March 17,  2017

It seems folks are not just reading my column in Malibu, here is a letter from a reader in East Tennessee!

Hi Andy,

Love your column!

Here are some problems I am dealing with. Let’s see what you can do for me!

thanks

David

Dogwoods:

    Spot Anthracnose

    Powdery Mildew

Apple and Hawthorne Fruit Trees

     Cedar Apple Rust

     Apple Scab

     Fire Blight

Pin Oak

    Bacterial Leaf Scorch

Skip Laurel

    Shot Hole Fungus

Weeping Cherry

     Shot Hole Fungus

Leyland Cypress

   Seridum Canker

Pests are as follows

Hemlocks

   Wooley Adelgid

    Spider Mite

Ash Trees

     Emerald Ash Borer

Aborvitae

     Leaf Tip Minor

Boxwoods

    Leaf Miner

Maples

   Aphids

Roses

    Aphids (I think).

Wow, quite a list!

I will start with what they all have in common:

Trace mineral deficiency.

If you have been reading my column, you would have picked up on me saying “The Higher the Brix, the less the pests and diseases.

So one thing they also all have in common is  Low Brix levels.

Another thing they also have in common is the use of chemical fertilizers.

While you do not mention what you are fertilizing these with, I will assume that it is not organic. Chemical fertilizers are full of toxic ingredients besides the actual fertilizer it has.

A good chemist that is also a good gardener would be able to provide plants with the proper mineral levels needed for healthy growth. However, he or she would also have to provide for a good healthy soil environment.

So another thing these have in common is they do not have a healthy soil environment.

Pests and Diseases will always be there waiting for the right conditions to occur. Just like in the human body.

There are two ways that these things have to be addressed: Short term and long term.

Here is the short term

You can basically tell the insects to go away. There are many natural and organic methods of doing so.

Here are a few that will work:

Use Compost Tea  (cup of live compost in a pantyhose tied into a ball), soak in 3 gals clean water over night. Pour into a sprayer. Spray the entire plant once a week.

Use Rock Dust Tea ( cup of rock dust (a blend of different rock dust is best), soak in 3 gals clean water over night. Spray entire plant.

For best result use both at the same time!

Cold Brew Coffee: This is a coffee concentrate. Will kill many insects on contact. If you want it stronger use Powdered Caffeine but be careful not to spray yourself.

Garlic: Buy Garlic Barrier. Follow instructions. Try not to make it too strong as it will be too much for most folks to handle. Usually, 1 gal in 100 gals water will do. Spray entire plant, try to spray the trunk as well as the leaves.

These will work for both pests and diseases.

The long-term care are as follows.

You do not mention that you have done a soil test. Send a sample of the various soils you have around the trees/plants in question. Label them, so you know which soil belongs around which plants.

How is the PH? PH is imperative in mineral availability.

You should also send samples of the soil to a lab that does microbial testing and see what types of microbes you have. More importantly is what types you do not have. This will be your goal, to apply microbes top the soil in proper amounts which will encourage their growth.

You will need to find or maker compost. Compost is the core foundation of good health. You do not mention compost. This is critical. Find or make compost that is rich in Microbes, Minerals, and Mycelium.  This will take time thus its long-term. This is something that you should have been doing from day one that you started taking care of the plants.

All of these pests and diseases are telling me that you basically have sick, unhealthy soil.

That is the real problem you are having.

You will need to do soil testing on each area. Find out the ph. You will see that it is probably way too high or way too low. These microbes live in a certain ph level between 6 .3 and 6.8. Any levels above and below will have less and less of the proper bacteria that are needed to assimilate the minerals and then make them available to the plants.

You can help the plants immediately by foliar spraying them with compost tea and a good mineral source. I use Crop Boaster which is basically minerals for humans, but that is also being sold for plants. By foliar spraying, you are introducing the minerals through the leaves and by passing the root systems. In the long run, you must bring the root system back online and absorb the minerals. The roots normally have root hairs but not if you use chemical fertilizers so I would start using organic fertilizers which have microbes as well as mycelium.

The Mycelium is the most important living organism in the soil. City water with chemicals in them will kill the mycelium. Chemical Fertilizers kill the Mycelium not because of the fertilizer but because of the toxins they have. Thus Organic Gardening came into being because it should be free from these toxins but not all organic fertilizers are free of toxins. Buy on Omri approved, and you will be okay.

I would also make a foliar spray from the organic fertilizer and foliar spray that.

I am betting that the soil is toxic and has too much high nitrogen in it. Many folks think that high nitrogen is good for plants, but it is not. Do a Brix reading, and you will see the Brix is low for these plants? Foliar spraying will raise the Brix, but it won’t stay up until the soil is also functioning.

Hope this helps and thanks for reading my column!

Questions? Email me andylopez@invisiblegardener.com

Andy Lopez

Invisible Gardener