Nuisance fruit is a concern for many people including homeowners, landscapers, and park and city officials. The fruits and seeds of some trees and shrubs, such as buckthorn, mulberry, persimmon, and (female) ginkgo are unsightly, smelly, and have the potential to be a hazard when they fall on sidewalks, driveways, and other areas in a landscape. Foliar sprays are available to reduce or eliminate undesirable fruit development on ornamental landscape plants, but factors such as timing, plant stresses, environmental conditions, and lack of thorough applications may make complete control impossible. Results will vary with each chemical designed to eliminate fruit.

Trees and shrubs are usually selected for landscape use based on their ornamental features, such as spring flowers, fall color, and fruit. All trees and shrubs produce some type of flowers and fruit, whether inconspicuous or showy. Fruit production is part of the plants natural development. A plant that produces a large amount of fruit may be a desirable ornamental feature or be used to feed wildlife. Despite the value of a flowering and fruiting plant, some people consider spent flowers and fruit that fall undesirable litter. There are several methods to remove fruit or prevent fruiting. Hand-removing spent flowers or small fruits will work on a small tree, but is not a practical solution for large trees or extensive plantings. Chemical or hormone-type sprays are a more practical method, but spraying your tree can be a costly and time-consuming venture. Consider the following before you decide to spray:

Amount of fruit production. The amount of fruit a plant can produce varies from year to year. Many plants will produce heavily one year and lighter the next. Insect, disease, and damage to flower blooms can reduce fruit production. Hand-removal of spent flowers is one way to eliminate unwanted fruit.

Plant removal. If maintenance is a problem, does the plant warrant keeping? Attempting to remove fruit will become a yearly expense of time and money. When all options have been considered, plant removal may be the best alternative, and replace with a plant that holds its fruit (i.e., some hawthorns and crabapples).

Size of tree. If the tree is too large to do the work yourself, you may have to hire a licensed professional to achieve adequate results.

Timing of application. Whether you hire a professional or do the work yourself, it is essential to spray at the proper time for best results. The window of opportunity varies with the species and cultivars (varieties) of a plant.

Timing. The window of opportunity for chemical or hormone-type sprays is during flowering before fruit set, usually from flower buds to the full bloom stage. It is imperative that you spray at this time for chemicals to be most effective on the flower bud. Spraying before or after flowers results in wasted time and money.

Temperature. Hormone-type sprays are influenced by weather conditions. Daytime temperatures at the time of application should be between 60 degree F and 95 degree F for best results.

Use correct concentrations. A concentration too low can increase fruit set. Excess hormone applications will cause damage to the plant.

Spray stress-free plants. Plants being treated should be healthy and vigorous. Spraying plants under stress can cause additional damage to a plant. The chemical ethephon, used to stop fruiting, breaks down into a natural plant hormone, ethylene. Plants under stress from drought, high temperatures, insect and disease problems, or environmental stress, such as compacted soils, poor drainage, or improper pH will produce ethylene. Too much ethylene can be harmful to plants, causing injury symptoms such as leaf scorch, stem damage, or defoliation, further weakening the condition of the plant.

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Preventing or Reducing Fruit on Ornamental Trees and Shrubs

The frequency and severity of winter damage is determined by a number of factors, including the plant species or cultivar involved, the location and conditions under which the plant is grown, and the exact timing of weather extremes during the dormant period. Contrary to popular belief, plant damage is not generally caused by an unusually cold winter. Low temperature injury is more often associated with extreme temperature fluctuation than with prolonged cold weather.

Acclimation to temperatures much below freezing results from exposure to slowly falling temperatures and other factors. Plants that are dormant but not fully acclimated can be stressed or injured by a sudden, hard freeze. Rapid or extensive drops in temperature following mild autumn weather cause injury to woody plants. Extended periods of mild winter weather can de-acclimate plants, again making them vulnerable to injury from rapid temperature drops.

Some species or cultivars of trees and shrubs are injured if temperatures fall below a minimum tolerance level. Plants most likely to suffer winter injury are those that are marginally hardy for the area or those already weakened by previous stress. Species such as rhododendron, holly, and some magnolias may survive several mild winters in the Chicago region before a more typical winter causes injury. Flower buds are often the most susceptible. If plants with marginal hardiness are used, they should be planted in protected sites, such as courtyards or sheltered areas. In general, low temperatures are much less damaging than rapid and extensive variations in temperature.

