Ask the Experts

provide these functions is difficult. The closest native grass to deliver these tasks is buffalo grass. It is native west of Salina, Kansas. It is not native to the KC area. It requires full sun. All other natives that can provide these functions are much taller, challenging for a play surface, and less aesthetically pleasing.

Clover is often mentioned as an alternative. It is not native. It struggles to provide enough cover to hold the soil as it goes dormant in the summer. Outside of that, few options remain.

The best approach is to assess

The rapid change damaged the cambium layer and resulted in random dieback.

What to do? Prune out the deadwood. The good news is that Japanese maples are resilient, often send out secondary growth, and, given a year or two with some corrective pruning, can make an almost complete recovery. Some did die and will need to be replaced.

EGGSHELLS WON’T DETER SQUASH BUGS

Question: Squash bugs are making it challenging to grow vide little immediate benefit. While I have your attention, you can add Epsom salt, Dawn, and vinegar to this list of internet salvations that provide little benefit to plants.

Compare Product Labels

Question: Name-brand products, fertilizers, and chemicals are more expensive than stores or offbrands. Is there a difference?

Answer: Shopping at the grocery store, we all know the store brand is cheaper than the national brand. Often there is no difference between generic and name-brand your input and expectations. Traditional grasses mixed with clover or violets might be the best option. Sorry, but a completely native lawn will not be possible in our climate.

Reviving Japanese Maple

Question: My Japanese maple tree had a lot of dieback this spring. What happened?

Answer: Japanese maples suffered from our ever-changing wacky weather patterns. Many of the Japanese maples suffered from the hot and dry summer. That started the problem. The next whammy was a hard freeze in late September, bringing the season to a halt. Before the hard freeze, the maples were not fully dormant; they were in full leaf and actively growing.

squash. A friend said to use crushed eggshells. Will they help?

Answer: The internet is full of all the uses of eggshells in the garden. Most of the uses have no scientific research to back their use. The hypothesis is that spreading the crushed shells around the plants will keep the squash bugs away or kill them as they crawl over the shells. The problem is that squash bugs fly. They fly right over the ring of shells, land on the plant, lay eggs, and start the trouble.

Eggshells are high in calcium which is needed for plant growth. The problem is that the shells must break down to release the nutrients. Adding the shells to the compost pile or spreading crushed shells in the garden is fine, but they will pro- products. The same holds for lawn and garden products. The only way to know for sure is to read the label. The listing of ingredients of both fertilizers and chemicals is the law. Compare the labels; if the active elements match up, they should perform similarly in the garden.

What are the differences? Store brands usually are not advertised, which reduces cost. Sometimes other materials are added to the mixture that can help improve its effectiveness and increase the price. The bottom line is that both should work as intended. The only way to know for sure is to try. Remember, there is more than selecting the product. It must be applied at the correct time and rates. As we say, always read the label.