Q We are planning our summer garden and always have problems with squash vine borers or beetles destroying our otherwise healthy, productive summer squash and zucchini plants. Our only recourse seems to be replanting and then hoping they don’t attack the new plants. Is there a way to prevent them from attacking the plants in the first place?
A While some squash vine borers may be overwintering in your garden so they’re ready to come back and attack, the adults seem to find even new squash plantings. Two things you can do to help prevent injury.
One, monitor for the adults - they look somewhat like wasps with orange bodies. You can try trapping them.
They are attracted to the color yellow. You can buy traps or make your own, a shallow yellow container full of water. An old plastic yellow butter tub works well. They fly in and drown. When you see the adults you can apply an insecticide at the soil line, but it will have to be replenished after rain or watering, and you need to be careful not to hurt your pollinators. If you plant using transplants, you can wrap the stems lightly with aluminum foil, where they go into the ground. The foil is a barrier for the boring larvae. If you grow your squash from seed, once the seedlings are established, pull back the soil and lightly wrap the exposed stems with foil.
QI need to reread a piece you did a couple of weeks back on a disease, fungus or blight on crape myrtles. I am reasonably certain I have that problem. I need to know how to deal with it, please.
I live in Nashville and got the tree from a nursery in Texarkana. I noticed the problem last summer.
Should I cut the tree to the ground and retrain it?
A The problem is not a disease but an insect - a new scale on crape myrtles. It was first found in west Little Rock in the fall, but we are getting reports from other areas of the state as well.
From the pictures you sent in, you do have the felt scale. I don’t think cutting the tree back is the answer.
Your tree is small enough that the outer bark hasn’t started peeling yet, so if you apply dormant oil you should get thorough coverage, smothering the insects. Try using the dormant oil and monitor this season.
Before you spray, use a soft brush and soapy warm water to clean off the stems.
When they’re dry, spray the dormant oil all over the tree and the surrounding ground, too, since some of the scales will have fallen there. Systemic insecticides applied during this growing season may also help.
To find the Cooperative Extension Service’s new fact sheet on the problem, got to uaex.edu and search for “felt scale.”Q I’ve tried to find the answer to this question on the Internet but have had no luck. Will liriope suffocate other vegetation? I find it is considered a ground cover, which makes me think it might not kill the shrubs and trees it might surround.
But I’d like to be sure before I let it run wild.
A It depends on which type of liriope you are growing. Liriope muscari is the clumping form of liriope, and it is pretty well behaved. Liriope spicata is a running form that is quite invasive and can overtake perennials and other small plants in its wake. It usually does not hurt large trees or shrubs.
Q I have a peach and a plum tree (plus a small plum tree for pollination). The peach tree was, from the beginning, infected with what I think is Monilinia. The fruits look great at first but rot on the tree, with white fungal growths on the affected parts. By November, the trees are full of fruit “mummies.” I have tried to collect and burn the mummies, but it did not help much. I will have to spray - but how and what? Are there companies that will spray fruit trees in Fayetteville (where I live)? I will have to remove my trees (about 7 years old) unless I can fix this problem.
A Brown rot on peaches (Monilinia fructicola) is a devastating problem and one of the reasons it is hard for home gardeners to grow peaches. You think you are about to harvest a beautiful crop of peaches and then seemingly overnight they rot and turn to mush. Removing the mummies is important, since they are loaded with disease spores. Using dormant oil in the fall when the leaves drop and then again before the trees begin to break dormancy can help you start the season clean. But it will not prevent the problem from occurring during the growing season.
I do not know of any companies that spray home fruit trees, but you can do it yourself. Most nurseries carry a home fruit orchard spray that contains an insecticide and a fungicide.
To find the Cooperative Extension Service’s fact sheet on spraying fruit trees, go to uaex.edu and search for “FSA-7503.”Janet Carson is a horticulture specialist for the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service. Write to her at 2301 S. University Ave., Little Rock, Ark. 72204 or email her at
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