Canker Likely Cause of Cypress Tree Problem...

Canker Likely Cause of Cypress Tree Problem QUESTION: What is killing my cypress trees, and what can I do about it?

ANSWER: Very likely your trees are succumbing to cypress canker, a disease that is devastating cypress trees in the Southland. According to Bill Nelson, a tree expert at Pacific Tree Farms, the disease is usually limited to Monterey or Leyland cypress trees.

Although there are some expensive treatments that will prolong the tree’s agony, once the disease is established, the tree’s days are numbered.

Nelson suggests that you replace them with Tecate, Arizona or Italian cultivars, all of which have demonstrated resistance to cypress canker. Nelson also notes that regular watering and proper fertilizing will help prevent cypress canker on susceptible varieties.

Which Chili Pepper Wins as the Hottest?

Q: My friend and I have a bet on over which is the world’s hottest chili pepper. He says it is the Tabasco; I say it is the serrano. Who wins?

A: Neither of you. The habanero is the world’s hottest pepper. This torrid delight is many times hotter than either the Tabasco or serrano. If you want to see for yourself, some supermarkets are now carrying the powdered form of this incendiary pepper .

New Yorker Erred in Adding Lime to Soil

Q: We moved here last year from Upstate New York where we had always had marvelous vegetable gardens. The garden we planted here last spring produced poor results although we cultivated, fertilized and limed the soil and watered regularly. What went wrong?

A: You made a common mistake that gardeners from other areas of the country often make when they move to Southern California--you limed the soil. Although this is standard practice in many areas of the country where the soil is too acid, in most of the Southland the soil is too alkaline. Instead of an application of lime, most of our soils require an addition of peat moss or soil sulfur to raise the acidity.