Frost cracks, sometimes called radial shakes, appear as shallow to deep longitudinal cracks in the trunk of trees. They are most evident in winter at temperatures below 15F. Frost cracks often, but not always, occur on the south or southwest sides of trees because this area experiences the greatest temperature fluctuations between day and night. A sudden drop in temperature causes the outer layer of wood to contract more rapidly than the inner layer, which results in a long vertical crack at weak points in the trunk. Once a frost crack occurs on a tree, it is likely to appear annually. Trees most susceptible to frost cracks include London plane, oak, Norway and red maple, horsechestnut, crabapple, walnut, linden, and willow.

An elongated canker found on the trunk of thin-barked trees, such as beech, maple, willow, white pine, and linden, is often referred to as "sunscald". Sunscald often develops on the south or southwest side of trees following a sudden exposure to direct sun. In winter, the temperatures on the sun-side of the trunk may exceed air temperatures by as much as 20F. This is thought to trigger de-acclimation of trunk tissue. The bark slowly darkens, turns reddish brown, and becomes rough. After a time, the callus tissue eventually cracks and falls away. Sometimes only the outermost cambium layer is damaged and a sunken area appears on the trunk. Affected trees often have sparse foliage, stem dieback, and stunted growth.

A browning or scorched leaf tip on evergreen foliage in late winter and early spring is a form of winter injury. Browning usually occurs from the needle tips downward. Symptoms of winter burn are present on many narrow-leafed evergreens, such as hemlock, juniper, pine, and yew, and broad-leaved evergreens, such as boxwood and rhododendron. Winterburn is usually attributed to desiccation or loss of water through leaf transpiration. Winter sun and winds dry needles. Water in the stems and roots is frozen and unavailable to replenish the loss. A rapid drop in temperature after a warm sunny day can also cause further injury to the plant. Applying an anti-transpirant, also called antidesiccant, helps reduce transpiration and minimizes damage to the foliage. At least two applications per season, one in December and another in February are usually necessary to provide protection all winter.

Once spring growth has begun, a late spring frost can cause damage to de-acclimated woody stems, blossoms, and new shoots. Frozen, succulent, new tissue turns flaccid, appears watersoaked, and withers within a short time. Though symptoms resemble blight diseases, freeze injury appears suddenly after a hard frost, while diseases such as bacterial fire blight, juniper blight, and pine tip blight are progressive over time.

Root tissues apparently do not acclimate to temperatures much below freezing and can be killed or severely injured by soil temperature below 15F. This is especially true for shallow rooted plants. Fortunately, the presence of mulch, leaf litter, or snow cover insulates most soils sufficiently to prevent soil temperatures from falling much below freezing. Plants with frozen roots may wilt and decline after growth resumes in the spring.

Heavy snow and ice storms cause damage by bending and breaking branches. Multi-stemmed evergreens, such as yews, arborvitae, and junipers, are often the most prone to damage. To protect these plants from limb breakage prior to winter, tie branches together loosely with strips of cloth or coated twine. Remove in early spring.

The branches of many hardwoods, such as Siberian elm, maples, and birch, may be seriously damaged in ice storms. Improper removal of ice or snow from the tree or shrub might increase damage. Heavy snow should be removed gently before it freezes to limbs and branches. Removing ice encased on branches can cause additional damage and should not be attempted. Instead, allow ice to melt off naturally.

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Winter Injury to Trees and Shrubs | The Morton Arboretum

Call to have an arborist, or tree doctor, from our Houston tree service office come out to provide you with preventive tree care, shrub care, and landscape management services in the Greater Houston area, including Downtown (77002, 77004), Galleria (77056), West University Place (77005), River Oaks (77019), Houston Heights (77008, 77007, 77009), Bellaire (77401), Memorial (77024), West Memorial (77079, 77077, 77094), Memorial Northwest (77070, 77379), Champions, Spring (77380, 77381, 77381, 77382, 77389), The Woodlands, and Cypress (77429, 77377) areas. We also service Tanglewood (77056, 77057), Memorial Villages, Spring Valley (77055), Oak Forest (77018), Katy (77084, 77449, 77450, 77494, 77493), Sugar Land (77478, 77479), Missouri City (77459, 77489), Fulshear (77441), Richmond (77406, 77407), Southside Place, Greater Heights, Kirby, Upper Kirby, Montrose (77006), Afton Oaks, Midtown, Uptown, Neartown, Garden Oaks, Bridgeland (77433), Sienna Plantation, and Royal Oaks (77082). View more details on the areas served by our Houston office.

