Each year, thousands of Arizona residents email or call Rosie Romero’s radio show with questions about everything from preventing fires in their chimneys to getting rid of tree roots invading their sewer system. His goal is to provide answers that suit the specific lifestyle wherever someone lives in Arizona.
QUESTION: I recently got an estimate for $700 from a pest control company for sealing the base of my 30-year-old stucco house to keep rodents from getting into my walls. I haven’t had any of these problems yet, but some of my neighbors have. Does this sound like a good plan?
ANSWER: The price seems fair and the plan could work providing that they do not seal the holes in what is called “the weep screed” at the bottom of your house. You need the holes to prevent water from wicking up the walls into the stucco on the outside of the house.
Q: I have two dwarf orange trees that have lots of shoots popping out on their trunks. Should I trim them or leave them alone?
A: Leave the trees alone for now; it’s not a good time to prune them back. You can do some pruning starting in mid-February. Be sure to fertilize those trees three times a year. It’s easy to remember if you do it on Valentine’s Day, Memorial Day and Labor Day.
Q: Three years ago, I planted a tangelo tree and I planted it too deeply – about 14 inches too deep. It wasn’t growing well, and it wasn’t bearing fruit. So, I built a barrier edge around it and dug out the soil to get the roots closer to the surface.
It has helped, but I have to keep on digging out more and more dirt and debris. I’m getting tired of doing that as the soil erodes back into the area. Meanwhile, the tree started to bear fruit probably because the roots were getting more oxygen. Now I’m wondering, can I dig up and replant the tree, so I don’t have to keep digging it out all the time?
A: It depends on the age and maturity of the tree. If you can dig around it and get 80 percent of the roots out of the soil, then maybe you can lift it up and put some new coil underneath. But if the tree has been in the ground for three or four years, the root ball may be getting too large for that. Maybe instead you want to build a more permanent terrace around the tree instead to keep the soil from eroding. If the tree has started to bear fruit, you may want to save it, of course. At any rate, if you’re planning to lift it up, you should wait until mid-February or March to do it.
Q: My home was flooded last year, and I was out of the house for three months. Then I had a licensed contractor install luxury vinyl flooring and the job was done very poorly. So, what can I do about that?
A: If the contractor that installed the flooring was licensed with the state, you can take your grievances to the Arizona Registrar of Contractors. Put your complaint into writing, and the state will investigate and can work with the contractor to resolve your problem. If there’s no resolution, you may be eligible for restitution from a recovery fund that contractors pay into.
