Question: Last season, leaves on some of my rhododendrons show notching that may be due to root weevils. What stage of growth are weevils at now and what is effective treatment for this stage? Answer: Katherine Garland, Horticulturist Our entomologist shared that it’s either the Black Vine Weevil or the Raspberry Weevil doing the damage. […]
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Question: I need help keeping cats out of my gardens. My neighbor’s cat uses my front door gardens as his litter-box. I want to plant herbs in these beds as the sun is right. Help! Answer: Katherine Garland, Horticulturist I’m sorry to hear of your feline troubles. Keeping cats out of the garden is not […]
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Question: How can I control voles in my garden and in my yard? I live in a develop where they are rampant. I am blaming them for eating my tulip and daffodil bulbs as well as vegetable roots. Answer: Abi Griffith, Horticulture Community Education Assistant Sorry to hear about your vole issues! You could check […]
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Question: I have some small creature eating my lettuce. It gets into my greenhouse, which only a small rodent could do. It eats a fair amount of lettuce down to almost ground level. The larger creatures that also devour what I grow — porcupines and skunks — I am able to trap and relocate. I […]
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Question: Our River Birch has leaf spot that I noticed at the end of Sept, 2021. It was followed by an early drop of leaves. Would fertilizing the tree help or do we need to spray with a fungicide? And if spraying is recommended, what is the safest product to use? Answer: Abi Griffith, Horticulture […]
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Question: Japanese Beetles invade my blackberry bushes. How do I kill the insect so they stop destroying my berry bushes? Answer: Abi Griffith, Horticulture Community Education Assistant Japanese beetles can be very frustrating to deal with! For detailed information about the insect’s life cycle and control, see UMaine Extension’s Pest Management Fact Sheet on Japanese […]
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Question: I noticed last summer that both my apricot tree and plum tree displayed some sort of growth that I wasn’t able to nip in the bud. Now that it’s spring, I’m wondering if you could help identify what may have caused the diseased looking growth and what I might be able to do for […]
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Question: I bought this River Birch ‘Fox Valley Dwarf’ about three years ago. I lost the second and third stem the first winter but the now-single stem has done okay since then, it’s currently about 5′ tall. But it has these galls or something every year. It doesn’t seem to be hurting the tree too […]
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Question: I would like to use some spearmint growing in a neighbor’s landscape garden. Since the garden is next to the street where dogs are walked, a neighbor in my building (who is hyper cautious, I might add) advised against eating the mint because of concern that dogs may have peed on the plants at […]
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Question: As I was inspecting/removing aphids from our young apple trees, I noticed an odd growth on a few of the leaves of one of the trees (a native bred Black Oxford from our local orchard and nursery). My inclination is to cut off any affected leaf to keep this odd growth from spreading, but […]
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