Jesse Jenkins

Mosquito Solutions: With all the recent rains, mosquitoes are here. First of all, remove any sources of standing water (that’s where they breed). For your favorite birdbath, use Mosquito Bits in the shaker,for larger ponds or ditches, Mosquito Dunks, both totally safe for birds and frogs. We have several ways to kill, control and repel them.Mosquito Beater hose-end (Permethrin) is an easy spray to killmosquitoes, ants, fleas & tics throughout the yard. It is safe to spray on all plants where mosquitoes hide. We also carry Mosquito Beater Granules which is a combination of natural essential oils to repel. It contains citronella oil, garlic, geranium oil, cedar oil and lemon grass oil. Covers 4000 sq. ft and lasts up to 3 weeks. Patio Egg Diffuser is an easy safe and effective way to help deter mosquitoes and other biting insects from your patio, porch and other outdoor living areas. It protects up to 200 sq. ft. and comes with enough refill oil to last up to 4 months.

Time To Fertilize Your Lawn, Trees & Shrubs! Use Gill Lawn and Garden for all your trees, shrubs, vines and groundcovers. Also good on your vegetable garden. Covers 6000 sq. ft. per bag. A good organic lawn fertilizer (which feeds the soil & microorganisms) is Medina Growin Green, which covers 3000 sq. ft. per bag.

Protect Your Roses: Roses are flushing with new growth, setting buds and blooming. That means aphids, thrips, black spot and powdery mildew are next. Bayer 3-in1 Insect, Disease and Mite Control works on all of these in one easy spray. Treat every 10 days to 2 weeks to maintain beautiful roses insect and disease free.Bayer Rose and Flower Care is an excellent fertilizer with systemic insecticide to keep them healthy, blooming and insect free as well. Apply this granules every 6 weeks to prevent aphids and thrips from attacking your roses.

-DeAnna

Aphids on Milkweed: If you plant tropical milkweed to help the monarch butterflies (and for the beautiful flowers) sooner or later you will get aphids. You can hose down the infested milkweed tips with a sharp stream of water, knocking most of the aphids off (away from your other plants please). But if you see a substantial number of aphids looking brown and bloated instead of just fat and sassy, you may choose to

leave them alone. The brown, bloated ones have been parasitized by a tiny braconid wasp, whose larvae will eat the insides of the aphid, metamorphose into a wasp, and hunt down scores of aphids to lay eggs on, continuing to destroy aphids with no supervision from you. -James

Too much rain on roots? My walking buddy sent me a photo of her unhappy Jatropha and wanted to know what the problem was. We believe the constant moisture over the last few months caused the roots to rot which caused the plant to drop foliage (a plant is programmed by mother nature to drop foliage if roots are suffering).

Now that the sun is out and soils are drying, we recommended she cut the plant back one half and be stingy with watering. Most likely it will flush with new spring foliage and be good to go.

-Sally

Caterpillar alert: I have had several customers bringing me Tussock Moth Caterpillar from their oak trees. The creamy white hairs on the caterpillar are long and bristle-like and spread out in tufts down the sides. Two long, sharp black pencil like hairs protrude near the front and rear and these hairs are connected to poison glands, which excrete venom on contact. Contact with the venom may result in itchy irritation. You can spray your tree with Hi Yield Thuricide Concentrate or Natural Guard Spinosad Hose-end. We also carry Spinosad in a concentrate Fertilome Borer, Bagworm, Tent Caterpillar and Leafminer Spray. Both of these products are organic and safe to use on all plants. Thuricide

reacts with the cells of the stomach lining of the target pest causing them to not be able to feed within hours of ingesting. They eventually die from starvation. Spinosad is a contact kill, but still safe and organic for all plants.

-DeAnna

New Tree Do’s and Don’ts!

Do plant the tree at the right depth, with the top of the root ball as high or slightly higher than surrounding soil.
Do eliminate competition from lawn by clearing the grass out a minimum of 18″ (more is better) from the trunk and keeping the cleared area mulched.
Don’t “volcano mulch” the trunk of your new tree, 2″ of mulch over the roots and 1″ or less touching the trunk.
Don’t let a string trimmer get close enough to strip off the bark of your new tree.
Don’t use “weed-and-feed” fertilizer near your new tree.
Don’t excessively prune all lower growth off your new tree thinking it will make your tree grow up faster; it will actually slow growth of roots, trunk diameter, and height.
Do check watering frequently through the first summer and water as
needed.

