PETERSON PLANT POINTERS
PETERSON NURSERY & GARDEN CENTER, INC.
2184 E. County Road 540 A, LAKELAND, FLA. 33813-3740
PHONE 863- 644- 6491 E-MAIL: petersonnursery1@juno.com.
VOL 13:4 JULY/AUGUST 2009
WRITTEN BY: KAREN PETERSON NORRIS
PRINTED BY HOWIE PETERSON
Rain Rain is here to stay. During July and August
we can receive between 7-8 inches of rain each month. If we
get a hurricane it can be a higher amount of rain. Turn your
sprinklers off. Conserve our water. Too much water can be
detrimental to plants and lawns. Plants can be sprayed with
DACONIL, FUNGINEX, DITHANE M-45 OR THIOMYL to
prevent any fungus to occur. Lawns are under stress now.
Raining during afternoon and evening will encourage fungus
in your lawn such as: ANTHRACNOSE, BROWN PATCH,
DOLLAR SPOT, GRAY LEAF SPOT, RUST or
HELMINTHOSPORIUM LEAF SPOT PYTHIUM. For
control of these fungus problems apply: BAYER FUNGUS
CONTROL ON LAWNS, PROPHESY GRANULES,
DITHANE M-45, or THIOMYL. During this time of year, lawn
pests are ravaging lawns. When moist areas occur look for
SOD WEB WORMS feed at night and chew grass blades in
localized areas. If the rain stops watch out for CHINCH
BUGS. They are found in full sun and dry spots causing the
St. Augustine to turn brown in areas of the lawn. They suck
the juices from the St. Augustine leaf blade. For control of
both pests use SEVIN, ORTHENE, PERMETHRIN or BIFEN
liquid or granular or DELTAMETHRIN in granular. Make
several applications as per label. Due to heavy consistent
rain fall, you may be seeing yellow areas or streaks in your
Bahia grass and St Augustine Grass. There are several
reason's why . . .
1) Lack of fertilizer that includes Nitrogen and Magnesium.
Rains deplete nutrients out of our lawns. Apply Howard’s
16-2-8 Turf Builder with trace elements or an Organic
Turf Tone by Espoma. 2) Soil pH of off - might need a soil
acifider such as Iron Plus or a sweetener such as Dolomite
Limestone. 3) Wet areas where water drains or where water
stands after it rains several inches in an hour . . . use
Pelletized Gypsum to breakup damp, wet, clay or compact
areas.
ANNUALS/PERENNIALS: Remove spent blooms from your
flowering annuals. For continual blooms on your annuals,
fertilize with SUNNILAND BLOOM SPECIAL 2-10-10 or
ESPOMA FLOWER-TONE once a month. These are
difficult months to plant flowers in Florida, it is too late to
plant many summer blooming annuals and too early to plant
winter varieties. Besides that, it's TOO HOT to work in the
yard. ROOT ROT is a problem this time of the year but it
can be controlled by the use of CONSAN 20 as a soil
drench. When planting flowers, enrich the soil with PEAT
HUMAS or PLANTING SOIL, this will help hold the moisture
around the roots. Also add a water grabber called
HORTASORB to help hold the moisture around the roots.
Incorporate ESPOMA GARDEN-TONE for your fertilizer to
stimulate the roots. Remember plant on a slight mound and
do not put mulch near the stem of the plant. Spread the
mulch over the root area but not touching the stem.
AZALEAS: Be on the look out for the RED-HEADED
CATERPILLARS, they are out early this year. For control
use: SEVIN, ORTHENE, CONSERVE NATURALYTE,
THURICIDE or DIPEL. Another serious problem is LACE
BUGS causing a silvery effect on the leaf appearance but
the presence of shiny black spots of excrement are found
undersides of the leaves is another good indication of lace
bug infestation. For control use ORTHENE at least three
times, a week a part. For a preventative for these insects,
use a systemic insecticide granular such as SYSTEMIC
INSECTICIDE GRANULES or BAYER TREE & SHRUB
INSECT CONTROL or BAYER ROSE & FLOWER CARE
(contains Merit – a systemic insecticide).
BUTTERFLIES AND HUMMINGBIRDS: Plants recently
have taken off. Sure you can attract a couple of butterflies
and hummingbirds just by planting a few of the right flowers
in the window box or a corner of your landscaped beds.
