Nursery Customers From Hell

...getting a soil test. A bad nursery would never pass up the chance to sell fertilizer. This Yelp commenter doesn’t appreciate this: Upon entering the office area and asking for some help (I was the only person in the nursery), a large man sitting behind the desk pointed me to a old Asian woman who proceeded to laugh me and my wife off. She let us know how little we knew, suggested that before we even CONSIDER landscaping that we spend a month payi...

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What’s in Worm Leachate?

...It’s pretty strong stuff! Gillman concludes, this could be a great liquid fertilizer if it were used properly. I’d recommend diluting it somewhere between 1:1 and 1:5 worm juice : water before applying it, and I’d only apply it once every week or two. If you want to use it, try it on something that you’re not too concerned about first, just to make sure that it doesn’t do anything too terrible (It shouldn’t, but I believe in caution). To see a fu...

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Root Knot Nematodes, Meliodogyne spp.

...e. Bad stuff. I have had plants that mysteriously won’t grow. No amount of fertilizer, water or sunlight seems to make them happy. Then, I pull out the plant and find the tell-tale sign of root knot nematodes- galls on the roots. The roots are stunted and distorted. They look like they are covered in tumors. According to my California Master Gardener Handbook, plant parasitic nematodes (including the root knot type) can form complexes with pathoge...

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