Tips for January

TREES & SHRUBS:

Apply a combination of ORTHO Dormant Disease Lime-Sulfur Spray and Volck® Oil Spray MASTER NURSEY PEST FIGHTER. to dormant (no leaves in winter) plants listed on the labels. Shake snow from evergreens to prevent breakage of limbs from excessive weight.  Review last year's notes and order new plants. In milder areas, prune dormant plants and take hardwood cuttings.

Forcing Flowering Branches Indoors.

You can bring the beauty of flowering branches of cherry, forsythia, pussy willow, and flowering quince and other outdoor trees and shrubs indoors during those cold days of late winter. Cut branches 2-3 feet long this month when the flower buds have begun to swell. (If you cut too soon, the flowers will not open.) Smash the cut ends of the branches with a hammer to help the branches absorb water, and then place them in a large container of water in a moderately cool (60 ° to 70 ° F), bright room.

ROSES

Order spring selections.

FLOWERS

Design spring beds and borders. Review catalogs and prepare orders for perennials and annuals.

LAWNS

Avoid walking on frozen lawns. Apply only sand or ashes to icy walks to avoid salt damage to lawns. Disease Control: If you did not treat your lawn for disease the past fall, take advantage of a midwinter thaw to treat a lawn that showed damage from snow mold last spring.

VEGETABLES & HERBS

Order seeds for spring. Sow onions and cabbage family indoors

FRUITS & BERRIES

Apply a combination of Dormant Disease Lime-Sulfur Spray and Volck Oil Spray MASTER NURSEY PEST FIGHTER. to dormant, deciduous (no leaves in winter) fruit trees. This combination winter spray will control scale and over wintering insect eggs as well as many over wintering fungus spores and plants diseases. Spray when temperature exceeds 40 degrees F (5 degrees C)

 


 

Last Updated: May 21, 2006

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