by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Jan 6, 2012 | trees
Pruned Peach Orchards With the extensive drought we are having, pruning your trees is going to be especially important this year. The Forest Service estimates we have lost ten percent of our trees in Texas. Many more trees have had die-backs and extensive...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Dec 21, 2011 | trees
Texas trees have been devastated during the drought this year. The Forest Service estimates as many as five hundred million trees have died during the drought. That is close to ten percent of the trees in Texas. Dead or Alive? Worse, right now it is difficult to...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Dec 14, 2011 | gardening101
There are some special considerations when growing heirloom vegetables for food and seed in small plots. If you intend to save your seeds from at least some of your vegetables, you will need to do some things to make sure you get pure seed. Vegetables of the same...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Dec 9, 2011 | birdwatching
Most gardeners like hummingbirds. These pretty, colorful birds sip nectar from long beaks with even longer tongues. Watching a tiny bird hover while drinking his fill is amazing. Hummingbirds are territorial and fight to protect feeders, nesting areas, and mates....
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Dec 2, 2011 | gardening101
Winter is a good time to tune your gardening tools. It is cold and wet and hard to do much outside, so cleaning and sharpening your tools is a good use of your time. Tools need two kinds of maintenance, in general. Edged tools need sharpening. All tools need a...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Oct 31, 2011 | entomology
Black Widow Spider on web In honor of Halloween, I am presenting to you a list of the top ten scary creepy crawlers and flyers in North America. This is simply my opinion, and your mileage may differ, but these are the bugs that make this bug geek squeak: 10....
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Oct 20, 2011 | entomology
Praying mantids are apex predators in the garden. That means they eat other insects but not many insects bother them. They occupy the same niche that grizzly bears or sharks do in other settings. They do not bite humans, but will pinch a finger in their well...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Oct 14, 2011 | entomology
Phorid Fly I have yet to meet a person that likes fire ants. The stinging menaces cost Texas around $5.6 billion a year in damages and injuries. If you are one of the people with life threatening allergic reactions to them, fire ants can cost you your life. They are...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Oct 7, 2011 | entomology
Many people are afraid of spiders. I think they are fascinating. Come on, how would you react to a story about a creature that spits stuff out of its butt and uses it to make a trap for its food? In Texas, there are only two spiders that are able to make people...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Sep 26, 2011 | Farm safety
Phytophthora infestans in an Irish Potato Plants get sick, too. They become infected with diseases or infested with pests. In either case, they either do not grow to their potential or they flat die. There are some steps you can take to avoid introducing diseases...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Sep 15, 2011 | diseases
Rose Rosette Disease SONY DSC Diagnosing plant diseases can be difficult and frustrating. Unlike pest problems, most plant diseases are caused by organisms that are difficult to see with the naked eye. However, there are some steps you can take to figure out what is...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Sep 1, 2011 | entomology
Walnut Sphinx Moth I am an amateur entomologist, or bug geek. One of the things I do regularly is help people identify a bug. Usually, they want to know how to kill it, but sometimes, they just want to know what it is. Below are some ways to narrow the...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Aug 29, 2011 | corn
Drought-Stricken Corn Corn grown under drought conditions can kill. Aflatoxins are produced by certain fungi which thrive in drought conditions. While commercially sold corn must be tested for aflatoxin before being sold, home grown corn is not usually tested. Do you...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Aug 18, 2011 | Farm safety
Most people enjoy new gardening products: tools, plants, fertilizers, and other items are fun to try out. However, before you rush out and buy the newest products to use on your garden, consider that just because it is newly approved does not always mean it is...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Aug 15, 2011 | Farm safety
Yellowjacket working a camellia blossom photographed by Vicki DeLoach Stinging insects such as wasps, bees, and ants are important pollinators and often eat pests in the garden. They can also be pests, however, especially when they decide you are threatening them or...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Aug 2, 2011 | entomology
Brown Marmorated Stink Bug by David R. Lance, USDA APHIS PPQ, CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons Stink bugs, in one form or another, are pests on most agricultural products. They damage things as different as peaches, pecans,...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Jul 25, 2011 | Fruit trees
Peaches right off the tree are wonderful. You can grow one or two peach trees with a little effort if you have sandy loam or sandy soil. They do not grow well in clay soils because the roots drown. Before You Buy Before starting your orchard, it is important to...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Jul 5, 2011 | Farm safety
Gardening is wonderful exercise, but since it takes place outside, the weather can cause a problem. Summer heat can be brutal in Texas. Of course, hot is relative. In the summer of 1980, we left record heat here in Texas of up to 113 and spent some time in England,...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Jun 22, 2011 | gardening101
Normally when we talk about water-wise gardening, we are talking about ornamentals. Vegetable gardeners need to be water-wise, too. Vegetables require a lot of water, relatively speaking. It is our responsibility as gardeners to give them what they require in the...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Jun 20, 2011 | gardening101
Flames destroy property near Possum Kingdom Lake. Texas National Guard Uh-60 Blackhawk Helicopters were launched out of the Austin Army Aviation Support Facility to help fight the wildfires in North Texas. The aircraft are equipped with a Bambi Bucket, which carries...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Jun 6, 2011 | tomatoes
Blossom end rot, a common tomato disease, can become a problem if there’s insufficient calcium in the soil. Photo by Lynn Ketchum. I am getting a lot of calls about tomatoes that are big and beautiful, but get a black spot. That black spot starts on the blossom end...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | Jun 4, 2011 | entomology
When I walk outside to get the mail, the grass seethes and moves as small grasshoppers jump out of the way. It is a lot like the parting of the Red Sea. Of course, when this happens, the first question everyone has is how to get rid of the little buggers. Difficult...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | May 23, 2011 | diseases
A damping off Pinus taeda seedling. photo by INAKAvillage211 Have you ever had your seedlings wilt and fall over suddenly? They were growing great guns when you checked on them. A few hours later, they were sprawled over the ground like drunken sailors, never to...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | May 18, 2011 | herbs
Fennel is one of the lesser-known herbs that people grow. It has to be separated from dill because they are related and will cross-pollinate, resulting in an inedible (nasty tasting) mutt of a plant. Fennel grows well in containers and can be kept away...
by Stephanie Suesan Smith | May 13, 2011 | Black berries
Dewberry flower There are wild berries in my area that the locals call dewberries. They look and taste like small blackberries. I always thought they were just wild blackberries. It turns out there are some differences between the two. Dewberries...
