Just got email noting that all campus offices will be closed until 11:30am Friday February 4th, 2011.  The reason – extreme cold conditions and predicted precipitation will make for dangerous travelling on Friday morning. What does this mean for plants?   In the majority of Texas, this week has been one big arctic blast!  In the Brazos Valley, temperatures dipped below 20°F yesterday, the last two nights, and for the most part of today..   We can only protect freeze susceptible plants for so long.  The longer the freeze period,… Read More →

In the cooler months of the year in Texas (Dec – Mar), we typically see an increase in the submission of samples with symptoms of  Botrytis blight.  This disease is caused by the fungus Botrytis cinerea, and can occur on numerous ornamental plants.  Another common name of the disease caused by this fungus is Gray Mold.  This disease flares up when conditions are cool and wet (around 55-60 °F), which are typical greenhouse conditions for this time of the year.  Interestingly, this is usually not a problem with the homeowner.  Guess why?… Read More →

Greeting to all at the end of January.  This month has been extremely challenging for me with bouts of sickness.  Hence the extended silence in the blog posts.  February will hopefully mark a month of recovery and catching up.  Also, the coming month will be filled with numerous Master Gardener intern training sessions.  Over the next few weeks, I hope to look back into our database and blog about some of the interesting things that came through the clinic while I was out sick.  But in the mean… Read More →

We experienced some crazy weather changes this past Thanksgiving Day.  In the late morning, temperatures were in the high-70s (degree Farenheit).  Yet as the afternoon wore on into evening, temperature dropped approximately 30 degrees in a span of 3-4 hours.  Those kinds of drop cannot be good for plants.  Within a week, the Plant Clinic were seeing queries about damaged with some cold tolerant plants such as mustards greens, broccoli and cauliflower.  People wondered what happened their plants that are supposed to thrive in cooler temperature.  Unfortunately, even… Read More →