Q: What kind of bug would eat a new shoot of a plant grown from seed right at soil level and leave the shoot behind? I’ve had two where it looks like they just clipped it off at the soil but didn’t eat the leaves or stem. Matthew East, email
A: The telltale sign of a cutworm is a seedling stem that has been clipped off close to the soil surface. Usually the top part of the plant is left untouched, lying by the chewed-off stem. Cutworms eat all garden vegetables and flowers as well. Cutworms especially like tender seedlings and young transplants. Spring plantings suffer the greatest damage. Crows will sometimes walk down a row of newly sprouted corn, pulling up the small plants and eating the kernels at the bottom. If you see little pieces of kernel near the holes, it is crow damage as cutworms will not unearth the seeds.
Q: I have a white and a fuchsia crape myrtle but neither of them are showing signs of blooming. Is there a problem with crape myrtles this year? Gerri Dunne, email
A: It is simple, really. Crape myrtles bloom on new growth, so anything that promotes new growth will increase the number of blooms you get each year. You might still try applying an all-nitrogen lawn-type fertilizer on them along with a thorough and deep soaking. Next year, start feeding them in late March, again in mid-May or early June and again in late summer. Water deeply a couple of times a week. Pruning a crape myrtle is not necessary to make it bloom. Give the watering and feeding a try for one season and see if it doesn’t make a marked change in their flowering.
Q: Six years ago, I planted a Santa Rosa plum and it has flourished. This big, beautiful specimen has a black crusty fungus on most of the stems. What is this? Can I save my tree? Roz Howell, Mansfield
A: Your plum tree has black knot fungus. At this point, there is nothing you can do about it except to prune out the affected limbs. This may remove most of the tree, and it likely won’t produce plums in the future. The fungus spreads by wind and infected pruning tools. It does not live in the soil. It only affects plants in the Prunus family: plums and fruiting or ornamental cherries. Apples, figs or pears would all be appropriate to plant after you remove the plum.
Email Walter at georgiagardener@yahoo.com. Listen to his occasional garden comments on “Green and Growing with Ashley Frasca” Saturday mornings on 95.5 WSB. Visit his website, www.walterreeves.com, or join his Facebook page at bit.ly/georgiagardener for his latest tips.
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