They should have plenty of sun and protection from strong
winds. The south and southeast side of your house, wall,
hedge or slope is excellent. If you don't have a sheltered
site, then arrange the plants in a bowl shape with taller ones
on the outside, creating a sheltering effect. You need to
plant nectar plants as well as larval food for them. Some
nectar plants are - BUDDLEIA (Butterfly bush), HIBISCUS,
LANTANA, VERBENA, HONEYSUCKLE, TECOMA,
PLUMBAGO, SALVIAS (all types), PENTAS, just to name
a few. Larval food plants are: DILL, PARSLEY, FENNEL,
CARROTS, THISTLES, MILKWEED and CASSIA. Each
larval food attracts different varieties of butterflies. Before
you kill any caterpillars make sure they won't be a beautiful
butterfly. If you don't like your caterpillars eating your foliage
make a safe house so they won't get killed. Bring them
inside on the porch or in a terrarium and keep feeding your
caterpillars with what you found them eating on and they will
form a chrysalis on a stem or a stick. After 2-3 weeks they
will hatch out and become a beautiful butterfly.
HUMMINGBIRDS are attracted by the same flowers but are
a different story. You will need to designate an area with
mostly bright flowers that have nectar and put out a
hummingbird feeder with sweet water. Change water daily
or it could sour in our heat. Then watch for them.
The Ruby - Throated Hummingbird is the native bird for
this area. Their area is from Florida to Eastern Canada.
Very few hummingbirds are in the Midwest. The flight
pattern is in a "U" shape with the bird rising about 10 to 15
feet on either side. Size of the hummingbird length is 3.75
inches. Migration - Northward: late February to Mid-May
and Southward: late July to late October.
CAMELLIAS: Explore underneath the leaves for TEA
SCALE or SNOW SCALE. For the best control use:
ORTHENE. For future control in the summer months, use
SYSTEMIC TREE & SHRUB DRENCH. This will control
systemically thru the plant so you won't have to spray for the
summer. It will take 4-6 weeks to work thru the plant. If you
don't like to use a liquid, then use SYSTEMIC INSECTICIDE
GRANULES. This will take 4-6 weeks also to work up thru
the plant.
CITRUS: Check all citrus trees for SPIDER MITES. If the
oranges on your tree are brownish red, you have rust mites
and the tree should be sprayed with WETTABLE or
DUSTING SULFER. Continue to spray for CITRUS
LEAFMINOR using MALATHION & OIL or CONSERVE
NATURALYTE INSECT CONTROL SPRAY every 10-14
days to protect the new growth. MEDITERRANEAN FRUIT
FLY also known as MED FLY is a problem in Orlando area
but it is not necessarily new in our area. Do your part by
picking up all old fruit that has fallen on the ground and place
them in a double plastic bag, so if there is any fruit fly larva
in the fruit it will suffocate and die. Spray your fruit trees with
MALATHION and drench the ground around the tree with
DIAZINON. If you suspect you have Mediterranean Fruit
Fly or Larva in your fruit, Please call Division of Plant
Industry at 863-298-7777.
HIBISCUS: Inspect your plants for WHITEFLIES, APHIDS,
ANTS, SPIDER MITES and MEALY BUGS. For control
use: ORTHENE or SAFERS INSECT KILLING SOAP by
alternating every 3 days apart to break up the life cycle of
the insect. NEVER use Malathion, Diazinon, or Cygon on
Hibiscus it will defoliate them and put them into shock.
ROSES: Continue to spray for SPIDER MITES - the hotter
the weather; the worse it can be - use ORTHENE or.
CONSERVE NATURALYTE INSECT CONTROL SPRAY
every 7-10 days. BLACK SPOT on roses is caused by night
rains or nightly watering and lack of fertilizer. Spray for
BLACK SPOT use DACONIL, THIOMYL or DITHANE M-45
for control. These chemicals are very compatible to mix
insect control and fungicide control together. Water plants
well before spraying or photoxicity will happen. Rose bushes
are very hungry plants; they need to be feed once a month
with ESPOMA ROSE-TONE use 1 cup per bush. Apply
fertilizer at the edge where the drip line is of the leaves of the
rose bush.
