This February, I discovered that our plum hybrid trees have had uneven corky tumors near the root crowns. From doing research, I learned this is actually crown gall, a disease infected by bacteria enter through the openings of the roots and trunks. The tumors, also called galls, tend to grow on the roots and trunks and prevent transporting of nutrients throughout the tree. Mature trees may survive, but younger ones may lose vigor and die. Our plum hybrids are one-year trees that I bought as bare-roots from the same nursery.   Crown gall, removed from a stone fruit tree, can be as big as an egg Treatment I treated crown gall with 10% bleach. Since the Flavor King pluot got hit the hardest. I had to prune 90% of its roots, soaked it in diluted bleach for approximately one hour and replanted it at the same spot. The other plum hybrid trees were not that bad. I only saw crown galls above the soil and did not have to pull them out to prune the roots. I just removed the galls and po...

No need to cut down the entire banana plant after a hard freeze. Watch my YouTube video to see why. Link to YouTube video: https://youtu.be/qqjAN3Zg4iM

Watch my YouTube video to see updates on growing sweet cherries and ground cherries (trai thu lu) in Texas. There was one casualty after 2023 summer heatwave. Link to YouTube video: https://youtu.be/F0hRehh-QaE

We have a couple of volunteer cantaloupe plants that grew out of a garden bed this year. I think the seeds probably came from the Hami melons, bought at Costco. To make compost, we threw kitchen scraps, included the seeds, there and were surprised of how easily these plants have grown. During the recent extremely hot summer, they continued to flower and set fruits. The only issues I saw were a lot of white aphids on the leaves and sooty molds on the surface of the fruits.   Cantaloupe on the vine Cantaloupe plants, growing on a trellis When to Pick Cantaloupes They said to pick cantaloupes when the fruits are almost falling off the stems; however, this did not work for me. I had a few cantaloupes turned rotten after I waited for that long. It was best to pick when I could smell the ripeness and when the skin turned yellow. Recently harvested ripe cantaloupes Taste and Propagation My family said this is the best cantaloupe melon they have ever had. It is sweet, crunchy, and has a p...

I bought a seeded banana (musa acuminata) sucker from a Florida nursery and planted it in my backyard around 18 months ago. This is a wild or parental type of cavendish banana.  It is a fast growing plant and has produced many suckers. In Vietnamese cuisine, certain seeded banana plants are more prized than regular eating bananas’. They said the stems, flowers and even seeded green fruits taste better. My family has not had a chance to try the wild banana flowers or seeded green fruits, because the plants were frozen last winter then grew back. But we have eaten the stems steadily since the spring. When chopping down a banana plant, I would avoid contact with the fluid from the trunk. I normally let it rest outside until all the fluid has run off. You do not want the banana fluid on your clothes or inside the house, because it would be impossible to remove. Wild seeded banana plant (musa acuminata, chuối hột), chopped down in Texas We only eat the tender parts, true stem and inner...

These are some of the ugliest photos I have ever taken! From June through August, Houston has experienced daytime temperatures of 95 to over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. I watered the trees every other day but have put a pause on gardening during the summer. Surprisingly, Royal Rainier was the only cherry tree that still pushed out young shoots. Except the Hachiya persimmon tree, which had no damage, the rest had many brown leaves that eventually dropped. I planted or grafted the sweet cherry, persimmon and plum hybrid trees approximately 6 months ago. You can read more about them from my previous posts below: Stop Thinking and Start Growing Sweet Cherries Why Did My Persimmon Trees Die? Are Plum Hybrid Trees Easy to Grow in Texas?   Sweet Cherry Trees Compact Stella cherry tree, dying during the heatwave. Vandalay cherry tree, leaves dropped near the trunk.   Royal Rainier cherry tree also had brown leaves, but did better than other 2 varieties. Persimmon Trees Giant Fuyu persimm...

As Houston continued to burn in record heat, my garden looked really sad during this time of the year. All winter squash vines got roasted. Many tomato plants either have shown signs of blights or were already gone. Even the grass has turned brown. The jujube trees, on the other hand, were growing better than weeds. Both the Li and Shanxi Li jujube trees have flushed out flowers for the second time and still maintained their beautiful glossy, green leaves.   Jujube tree flowered the second time. Plant Profile Jujube is a deciduous tree that grows in zone 5 through 10 and requires little chill hours. From my experience, it does well in clay soil and has no problem with heat, drought or pests. The Shanxi Li jujube is self-fertile, but the Li only produces a few fruits by itself without cross pollination. The cons about growing jujubes are the tree has sharp thorns and its roots can be invasive. I heard the jujube roots can run and grow suckers over 20 feet from the tree. Since my bac...