spinosad

Yay for May! Everything’s growing and blooming and we hope you are too! May is Mental Health Awareness Month, which is a good time to think about the peace of mind that gardening brings us. Gardeners know that all the research is true – gardening is good for you! Here are our Top 7 Must Do’s this May to keep you and your garden feelin’ good.

1. Join Us for Garden Talks and Events!

We’ve got a big May planned here at Gill’s, and we’re kicking it off this Saturday, May 3rd with a fun cyanotype printing event with the TAMUCC Student Art Association. Stop by and create your own cyanotype prints using leaves and flowers! Then next weekend we’re inviting kids to come pot up a flower for Mom for Mother’s Day. Sure to be lots of fun and lots to learn and discuss! Click here for more info and tickets!

2. Plant Blooming Perennials and Trees

It’s time to plant lots of different blooming perennials and blooming trees. Get them established in May so they are rooted and acclimated to withstand warmer temps this Summer. Staples like Esperanza, many varieties of Salvia, Lantana, and tons more are all blooming beautifully right now. And blooming trees like Vitex, Retama, and Wild Olive are looking great right now. Crape Myrtles will start blooming soon too. Added bonus: blooming perennials and trees attract lots of butterflies and hummingbirds!

3. Plant and Harvest Veggies

Warm weather veggie time! Plant all kinds of peppers, zucchini, squash, melons, and okra this month for continued harvesting into the Summer months. If you planted tomatoes, cucumbers, and other early Spring veggies, you’ll be harvesting now or very soon. Be sure to harvest often! It keeps birds & insects from finding them first. If you do have insect issues in your veggie garden, our go-to organic control is Spinosad – safe for food but takes care of bugs. Remember to keep watering your veggies as the weather warms up to maintain depth moisture.

4. Mulch for Many Reasons!

We all know that fresh mulch is like a fresh coat of paint for your garden – instant makeover! But did you know that applying a proper 3” layer of natural mulch keeps underlying soil temps more than 20 degrees cooler?! A good mulch layer keeps weeds at bay, and as it breaks down over time, it add nutrients to your soil. And perhaps most importantly right now, a good mulch layer retains moisture, which means big water savings.

5. Transition Your Lawn to Summer

Feed with Natural Fertilizers: Medina Growin Green or Milorganite. Yes, you can still fertilize your lawn, even though our lawn watering is limited. Using a good organic lawn food, like our go-to Medina Growin Green, promotes root growth and long-term health, which makes lawns more tolerant of less water. Ideally you’d want to water the fertilizer in, but you don’t have to. Medina Growin Green is gentle and won’t burn your lawn. You can apply it now and water it in slowly over a few weeks. If you have trees in your yard, keep in mind that fertilizer and water need to be applied at the drip line, aka where rainwater naturally drips off the outer edge of the canopy. Therefore, if you apply fertilizer to your lawn and water it in for the trees, your lawn will get the benefit too. You can also try to time your lawn fertilizing with a light rain. We typically don’t recommend waiting for rain to fertilize since a heavy rain would wash most of the fertilizer granules away. But, given the watering limitations, taking advantage of a light rain is a good solution.

Watering: Homeowners can collect free effluent water at the Oso Wastewater Treatment Plant to use to water lawns, which is a great option. Apply for a quick and easy residential permit from the City of Corpus Christi here. If you do so, keep in mind that 1,000 gallons can water 1,621 sq ft of lawn at a nice 1” depth or 3,225 sq ft of lawn at ½” depth.

When mowing, the proper height for St. Augustine lawns is around 3 inches. For Bermuda lawns, keep mowed to around 2-2.5 inches. Buzzing lawns shorter than that will cause lawn stress, and stressed lawns are more susceptible to pests, weeds, and disease.

Watch for lawn insects & treat when needed. Grub worms & chinch bugs are easy to control when caught early but there’s no need to treat unless you have them. BioAdvanced 24-Hour Grub Killer or Season-Long Bonide Insect and Grub Control will do the trick for grubs. Diatomaceous Earth, Spinosad, or Cyonara takes care of chinch bugs. Reminder, you can bring us a grass sample any time you suspect a lawn disease or pest. We’ll diagnose (using our microscope if needed) and get you what you need to knock it out.

Consider reducing your lawn space! Does all this lawn stuff sound like a lot of work? It can be! Many of us are reconsidering whether we really even want all that green lawn space. Why not start converting small portions of lawn to planting beds filled with blooming perennials that benefit the environment and use far less water? One way to start would simply be to deepen existing landscape beds to reduce some lawn.

