March, 2025

Our pre-order tomato and pepper plant program is now online. You may order as few as one plant or several flats. Our flats contain 18 plants. You can mix all the varieties if you wish. This program is for pick up at nursery only. The pick-up date this year is April 5. We would like all orders to be in by March 22. When ordering if you should see a charge for shipping please just click on the pick up at nursery option and the charge will be deleted.

You may order your plants here.

Late Winter Sprays

Copper sprays are excellent for bacterial problems such as fire blight on apple and pear trees and bacterial spot on peach, nectarine, plum and cherry. It is generally best not to mix copper with other spray materials. Don’t spray copper within 2 to 3 weeks oil sprays.

If you are having a problem with scale insects and eggs, mite eggs plus overwintering fungal and bacterial pests you could use Parafine Horticultural Oil, Year-Round Spray Oil, Hi-yield dormant Spray, Saf-t-side (80% petroleum oil or Fertilome dormant Spray and Summer Spray Oil, ( 98.8% horticultural Oil).

Do not apply oil sprays within 48 hours of a hard freeze, (below 30 degrees) because freeze damage may be increased.

Bloom Sprays

Bloom sprays are used late February through early April from first bloom until essentially all flowers have opened. Bloom sprays are for fungal problems such as brown rot. They may not be needed every year but are suggested if brown rot on fruit was severe the previous year. We use bloom sprays to control fungal and bacterial diseases. Suggested products are Hi-yield Captan, Hi Yield Vegetable, Flower, Fruit and Ornamental Fungicide (12.5% chlorothalonil )and Fruit Tree Vegetable , Ornamental Fungicide (29.6% chlorothalonil) You may also use Liquid Copper Fungicide and Liquid-Cop.

When applying copper be careful to use the recommended rates to avoid bloom damage. On peaches and plums apply 2 tablespoons per gallon of water at bud break. One tablespoon per gallon of water 2 weeks later. Then 1/2 tablespoon per gallon of water 2 weeks after the last spray through petal fall.

Do not spray insecticides during bloom period to protect pollinating bees.

Cover Sprays

This spray begins at petal fall (nearly all flower petals have fallen.) and runs until 15 days before harvest. These sprays are used mainly to control insect and disease problems of the fruit. (especially plum curcullio which causes wormy fruit and brown rot which causes fruit rots). The first 2 to 3 sprays should be 7 to 10 days apart with later sprays up until near harvest 2 to 3 weeks apart. Suggested products are Hi Yield Captan Fungicide, Dusting/Wettable sulfur, Thiomyl. When using Thiomyl include Captan in the spray to reduce possible development of resistant strains of brown rot. For plum curculio and other insects, Mal-A Cide (50% malathion) Monterey Garden Insect Spray (0.5% spinosad) The old fruit tree spray that contained Malathion and Captan is no longer available. However the gardener can prepare the same spray by mixing per directions the captan and malathion together.

Pruning and Fertilizing

Prune evergreens, pine, hemlock, yew, cleyera and cedar now before they start to grow.  Prune spring blooming shrubs after they flower.  Don’t wait too long or your will remove next years buds. Prune boxwoods if needed.  Open up the inside to allow air circulation and light.  Prune pomegranate and summer flowering shrubs.  Lilac Chaste tree, Anthony Waterer Spirea and Pee Gee hydrangea should also be pruned now while dormant.  Hydrangea arborescens, Annabelle hydrangeas, can be pruned to the ground since they flower on new growth.  If the stems are cut to the ground the new shoots produce larger inflorescences.  Don’t prune your hydrangea macrophylla, mopheads and lacecaps until after they leaf out.  Then prune only the branches that are dead. For pink blooms on the hydrangeas use lime; for blue blooms use aluminum sulphate or camellia and azalea fertilize

Prune all spring flowering shrubs such as forsythia, spirea, flowering quince and azaleas after they bloom. Wait to prune butterfly bushes until after you think we have had the last frost.

Prune all repeat flowering roses 1/3 of their height in a dome shape. Wait to prune spring only bloomers until after they have flowered. If you don’t get a chance to prune your repeat bloomers until they have set their buds just wait until they flower then give them a good pruning. Fertilize them with a good rose fertilizer. I like to use Fertilome Rose Food.

Prune muscadines now. Fertilize all your pecan trees with a pecan fertilizer that has zinc. Fertilize blackberries, blueberries and all fruit trees. We use a 12-6-6 fertilizer on the blueberries and blackberries and a Citrus, Pecan and Fruit tree fertilizer on the fruit trees. This fertilizer contains all the micro-nutrients the trees need for good fruit production.

Bulbs

Don’t worry if you didn’t have a chance to plant daffodils this year we have done it for you!

We have daffodils, species tulips, grape hyacinths blooming and ready to be planted in your garden.

When your daffodils are finished blooming it is very tempting to cut off the foliage. Resist that temptation, the foliage is making food for next year flowers. I have also separated some of my daffodils while the foliage is still green but you will lose the blooms for the next year. However they will put up leaves the next year and you will get flowers the following year.

New Citrus Greenhouse

It is all the gossip at Petals that we will be propagating our own citrus trees. It has become increasingy hard for us to buy Satsuma orange and Meyer lemon trees. This is because many of the growers that sell these trees are quarantined because of Citrus Greening disease. This disease is a bacterial infection that affects citrus trees. Symptoms typically appear gradually and may vary depending on the tree species and stage of infection. Early signs of this disease is blotchy, asymmetrical yellowing of leaves that often crosses leaf veins and stunted growth and reduced foliage. Over time, an infected tree will start producing fewer fruit that are partially green, smaller, shaped irregularly, and taste bitter. Leaves may show asymmetrical, blotchy mottling. Trees may show twig dieback and premature fruit drop.

We have been very fortunate and do not have this disease. We are planning to have our trees ready for sale by the fall.