Azaleas and pieris in the sun are more severely damaged than those in the shade.
If you flip new leaves over and find lacebugs, obtain control by spraying the underside of the leaves with Orthene or diazinon as directed on the chemical label. If a control is applied before the problem gets out of hand, one spray should be sufficient. However, be sure to inspect the underside of a few of the leaves each month through the summer to see if additional sprays are needed later. Insecticidal soap, which can be sold under many trade names, is suggested as an organic control alternative to chemical sprays for lacebugs.
For the future, avoid azalea lacebugs by planting new azaleas only in partly shaded locations.
Q: How late in the growing year is it safe to prune maples and dogwoods? I mainly want to remove some lower limbs and other parts that have gotten in the way. Roanoke
A: Both of those trees can be pruned to accomplish the purposes you mentioned as late as mid-summer without having an adverse affect on the health of the trees and the healing of the pruning cuts. This is assuming that in removing lower limbs pruning that you don't plan to remove more than about one-third of the leaves on either. However, removing the ends of the branches of a flowering dogwood after mid-June can reduce the formation of flower buds on branch ends in late summer for the following spring blooming.
Of course, we're not worried about flower production on a maple and thus have more leeway in pruning.
Q: How does one go about grafting for pink dogwoods? I have three healthy young white dogwoods, and my neighbor has a healthy mature pink that he says I can have cuttings from. How about it? How and when should I attempt the graftings? B.K., Roanoke
A: If you want some pink flowering branches along with the white flowering\ parts in your three dogwoods, one way to do it is by using the grafting method\ known as T-budding in late summer. In this method, single buds, with small\ shield-shaped pieces of wood removed from the pink dogwood, are inserted under\ the bark of young shoots of the white dogwood that have thin bark and a stem\ diameter of about 1/4-inch.
Another method is whip grafting, performed in late winter, in which small dormant pieces of the pink dogwood with two or three buds each are notched and merged into properly cut ends of small, pencil-sized branches of the white dogwood. With any grafting method, the intersection of the part being added and the receiving plant is wrapped to ensure a snug fit and sealed to prevent drying.
These grafting methods probably sound complicated; to avoid further confusion, I didn't give details in the quick explanation above. If you want to try grafting pink dogwood parts onto white, go to a library for information. Pictures would be especially helpful.
If you want some entirely pink flowering dogwood trees, leave your white dogwoods alone but start some new pink dogwoods by rooting cuttings from your neighbor's tree in early summer after the second flush of new growth.
All-America selections display gardens
See All-America selections award winners being grown for public display at various locations around Virginia. All-America Selections are annual flowers, vegetables, or herbs that exhibit significant garden improvements and unique characteristics that are highly desirable for the home gardener.
Two display gardens in this area are at Virginia Western Community College, 3095 Colonial Avenue, S.W., Roanoke, and at Virginia Tech, Washington Street, Blacksburg.
Send short questions about your lawn, garden, plants, or insects to Dear John, c/o the Roanoke Times & World-News, P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke We need your mail, but this column can't reply to all letters. Those of wide appeal will be answered each week. Personal replies cannot be given. Please don't send stamps, stamped envelopes, samples or pictures.
John Arbogast is the agricultural extension agent for Roanoke.
by CNB