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topicquestion
Discouraging rattlesnakes in northern California
July 12, 2011
Searching for information re: managing your garden to discourage snakes, especially rattlesnakes. I live in northern California and we have many. I found one of your articles, but the link to an U. of...
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Tulip trees losing bark in OH
July 11, 2011
We have two tulip trees in our yard that are losing their bark at the base of the trunk. I am careful with the mower keeping away from the tree when I mow. What could the problem be and what can I d...
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Why are small leaf pieces aligned on top of exposed root?
July 11, 2011
Hi. An oak tree in my yard has one of its exposed roots covered in hundreds of small pieces of leaves. The pieces follow exactly the shape of the root above the surface. What insect would do this and...
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Replacement for non-native Italian Cypress in Austin
July 10, 2011
I would appreciate your assistance with some native plant options to replace Italian Cypress trees in the Arboretum area of Austin, TX. I have 12 of the trees on the north side of the house to obstru...
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Controlling Cochineal Insects on Cholla Cactus
July 07, 2011
We have cochineal insects on a cholla cactus. Will they kill the plant? What should we do to get rid of them if water spraying them won't work?
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Mealy bugs on plants in Washington, DC
July 07, 2011
Dear Mr. Smarty Plants, There is this white stuff, looking like snow flakes, that is attacking my office plants. I use gasduster to blow it off of them, but that does not stop it from reappearing. Wh...
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Caterpillars ate my Sophora in La Mesa, CA.
July 06, 2011
Before I noticed what was happening, my newly-planted 1 foot tall Sophora secundiflora was eaten by caterpillars. It now has no foliage. Do you think it will leaf out again?
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Mosquito-deterring plants for shady hillside
July 05, 2011
We have a part to full shaded hill side/ native woodland area that was once covered with english ivy..we managed to get rid of all the ivy but now we are overtaken with violets..maybe they are even na...
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Petals not developing on blackeyed susans from Nashville TN
July 05, 2011
I have an established "patch" of black eyes susans. This year, the leaves are beautiful, the centers black..but the petals are practically non existent. They didn't seem to develop correctly. Any...
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Something eating Monarda didyma in Washington DC
June 30, 2011
Please Help, I have a couple of Bee Balm, Jacob Cline, plants, whose leave are being eaten, by what I do not know. None of the nurseries around here seem to have ever heard of this happening to this p...
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What's attacking my Nellie Stevens Holly plants in Iredell, TX?
June 27, 2011
I just bought 10 Nellie R. Stevens holly bushes and planted them as a screen. The leaves on some of the plants are at least half white - not yellow but white. Apparently they were like that when I b...
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Squirrels eating seed pods of Rock Rose in Austin
June 24, 2011
Squirrel(s) have been ripping the branches off my rock rose bushes in order to eat the seed pods. Previously we had problems with squirrel(s) gnawing on our garden ornaments. I sprayed the ornaments ...
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Watering oaks in Houston, TX.
June 07, 2011
Our yard (Real County, TX.) has many oak trees. We never water these trees, but I wonder if you recommend watering during this extreme drought. The trees look very stressed and are covered in ball m...
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Snails in the ice plants in California
May 31, 2011
Ice plants and snails. Every morning when I go outside I see at least 20 or more snails. Is there a certain way that I should have planted them that would have prevented them from destroying my plant?...
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Replacing Weeds with Native Plants in Dallas Area
May 29, 2011
I have a large oak tree in my front yard and lots and lots of miscellaneous weeds (clover, chickweed, stickers, etc.). I am wanting to grow grass in my front yard, that is shaded pretty much most of t...
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Preventing weeds in kinnikinnick in Richland WA
May 29, 2011
We planted our kinnickinick last Nov. and we live in Richland, WA, where it gets hot in the summer. We planted almost 500 of them on a hillside. Weeding is taking over our lives, to say the least. ...
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Black bugs on Autumn Joy sedum in Dublin OH
May 27, 2011
How to get rid of tiny black bugs on Autumn Joy sedum?
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Ants in vegetable garden in Muskogee OK
May 25, 2011
I have ants in my vegetable garden this spring - I think because of all the rain. I think they are the culprits that ruined my spinach and swiss chard. They have left all the lettuces alone..but you...
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Possible sawflies on loblolly pine (Pinus taeda)
May 03, 2011
My pine trees looked great a week ago, now one from top to bottom is almost without needles. It is covered with greenish caterpillars. They have several stripes down their back . Could these be saw fl...
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Holes in leaves of wax myrtle from Austin
April 30, 2011
I just purchased 4 of the 5 gallon Wax Myrtles at the last spring plant sale and after planting them, they are getting eaten by bugs leaving holes in the leaves. I can't find any of the bugs doing th...
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Problems with Live Oak in Boerne TX
April 24, 2011
I had my large Live Oak trimmed last year. This spring there seems to be a problem with leaf growth. Most leaves are small in nature and appear to have been attacked possibly by bugs. Many of the bran...
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Need help with a Coreopsis eating beetle in Shiro, TX
April 20, 2011
Mr.Smarty Plants,(Sorry, I kept messing up with my emails) Anyway, here goes: I usually have a beautiful meadow full of lanceleaf coreopsis blooming by now. Not this year. I found to my horror every s...
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Aluminum foil disorienting insects under plants from Brierfield AL
April 20, 2011
Does covering the ground under plants frequently attacked by flea beetles with aluminum foil really disorient the insects? But does it also disorient beneficial insects?
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red maple bark damage by squirrels
April 15, 2011
We have two acres of land, largely covered by various oaks and cherry laurels -and, after many hours of cutting down chinese tallow trees..finally some red maples. Our problem is that we also have a s...
