Final kill on tree stump requires careful herbicide application

Bartlett Pear Tree

Bartlett Pear Tree

Dear Neil: I’d like to kill a Bartlett pear stump. It keeps sprouting. I’ve seen recommendations of using a herbicide, but I also see that type of material can damage other plants.

A: Drill several ¼-inch holes 1 inch into the stump. Pour a broadleafed weedkiller (containing 2,4-d) into each reservoir you have made. Do not allow it to run out and onto the ground. It will soak into the wood of the stump and kill it out, roots and all. If you allow no runoff, there is no danger to adjacent plants.

Dear Neil: What is this beautiful flower (photo attached) that I have in my yard. They come from tiny bulbs, but no one seems to know its name. I have hundreds of them, although not all bloom.

A: I don’t do a lot of plant IDs here, because typically they’re only of interest to the person who sent them, but Gladiolus byzantinus is so very special that I’ve made an exception. It’s a very perennial dwarf form of glad that bears lovely maroon bloom spikes. It’s not inexpensive in nurseries, so be really careful to protect the plants and their corms (“bulbs”).

Dear Neil: We have several live oaks that have been dropping their leaves since back in the January. The yard has been littered pretty much constantly. I watered them from a deep pond last year until it went almost dry. I’m wondering if the leaf drop is just the tail end of all that.

A: You can probably lay it partly at the feet of the drought and partly at the feet of a really unusual (and late) winter. Those should be last year’s leaves. If they’re new growth, you need to call in an arborist right away. Otherwise, just sit tight.

Dear Neil: We had a heavy hailstorm a couple of weeks ago. It stripped most of the leaves off our live oaks. As late as the spring has been this year, will they produce new leaves this season? Is there anything else we need to be worried about with them?

A: They will definitely leaf out again, probably within the next week or so. The only other complicating factor would be if the horizontal branches took direct hits from large hailstones. They might be bruised, and a limited amount of localized decay might set in after a year or two. It shouldn’t be anything serious. Just keep it in the back of your mind. Otherwise, you’re good to go!


A: Those are whiteflies. They’re factory equipment with privet, gardenias, gerbera daises and even tomatoes. They’re even more prevalent on greenhouse plants for gardeners who try to grow plants like tropical hibiscus or poinsettias. Your best bet in controlling them on your privet would be a systemic insecticide drench poured over the root system. It should be reasonably effective on white flies on ornamental plants, but look for label clearance on vegetable crops. And the black sooty mold actually grows in the honeydew left behind by the whiteflies. They’re a partnership. It will wash away after you have killed the insects.

Dear Neil: There are several large roots from my fruitless mulberry that are aiming directly at my foundation. The tree is about 12 feet from the house. How much threat do they pose?

A: Very little at all. At that distance they won’t be large enough to lift and crack the concrete. They might dry the soil beneath the foundation, which wouldn’t be a good thing, but you can easily enough replenish that supply with a soaker hose. If you feel there are multitudes of roots under the concrete, you could cut a 15-inch-deep trench along the foundation and install a root barrier material. Don’t do that now, however, as the tree will need all its roots for the summer. October is the best time to install root barriers.

Dear Neil: I have a Carolina Jessamine vine growing on my wood fence. It has done very well for many years but now it’s only at the top of the fence, and all of its ugly stems are showing. It also didn’t bloom very well this spring. Can I prune it back to make it look better? Can I still do that now?

A: You certainly can try cutting it back rather severely, reshaping it as you do. You’ll probably also see some new canes coming up from its base. Leave those in place to become the new stalks. Apply an all-nitrogen plant food, and water it deeply to promote strong new growth. If that doesn’t work as well as you expect, you may want to replace it with a new and vigorous plant. It seems like Caroline Jessamine plants sometimes just wear out after 10 or 15 years, particularly when they’re grown in soils that are not perfectly to their liking. It’s easy enough just to plant another one.



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