Readers' Problems Continued

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23537, 23 December 1939, Page 11 (Supplement)

Readers' Problems Continued

Hyacinth Bulbs.—(l) I havo dried my hyacinth bulbs and I would like to know If I should detach the little bulblets from the original mother bulb. Would you adviso planting the small bulbs now, or later with the oripcinal bulbsP (2) Have you seen the results of planting a seed potato in a cask, starting with a foot of earth then gradually filling upP I understand remarkable results can be obtained. (3) Is the choicer variety of petunia a. biennial or a perennial in North Auckland?—R.N.S., Whangarel. (11 The small bulblets can be detached just before planting, and planted at the same time as the mother bulbs. (2) Yes, good rosuits can be obtained with careful treatment. Better results are obtained by planting in packing casos with four-inch spaces between the boards forming the sides. A foot of soil is placed in the cases, then the seed potatoes are placed around the sides with the shoots pointing toward the spaces. Another foot of soil then another row. of potatoes all round, and so on, until the cases are full to the top. (3) Petunias are perennial where they do not suffer from frost, but, as they are likely to becomo straggly it is bettor to raise fresh plants from cuttings each year Garden Problems.—(l) Can I use the same soil for growing tomato plants in boxes another season? (2) If I procure some fresh soil, mix the two lots, then water with Cheshunt Compound, would this bo satisfactory? (3) How does one keep pink hydrangeas from going blue? (4) Could you suggest nine to twelve bushy evergreen trees that will not grow oyer fivo feet in height, to plant along a boundary fence? (5) When is the right time to pot cyclamen corins for winter flowering?— "Suliman," Whakatane. (1) It is .not a good practice to use the same soil over again. (2) The mixing of the soil should be satisfactory. Add some limo and turn over several times at weekly intervals to aerate the soil. (3) If the soil is acid all the pink hydrangeas will go blue. In some localities the application of plenty of limo or old mortar rubble will help to keep tho pink shades. (4) Azalea; Eriostemon; Prostranthera; Choisya ternata; Ccstrum; Genista; Felicia; Grevillea Dallachiana; Raphiolepis ovata; Diosma; Adenandra uniflora; Ceratostigma Willmotiae. (5) In January.

Sex of Plants.—As a constant reader much interested in your garden notes and answers. I notice you state about Chinese gooseberries that there is no possibility of distinguishing the sexes without the flower. quite correct to the unaided eye. There is, how ever, a fairly well-known way of distinguishing the sex of eggs. Tho same method used on the gooseberry or any other plant of different sexes will be found all right; over a single leaf or portion of the wood will do the job. I thought it might interest you to try it. —R.McK., Tauranga. You probably refer to a gadget which has been on the market for many years, but I must confess that 1 am still sceptical as to its infallibility. With eggs alone it would be worth thousands to the poultry industry if it could be relied upon; unless it is that you have something now, which is ahead of science. In that caso I would certainly be interested.