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Greg, I need to know what is the best product to use to control/destroy my grub infestation. I have skunks and whatever else that like these little devils digging little holes in by backyard (I have a border on the south side of my 1/2 acre property of a man made pond and large maple & oak trees which shades half my lawn most of the day and on the other side large pine trees - which the deer love and anything else I plant. My other question is when and what do I use to kill deer ticks? The deer have decided it's meal time @ my house so ticks are a problem that I need to address. Rosie - Cortlandt Manor.

A. Hi Rosie, Merit is a good product for killing grubs. It is available at your local garden center under a variety of brand names. Be sure to read and follow the directions on the package for recommended dosage and application procedure. There are several decent sprays on the market that are labeled to kill the deer tick. Check with your local garden center or hardware store to see what they have. This is not a cure-all, however, as others migrate back onto the property pretty quickly after spraying. It's a real scourge with no great solutions at this point. I will keep everyone posted as new remedies come on the market.

Hi Greg, Large areas of my yard are shady and damp. There is a lot of moss. It seems to be spreading into the grass. Is there anything I can do to encourage grass? The lawn service is very good at creating mossy divets. Thank you, Betsy Weir

A. Hi Betsy, Grass is not a shade plant, and it will be tough to get it to grow in those conditions. I personally love moss and would encourage it to grow there by removing any weeds that might be growing among it, moss is beautiful and low maintenance. You could also plant another ground cover such as pachysandra or sedum ternatum. If you are really intent on having grass, you may want to remove some trees to open up the area to more sun.

Greg: I had planted Mums outside last year and was told that they will bloom or resurrect in the warm weather. They are all brown. I think they are dead and they are not the type of plant that you can expect to see "come back" after the winter. Please tell me if this is correct. Thank you. Linda McCauley Project Manager, NY Metro

A. Hi Linda, It is possible that you thought you were purchasing hardy mums, but they really weren't hardy. Most Mums sold in this area are what are called "Hardy Mums" or "Garden Mums" but every once in a while people buy "Hothouse Mums" and they won't survive. Check the tags when purchasing them and they should tell you.

My once lush, green pachysandra has bloomed and is nowstraggly. What's wrong and what can I do?

A. You can prune your pachysandra! Take off the stems that had flowers on them by cutting or pinching them, and also prune the central leader which will encourage side shoots. You should also feed them with a high nitrogen fertilizer to encourage the foliage growth such as a 20-10-10 in a spay formula in the spring or a 10-6-4 granular in the late fall.

Hi, Greg i like listening to you on whud.I do have a question .I found a pistachio nut with a leaf coming out of it 3years ago. It seems to die or go dormant once a year. It came back the first year the secone year it grew to 3in..This year it grew to 10in..If you could tell me anything you know about, or how to care for a pistachio tree i would really appreciate it. So fare I have been lucky, I don't know how I have been keeping it alive. Does it need hot weather, light, special food, do they go dormant? It would be a shame to lose it, anything you can tell would help. Thank you. Sincerely Yours Jim S.

A. Hi Jim, Congratulations! Pistachio trees grow where it is hot and dry. Whatever you are doing seems to be working, I would only advise you to keep it in a container and not to plant it outside, but put the container outdoors in the summer in a full sun situation with regular watering. Be sure to let the soil dry between waterings. As the tree gets bigger you can transplant into a larger container. Feed your Pistachio with a 15-30-15 water soluble fertilizer every month or so. They will not survive a frost.

Hi Greg, I listen to you every week and really enjoy your show with Mike & Kacey. I was listening to you this week and someone called in about their lawns and you mentioned that no lawn will grow in shade and the seeds that are on the market are in essence "no good" - is that what I heard? I have a very small yard which I had reseeded last year and the grass (dense shade-type) had started to grow but then a water drainage pipe near my yard got clogged so a stream of water gushed over the new grass and killed it. I'm just wondering if I should go to the bother of replanting again. I have tried numerous times to replant this grass but everytime it starts to grow, something happens and it doesn't get thick enough to withstand the outside problems. This yard only gets the afternoon sun. HELP!! Any suggestions. Thanks, Roz in Peekskill

A. Hi Roz, Thanks for being a loyal listener! I am not a big fan of grass because it high maintenance and low reward. You may want to consider planting a ground cover such as vinca vine or pachysandra here, or possibly making this area of your yard into a perennial bed! With the part-sun situation, you have many choices of perennials such as hosta, Astilbe, ornamental grasses, and many more. Make a visit to your local garden center to see the variety available and get inspired!

