Q&A – Ask Neil: October 23, 2025
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QUESTION 1
IS MY ACOMA A LOST CAUSE?
Question: My Acoma crape myrtle had to be dug last April for foundation work. Since then, it has put out suckers but no budding above. Scratching the bark on the trunks and most of the limbs shows green, but zero budding. Wait, or consider it lost? Mike A., Arlington.
Answer: I love Acoma. For those who are not familiar with it, it is one of Don Egolf’s introductions from the U.S. National Arboretum. It’s a pure white crape myrtle with a unique growth habit among crape myrtles. It grows to 10 to 14 ft. tall and arches about that same width. I’ve never seen any other crape myrtle cultivar with an arching habit. I’m surprised it has not been used in more breeding work since it could make for unusual growth forms for landscape use.
To your specific answer, your plant is alive and could be retrained by pruning out all the dead old growth and letting selected new shoots become the new trunks. However, as you can tell from my description, it’s far too close to the house for that to work. You could move it again this winter out into your landscape where it could have ample room to grow. You could replace it with a dwarf type such as Petite Snow that would fit that setting better.
QUESTION 2
SHOULD I WAIT TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS TO MY BURFORD HOLLY?
Question: The September hailstorm left our area looking like locusts had hit. Most shrubs and trees are budding again, but I’m most concerned about my Burford holly. Should I prune it back any or just take good care of it to see what happens next spring? Brad S., Sanger.
Answer: You poor souls seem to catch the wrath of bad weather. I would just wait and let it tell you how it’s feeling by late March and April. Burford hollies don’t “move” as quickly as other types of plants, especially at this time of year. It’s only been a few weeks. Apply an all-nitrogen fertilizer around March 1 to stimulate as much new growth as possible. I do not see any bark damage. Hopefully the dormant leaf buds will pop out of the bark at that time. I notice that the dwarf yaupon holly beside it suffered the same fate. I would treat it the same way.
QUESTION 3
CAN THIS ‘BLOODGOOD’ MAPLE BE SAVED?
Question: This ‘Bloodgood’ Japanese maple was planted in December 2024. It gets shade at least half the time. Is the trunk scalded from the heat? Can it be saved? I don’t know what to do. Lori H., Watauga.
Answer: Sunscald normally doesn’t show up on maples (and red oaks and Chinese pistachios) until the third or fourth year. It takes that long for the cumulative damage of the sun’s burning rays to do their damage to the west or southwest sides of the trunks.
Note to your wording: it’s direct exposure to sunlight, not heat, that does this damage.
This tree may have gotten too dry one or more times in all this fall’s drought. Or, if it faces west, it could indeed have been too much sunlight hitting the leaves directly. I have 8 or 10 Bloodgoods in our landscape (my wife’s favorite tree – I’m a practical husband), and all of them are in total shade all day every day during the growing season. If yours faces west, consider moving it to a more protected spot this winter.
As to whether wrapping the trunk at this late date would be of any help, I don’t know. You could certainly do so, but I suspect damage could already have been done.
QUESTION 4
IS IT TOO LATE TO APPLY SYSTEMIC INSECTICIDE FOR CRAPE MYRTLE BARK SCALE?
Question: I’ve just returned to Texas after a summer in Alaska (heat relief). I was horrified to find my crape myrtles have scale insects. Is it too late to apply the systemic insecticide? Sharon H., Eagle Mountain Lake.
Answer: Coin toss – you’re either half a year too late or half a year too early. Application time to apply Imidacloprid as a soil drench is May 15. Crape myrtles are not growing actively now, nor are the scales feeding actively now. This is not the time to apply. If you have a really bad outbreak, you might take an hour on one of our remaining warm afternoons to fill a bucket with warm, soapy water. Put on rubber gloves and use a couple of sponges to wipe as many of the overwintering scales off the trunks as possible. Even with that, though, you’ll still want the soil drench mid-May next spring.
QUESTION 5
IS THIS A SUGAR MAPLE?
Question: I bought this, and it was planted several years ago, as a sugar maple. It has shot up with leaves all along its trunk and branches and I’m concerned that the leaves don’t look like a sugar maple. Please help! Glenn C. Pushmataha County, Oklahoma.
Images clickable for larger views.
Answer: I don’t believe you got a sugar maple. It would be unlikely that a nursery in your area would be selling them anyway. This looks more like a hybrid of red maple, perhaps Autumn Blaze. They’re far more common in the southern half of Oklahoma and Texas. I’ve attached representative leaf samples from universities for you to compare along with a zoomed-in capture of one of your tree’s leaves.
QUESTION 6
WHAT IS THE MOST EFFICIENT WAY TO PICK UP ACORNS?
Question: I have two beautiful live oaks. There are so many acorns in the grass and on the concrete. What is the most efficient way of picking them up? Or do they need to be picked up? Margaret H., Plano.
Answer: They make for uncomfortable walking, and you’ll tire of having the seedlings coming up all through your lawn and beds. I would pick them up. Either blow them into a corner and pick them up with a square-bladed shovel or use a lawn vacuum from a rental shop.
QUESTION 7
WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO MY FROGFRUIT?
Question: I started my frogfruit about a year ago. It was lush and green, but now it appears something has eaten it. I have seen no signs of insects or caterpillars. What could it be? What should I do? Donna H., Lindale.
Images clickable for larger views.
Answer: Frogfruit is naturally a tough little native Texas plant. What you’re seeing may be leaf drop as it goes dormant for winter. It may have been brought on by the extended dry weather, especially considering your sandy soils. Frogfruit is also host plant to several butterfly species, and it’s possible that larvae from one or more of them fed rapidly on your plants’ leaves earlier this fall. I don’t have enough information to know for sure.
Resist the urge to feed it now. Trim it lightly to tidy it up if you wish. Water it due to the ongoing dry fall but wait until early spring before you resume feeding. It should come back strongly as the soils warm and good growing conditions return.
QUESTION 8
WHAT GROW LIGHTS WOULD WORK BEST FOR A CALIFORNIA CACTUS?
Question: I have a cactus that I got from California years ago. It has grown tall, and I need to keep it in my house this winter. What type of grow light will give it the proper lighting? Gene, Amarillo.
Answer: Gene called my statewide radio program this past Saturday morning. I expressed concern that there might not be any artificial light source adequate for a cactus – they don’t provide that intensity of light. However, I told him I’d do some homework and that I’d post my findings for him here. Unfortunately, the address he was given for sending me a photo of his cactus was for the USPS. I intended for him to get a special email address we use for such purposes. I’ll go ahead and answer without knowing what the exact plant involved is.
Most of the information I found in my Web searches came from hobbyists, notably a lot of plant and product vendors offering their own advice. No university gave a match.
As I mentioned to Gene, full sunlight on a summer day, probably equivalent to what a cactus might receive in its native home, would be around 10,000 foot candles. One foot candle is the amount of light put out by one candle to a one square foot surface one foot away.
All the matches I got suggested that cacti would require 1,500-2,000 foot candles for a duration of 8-10 hours.
Two other critical factors must also be considered. Distance from the plant and spectrum, or efficiency of the wave lengths of light produced.
To be effective, artificial lights must be close to the plants (inches, not feet away). Violet-blue, blue, red, and far red wave lengths are most important for cacti. Therefore, “full spectrum” lights would be best.
All things considered, cost and complications included, it would be a lot easier to find a bright window, sunroom or greenhouse where the cactus could spend its winter.
I hope that is of help.