Tracy Morris

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Stories By Tracy Morris

  • How To Grow Cherry Trees In Zone 8

    How to Grow Cherry Trees in Zone 8. Cherries require a certain number of low-temperature days as a chilling time to produce fruit. Many cherry varieties grown in zone 8 will not grow fruit due to the warm weather. In zone 8, temperatures rarely dip below 10 degrees F in winter. A few hybrid trees will set fruit in zone 8. To have a good crop of cherries, select from hybrid varieties for zone 8.

    By Tracy Morris November 4th, 2022 Read More
  • How To Plant Blueberry Bushes In Florida

    How to Plant Blueberry Bushes in Florida. Florida, which falls between USDA hardiness zones 8 and 11, has short, mild winters and hot summers. Most deciduous fruits do not grow well in Florida because they require a winter chilling period to set fruit. Blueberries, however, are one deciduous fruit that has adapted well to Florida's climate. The University of Florida has even developed a series of hybrid cultivars that thrive in the state's mild winters.

    By Tracy Morris November 4th, 2022 Read More
  • How To Care For Drooping Rose Bushes

    How to Care for Drooping Rose Bushes. If your rose buds or leaves appear tired, turn down or droop, it may be a sign that they are not being watered enough, or it may be a more serious problem. Pests such as cane borers or diseases such as botrytis blight can cause rosebushes to droop when it affects them. To care for drooping rose bushes, you first need to isolate the cause of your rose bushes drooping. Once you know the cause of your rose bush droop, you can effectively treat it.

    By Tracy Morris November 4th, 2022 Read More
  • What Does It Mean When Rose Leaves Turn Red?

    What Does it Mean When Rose Leaves Turn Red?. Roses have an undeserved reputation as being fussy plants. However, even easy-to-care-for varieties can suffer from the occasional disease. Roses can suffer from powdered mildew, leaf blight, gall, and a variety of afflictions that can cause their leaves to change colors. If a rose's foliage changes to a red hue, it may or may not mean that the plant has a problem.

    By Tracy Morris November 4th, 2022 Read More
  • Natural Solution To Kill Worms On A Lemon Tree

    Natural Solution to Kill Worms on a Lemon Tree. There are a number of worms or worm-like creatures, such as tent caterpillars, that can affect lemon and other citrus trees. While "tent worms" are not harmful to lemon trees, others such as the larva of swallowtail butterfly or cutworms can do significant damage. While pesticides can control many types of worms, they may also harm bees that pollinate lemon trees. Instead, drive off worms with a natural insecticide.

    By Tracy Morris November 4th, 2022 Read More
  • How To Make Black Mulberry Trees Produce More Fruit

    How to Make Black Mulberry Trees Produce More Fruit. A mulberry tree produces an aggregate fruit similar in appearance to blackberries. However, unlike blackberries, mulberries are a delicate fruit that will not survive rough handling. Because of this, mulberries are not widely sold in stores and fruit stands. If you have a mulberry fruit tree, you can grow your own seasonal fruit for jelly, jam or pies. Proper care of your tree will increase the fruit yield that it produces yearly.

    By Tracy Morris November 4th, 2022 Read More
  • How Does Salt Prolong The Life Of Cut Flowers?

    How Does Salt Prolong the Life of Cut Flowers?. When you buy fresh flowers from a florist or a grocery store, it typically comes with a little packet of plant nutrients. These nutrients contain plant food including sugar and citric acid as well as additives that encourage a plant to take in water and flourish for a longer period of time before wilting. You can achieve the same effect at home with cut flowers by mixing salt into the water.

    By Tracy Morris November 4th, 2022 Read More
  • How To Identify A Rose Bush

    How to Identify a Rose Bush. Roses are an ancient plant. Fossil records show that roses grew wild 35 million years ago. Those ancient roses bore very little resemblance to the plants that gardeners grow for beauty and perfume in gardens today. There are around 150 species of rose that grow through the northern hemisphere that can be divided into climbing plants, trailing plants and shrubs. With so many rose species in existence, identifying roses can take some detective work.

    By Tracy Morris November 4th, 2022 Read More
  • How Do I Know If My Pecan Tree Is Dead?

    How Do I Know If My Pecan Tree Is Dead?. The pecan tree is a Texas native. Like many Texas native plants, it is a hardy, drought-tolerant, easy to care for plant. But just because a pecan tree can take lots of stress does not mean that you cannot kill it. Pecan trees that die from stress typically succumb to a combination of factors, including poor soil depth or drainage, lack of water, bearing too many nuts, freezing, poor management or disease. A pecan tree that is in trouble may not appear to be ill until it is too late. But once a pecan tree is dead, the signs are obvious.

