What Is Your Problem?

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 136, 11 June 1938, Page 16 (Supplement)

What Is Your Problem?

MYRTOB (Westem Springe) icrites : — Please tell me when to put greasebands around the stems of fruit trees? Also what is the name of enclosed flower and leavest Grease bands should be put on at once. In fact, they should have been on a month ago. The flower sent Is Tithonla speciosa, a Mexican plant of annual duration. It Iβ raised from seed annually and nerds a warm, sunny position. It is late flower ing and consequently does not do well in cold districts.

CYilO (Westland) sends a chrysanthemum plant whose leaves and buds are quite black and dead looking, and icishes to know what is wrong and how to cure itf Tour chrysanthemum Is affected with the disease known as eelwonn. Although only recently brought to notice in this country, it has already become a serious pest in other countries. The metnod of control is clean soil and clean plants. This mean* that the soil or ground in which the plants Save been grown previously must not be used for the same purpose for several yenru. Clean plants must also be used, for to plant infected stock in clean ground would infect it, as the eelwonn passes part of its life in the soil. Where the plants are cultivated in pots it is more easy to be sure that the soil is clean than with open ground cultivation. A stock may bo cleaned up as follows: —Cut the stools down to within three inches of soli level, shake out the soil from the stools as well as you fan. and afterwards wash the rest of the soil away under a running tap. Contrive some arrangement by means of which you can ensure the heating of a tank containing water to a temperature of 110 degrees F. When the water is exactly 110 degrees V. put in your stools, and afterwards bring the temperature back to 110 degrees F. as soon as possible, but this temperature must not be exceeded. Many of the stools will be killed if the temperature exceeds 112 degrees P.. and the eelwormn will not be killed unless they are heated to 108 degrees F. The temperature of 110 degrees F. must be maintained, for 20 minutes; if the stools are large, 30 minutes. After treating with hot water, take out the plants and immedlaely plunge them into cold water, and this cold water must not be in the same tank which was used to wash the stools in, or reinfection will occur. The treated stools should be placed In a clean cold frame and clean soil shaken over them; as soon as cuttings are produced, proceed to obtain your plants in the usual way, using clean pots, sterilised soil, and a fresh summer position.

LEMOy icritcs: —-/ have been preserving my lemons by storing them away in bores with a layer of dry sawdust between each tico layers of lemon*. Last year, hoiccver, a number became diseased. Mould it be advisable to took the lemons in a solution of bluestone and dry them before storingf It would not do to use a solution of Milestone, but a dusting of flowers of sulphur on each layer of fruit would probably be effective and could easily be wiped off before using the fruit.

TOMA.TO (Manaere) tends a piece of n tomato plant the leaves of which are spotted and marbled teith white, and wishes to know if it can be controlled. No doubt it is due to a virus disease known as spotted wilt. This virus disease attacks several kinds of plant belonging to widely separated families of plants. The virus diseases are spread from dieeaaed plants to healthy ones by means of the minute insect pest known as thrips. Tour best plan woirld be to burn infected plant* and to watch other plants carefully. In addition, you should measures to control the 'hrlps. A larval thrlp, once it has fed upon infected plant, carries the disease for the rest of its life, and every plant upon which it feeds becomes infected. Thrips can be controlled by spraying with nicotine-sulphate and by the application of naphthalene or other soil fumigant to the soil.

PrZ.Zr.FP vsrlte* : — Our monkey puzzle is affected bit something that makes the branche* die at intervals up the tree. It is about 20 years old and this has only come on it of late, but is increasing and tee are forced to cut out whole branches. Could you enlighten us a* to the cnune and what is the most effective currf Onl/t smaller branches riic, not whole limbs. In other cases tchole limbs die. The Araucnria needs a very deep, well drained, but moist soil, and if this Iβ not forthcoming, once the roots reach unfavourable conditions the result is dying of ends of the branches. This, of course, spoils the symmetry of the tree which is its chief characteristic. This is partly the reason why the Aniucnriu is not planted more often and why so few good specimens of any asre are s<en. I cannot give you any way of overcoming the difficulty a cure.