FARMERS ALMANAC INFO CORNER - JULY / AUGUST 2009
PLANTING BELOW GROUND CROPS – 7/ 11,12,20,21 – 8/7,8, 16, 17
PLANTING ABOVE GROUND CROPS – 7/ 1,2,28,29,30 – 8/ 21,25,26
HARVEST ROOT CROPS - 7/ 16,17 – 8/ 12, 13
HARVEST ABOVE GROUND CROPS -7/ 6, 7, 24,25 – 8/2, 3, 30, 31
GRAFT OR POLLINATE -7/ 20, 21 – 8/ 16, 17
DESTORY PESTS AND WEEDS – 7/ 14,15 – 8/ 10, 11
PRUNE TO ENCOURAGE GROWTH -7/ 4, 5, 23 – 8/ 1,27,28
PRUNE TO DISCOURAGE GROWTH – 7/ 14,15 – 8/ 10, 11
VEGETABLES: With the warmth of the sun, it is a very
good time to SOLARIZE your soil for your vegetable garden
in the fall. Clean up your garden soil – The Organic Way.
Garden soil should be cleared, tilled, leveled and moistened.
The garden should be covered with clear plastic (2 to 6 mil
thickness) for four to six weeks. This will cause SOLAR
heat to accumulate under the plastic and soil temperatures
to increase to a point where nematodes, weed seeds and
soil-borne diseases will be killed or suppressed.
Incorporate ORGANIC PEAT HUMAS or PLANTING SOIL
if soil is sandy to help hold moisture when it is dry. Check
soil Ph for your vegetables, it should be 5.8 to 6.3. The
addition of DOLOMITIC LIMESTONE will help if the Ph is
too low. Remember to add some kind of organic fertilizer
such as: MILORGANITE or GARDEN-TONE by ESPOMA
In Florida’s sandy soil they need to be fertilitized monthly
with GARDEN-TONE OR TOMATO-TONE for blooming
vegetables to produce fruit. On leafy vegetables or root
crops use 100% ORGANIC 6-6-6 FERTILIZER. Another
way to feed and water your vegetables is to use a water
soluble fertilizer each week such as MIRACLE GRO FOR
TOMATOES or PETERS SPECIAL 20-20-20. For ANTS,
APHIDS or LEAF MINOR use PERMETHRIN or
CONSERVE NATURALYTE. For WORMS or
CATERPILLARS use THURICIDE, DIPEL or SEVIN for
control.
PLANT NOW
BULBS: AMARYLLIS LILLY, CALADIUMS, GINGER LILY,
GLADIOLUS, GLORIOSA LILY, ELEPHANT EARS, RAIN LILY,
UMBRELLA PLANT.
FLOWERS: (S=FULL SUN; SH=SHADE; SS=SEMI-SHADE):
AGERATUM-S,SS; ASTERS-S; BEGONIAS-SS,SH; BROWELLIA-
SS,SH; CLEOME-S,SS; COLEUS-S,SS,SH; COSMOS-S;
DAHLIA-S,SS; DALBURG DAISY-S; GAILLARDIA-S; GAZINNIA
DAISY-S; GERBERA DAISY-S; IMPATIENS-SH; MARIGOLD-
S,SS; PERIWINKLES-S,SS; PORTULACA-S; PURSLANE-S;
RUDBECKIA (BLACK-EYED SUSAN)-S; SALVIA-S,SS;
SCAEVOLA-S,SS; SUNFLOWERS-S,SS; TORENIA (SUMMER
PANSY)-SS,SH; VERBENA-S,SS; ZINNIAS-S.
HERBS: A=ANNUALS; P=PERENNIALS: BASIL-A; CATNIP-
P;CORIANDER-A (SPRING/FALL); CHIVES-A (SPRING, WINTER,
FALL); DILL-A (SPRING, WINTER,FALL); LEMON BALM –P;
TERRAGON-P; MINTS (ALL)-P; OREGANO-P; ROSEMARY-P;
SAGE-P; THYME-P.
VEGETABLES: AUGUST PLANTING- BEANS (SNAP OR POLE),
CORN, EGGPLANT, OKRA, PEAS (BLACK-EYED), PEPPERS,
PUMPKIN, SQUASH, TOMATOES, WATERMELON.
AVERAGE
RAINFALL
JULY 7.87”
AUG. 7.98”