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July is here and it will be a hot and hopefully wet month. Temperatures average in the 90s and we usually get as much as eight inches of rain. Unfortunately, July has been very dry so far. We could use a couple of good tropical rains.

These heavy summer rains can cause nutritional deficiencies in plants. An application of iron will green them up again. Watch your azaleas and feed them for strong growth that will give you flowers next spring.

It’s really too late to prune your azaleas without affecting next year’s flowers. Hibiscus and Ixora are in their glory during the hot summer months. This is a good time to prune back hibiscus, Ixora and oleander to control their size and encourage healthy new growth. Citrus trees need to be fertilized if you didn’t do it in June. This feeding will help your crop mature.

Fertilizer should be scattered evenly beneath the canopy of the tree and never against the trunk. Do not fertilize your St. Augustine lawn in July. Bahia also needs very little fertilizer. If your bahai lawn shows need for fertilizer apply three pounds of ammonium nitrate per 1000 sq. ft.

Apply to dry lawn and water in immediately to avoid foliar burn. Be sure not to scalp your lawn too short to avoid scorching by the hot summer sun. This is a good time of year to grow roots in your lawn. Remember, the longer the blade the deeper the root. Take advantage of the rains to sprig St. Augustine plugs or Bahia seed in any bare spots in your lawn.

Chinch bugs, sod web worms and mole crickets are all active so treat as necessary. Also, watch for leaf disease on St. Augustine. Scale, aphids and chewing insects can all be a problem in July. Worms will chew along the edges of the leaves, while grasshoppers and katydids chew holes in the center of leaves.

Diseases are active on ornamentals, flowers and vegetables. Watch for powdery mildew, leaf spots, blights and rots. Timely treatment with a fungicide and good housekeeping of fallen leaves and twigs will help keep diseases in control.

Some annuals to plant for the hot weather include daisies, zinnias, marigolds, pentas, lantana, salvia, or vinca. Divide crowded beds of bulbs and rhizomes when they stop blooming. Fruits which ripen in July include avocado, carambola, guava, mango, natal plum, passion fruit, papaya and pineapple.

This is a good time to plant fruit trees and bananas. If you planted your poinsettias after Christmas they may need some attention. Scab can be a problem in July. This is a disease which looks like a scab on your skin and can be controlled with copper. Prune your poinsettias to promote branching which will result in more flowers. Watch for horn worms as they can defoliate a plant in just a few days. The horn worm is a large green worm with a sprig on its posterior end. It’s light green color blends in with the foliage so look closely to find it. Be sure to keep your roses fertilized after every flush of bloom. You may need to spray on a weekly basis to control black spot and powdery mildew.

Some flowering plants now blooming are Ixora, flame-vine, crape myrtle, hibiscus, and one of the most beautiful, the night blooming cereus. It’s worth a trip outside after dark to see this one.

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Eileen Ward and her husband, Peter, own and operate Greensward of Marco Inc., a lawn maintenance and landscaping company. Besides completing horticultural courses from the University of Florida, she has a commercial maintenance spray license and is a registered dealer in agricultural products in Florida. To reach Ward, call 394-1413.