6. Set Your Mosquito Traps!

We are big fans of the simple bucket mosquito trap. Just fill a bucket 3/4 with water, add a good handful of lawn or plant clippings, and toss in a Mosquito Dunk or Mosquito Bits. These dissolve in the water and release bacteria that target mosquito larvae and kill them before they hatch. And they’re organic and not harmful to birds, bees, pets or humans! Set a few of these traps, sprinkle some organic Mosquito Beater granules around walkways and patios, spray organic Cedar Repel on your lawn, and use Skeeter Screen incense sticks near where you’re working or hanging out outside. Remember that using chemical mosquito foggers kills all the good bugs too, some of which also help control mosquitos and other bad bugs.

7. Gifts for Mother’s Day and Graduations

Let us help you find something pretty, useful, or both for the gardening moms and grads in your life. Pottery, birdbaths, wind chimes, quality garden tools, hats, gloves, garden decor, plantable greeting cards, gardening books – lots of options. You can purchase Gill gift cards online here and we’ll gift wrap and mail them to your loved one. Or come find the gift that gardeners love most – plants 🙂

Here’s to summer garden fun! We’re making the transition to warmer weather with some intermittent rainfall and lots of good energy in the garden. Here are our top priorities this month, including what to plant, how to adjust watering, what to watch out for, and how to keep plant roots cool and happy.

1. Plant Summer-Loving Plants!

So many of our favorite plants for South Texas don’t just tolerate warm weather, they only begin to thrive and look their best in the summer. Think of blooming perennials like Firebush, Esperanza, and Pride of Barbados for awesome summer impact. Think of big purslane hanging baskets, Gomphrena, and Periwinkles for bursts of bright color. And browse our Texas native plant section for plants and trees that have thrived through hundreds and even thousands of Texas summers. If you’re still wanting to plant food, you can do that too – okra, basil, thyme, watermelon, peppers, black-eyed peas and more should be planted in June.

2. Keep Roots Cool with Mulch

A good mulch layer (2-3″ deep) has so many benefits. It looks amazing, keeps weeds down, helps retain moisture, adds organic matter to the soil, AND keeps plant roots nice and cool in the summer. Bartlett Tree Research Laboratories shared amazing results with us from a mulch study they conducted in San Antonio. Soil temperatures were measured at 6″ deep (where plant roots live) on a 105 F summer day. Bare soil, 6″ down was 102 F. Soil under grass was 92 F. Soil beneath a 3″ layer of mulch was only 76 F!! Mulch for the win!

3. Water Low & Slow

We’re not talking about BBQ, although that sounds good too… We’re talking about watering low, as in as in low to the ground to avoid evaporation, and slow as in not with your hose open full-blast. This helps decrease runoff and get more water down to the roots. Consider setting up your own automatic drip irrigation system – they’re easy to DIY and they operate on the low & slow principle. Also, be sure to use the cycle & soak method, which simply means water once, let it soak in for several minutes, then come back and water again. This makes sure you’re pushing water down deep.

Pro tip: Use a moisture meter in your landscape beds and pots! We carry them for around $10 and can show you how easy they are to use. They have a long soil probe that tells you whether you actually have good moisture (or too much) down deep where it’s needed. They’ve saved many plants!

4. Watch for Summer Bugs, Critters, and Plant Disease

Yes, bad bugs will be around more during the Summer, but don’t treat unless there’s significant damage. We can help identify the pest and if/how to treat. You don’t want to kill too many good bugs while trying to take care of the bad bugs! If you see brown areas in the lawn that are easily pulled up, it’s usually a sign of grubs eating the roots of your grass. You can control grubs with Bonide Insect and Grub Control. Chinch bugs love hot dry areas in lawns. They make the lawn look dried out along sidewalks and pavement. Spot-treat those areas with Cyonara in easy ready-to-spray bottles. For organic control, use Spinosad or Diatomaceous Earth. We’ve also seen a lot more caterpillars than usual this spring. They’re commonly found munching on veggie gardens, but this year we’ve seen them on Gomphrena and Dichondra! Check out these big Sweet Potato Hornworms that Jesse found eating his Dichondra at night! Not too common to see, but it makes sense since dichondra is in the sweet potato family. Just a few caterpillars can be relocated, but if you have a lot destroying your plants, treat with organic Bt in liquid spray or powder form.

5. Garden In Style Indoors with New Houseplants

We just restocked the greenhouse with all kinds of unique and classic houseplants looking for their forever homes! Time to work on your collection! We can help you determine the best houseplants for different areas and different lighting in your home. Once again – invest in a moisture meter for your houseplants, too. In our experience, the main cause of houseplant death is too much love aka too much water. Keep in mind that houseplants can also be sensitive to chemicals in treated tap water. We use as much A/C condensate, rainwater, and water from our dehumidifier as we can to water houseplants and keep them looking their best here at Gill’s.

