Advice from the Help Desk of the UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County

Client: Hi, The Master Gardener folks at the Farmers Market suggested I contact you with my problem. I planted a California native Bush Anemone (Carpenteria californica) last spring in very sandy soil with great drainage. It did well until recently when lower leaves began to yellow. It gets 20 minutes of drip twice a week from a 1 gallon emitter. Earlier I gave it some extra water between drip days. So is the yellowing from over watering or under watering? Hard for me to figure out with a young drought tolerant plant.

Help Desk Response:  Thank you for contacting the Help Desk with your questions and concerns about your Bush Anemone plant with yellowing leaves.

Once established, this is a very hardy low-water-use plant, but even these varieties need extra water usually for the first several years while becoming established. However, yellow leaves can be a symptom or either under or over-watering. You mentioned that there is only one one-gallon dripper for 40 minutes a week, which would give the plant less than one gallon a week. Even for a young drought-resistant plant, this may not be enough, especially since it was planted this spring spring and in sandy soil. Also, one drip emitter would only be watering one side of the root ball. You can check on the moisture in the root area by carefully digging down beside the plant with a trowel or your hand, to feel for moisture, or if you have a soil moisture meter that can also be used. When you water, you want to wet the whole of the root ball and then let it dry out between waterings. If you want to continue to use drip, a circle of inline emitter hose around the plant or at least 2 emitters on opposite sides of the root ball would provide more even moisture than a single emitter.

Bush Anemone
aka Carpenteria californica

Here also is a useful and recommended UC Sonoma County Master Gardener link to cultivating Bush Anenome:
http://ucanr.edu/sites/scmg/ Plant_of_the_Month/ Carpenteria_californica/.

The paragraph on Cultivation provides some good advice on getting your Bush Anemone back in good health and watering appropriately for the first several years. (The pictures in this blog post were also copied from the Sonoma County Master Gardener article in the link.)

I hope this is helpful, and that your plant will do well.

Follow-up response from the client:  Thanks so much for this information.  I have mostly drought tolerant plants but I always find that first year or two a big question mark. I have a newish lavendar that seems to be thriving with no water at all - and then this which seems to need more. And I love this plant when grown, so I don't want to lose it! I'll give it more water until the rains (hopefully) begin. 

Help Desk of the UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County (SMW)

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Note: The  UC Master Gardeners Program of Contra Costa's Help Desk is available year-round to answer your gardening questions.  Except for a few holidays, we're open every week, Monday through Thursday for walk-ins from 9:00 am to Noon at 75 Santa Barbara Road, 2d Floor, Pleasant Hill, CA  94523. We can also be reached via telephone:  (925) 646-6586, 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  (http://ucanr.edu/blogs/CCMGBlog/).

Advice From the Help Desk of the
UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County
 

Client:  I've been growing okra here in Central County for several years. Last year I had a great crop, but this year not so much. My plants are flowering but pods are not reliably forming from the blooms. Do you have any suggestions on how to “fix” the problem?

UC Master Gardener Help Desk:  I did some research to determine possible causes for the reduced production of okra in your garden this year as compared to last year. I suspect that the high daytime temperatures that we've experienced on and off throughout the summer have contributed to the reduced production. My research also indicates that temperatures above 90° F (some sources say above 95°F) can interfere with pollination of okra and cause flowers and buds to drop. You reported in your latest message that you have noticed some encouraging signs that more pods may have started forming recently, which could be the result of the cooler temperatures that we had for several successive days last week.

Of course, we also experienced high temperatures from time to time last year when you report that production was much higher. So, there may be some other factors at work. You mentioned that you were doing some supplemental watering for the okra last summer to add to what was provided by your scheduled drip system. My research did indicate that water stress can also reduce pollination rates for okra. So perhaps the reduction in watering this year has also contributed to the reduced production rate.

When we discussed your problem, I neglected to ask whether the same variety of okra seed had been planted both last year and this year or whether a different variety may have been used this year. If the seed variety changed, it could be another contributing factor. My research revealed that some strains of okra have been bred to grow in cooler climates. Those varieties are the most affected by high temperatures and need to have cooler temperatures to set pods. The University of California recommends two varieties for California gardens:  Clemson Spineless and Blondy (compact plants with whitish pods). (See http://cagardenweb.ucanr.edu/Vegetables/)
 
One other consideration could be the fertility of the soil. Too much nitrogen will encourage lots of green growth but can suppress fruit development. Also, plants need adequate phosphorous which supports blooming and fruit production. If you have a soils test kit, it might be worth checking the fertility levels of the soils in the okra bed.  If phosphorous is too low, you could supply a boost with a foliar spray or soil drench of a liquid fertilizer that is high in phosphorous. Just be careful not to supply more nitrogen if the current levels are already adequate.
 
One other fact I learned from my research is that you can prolong the production period of okra by cutting off about 1/3 of the plant top in late summer. This pruning allows plants to send out new growth and flower and fruit for a second time in the fall.

I hope this information is useful. You are welcome to contact our Help Desk if you have further questions.

Help Desk of the UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County (TKL)

Editor's note:  For more information on okra gardening, a Sonoma County MG article is recommended (click)... the pictures in this blog post came from that article.

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Note: The  UC Master Gardeners Program of Contra Costa's Help Desk is available year-round to answer your gardening questions.  Except for a few holidays, we're open every week, Monday through Thursday for walk-ins from 9:00 am to Noon at 75 Santa Barbara Road, 2d Floor, Pleasant Hill, CA  94523. We can also be reached via telephone:  (925) 646-6586, 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  (http://ucanr.edu/blogs/CCMGBlog/).

