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What's bugging everyone lately?
Here are a few topics from the top concerns of the week file:
1. Tomato disease . Mainly we’re seeing a bit of early blight and also herbicide injury. For information, see early blight and also Recognizing Tomato Problems 2.949 .
 Early Blight on tomato
2. Weeds in the lawn. What are they and how do I get rid of them? After all of the rain early this year and now high heat on lawns, many lawns have weeds making a happy home in them. Cultural control is the best approach - if you can get a healthy lawn then the weeds will be less of a problem. According to the Broadleaf Weed Control fact sheet:
§ A totally weed-free lawn is rarely attainable, even with herbicides
§ Indiscriminate use of herbicides can cause problems for trees and other landscape plants, is expensive in time and money, and may actually reduce the vigor of the lawn.
For more information on weed control, both broadleaf and grassy, see fact sheets 3.100 and 3.101 .
3. Tree scorch . Many trees are struggling now with scorched leaves, which shows as evenly discolored spots on leaves, typically from the tips inward but not always. The discolored area have no rings, halos or fruiting bodies - if you see any of those things, you should suspect fungus or bacteria. On pines, the needles will be browning with no rings or banding, and will be brittle and dry. There is little the homeowner can do for this. Trees will typically loose a bit of their canopy at this time as well - in response to high heat and low water. This is normal for trees, but of course, if the tree loses a lot of the canopy it most probably is under too much stress.
4. Iron Chlorosis. There is plenty of chlorosis on trees and shrubs this season. It is characterized by yellowing of the leaf tissue with green veins. In extreme cases the tissue is killed back and there will be browning of the leaf. Drought and compaction add to the problem and trees will continue to show the effects of drought for several more years.
5. Brown spots in lawns. 90 percent of the problem is due to uneven watering. Carefully check irrigation for coverage, look for and correct tilted heads, or add heads if coverage is thin. See Watering Established Lawns 7.199.
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