Allow tap water to warm to room temperature before using on houseplants.

Q: I have an ornamental flowering plum that produces fruit. I want to spray it to stop the fruit production and the messiness it brings. Last year I had a commercial applicator apply it, but I think I ...

After a few years of watching and waiting for a peach tree I planted to bear fruit, it finally did this year. Unfortunately, it was unable to produce during those first few years because of peach leaf ...

Q: We have several fruit trees in our backyard. One of them is a plum tree. For the first time, we have lots of plums on the tree. The problem is that the plums keep falling off as soon as they get ...

Here is some advice from growers Arnold Olson of Bettendorf and Art Jackson of rural Orion, Ill., and Duane Gissel, the horticulturist at Iowa State University/Scott County Extension. -- Get the book ...

Q. I have a peony that flowered this year. It was supposed to be red, but it turned out to be pink. After the flower was spent and the petals fell off, there are about six little bulbs on the old ...

If insecticide sprays are applied too late, the pests enter and eat inside the fruit where they are protected from sprays. If applied too early, the spray will dissipate and be ineffective when the ...

During the summer I often get fruit samples infested with worms or spotted with fungi from home orchardists. I usually ask "Did you spray your fruit trees?" "Oh, yes" is the usual answer. Further ...

Q: When should I be dormant spraying my fruit trees? Earlier this year I asked about peach leaf curl on my peach tree and was told that prevention in the form of at least two dormant sprays was the ...

The almost-daily rain we had this spring really put a damper on fruit tree spraying. Pesticides work best if they are applied at least 24 hours before a rain. When a rain happens before the next spray ...

It’s the time of year when fruit trees are on the minds of beginning and experienced backyard enthusiasts. More and more homeowners are adding fruit trees to their landscape and now’s the time to buy, ...