Gardening season is on hold for the winter months, but you may have questions as you prepare for spring. The OSU Extension is here to help.

Q: A friend brought tulip bulbs. Then we moved. Then Christmas. Then we got sick. What should I do with the bulbs? Plant them? Will they survive until next year if I don’t?

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A: The best time to plant spring-blooming bulbs is the fall, so they can establish roots over the winter and grow foliage and flowers in the spring. Planting them now (when the soil is workable) won’t allow enough time for root growth, so the bulb can’t function productively.

A greater hazard is that the bulb will not have roots to absorb water and may develop root rot.

What you can do now is plant the bulbs in a well-draining container using potting soil so you can manage water applications. In the fall, if you want to plant them in the landscape, transplant them where you want, adding bulb meal. Hopefully you’ll see blooms in 2024.

— Kris LaMar, OSU Extension Master Gardener

What this houseplant needs is a good shower

Q: I was gifted a plant a year ago. After a series of unfortunate events (spider mites and low-light conditions), I was seeing lots of new growth but suddenly leaves started dropping. Some appeared healthy while others appeared to have been eaten. Some leaves have a small amount of sticky substance. Others have turned black. I am baffled and am ready to put it in the garage so I don’t have to witness any more plant death.

A: This plant shows signs of an insect sucking on the sap of the plant. This can devitalize the plant to the point of it starting to die back.

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Put the plant in the shower and thoroughly wash off the leaves, paying special attention to any areas that appear black or moldy. You can use an insecticidal soap during the bath, but be sure to wash it all off at the end of the shower.

Cover the soil with foil to prevent too much mess. Keep an eye on it for a while to be sure the stickiness does not recur.

— Pat Patterson, OSU Extension retired horticulturist

Regular fertilizer may help with red thread

Q: How can you tell if your lawn has red thread? What do you suggest to eliminate it without tearing the yard out and resodding? I’ve had this for a few years, but it seems to get worse every year.

A: Red thread is a fungal disease and very common on perennial ryegrass and fine fescue lawns. The best management approach for red thread is to fertilize your lawn and let your lawn grow out of it.

You can reduce red thread substantially by fertilizing in the fall. Make one or two applications of fertilizer at a rate of 1 pound of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet beginning in mid- to late September.

The second application should be made about one month later. To calculate how much fertilizer to apply for 1 pound of nitrogen, divide 1 by the decimal value of the nitrogen percentage shown on the bag (first of three numbers).

For example, if you are using a fertilizer with a nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K) ratio of 32-0-10, then apply 3.125 lbs. (1/0.32 = 3.125) of this fertilizer to 1,000 square feet to get 1 pound of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet. In the fall you can use a slow-release fertilizer (e.g., Scotts Turf Builder Fall Lawn Food 32-0-10). To help reduce the disease now, I would fertilize using a quick-release fertilizer like urea (46-0-0) or ammonium sulfate (21-0-0). Again, apply 1 pound of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet. For ammonium sulfate, you would need to apply 4.76 pounds of ammonium sulfate per 1,000 square feet (1/.21 = 4.76), or if you use urea, you will need to apply 2.17 pounds of urea per 1,000 square feet (1/.46 = 2.17). Lastly, there are fungicides you can apply, but they need to be applied repeatedly and they aren’t always 100% effective. Plus, they need to be applied uniformly at the correct rate and many are formulated as liquids so you need to have a sprayer that can maintain pressure and a certain water speed to apply a uniform rate.

Most lawn diseases do not kill the turf but rather only discolor the leaves. Once the rains slow down and the temperatures warm up, the grass recovers.

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— Brian McDonald, OSU turf expert

Want to get veggie plants started early? Try this

Q: How early can you plant seedlings using Wall O’ Water for insulation against frost?

A: Water walls for plants are most commonly used for tomatoes but work well for any vegetable plant and allow gardeners the opportunity to set out plants several weeks before the last expected frost. You can also extend the season on the other end, growing your plants beyond the first fall frost for a bit.

— Chris Rusch, OSU Extension Master Gardener

Is leaf spot going to destroy my plant?

Q: I am noticing the presence of hard, brown defects on my small hedge of Viburnum davidii. I have seen these occasionally in the past. The hedge is more than 10 years old. This year, I am seeing a lot of similar lesions on what seem to be normal, healthy leaves.

There are lots of buds. They flowered last year and produced lots of berries thereafter. The plants are on a slope against the foundation on the east side of the house. Any thoughts?

A: This is viburnum leaf spot and it is quite common. It usually doesn’t harm the plant, but you will want to remove the leaves most affected and keep the fallen leaves picked up under the plants.

They are going to be worse in a damp year like we had this fall, or if you watered the plants overhead last summer. You could also move them to the west side where they would dry out faster, but that might be too much disturbance for older plants. If this really bothers you, you can use a fungicide like Bonide Fung-onil Multi-purpose Fungicide or Monterey Liqui-Cop at the doses recommended on the bottles. Ideally though, they would be applied before the fungus appears.

— Rhonda Frick-Wright, OSU Extension Master Gardener

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