thegirlwithashovel, Author at The Girl with a Shovel

Iron Deficiency: Symptoms and Solutions

April 8, 2024July 18, 2017 by thegirlwithashovel

This past month I visited my parents’ house and noticed that their young maple tree looks bad… really bad… So here’s what’s up. There are iron deficient leaves! (Basically the plant is showing signs of iron deficiency). The leaves are yellow on the outside with green on the inside, and a bunch at the top and from the ends of the branches are dead and falling off. It looks like the tree is dying! So, what exactly is going on, and how do you fix it???? Here’s what you need to know…

Iron Deficiency

Here are the common symptoms of iron deficiency to know if your plant has it or not:

1. The leaves are bright yellow on the outsides, but green on the leaf margins (it looks like the picture above…)

2. The whole tree is affected, not just parts of it. (If only sections of the tree are affected, then the problem is most likely root-related).

3. The leaves have the worst discoloration on the new leaves, while the older leaves are looking somewhat better off. This means that the leaves on the ends of the branches are the worst, not the other way around.

Common symptoms of iron deficiency leaf examples

These are the sure signs that your tree (or plant) is iron deficient.

So what do you do?

Well, what I did is I went down to Home Depot (love that place), and bought some iron fertilizer (Ironite was my choice). Now I’ve been spreading it at a couple of lbs per square feet, evenly below the drip line (as far as the branches spread out). Then I’ve been giving it a nice soak through with some water to get that iron down into the roots. And that just leaves time for the tree to take it all in and hopefully recover enough for next season.

Do you have this problem? Or is your plant having a different issue? Comment below and I’ll see what I can do for you! Then, for more ideas for your yard, check out this post Landscaping 101: Designing your Yard in 10 Basic Steps!

Happy Digging!

Grow Perfect Roses from Cuttings

April 8, 2024July 18, 2017 by thegirlwithashovel

So here’s how this whole grow roses from cuttings thing came about…

My mom was talking the other day about a rose bush that her dad had planted in one of the cousin’s yards. See, he had passed away about 20 years prior and she always remembered this rose bush he had planted. She was hoping that they would take good care of it in order to make sure that it stayed alive. Every year or so she would visit the house and would always cross her fingers, hoping the bush was still healthy. She wanted to be able to remember her dad through this rose bush.

But I came up with the idea, “Well, why don’t you get some cuttings and grow the rose bush yourself?”

Good idea? Totally. Preserving family memories? Big time. Ever wonder how you can preserve your very own favorite rose? Here’s a great method that I used to grow my grandpa’s roses from cuttings. And believe me, it works!

What you need:

2 large plastic containers (preferably a large, clear container for the top, I used a 2 liter soda bottle)
Potting Soil
Rooting Hormone (you can find it at Walmart, Home Depot, or Lowe’s)
Razor Blade
Hand Pruners
Rose Cuttings (see next section for instructions!)

Instructions:

The rose cuttings should be 6-8″ long, trying to take a cutting from a stem that has a wilted rose on it already (this makes sure that the stem is in the growth mode and not the blooming mode). Try to make a cut close to the original stalk to get some of the growth collar on it. This is the brown ring around where the stem attaches to the original stalk. Your cuttings should look like this:

If transporting the cuttings, make sure that the cut ends do not dry out. This can be done by wrapping them in moist paper towels and then sealing the ends in a large plastic bag. I’ve also just put the longer cuttings in a vase full of water and they seemed to do just fine (though it’s harder to keep yourself dry on bumpy rides home!)

Instructions to grow perfect roses from cuttings

Planting your cuttings:

Now that you’ve got yourself a cutting (or two or three), take your plastic containers and cut off the top of the larger one, and the bottom of the smaller one. Then, cut drainage holes in the bottom of the plastic container. I usually just do a simple X in a couple of spots. Then fill the larger container with soil, leaving space in the middle to insert your cutting into. Next, take your cutting, and clip off the top that contains the wilted rose. Also cut off several of the leaves, leaving only two sets of mature leaves. Then, with the razor blade, carefully cut strips into the bottom of the cutting. These strips should be about 1/2″ long and should only cut through the soft, green layer of the stem. Be careful to not cut too deeply at this part.

stem example to grow perfect roses from cuttings

Once it’s cut, dip the end of the cutting in water (making sure to cover the whole length of the slit area), and then dip it into rooting hormone. Lightly shake off any extra powder. Then put it into your already prepped container. Make sure that you press the soil around the end of the cutting instead of pushing the end down into the soil. This will help keep the rooting hormone on the cutting and not just loose in your soil. Press the soil down firmly to hold cutting in place and to ensure good contact. Then place second plastic container over the entire cutting.

Final Product to grow perfect roses from cuttings

Keep the soil moist, but not soggy. Transplant once there are two sets of new leaves and when outside conditions are fair. Enjoy your new roses! And, if you want to learn another way to grow roses, check out my post How to Grow Roses from Cut Flowers!

