Si Pak Tani

by Kurt M. Jones, Chaffee County Extension Director             The holidays are behind us, but that doesn’t mean that you need to discard your poinsettias!  Poinsettias often lose their color in late winter, usually by mid-March.  When the plant has passed its stage of usefulness in March or April, remove the colorful bracts and part of the stem.  This cutting back can be done any time from March through mid-July, depending on the desirable size and shape of the plant.  Be sure to leave three or four leaves on each stem to insure sufficient photosynthesis.            During the early summer, the plant will need to be repotted into the next larger size pot.  Use a well-drained potting soil, such as a blend of sphagnum peat moss, vermiculite and/or perlite.  Thoroughly mixing a phosphate fertilizer with the soil at the time of repotting is a common practice.            Place the poinsettia in a bright area where the temperature will remain constant.  Water as needed to keep the soil moi

Aphids On My Honeysuckles! by Kristina Hughes, Clear Creek County Master Gardener I’m writing this blog partly as a reminder to myself to attend to a problem I first noticed last growing season but whose best treatment is applied during the winter. Now would be a good time to deal with it. I have several honeysuckle shrubs on my property. They are one of the few types of shrubs I can grow which don’t get savaged by the animals and don’t require extra water. I have been hugely pleased with them. Photo by Kristina Hughes This past summer, I noticed that the honeysuckle leaves looked odd: small, purplish and rolled length-wise, growing in tight little clusters as if the leaves had never fully expanded. From a distance the leaf clusters on the branches looked like they were covered in flecks of black and white dirt. When I looked more closely, I saw tiny white flecks and tiny green bugs, LOTS of them, all over both the outside and inside of the rolled up leaves. I knew they were aphids bec

Memiliki halaman rumah yang indah dengan ditumbuhi rumput hijau serta bersih merupakan dambaan bagi sebagian orang. Halaman dengan rumput yang hijau dan bersih sangat indah untuk dipandang serta dapat memberikan nuansa tenang, pikiran pun akan terasa rileks. Akan tetapi kita pun sering terpikirkan bahwa merawat rumput sangatlah merepotkan ketika berkeinginan untuk memiliki halaman dengan rumput yang hijau serta bersih. Anda bisa memakai jasa layanan pemotong rumput, ataupun melakukannya sendiri. Jika halaman rumah anda tidak begitu luas, anda dapat menggunakan gunting pemotong rumput, sedangkan jika halaman rumah anda lumayan luas anda dapat memakai mesin pemotong rumput. Apabila anda tidak memiliki mesin tersebut dan berencana hendak membelinya, baca lebih lanjut artikel ini yang akan memberikan tips memilih mesin potong rumput. Dalam memilih mesin potong rumput Anda harus memperhatikan 3 hal yaitu jenis mesin potong rumput, tipe pisau mesin pemotong rumput dan cara perawatannya. Beri