    By Tracy Morris November 4th, 2022 Read More
  • How To Identify Bean Seeds

    How to Identify Bean Seeds. Beans are the seeds of plants in the legume family, a group of plants known for producing seed-filled pods. These seeds will not only sprout new legume plants, but because they store energy for new plants, beans are also low in fat and a good source of protein and nutrients. Because of this, legumes are a staple of diets around the world. According to Ruth Matthews with the USDA, legumes are the basis of most foods in China and India. Beans have similar characteristics that can help you identify them.

    By Tracy Morris November 4th, 2022 Read More
  • How To Get Rid Of Wide Blade Grass In Your Lawn

    How to Get Rid of Wide Blade Grass in Your Lawn. Your lawn may appear well manicured in spring, but hiding beneath those lush blades of grass is a silent invader that is just waiting for midsummer to spring on you. Crabgrass and other wide bladed grasses typically sprout in late July and are difficult to get rid of until the first frost kills them off. The best way to get rid of wide-bladed grass is to prevent the seeds from germinating with a combination of good lawn maintenance and pre-emergent herbicides.

    By Tracy Morris November 4th, 2022 Read More
  • How To Keep Deer From Eating Hostas

    How to Keep Deer From Eating Hostas. Hostas are a member of the lily family grown primarily for their striking foliage. But the very thing that appeals to humans about hostas also appeals to deer. In areas where people and deer must coincide, hostas are often sought out by deer as browse. Many homeowners resort to repellents to drive deer away from their landscaping.

    By Tracy Morris November 4th, 2022 Read More
  • How To Grow Olive Trees In Georgia

    How to Grow Olive Trees in Georgia. Olives are such an important crop to the Mediterranean region that the tree is mentioned throughout literature from the region that ranges from Ancient Greek legends to the Bible. In the United States, olive trees cannot grow north of Zone 8, due to their lack of cold-tolerance. Olive trees will suffer damage if temperatures drop below 17 degrees Fahrenheit and will die to the ground if exposed to temperatures colder than 12 degrees Fahrenheit. This means that in Georgia, olives can only grow well in the southern portion.

    By Tracy Morris November 4th, 2022 Read More
  • How To Stop A Tree From Bearing Fruit

    How to Stop a Tree From Bearing Fruit. Although most people plant fruit trees for the purpose of picking the fruit when it ripens, there are some instances when fruit becomes undesirable. For example, pear trees can bear fruit in such abundance that the fruit can create strain and even break the limbs of a pear tree if it is not picked. Fruit that goes unharvested from many trees can fall to the ground, rot and create a mess. There are several methods to prevent fruit trees from bearing fruit.

    By Tracy Morris November 4th, 2022 Read More
  • How To Repair Frost-Upheaved Landscape Edging

    How to Repair Frost-Upheaved Landscape Edging. Properly installed landscape edging should not be subject to frost upheaval, which causes lifting or buckling. The best method to repair frost-upheaved landscaping is to dig out the edging and replace it. Consider replacing inexpensive landscape edging with a higher quality edging that is less prone to frost upheaval once it has been properly installed.

    By Tracy Morris November 4th, 2022 Read More
  • How To Stop Insects From Eating Green Bean Plants

    How to Stop Insects From Eating Green Bean Plants. Springtime means time to plant green beans for summer harvest. But you're not the only one who wants to eat your garden vegetables: Insects such as aphids, thrips and beetles also like to feed on your garden plants. And while some gardeners turn to pesticides to solve their problems, others prefer natural methods for removing insects from garden plants. Whichever method you prefer, there are several ways to deal with insects on green beans.

    By Tracy Morris November 4th, 2022 Read More
  • How To Prune Quaking Aspen

    How to Prune Quaking Aspen. Quaking aspen is known for smooth white bark that scars black, and heart shaped leaves with fine, saw-toothed markings. These leaves are attached to the tree with a long, flat stem. Because of this, the slightest breeze will cause the leaves to flutter, making the whole tree seem to shiver. It's this distinctive characteristic that gives a quaking aspen it's name. Quaking aspens grow in large colonies with a single root system, and can tolerate any soil. Pruning should only be undertaken to maintain the aspen's shape and health or to remove branches for safety.

