KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 November 27, 2017 \u2013 Most homeowners and gardeners pay the closest attention to the health of their plants and trees during the spring and summer growing season and ignore them during the rest of the year. But just because the leaves fall and the cold weather sets in doesn\u2019t mean plant pests and diseases are no longer a concern.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn fact, when the leaves drop you may notice an infection or other issues that weren\u2019t apparent before,\u201d said Heather Faubert, who manages the Plant Protection Clinic at the 溏心vlog免费B站, where she diagnoses plant diseases, identifies pest insects and provides treatment suggestions. \u201cNow is also an especially good time to take a close look at your evergreens.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Faubert, the big concern this winter is boxwood blight, a fungal disease native to Europe that affects boxwood shrubs and was discovered in Connecticut and North Carolina in 2011 and has now found its way to Rhode Island.<\/p>\n
Boxwoods are extremely popular for their year-round greenery, their attractive use in Christmas decorations, and for the fact that deer won\u2019t eat them. But the disease makes their leaves fall off and causes black lines to appear on their stems.<\/p>\n
Not every unhealthy-looking boxwood is infected with boxwood blight, however.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoxwoods can also look bad as a result of drying out or from suffering winter injury,\u201d Faubert said. \u201cIf the leaves turn orange or brown, that\u2019s not boxwood blight. But if the only leaves left are on the tips of branches, that\u2019s more likely to be boxwood blight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those preparing holiday decorations from their holly bushes should be on the lookout for hollies whose berries are still green. Faubert said that\u2019s a sign that a fly laid its eggs in the berry last spring and there is a growing maggot inside the berry.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe maggot isn\u2019t likely to emerge from the berry if you bring the cuttings inside your house, but I\u2019d still pick off any green berries and get rid of them,\u201d said Faubert.<\/p>\n
And if you plan to cut boughs from spruce trees for your decorations, beware that many blue spruce and Norway spruce trees are affected by foliar diseases that cause their needles to drop. The diseases typically start at the bottom branches and work their way toward the tops of the trees, and they are caused by fungi infecting needles in the spring during times of too much humidity and not enough air circulation around the trees.<\/p>\n
\u201cPruning the lower branches will usually help, because humidity is greatest at the bottom of the tree and pruning will increase air circulation,\u201d explained Faubert. \u201cYou could also use a fungicide spray.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the leaves now off the region\u2019s deciduous trees, homeowners may begin to notice the appearance of scale insects on the trees. Soft scale insects are often about the size of a grain of rice and may look white and fluffy. They produce a sap-like substance on which black mold grows. Armored scale insects secrete a hard shell over their bodies to protect them from predators and may look like black bumps on branches and evergreen needles.<\/p>\n
\u201cSmall numbers of them aren\u2019t really a problem, but if they build up in number they can cause a tree to decline,\u201d Faubert said. \u201cThe best bet is to hire a professional to treat the tree. The insects are often susceptible to horticultural sprays, but that\u2019s best applied in April.\u201d<\/p>\n
Faubert also notes that winter is the season when house plants tend to get the most attention, but that attention often means over-watering and over-fertilizing, both of which can kill plants.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople tend to love their plants to death, especially in the winter,\u201d she said. \u201cPlants inside in the winter are more mellow, they\u2019re not growing much, so they don\u2019t need much fertilizer. And over-watering will lead to root rot issues.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those seeking diagnosis of plant diseases and pests may deliver or mail samples to the 溏心vlog免费B站 Plant Protection Clinic at the Extension Outreach Center, 3 East Alumni Ave., Kingston, RI 02881. Insects should be placed in a small container, like a prescription bottle, and wrapped to protect it from breakage in the mail. Fresh plant specimens should be placed in a plastic bag and mailed in a padded mailer. Various stages of a plant\u2019s decline should be included (not just dead samples). A $10 fee per specimen must accompany all samples. For additional information, call 401-874-2900.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 November 27, 2017 \u2013 Most homeowners and gardeners pay the closest attention to the health of their plants and trees during the spring and summer growing season and ignore them during the rest of the year. But just because the leaves fall and the cold weather sets in doesn\u2019t mean plant pests […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":73498,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73497\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}