Black Sooty Bark on Flowering Peach: Scale Insects and Horticultural Oil Fix

Your 5-year-old flowering peach has black, scrapable bark discoloration. Buds are swelling. You want to know the cause and treatment. Cause: Honeydew-Producing Insects The black coating is sooty mold growing on honeydew

Pecan Tree Losing Bark: Natural Shedding or Ant Damage?

Your 40–50-year-old pecan is shedding large bark sections (10 ft long, 1–1.5 ft wide) starting 25 ft up, on both sides. The exposed wood is dark. You first noticed it after a hailstorm. Likely Normal Bark Exfoliation Ma

Hickory Tree Galls: Cosmetic, Not Fatal—Focus on Tree Health

Youre losing 10–15 mature hickories yearly with large galls on trunks and limbs. DNR didnt respond. Shagbark hickories seem unaffected. You want to stop the decline. Galls Are Insect-Made, Usually Harmless Tiny wasps la

Reviving a Mature Umbrella Plant: Diagnosing Wavy Leaves and Bark Changes

Umbrella Plant A 10-year-old umbrella plant standing 5–6 feet tall has suddenly developed wavy leaf edges and brown, scaly patches at several junctions: where leaves meet stems on lower branches, where multiple stems co

Apple Tree Spray Schedule: Petal Fall to Harvest

You havent sprayed since dormant season, and now its petal fall with cold temperatures. Youre asking about gibberellic acid and what to apply. Recommended Spray Program Petal fall: Sulfur + BT (Bacillus thuringiensis)

Spider Mites on Rosemary: Quick Fix with Neem Oil

Your potted rosemary has yellow-spotted leaves, tiny bugs, and fine webbing with small spiders. The spiders are likely predators eating the real culprits: spider mites. Treatment: Neem Oil Buy a neem-based product (chec

Black Spots on Sugar Maple Trunk: Borers or Bleeding Canker?

Your sugar maple has black, tar-like spots and stripes on the trunk and a main limb, resembling burn marks. Youre worried its a fungus or injury from swings and climbing. Two Likely Causes 1. Borers (insects): Flatheade

Mountain Laurel Leaf Spot: Fungus Management After Pruning

Your pruned mountain laurels turned yellow with reddish-brown spots, and nearby unpruned plants show similar symptoms. Youve used Holly-tone fertilizer. This is likely a fungal leaf spot disease, common in laurels and az

Mystery Green Berries on Indoor Fig Plant: Likely Fruit, Not Pests

Your 12-year-old indoor fig has small green berry-like structures. Youre wondering if theyre a problem. Probably Just Figs Those berries are almost certainly the plants fruit—figs develop from tiny, green, berry-like st

Is Your Arbequina Olive Tree Still Alive? Signs of Hope After Transplant Shock

One of your three young Arbequina olives lost all its leaves weeks after planting in Arizona. The bark still shows green when scraped, though some upper branches are pale yellow. Youve kept watering but wonder if its a l

Diagnosing Copper-Colored Spots on Eugenia: Likely Guava Disease

Your Eugenia (likely a guava relative) has raised copper-colored circles on leaves, with older leaves yellowing and dying. Local nurserymen say its widespread in Palm Beach County with no known cure. A UF Extension conta

Cedar-Quince Rust on Pear Tree: Identification and Management

Your old pear tree shows orange, spore-producing structures on the fruit—classic cedar-quince rust. This fungus requires two hosts: juniper (cedar) and rosaceous plants like pear, quince, and apple. Spores from cedar gal

Treating Nipple Gall on Alstonia Scholaris (Saptaparni) Trees

Your Alstonia scholaris trees have blister-like galls on leaves—even on young foliage. Cutting one open revealed black material inside. This is nipple gall, caused by tiny insects (related to cicadas and leafhoppers) tha

Saving a 40-Year-Old Avocado Tree with Poor Fruit and Dying Limbs

Your mature avocado tree bears few fruits, shows yellowing and browning leaves, and has at least one dying limb. You want to know if its salvageable and what fertilizer to use. Start with Pruning and Diagnosis Remove an

Sago Palm Split Trunk and Odd Growth: What's Happening?

Your sago palm has a split trunk with a strange half-moon-shaped growth at the top. All new fronds emerge from beneath this growth, and now tiny fronds appear to be pushing out from the growth itself. The plant has been

Orange Tree Yellowing: Root Environment Stress

3-year-old blood orange in spring: new leaves and flowers, then sudden yellowing and drop of old and new leaves. Root Zone Issues Drainage/moisture imbalance (too wet or dry). Peat-heavy soil holds water. Container? Che

Identifying and Controlling Leaf-Eating Pests on Persian Shield and Brazilian Red Cloak

Something is devouring the leaves of your Persian Shield and Brazilian Red Cloak plants, but youve never caught the culprit. No insects are visible on the leaf undersides, and the damage is spreading fast. Heres how to t

Comfrey Caterpillars: Organic Bt Spray

Large comfrey patch smothered by green/black caterpillars. Hand-picking too slow. Wants non-pesticide option. Solution: Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) Dipel, Thuricide, or Bt—bacterial insecticide, organic, caterpillar-spec

Pomegranate Orchard Decline: Root/Trunk Rot from Poor Drainage

60-acre pomegranate orchard: areas with yellow-orange leaves, dying trees. Bark splitting/swelling at base with green fungus underneath. Drip irrigation; heavy soil, poor drainage in affected zones. Diagnosis: Root and T

Rose Canker and Possible Spider Mites: Prune, Sterilize, Spray Neem

Second-year Cariad shrub rose has blackish-red speckles on stems, one brown, one yellow/dead. Canker Treatment Mix 1 part bleach : 10 parts water. Cut each affected stem well below diseased area. Dip pruners in bleach b