iGrow - A Service of SDSU Extension

The BIG question today – what will last night’s freeze do to my trees?  Short answer, not as much as you think.

Saving seeds is a fun and economical way to produce plants for the next year.  There are concerns however when saving seeds about seed borne diseases.  Seed borne diseases are pathogens such as bacteria, fungus, or viruses that can live on the surface or interior of the seed and have the potential to spread the disease to the next season’s crop.  Seed born disease infection varies widely by crop, disease, and location.

The health of your seeds begins with the plants that produce them. Seed producing plants should be robust and disease free. Strong, healthy plants produce healthy seeds and seedlings that are larger, more viable and more-vigorous than seedlings produced by weak, diseased, drought stressed or chronically-hungry plants. Small or misshapen seeds are shorter-lived under storage conditions than larger, better formed seeds.

Application of a preemergence herbicide is recommended now for lawns with a history of crabgrass pressure.  Unseasonably warm temperatures have stimulated earlier than normal crabgrass germination in some home lawns.