Advice for Home Gardeners from the Help Desk of the
UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County
Client's Request: We live in the south County currently and are moving 10 miles north into the center of the County in April 2020. We currently have tree roses that we planted 4years back and lots of fruits trees that we planted 10 years back. How can we move roses and fruit trees to our new home. Fruit trees that we are mainly looking to move are pluots, plums, pears, grapes, persimmon, pomegranates, apple and a few citrus plants. Would appreciate all your information on if and how to make the move for my favorite plants without giving them a shock.
Help Desk Response: Thank you for contacting the UC Master Gardener Program Help Desk for information about moving several trees to your new home. Unfortunately, you can't move trees without causing them stress and while it is possible to successfully move a plant from one location to another, moving established fruit trees like yours, is very difficult and usually not advised. Unless the tree is uniquely special, buying new trees for the new location makes a lot more sense.
Here's a link to an article by Clemson University Cooperative Extension giving detailed instructions about moving established trees. I think you will find it helpful if you decide to try to move your trees despite the difficulty. They recommend pruning the tree roots in the fall and then moving the tree before bud break next year. The most important thing is to get as much of the root ball as possible and go at least a foot deep. The new hole should be 50 percent wider than the root ball and about the same depth. You do not need to amend the soil.
Moving the rose trees will probably be much easier as they are quite resilient and it may be possible to move them at any time if done correctly. Here's another link to an article called "Myths About Transplanting Roses" which won an award from the Northern California, Nevada and Hawaii Rose Society. You may find this helpful since it gives good instructions on how to transplant a rose during the growing season. In short, they advise to give the rose as much water as possible the day before transplanting, get as much of the root ball as possible and minimize the time out of the ground.
Good luck and please let us know if we can be of further assistance.
Help Desk of the UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County (TDT)
Note: Contra Costa MG's Help Desk is available almost year-round to answer your gardening questions. Except for a few holidays (e.g., last 2 weeks December), we're open every week, Monday through Thursday for walk-ins from 9:00 am to Noon at 2380 Bisso Lane, Concord, CA 94520. We can also be reached via telephone: (925) 608-6683, email: ccmg@ucanr.edu, or on the web at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/Ask_Us/. MGCC Blogs can be found at http://ccmg.ignore.edu/HortCoCo/ You can also subscribe to the Blog
Advice for the Home Gardener from the Help Desk of the
UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County
And can you please identify the green plant for me and what I should do with it? The ones I see in our neighborhood look more like a low ground covering but ours has a large trunk and is very woody and unattractive. I am open to pulling it out if it can't be pruned attractively.
Fuchsia: I suggest that you hold off pruning the fuchsia until next spring. Your fuchsia looks like it is struggling as it only has sparse stems, leaves and flowers and the leaves look rather pale. If you were to prune it most likely you would be removing many of the leaves and without those it would not be able to produce its food. Flowers appear on new wood so do any pruning before spring growth begin but after the last frost. During this part of the season focus on providing good cultural care.
Fuchsias like to be watered regularly; you want to maintain a moist but not waterlogged condition.
Fuchsias are heavy feeders so while blooming provide a monthly application of a balanced liquid fertilizer. A balanced fertilizer is one with 3 numbers about the same. You may see 5-5-5 or 10-10-10. The numbers represent the percentage of nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus respectively in the product.
Unknown plant: Your unknown plant is a ceanothus. There many varieties of ceanothus both upright shrubs and ground covers as you see in your neighbor's yards. Regardless of the type you have, I can provide you with general information on pruning and care.
The part of the plant you are showing in the picture has nice green growth. Since I cannot see the whole plant I am unable to tell you if you will be able to make it more attractive. For pruning, wait until the blooms have faded and avoid cutting off any branches more than an inch in diameter. While most Ceanothus can be shaped by tip pruning and cleaning out interior or low dead growth, it resents serious hacking. Ceanothus will not produce shoots from old wood, so never prune back severely to old wood. Prune from the inside, lightly thinning and removing a few lower limbs.
Ceanothus typically requires little if any water during the summer months so caution here because your fuchsia that lives right next to it requires regular water.
Following is a link to a UC website that will provide more information on the history, pruning, and care of ceanothus: http://sonomamg.ucanr.edu/Plant_of_the_Month/Ceanothus_796/
Help Desk of UC the UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County (EDC)
Note: Contra Costa MG's Help Desk is available almost year-round to answer your gardening questions. Except for a few holidays (e.g., last 2 weeks December), we're open every week, Monday through Thursday for walk-ins from 9:00 am to Noon at 2380 Bisso Lane, Concord, CA 94520. We can also be reached via telephone: (925) 608-6683, email: ccmg@ucanr.edu, or on the web at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/Ask_Us/. MGCC Blogs can be found at http://ccmg.ignore.edu/HortCoCo/ You can also subscribe to the Biog
Advice for the Home Gardener from the Help Desk of the
UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County
Gardener's Request: Can I plant mint and thyme together? Thank you for your response.