Arborists in our Houston office are committed to helping local residents and businesses maintain beautiful, healthy trees and shrubs. Our arborists are experts in diagnosing and treating tree and shrub problems specific to the Houston area. Plus, with access to Bartletts global resources and advanced scientific research facility, we can provide customers with benefits that just arent available from other Houston tree services.

Bartlett Tree Experts offers a variety of services to help our customers maintain beautiful, healthy trees and shrubs. No matter the size or scope of your tree service or shrub care needs, we want to work with you to protect your landscape investment. Access a complete list of the tree services we provide in the Houston, TX area.

Drought Services Moisture deficiency from drought is the most common stress encountered in the landscape.

Plant Analysis and Diagnostics Contact an arborist to determine the cause of a plant health problem or to identify a pest infestation.

Tree Removal Expert removals can be performed for a number of reasons ranging from dying trees to new construction.

Insect and Disease Management Bartlett uses an integrated approach to suppress pests and manage tree diseases on your property.

Pruning Pruning is periodically required to improve the health and appearance of woody landscape plants.

The TCIA Accreditation "seal of approval" helps consumers find tree care companies that have been inspected and accredited based on adherence to industry standards for quality and safety, maintenance of trained, professional staff, and dedication to ethics and quality in business practices. Through research, technology, and education, the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) promotes the professional practice of arboriculture and fosters a greater worldwide awareness of the benefits of trees. The Board-Certified Master Arborist credential is designed for arborists who have reached the pinnacle of their profession.

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Tree Service and Shrub Care - Bartlett Tree Experts - Houston

HAMMOND, La. (Press Release) Our spring- and summer-flowering trees and shrubs are growing and preparing for another great bloom season. One of favorite landscape plants for late spring and summer is the popular and loved crape myrtle.

In order for blooming to be best this summer, spring management practices are important. We also need to watch for a new crape myrtle pest crape myrtle bark scale.

For the best summer blooms, make sure your crape myrtle trees receive maximum sunlight at least eight hours of direct sun a day. We recommend fertilizing crape myrtle trees in the late winter or early spring mid-March to mid-April is ideal. You can use a slow-release fertilizer or you may select 8-8-8, 13-13-13 or similar balanced fertilizer formulations.

Watch new foliage in spring for aphid infestations. These insects feed on terminal growth and cause sooty mold to develop on leaves if populations are not controlled.

One of the main issues with crape myrtles now throughout Louisiana and problematic in other states, too, is the rapid upsurge in improper pruning techniques. We refer to this as crape murder.

Cutting back crape myrtles by reducing their height is not the correct way to prune. If a crape myrtle needs pruning, the best thing to do is to thin the interior stems of the plant canopy. Heading back the terminal branches by a foot or so is acceptable, but major heading back isnt.

In addition to crape murder, proper management and aphids, we need to be aware of the relatively new invasive pest affecting crape myrtles in Louisiana. Crape myrtle bark scale is very serious. Trees with crape myrtle bark scale have fewer blooms.

Crape myrtle bark scale was first found in the United States in Texas in 2004 and is now in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Tennessee and Georgia. They have been identified in Louisiana in the Shreveport-Bossier City area, Minden, Monroe, Rayville, Houma, Hammond, uptown New Orleans and possibly Alexandria. The immature insects start moving in midwinter in Louisiana, and populations build all through summer.

Crape myrtle bark scale will appear as white or gray encrusted waxy spots around pruning cuts and in the crotches of branches. Sometimes the insects exude a pinkish tinge or liquid when touched or squished. Black sooty mold covering stems and trunks rather than primarily on foliage when aphids or white fliers are present is a drive by way to observe possible scale populations.

