Q My tomatoes look good and are head-high, but none of the blooms are making tomatoes. What do I do?
A Be patient and grateful your plants look good. Tomatoes often slow down or quit producing during the extremely hot part of summer. When temperatures are above 95 during the day or stay above 75 at night, they won't set fruit. If you can keep the plants happy and healthy, once the weather breaks, you will get tomatoes again.
Q Are there seeds inside the "prickly balls" that fall off the gumball trees, and can you plant the whole thing?
A I like sweetgum trees, but most people run from them versus wanting to plant them. The spiny fruit does contain seeds, in fact, quite a few. Each sweetgum ball has 40 to 60 capsules, with each capsule containing one or two seeds. Fertile seeds are black with wings on each side; infertile seeds are yellow and wingless. Harvest the sweetgum balls when they are fully brown but before they dry out. Once they dry, they open and scatter the seeds. Harvest the sweetgum balls and let them dry out on sheet of paper. Then when the seeds start to fall out, collect them and put the fertile seeds inside a plastic bag filled with moist, sterile potting soil. Put that in your refrigerator for three months and then plant the seeds in a pot outside. This cool, moist storage period in the refrigerator is known as stratification and is needed to break the seed dormancy. As an aside, researchers discovered shikimic acid, a key ingredient in the antiviral flu-treatment Tamiflu, in the unripe fruit of the sweetgum tree. Interestingly enough, in medicinal folklore, sweet gum tea was an herbal treatment for the flu, and the Cherokee made a tea out of the bark.
Q In your column July 30, you mentioned that we could start planting for fall. My problem is where do you find live plants in Little Rock to plant for fall?
A You can readily find seeds now, and you can start kale and other greens from seed as well as carrots, fall squash, cucumbers, etc. The vegetables that do best as transplants are tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, broccoli and Brussels sprouts. It is true that fall vegetable starts can be a bit hard to find right now, but some places have a few. Most of our garden centers will start stocking their fall vegetable transplants in late August through mid-September, which is still a great time to plant. I have been growing vegetables year-round the past few years, and last year I barely had to cover anything because our winter was so mild.
Q I am an Elvis fan and would love to try the Plectranthus "Velvet Elvis" you mentioned in an article. Is it winter-hardy in Northwest Arkansas and is it available at local nurseries?
A Unfortunately, that Plectranthus is a summer annual for you. It is related to the houseplant Swedish ivy, so I bet you could grow it in a sunny window for the winter. As to availability this late in the season, I am unsure, but you can always look.
Q My gardenia bush was damaged by heavy rain in early spring. When is the best time to cut back? Also, what about pruning the crape myrtle?
A If your gardenia needs pruning, you need to move fast. Gardenias have finished blooming in most yards and will begin to set flower buds for next year in a month or so. The window of opportunity to prune is short, so shape it up now. If the weather is dry, make sure you keep your plant watered so it can recover. Crape myrtles are pruned in late February to mid-March, before new growth begins.
Q I recently read that you spread weed killer or something on stickers in the yard in the fall to kill them. Please advise if that is correct and what type of product we need to use. Would we do it each fall for a few years? This is on a large yard in Cabot, if that matters.
A Simazine or atrazine will provide pre- and post-emergence control of spurweed if applied early. For best results, apply between Thanksgiving and Christmas. If your yard has been covered in the stickers, check to see if any weeds get established. If so, you can use metsulfuron (Manor, Mansion or Blade) or three-way herbicide with MCPP (mecoprop), dicamba and 2,4-D as a post-emergence control for spurweed in late winter to early spring, before the grass is fully green and the stickers are set. Always read and follow label directions, and make sure the products you are using are labeled for your type of lawn grass.
Janet B. 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
jcarson@arkansasonline.com
HomeStyle on 08/13/2016