1)   Should I get rid of the spiders? There are lots of them.

A.   Remember that all spiders are beneficial but the black widow and brown recluse are very dangerous and should be destroyed. Other spiders should be protected.  Offensive spider webs should be removed with a strong blower or broom.  Indoors, use natural DE or boric acid.
If you find 'Mud Dubber wasps', let them stay. They love to eat spiders.   

2)    Do 'Bug Zappers' work as well as they say?

A.    Yes they do...but on the wrong insects!

Over 99% of dead bugs found where either beneficial or were a type that would not bother us or our pets but would be a food for birds and other good creatures. The light used to try attract the 'bad bugs' is hardly seen by them.

3)    How do I get rid of a white powdery material on crape myrtle leaves?

A.    To get rid of 'Powdery Mildew'- mix one part milk (whole, skim, or fresh) to 9 parts water then spray on leaves. Also good for the plant itself. Works best if you do not exceed amounts. Possibly best of all remedies. 

B.    Spray on leaves, a mix of one rounded tbsp baking soda with a tbsp of vegetable oil or better still, horticultural oil to a gallon of water. 

C.    Copper-based fungicides are also effective, but both of these solutions treat only the symptoms of the real problem (plant health).

D.    Be sure to sprinkle yellow corn meal around the base of the affected plant and water in.

4)    How do I use sugar in gardening?

A.    Sugar can be used dry or in liquid form to stimulate microbial activity in the soil.  Dry white sugar can be used at the rate of 2-10 lbs per 1,000 square feet.  Dry molasses is even better.  Sugar provides carbohydrates to feed the microbes in the soil.  Molasses or other liquid forms of sugar can be mixed with water and sprayed on the soil or foliage of plants.  In either case, sugar will stimulate beneficial organisms.  Also when mixed with 'BT' or other botanical sprays, it will act as an encapsulation agent to increase the life of the insect control product.

5)    My tomatoes are not setting fruit.  What causes this, and what can I do about it?

A.    Three reasons:
        1) You planted a poorly adapted variety
        2) The weather has been too wet, too cool and too humid
        3) Poor pollination of the flowers
Tomatoes are wind or movement pollinated.  If the wind doesn’t blow and move the plants regularly, you need to do it.  Do this by grabbing the plant stem or the support cage and shake it hard every few days.  Pollen moves by vibration from the male to the female parts of the flowers.

6)    Why do I have yellow and brown leaves on my tomatoes?

A.    Yellow leaves on the newest growth indicates a nutrient deficiency.  Yellow leaves all over the plant indicates too much or too little water.  Yellow leaves on the oldest foliage, those at the bottom of the plant, indicate disease such as early blight.  Diseases are best treated with a  weekly spraying of Garret Juice plus garlic or Neem.  These disease will be a worse problem if the weather is wet and humid.  If the leaves are being completely eaten away, look for tomato or tobacco hornworm which is a huge green caterpillar that eats lots and fast.  Hand removal is the practical control short term, wasps and predatory flies are the long term control.  Smaller insects cause brown spots and mottling.  Although usually blamed on spider mites, this damage can also be caused by fleahoppers, flea beetles, thrips, stink bugs and other critters.  Regular spraying of garlic/pepper tea is the best control.  If red spider mite is the culprit, you should see an associated web.  To control these spider relatives, spray with garlic tea, seaweed, w/orange oil (2oz per gallon) every three days for 9 days or Neem Oil (per label directions).  Also spray at least monthly with Garrett Juice.

7)    How do I control the plum curculio in peaches and other fruit trees?

A.    Plant the tree properly by digging a wide rough-sided hole, backfilling with soil from the hole only, settling the soil with water, mulching the surface with one inch of lava sand mixed with compost.  Cover that with 3-5 inches of coarse-textured mulch.  Don’t build a water ring, don’t cut the branches back, don’t wrap the trunk and don’t stake the tree.  When the buds swell enough to show color, spray the entire tree and surrounding area with Garrett Juice plus garlic tea.  Apply beneficial nematodes to the soil and spray the second time when the flowers have fallen from the tree.  Do the third spraying  in early summer.  Pheromones can be helpful and additional spray of the basic liquid products can not only help with insect control but also feed and increase productivity.  Establishing a strong beneficial insect population is also important.

8)    Is oak wilt translocated through tree chips or fire wood?

A.    When oak wilt-infected trees are ground up into chips, they are aerated so well that the disease dies out quickly.  Firewood is a little more complicated.  Live oak can be used for firewood with no problem.  Red oak on the other hand develops fungal mats on the trunks and should not be used unless stored under clear plastic bags for several weeks.  The greenhouse temperature under the plastic will kill the fungus and the 'nitidulid beetle' that spreads the disease.

9)    How do I get rid of poison ivy, poison oak and green briar?

