Just when I thought my volunteer cherry tomato plant would continue to thrive into its second year, it became infested with spider mites and had to be removed.
Last September, it had sprouted in the well of a crawl space entrance and produced hundreds of tomatoes throughout this spring and summer. It was still sending out plentiful clusters of fruit, but they refused to turn red. Instead, they remained orange with white spots and turned mushy on the vine. Many of the plant’s leaves were turning yellow from voracious two-spotted spider mites. The yellowing, eventually turning to brown, starts with stippling or tiny dots on the foliage where mites have pierced the leaves’ epidermis with their stylets or sucking mouthparts. Although mites are arachnids, the most common garden insect pests, namely aphids, scales, mealybugs, and whiteflies, all suck from plant foliage with stylets. SWATMS is an acronym for remembering these pests as S = scales, W = whiteflies, A = aphids, T = thrips, M = mealybugs, and S = spider mites.
It was my understanding that spider mites congregated on well-hydrated foliage, especially new leaves, so I did not think my refraining from irrigation of my tomato plant would be a problem. I learned, however, that stress from lack of water is a more powerful attractant to spider mites than well-hydrated foliage, which would explain their sudden infestation of this plant, which had not been watered since it first began to grow 12 months ago. Late summer is when spider mites are most active, so you will want to make sure you keep your plants irrigated at this time of year.
If you have a mild spider mite problem, treat this pest by applying insecticidal soap, fine horticultural oil, or Neem oil. There is also Mite-x, a product made from cottonseed oil, clove oil, and garlic extract. These sprays suffocate mites as well as the other sucking insects mentioned above. If the infestation is severe, I recommend removing the plant. You will want to be meticulous about raking up its leaves since mites will overwinter on them and be ready to climb back onto your vegetable crops next year. You will also want to spray cracks in adjacent brick walls and spray under nearby stones, which make nice hiding and hibernating locales for mites.
Before disposing of my tomato plant, I decided to clone it because of its remarkable productivity and the sweetness of its fruit. To clone your tomato plant, remove shoots that grow in the crotches between between main stems and side shoots. You will not find a lot of these, but they are there if you search for them. Submerge the entire shoot in water, after removal of its bottom leaves, with only the top leaves left intact. A small water bottle, filled to the brim, is the best container for this procedure. Roots grow out of tiny hairs at the top of the cuttings, which is why you want to submerge them in their entirety.
Japanese boxwood (Buxus microphylla japonica) is highly susceptible to spider mites. Little Ollie, a dwarf fruitless olive species, makes a fine drought-tolerant alternative hedge that grows up to eight feet, but you can keep it at two feet through regular pruning. Little Ollie consists of a fruitless olive that has been grafted onto a dwarfing rootstock. Not only does it not bear fruit, but it only carries 1% of the pollen on fruitful olives, meaning it is not a concern for those with pollen allergies.
Little Ollie is compact in form with lush, shiny green foliage that will remind you of Pittosporum tobira var. Wheeler’s Dwarf. In addition to its utility as a hedge plant, Little Ollie makes a fine evergreen container specimen.
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Plumeria is one of those plants that gives abundantly and asks for nothing in return. It provides flowers that are fragrant in many colors and blends, and yet, once mature, will never need to be watered or fertilized. In terms of care, think of it as you would a cactus. It can be damaged in a frost or even killed by cold temperatures, especially when young. But once it has achieved sufficient size, it should grow fine anywhere in the Los Angeles area, east or west of the city and all points south.
To be safe, however, if a freeze is forecast, you will want to take protective measures even with mature trees, covering them with burlap or wrapping them with floating row cover. Plumerias, whose fragrant blooms are strung together in Hawaiian flower necklaces called leis, eventually grow into 15-foot trees. If grown in containers, you may want to fertilize them with a 12-12-12 slow-release fertilizer twice a year.
