Gardening
Tasks For
March
Begin
pruning and fertilizing roses and fruit trees. Be careful
not to
use a fertilizer too high in nitrogen, it is best to
use 5-10-10 or similar ratios. Not all rose bushes perform
better with annual pruning, but most of your more prolific
flowers
such as Hybrid Tea do. If you would like lots of flowers
and don’t mind if they are smaller, cut back your rose
only about one-third shorter than the original height.
If you prefer
huge blooms on long stems, or need to get rid of al ot of
old and disease infested wood, cut back severely to within
one foot
of the ground.
Spray fruit trees and any pest insects with horticultural
dormant oil when temperatures exceed 40 degrees and before
they leaf out. Dormant oil is effective in controlling
scales, mites, aphids, webworms, leafhoppers, and tent
caterpillars. Some important point to remember when spraying
dormant oil are:
Apply only when you
know the pest is present,
dormant oil is not a preventative
product; avoid spraying
in extremely hot temperatures, best to apply when
between 40 and 80 degrees; spray when plant is dormant
if you can
as this will lessen the harm to beneficial insects; be
careful when spraying Arborvitae, Beech, Maples, Junipers,
and Blue Spruce, these plants are sensitive and Blue
Spruce will even lose their color.
