The Real Dirt

If you are noticing droopy, dried-out flower clusters on your pears, Asian pears, quince, apples or crabapples, fire blight may be the cause. Fire blight is caused by a bacterium and is a common and frequently destructive disease that shows up in April and May.

How many insects can boast their own international organization? That is the case for dragonflies and damselflies, both members of the order Odonata (meaning toothed the dragonfly has serrated mandibles).

If the new leaves of your peach or nectarine tree become reddish, puckered and severely distorted, chances are that peach leaf curl is the culprit.

If you didn't already prune your apricots at the end of last summer, please hold off a little longer. Our area has a fungus called Eutypa that infects fresh pruning wounds when rainfall occurs 2 to 6 weeks after pruning.

At this time of year, some nurseries start selling the egg cases of Chinese mantis as a biological control for the garden. These alien-looking insects are Praying Mantis and are harmless to humans, but have an insatiable appetite for aphids, caterpillars and other insects.