Help Desk Response: Thank you for contacting the UC Master Gardener Program Help Desk.
Mint and thyme are wonderful herbs to have in the garden; both herbs have a lovely scent and their flowers are attractive to many beneficial insects.
Mint is considered a rather aggressive herb; therefore, it is best to plant mint by itself in a pot, not in the ground. You can try to plant both mint and thyme together in a pot; however, please realize over time the mint will probably take over the thyme. Mint and thyme also have different water requirements, thyme requires less water than mint.
Hope the above addresses your question. You can find further information regarding mint and thyme in the links below. Both links reference Sonoma County but the information should apply to Contra Costa County as well (we assumed you live in Contra Costa County).
Mint: http://sonomamg.ucanr.edu/The_Kitchen_Garden/Feature_Vegetables/Mint/
Thyme: http://sonomamg.ucanr.edu/Food_Gardening/Feature_Vegetables/Thyme/
Please let us know if you need further assistance with this or other herb gardening.
Happy Gardening!
Help Desk of the UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County (mlk)
Note: Contra Costa's Help Desk is available almost year-round to answer your gardening questions. Except for a few holidays (e.g., last 2 weeks December), we're open every week, Monday through Thursday for walk-ins from 9:00 am to Noon at 2380 Bisso Lane, Concord, CA 94520. We can also be reached via telephone: (925) 608-6683, email: ccmg@ucanr.edu, or on the web at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/Ask_Us/. MGCC Blogs can be found at http://ccmg.ignore.edu/HortCoCo/ You can also subscribe to the Biog.
Advice for the Home Gardener from the Help Desk of the
UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County
Help Desk Response: Thank you for contacting the UC Master Gardener Program Help Desk with your question about your oak tree. First off, let me say that I am sorry about your oak tree. It does not look very healthy in the picture you provided. While it is common for live oaks to shed significant leaves in the spring, it sounds like you are seeing a more general decline over years which is likely due to other causes. I also should note that our advice is based solely on the picture, as opposed to the arborist who come to your house and personally reviewed the tree on-site. Their advice is likely to be more accurate. You mentioned that they want to treat the tree yearly with a fungicide. Did they actually diagnose a fungal disease?
These would be my concerns for your oak based on the information you provided:
You mention that your neighbor's driveway was put in a few years ago. I presume that is the driveway either in front or behind the tree in the pictures. Regardless, both driveways appear to be under the drip line of the tree. The drip line of a tree is the outermost circumference of the leaf canopy. This is where, in rain, water will drip from the leaves of the tree onto the ground. Oak trees are very susceptible to damage from root compaction and grading. Any construction that has occurred under the tree could result in the death of important roots and the subsequent impending death of the tree. The death of the tree under these circumstances may not be fast, it might take years. Below is a link to a graph with an algorithm to determine if your oak tree may have Sudden Oak Death. Notably, it mentions that you need to consider physical damage first. Depending on when this driveway was installed, this may be the most likely cause of the trees decline. http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pni7498-1c.html
- It is impossible to tell what kinds of plants were placed under the oak tree. The general rule for planting under oak trees is that plants should be quite a few feet from the trunk and that the understudy plants cannot require summer water. If these plants under the oak tree are being watered regularly, that can make the oak tree more susceptible to fungal diseases from the soil. Mature oak trees should not be watered during the summer at all. You should only water during the winter if there is insufficient rain (less than 20 inches/season).
- Lastly a fungal disease would be a possible cause for this kind of decline. There are a variety of fungal diseases that can affect oak trees, however, one of the most concerning is a fungal disease called Phytophthora ramorum. The common name for the disease it causes is Sudden Oak Death. This disease is typically spread from nearby infected California bay laurel trees, rhododendrons or camellias. The pathogen survives on the leaves of the bay laurel and is transmitted to nearby oaks by rain or wind. Once on the oak it infects the trunk and the tree can develop a canker where it bleeds a thick, sticky sap. There is a rapid browning (over 2-4 weeks) of the leaves, however, the tree has usually been infected for two years at that point. This disease is diagnosed by sampling the leaves of nearby host plants (usually a nearby bay laurel) or the bark. Bark sampling should be done by an expert. This disease does not have any cure. There is a fungicide (phosphonate, Agri-Fos) which is approved as a preventative treatment. This will not cure affected trees but will suppress disease progression in early cases. It is injected into the tree or sprayed on the trunk. While it appears you can purchase this product and apply it yourself, it requires special equipment to give the tree injections. You could spray the tree but would likely need special equipment to spray a tree of this size. Given those considerations, treatment is likely a job best left to the arborists. If you treat for fungal disease, and it is not a fungal disease, you may adversely affect the health of the soil under the tree. Fungicides are non-specific and using one may kill non-disease causing fungi that are normal components of soil. For this reason, it is best to get a diagnosis of this disease before starting expensive treatments. There is more information about this disease at the following link: http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74151.html
I hope this information proves helpful to you as you make decisions about this tree. Below is a link to a very extensive guide to diseases of oak trees which you may want to look through. http://www.suddenoakdeath.org/pdf/psw_gtr197.pdf
Best of luck with your oak tree. Please contact the Help Desk again if you have more questions.
