The flowers of my cucumber plants are falling off. How can I get cucumbers?
Early female flowers usually fall off without setting fruit because no male flowers have opened yet. Once the males show up, if no pollination occurs it indicates a lack of pollinators. It takes 10 to 12 visits from a pollinator to make a cucumber, and honey bee numbers are down because they're suffering from parasitic mites. Encourage other pollinators by planting bee-attracting flowers and avoiding insecticides.
I fertilized and even sprayed dormant oil on my Japanese maple this spring because it's such an important tree in my landscape. Now it looks terrible. What happened?
Dormant oil is terrific for treating overwintering pests, however always read its label, or any label, very carefully. Dormant oil should not be sprayed on Japanese or red maples, maidenhair fern and many other plants. Call or e-mail us with more details.
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Plant and fertilize tropical lilies in your pond now. Most varieties require six hours of sunlight per day.
The pear leaf blister mite is a pest on ornamental pear trees. Small raised bumps on leaf undersides are followed by dark brown spots. Dormant oil sprays help control it.
Ellen Nibali, horticulture consultant, works at Maryland Cooperative Extension's Home and Garden Information Center, and David Clement is the regional specialist. The center offers Maryland residents free gardening information. Call the center's "hotline" at 800-342-2507 (8 a.m.-1 p.m. Monday-Friday) or e-mail plant and pest questions through the Send a Question feature at hgic.umd.edu.