What a glorious day at the Tigard Fred Meyer Garden Center! It was a riot of color and quite a number of listeners came up to say “hi!” I was so pleased when Stephanie sat down at the microphone with me to ask her question on the air.
Jim Dostert, Fred Meyer Home Manager, also took time to talk to us about all the plants (and soils and pots and garden art) that were coming into the garden center.
David called with a question about leaf spots on his yucca. I have to admit that I’m not as up on my yucca culture as I might be, so I did some research. This appears to be a fungus disease that is found in Oregon. It gets its start in our wet springs on the new leaves, and can do some serious damage. See a photo here.
Removing the leaves that already have the spots will keep the disease spores from spreading to new leaves. To protect leaves just coming out, take a look at the ready to use Cueva™ Copper Soap Fungicide by Lilly Miller. Try it on a couple of leaves to make sure there’s no damage.
Several callers have had problems with blossom end rot on their tomatoes in past years. Tomatoes get black and sunken at the bottom or the “blossom end”. It’s not caused by a fungus or bacteria or insect – gardeners can take steps to prevent it. Here are some things you can do:
1) Have a soil test to ensure that the soil acidity (pH) is where it should be. Add lime when needed.
2) Keep soil evenly moist – don’t let it dry out completely or let leaves wilt. Mulching around the base of the tomatoes will help keep moisture even.
3) Fertilize with a vegetable formula (low first number, higher middle number) and only as the plant food box recommends – don’t over-fertilize.
Have a good gardening week!
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