Q: Can you tell me what type and when to use fungicide on apple and peach trees? I didn't get any fruit last year. — Bob Blackmon, Jasper County
A: If you hope to get consistent harvest from a fruit tree, spraying for disease and insect control is inevitable. If you don't practice good sanitation and pest prevention, your harvest will decline as the pests become more numerous. The University of Georgia Extension folks have gathered a great guide to fruit pest control, using both organic and synthetic products, at bit.ly/GAfruitspray.
Q: Our home is surrounded by many hardwood trees. This year, we are experiencing a proliferation of hickory nuts. It is basically a solid mass of nuts underneath. Do you know of any explanation for this? — Tom Skarbek, Cherokee County
A: Nuts such as pecan, walnut and hickory are referred to as "mast." Hunters study the yearly mast crop to predict how easily they will find game. Usually, a low mast crop means good hunting for deer, turkey and bear, as they must travel more to obtain food when there is a lack of acorns and other nuts on the ground. Years with a high mast crop mean game animals' movement patterns slow down, as they concentrate in areas of good mast.
Several theories have been advanced for why mast yield varies so much. The phenomenon is not always regular, nor is it always connected to weather patterns.
There’s no good way to remove hickory nuts from a landscape, so I guess you’ll just have to walk carefully until they decompose.
Q: Will poisonous snakes hibernate in a compost pile? I'm concerned about turning it and finding one. — Steve Maddern, email
A: Yes, snakes of all kinds can hibernate in compost piles, leaf piles, rock piles and firewood piles. Even so, the chance of you being bitten is pretty small. If you use a pitchfork to turn your pile, you'll be a couple of feet away from any snake you unearth. You can minimize snake exposure by only turning the pile in the warm months, when snakes are typically out of their hiding places and looking for crickets, frogs and mice to eat. One method of repelling them in summer would be to beat on the pile with a stick, leave the area for awhile, so they can crawl away unseen, and then return to turn the pile. Or, you can simply not turn the pile at all. Eventually, you'll get finely decomposed compost, which snakes wouldn't like to live in because it's hard to move around in it.
Q: I have some large, 10-year old loropetalums that are 7 feet tall. Can I prune them down to 3 feet tall right now? — Ben Ross, email
A: You'll be pruning away the flower buds for spring bloom if you do it now, but late winter is certainly the best time to prune when considering plant health.
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