Each year, thousands of Arizona residents email or call Rosie Romeroβs 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: Itβs very difficult to keep plants going when the temperature rises above 100 degrees; so when do you give up and quit watering them?
ANSWER: It all depends on how critical the plant or tree is to the look of your landscape. If itβs a big shade tree, you want to save it. If itβs a bunch of geraniums that are drying up in a pot, itβs probably not worth it. Quit watering them. Then again there are a lot of plants, like rose bushes, that always look bad at this time of year. But you can mulch them and lightly fertilize them, and in a few months they look good again.
Q: I have a palo verde tree that is leaking sap, and the bark is peeling off the trunk. Whatβs wrong with my tree?
A: Your tree is probably under stress due to damage done by the larvae of the palo verde bark beetle. Those beetles are the big B-52-type cockroach-looking things that fly around at this time of year and lay their eggs in the ground near palo verdes. Then the larvae hatch and start eating the bark. When it gets hot, things get worse and the bark peels off the trunk. Start giving the tree some extra water and fertilizing the soil around the trunk. You can also apply some systemic insecticide, and probably the tree will start looking better pretty soon.
Q: I have an older home and I want to paint the unfinished wood on the ceiling of my covered patio to cover up water stains on the joists. Itβs a west-facing patio that gets heavy sun at this time of year, so Iβm wondering if the process will work on a hot day.
A: At this time of year, most painters start work about sunrise and work until 11 a.m. to deal with the climate. They generally donβt want to paint surfaces when the temperature is over 100 degrees. They also wonβt paint when it rains or when a hot dry wind is blowing. By taking these precautions, your patio will be successfully painted. Hopefully, youβve fixed the roof of the patio so that it doesnβt leak any more.
Q: I have a desert pack rat living in my yard that I want to get rid of. I donβt want to kill her, I just want to relocate her, but I donβt have time to work on that. She seems to live in a spot about 3 feet wide between two brick walls on my property. What should I do?
A: You might try making it undesirable for her to live there by dropping in lots of moth balls. Maybe sheβd move on because of that. You might also light up the area 24 hours a day by hooking up a fluorescent light for that space. That would also cause her to move to a new location. Some Arizona residents have had success with products like Rid-a-Rat.
Q: We have a tree in our yard that is leaning slightly because of heavy winds that we had about a year ago. We have tied it up so it wonβt move farther, but wondered if we can push the tree back to its old position. Itβs really big.
A: Actually, you might have been able to do that right away after the first damage. But once you let it stay that way, it grew new roots and stabilized in its new position. Itβs not likely to fall down after all this time. You could damage the tree if you try to disrupt it and thus break off the new roots that have formed.