Dear Mr. Quinn, I have some huge Daffodils which are mostly leaves and very few flowers. I want to separate them but don't know when the best time to do so. I also have some huge Hostas that I'd like to separate too. Should I separate them now or wait until the fall? Thank you in advance for your response. Sincerely, Lisa

A. Hi Lisa, Daffodils should be divided about every five years when the clumps get large and flowering diminishes. After the foliage on your daffodils has begun to turn yellow (about 6-8 weeks after bloom) is a good time to divide them. Dig them out of the soil split them apart and replant them with a bulb fertilizer. You can dig up your hosta, cut them apart with a knife, and replant them in the early spring after the ground has thawed. i had rooted some pussy willow were and when is the best time to put it in the ground and do you know any organic fertilizer I can make for my vegetable garden thanks

A. Rooted pussy willow can be planted in mid spring. You can make your own organic fertilizer by mixing equal parts of Blood meal, bone meal and green sand. and of course always till in good quantities of compost every chance you get.

Dear Greg, Our female dog keeps making "brown spots" on the lawn! What can we do to neutralize the area?

A. If your dog hasn't really gotten use to this spot, you can try to Train her to use a desirable corner of the property where there are weeds or mulch. This can sometimes be done by taking her out on a leash for a couple of weeks each time she has to go and rewarding he when she uses the desirable spot. Make it fun. the brown spots are caused by the ammonia or nitrogen in the urine and unless you can thoroughly soak the area each time with the garden hose immediately after she goes, there's not much to be done.

I have 2 cherry trees that have borne small amounts of fruit last year. Before they were picked the various insects devoured them and caused the leaves to curl up. Right now the tree has flowered and the petals have fallen off and the fruit will slowly begin to develop. Is there anything that I can do now to protect the fruit and still be able to eat the fruit when it is ripe?

A. You can spray the tree with a "home orchard spray" according to the label directions for cherries. This is available in your local garden center or hardware store.

Hello Mr. Quinn, My question is probably simple: Is it at all beneficial to plant tomato plants in a mounds of dirt in the garden and then make canals all around the plants where you can put a hose down and the water travels all around the plants? This is what I've done this year. Will it hurt the plants at all? (I have a small garden with 8 tomato plants.) I love listening to you when I catch you on the radio! Thank you, Patricia McNulty

Hi Patricia, Thanks for listening. It sounds like a great plan. It should work just fine for your tomatoes.

Hello Greg--I am planting a small perennial garden with ornamental grasses, phlox and sage. Would it be helpful to add some horse manure to the soil and bone meal?

A. Adding compost mixed with aged horse manure would be the best. Don't use fresh manure, it should be aged for about a year before adding it into your soil. Bone meal will add phosphorous which compost is not particularly rich in. Go for it!

Last year I noticed some green scaly fungus on the truck of our Japanese Maple. I sprayed horticultural oil and repeated it again this spring. Also, one limb has what looks like several wounds. The bark has come off the branch in theses spots and is quiet deep. I'm concerned about this branch because the "wounds" appear to be getting larger. What should be done? Thanks, Patty.

A. Hi Patty, Bark sloughing off Japanese Maples is pretty common. The horticultural oil itself will be ineffective in controlling fungus. I would recommend spraying benomyl or captan according to label directions in the spring. Your tree may not be getting enough sun. Several different species of borers sometimes attack maple trees.

hi greg, is there something i can use to get rid of grubs that will not harm worms, or benificial insects? korkie

Hi Korkie, Try using Milky spore in the spring. It's available everywhere and will not effect the worms.

Hi, Greg. I have a crabapple tree about 5 years old. It has bloomed every year, of course more and more as it has grown larger. This year, it only bloomed a little at the very ends of the branches. Is this because of the drought we had last year? The tree seems healthy otherwise. Thanks, Lynne

A. Hi Lynne, Some species and varieties of crabapples bear large crops of flowers and fruits only every other year. This is called a biennial cycle. If the tree is otherwise healthy, be patient and next year you will probably have a profusion of flowers and fruits!

Greg, I have a few questions for you. Your show BTW is great, keep up the good work!!! I have an apple tree at my newly acquired home. It currently has some fungus/mold/moss growing around its trunk. I never really noticed it until one rainy day my wife mentioned it to me. It is very hard to see, unless it is wet and then the green stands out like a sore thumb! 1). How do I treat this ailment. 2). Should I treat it do I need to can it hurt the tree? Also I noticed lately there are gypsy moth looking tent living fuzzy caterpillars nesting and eating the tree! How do I get them. I was going to wait until the weekend to get to a home super center to get Gypsy moth killer spray. Should I not wait? Can they do that much damage in 5 or so days?

A. Regarding your apple tree, I would not worry too much about the moss. This is common and is usually found on the North side of the tree but you should spray for insects with a home orchard spray if you want to have good fruit. You should also prune the watersprouts and dead wood out of the tree each year. These are not Gypsy moths but tent caterpillars. The can be controlled by using "Bt (Bacillus Thuriengensis) Berliner." In the winter you can get a jump on them by destroying any egg masses that you see by scraping them into a can of cooking oil in the winter.

