FLOWER CULTURE

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 275, 20 October 1937, Page 11

FLOWER CULTURE

HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. TALK ON G All DEN PESTS. The vexed subject to horticulturists —garden pests—was the title of an address given by Mr W. Cottier, of the Plant Research Bureau, to the Palmerston North Horticultural Society last night. There was an attendance of about twenty, over whom Mr J. Adamson presided. The speaker first dealt with the menace, prevalent fit this season, of slugs and snails, both nocturnal pests, which could be dealt with by using hydrate of lime, or by utilising baits, hydrated lime, or by utilising baits, was two parts of lime to one part of meta. Another scavenger was wood lice, and the speaker instanced simple methods of disposing of these, sucn as pouring boiling water on the parts affected. Millopcdes were another pest, controllable by baiting, by means of cooked potatoes, dusted with paris green. To treat fallow ground, horticultural napthalene could be used. Next there was the young form of the Magpie moth, especially destructive to cinerarias. The best way to control these was to use arsenate of lead (one ounce to four gallons of water). "Another troublesome pest was the looping caterpillar, a green insect about an inch and a-lialf long. These could be hand-picked, but arsenate of lead 'was very effective. They were especially destructive to tomatoes and potatoes. Cut-worm also caused much damage, to young plants in particular. The poison bran bait containing paris green was an effective method of dealing with these. Later in the year, the diamond-backed moth was a pest to be dreaded, but arsenate of lead was a cure for them. The speaker went on to deal with such pests as grass grubs, which laid their eggs about January and hatched about May; the only satisfactory way of dealing with these pests (.which attacked the roots of plants) was with carbon disulphide emulsified with a material like Jysol. One should never use land which had been taken straight out of grass, susceptible to grass grub, continued Mr Cottier. It was a good idea to keep such ground either iallow or in vegetables for a fair period. . . The wire-worm was a pest which could be dealt with by such a cure as horticultural napthalene, or cooked potato bait with the paris green spread over it. As regards leaf pests, nicotine sulphate spray was useful, while one had to he on the watch at present for green fly on rosebuds, especially when the buds were just being formed. Again, nicotine sulphate spray was the cure, to be sprayed about every ten days. Passing briefly over the problem of rose scales, the speaker went on to speak on the white fly and mealy bug pests, both of which could be effectively treated with concentrated nicotine sulphate. A subject that had been exercising the mind of a number of chrysanthemum growers was the chrysanthemum ear-worm, which was so minute as not to be perceptible to the naked eye. The symptoms were a pattern of white spots on the leaves, which gradually became eaten away, causing distortion and very poor flowers. The only material which seemed to treat these effectively was a 3 per cent solution of ammonia sprayed on to the plant. In taking cuttings, it was always wise to take them from uninfected plants, and put them in sterilised soil. If using infected plants, it was best to take the soil away and wash the plant < thoroughly witli a solution of ammonia. As an instance oh'tenacity of life in pests, the speaker said the ear-worm could live for about three years on the one leaf. Ear-worms also affected daffodils and narcissi. All bulb diseases were treated similarly. The speaker dealt briefly with other bulb pests, such as bulb flies, and spoke of their cycle of iarvae breeding. All of these pests could be treated by dipping the bulbs in hot water, 110 degrees Fahr., or 50 degrees Centigrade, for a period of three hours. This treatment should not damage the bulbs in any way. Many interesting questions were answered. CHRYSANTHEMUM GROWING. Following 'the main speaker, Mrs Stidolph gave an interesting talk on how she grew her prize chrysanthemums. In selecting cuttings ono should choose good show blooms, she said; that was the main thing. These should be planted out in a reasonably good soil, added to which there should be a little wood ash, charcoal, ai.d, if necessary, natural manure. The frame should be in a fairly op>-n position and placed ro f.s to run nonli and south to allow the sun to Itr.efit the plants all day. When it came io planting out time, the plants, about sm. in height, should first be washed with lime sulphate solution, and planted firmly in the ground, although leaving tlie top inch of soil a trifle loose. Attention afterwards was important, including preventive spraying, sensible watering, and the cutting back of the shoots as they appeared. She did not, she said, have any hard and fast rule regarding feeding the plants, although it was better to have a richer soil to start -with and not so much feeding to do jater. Mrs Stidolph had with her two sample plants, and photographs of her winning William Turner and J. S. Lloyd blooms. Her remarks were followed w r ith great interest.