GARDENERS’ QUERIES...

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30643, 8 January 1965, Page 6

GARDENERS’ QUERIES...

Our lettuce crop this year Is one of the best we've ever had but we’ve never known them to be attacked by so many pests. The green fly Is present, also a whitish aphis type pest which is Rat, completely round, the largest being about pin-head size. As a result of these pests, flies are beginning to settle on the plants. The lettuces are beginning to heart and I was wondering if there Is a safe spray to use on these pests. Could some varieties of lettuce be more prone to pests as a later sowing, somewhat removed from the infested ones but of a different variety, is completely untouched.—D.L.M. (Rakala). It would seem that all the Insects currently attracted to your lettuce are aphis, which may be controlled by the appli cation of malathion, } fluid ounce to three gallons of water It is advisable to allow at least five days after application before contemplating harvesting, although if the plants are so near maturity there Is little point in spraying. As far as is known, there are no known resistant varieties of lettuce.

We will shortly bo moving to a new property, the soil of which Is purported to bo somewhat chalky. Being fond of conifers we would like to plant some but have our doubts about their suitability for this sort of land. Could you please advise?— S.J. (Christchurch). The following are suggested as an example of some that would be suitable: Abiea plnsapo (the Spanish fir). Chamaecyparta lawsonlana (Lawson cypress), Plcea excelso, taxus (yew), Cedrus allantica (atlas cedar).

Dormant cyclamen bulbs can be repotted and encouraged into regrowth by occasional light watering and keeping away direct sun or very warm, dry situations. Seeds of cyclamen can be sown now to flower in the winter after the coming one.