Hi Greg! Heard you were updating today. Hope you can squeeze this question in: I just put in some ever bearing strawberries. Do I need to pick the blossoms off the first year for better plants or is that true only for June-bearing plants? Any other recommendations for good strawberries? Which type of strawberry plants do you prefer and why? I never did the ever bearing plants before, but that was what was available at my nursery... Thanks! Pam

A. Hi Pam, The blossoms on your ever bearing strawberries should be picked only until mid-July, then allowed to flower naturally. By then the plant is established enough to support its fall crop. Make sure you plant strawberries in soil that is rich with humus so that it will hold moisture in dry weather, and try to keep your strawberry patch weed-free with frequent hand cultivation. I really like the chocolate-dipped variety!

Dear Greg, You need your own radio/tv show!!!!!!!!! As I gazed out my window yesterday I saw this huge (almost the size of a crow) woodpecker, just awesome. I don't know how to spell it, Piliated, I think... I wonder if they are rare? I came across this little article and wish to share it. Don't cut down dead trees: Dead trees are just as useful as live trees for attracting wildlife. Woodpeckers and the other birds such as chickadees and nuthatches dig nesting holes in the soft wood, for example, and bats roots in hollow trees. Unless a dead tree is truly unsightly or threatens to fall over, consider leaving it in place and letting it be gradually covered by food-bearing vines such as wild grape and Virginia creeper." Miss your radio program and your infinite wisdom!!!! The Morel Lady P.S. - found some Morel's on Mother's day. I dried them. (Thought of you!!)

A. Dear Morel Lady, I would love my own show and am working on that as we speak. What a treat to see a Piliated woodpecker! They are an uncommon site because they like to stay deep in the woods. They are the largest woodpecker in the area and were once mistaken for the now extinct Ivory Billed Woodpecker. Thanks for thinking of me while gathering the morels but I must have missed the invitation for veal and morel dinner (just kidding).

hi greg, my aunt in arozonia (because of water shortages) used wash water to water her plants. is this save for the plants? d.t. mahopac, n.y.

Hi d.t., It is a lot better than not watering them! Seriously, this should not hurt the plants if all that is in the water is a little detergent. Our conservative forebearers always used "gray water" to water their gardens.

Thanks so Much for getting back to me!! I will try to keep it short and sweet for you. I had planted daffodils, approx 200 bulbs, two seasons ago. The first year brought spectacular results, lots of blooms. This year I may have had 6 blooms at most. I had wanted to know if I needed to cut them back. The previous year I had let them die naturally. I did the same this year (let them die back natural). So I hope I was not supposed to cut them back. I seem to have a problem getting things to bloom. My lilac bush also bloomed for the first time last spring, but not this spring. Lastly, I PROMISE..........something is killing and eating my impatiens, in the ground and hanging baskets included. The bottoms of the plant near the dirt line look dead, they just pull right out of the dirt with no roots just wilted and dead!!! I thought maybe squirrels, but my hanging baskets are pretty high up and not reachable, maybe some kind of insect???????????? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, and I will try to leave you alone for a season or so. P.S. You are great and just chock full of knowledge, my husband and I listen and use your suggestions and advice all the time. Thanks, Lisa

Hi Lisa, Thanks for your kind words! It's appreciation like yours that makes this so much fun. Daffodils as well as all other spring flowers from bulbs, corms, rhizomes and tubers should never have their foliage cut back until it yellows naturally. Try to remove all the spent blossoms to direct energy into next year's flower production. You should fertilize the planting each spring just as they are beginning to poke through the ground with a 5-10-5 or a bulb fertilizer. It's possible they had a disease when they were planted and/or also possible you may have planted them too deeply. Each year daffodils produce new bulblets at the base of the bulb that bloomed that year. If these are too deep then the daffodil has a hard time blooming. They should have been planted 2 1/2 times the width of the bulb. If you get no blooms again this spring, try transplanting them at the proper depth in the summer after the foliage has begun to yellow. The lilac needs full sun occasional fertilizing (5-10-5) and should never be pruned off the top. If this is all the case, get back to me and we'll try to figure out what's going on. Your impatiens either have a root disease (no very common) or a critter, possibly a cut worm that is "de-rooting" them. If it begins to happen again this coming year, let me know and we'll play Sherlock Holmes on these too!

Dear Greg, I believe you are older than 20 years. Your bio indicates that you were born 20 years ago in Connecticut. Nevertheless, we love you even though from your picture you appear to be our contemporary. You probably have received thousands of emails indicating this error. Thanks for all the good advice. We do enjoy listening to you in the morning with Mike and Kacey. Your faithful listeners, Sharon and Marge :

Hi Sharon and Marge, I don't know how old you two girls are but if you like, I'll swear to the fact that you're 20 too! That's the very least I can do for faithful listeners. Thanks.