These trees are sick
Question: We have 4-year-old oak trees that woodpeckers seem to like. They are doing a lot of damage. My husband killed one bird the other day, but we don’t like to do that. Is there another way to keep them off our trees?
S.B., Mansfield
Answer: Yes. The trees are not healthy. If the tree’s root flare is covered with soil, expose it and use my “Sick Tree Treatment” at my Web site,
www.dirtdoctor.com/organic/garden/home/. It’s easy and effective.
Question: I am looking for an organic liquid that I can apply to a fairly large area where I plan to grow watermelons and cantaloupes. Last year, they did fairly well, but I had trouble with squash bugs and spider mites.
A.L. Dallas
Answer: You have several choices, including liquid humate products, compost tea, animal feed molasses and my “Garrett Juice” formula on
www.dirtdoctor.com/organic/garden/home/ . The animal feed molasses is not a pure organic in that it contains a small amount of feed-grade urea.
Question: Should a lawn be scalped in the spring?
N.S., Dallas
Answer: There may be no gardening technique that’s dumber than scalping a lawn in the spring. I take that back. Discarding all organic litter and leaving bare beds is dumber, but scalping is a close second.
Scalping the lawn in early spring, bagging the clippings and leaves and placing them on the curb to be hauled off and buried in a landfill is a waste of time and money and is poor horticulture.
Everything that results from scalping is negative. Scalping and removing leaves exposes bare soil to direct sunlight, which burns out the humus and microbes on the soil surface. Because the sunlight can hit the soil, it also triggers the germination of weed seed. Scalping also removes valuable organic matter, which is the best natural fertilizer, and the procedure is hard on you and the lawn equipment.