Gardener's Queries

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32031, 4 July 1969, Page 6

Gardener's Queries

Could you give me information on how to raise rose seed as I have not found any books which instruct on when to gather the hips and how to sow them. L.R. (Christchurch.) Roses hybridise very readily, and as such seedlings do not come true to type unless the seed comes from isolated plants. The hips or heps should be gathered as soon as ripe—mostly a deep red colour—and the seed washed out The next step is to stratify them in sand until spring time when they can be sown in boxes or even in the open ground. Transplanting can be done in the following autumn. I have a very old Blue Diamond plum tree growing on my property which I would like to remove without going to the expense of uprooting it Is there a means of killing it and if so would the roots cease to throw up suckers after treatment? W.B. ' (Christchurch). A comparatively new chemical, Tordon 50D, can be used effectively to kill the tree. Its use is recommended during periods of good sap flow—when the soil is moist and the weather warm and the tree in leaf. The trunk should be completely frilled with a series of downward axe cute into the sap wood. The frill should be thoroughly soaked with the chemical solution at the rate of one part Tordon to four parts water immediately afterwards. This represents but one method of chemical control of trees. Full instructions on the above method and others can be had from the manufacturers of the product.