Horticulture In The News

24th Annual Rare Fruit Tree Sale Offers Opportunities to 'Grow'

Each year the Annual Rare Fruit Tree Sale features local experts and vendors from across the state. At this free event they share their expertise and offer thousands of fruit trees and edible plants for sale. Join us for this year’s sale on Sunday, September 23, 2012 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Phillippi Estate Park.  The sale is co-sponsored by Sarasota County Parks and Recreation and the Sarasota Fruit & Nut Society.

7th Annual Master Gardener Plant Sale Supports Community Projects

The 7th Annual Master Gardener Plant Sale was held on Saturday, October 10.  Each year the sale features edibles, natives and a variety of other plants which are grown by Master Gardeners or donated by local businesses. Proceeds from the sale support Master Gardener projects throughout the community. The Eighth Annual Master Gardern Plant Sale will be held on Saturday, October 13, 2012.

Our thanks to the following businesses and individuals who helped to make the Seventh Annual Master Gardener Plant Sale a success:

Albritton's Nursery

Aquatic Plants of Florida

Artis Tree

Bamboo for You

Blue Sky Landscaping

Brewer's Nursery

Camp-Lot-of-Noise Tropicals

Community Haven

Critter Ridge Landscaping

Crowley Nursery

D&B Nursery

Drymon Citrus Nursery

Edgewood Nursery

Farm & Garden Nursery

Fender's Flora

Florida Native Plants

Grants Gardens

H&H Nursery

Hazeltine Nurseries

Home Depot North Port

Home Depot Sarasota

Home Depot Venice

Honey Bee

John Deere Landscapes

Living Waters, Ponds & Gardens

Lowe's Home Improvement Sarasota

Lowe's Home Improvement Venice

M&W Nursery

M&W Nursery

Mariposa Nursery

Michael's Bromeliads, Inc

MRT

Natures Own Growers

Oak Farms Nursery

Orban's Nursery

Orchid Mania

Plant, Inc

Plant Magic

Plant Parents

Pomello Park Nursery

Sarasota Growers

Seneca Farms

SMR Farms

Star Flowers Nursery

Sui Szilagyi Nursery

Sun Fire Nurseries LLC

The Orchid Lady

The Plant Place

Treasure Cove

Trent Culleny

Tropiflora

Troy's Tropics

Venice Orchids

Venice Tree Farm

Walmart North Port

Walmart Osprey

Walmart Sarasota

Walmart Venice

Zahradka Nursery

Master Gardener Help Desk In the News

Horticulture Agent Patricia Porchey talks to ABC News Channel 40 regarding the cold weather and our landscape plants. See the video below:

Cold Damage: What Can We Do To Protect Plants?

By Patricia Porchey

Container Plants

• MOVE under cover into Florida room or garage.
• MASS with others close to a structure or fence, preferably on the south facing.
• WRAP or mulch the sidewalls of the containers.

Landscape Plants

• CREATE TEMPORARY STRUCTURES – protect from the wind, collect heat& control temperature (mini-greenhouse, cold frame).
• USE COVERS – reduce radiant heat loss from the plant and soil. (Burlap, grocery paper bag, sheeting, blanket). Don’t let foliage touch covering.
• USE FROST BLANKETS – ultra-lightweight, porous materials let the water and sun through and trap 3-4 degrees of heat.
• USE CAGES, BOXES – Cardboard box – fill with leaves or newspapers. Chicken wire – encircle the plant and fill with leaves. Add manure to temporarily increase the temperature.
• USE HEATING PADS, LIGHT BULBS – Christmas lights can be used to provide artificial heat (not small twinkle ones). Avoid placing them too close to plant or covering, as burns may result.
•CREATE SOIL BANKS – recommended for young fruit trees (3-5 years). Bank clean soil (free of weeks, sticks, etc.) around the bud union and lower trunk. A cylinder of roofing paper or other material can be used to hold the soil in position. Install in mid December and remove in February. (Temperatures can increase as much as 12 degrees over air temperature.)
• USE TREE WRAPS – protect the trunks of young vulnerable trees. Thicker insulating type wrap effective. Thick wraps will shield the trunk from exposure to sunburn and animals.
• IRRIGATE - the soil before a freeze – helps the soil absorb and radiate heat. Do not wet leaves.

Injury Symptoms

Some damage appears immediately but many times, the damage appears after warm temperatures return and the sunshine produces wilting such as from drought stress.
• CHILLING SYMPTOMS: surface lesions, pitting, large sunken areas, discoloration, wilting and browning, internal browning of the pulp and seed, increased susceptibility to fungi and bacteria not commonly found on the plant, and slowed growth. Symptoms similar to drought stress, root rot, diseases,
phytotoxicity to chemicals, heat stress, and light stress.
• FREEZING SYMPTOMS: resembles burning of the foliage, water soaked areas progressing to necrotic spots on leaves, stems, or fruits, death of part of the plant or the whole plant, dead or weakened roots, and split bark.
•PRUNE: Wait until the end of February or early March when all the danger of frost is past and new growth is starting to emerge before doing any pruning. Be patient!

Maintenance Practices to Minimize the Existing Cold Damage

By Patricia Porchey

Don’t

• Prune those ugly brown leaves and branches. If you scratch the bark, you will usually find it is still green which means it will leaf out again as soon as the weather turns warm.
• Prune those ugly brown leaves and branches. Those unattractive leaves are actually providing a protective covering for the lower parts of the plant should we receive another cold blast.
• Prune those terminal branches that are no longer viable. Pruning will encourage new flushes of growth that will be the most vulnerable part of the plant should we encounter another cold spell. Pruning would result in even more cold damage to
that plant.
• Prune those brown fronds on your palms. If there is still green on part of the leaf, that leaf is still making energy for the plant.
• Prune those brown fronds on your palms. Unlike our woody plants that have their crown underground, growth on a palm initiates from the bud. Exposing the bud to more cold air, especially for the more cold-sensitive palms, increases the
likelihood of their death.
• Water the grass more than it needs. In the winter when the grass goes into dormancy, its water needs are reduced.
• Mow that brown lawn. If you look under the topmost layer, you will still see green growth. That top layer is protecting the lower leaves. Wait to mow until you see enough green growth to warrant it.
• Fertilize that brown lawn. It is either in a dormant or slow-growth stage now. It needs the warmth of spring to warm the soil and encourage more growth. Fertilize at the end of February.
• Reseed with Bahia or Bermuda grass seed now. Those grass seeds needs the warm soil of late March or early April to germinate. However, you can plant ryegrass seed for a temporary green until your lawn recovers. Refer to this UF fact sheet for more information http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ep098.
• Worry about aesthetics. Time will release the lush growth and flowers that we’ve come to expect in Florida.