Q&A – Ask Neil: January 15, 2026
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QUESTION 1
WHAT SHOULD BE DONE TO HELP THIS MAGNOLIA?
Question: I drive by this huge magnolia in Temple frequently. It used to be tall and gorgeous, but freezing weather a few years back hurt it badly and it sort of collapsed. No one ever did anything, but it still survives. What might they do to help it? Lisa L., Bell County.
Answer: A certified arborist needs to be involved since it’s probably going to require that someone climb up into the mid-section where the thin area is. For all we know, they may already have done that and the arborist may have outlined a course of action.
I would suspect that some corrective pruning and reshaping will be suggested. At the same time they probably will recommend feeding the tree with a high-nitrogen blend to promote new growth this spring and fall. It’s going to be a multi-year process. The tree is old and hopefully it still has enough vigor to make the comeback, but it all will need to start with a visit by a certified arborist.
QUESTION 2
HOW DO I KNOW WHEN TO STOP PRUNING MY CRAPE MYRTLES?
Question: I’ve spread the word about not topping crape myrtles for a long time. I remember your saying never to prune anything off that was larger than a pencil in diameter. But when I start trimming my plants back, I never know when to stop. Guidelines, please. Eilen T., Seguin.
Answer: I changed that advice 10 or 15 years ago. I realized that people would start out pruning off scores of small pencil-sized twigs. Then, game time would come on the TV (or something equivalent) and they would become impatient. They would decide if they’d just prune 6 or 10 inches farther down they could cut a larger branch and remove 30 twigs with one cut. And before they knew it, they were back to topping crape myrtles. From my standpoint, game lost.
My new advice as of 10 or 15 years ago and for the rest of my life:
“Never prune anything off the top of any crape myrtle.”
There is no reason to do so. Those tiny twigs are mostly dead. Crape myrtles are sub-tropical plants. The twigs die with the first freeze and will fall to the ground, dried fruit and all, by the time new growth begins in the spring.
QUESTION 3
WHAT CAN BE DONE TO SAVE THIS FLORATAM ST. AUGUSTINE?
Question: My father-in-law lives in Universal City in Bexar County. He is having issues with his Floratam St. Augustine. The damage is patchy. He does water on a regular basis, but he doesn’t really like to use pesticides. What can he do to help his lawn? Connie P., Bexar County.
Images clickable for larger views.
Answer: There isn’t a lot of this Floratam that is still alive (best I can tell from these dormant season photos). It looks like it has dried significantly. There are two prime possibilities. One would be that the sustained drought and water restrictions the San Antonio area has experienced may not have allowed as regular watering as St. Augustine normally would need.
The other possibility would be chinch bugs. They suck the life out of healthy grass leaving it looking dried and soon dead. They show up in the hottest weather, always in the hottest, sunniest parts of the yard. They will come back to the same parts of the yard each summer unless insecticides labeled for use on chinch bugs are applied at first evidence of their presence. If he’s reluctant to use insecticides, he really needs to switch over to bermudagrass. Chinch bugs are threats to St. Augustine and zoysia.
One last-minute addition to my reply: I notice in the photo along the fence, the appearance of circular patches within the dead areas of grass. I can also see them in the righthand photo if I imagine them. That could be leftover damage from brown patch, also called “large patch.” It shows up in fall’s cooler weather. It normally does not kill the grass, which is why I didn’t think about it the first couple of times that I looked at your photos. But keep an eye on it. If the blades pull loose easily from the runners this spring, and if they’re deteriorated where they attach to the runners, that would be brown patch and a fungicide labeled for control of turf patch diseases would help.
QUESTION 4
WHAT CAN I APPLY NOW TO STOP WEEDS IN MY LAWN?
Question: With the warmer weather the last few weeks, my lawn has started to green rather quickly. Unfortunately, most of it is due to weeds. I missed the applications of pre-emergents last fall. Is there anything I can apply now? Greg G., Fort Worth.
Answer: Without a photo I can’t tell if you have grassy weeds or non-grassy (“broadleafed”) types. I can’t help you if you have cool-season grassy weeds. They’ll have to run their courses and die out with the warm weather of late spring. That’s why pre-emergents at Labor Day are so critical.
However, for the broadleafed weeds you can apply a herbicide spray containing 2,4-D broadleafed herbicide, usually in combination with two other active ingredients. It will kill almost all non-grassy weeds if temperatures remain warm.
QUESTION 5
WHEN AND HOW SHOULD I PRUNE THESE MORNING GLORIES?
Question: I moved into a home five months ago. It had a trellis of beautiful morning glories. The bottom of the vine is more than 1 in. thick. When and how should I prune the dead part of the vines? Jack K., College Station.
Answer: I love getting questions about morning glories. They are very much under-used in Texas landscapes. However, in your case I have some bad news. They are annuals. The entire plant dies to the ground. You have to start new plants from seed each spring. You might as well prune the stems to the ground and remove the stumps. Buy some new seeds this spring and start anew.
QUESTION 6
WHAT CAN I DO TO HELP MY TEDDY BEAR MAGNOLIAS?
Question: I planted 5 Teddy Bear dwarf magnolias around our patio in October 2023. They have all done well, putting on about 1 ft. of new growth each. For the past two summers two of them have developed scalded leaves on the west sides of the trees. They are the trees farthest west in the row. Will this lessen as the trees establish better roots, or do I need to water them more to avoid this? Emil S., Prosper.
Answer: This is strictly moisture stress. Since it’s the west-facing parts of the trees, those roots on that side of each tree must not be getting enough water or they’re not getting it often enough. Remember that most of their active roots are still in the original soil balls that came with the trees. Run your hose slowly so they will be watered deeply every 2-3 days from April through October. They will outgrow this, but you mustn’t let it get any worse. It’s all about the water.