Sun, 27 Jul 2008
Olive Trees
One of my customers has several large olive trees. The largest of the trees is suddenly loosing leaves at the top and is showing a weird swollen area on the trunk. I have started calling around to see what the trouble is, and no one seems to know for sure, but everyone agrees that the tree is a goner. I think it may be borers, tiny larvae of a certain kind of moth, but I don't know what kind. I think that the culprit is borers because there are tiny holes in the trunk where the swelling is. But I am not sure. It also has some black sooty mold growing around the swollen part. I think it may also be a fungal infection because of this but I think that might also be mold growing in the leaking sap. Anyway, it was suggested to me that we cut off the top of the tree and let it re-grow. This is a fairly common practice in Italy and Spain where olives are from. I will have to check with the homeowner about this because it will look really strange for awhile. Plus, the tree is not in the best place in that yard, there isn't really enough space for it where it is. By the way, this is the second olive tree that this household has lost this way... Mysteries!
posted at: 15:28 | path: /colleen2008 | link for this entry
Tue, 08 Jul 2008
Rain! Weevils!
We are finally getting a few good downpours here in austin, but not enough to get us out of drought status. But, all of my plants look clean and perky. I watched Central Texas Gardener this week on PBS. They talked about the agave snout weevil that is invading central texas. I have already lost several agaves and softleaf yuccas at two different customers' homes to these disgusting little creeps. The weevils carry a bacteria that kills and digests the plants so the weevil larve can eat the plants. The plants start to turn into putrid goo from the inside out. They did not recommend any organic fixes for these creatures on the show but I'll let you know if I hear of something organic.
posted at: 17:10 | path: /colleen2008 | link for this entry