Melinda's Garden Moment Radio Tips
Melinda Myers
Nationally known gardening expert, TV/Radio host, author & columnist with over 30 years of horticulture experience and tons of gardening information to share! www.melindamyers.comMelinda's Garden Moment videos will help you create that beautiful landscape you’ve always wanted. Each week throughout the growing season, a new gardening video will be added right here, so be sure to stop back. You can also watch Melinda’s Garden Moments on your local network TV station affiliate.
Leafless crabapple trees are a common sight in summers following a cool wet spring. Start now to eliminate the problem next season.
Apple scab, a fungal disease, causes olive green to black spots on leaves and fruits. These spots can grow together and severely infected leaves will drop prematurely.
Rake and destroy the fallen leaves and fruit. This eliminates the source of disease for next year. Sanitation and drier weather can keep this disease to a tolerable level.
Consider replacing susceptible crabapples that routinely and prematurely drop their leaves due to scab. You’ll save time and increase your enjoyment when investing in a disease resistant variety.
And don’t worry if you occasionally see spots on your new plant. Tolerant varieties may develop a few spots but the leaves will persist. And even resistant varieties can develop a few spotted leaves in extremely bad scab years.
A bit more information: Though scab infested and resulting leafless trees detract from the beauty of your garden, they usually survive. Consider leaving the old plant in place until your new disease resistant plant becomes established and starts to steal the show. In the meantime, you can enjoy the blooms on both trees.