THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 1, 1995 TAG: 9412300106
SECTION: HOME PAGE: G2 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: GARDENING
SOURCE: ROBERT STIFFLER
LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines
I have several small trees, (pines, maples and birch) that I plan to move between now and March 1. I would like to know if this is the right time to move them? All the trees are 3 to 4 feet tall.
Don Clendenin, Chesapeake
You've picked the right time to move your trees. Take as large an earth ball with each one as you can dig up. Do not fertilize them after moving, but water them thoroughly every week for the first six months. Pines have long tap roots and are sometimes difficult to move. You should have no problem with the others.
I read that Epsom Salts was good for your lawn. It said to put one pound to 5,000 square feet but I forgot when it said to do it - in spring or fall. Do you know anything about this?
Ruth Harrelson, Moyock, N.C.
Epsom Salts is magnesium, a plant food that is often recommended for roses, tomatoes and peppers. Recently the Epsom Salt Institute has been trying to get it more widely used. Before I would put it on my lawn, I would get the soil tested and make sure you need magnesium. The usual formula is 1 tablespoon per gallon of water. It doesn't matter when you apply it. Some rosarians put it on both spring and fall.
Last winter a woman in Melbourne, Fla., gave us a couple of cuttings from a crown-of-thorns plant. I rooted the cuttings and kept them outdoors. They grew nicely all fall. Are they adaptable to our winters? Should I bring them indoors or perhaps mulch or build a cover over them?
Walter L. Nicholson, Grandy, N.C.
Crown-of-thorns is Euphorbia milii. It is a slender, spiny succulent shrub from Madagascar that grows to 3 feet tall and often seems like a climbing plant. It can be trained on a trellis. It is hardy only in Zone 10 (Florida), according to my references. It should have been potted and brought indoors to a sunny location before the first freeze. Put it outdoors every summer, but keep it in its container so you can easily bring it in again.
Can you give me some information on my dogwood tree. I did not plant it, so I don't know what type of dogwood it is. The tree has flowers in the spring with large white petals. In winter, all leaves fall and the tree looks bare. This spring and summer there were fewer petals, and the tree sort of looked dead. I wonder if there is anything I should be doing to bring this dogwood back to what it was. If so, please tell me.
Bill Newton, Norfolk
Dogwoods had a hard time this past summer with extreme heat as early as June, followed by too much rainfall in July. Then in August it was hot and dry, followed by September with little or no rain. Many dogwoods looked like yours. The best you can do is fertilize it now, while it is dormant. Use 8-8-8, 10-10-10 or a special tree fertilizer, scattered around the tree. Keep it throughly watered next summer, prune out dead limbs and it may recover.
I am in desperate need of your help. My lawn is full of voles or moles - I'm not sure which, but it's terrible. I plan to have the entire lawn reworked and seeded. Is there any way to get rid of these nuisances before they ruin a newly planted lawn? Someone suggested nitrate of soda, saying the rodents can't stand that. My income is limited, so I can't afford expensive treatments to eradicate them.
Grey Pattisall, Suffolk
The first step is to determine whether you have moles or voles. In a phone call, we determined that it was moles, so your best bet is to go over your yard with an insecticide such as diazinon, Oftanol or one of several others to kill the insects moles eat. Then the moles will move out. When you see no mole runs (mounds), do the castor bean-Juicy Fruit gum-poison peanut treatment in their runs. Keep after them, and you can stop the problem. As new solutions come along, they'll be in the Sunday Reminders column, so watch for them.
Moles are blamed for much damage done by voles. The vole is a mouse with a snub nose and tail that eats bulbs. Voles make a hole in the ground the size of a quarter. The best way to control them is to put rat bait down the hole or use Ramik, which some specialists recommend. Another control is trapping them with a mouse trap, using an apple or peanut butter for bait. Good luck. by CNB