I had the privilege of speaking with Sherif Zaki, who grows and sells plumerias from his Plumeria Palace (plumeriapalace.com) in Old Towne Orange. Zaki just retired from teaching psychology and history after a 30-year stint at Santa Ana High School. The school benefited not only from the wisdom he imparted to thousands of students, but from his plumeria passion. Over the years, the 200 mature plumeria trees that he planted, with assistance from a student gardening club that he led, are testimony to his desire to share his love for these arboreal treasures with the next generation.
Although we typically associate plumeria with Hawaii, it is actually native to tropical Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean. It is sometimes referred to as frangipani in honor of a 16th-century Italian family by that name who manufactured a perfume with a scent resembling that of plumeria blossoms.
Zaki’s favorite plumeria is a variety he grew from seed that he dubbed “Arnold” in honor of his wife’s grandfather. It has waxy leaves characteristic of Singapore varieties, only in this case they have a highly unusual, round shape that he has never seen before in a plumeria. He is waiting for it to increase in size before he considers propagating it.
If you wish to purchase a plumeria from Zaki’s vast collection, call him to arrange an appointment at (714) 328-5934.
I was prompted to write about plumerias after receiving an email from Anne Palatino. She gardens in Moreno Valley and wanted to know how to propagate plumerias. If you wish to clone your plumeria, you will want to detach 8-12 inch terminal stem pieces and let them callus over in the shade. Callusing prior to planting is recommended when propagating cuttings of any succulent plant. You simply lay your cuttings in the shade and wait. This process may take a few days to a few weeks, depending on the plant and the season.
Callus on a plant is similar to the protective tissue that forms on your feet and is called by the same name. On a plant, callus prevents dehydration of the cutting so that, after it is inserted into the soil or rooting medium, roots can grow. Where plumeria is concerned, one-gallon containers with equal parts cactus mix and perlite should encourage your cuttings to take root. Just make sure to do this while temperatures are still warm, since succulents of any kind are not amenable to rooting in cold weather, and if the cold is accompanied by moist soil, the cuttings are likely to rot. The base of your cuttings should be elevated two inches from the bottom of your containers.
To grow plumeria from seed, 9-10 months may elapse between pods ripening and splitting open, a process that will only happen if pods are left on the plant throughout this period. When a pod begins to dry out, take a mesh bag or stocking, cut off the toe, and slip it over a pod, tying it off on the pod’s stem. The stocking will catch the seeds when the pod opens but, in the meantime, it will facilitate the ripening process by allowing air to circulate around the pod as it ages.
Harvested seeds are moist and should be allowed to dry out for two weeks in a paper bag. After seeds have dried, put them between wet paper towels. When the embryo end begins to swell, which could take up to 24 hours, insert the seed, embryo side down, into your potting mix, leaving the papery end of the seed exposed to air, and germination should take place within two weeks. Soil for germination and initial growth in containers should be a mix of two parts potting soil and one part perlite.
There is an enormous diversity of potential plants within each plumeria seed pod. White seeds develop into plants with white flowers, yellow seeds typically grow into yellow-flowering plants while seeds with red, pink or mixed colors will grow into trees with similarly colored flowers. It will take three to four years for flowers to form on plumerias grown from seed, and flower fragrance is likely to differ from plant to plant. The astonishing diversity among plumeria seedlings coming from the same pod is attributable to the large number of chromosomes in each plumeria cell, which is 54. Human cells, by contrast, contain just 46 chromosomes, and notice how much we differ from one another.
California native of the week: Guadalupe Island Senecio (Senecio palmeri var. Silver and Gold) is a rare native endemic to Guadalupe Island, 150 miles west of Baja California. Its common name refers to its fuzz-covered silvery gray stems and foliage and golden flowers that give away its daisy family kinship. It will grow to two feet with both full sun and partial sun exposures acceptable. Although tolerant of dry spells, it can tolerate some irrigation. This species may be purchased at the nursery of the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, which is open every day from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Due to limitations on parking, you must make a reservation prior to your visit through the website at sbbotanicgarden.org.
Do you have a plumeria story to tell? If so, please send it to [email protected]. Your comments and questions, as well as gardening conundrums and successe,s are always welcome for consideration as contributions to this column.
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