The weather was warm & dry last week and I have been watering a little each morning and evening. It is keeping our plants perky. I did our first Hastagro feeding on October 17^th, after fixing my cutoff hose with a new end and invested in a new hand sprinkler. My old one was used as a chew toy. Even though we hoed and pulled weeds before prepping our garden….guess what’s already coming back? The war is coming and I am hoping to have a new secret weapon to use…its organic, smells great and it works….more on that soon. Our seeds are sprouting nicely; all the transplants doing well, the mystery chewers have found the swiss chard already. Think I’ll start with a pan of beer for snails and slugs. If that does not fix it, I will try Dipel Dust or Spinosad. Both are natural and very effective for most chewing critters!

Maybe then I’ll drink the beer☺

-Debbie

Oak Tree Caterpillars

Be on the look-out for oak tree caterpillars in your oak trees. They cluster together in large groups feeding on the leaves of your trees or you may notice poop under your tree (on your patio or walk.) They can be killed with Thuricide sprayed onto the leaves or with Fertilome Borer, Bagworm, Tent Caterpillar Spray containing Spinosad. If your trees are too large to spray or you just don’t want to, they will not kill your trees. The tree will leaf back out in the spring. I have had customers say that early in the mornings they could hear them chewing the hard oak leaves. Crunch, Crunch, Crunch!

Pansy Time

Pansies love the cool days of fall and winter. Plant them in full sun. Use Hi-Yield Blood Meal at the time of planting for larger and more profuse blooms. Once they become established use Maestro Rose Glo to keep them blooming throughout the season. You can also plant their dwarf counterpart violas. They have smaller leaves and blooms, but tolerate heat and moisture better.

Powdery Mildew on Mesquite Trees

With the cooler temperatures, shorter days and heavy rains in the past few weeks, powdery mildew fungus has attacked mesquite trees. Since the trees are getting ready to drop their leaves for the winter, it is not necessary to spray them. They will leaf out and be fine next Spring.

Rust on Plumeria

Plumeria are suffering from rust fungus caused by the same weather conditions. The undersides of the leaves have yellow- orange or reddish brown pustules. Since you should be withholding water from the plumeria so they can go dormant for the winter, be sure to gather up the leaves as they drop and discard in the trash. It is not necessary to spray unless the condition re-occurs in the spring.

UNMISTAKABLY BEAUTIFUL ANTIQUE ROSES!

If you want an old fashioned rose, come in and get them while they’re here! Unlike shrub roses, antique roses have a full rich fragrance, and often have a much higher petal count, making for a fuller, more complex bloom. They’re also less disease prone than hybrid roses. Our antique rose selection includes colors like deep red, pale pink, bright yellow and more. So if you want to expand your rose garden, or even start a new one, you’ll want to grab these old-fashioned roses now. –Marta

GOOD, FERTILE SOIL…

Without organic matter, dirt is just dirt. Soil is a mix of minerals (dirt) andcomposted organics. In nature, it might include rotting leaves and branches and bird poop. In a home garden or landscape, it might include composted cotton hulls (Back to Nature Compost or Nature’s Blend with Manure and Alfalfa), composted pine bark, and again with the bird poop (Medina Grow N Green, my favorite), or home-made leaf and branch and vegetable waste compost. Adding composted organic matter helps maintain healthy soil moisture levels (neither too wet nor too dry), fertility (available nutrients), and aids in development of healthy roots and suppression of harmful diseases. –James

ARE THEY LADYBUGS?

No they are Boxelder Bugs. Boxelder bugs are about ½ inch long and 1/3

inch wide. They are browninsh-gray to black with distinctive red markings. Boxelder babies have dull red bodies with black legs. You will find them by the hundreds, if not thousands gathered on the fence, in the bark of trees or hiding in your mulch. Adults deposit their eggs in cracks and crevices of tree bark in the spring, about the time buds begin to open. There are two or more generations per year in Texas. Boxelder Bugs are not considered to be damaging to host plants. Although they feed by sucking plant juices, they seldom cause harm to plants. They are considered more of a nuisance pest. You can choose to ignore them, or if need, they can be sprayed with any insecticide i.e. Cyonara or Triazicide. An organic alternative is Spinosad. –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

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

Watch out for Chinch Bugs!

Seems a little early with all the rain, but the temperatures are right on up there where they should be for May. I am seeing lots of damage to the lawns and finding chinch bugs. Areas of the lawn will look dry, especially near the sidewalk or driveway where it is the hottest. If you dig up a shovel width piece of lawn and shake it over white paper, you will see small black bugs with a white stripe across their back. The old method was to cut the bottom out of a coffee can and push it into the soil of the dry area, fill it with water and the chinch bugs would float. Try finding a metal coffee can these days! You can spray the areas with Cyonara, Triazicide, even Mosquito Beater Hose-end will kill chinch bugs. You do not have to spray the whole lawn, just the areas affected. The grass will quickly recover. For an organic control, use Spinosad or Diatomaceous Earth.