GARDENERS’ QUERIES

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31907, 7 February 1969, Page 6

GARDENERS’ QUERIES

I am told that my apricot tree has stone-fruit blast. The leaves are dying on the branches and the crop is poor. Is there anything I can do to save it and will it affect another apricot nearby. N.A. (Sumner). Stone fruit blast can kill affected branches in a very short time, particularly young ones. Infected branches should be cut well back at least a foot below visible signs of disease. Bordeaux mixture applied at bud movement, green tip, before leaf fall and again in mid-winter should control it. Streptomycin is also recommended during the season and pruning cuts of infected trees could be treated with it. Use according to maker’s instructions.

Our second-year strawberry plants thrived and produced luxurious growth but very few berries. What there were were hard and green and did not ripen. The plants were dressed with blood and bone about September. They lie facing the sun and are open to sea breezes. I would be grateful if you could suggest a solution to this problem. L.C. (South Brighton). This is predominantly a physiological problem greatly influenced by prevailing weather conditions and about which one cannot do very much. It is possible that your plants are too exposed. Apart from this, adequate cultural attention such as watering, feeding and keeping the plants weed-free can assist in superior fruit formation. The specimens of Black

Hamburg grape enclosed are from a vine planted three years ago. It has received a winter spray of lime sulphur and of cuprox at three-weekly intervals once the foliage appears. It has been affected each year in the same way. No hormone spray has been used nearby for two years, but 2,4 D spray was used shortly after leaves started to show after it was planted out The leaves showed up as now. An Albany Surprise grape less than a chain away is very healthy. The yellowing of the raspberry leaves starts soon after they open and I was told that it was leaf miner and to spray with malathion and thiram throughout the season. This has had no effect Fruiting does not appear to suffer. The specimen of flowering peach was showing more two months ago. Some shoots die off completely. It receives the same spray treatment as any fruiting peaches and nectarines do. —R.B. (Ashburton).

The grape displays the very typical signs of hormone and for which there is damage, an injury which could have killed the plant and for which there is no absolutely no remedy. Grapes are amongst the most susceptible of all plants to hormone spray and even the slightest drift on to them can cause the distortions as displayed by your samples. It is quite possible that there is a mineral deficiency in the area in which your raspberries are growing and tests would determine this. Apart from this, mites and some traces of rpst were noticeable and spraying with a suitable

miticide and fungicide is advisable. Neither of the substances used for leaf miner control would have been effective, apart from which this pest has not been recorded to occur on raspberries as far as I can ascertain. Die-back is responsible for the condition of your peach tree. As this disease normally spreads from the shoot tips it is imperative that any spray applied reaches this area. Dead wood should be pruned well back to healthy wood and all such material which is removed should be burnt. ' Referring to a recent query regarding a Lisbon lemon I wonder if the fruit drops off because the tree is too dry. They say it is surrounded by two shrubs shrubs of equal height Mine is a Meyer lemon and I was told empty my teapot out around the roots three to four times a week and keep it mulched as well as manured and watered. It is very healthy and covered with fruit far more than neighbours’ trees that only get watered now and then. This might be worth trying first rather than digging out—Amateur Gardener. Failure to provide sufficient moisture for lemons, and citrus trees generallj’, is a very common fault amongst home gardeners and is most certainly a contributory cause to poor fruit and even drop. The variety in question although possibly suffering from insufficient moisture is not the most suitable for local conditions and also was troubled by another complaint Tea leaves would supply a mulch of their own but excess can cause caking of the soil.