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- Roots, Shoots, Fruits & Flowers: Sago Palm, Snow Peas, Weather Damage & Marsh Parsley
A sago palm with cold damage. Photo: Judy Palin, aspiring Master Gardener, Marksville, LA.
Judy, an aspiring Master Gardener in Marksville, emailed an image and a question regarding her landscape, “I have attached two pictures. One is of our sago palm. Looks like new growth is coming in and I wondered if we should trim the brown stems or let them fall naturally.”
Robert Turley, an AgCenter Horticulture Agent with many years of experience, made this recommendation, “Not a palm, it is a Cycad. [The homeowner] can trim out all dead leaves [and] fertilize with two pounds of 13-13-13.”
Snow peas with drought stress. Photo: Angela Schoenfeld, Rosepine, LA.
Angela, a vegetable gardener in Rosepine, also shared an image and asked a question, “I have planted snow peas in a raised garden. Some are turning yellow/brown. Not sure if too much water or not enough or maybe a deficiency.”
Angela’s snow peas are suffering from drought stress. Vegetable gardens require about one inch of water each week. A rain gauge can help measure the amount of water used when using a sprinkler to irrigate a garden.
Bean leaves with sunscald. Photo: Suzanne Bouillette, LSU AgCenter
A different Judy, who is also another aspiring Master Gardener, brought in a damaged bean plant and wanted to know what the cause of the deformed leaves.
Dr. Raj Singh, the “plant doctor” with the AgCenter, made this diagnosis, “[This condition] looks like sunscald or wind burn damage.” Later, Judy reported that her plant recovered from its damage.
Marsh parsley, a tropical weed. Photo: Rose Schmidt, Country Garden Nursery.
Rose sent an image of a weed on behalf of a client and asked for its identification. She added that this weed is “very invasive, [and] drops lots of seeds.”
NC State Extension website reports that marsh parsley, a member of the carrot family, “is a summer annual. It has finely dissected leaves and forms a branched mound up to two feet tall. Flowers are small, white, and tinged pink. Young seedlings strongly resemble wild carrot seedlings and emerge from mid-spring though mid-autumn with multiple generations per year. Plants prefer moist areas, growing well on irrigation ditches and in standing water of production areas. No data are available on herbicide effectiveness.
Its native habitat, which includes most of the tropics, includes wet to dry thickets or fields, ditches, waste sites, and other low areas. Under ideal conditions, this plant can spread out of its cultivated area into lawns and other locations where it is considered weedy and may become invasive in some environments.”
A product like MSM Turf™ has metsulfuron as an active ingredient and would control marsh parsley because it prevents roots and shoots from growing.
If you want to contact Roots, Shoots, Fruits, and Flowers, please send your questions and pictures to Keith Hawkins, Area Horticulture Agent (AHA), 337.284.5188 or khawkins@agcenter.lsu.edu or khawkinsagcenter@gmail.com .
“Before you buy or use an insecticide product, first read the label, and strictly follow label recommendations. Mention of trade names or commercial products in this article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute endorsement by Louisiana State University AgCenter.”
“This work has been supported, in part, by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Renewable Resources Extension Act Award, Accession Number 1011417.”