Happy Digging!

*This photo is taken several weeks later. The new leaves show that this little guy is ready to be planted!*

How to Get Rid of Brown Soft Scale

April 15, 2022July 18, 2017 by thegirlwithashovel

Today we are going to talk about how to get rid of brown soft scale. While there are many different types of scale insects, this one is arguably the most common. It can be found on several different species of plants and is a common pest in greenhouses and nurseries. It can also affect many different types of citrus and ornamental plants, which is another reason why brown soft scale can be such a common pest.

Note: We are going to be talking about getting rid of brown soft scale in a houseplant situation. Landscape plants that are infected with brown soft scale will benefit most from either a good hosing down with an insecticide, introducing natural enemies (such as ladybugs or lacewings), or by using a systemic that is properly applied. Caution when using a systemic however… be sure that you follow the labels. And only use on edible plants according to the recommended guidelines.

So… What do these little pests look like? …

This is a picture of my dwarf citrus tree (a tangerine hybrid). See all the brown spots? Those are the adult female scales. They like to hide along the underside and ridges of the plant, as well as along the stem. There are also very small spots all over the leaves. These are the young scale insects and they can travel around on the plant and like the adults, feed off of it like an aphid would. This causes the leaves to exude a sticky substance.

So, if you see spots and the leaves get sticky… you’ve got brown soft scale…

Another sign of brown soft scale is if you see ants invading your plants. The ants are attracted to the sticky sap. They can’t get this sap themselves, but insects like aphids or scale insects can get to it. So if you see ants crawling through your plant, you most likely have aphids or scale insects.

My poor little citrus tree…

I first noticed a few small spots when I brought this little guy home from the nursery. I should have taken care of it then and there, but life got in the way. Next thing I knew, the one or two turned into several dozen!

Now I definitely had a brown soft scale problem, but I didn’t know how to get rid of them.

So I did some research and ended up trying a couple of different things that were recommended online. Here’s a list of what worked, and what didn’t work.

First Method: Hand picking…

Unless you have an incredible eye and/or a very small plant, I would not suggest this method. While it can be used along with other methods, it is just too easy to miss one of those females (which can produce up to 250 eggs each!). This can be a good control when you’ve got a spare minute, but it is extremely difficult to completely eliminate these guys with just handpicking…

Second Method: Insecticide…

I bought a generic insecticide from Walmart for $5. Not too bad. I sprayed it at night when it would have a chance to dry before my toddler and my dog got up in the morning. This is the one that I used, but there were several different ones that I could have used that all listed scale as one of the targeted insects. (I chose the added fungicide so that it could potentially be used for any fungal problems that may arise in the future).

I found that first off, I had to spray it like crazy! You need to make sure that the plants get full coverage to kill any little guys in any little crevices. Overall, it helped to control the amount of scales, and might have even cut back on the number of the scale insects. However, they eventually made a comeback. This led me to continue to repeat applications, but then I was worried about spraying so much insecticide in the house.

If it were a smaller plant this might have worked as I would have been able to take it outside and sprayed it like crazy (where I wouldn’t be concerned with furniture and inhalation issues). But with it being a bit larger I couldn’t easily bring it outdoors… plus in the freezing Idaho temperatures my plant wouldn’t have enjoyed it very much 🙁

So this made the insecticide a bit unreasonable for me. But I have to admit… it did get rid of some of the scale. So if you have a smaller plant or you’re able to bring it outdoors into a well-ventilated area, then I would definitely suggest this option.

Some options other than Fungicide 3 are insecticidal soap, horticultural oil, or a triple-action disease, fungus, and insect control. These can be picked up at your local Lowe’s or Home Depot.

Third Method: Hand cleaning…

This is different from the first method because I used an alcohol wipe to individually wipe each of the leaves and stems of the entire plant. This is also very hard to eliminate completely, but with the alcohol on every leaf, I found that it killed 95% of the scales. I only had to follow up one more time to clean it up for good.

I bought this isopropyl alcohol from the Dollar Tree. Not bad for $1! I applied it using cotton swabs and gently rubbed away all insects from the top and underside of each leaf. I made sure that I applied a generous amount and rubbed it all over the stems as well. This took a little bit of time, but was well worth all the time and energy.

Just make sure that you rinse it well after using a soap- or an alcohol-based liquid on the leaves. A good way to do this is to spray it thoroughly with a spray bottle filled with water. You can also rinse it off in the shower. Just be sure to wrap the pot in a plastic bag or a trash bag to keep the soil from getting too moist. If it gets too much water (especially in the winter), this could kill your plants faster than the scale insects!!!

In all, you will have to decide which method will work best for you depending on your situation and the size and number of leaves on your houseplant. And remember to always test any chemicals on a few leaves and wait for several days to make sure there is no damage. Let me know if there are any other methods you’ve tried that you approve of!

Happy digging!