Spring Insect Explosion

With the warm wet days of spring, the insect population explodes. Mother Nature multiplies at an amazing rate. Aphids, scale, thrips, and caterpillars of every size and shape have appeared. Do not hesitate to prevent these insects now.

We talked a couple of weeks ago about using the Bayer Tree and Shrub Protect and Feed as a drench to prevent the big spring bug invasion. Well, it is upon us, but still not too late to treat. We have plenty in stock, so come see us soon.

We are also hearing a lot about snails, slugs, pill bugs and cutworms out in enormous numbers. As soon as we plant our pretty spring flowers these bugs look at it as their own breakfast buffet. A safe and effective organic treatment is Monterey Sluggo Plus. Safe to use around vegetables, fruit trees, citrus, berries, flowers, ornamentals and all landscape plants. 1 lb. treats 2000 sq. ft. and lasts up to 4 weeks. Evening is the best time to apply the bait as pest travel and feed mostly by night or early morning.

Life has Never Been So Easy!

“A month ago, I installed a “Livin’ Easy” Rose in one of my front beds. It started out at about 18″ tall. Now, its 4 feet tall and full of bright orange 4 inch blooms which smell wonderful! The “Livin’ Easy” Rose is very “gardener friendly”, even for beginners. I look forward to many years of this wonderful Floribunda’s show. For roses and for other flowering plants, I recommend Maestro Rose Glo as a great source of nutrition to keep ’em blooming and looking their best!”

-Matt

Last chance to kill those pesky lawn weeds.

The new formulation of Weed B Gon is totally safe on all lawn grasses including Floratam St. Augustine. The past few weeks of rainy weather has made it difficult to treat, but you must do it soon before our daytime temperatures exceed 90 degrees. It comes with the easy hose-end sprayer and covers 2500 sq. ft. Enough to treat the average front or back yard.

Got Fleas?

You do not have to own a pet to have a flea problem. Squirrels, night rats, and possums all carry fleas.

The best way to treat for a flea problem is the 3 step process: treat the pet, treat the house, treat the yard. Check with your veterinarian for the best treatment for your pet. For the house, we carry several different products.

Crawling Insect Killer (Diatomaceous Earth) is a naturally occurring, soft, siliceous sedimentary rock. It works by scratching the exoskeleton of insects, causing them to dehydrate and die. It lasts a long time when kept dry. Take caution not to breathe it in when vacuuming floors.

Essentria Broadcast Insecticide Aerosal kills adult bedbugs, fleas, and dust mites and their eggs. It contains natural essential plant oils that are safe and effective for the home. A light uniform spray to all surfaces is recommended. Re-apply in 14 days as needed. The last step is to treat the yard. Usually any pesticide labeled for lawns and landscape plants will also kill fleas and ticks.

We carry Spinosad, an organic treatment for lawns, in both a concentrate and ready to use spray. I usually recommend treating every 4- 5 days for 3 weeks to kill any re-hatching of eggs. Be sure to spray garages, decking, fences and doghouses, anywhere fleas may breed.

Another organic alternative is to apply Beneficial Nematodes. Beneficial Nematodes are microscopic warriors that kill soil borne pests such as flea larvae and grub worms. They
search, find, and kill pests living in the soil. They are extremely effective, and will reproduce and spread to provide you with long lasting organic pest control. We do recommend applying once a year to build the population. Each sponge contains 5 million nematodes, enough to cover 2000 sq. ft. of surface area.

– DeAnna

TIPS ON VIGOROUS VINES!

If you need to cover up an eyesore, add some privacy, or just want more color, then vines are your answer! Some of our favorites are Mexican Flame Vine (hundreds of bright orange flowers), Confederate Jasmine (which just smells so good), Coral Vine (looks delicate but is extremely hardy) and Passion Vine(exotic looking and a butterfly host plant). They’re itching to get into the ground and take off, so why not add some vertical color to your garden?

Marta

WHAT TO DO ABOUT WATERLOGGED PLANTS?