Heavy infestations can be scrubbed with soap and water or pressure washed with a sprayer or garden hose to physically remove insects. A systemic insecticide is a treatment for long-term control to eliminate or reduce populations. Apply the insecticide to the plant in April; timing is critical. Systemic insecticides include dinotefuran (such as Greenlight Tree and Shrub Insect Control with Safari) and imidacloprid (such as Bayer Advanced Garden Tree and Shrub Insect Control). These products can lead to significant population reductions by midsummer.

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Start Caring for Crape Myrtles Now

MASTER GARDENER: Propagating plumeria cuttings, controlling hydrangea color

Q. I have loved plumerias since I first saw them in Hawaii and brought home a few cuttings. My question is: Some of the plants I have were inherited, were not well cared for, and are extremely 'leggy'. Can I cut some of the branches and re-root them? I wouldn't mind sacrificing the 'mother plant' if it meant getting several off-spring and hopefully fuller plants. Please advise if this is possible, the best time to take the cuttings and the procedure for doing it.

A. The plumeria, Plumeria rubra, is a beautiful shrub or small tree that has colorful, exceptionally fragrant flowers. Although it is considered a tropical plant, it seems to grow very well outdoors in Southern California, whether planted in a pot or in the ground, as long as it is protected from hard frosts. Although the plumeria is usually a rather expensive plant to buy, it is a surprisingly easy plant to propagate from cuttings.

Plumeria cuttings will root best when the temperature is at least 60 degrees, so spring is a good time to start making your cuttings. Simply cut piece of a branch 12-18 inches long. The cutting may be a single length or branched, with the branched cuttings likely to make the bushiest plants. You will find that a milky sap will immediately start dripping from the cut surfaces. Avoid getting the sap on your skin as some people are sensitive to it and may develop a rash. Allow the cut ends of the branches to dry in a cool shady location for at least a few days. This drying time drastically reduces the chance of rot occurring.

Remove all but the top few small leaves from the cuttings (they will drop off eventually anyway). If you are making multiple cuttings from one very long branch, then be sure to keep track of which end is up. Plant each cutting about three inches deep in a one-gallon or larger pot filled with an artificial soil mix that will drain quickly. A general-purpose mix with almost an equal volume of perlite or vermiculite works well for me. There is no need to use a rooting hormone. Place the pots in a bright location but avoid direct sun, and keep the soil moist but not soggy. Depending upon the time of year, rooting will take one to three months. Once the cuttings develop roots you will notice top growth beginning, and you can gradually move the new plants to a location with brighter light and increase watering.

Dont fertilize during the fall and winter to avoid promoting tender growth that could be damaged by cold weather. During the first winter, the young plants may require more protection from frost than the parent plant. Regardless of age, plumerias require little water during the winter; give them just enough to keep the branches from shriveling. When spring arrives, begin fertilization and increase watering. Before long, the colorful, fragrant flowers of the new plumeria plants will be ready to fill your garden with color and fragrance.

Q. Several years ago you told how to control the color on hydrangeas, but I've forgotten how to do it. Would you repeat the instructions?

A. The color of the hydrangea will vary according to the pH of the soil in which it is growing. Blue flowers are produced by adding aluminum sulfate to the soil to make the soil more acidic. Pink flowers can be assured by a heavy application of superphosphate to the soil to make the soil more alkaline. Either treatment must be begun well ahead of the blooming season to be effective so as soon as you notice spring growth, you should begin application. In our Southern California soils, untreated hydrangeas are likely to be pink, unless the soil is treated to produce blue flowers.

Ottillia Toots Bier has been a UC Cooperative Extension master gardener since 1980. Send comments and questions to features@pe.com.

Contact the writer: features@pe.com

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MASTER GARDENER: Propagating plumeria cuttings, controlling hydrangea color

The X Factor drama has dominated this week's headlines

The number one story in showbiz goss this week isnt how rough and pathetic those contestants on The Bachelor NZ are (although they totally are!) but the abrupt departure of Natalia Kills and Willy Moon from The X Factor NZ after just one live show.

The married judges, of course, werent backward in coming forward with their over the top criticism of X Factor hopeful Joe Irvine. The blowback was immense, and after protests from viewers, sponsors, and other celebrities TV3 sent the pair packing from their on-screen roles. New judges announced on Thursday drummer Shelton Woolwright and X Factor Australia judge Natalie Bassingthwaite.

