Tree Seedling Giveaway
Now is an ideal time to plant trees in the landscape. As with all plantings, it is important to plant the right tree in the right place. With that in mind, Apache Oil Company in honor of employee John Woodard has donated over 700 seedling trees of various species to Terrebonne Parish through the Terrebonne Parish Tree Board.
Arbor Day in Louisiana is celebrated on January 18, 2008, and a Public Tree Give-Away is planned for Saturday, January 26th from 10:00 a.m. till noon at the Terrebonne Parish Main Library grounds. Come out and pick up a few trees to help reforest our parish.
These are small seedling trees that will be easy to plant and take care of. The Terrebonne Tree Board and LSU AgCenter will have information on proper tree planting and care. The species of trees include ash, oaks, cypress, gum, crepe myrtles and magnolias.
Citrus Trees and Sooty Mold
I have had a lot of calls this past year about the “black soot” all over the citrus fruit and leaves on the trees. These calls came in mostly the months of August – November and people wanted to know how to get rid of it and how did it get there or what caused it. Without getting too technical, let me explain about it.
Sooty molds are dark fungi that grow on honeydew excreted by sucking insects (i.e., whiteflies, aphids, mealy bugs and scale insects). Sooty mold is not a parasitic organism and does not penetrate the plant tissue, rather it grows superficially on the honeydew excretions. Sooty mold can cause a certain degree of injury when its growth is very thick, by preventing sunlight from reaching the leaf and by making the fruit black and unattractive. As a general rule, sooty mold can usually be rubbed or washed off the fruit and leaves.
Now the tricky part. Managing sooty mold. The way to control sooty mold is to stop it before it gets started. Control of sooty mold begins with the control of insect populations creating the honeydew.
You have to control the white flies, aphids, mealy bugs and scales.
The key now is to scout your trees often for insects and control the insects before heavy populations begin excreting honeydews.
Let me make one other point. Many people say they sprayed their tree for insects and they still had the sooty mold. When asked what they used and how much they used, there lies the problem. Most will say that they had 10-12 year old trees and sprayed a gallon of mix per tree. That is not nearly enough for complete coverage. On trees that size and age, you would need to mix enough spray to spray 4-5 gallons per tree.
We have an excellent publication, “Louisiana Home Citrus Production”, publication 1234 that has a spray schedule in it. Pesticides used to control for these insects include Ultra Fine oils, Malathion and Dimethoate.
These generally are not one time sprays but timely sprays throughout the growing season. Caution with oil emulsion sprays if used – Do not apply to drought-stricken trees when temperatures are above 85°F and do not spray oil emulsions after August 15.
Question: What is the new sweet potato that LSU developed called?
Answer: The 2007 release from the LSU Experiment Station is called Evangeline. The skin color is slightly redder than Beauregard and flesh color is a vivid bright orange. Total sugar content is about 10% greater than Beauregard.