- (Focus Area) Environment
Client's Request: I'm a trapper in the Ag Department. We have been looking for plum bud gall mites in the county. I recently came across this plum tree with a huge growth or gall, it's 8" long and 7" wide on the underside of a branch, the tree is around 15 years old. Homeowner wants to know what it is and what should be done about it. The tree is in Pittsburg. Any ideas?
MGCC Help Desk Response: Thank you for contacting the UC Master Gardener Program Help Desk with your question about a very large gall on this 15 year old plum tree in Pittsburg.
I believe this is a gall caused by the bacterium Agrobacterium tumefaciens commonly referred to as crown gall mite or possibly Plum Bud Gall Mite (Acalitus phloeocoptes (Nalepa)). Crown gall, as its name implies, typically appears at the crown of a plant, where the trunk enters the soil but it also can infect the main trunk and side branches. Plum trees are among a long list of plants commonly infected by crown gall including many popular home garden fruit trees (pluots, etc.).
The surface of crown galls and wood underneath is the same color as healthy bark and wood. However, when cut with a knife, crown galls are softer than normal wood and lack the typical pattern of annual growth rings. Galls can be tiny and smooth on young plants but usually are rough and sometimes massive on older trees.
Crown gall appears to have a relatively minor effect on most older plants which is the situation you found. Since this tree is 15 years old and the gall appears to encompass a major part of the main branch I would suggest leaving it be. If the distal portion of the branch starts to decline then the branch can be removed back towards the trunk thereby removing the gall.
Without further inspection of the gall here in our office, another possibility is the Plum Bud Gall Mite (Acalitus phloeocoptes (Nalepa)) which are well described in the Santa Clara County UCCE link below.
Following is a link to a UC Integrated Pest Management website that explains crown gall http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/GARDEN/PLANTS/DISEASES/crowngall.html
and here is a Santa Clara County UCCE link to Plum Bud Gall Mite:
http://mgsantaclara.ucanr.edu/files/300211.pdf
We could give a more conclusive response if you would bring a sample to our offices during our office hours described at the bottom of this response.
I hope your homeowner will be relieved. Good luck.
Help Desk of the UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County (EDC)
Notes: 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.edu/HortCoCo/ You can also subscribe to the Biog.
Help for the Home Gardener from the Help Desk of the
UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County
Identifying a Mayten Garden Tree
Client's Request: Hello Master Gardeners, could you identify this tree for me? I moved from the Midwest (Minnesota) a couple of years ago and am learning the names of the trees and plants in the Bay Area that I am not familiar with. I live in a townhouse development in Walnut Creek and we have several trees of the variety pictured below in our complex. Thank you.
Help Desk Response: Thank you for contacting the UC Master Gardener Help Desk asking about the identification of a tree planted in your development. Your photographs were helpful.
The tree is aMayten tree (Maytenus boaria) ). It is native to Chile which also has a Mediterranean climates similar to ours here in California.
This website has information about the tree and could be helpful in identifying other trees in California. https://selectree.calpoly.edu/tree-detail/maytenus-boaria
Good luck in learning about the plants in this area.
Help Desk of the UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County (smt)
Notes: 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
MGCC Help Desk Response: Thank you for contacting the UC Master Gardener Program Help Desk with a question about overwintering Gerbera Daisies. Gerberas are perennial plants but are often treated as annuals. They need regular deep water and do best in rich, well-drained soil. They should be fertilized monthly during the bloom period. They do well in full sun, but in hot areas such as most of East County, they need partial shade. If you have a nice clump of them, you must be doing something right!
They should overwinter in the ground just fine in East County. According to Sunset Western Garden Book, they can be grown as perennials in zones that get even colder than your Zone 9. As long as the soil drains well and doesn't become waterlogged when it rains, your gerberas should be OK.
Mulch is almost always a good idea. It protects the soil and helps maintain even moisture levels. Just make sure you keep the mulch a couple of inches away from the plants' stems to avoid rotting.
Please let us know if you have more questions.
Help Desk of the UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County (SEH)
Notes: 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.
Help 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 Help Desk with your question about the large bugs on your pomegranate tree. You're right, they are leaf-footed bugs. Your photos are helpful and show adults on your pomegranate fruit.
The following website has useful information about these bugs and how to manage them:
http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74168.html
The adults can cause small blemishes on the surface of the pomegranates, with brown spots inside the fruit. The adults are common now because the fruits are getting close to harvest time. As noted in the website, insecticides are usually not warranted but they can be used if an infestation is particularly severe. If your infestation reaches a level at which you conclude you need to apply an insecticide, you'll find recommendations about the type of insecticide to use and when to apply it in the attached document. You will want to be cautious about the use of insecticides if you want to consume the fruit. If you do apply a pesticide, make sure that you follow the instructions on the label regarding the time period to wait between applying the pesticide and harvesting the fruit. Also, wash the fruit before eating it. Additionally, keep in mind that spraying with insecticides may be harmful to bees and other beneficial insects.
Control of the bugs using more physical measures may be helpful. You can get the nymphs and adults out of the tree by shaking the branches or by using a stream of water from the nozzle on the hose. You can squash the bugs once they are on the ground. Because some adults may fly away, you'll want to repeat this process every week or so. You may also be able to pick the bugs off the plants by hand and crush them, wearing gloves to avoid the odor of the bugs.
As you'll see on the website, the adult leaf-footed bugs can overwinter and then re-emerge in the spring to lay eggs. Each adult female can lay up to 200 eggs over a two-month period in the spring. Given this life cycle trait, a good management approach is to try to eliminate places where the insects can overwinter. In your fall cleanup, you will want to remove all the fruit from the tree and clean up debris below the tree to help remove overwintering populations. The adults also overwinter under woodpiles so if you maintain a woodpile you might want to inspect it carefully to remove any of the insects you can locate. In the springtime, the adults feed on weedy plants, so eliminating or mowing woody plants in the vicinity of your pomegranates can also be a good strategy for reducing populations.
Good luck with you pomegranate tree.
Help Desk of the UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County (SMT)
Note:s 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
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
