Callers:

• Peggy – Is there anything she can do to help save an old fan tex ash tree that’s been neglected and the leaves have all dropped during the recent heat?

Recommendation – Pray!!! Ha. Ash tree needs a lot of water and even suffer in the heat with a lot of water. Slowly soak it for a  few days and then let it recover for about a week and do the same thing for a few weeks. If it doesn’t recover quickly, it will probably go downhill fairly quickly. The chances for recovery aren’t reall good.

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• They love their shade tree in the backyard, but can’t keep any grass under it…..

Recommendation – After talking with Peggy, keep the tree! They are very valuable, especially with the shade. We’d recommend having a nice winter lawn and leave the tree alone. The shade won’t affect the winter grass.

• Talking about the benefits of just letting your lawn take the summer off.

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• When should I put sod down for a winter lawn?

Recommendation – Remember, you can just seed in the winter and it’s much cheaper.  Plant in mid to late September, depending on the weather and you should be fine.

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• Their Palo Verde is leaking sap and bark peeling off. What to do?

Recommendation – Jay’s seen a lot of damage from Palo Verde beetle larva. It’s a big beetle you’ll see at night near your porch lights. They lay eggs this time of year and the larva eats a lot of the bark. Look for holes in the ground or trees and get rid of them. Extra water and fertilizer will help the tree get through it, plus you can use insecticide to get rid of the larva.

Caller:

• Barbara – Is there a way to add nitrogen to a plant to help with the decrease during the summer?

Recommendation – Yes, she’ll need to do fertilizer. It supplements the missing nitrogen, but isn’t the same as a natural rainfall.  Add water more too. Jay talks through it what to expect.

• We talk through fall planting and what you can do to get ready for the change of seasons.  Soil prep and what you can grow by seed, not starts! Here’s Harper’s Fall Planting Guide.
• The benefits of raised bed gardens and what to line the bottom of your bed with. “Weed barrier” if it sits on the ground.

Caller:

• Jen – One of her drippers on the irrigation system is on today and shouldn’t be. She’s checkd all the settings and wants to know if the dripper could freeze open?

Recommendation – Yes. The rubber gasket called a diaphram in the head can wear out or something in the valve keeps it from sealing closed. She needs to replace the guts of the valve. Jay goes through her options.  She can pick it up at Ewing Irrigation & Landscape Supply today.

• Watering & trying to keep plants alive when it goes over 110 degrees. How to gauge when it’s “a lost cause” with plants.

Remember, you can reach Jay weekdays at Harper’s Nursery & Landscaping Company in Scottsdale.