A.    The best approach for both is to dig the roots out and throw in the trash.  Never burn poison ivy. That only spreads the toxins via the smoke, causing serious irritation. And in some cases, breathing the smoke can be fatal to people with high sensitivity to those same toxins. 

B.    The second best approach for poison ivy or oak is to treat the foliage with a low toxicity herbicide such as Garden-Ville Organic Weed Control, or gallon of 10% pickling vinegar, mixed with 2 oz orange oil with 1 tbsp of liquid soap. Spray leaves during the hottest part of the day. Also, plants may take repeated applications.  Also these products are non-selective so keep liquid off other plants as best as possible. 

C.    One other type of herbicide is a mix of straight bleach with about 2 tbsp of liquid soap per quart. Spray leaves during the hottest part of the day. Once again, plants may take repeated applications.  Plus, this mix is also non-selective so keep the liquid off other plants as best as possible. 

D.    Greenbriar can be eliminated in most cases by mowing or cutting back several times.

10)    How do I eliminate grass burrs?

A.    Simple.  Take a burlap bag and weight it down enough to stay in contact with ground. Now pull bag around in area invaded with grass burrs when burrs are present. This will pick up most of the burrs (seeds) before they can fall to the ground and germinate, and will pickup some of those same seeds that have already fallen.

B.    Next.  Aerate well, then apply humates at 10-15 lbs per 1,000 square feet on small grass areas and about 100-200 lbs per acre. If humic acid is present and active in the soil, grass burrs will not germinate.  Use corn gluten meal (pre-emergent herbicide) at 20 lbs/1000 sq. ft. Apply from early spring (Mid Jan to Mid March) and in the fall (Mid Oct to Mid Nov).  Corn gluten meal also has good fertilization properties. (Order from local feed store)

11)    What can I do about weeds like 'Chickweed' as well as other kinds.?

A.    Do selective spraying with (1) gallon of 10% pickling vinegar (find that in supermarkets) with (2) oz. of orange oil (d-limonene) adding (1) tsp of liquid soap. Be careful about overspray on other plants.
B.   Also put down Corn-gluten meal at 20 lbs per 1000 sq ft.(order from local feed store). Do this in the early spring (Mid-Jan / Mid-Mar) and fall (Oct / Nov). Very good fertilizer as well.

For alot more help with bugs and other varmints,
click here--"Mixes 4 bugs"
And for more information, see the 'Buttons' toward the bottom of page...

12)    What causes bumps on pecan leaves and some oak leaves?

A.    Galls caused by a tiny insect called phyloxera.  Other insects such as weevils and hickory shuck worms will often commandeer the galls.  None of this does much damage – just looks bad.  Dormant oil is recommended sometimes but, it also kills the beneficial insects.

13)     How do I grow roses organically?
(From Howard Garrett's website---"www.dirtdoctor.com")

A.    Prepare raised beds of compost at least 6", adding lava sand at 80 lbs/1,000 sq. ft., alfalfa meal at 20 lbs/1,000 sq. ft, cottonseed meal at 20 lbs/1,000 sq. ft, 40 lbs of soft rock phosphate, 20 lbs of 'Sul-Po-Mag, 5 lbs. of sulfur at 5 lb/sq ft. Add a 2" to 3" thick layer of shredded hardwood mulch on the soil surface.  Soak the bare roots or rootball with 1 tbsp of seaweed per gallon and 1 tbsp of natural apple cider vinegar or commerical biostimulant. Settle soil around plants with water- no tamping.

FERTILIZING PROGRAM
Round #1 February 1 - 15 - organic fertilizer @ 20 lbs/1,000 sq ft
(ie. Garden-Ville Green Sense, Bradfield, Maestro-Gro, Bioform Dry, Sustane or natural meals), lava sand at 80 lbs/1,000 sq ft
Round #2 June 1 - 15 - organic fertilizer @ 20 lbs/1,000 sq ft, Texas greensand @ 80 lbs/1,000 sq ft or soft rock phosphate at 30 lbs/1,000 sq ft if in acid soil areas.
Round #3 Sept 15 - 30 - organic fertilizer @ 20 lbs/1,000 sq ft, Sul-Po-Mag @ 20 lbs/1,000 sq ft in sandy acid soils soft rock phosphate instead at 30 lbs/1,000 sq ft.

14)     How often should I aerate my yard?

A.    Depending on your soil conditions, once a year is best. But every 2 years will be sufficient.

Remember 'mechanical aeration' is very important for lawn health, especially for the start of an organic program. This helps to get "air in the soil" (at the root level) which will stimulate the growth of beneficial microbes. This microbial activity can produce a response in the soil similar to a high-nitrogen fertilizer application. Also helps in making nutrients and water more available to plant roots.

15)     What do I do about spider mites and bagworms on junipers?

