Q: I have collected seedpods from my hyacinth bean vine that I planted last spring. How should I store the seeds? — Judy Adcock, Lilburn
A: Now that the pods are brown and stiff, you can simply pick them off the vine and let them dry for a week indoors. This will dry the seeds inside more fully. Then gently crush the seedpod skins and extract the black seeds. Store in an envelope in a dry spot until planting in April.
Q: How long can the white fabric used for frost protection be left on plants? — Leslie Lawson, email
A: The translucent material commonly called "floating row cover" is very handy stuff. It allows most of the sunshine and rain to penetrate but holds soil warmth to protect plants from cold in spring and fall. Up North, they leave it on for months. In the South, I think it's better for the plants if you take it off when there is no danger of a severe freeze. Bring it out and completely cover tender shrubs, like gardenia and newly planted evergreens, when it goes to 15 degrees or below.
Q: I have a variegated euonymus shrub that has little white dots covering the leaves and stems. I need your help in identifying the culprit. — Chris Walden, Moultrie
A: You have euonymus scale, a sap-sucking insect. In my experience, a heavy infestation of scale on euonymus is almost impossible to control without pruning to remove the majority of the leaves and insects first. If your shrub is heavily infested, consider removing it and replacing it with a holly or other shrub. If you like to gamble, without doing the pruning, suffocate some of the immobile insects by spraying now with horticultural oil. Apply a systemic insecticide that contains imidacloprid in March and June. Follow with another application of horticultural oil in September.
Q: My parents recently purchased a small hobby greenhouse. I want to purchase some sort of supplemental lighting system for them. Do you have any recommendations? — Mike Mainor, Moultrie
A: The lighting system is a good idea. They can easily start seeds in the greenhouse and save money. Buy or build a 48-inch fixture that holds four T8 fluorescent bulbs. The T8 bulbs are more efficient and brighter that the common T12 fluorescent bulbs. Look for those having a Kelvin rating of 3000-5000, which provides light in both the red and blue spectrum. The bulbs can be hung as close as 6 inches from plants without burning the leaves.
Q: A deer chewed my grape vine clean in half about 2 feet off the ground. Do I need to dig up vine and start over? — Mike Childers, McDonough
A: The grape vine will definitely come back, either from just below the damage or from the roots. Dangle a string down from your arbor and tie it to the base of the vine. Choose one sprout to become the new main trunk of your grape vine and train it back as you did before. Now that you recognize the danger, you can wrap chicken wire very loosely around the trunk to deter deer in the future.
