TO CORRESPONDENTS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 266, 9 November 1935, Page 6 (Supplement)

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

LETTUCE (Tauranga) asks: What Is wrong with my lettuces? The crops keep dving off. It is not the wet .weather, otherwise this trouble would he general. I am sending you some samples. Some are on new, rich ground and on cow manure and in various places, and all are affected. —Due to a fungoid disease, nml difficult to control under outdoor conditions. Spraying with lime sulphur I—l2o when plants are young would help. Attempts are now being made to produce a mildew-resistant type and already there Is some success, but the variety is not yet in general cultivation. Some varieties nre more liable to it than others. Sterilisation of the soil is the method adopted under glass, but this is not possible on outdoor cultivation. Carefully collect and burn all affected plants and choose new ground for following crops. There appears to be some reason to think that the disease is carried on the seed.

MAMAKU (Devonport) asks: What treatment should lie given Maniaku ferns to prevent a rusty dieease of the fronds. The trouble appears in the dry summer weather. It attacks robust fronds mure or less completely. I think the disease is fairly common in gardens.—Spray with lime-sulphur 1-120. The spraying should bo done as the fronds begin to uncurl. It Is very difficult to control, but spraying is effective if applied in time. The spraying must be done several times during the season.

MS. (EKhiim) asks: (1) Wliat to spray Rhododendron arborcum with? I enclose leaves from top Of branches. (2) Will you identify leaf. I grew the plants from some red berries. (3) My flowering apple is jiitit over. Should I prune it now?— (1) Sprny with a white oil. This is obtainable In small quantities at any seed .store. (2) Cannot name a plant from a leaf only. (3) A flowering apple needs but little pruning ; if. however, there Is any required, now is the time to do it.

M.E.IT. (Avondale) writes: (1) I enclose fern frond with an insect. Would you tell me the eauee and what to do? Do they come from woolly aphis? (-) Could you tell me the name of the fern?—(l) The trouble is scale. Spray with white oil. They have no connection with woolly aphis. (2) I'teris tremula.

ZINNIA (St. Ilelier's).—l am forwarding some zinnias which appear to have gone off with wilt. —The trouble is due to damping off, a fungoid disease that affects seedlings principally. The method of control is to sterilise the soil, and to Rive less wilier and prevent chills or draughts. Once it shirts in a hatch of seedlings it is very dililcnlt to control. Dusting with lime sulphur I—loo Is nbout tho only means. Jf the trouble is spreading your best method will he to procure some clean soil and transplant, carefully picking out and burning all affected plants. Do not use the soil again lor seeds or seedlings.

SUBSCRIBER (Wangnnu!) nsks: Could you gii'e me the correct method of planting and cultivating kunnira plants?— K ulnar as require a well cultivated rather tliiin ii rich soil. They also need a worm, well drained position, ns they are semitropical plants. When planting put the plant in n lying position lengthwise of the row, with the top just out of the Boil. They should be planted on n ridge or mound. Good cultivation throughout tho season and occasionally lifting the haulm to prevent it rooting into the soil is necessary.

Letters from "Paragon (Mount Albert). "M.L." (Helensville), "Garden I-over" (l'onsonhy), "H.W." (Grey Lynn), "Anxious" (Kotorua), "Amateur" (Pnninure), "Hyacinth" (Kakahi), "Passion Fruit" (Unlmoral), and "S.G.W." (Napier), unavoidably held over till next week.