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Problems with purple passion flower from DeKalb TX
March 27, 2011
Yes my purple passion plant, is pretty but there is a piece of it that's all limp, what do I need to do to revive it?
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Half-life of the insecticide imidacloprid
March 07, 2011
How long do systemic insecticides such as imidacloprid (Merit) remain active in nursery grown plants? Asclepias curassavica (tropical milkweed)is frequently grown with imidacloprid to prevent...
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Weird growth on oaks in Middleburg FL
February 05, 2011
Dear Mr. Smarty Plants; I have this plant/fungus that grows on my trees here in northeast Florida & nobody has been able to identify it for me. It looks like a clump of pine needles growing on the ba...
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White fuzz on Christmas tree from Lewisburg PA
January 04, 2011
Our Canaan fir Christmas tree is now coated with white fuzz after being up for 4 weeks. The fuzz looks like spider webs, but it is also in clumps around the needles. When you rub your finger on it, ...
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Larvae infesting Mexican white oak
December 16, 2010
What larvae/worm would dwell and eat the inside of a Mexican White Oak? I planted one last November and it was doing great. The bark started cracking towards the bottom but the top was very full & gre...
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Fungus Spots on Native Bush Honeysuckle
December 03, 2010
My native bush honeysuckle plants that I have along my back fence have leaves that are turning yellow with spots. It appears to be a type of fungus, but not powdery mildew. Any suggestions as to what ...
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What are the webs floating in the air? Are they harmful to plants?
October 03, 2010
Austin, TX has experienced fall weather for the past week..low humidity, nice temps, sunny skies. But long webs are connecting from trees to our plants to the porch. Not on the trunk of the tree like ...
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Larvae swimming in water with plant cutting
September 09, 2010
When you take a cutting from a plant and put it in water and bring it in your home a couple of days later you notice larvae swimming around, what is that?
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Fighting ants and bugs in Richardson TX
September 01, 2010
Before my blue fall asters and my Clara Curtis (perennial) mums bloom in a few weeks, what can I do to help prevent the ants and other bugs from eating them to death- so I can enjoy them a bit longer ...
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Eliminating muskrats from a cottage garden in Ontario
August 22, 2010
We have perennial gardens at our cottage and for the first time this year the muskrats have come and leveled everything..shasta daisies, coneflowers, day lilies, phlox, etc. Any suggestions as to how...
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Failure to bloom of lantanas in San Antonio
July 22, 2010
Mr. Smarty Plants, We have lantanas in our front yard. This summer the leaves have turned white and they die to a brown color all the while the leaves are "crispy". At the beginning of the season...
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Insects on non-native euonymus in Lake Orion MI
June 23, 2010
I had a greenlane euonymus that had a few flies last year but was infested with thousands this year. We ripped it out, it was an 8 year old plant. Do you know why they are attracted to it now?
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Dealing with beetles feeding on cholla cactus
June 20, 2010
Hi Mr. Smarty Pants, I bought a Cylindropuntia imbricata from the Wildflower center and it was growing like crazy. I recently noticed a lot of beetles feeding on it. Some are black and some are gra...
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Flying insects attacking yucca flacida in Wilmington NC
June 11, 2010
How do I treat flying insects from eating the flowers on my Yucca Flaccida shrub.
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Puppy-proof plants in Denton TX
June 04, 2010
I recently got a couple of puppies that stay outside in a fenced off area of the backyard. Of course, they love trying to dig under the fence and get out. I placed cement landscaping border stones alo...
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Why is my recently planted Esperanza doing poorly in Texas City, TX?
May 28, 2010
I have an Esperanza I planted about 2 months ago. It has been doing well, except today all but one stem of the plant is wilting and the leaves are rolling. I see no bugs on the plant. Any idea what...
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Something eating leaves of Eastern Redbud in San Antonio
May 27, 2010
I know you had this question a few years back but no answer. Something is eating the leaves of my Redbud (Eastern, I think. There are varying sizes of bites, but most leaves stripped, some to stem. Pl...
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Use of saltwater to kill weeds in gravel in Hamilton Co. TX
May 26, 2010
I want to get rid of weeds and grasses in our gravel driveway and parking areas. Which would be less harmful to the adjacent native plants and trees: saltwater or herbicide?
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Plants ants avoid from McAllen TX
May 22, 2010
Which native plants do ANTS avoid (are there?)? We have a big ant problem here. Thanks!
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Eliminating straggler daisy from St. Augustine grass in Hochheim TX
May 14, 2010
I have straggler daisy in my St. Augustine grass. What herbicides work well on straggler daisy and won't ding up the grass too bad?
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Problems with rusty blackhaw viburnum in Austin
May 07, 2010
I have a four foot rusty blackhaw viburnum. Last summer the leaves turned reddish and in the late summer most of them fell off. This February the plant started to leaf out and then bloomed. It has ...
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Yucca with halticotoma valida bugs in Burleson TX
April 18, 2010
I have had Yucca plants in my yard for 10 years, but this year is the first time I have seen halticotoma valda, and there are thousands of them. How do I get rid of them? are they harmful to the plan...
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Need bug repelling plants in Arlington, VA
February 08, 2010
What kind of plants are best bug repellents, and need little or no maintenance. I'm a city girl and don't like bugs (spiders)
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Identification of strange tiny creature in plant water
January 14, 2010
I have a house plant rooted in water. I has been for over a year and the plant seems healthy, I change the water often and keep it clean. I now have noticed that something is growing it. A fish type o...
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Perennial plants resistant to cutter ants in Aransas Pass, TX
January 12, 2010
We are moving to Aransas Pass, Texas. Are there any perennial plants resistant to cutter ants?
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Treating cuts in tree trunks
November 21, 2009
We have two young trees that deer made bad cuts in the trunks. What can we put on cuts to keep bugs and disease from getting in them.? Thank you.
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