Let’s take a look at some more of your emailed gardening questions, with our first emailer asking:

“My grapes have suddenly started turning black and shriveling.  And the leaves are getting spotty.  What can I do to save my grapes?”

This is a very common grape problem called ‘Black Rot’.  Not only does it affect the fruit, it also affects the leaves and the stems.  The infections begin at bloom time and can occur until the fruit is naturally resistant, and is spread by wind and rain.  Nothing you can do now, besides eliminate all the infected fruit, leaves, and stems.  Make sure the vines are cleaned from all debris at the end of the season.  Make sure your grapes have full sun, and are in an airy location, with good weed control underneath.  And a good fungicidal spray program is needed, beginning with a dormant spray, and then weekly spraying of a labeled fungicide like Mancozeb from bud break to semi maturity of the fruit.  This is a must to control Black Rot on grapes.

Our next emailer asks, “Is it too late to prune my lilac bushes, and still get flowers next year?”   

To help assure flowers for the next season, lilacs should be pruned with 3-4 weeks after they are finished flowering.  Anytime after that, and you risk losing the flowers for next year.  At this stage, I would deadhead to remove the old seed heads, and clean up as needed, but save any severe pruning until next spring, after they flower.

I’m getting a lot of questions on how to get reblooming daylilies like this one, to do a better job reblooming.  Well, when they’re finished flowering, remove all flower stalks, feed with a garden food, and water well.  That helps the plant re-energize for reblooming.  You’ll never get the same show of color as the first flush, but should be able to get good colors 2-3 more times throughout the rest of the season.

Our last emailer asks, “You mention using a surfactant when applying some chemicals.  What is a surfactant, and why do I need it?” 

A surfactant is a product that helps whatever you’re spraying, become “wetter” and do a better job covering whatever it is you’re spraying.  Confused?  In simple terms, it helps your spray stick better to what you’re spraying it on.  Turbo Spreader Sticker is one of many, and can be used with herbicides, fungicides, insecticides…all to help them do a better job.