Dick writes: The leaves on my muscadine grape vines are turning yellow with brown spots. What should I do?
A. Grape foliage declines during late fall so the leaf changes you notice are likely normal. Care is easy at this time of the year as the plants only need watering when the surface inch of soil begins to dry to get them through the remaining fall and winter months. In late January or February do give the plants their yearly pruning. Individual plants of muscadine grapes are grown with 4 to 6 permanent shoots often called arms. These are trained to a trellis or arbor. At pruning time all side shoots arising from these arms are cut back to form short stem portions leaving 2 or 3 buds on each to begin spring growth. Q. Peggy writes: Most of the ligustrum trees I see are pruned to a rounded shape with a pointed top. Is there any reason the plants have to be pruned this way? I like the more natural look. A. Maybe some residents like the lollipop and gumdrop look while others do their trimming out of tradition. But there is no reason to give ligustrums such a harsh pruning. In fact, they loo