A.    The foolproof, 100% successful solution is to remove the junipers and don’t plant more.  That advice is for the here in the South. Junipers are really more adapted to cooler climates.  Bagworms can be controlled in the Spring when the females are moving around the plants dragging the bag.  Use Bt spray at this time.  Once attached and hanging, the solution is to hand remove and destroy.  Spider mites can be controlled with Garrett Juice plus garlic. Also try Neem oil.  Releasing beneficial insects is best in the long run.

16)     I have brown patch in my St. Augustine grass.  What can I do?

A.    Brown patch is a fungus mostly prevalent during the cooler times of the year (although it still can pop up during warmer weather as well) caused by poor drainage, too much rain or irrigation and/or too much nitrogen fertilizer.  The symptoms are when brown circles seem to appear in the yard after lot's of rain. The grass will easily pull loose from the runners. This condition can be controlled with baking soda spray., potassium bicarbonate spray or Neem. Or add yellow cornmeal @ 20 lbs/1,000 sq ft and water-in... 
B.   To help prevent the problem from reoccuring, apply a ½” layer of finished compost, aerate and fix any existing drainage problems.  (Once again, adding yellow corn meal at 20 lbs/1,000 sq. feet and watering-in, will do the trick plus the earthworms love it!)  Hopefully by now you have stopped using high nitrogen fertilizers.
These remedies will also work with other grass fungus such as 'take-off patch' and 'gray leaf spot'. If possible, treat entire back or front yard areas because fungus can be spread by human or animal traffic..
NOTE: For us humans,  'toe-nail or finger-nail fungus' problems---
add about 1" of yellow cornmeal to a shallow pan of water. Allow to set for approx 1 to 3 hours, insert feet or hands then add enough warm water till they are covered. Soak for about 1 hour. Repeat if necessary. Try it out on other human fungal problems like athlete's foot. Also animal problems like ear fungus... Let us know how well it works.

17)     It's summer time and I have brown or dead patchs of grass scattered throughout the yard, especially around the driveway and sidewalks. What can I do for that?

A.    This is most typically a good sign of 'Chinch Bugs'. You can run a check by cutting the top and bottom out of a 5 lb coffee can. Hold it firmly on the green grassy area next to the brown area. Fill with water while agitating the grass with you hand in the can. The little creatures will usually float to the top. They are up to about 1/8" long (oblong) with two very small white spots on their back.

B.   Use Neem oil at about (3 to 6 oz per gal. of water). Adding 2 tsp of 'Ivory liquid' soap per gal. and spray either early morning or late evening. And if possible, treat entire back yard or front yard when applying. They can spread fast! To help prevent 'chinch bugs' maintain healthly lawn with a good watering program.

18)     How do I grow a “not so well adapted” tree?

A.    If possible, choose a well-adapted variety of the same or similar tree.  If you still want to grow the poorly adapted one, use a more intense version of the basic program.  Use heavy aeration, 50 lbs Texas greensand, 100 lbs of lava sand, 50 lbs soft rock phosphate, 10 lbs of sugar, 1” of compost and cover it all with shedded tree trimmings mulch.  Extend the work to well out beyond the drip line of the tree.  Cover at least 1,000 sq. ft.  Spray foliage weekly with Garrett Juice, or as budget and time allow.

19)     What can I do for a tree that doesn't look as healthy as it use to? I don't want to lose it.

A.    The best chance that your tree has for recovery is if you do the following...see:Howard Garrett's -'Sick Tree Treatment'
If the tree can be saved, then this will be the best progam to follow.

20) What are some good trees for the Houston and surrounding areas? I want something that is fast growing, can take the heat, bugs and sometimes-lack of rain.

A.   Some highly recommended trees with ability to hold up under those stressful conditions are as follows:
1) Shumard Red oak- moderate growth rate but much faster than Live oaks, Water oaks and has reddish bronze fall leaf color.
2) Nutall oak- good fast growing oak with beautiful reddish fall color.
3) Drummond Red Maple (male)- very fast grower with limbs loaded with tiny pink to red flowers covering all the limbs till the leaves come out. Then produces fall colors of crimson to scarlet to possibly red and yellow.
4) Green Ash & White Ash (never Arizona Ash)-  medium to fast growers {up to 70'} with fall leaf colors of yellow to purple.
5) Drake Elm -  fast grower {up to 30'} with good size top. Somewhat an evergreen.

All these trees have really nice canopies of healthy green leaves with relatively long life spans.

Check out ' Trees for Houston and the Gulf Coast' for other tree and plant selections.

21) With all these trees that I've got, what do I do with all the leaves that fall to the ground through-out the the year, especially during the autumn?

A.   What is recommended is to mulch them with the mower so as to return the leaves back into the ground as a food source for the tree. They will eventually decompose, just like in the 'forest'.
The only tree leaves that we encourage you to not to mulch back into the yard is from the 'pecan tree'. They will somewhat discourage good St. Augustine grass growth. Gather and place them in the compost pile to be decomposed. Then use the compost in the yard and or flowerbeds.