Help Desk of the UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County (SES)
Note: Contra Costa's Help Desk is available almost year-round to answer your gardening questions. Except for a few holidays (e.g., last 2 weeks December), we're open every week, Monday through Thursday for walk-ins from 9:00 am to Noon at 2380 Bisso Lane, Concord, CA 94520. We can also be reached via telephone: (925) 608-6683, email: ccmg@ucanr.edu, or on the web at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/Ask_Us/. MGCC Blogs can be found at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/HortCoCo/ You can also subscribe to the Blog.
Advice for the Home Gardener from the Help Desk of the
UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County
I know in the future that we should try to pull the weeds before they flower, but I'm not sure how to proceed with the situation now. Based on my research, I was thinking of trying to hand-pull as many weeds as we could in the next few weeks. I was then going to solarize the area for 6-8 weeks with two layers of clear painter's plastic with PVC between them. First of all, do you think this is a good plan? Could solarizing the soil damage the tree roots? If for whatever reason you think this is not a good plan, please let me know what you suggest. I am open to herbicides if necessary. Although I like the idea of getting rid of the weeds this summer to plant when the rains start, I am open to a different plan that would manage the weeds better long-term. Thank you very much for your assistance!
Help Desk Response: Thank you for contacting the UC Master Gardener Program Help Desk with questions about your parking strip in West County and how to deal with the weeds that have been there for quite a while. Pulling the weeds and then solarizing the soil would help kill the weeds, but it could harm the tree roots as you suspected, so it is not recommended.
A better idea is to pull as many weeds as you can, especially getting the roots out, and then sheet mulch the area. Sheet mulching is an excellent way to kill weeds and improve the soil at the same time. Water the area thoroughly and then lay down cardboard or burlap. The cardboard can be purchased in rolls or you can use recycled boxes. Just make sure to remove any tape or plastic labels. Overlap pieces 6 to 8 inches, completely covering the ground with no gaps. Keep all material away from the tree trunks, though. You'll need to leave 6 to 8 inches clear. You'll need to monitor these areas for weeds and remove them. Water the cardboard so it's evenly moist to keep it in place and make it more malleable.
On top of the cardboard, put a layer of compost about an inch thick. This will "jump start" the decomposition process. Then, on top of the compost apply a thicker layer of chipped plant material (often called “mulch”). This should be 3 to 5 inches thick. You can often get chipped plant material for free from tree companies, although they will often dump an entire truck load in the driveway and this may be too much for your project!
If you are thinking of installing drip irrigation in the parking strip, it should go on top of the cardboard and under the compost.
You should be able to do your fall planting using this sheet mulching method. Continue to water the area occasionally this summer to make sure it's ready for planting when you are.
After at least 10 years of weeds growing uncontrolled, you will have a large number of weed seeds in your soil. There's a saying: one year of seeds gives you 7 years of weeds. These seeds remain viable for a long -time so you need to continue to be vigilant. When you plant your new landscape, you'll expose the soil, giving the seeds a chance to sprout. You'll need to really watch for these and pull them before they can become established and certainly before they set seeds. You will also need to maintain the mulch layer, adding additional chips when you notice thin spots.
And be aware that you will probably see weeds growing in the mulch. Weed seeds can travel long distances and many will end up alighting on top of the mulch where they will sprout, but they'll be very easy to pull out if you don't let them gain a foothold.
These links are to more information and diagrams about sheet mulching, as well as one from Washington State University about using arborist chips:
http://sacmg.ucanr.edu/files/163135.pdf
http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/files/221117.pdf
http://cru.cahe.wsu.edu/CEPublications/FS160E/FS160E.pdf
I hope this information is helpful. Don't hesitate to contact us if you have more questions. And good luck with your project!
Help Desk of the UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County (SHE)
Note: You can also subscribe to the Biog.ogram of Contra Costa's Help Desk is available almost year-round to answer your gardening questions. Except for a few holidays (e.g., last 2 weeks December), we're open every week, Monday through Thursday for walk-ins from 9:00 am to Noon at 2380 Bisso Lane, Concord, CA 94520. We can also be reached via telephone: (925) 608-6683, email: ccmg@ucanr.edu, or on the web at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/Ask_Us/. MGCC Blogs can be found at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/HortCoCo/ You can also subscribe to the Biog.