• Mike Forman •
• Originally published January 14, 2009 at 5:42 p.m., updated January 14, 2009 at 5:42 p.m.

This past year, the weather patterns were very unpredictable. Only time will tell how predictable this year's weather will be. So far this year, we've had our typical high and low temperature swings. One or two days with temperatures in the 50s or lower. Then a day later, the temperatures will be in the upper 70s, or higher. And even though the forecasters predict rain, we never seem to get any. We still have a few weeks to go before we can safely say that warm weather has arrived to stay. Until then, we'll just need to enjoy the mild winter, and hope that spring will be a wet one.

There were many complaints this past week about beetles, mostly on roses, but also other types of plants. And we're not talking about good beetles. They appear to be a type of cucumber beetle. They are green with black or yellow spots on their backs. These little beetles can be a problem. They will chew ragged holes in flower petals and leaves. They can also carry diseases from one plant to another.

Of course the healthier the plant is, the better it will be able to handle an infestation of any type of pest or disease. That's why it is so important to keep your plants fed and well-watered.

If you have noticed this beetle on any of your plants, you will need to spray the plant with an insecticide that's labeled to help control beetles. Neem Oil, Spinosade or Bioganic are natural insecticides that can help get rid of these guys. Always follow the direction on any product that you use on your plants. I would expect it to take several applications of whatever product you use to start killing off the beetle. So be persistent.

Another bad insect that can be a problem for many different types of flowers, especially roses, are thrips. These guys will destroy flower buds, cause silvery speckles or streaks on foliage, cause flowers to turn brown on the petal edges and sometimes cause buds to not open properly. The female thrips lays her eggs on the plants, and within three to five days the eggs hatch. The thrips larvae grows by sucking the juice from the unopened flower buds. After several weeks of damaging your flowers, the young pests head down to the soil. In the soil, they pupate into adult insects that then move back up to the plants, lay their eggs and the whole cycle starts over again.

This is the time of year adult thrips are in the ground, waiting for Mother Nature to give the signal to leave the soil and find a plant to lay eggs on. While the thrips are in the soil, you can apply beneficial nematodes to the soil to help get rid of them. This is really the only time that any type of insect control, natural or chemical, can effectively help. Beneficial nematodes are safe and effective for ridding your yard of all kinds of pests; ants, grubs, fleas, termites, ticks and thrips.

This being a great time to plant so many different types of plants, I just want to remind you to keep the new additions well-watered. This is especially true for any bare-root fruit trees you might have planted this season.

If your lawn suffered through the past summer and showed signs of stress, apply some organic fertilizer and maybe a thin layer of compost. This will help to add lots of nutrients to the soil that the lawn can then utilize.

As long as we are without any measurable amounts of rainfall, try to water your lawn every seven to 10 days.

It is best, at this time, to not trim any shrubs that will be blooming this spring. Wait until after they have finished blooming, then trim.

Until next time, let's try to garden with nature, not against it, and maybe all our weeds will become wildflowers.

Laurie Garretson is a Victoria gardener and nursery owner. Send your gardening questions to laurie@vicad.com or in care of the Advocate, P.O. Box 1518, Victoria, TX 77902.

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