Gardeners’ queries Pears need company

Press, 13 November 1981, Page 10

Gardeners’ queries Pears need company

GARDENING

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M. Lustu

I have a Louise Bonne de Jersey pear tree and also a Bon Chretien. The last three years they have appeared a magnificent sight at blossoming but after that, fruit fails to form. I don’t use chemical sprays and the trees both appear to be normal healthy looking. I never see bees around and wonder if this could be the cause of none setting. G. B. (Chch). Pears require cross pollination and it is therefore necessary to have a suitable donor in the vicinity to ensure a good set of fruit. Where there is insufficient room for additional trees multiple grafted trees provide a very satisfactory method of growing more than one variety on the same tree. This procedure has application to • all pear trees whether newly planted or fully established as in this case. Conference is the most readily obtainable cross pollinator for Louise Bonne de Jersey, and is also suitable for Bon Chretien.

Please identify the enclosed plant and give the necessary control. It is growing in a scree garden and has not responded to petrol, Network, and hot water. It always regrows as strong as ever. The flowers are yellow and the foliage reddish then maturing to green. J. T. (Chch). The plant in question is known by various names including native oxalis, although it is not indigenous. Control is not easy, usually requiring repeat applications. The weed is at its most susceptible to chemical means of control when in active growth and some success with Network has been achieved when repeated. Oxadiazon should give better results, and amitrol T provides yet another alternative, but in all cases a second application usually improves the result.

I bought a pair of Chinese

gooseberries three years ago and one has flowered for three years and one has not yet flowered. I am wondering if I should remove the latter and replace it with another one. Due to my carelessness when planting them out I did not mark the sex, so I am at a loss there. What do you recommend? “Kiwi-fruit” (Chch). There is no way of telling the difference between male and fernale kiwi fruit plants unless they are in flower, when the distinctions are quite noticeable. Apart from the anatomical difference between male and female flowers, which can more easily be recognised by consulting diagrams in a book dealing with botany than if it were described, male flowers tend to occur in clusters while female blossom is inclined to be single or at most in pairs. You could send in a flower for identification if you are unable to decide what sex it is. Could you please help with advice regarding the cutting back of an extremely strong growing golden privet hedge which is getting too wide. One suggestion is to cut it down the middle and take twelve inches off one side, and the other idea is to cut six inches off both sides. Which would be the best method, when should it be done and would either operation have any bad effect on the hedge? J. M. (Chch). Now would be the ideal time to cut back this golden privet, as there is still plenty

of time for it to make good regrowth before the summer comes. Privet regenerate very well and will even make new growth from near the base if topped. In this case, the hedge should be cut back equally from both sides. A feeding with blood and bone, and watering if dry conditions persist, will help speed regrowth. I have recently considered buying a compost tumbler but was dismayed to find that this system works only on a full load, and I was surprised at the speed it takes to process a full load (14 days). As I only have a small garden I would appreciate your opinion on the practibility of this system. E. C. (Chch). There are many methods of preparing compost, and the tumbler concept has become a widely used and quick method of utilising all forms of organic material, either individually or as a mixed consignment to make compost. Coarse, big, material should be considerably reduced in size or shredded before adding to the tumbler and rapidity of break down is largely dependent on the constituency of the materials. It is not necessary to have a full load before composting the contents of a tumbler.

We have cultivated our section for forty-odd years. We have put into the soil iime, in the first years, following a soil test, then seaweed, leaves, sawdust, sheep manure etc but no artificial fertilisers like superphosphate etc. We do not spray. We also put in many, many worms. When we dig the garden we never come across any worms, not even after heavy rains. Where have all these worms disappeared to? Have they died, and if so, why, and how do you keep worms? “Worried worm watcher” (Chch).

This is quite an intriguing query. There has not really been very much research (interest?) put into earthworms and their activities in this country in relation to cropping soils. Cultivation of the soil disturbs the worm population and initially it may drive them deeper into the ground, and eventually they would make their way to a more settled habitat such as a nearby lawn area. This would be my suggestion, although it is admittedly only conjecture and open to more expert opinion. One would expect at least some worms to be present following the organic supplements given over the years to this vegetable ground of yours. The enclosed leaves are from some marigolds which were grown from my own seed taken each year. These brown patches have appeared when the plants have just come through the ground and are at the twoleaf stage. I had this problem last year but it seems much more pronounced this year. What is the trouble please? C. H. (Chch). va3f2 This purplish tinge on the leaf margins towards the tips is not uncommon on young marigolds, and is a characteristic, if you like, which sometimes persists as the plants mature. The cause is not known; it could be a slight need for a particular nutrient, but should be regarded as no more than a physiological phenomenon.