I layer compost and manure on my asparagus bed every year and keep it weed-free, but the asparagus are fewer and skinnier than last year. Could tree roots be a problem?
Not unless the tree nearby is a walnut tree, whose roots have toxins. The causes of weak and spindly asparagus spears and low yields are usually cultural. They indicate a root system weakened from:
•Over-harvesting, i.e. cutting spears more than six to eight weeks in a season or not leaving enough spears to mature. This leads to a lack of mature "ferns" needed to replenish the root system.
•Cutting "ferns" down before they naturally yellow in the fall
•Letting the asparagus bed become choked by weeds.
•Failure to fertilize and add lime as needed.
Test the soil and check our profile on asparagus. If the bed is over 15 years old, think about starting over with new crowns.
One of my oak trees looks sick. The leaves have hundreds of yellow spots per leaf. Help!
Your tree "spots" are the curiously named jumping oak galls, also known as Mexican jumping galls. They are formed by a tiny wasp laying eggs. A larvae lives inside each pin-sized gall. The larval galls fall off, leaving a pockmark; then, like a jumping bean, they twitch and "jump" to work their way into leaf litter on the ground. Like many galls, populations fluctuate greatly from year to year and tree to tree, depending on weather and their natural enemies' population. Galls rarely affect the overall health of a tree, but you can rake up leaves and dispose of them off-site to reduce galls next year.