    By Tracy Morris November 4th, 2022 Read More
  • Monkey Puzzle Tree Removal

    Monkey Puzzle Tree Removal. The monkey puzzle tree is a species of tree that is closely related to conifers that existed 300 million years ago during the Carboniferous period. The tree is native to Chile, where specimens more than 1,000 years old thrive. Collectors introduced it to England in 1795. There gardeners named it monkey puzzle tree because, due to the tree's sharp needles, climbing it would be a real puzzle for a monkey. Thanks to the same sharp needles, cutting down a monkey tree can also create a real puzzle for home owners.

    By Tracy Morris November 4th, 2022 Read More
  • How To Grow Water Lilies Indoors

    How to Grow Water Lilies Indoors. Almost any plant that grows outdoors can grow indoors, as long as you provide it with an environment that replicates the plant's ideal growing conditions. This includes water garden plants, such as water lilies. Water lilies are divided into tropical and hardy water lilies. Tropical water lilies will not overwinter north of USDA zone 9, form root crowns, have thin, serrated edged lily pads and form flowers on stalks. Hardy water lilies will overwinter north of USDA zone 9, have rhizomes for roots, thicker, smooth-edged lily pads and floating blossoms. Growing an indoor water garden is similar in process to keeping an indoor aquarium.

    By Tracy Morris November 4th, 2022 Read More
  • How To Kill Flower Bulbs

    How to Kill Flower Bulbs. Bulbs are flowers or plants that spring up yearly from seedlike packets in the ground. Once the flowers bloom, the foliage collects energy for the next year's growth. Bulbs typically reproduce by creating new offshoots each growing season. Some bulb plants, such as lily of the valley, wild onion or wild garlic, produce bulb offshoots at such a dramatic rate that the plant may become invasive. One solution for controlling invasive bulbs is to kill them.

    By Tracy Morris November 4th, 2022 Read More
  • How To Remove Mold From Dahlia Roots

    How to Remove Mold from Dahlia Roots. Dahlias are brightly colored flowers native to Central America. These plants, which come in a variety of shapes and sizes, are treated as perennials in zones 7 through 11. For cooler climate zones, the tuberous roots (known as tubers) must be dug up in fall and stored over the winter. If dahlias are stored in a damp location, mold can grow on the tuberous roots. If the tubers haven't become soft with rot, you can save them by treating the mold and storing them properly.

    By Tracy Morris November 4th, 2022 Read More
  • How To Eliminate Mossy Growth On Azaleas

    How to Eliminate Mossy Growth on Azaleas. Azaleas are normally a plant with a dense, leafy canopy. But as azaleas decline in health, a mossy growth called lichen might start to grow on the trunk and branches. If you take a walk in the woods, you may see lichen growing on the trunk of trees or on the side of a mossy rock. Lichens are not harmful to plants, but can be found on neglected or diseased plants because of the increased sunlight that these plants are allowing on their trunks. Increasing the health of your plants will get rid of lichen long-term. But there are short term solutions.

    By Tracy Morris November 4th, 2022 Read More
  • How To Grow Avocados In Missouri

    How to Grow Avocados in Missouri. The avocado is a tree that grows in tropical and subtropical areas of the world. Although you can plant an avocado in Missouri, once fall and winter arrives, the temperature extremes of Missouri's winter will quickly kill the plant. To get an avocado to thrive in Missouri, you must bring it indoors in winter. Growing an avocado in a pot from seed is simple.

    By Tracy Morris November 4th, 2022 Read More
  • The Best Japanese Maples For Shade

    The Best Japanese Maples for Shade. There are hundreds of varieties of Japanese maple, according to the Utah State University Extension. Most of these are hybrids that must be purchased from specialty nurseries. Almost all Japanese maples grow best in full sun or partial shade. Those that prefer partial shade call for afternoon protection from the sun. There are a few species of Japanese maple that are especially good for shade.

    By Tracy Morris November 4th, 2022 Read More
  • What Vegetables Should I Grow In The Winter In South Alabama?

    What Vegetables Should I Grow in the Winter in South Alabama?. The southern part of Alabama is rated Zone 8 by the United States Department of Agriculture. This means that the lowest winter temperatures do not dip below 10 degrees F. Alabama's mild winters are warm enough that with careful preparation--including using greenhouses, high tunnels and mulch for tender plants on rare nights where the temperature will drop below 20 degrees F--Alabama gardeners can grow some vegetables all winter long.

    By Tracy Morris November 4th, 2022 Read More