We have recentlhy noticed that the leaves at the top of our magnolia tree are turning brown. Is this a disease or just something to be expected in winter. These are not deciduous magnolias.

I have received a request to plant a memorial Cornus florida on the campus of the Episcopal Cathedral in downtown Baltimore. There are several locations available and the preferred spot is in a place where the tree would be in full sun. Some folks on the project are concerned that these trees do not do well in full sun, while my personal experience has been fine with such locations. What do you recommend as far as locating the tree? If you have any particular recommendations with regard to planting these dogwoods, please let us know.

Hello. I am winter sowing for the first time this year, along with doing some seeds indoors. Would I start the outdoor winter sowing seeds around the same time the UMN suggests for indoor seeds? So onions in early February, peppers in mid-March, tomatoes in early April, etc... Or do I follow a different schedule when putting them in containers outside? Thanks for any help!!

Last year I fractured my arm so I could not weed my vegetable garden. A lot of winter grass grew in a third of the garden along with weeds. I have been weeding and cleaning up the garden during these past warm afternoons but I feel like I am compressing the soil wherever I stand. Does the compression harm the soil. For the past 4 yrs my husband has not been able to rotortill the garden but he is now too old. I’ve just turn the soil as best I can with a fork wherever I need to plant.

Increasingly we are having moss grow on our brick patio and in portions of our vegetable garden. The areas described are not fully shaded. How do I get rid of the moss.

We are trying to decide if this bark has been damaged by the woodpecker.

I have come across several of my amber snails the past couple of years to be infected with the leucochlordian parasite. It is always brown banded so I am assuming L.variae Can I send you one this spring/summer when they begin to be a to e again to identify this parasite to the species level please. Also I wondered if you don’t deal with snail parasites could you refer me to someone that can please. I

My daughter sent a picture, do you know what kind of evergreen this is.

I would like to get material that would explain Diver Assisted Suction Harvesting to present to our lake association. Do you have any reccomendations

Hello! I recently purchased a potted pothos from a local big box store. The tag indicates it came from Michigan nursery as well. I’ve been keeping it quarantined as I do all new plants, especially as the last couple days I’ve noticed new foliage blackened/failing to unfurl & dark spotting under leaves, so I was concerned about thrips. I went to examine it more closely last night, prune damaged areas and apply some horticulture oil to the foliage and insecticidal pellets to the soil as a precaution. However, after removing some foliage and getting a better look at the potting soil, I saw what I thought was mold/fungus - flat green across the surface and more raised, fuzzy white around the edges of the pot, almost like webbing. I decided to drench with 1:2 water & 3% hydrogen peroxide & intended to follow with a systemic fungicide. Before I could get to that part, I noticed little black worm shaped things popping out all over. I was able to get one out intact by touching it with fly trap sticky paper & it was certainly a larvae/maggot but nothing I’ve ever seen before. Black, thin and tapering at its ends, unsegmented, totally smooth - almost like a tiny leech. The white webbing I thought was mold also looked to contain what I assume are the pupae of this... thing. I tried searching and Mycetophilid fungus gnat larvae seems to fit the description of the larvae and the environment I found them in - green coating, white webbing along edges. I’ve never heard of this before and I’m not seeing a ton of information. Can you advise on how to treat & whether they spread plant pathogens? The pothos in question is currently isolated & grounded to my basement for traumatizing me - I’ve had plenty of plants with fungus gnats, but they were cute & cuddly in comparison to these things.