As an artist who respects creative integrity and intellectual property, I am disgusted at how much you've copied my husband, Kills declared to Irvine after his performance.

RELATED: Fired X Factor judge Natalia Kills accused of stealing her looks

From the hair to the suit, do you not have any value for respect for originality?

You're a laughing stock. It's cheesy, it's disgusting, I personally found it artistically atrocious, she continued.

I am embarrassed to be sitting here in your presence having to even dignify you with an answer of my opinion.

(None of us knew it, but apparently Willy Moon invented the phenomenon of performing wearing a suit with slicked back hair. Dont tell Frank Sinatra.)

Moon chipped in, telling Irvine his look was cheap and absurd and comparing him to famous big-screen psycho Norman Bates.

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The week in gossip

Looking for work? Check out the Times/Review classified section.

Looking for work, or know someone who is?

Times/Review classifieds offers local companies a place to advertise their job openings each week, and this week close to 70 positions are availablefrom wine pourers to a farmhand to a preschool teacher.

And for anyone interested in submitting a classified ad, email: classifieds@timesreview.com.

Check out the listings below:

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT: Active retail and service company has position open for customer service, scheduling and marketing person. Experience in any of the building trades helpful. Salary plus benefits. Send resume, jcm@oceanspraypoolsandspas.com (S)

AUTOBODY POSITIONS: Painter and heavy combo. Experience necessary. Rich, 516-852-2532.

BARTENDER: F/T, P/T. Creative people pleaser, simple point of sale system. Salamanders, 631-477-2878.

BARTENDER: Responsible and experienced. Call Lennys, 631-722- 8589.

CASE MANAGER: F/T, temporary through December 2015. For our Bridges to Family program located in Hauppauge, NY. BA in social work or related field and 1-year related experience required. MSW or related field and related experience pre- ferred. Valid NYS drivers license required. Little Flower Children and Family Services in Wading River, N.Y. Send resume, wadingriver-jobs@lfchild.org or fax 631-929-6203 EOE.

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Help Wanted: Wine pourer, farmhand, preschool teacher

Every time he hunts, Peter Williams sends a silent message to his prey before he squeezes the trigger: Please give me your life. Ill eat some of your meat, and Ill make something beautiful out of your hide. On a cold afternoon in mid-January, Williams, who is 33, was kneeling on the barnacle- and birdshit-encrusted rocks of an uninhabited island. On all sides was Sitka Sound, a narrow stretch of water off the coast of southeast Alaska. Williams wore an orange raincoat and earmuffs; his rifle rested in a dip between rocks. About a hundred feet away, a dozen sea otters were bobbing in the water. He wanted a stray, at the edge of the group. He was moving with the sureness of ritual. For him this is ritual. When he scans the water for targets, Williamss eyes get unnaturally wide, like a mask, and his head starts to swivel.

His prey seems to have evolved for heart-melting cuteness. Black beseeching eyes, soft triangle nose, puckered little mouth: sea otters look like puppies or human babies encased in fur. Pairs hold hands, paw in paw, to stay together. As Williams says: Theyre very human-like, not only their physical appearance but also their behaviour. Theyre very social, theyre very family-oriented. Theyre intelligent, theyre playful. Sea otters float on their backs, limbs in the air, up to a hundred massed in a raft. Snoozing, they tuck themselves into stringy beds of kelp, to keep from drifting out to sea.

Williams is after their fur, which is the densest and softest in the animal kingdom. Russian traders once called it soft gold. There is no material like it. The black, silky, lustrous stuff is so instantly comforting that it hardly seems like fur at all. Few human heads have more than 150,000 hairs, but sea otters stay warm with a double layer of never-moulting fur, up to a million hairs per square inch.

Williams designs and sells clothes and accessories, made from the otters he hunts. By reviving a forgotten and forbidden market for their fur, he sees himself as restoring a wounded culture. His father was Yupik, from the largest tribal group of Alaska Natives who suffer as a whole, disproportionately, from poverty, substance abuse, suicide and rape. The tradition of marine mammal hunting runs deep among the indigenous peoples of the state, but beginning in the 18th century, white settlement brought the forced conscription of Native hunters and the near-eradication of many species.