22) When should I water my lawn?

A.    During the driest period of summer, our lawns usually require about 1 to 2 inches of water every 5-6 days.  Most hose sprinklers apply 1/4 to 1/3 inch of water per hour, so they would need to run approximately 4 hours for 1-inch minimum in one spot.  If water runs off the lawn before 1 inch is applied, turn the sprinkler off, let the water soak-in for about an hour, and then continue watering.  The best time to water during summer heat is before 9:00 AM, so less water is lost by evaporation and plants respond better. Soak thoroughly (1-inch min.) before changing location as a light shallow watering promotes shallow root systems, which are more susceptible to stress and insects. Also try to avoid late-evening and night watering as it could lead to fungus problems or other lawn complications.

23) With what and when should I fertilize my lawn?

A.  After Areation of your lawn--very important !!!   And a 'Soil Test.'
Along with recommendations from 'soil test results'
Use low nitrogen organic fertilizers (around 6-2-4), such as 'MicroLife w FE' by San Jacinto Envir. Supplies, 'Bradford fertilizers', 'Southwest Fert. brand', Gardenville's 'Soil Food', 'Green Sense' also 'AG-ORG PL', 'Texas Tea' ect..

B.  Spread fertilizer along with humates, Texas greensand, lava sand and dry molasses (best) or sugar.

C.   Also, depending on your soil type, (for 'gumbo-type') add 2 to 4 lbs of 'Dispersable Sulfur' per 1000 sq. ft. This will help free-up beneficial elements like calcium & magnesium in you soil for use by micro-organisiums and plants .
As was mentioned earlier, best to have soil test done first.
That way you can be sure of what's needed with the proper application rates.

D.   Do this 3 to 4 times a year.
(March thru April,   June thru July,   Oct. thru Nov.)
see 'Seasonal Page' for more information.

E.   For a really great foliar spray, combine the following items per
(1) gallon of water:
'Watch-Us-Grow' or 'Hasta-grow' or 'Medina soil activator' with 'Super Thrive', then a liquid seaweed product like 'Maxi-crop' (all per product directions)and finally adding (3) tbsp of molasses. Spray on all plants and grasses.

24) Is there an easy way to keep cats out of my flowerbeds and garden?

A.  Buy some snuff (powdered tobacco that people 'dip' with)and liberally sprinkle around on top of the soil or mulch. Some familiar brand names are "Garrett", "Tube Rose", etc.

B.   Cut up or grind up bunches of orange or citrus peelings and sprinkle around flowerbeds.

C.   Put down 'chicken wire' around plants in flowerbeds, then cover with mulch.

25) What about Termites?

A. Keep mulch / soil at least 3" to 4" below the bottom of your brick around your slab. This will enable you to see the tunnels that they use to get from the soil into your house.
Then install a 6" wide by about 4" to 6" deep barrier of 16-grit sandblasting around the perimeter of the slab or around the piers of a pier and beam structure. Silicon Caulk any cracks or openings. Fix all water leaks. Treat exposed wood with boric acid or hot pepper products.
If tunnels are located, then drench the soil at that location with 'Rotenone-Pyrethum' and apply beneficial nematodes. Please note: this works best with piers and block situations.Did you know that ants especially 'fire ants' are a natural predator of the termite?

26) How about mosquitoes, they are eating us alive!

A.   Spray grass and all shrubs with same mixes used for fire ants also use garlic / pepper spray.

B.   Then put down cedar granules through-out yard @ 40lbs per 1000 sq ft. (It's not that expensive either).

For alot more help with bugs and other varmints,
click here--"Mixes 4 bugs"
For more information, see the 'Buttons' at the bottom of the page..

For a list of 'Local Houston Area Merchants' that sell or use organic products with their business;

FOR MORE INFORMATION

RADIO:  WBAP AM-820 Gardening Talk Show, Saturdays 11:00-Noon, Sundays 8:00-Noon, Arlington, TX.
  Commentary 12:50 PM during “Hello Texas,” Monday - Saturday.
NEWSPAPER: Dallas Morning News - “The Natural Way” in Friday’s House & Garden Section.
BOOKS:  Howard Garrett’s "Texas Organic Gardening", "Organic Manual", "Plants of the Metroplex III", "The Dirt Doctor’s  Guide to Organic Gardening, and Plants for Texas".  "Texas Bug Book"
WEBSITES:   'http://www.dirtdoctor.com' or  'http://www.wbap.com'
E-MAIL:  'hgarrett@wbap.com
ADDRESS: The Natural Way, P.O. Box 140650, Dallas TX 75214
PHONE:  817-695-0817

Natural Solutions Environmental, Inc...
"Natural solutions to your soil and lawn care needs"