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Jill and Rick Van Duyvendyk answer all your gardening questions in Garden Talk on 650 CKOM and 980 CJME every Sunday morning from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Here are a selection of questions and answers from the Aug. 25 show.
Q: When’s the best time to prune a sour cherry bush?
A: Start pruning the sour cherries any time now because they’ve finished their growth, or wait until the first frost.
Q: Is it a good time to prune ninebarks right now?
A: You can prune all summer to keep them looking nice, but if you want to do a really major pruning, cutting them down to a couple of feet off the ground, do it when the leaves start falling off.
Q: I have a cotoneaster hedge about four to five feet high with some dead pieces. When is the best time to prune, and how low can we cut?
A: Prune at the end of October or beginning of November, once the leaves all turn color and start falling off. Cut it to about 12 inches off the ground. The only reason to cut right to the ground is if it has fire blight. Start fertilizing around May 10 to July 15th with something like 30-10-10 for each plant and it will grow like crazy.
Q: When should I prune Carousel barberry?
A: You can do light pruning on it all summer if you want to keep it manicured. Otherwise, do a major pruning when the plant is dormant – either in the fall or first thing in the spring.
Q: When can I prune a Therese Bugnet rose?
A: The best time to prune back is after it finishes blooming next year. You can prune it back now but next year you’re not going to get very many blooms, because they are set in the fall.
Q: Is it too late to prune lilacs?
A: The only pruning right now should be to deadhead the seed pods. Don’t start trimming the branches because they’re going to be setting buds on those branches as soon as the temperature drops.
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Q: I have some elderberry plants started in the spring from cuttings that had berries but are still in pots. When is the best time to transplant now?
A: Anytime now is good, just make sure you keep them watered. They like full sun, but place something to give them a little shade for that transition. If you want them to get rooted before fall, the sooner the better. There is lots of growing time left — around two months — so they can grow roots. There will be not much top growth. Don’t add mulch around the plant, because elderberries don’t like to be wet. Add some root booster as well.
Q: How do I care for my small decorative pineapple plant?
A: Keep treating it like a house plant. To get it to bloom, try putting it into a bag with a piece of fruit for the ethylene gas to make it want a fruit. The decorative ones are usually inedible.
Q: When is the best time to apply nematodes to deal with sod webworms?
A: Now. Sod webworms are working like crazy right now. Soak your lawn well and then apply the nematodes. Nematodes need moist soil.
Q: I have a two-year-old Saskatoon berry tree. The leaves are going brown and there are tiny brown spots on the back of the leaf before it kind of turns yellow and falls. What is this?
A: There are two things that could be. One is a mite, like a spider mite, the other is a beetle that sucks the juice of the bottom side of the leaves. Spray them down with cold water or End All. Make sure to spray the underside of the leaves. A hose-end sprayer is good because it flips the leaves. Spray it well after flowering to protect bees.
A vole. (Siegfried Poepperl/pexels.com)
Q: How do I get rid of voles?
A: Pick up some wooden snap traps, set them with peanut butter and a craisin or a raisin. If you want to put the traps outdoors, you need to put them into something like a shoe box or put them underneath something because birds will go after the bait and get caught in the trap as well.
Q: Is there a way to deal with white flies in my Virginia creeper?
A: White flies are one of the toughest insects to get rid of. Be vigilant spraying with End All, and apply in the evening. Use a hose-end sprayer because of the dense canopy. Flip those leaves and also spray the little stems of the plant. Apply every 10 to 14 days until you control them.
Q: Should I pull my onions now?
A: Grandma always taught us that this is the time of year to step on your onions — just bend the tops over and don’t cut them off. You can start pulling them right now, but it’s a little bit early. If you pull them, dry them with the tops on. Once the tops dry out, then you can cut them off, and then store them in a mesh bag. Inspect them for blemishes and store those onions separately. Air movement is important for storing onion.
Q: I have dwarf lilacs that are browning off on the top. What causes that?
A: Lilacs can do that from too much moisture, but most times you’ll see the leaves turning a bit yellow first, you know, especially around in the middle of the plant, which means they are either too dry or too wet. Stick a piece of rebar in the ground about six to 12 inches. The ribs on the rebar will grab a soil sample. It’s a good way to gauge moisture in the root zone and and it will tell you whether you need to water or you need to aerate some more with the rebar because it’s too wet.
Q: I have a lily plant that had a few red beetle larvae on it in July, which I removed. Since they winter in the ground, how do I get rid of these beetles?
A: There is nothing you can really do right now, but next spring, when they start popping under the ground, keep an eye out for them. You could sprinkle some diatomaceous earth around the base of the plants first thing in the spring, when they emerge. Diatomaceous earth is like crushed up minerals and seashells and it gets into the joints of the beetles as they crawl through it and then it dehydrates and kills them.
Q: When should we establish a lilac tree hedge?
A: There’s still lots of time to plant, but the sooner the better to establish the roots. Keep them watered while they’re rooting.
Q: Can I move a golden elder that was planted three years ago? I would like to take it with me when I move.
A: Do it after the leaves fall off if possible. Trim it back about 50 per cent. Try not to move it when it’s hot. If you do have to move it when it’s warmer, dig a trench around the tree and then take some burlap and wrap the roots in the hole tie with string so the root ball stays intact.
Q: When is the best time to apply corn gluten for weed control? Spring or fall?
A: It doesn’t matter. I like to apply it when the dandelions are coming out. You cannot put corn gluten on food crops, only put it in your shrub and perennial beds and or on your lawn.
Q: Can I plant cedars in fall?
A: The best time is in the spring, after May 10, because most come from B.C. and garden centres won’t bring them in before that because of the risk of frost. Make sure you purchase a variety that is hardy in Saskatchewan. If you want a wide one, then get something like Skybound. If you want a narrow one, try Holmstrup.
Q: How can we deal with a small squirrel-like rodent without harming our dogs? And how do you get rid of moles or gophers?
A: Blackhole Traps work for all of these.
My grandkids took a big blue water bottle from a water dispenser, filled it full of water and emptied it into a gopher hole. When the gopher came up, it sucked the gopher up into the bottle, and then released it in a different field.
Q: How do you stop squirrels from digging up potted plants?
A: That’s a tough one because they will dig to hide things or to eat roots. You can get live catch traps, and release them in a park or somewhere that has big pine or spruce trees out in the country.
Q: Should I leave the seed pods on my peonies or cut them off?
A: You can cut them off right now if you don’t want them there.
These questions and answers have been edited and condensed.
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