Advice From the Help Desk of the
UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County

Client:  I think I've found bed bugs in one of my children's beds. What can I do to identify and get rid of them?

UC MGCC Help Desk:  Thank you for calling the Master Gardener Help Desk. I'm so sorry to hear about the bed bugs, but I will give you resources below to help you deal with the problem. Controlling them can be a real challenge, but it's not impossible. While a bed bug infestation can be scary, at least they don't transmit diseases.

Contra Costa County's Health Department is the County's lead agency to combat bed bugs. The Department has a good website with lots of links to bed bug information for homeowners, tenants, landlords, and pest control professionals. The following link will take you to that website: http://cchealth.org/bedbugs/. There you will find additional links to methods to protect your other children's beds by using easy-to-make traps for the beds' legs that you can use right now. There is also a link that will help you hire a pest control company that is competent to take care of the problem. Treatments can include vacuuming, heat treatment, steam cleaning, clutter control and careful use of pesticide sprays or dusts.

Bed Bugs eggs on paper

If you are living in an apartment, you will need to alert your landlord immediately because bed bugs can easily spread to adjacent apartments. The Contra Costa Health Department website I included above also has a section specifically for landlords.

The University of California has a very complete document on bed bug management. It also includes a link to a good video on how to search for bedbugs which can help you figure out how extensive your infestation is now, as well as help you monitor your home after treatment.

UC document:  http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7454.html 
UC video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORR7yAT-Vic

Please don't hesitate to contact us again if you have more questions.

Help Desk of the UC Master Gardeners Program of Contra Costa County (SEH)
all pictures from the UC Pest Note 7454 on bed bug management

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Note: The  UC Master Gardeners Program of Contra Costa's Help Desk is available year-round to answer your gardening questions.  Except for a few holidays, we're open every week, Monday through Thursday for walk-ins from 9:00 am to Noon at 75 Santa Barbara Road, 2d Floor, Pleasant Hill, CA  94523. We can also be reached via telephone:  (925) 646-6586, 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  (http://ucanr.edu/blogs/CCMGBlog/).

Advice from the Help Desk of the
UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County

Subject: More Summer Tomato problems  as well as Crop Rotation and Fertilization 

Client brought tomatoes from her garden with “production problems” to the Help Desk.

Response from the Help Desk: Thank you for bringing your tomato plant samples to the UC Master Gardener Program Help Desk office. You mentioned that you have been planting tomatoes in the same area for a number of years and have not had problems before this year. We found 3 different conditions in your samples that could explain why your plants are not thriving.

First, the leaves that are pale with a purplish cast on the undersides have symptoms of both nitrogen and phosphorus deficiency. Nutritional deficiency can make plants susceptible to other problems like pests and diseases. To remain healthy, tomato plants may need light applications of nitrogen every 4 weeks, and they also frequently need phosphorus. A good organic vegetable fertilizer will supply these nutrients and release them slowly. More detailed recommendations for how to fertilize tomato plants can be found here http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/GARDEN/VEGES/CULTURAL/vegefertilizing.html .

Tomato Russet Mites (microscopic)
pix: UCANR

Second, your plants are infested with a microscopic pest called a tomato russet mite. Mites suck plant juices, weakening the plants. Heavy infestations can cause severe defoliation (loss of leaves). Growing tomatoes in the same
place year after year can favor a build up of this pest. The pest can also persist in petunias, morning glory, and other plants in the tomato family like potato, peppers and eggplant. We recommend that you remove the infested plants, all fallen leaves and weeds in the area, and put them in your green waste container (not in a compost pile). This will reduce the potential that russet mites will still be in your yard next year.

Additional information on the russet mites can be found here http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/GARDEN/VEGES/PESTS/tomrusmite.html. 

Sulfur dusts can be used to reduce an infestation of russet mites but will not help if the pest has already killed most of the plant. If you do decide to try a treatment anyway, safety warnings applicable to the use of sulfur include wearing eye protection, long pants and long sleeves, and a hat, and avoiding contact with eyes and skin.  Additional information on sulfur is here http://ipm.ucanr.edu/TOOLS/PNAI/pnaishow.php?id=67 . 

Third, at least one of your plants has a bacterial disease, called pith necrosis, that is attacking the inside of the stems, hollowing them out. Unfortunately, this disease will kill the plant and there is no treatment for it. To prevent a re-occurrence of this disease next year, do not plant tomatoes in the same area year after year. Also, reduce stress to your plants by watering and fertilizing them adequately, but do not add excessive amounts of nitrogen (follow label directions). Finally, wait to transplant tomatoes until early May when the soil should have warmed to at least 60 degrees because colder soil favors the development of this disease.

Finally, we strongly recommend that you not plant tomatoes or other plants in the tomato family listed above in the same area more than 2 years in a row. Rotating your vegetables will help reduce the pests and diseases that you have been experiencing this year. You may also be interested in a good overall UC reference on growing tomatoes in the home garden that can be found (free) at http://ucce.ucdavis.edu/files/repositoryfiles/8159-54222.pdf

Please feel free to contact us again if you have additional problems with your garden.

Help Desk of the UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County (JL)

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Note: The  UC Master Gardeners Program of Contra Costa's Help Desk is available year-round to answer your gardening questions.  Except for a few holidays, we're open every week, Monday through Thursday for walk-ins from 9:00 am to Noon at 75 Santa Barbara Road, 2d Floor, Pleasant Hill, CA  94523. We can also be reached via telephone:  (925) 646-6586, 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  (http://ucanr.edu/blogs/CCMGBlog/).