If you’ve found damaged plants, mounded soil, and small burrow holes, you may have an unwelcome rodent helping themselves to your garden. Voles, which resemble large mice, are common in Northern Colorado foothills, forests and prairies.
Voles live as families in burrow systems and can cause extensive damage to trees, shrubs and crops (especially root vegetables). Some evidence of vole damage can include girdling of the bark of trees and shrubs, but underground root damage may not be seen.
Most damage is caused in winter months, so late fall is a great time to apply Molemax repellent. This product also repels moles, skunks, rabbits and other burrowing animals and is safe to use around children and pets.
Did last winter’s lasting snowpack make dead patches on your lawn? This is caused by gray snow mold, a fungus.
Snow mold occurs when snow or leaves cover lawns for a prolonged period through the winter, especially in shady areas. The mold forms a circular shape, and actively grows when temperatures are just above freezing.
To prevent snow mold, remove leaves and matted materials from the lawn, which encourages proper air flow. Grass will grow back in the spring.
If snow mold is a consistent problem over several years, applying a fungicide, like F-Stop from Fertilome, in the fall can prevent damage.
After a brief summer vacation outdoors, houseplants come back inside for a comfortable winter. Some may return with unwelcome visitors, such as fungus gnats, whiteflies, mealybugs, scales, aphids or spider mites.
Allowing soil to dry between waterings helps discourage egg-laying of pests in soil mixes, as does repotting. Wash pests off leaves with a quick spray of water.
Also, remove dead plant material and leaves, since they harbor larvae.
If the problem persists, bring a sample of the pest in and ask one of our knowledgeable greenhouse staff for a recommended treatment.
Bright, cold days of winter can cause sunscald on thin-barked woody plants such as willows, aspen, mountain ash and maple.
The warmth of the sun heats the bark, essentially waking it from a dormancy. The sudden drop in night temperatures then kills the active bark. Bark will show signs of damage by turning color, splitting or shedding bark.
Protect your thin-barked trees with tree wrap in October or November, but be careful to remove it by April.
Hybrid Tea, Grandiflora, and other grafted roses need more winter protection than other varieties. Prune back long canes in November to protect them from snow damage, or wait until mid-April and leave the rose hips for winter interest. Remove debris from the base of the roses, and use a rose collar to hold soil, compost, straw or bark over the rose crown. We carry rose collars, which can be reused year after year. In the spring, the collars can also be used to protect starter tomatoes.
All trees can be damaged by heavy, wet snow when still in full leaf. Trees that grow quickly, such as poplars, elms and willows, with deep v-shaped crotches also tend to be more brittle and prone to breakage.
Evergreens are especially susceptible since they never lose their full foliage. Protection of these types of trees starts with good tree selection and proper pruning.
Conical formed trees such as conifers withstand heavier snow loads, as well as deciduous with less branch area.
Always check your trees during snowstorms ‑ a few gentle shakes to remove snow can go a long way to preserve drooping branches.
After irrigation is turned off, plants still need winter watering in our high desert climate.
We recommend thoroughly watering trees, shrubs, lawns and perennial beds at least once a month. Remember to water when temperatures are above 40 degrees, and with enough time for the water to fully soak into the soil.
Added water, along with a thick bed of mulch, will protect plants from a summer drought the next year.
Newly planted trees, shrubs and perennials are the most at risk. Try to water these 2-3 times a month. Fall-laid sod will also need extra moisture.
