THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 18, 1994 TAG: 9409160070
SECTION: HOME PAGE: G2 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: GARDENING
SOURCE: ROBERT STIFFLER
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
In spring and early summer, my lawn was beautiful. By the end of July, brown patch had ruined it. I spread Funginex every seven days for a month to no avail. I am at a loss as to what to do next. Do I wait until fall and fertilize and reseed? What advice can you give me?
Elizabeth Dougherty, Virginia Beach
The brutal but truthful answer is to move out of Hampton Roads - or grow a warm-weather grass such as Zoysia or Bermuda.
Brown patch is caused by too much water, too much nitrogen and hot sultry nights. Almost every homeowner who has a fescue lawn has brown patch.
Next season mow less. Cut your grass higher. Use less nitrogen fertilizer. Water it less often. All will help but are not a guarantee to prevent brown patch. Fungicides do not cure the disease but prevent it from spreading. Daconil or Bayleton are better than Funginex for brown patch problems.
Rake out all dead grass and reseed at once with Shenandoah, Crossfire, Greenseed or Rebel II. They're similar and available locally. Fertilize before you seed or when you seed and twice again this fall, 30 days apart. The other choice is to kill your fescue with Roundup and grow Bermuda, Zoysia or Centipede.
I am sending you something that comes up in my flower bed every year. Do you know what it is and what can I do to get rid of these things?
Eva Jordan, Suffolk
What you sent are the tubers (roots) of Florida purslane (pusley.) It's a summer annual with weak stems, but many branches and ascending leaves. It has tubular, white flowers. It is found in cultivated or abandoned fields or roadsides and from there it spreads into gardens. The only good thing about it is that some books list it as a honey plant, which means bees like it.
It's difficult to eliminate. When the tops grow tall, spray the foliage with Roundup, being careful not to get it on any plants you want to save.
I would like to know what kind of disease is attacking my watermelons. The vines are healthy, but the melons start to rot from the back end of the melon, with one spot, but then the entire melon rots away. What kind of product do I use to cure this disease?
William Winnegan, Smithfield
Your question has several answers. Virginia Tech specialists say that if you're growing a seedless variety, you need a better pollinator plant (a different variety of watermelon). Then get a soil test to see if your watermelons are suffering stress caused by lack of proper plant food.
When a watermelon rots on the blossom end, they say there is something missing. It's like the blossom-end rot on a tomato, but usually, as with tomatoes, the problem decreases later in the season. There is no spray to solve your problem, but try following the suggestions above.
I have two 6-foot-tall, 5-year-old crape myrtles. They bloom poorly, due to lack of sun. I'd like to move them to the sunny side of my yard but am afraid they are too old and established to move. Can they be moved? What time of year should it be done?
Elaine Robley, Kill Devil Hills, N.C.
I've moved crape myrtles successfully but never any more than five feet tall. If you move yours, do it between Dec. 1 and March 1. A better idea, however, is to buy two new plants from the mildew resistant varieties and plant them in your sunny spot. They're not expensive and will give you much more satisfaction. MEMO: No gardening questions will be taken over the phone. Write to Robert
Stiffler, The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star, 150 W. Brambleton
Ave., Norfolk, Va. 23510. Answers will be published on a space-available
basis at the proper time for their use in the garden. For an earlier
reply, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope. by CNB