Plants & Pests with Nicole

May 2024

Upcoming Events

Nicole Out of the Office May 6-10

GroBigRed Programming

May 8 - Simple Landscape Design

Yard and Garden - Continues through July 26
Beatrice Civic Garden Club - May 13th at 6pm: Herb Gardening
Crete Community Class - May 21st at 6pm: Herb Gardening

If you miss any of the GroBigRed Programs, the recordings are available on this website too. Visit https://hles.unl.edu/grobigred

zoom_out_map

Henbit

The weather is finally warming up more and we can get out into our landscapes again. As we get outside more, we will find one plant that is having a great year, Henbit. This purple blooming weed shows its ugly face very early in the spring. This is the weed that will cover fields with large expanses of purple blossoms. It is also quite prevalent in our lawns and gardens. Continue Reading...

View the full list of Questions and Answers from every show on my blog.

zoom_out_map

Planting a Vegetable Garden

Mother’s Day weekend is a great time to plant your vegetable garden. Wait until the soil is dry before planting. Managing weeds in the garden is difficult but necessary and using herbicides can cause damage to the crops growing. Weeds are best controlled with mulch. Grass clippings are a great mulch to use but will need to be reapplied throughout the growing season as they break down. Don’t use grass clippings that have been treated with pesticides this year. If these options are not available to you or are not a choice for you, other organic mulches such as wood chips, straw, or soybean mulch can be used.

zoom_out_map

Plant Trees

Friday April 26th was Arbor day this year, it is always on the last Friday in April. There is still time to plant a tree yet this spring, before the weather becomes consistently hot. When planting a tree in your landscape, dig the hole twice as wide and only as deep as the root ball of the tree you are planting. You may need to dig around on the rootball first to find the roots, the first lateral roots should be planted just below the soil surface. Make sure you add a mulch layer that is 2-3 inch deep and goes out at least 2 feet wide around the trunk of the tree, but go as wide as you would like. Also, make sure you keep the tree well-watered. Watering weekly for about 15 minutes on a slow trickle should be sufficient for a new tree if 1” of natural rainfall is not present each week.

zoom_out_map

Cedar Apple Rust

Cedar Apple Rust is a disease that shows up this time of year and with the recent rains I have seen it out. This is a disease that must have two hosts, cedar and apple trees, to complete its lifecycle. The disease can spread between trees up to 2 miles apart. Cedar Apple rust shows up as brown galls on the cedar tree that turn into orange octopus-like spongy galls in the spring when we get into the rainy season. When it shows up on the apple trees, it causes lesions on the leaves as well as on the fruit. The disease causes no damage to the cedar tree but can harm apple trees. The best management for apple trees is to plant a resistant apple variety or to spray the tree with a copper fungicide in May and June.

zoom_out_map

Spring Vegetable Gardens

We are entering the season to plant spring vegetable gardens. As the saying goes, “Plant your potatoes on St. Patrick’s Day” or others say to go with Good Friday. Either way, these cool season vegetables can be planted now. But be cautious with your plants, they could be injured by late freezing temperatures or frost events. Continue Reading...

zoom_out_map

About Nicole

Nicole Stoner is the Horticulture Extension Educator located in Gage County, serving Southeast Nebraska. Nicole's focus areas include trees, shrubs, lawns, gardens, and insects. Nicole obtained her Master's Degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for Horticulture with a minor in Insect Science, she also has Bachelor's Degrees from UNL in both areas. Nicole is also an ISA Certified Arborist and has her Tree Risk Assessment Qualification (TRAQ).

Email: nstoner2@unl.edu
Website: https://extension.unl.edu/statewide/gage/gage-county-horticulture/
Location: 1115 West Scott Street, Beatrice, NE, USA
Phone: 402-223-1384
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NicoleStonerHorticulture
Twitter: @nikki_Stoner