Ray has been an educator with the Oklahoma County OSU Cooperative Extension Service for the past 20 years. In this capacity, Ray has served the people of Oklahoma in both the horticulture and agriculture fields. His long-time expertise in areas of gardening, landscaping, pest control, plant selection and plant maintenance has made him one of the best-known public figures of horticulture in this area. In addition, Ray is the advisor for the Oklahoma County Master Gardener program, which is the largest and most active program of its kind in the state. Ray is also heard on the “Gardening Show” on KTOK, where he makes a guest appearance quite frequently to help aid Oklahoma’s gardeners on a variety of topics.
Cut the vine from the mother plant and transplant the new vine to the desired location. Annual bedding plants such as coleus, copper plant, and geranium, can be set out for summer color. Planting of warm-season vegetables and annual bedding plants should be in full swing.
Primary pest problems observed in onions in southeast Oklahoma include thrips, purple blotch, and black mold. Thrips are mostly observed when leaves are gently separated at the onion neck. Black mold is a disease observed in harvested onions. [Read More]
Security—Walls and fences can play an important role in providing security for both residential and commercial property. Privacy—Providing privacy is an important function of fences and walls. A minimum amount of privacy can be achieved by using open fencing such as chain link fence and post and rail. [Read More]
Another advantage to container plants is that a wide variety of species having different cultural requirements may be grown on the same premises, since individual soil, watering, pH, fertility, light and other environmental requirements can be provided for each container, Ridlen said. Almost any plant may be utilized as a container specimen so long as the plant’s cultural requirements are met. Often, clusters of similar plants and containers may be preferable to a single specimen plant. [Read More]
The proper site for planting azaleas must be partially shaded and sheltered from strong winds, in all seasons. Weather damage can be mistaken for nutritional problems, but a nutrient deficient plant will have less drought and/or weather resistance. Lawn fertilizers often have herbicides incorporated with them or are alkaline in nature which makes them undesirable for acid loving plants like azaleas. [Read More]
All the closely related species of lace bugs overwinter as adults in the bark crevices, branch crotches, or similar protected areas of their hosts. The sycamore lace bug prefers sycamore; the elm lace bug the American elm, and the oak lace bug the oak species. With similar life cycles for most species, the adult lace bug emerges from overwintering about the time sycamore leaves begin to develop in the spring. [Read More]
Some water-saving tips to maintain and update automatic irrigations systems are: Become familiar with the settings on the irrigation controller. [Read More]
February is an important month to start caring for your fruit trees, ornamental trees and shrubs. For peach tree care, start by pruning your tree by mid-February. Use one pound of 10-10-10 or similar fertilizer per tree, per year of the tree age, up to a maximum of 6 pounds per tree. [Read More]
Some containers, such as peat pots, paper pots, and soil blocks can go right into the garden with the plant during transplanting. After seeding, set the pots in a shallow container of water and let the planting media soak up the water until the surface looks moist. Hardening off should be started at least 2 weeks before the plants are scheduled to be planted in the garden. [Read More]
Read on to find out some of the basic features to consider when you need to tune your landscape. Another aspect of landscape functionality is planning for people and pet movement through the landscape. Addressing each of these landscape issues can provide you the keys to creating a landscape that delights the eye and garners rave reviews. [Read More]
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