Sarcococca hookerana Humilis (dwarf Sweet Box)

Answer:  Evergreens and perennials do not need to be covered—only newly planted trees and shrubs. In many areas, especially newly cleared subdivisions built in the past 17 years, there should be no cicadas.

Netting is definitely a problem. I think I have finally located some that will work ideally. None of the standard tree netting has holes that are small enough to preclude cicada entry. Double wrapping will help, but is far from a perfect solution. I have no idea why the tree netting and bird netting manufacturers didn’t foresee this and gear up to produce a product with the correct-sized holes.

Anyway, I believe we have located something. Samples are on the way. Watch our weekly newsletter; I will keep you informed of our progress.

Question:  What do you suggest to under-plant roses with? A friend suggested Creeping Jenny. What do you think?

Answer:  I do not suggest any perennial (like creeping jenny) underplanting for roses. Roses prefer clean culture. Roses need to be hilled up for the winter; the ground cover will impede this; because at a minimum the ground cover usually cannot tolerate being buried under a mound of mulch. Also underplantings tend to provide a habitat for fungus spores over the winter.

Annual sweet alyssum makes a good companion for roses. Once established, it tends to self-sow to return every year; although some filling in with new plants will be required. Sweet alyssum also has a small root system that will not compete with the roses. After the frost has killed the sweet alyssum, you can easily pull up the remnants before you hill up the roses.

Question:  Each spring my seedless grapes start out looking real good, then the leaves start getting little brown spots. Eventually they get more and more brown spots, then the leaves turn brown and the grapes rot. I haven't noticed any insects on the leaves except when the Japanese beetles come around. I have tried spraying them with various insecticides and fungicides like Seven, Diazinon, Captan and general purpose fruit tree spray with no luck. I have never gotten more than a few dozen grapes before they all rot on the vine. The vines are in their 5th year of growth. Can you help?

Answer:  Your grapes have black rot—a fungus. I suggest spraying with lime sulphur now, before the new growth appears, on a day when it is not going to rain and the temperature is not going below 40 degrees for the following 24 hours. Thoroughly spray all of the stems and the surrounding mulch. When the new shoots are about 6 inches long, spray with Bordeaux mix (a packaged spray available in most garden centers). For best control, repeat spraying every 2 weeks until the grapes are full size, although sometimes just a few sprays will give good, partial control. It’s a lot of work. Are your grapes in a location with good air circulation? My experience has been that the amount of black rot you get depends upon the season (rainy is worse), the variety of grape you grow, and how bad the infection was the previous year.

Question:  My Leyland cypresses are all turning brown. It has become especially noticeable over the last week. The hurricane blew some of these Leyland cypresses over and we stood them up and I thought everything was going to be okay. What should I do now?

Answer:  I suspect your Leyland cypresses are in a windy area. Leylands are not strongly enough rooted to sustain powerful winds. When your leylands blew over, some roots obviously got broken and that made them more susceptible to winter damage. But even without hurricane damage, I have seen some leylands that look pretty rough. Undoubtedly the rainy fall, which extended the growing season into winter precluding normal dormancy, and the strong winter winds, combined with the long period of frozen soil, contributed to the problem.

In any event, as with all evergreens that suffered winter damage, it’s too early to prune (at this point you cannot accurately determine what is alive and will come back and what is dead). I suggest a gentle simulative feeding now with Cottonseed Meal, Kelp Meal and Grow-plex G. Also thorough watering with Super Bio will help, especially if the leylands have road salt or ice melter damage. Be sure to apply all the products at the drip line to encourage the roots to spread outward to better support the leylands.

Question:  I thought I had all the weeds out of my lawn last fall, but new ones seem to have grown over the winter. Some have purple flowers and another one has white flowers, which I believe is called chickweed. Where did they come from, did they really grow all winter and how can I get rid of them?

Answer:  The lavender purple flowered weed is called henbit and has been especially prevalent in the last couple of years. Both the henbit and chickweed sprout in the fall, grow during the mild days of winter, flower in the spring, drop their seeds in the late spring and die in the heat of the summer. Then the new seedlings emerge in the fall to start the process over again. Both henbit and chickweed are susceptible to most lawn weed killers if they are applied now. If you choose a liquid, be sure to use a spreader sticker. The best way to control major infestations of chickweed and henbit is with a Gallery-type pre-emergent control applied around Labor Day. This will kill the henbit and chickweed seedlings as they begin to sprout. Once the seedlings have emerged, Gallery-type weed killers will be ineffective.

Question:  Some of my snowdrops need to be moved. I was going to do it last fall but the foliage died and I couldn’t find the bulbs. If I put stakes to mark them, when is the best time to transplant them?

Answer: Actually you don’t need a stake. Transplant them right after the flowers have passed. The foliage will still be readily apparent at that time. Fall transplanted snowdrops actually do not establish as well as those that are moved in early-mid spring.

Question:  Every year the goldfish in my pond die over the winter. I think it’s not deep enough. Last fall I tried to find someone to adopt the goldfish and keep them over the winter, but I had no luck finding someone to do this. The only reason I have the goldfish is to control the mosquitoes. What do you suggest?

Answer:  There is a product called Plunks that is an organic, biological mosquito control. It kills the mosquito larvae. It consists of granules that you dissolve in the water. In general, you need to repeat the application about every 2 weeks.