ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, March 24, 1996 TAG: 9603270087
SECTION: HOMES PAGE: D2 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Dear John
SOURCE: JOHN ARBOGAST
The care we give roses now can have a major influence on their beauty in the season ahead. It also can affect their vigorousness to the extent that pesticides to combat diseases will be required less frequently.
To help rose growers in that respect, the Roanoke Master Gardener Association and Roanoke parks and grounds staff will host the first of their '96 rose garden monthly workdays Thursday at the Fishburn Rose Garden at Riverside Boulevard and Cleveland Avenue Southwest. I will give a spring-pruning demonstration, followed by Extension Master Gardener volunteers and city workers doing the actual spring rose work and taking consumers' questions. This workday will be held light-rain or shine, beginning at 8:30 a.m.
Early spring rose jobs that should be done when new rose growth is just a few inches long include: pulling back the winter protection soil or mulch covering that has been over the graft union, if applicable; annual pruning back of bush-type roses to remove dead and diseased parts, cut out thin twiggy growth from last year, open up the center of each bush, and cut back the strong canes left to a uniform height of around 24 inches for nonminiature and nontree types; and the first rose fertilization of the growing season using 5-10-10, rose food, or other fertilizer specified in soil test results.
Early spring is also an excellent time in the Roanoke area to plant new roses that are available with their roots surrounded by some organic material in a package.
Q: This winter, an insect that an exterminator called the boxelder bug has overstayed his welcome. Usually, we see a few of them inside when the weather becomes chilly in the fall. This bug is about a half-inch long, brownish-black in color with an orange V on the back. We are told that they do not do any harm, but they certainly are a nuisance. We were told that they usually gather on the south or west end of the house, which is true in our case. We have some hardwood mulch in that area. Could that encourage them, and is there anything we can do to get rid of them? A.H.M., Roanoke
T.D. of Blacksburg also asked about this insect.
A: You gave a nice description of that timely insect that is a nuisance to homeowners in the late winter/early spring and in the fall. These insects can go unnoticed around houses and on trees during much of the year. They spend the winter as adults in protected places, such as under porches, in cavities in brick or stone walls, in leaf litter around shrubs, and under boards and tarps around houses.
Your mulch shouldn't be blamed for these bugs, although it likely gives them a great place to hide and congregate. During the growing season, the adult bugs and immature stages feed on leaves and other parts of boxelder trees, which is in the maple family, as well as other maples, without presenting a problem to the trees.
Your exterminator was correct. Boxelder bugs do not bite humans. Their biggest problem is the alarm they cause us when they collect indoors in the fall and winter, appear in masses on the sunny side of our homes, and appear immune from insecticide sprays that we apply on them.
There is no sure-fire solution to the problem, other than to know that they are just an irritation and not harmful. Bill Robinson at Virginia Tech has said that Diazinon or Dursban liquid insecticides can be used according to their label directions to spray individual or groups of boxelder bugs outdoors, but it is well known that these insects just don't die readily.
A realistic approach suggested by Robinson is to collect these bugs in the vacuum cleaner or by broom and dust pan and destroy them. Be sure to plug openings in window sashes and caulk cracks to prevent this nuisance from coming in.
Q: What month does tree sap start rising and when does it go out of the trees? A.O., Thaxton
A: Generally, sap of deciduous trees starts moving during winter when the temperatures start to moderate a little. The exact time depends on mild vs. frigid temperature periods, but would likely be in late January or sometime in February around here. We generally consider the sap of deciduous trees to be ``down'' in the fall when a tree loses its leaves and becomes dormant.
Send short questions about your lawn, garden, plants or insects to Dear John, c/o The Roanoke Times, P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke, Va. 24010-2491. We need your mail, but this column can't reply to all letters. Those of wide appeal will be answered during the weeks that the subject is timely. personal replies cannot be given. Please don't send stamps, stamped envelopes, samples, or pictures.
Gardener's checklist
Jobs for late March:
Complete the spring garden soon with radishes and leaf lettuce so that they can grow before the weather turns hot.
Shape landscape hedges that are not grown for their flowers.
Don't fertilize your bluegrass or fescue turf until after the period of spring greening when most lawn grasses grow rapidly.
Don't dig in, spade, or till wet garden soil.
John Arbogast is the agricultural and natural resources extension agent for Roanoke.
LENGTH: Medium: 94 linesby CNB