We have less control over our plants during prolonged periods of rain or flooding than during drought. Unless they are in moveable containers, there is little we can do except wait for the weather to change. If your soil is waterlogged, chances are good your plants are showing signs of stress. Water logged and flooded soil has insufficient amounts of oxygen in it for the plants roots to take up and release water. Plants may look like they are wilting, but it is not because of too little water, it is because they can no longer access the available water. This leads to root rot and decline. Signs your plants have been damaged by waterlogged soil include: stunting, yellowing leaves, twisting leaves, dropping leaves, soft spongy areas at the base of the plants, wilting despite plenty of water, roots turning dark with a rotting odor. Some plants prone to root rot from prolonged wet soil are Rosemary, Esperanza, Cape Honeysuckle, Plumbago, Tomatoes, Peppers, and Texas Sage. Just because a plant shows signs of distress does not mean it will or will not recover. A few things we can do to help them recover quicker is to poke air holes around the root system of the plant to allow them to dry out faster. If the wilting persists, you can cut the plants back to eliminate some of the foliage since the plant has lost roots. Next, improve drainage in the area by adding Lady Bug Expanded Shale.

DeAnna

gillnurseryTips On Vigorous Vines!04.30.2015

Staff Pick: Indian Carnation

If you aren’t keen on the constant care involved in making your native soil right for Gardenias, here’s an alternative, and a good one. The “Indian Carnation” is a sub-tropical evergreen shrub and it does great in our heavy clay soil! It grows best in morning sun and afternoon shade, gets around 5 feet tall and wide. It has white flowers that look a lot like an “August Beauty” Gardenia, smells sweet, but not overbearing, but more importantly the “Indian Carnation” will constantly bloom from Spring through Fall, unlike a Gardenia! In my humble opinion, that’s a wonderful alternative!

Matt

My mother, Ruth Gill, was a quirky but elegant, courageous yet tender, intelligent and curious woman. And I can put that in this blog because its Mother’s Day! But back to gardening, with just a few of her quirky twists.

When I was little, we lived on Hewit Drive, at that time the “fancy” neighborhood. One year, the grubs killed a large patch of the front lawn, and instead of rushing to plant new grass, she planted and harvested a crop of blackeyed peas. In the front lawn! On Hewit Drive! That’s seeing opportunity where others would not.

I often found her in the garden, pulling weeds, and eating them! Purslane was one of her favorites, and now one of mine. I grow it in a pot for a delicious and very healthy stir fry. She always said “The best revenge against a weed is to eat it.” Once we were camped on Matagorda Island with nothing left to eat but a can of tuna fish. She went for a walk and scoured up a mess of wild onion and peppergrass, and turned a boring can of tuna fish into a gourmet seasonal tuna salad.

Another time, she brought in some Giant Pothos ivy leaves which she arranged in a vase on the table. As a few days passed, I noticed brownish green pellets under the plant and looked more closely. There was a caterpillar munching on the leaves, and I was indignant to share my table with a munching and pooping caterpillar. When I told my mother there was a caterpillar, expecting her to be dismayed and pick it off, she instead replied “Yes, isn’t she just a marvelous artist? I love to watch her work, the changing pattern she makes in the leaves, new every day.” And of course she was right, she had a way of seeing and appreciating the marvels around us that most people miss. I am so thankful to my mother for opening my eyes to the wonders of nature and gardening.

-James

Water lilies are a wonderful way to add color and the coolness of water to your patio or landscape. A large pond or lake is not necessary for these floating beauties, they can be enjoyed in any container that holds water. They only need a depth of 18 inches and around 24 inches across. They come in submersible pots. Place them in at least partial sun. Water circulation is not necessary. Feed with Pond Tabs Fertilizer Tablets every month. Water lilies love heavy clay soil which we have plenty of. When your lily outgrows its pot, find a slightly larger pot, go dig up some clay dirt and mix with water, make a “mud pie”, place your lily in the new pot, pour your mud around it. It’s good to put some pebbles on top of the mud to help keep your water clean. Water gardens draw lots of fun bugs like dragonflies but also grow mosquitoes so be sure to throw in a mosquito dunk, ok for good bugs…death to those flying vampires! Or put in a guppie or two and they will eat ’em up. Have Fun!

-Debbie