This months Tip: Happy New Year! January 2004
[1] There is a New Year before us; the old trail of last year is history so let’s make a fresh start for the New Year.
[2] January is the proper planting time for bare-root such as roses and other plants.
[3] Cover all tender plants at night and all the way to the ground to help keep off freeze damage to plants (NO PLASTIC) cloth and burlap will work well. Cold weather discolors foliage can also cause then to fall off tree.
[4] Spider Mite infestation is here this year again. They travel by the prevailing winds there in Italian, Juniper and Pyracantha.
[5] This is the season to spray your OLIVE TREES to control the blossom and fruit control.
[6] Check your plants and shrubs for white flies

OLIVE TREE BLOSSOM CONTROL SPRAYING AND FRUIT SPRAYING
The flowering and fruiting of Olive trees can be control effectively by spraying then from January thorough March with Maintain C F 125. This chemical is a growth retardant that will prevent the tree from blossoming and bearing fruit. Which is a better way then the old acid base spray’s product. By taking the tree out of its growth cycle the window for spraying the Olive trees at this time is a large one, so the earlier you spray the better the control will be, the later you spray the less control you have. There is a wide variety of product on the market to spray trees . The best way is a growth regulator as maintain CF125. This will STOP the flowering and the fruiting of the tree. The window for this spraying starts in January to March? If we spray after that date the chemical to get rid of the bud has to change. First the bud has to open then pollen will form yellow powder all over the place, then we only spray to get control of the bud and pollen. This late in the season we have to use a contract spray chemical, like Fruit fix, Olive Stop and or Liquid Stick and Embark. They’re all a contact spray acid base product and it takes multiple spraying to get control of the fruiting or budding of the Olive tree. This is later into the season like April and May; there a some tree that are weak and in the state of decline that has to be sprayed with this kind of sprayed so each tree is sprayed with the health of the tree in mind.
Remember when the Olive tree blossoms if they have not been sprayed the fruit is not far behind, with the sticky purple stains on the pool deck , drive way and in the house . There is no 100% guarantee on the control but this chemical maintain or others.
Note: water the Olive tree after it has been sprayed for about two [2] hours. If the trees are stressed out then fertilizing is in order also if the tree is heavy and thick, trim the out.
If you have any question please e-mail or call me to toe the problem.
Jim

Food for thought...

The quality of your life is always the direct production of the thought that you hold in your consciousness. The thoughts planted in the garden of you mind become the fruit of your life. Good seeds bear good life.