Out on the rocks, a muffled shot cracked the stillness. The raft split up, a dozen black heads adrift in seemingly random motion, and Williams picked off a second. A shot to the head is the quickest and cleanest way to kill, according to Williams. Theres a sound when it hits, a thump you can hear when the bullet stops. It mushrooms out, expands, and fractures, he said of the 55-grain, soft-point .223 rounds he fires.

Williams made for the Jenna, his ramshackle aluminium skiff, docked just off the island. He bailed out a few buckets worth of water and set the outboard motor, racing after the harvest before it could sink or float away. Wild little islands lay scattered across Sitka Sound, which opened wide on to the freezing North Pacific in the distance. A volcano stood glazed with snow.

Theres times when I go out to pick up the animal and its still alive. Life is a powerful force

A few minutes later, the Jenna pulled up alongside two floating bulges of sleek fur. Both females: a sub-adult (or teenager) and a hefty old-timer, with distinguished white hairs, maybe 5ft 6in long. Theres times when I go out to pick up the animal and its still alive, said Williams. Thats what I bring the aluminium bat for. Life is a powerful force. He maintains that clubbing is a really efficient way of killing something, especially if you do it right, you club it in the head.

He grabbed the otters by the scruff and dropped them in the skiff. One had blood on its whiskers, and its eyes were filling up with blood. Williams guided the Jenna into a sheltered bay of foam-flecked green water and towering spruces, known as Pirates Cove. On this cold cobble beach, Williams would do the skinning. Blood dripped on his waders as he pulled the corpses onshore. Then he lifted each otters maw in turn and gave the dead their last drink of water, following an old Yupik custom he learned from an anthropologists study. The idea is that spending their life in the salt water, they get really thirsty, he told me later. If they know that the hunter will give them their last drink of water, theyll give their life to the hunter. The spirit of the animal, reincarnated in another body, will visit the hunter again. Williams took a swig of water himself.

I dont really like to do it, said Williams not of the skinning, but of the plastic gloves he was pulling on to do it because of the disconnection. But he wasnt taking any chances: some months earlier he had contracted seal finger, an infection common among people who handle the bones or pelts of seals. First his left thumb blew up like a balloon; he went on antibiotics for months; then came the tingling, the burning feet, insomnia, pain in every joint a possible autoimmune reaction. Work had become almost impossible, whether hunting, designing, or sewing. Still, he had little choice but to continue. Deep in debt, Williams had managed to network, charm, and spend his way into a foothold during New York fashion week in February. Living well below the poverty line, he saw it as his last, best shot to get his business off the ground. Fashion week was less than a month away, and he had a to-do list 37 items long.

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Why would anyone want to shoot a sea otter?

Tree Pruning Services Enhance Your Landscape

Tree pruning helps your landscape flourish by addressing architectural tree care concerns such as safety, structural integrity, shape and appearance. Tree pruning services performed by a certified arborist enhance the natural beauty of your trees and shrubs and help you preserve the strength, stature and seasonal character they add to your property.

Tree pruning provides a variety of benefits to your trees and landscape:

Call today for a complimentary tree pruning consultation from SavATree's fully trained professionals and certified arborists. Click here to contact the office nearest you.

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Tree Pruning Services - Tree Trimming and Tree Care Services

Feb. 17, 2015, 4 a.m.

The paulownia trees in the car park of the Bathurst Library have grown too big for their boots.

WRONG CHOICE: Damage to the car park of the Bathurst Library caused by paulownia trees.

THE paulownia trees in the car park of the Bathurst Library have grown too big for their boots.

They have been maturing into large specimens for the past 20 years, giving much-needed shade to vehicles at the popular public facility off Keppel Street. However, their days now appear to be numbered.

Although the trees are in good health, it turns out theyre now not suited to that type of location with their invasive roots damaging the sealed road pavement and ripping gutters apart.

After receiving several complaints from users of the library about the problem, Bathurst Regional Council has now decided its time to act.

A report to tomorrow nights ordinary monthly meeting for February details the saga of the paulownia trees.

It recommends the trees be removed from the car park ahead of the restoration of the road pavement and concrete kerbing around the traffic islands.

There are also plans to upgrade all garden bed areas, incorporating new shade tree plantings, associated shrubs and ground covers.

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Council gets to root of library car park mess