HOME GARDEN

New Zealand Herald, Volume 82, Issue 25177, 14 April 1945, Page 4

HOME GARDEN

ANSWERING BEADEBS PROBLEMS OF THE MOMENT By K«pos Here are some more answers to general interest garden queries published for the benefit of others who may hare similar problems. Question: Passion vine is covered with fruit and foliage, but instead of ripening the frmt seems to shrivel up as enclosed specimen. What is the trouble and remedy? Answer: The trouble is brown spot. Diseased portions should he pruned away and burned. Spray with bordeaux powder one ounce to each of water, commencing in September and repeating at intervals during the growing season. Open out the vine to facilitate the application of the spray. Question: Pear leave* are discoloured as the samples enclosed. V hat is the tr°uble and the remedy? Grape fruit looks ve.j Sics and the leaves are turning yellow and taliing off j Answer: The pear leaves show a deficiency of potash. Sulphate of potash at the rate of one ounce per square yard will correct the trouble. The grape fruit probably has a touch of witherup disease. Spray with bordeaux powder one ounce to each gallon of water. Question: When is the best time to hard prune a peach tree and what should - to seal the cuts? Poorman orange crop last season, but this season only one fruit. What; is the treatment? Answer: Hard prune the_ peach now and paint over the cuts with a pain made by stirring bordeaux powder into raw linseed oil till a thick pamt its formed. Smooth all saw cuts with a sharp knife. The poorman orange was over-cropped last season and has taken a season to recover. Should fruit in the following season, hut if the crop is t(jo heavy, thin them out. Feed the tree m March and again "in August.

Question: Earth paths become overgrown with moss although frequently scraped_ _"£Uia bonfire ashes spread over the paths them clean? Are wood ashes after bein*. exposed to ruin of any use in the gardenr Answer: Bonfire ashes will not. keep down the moss and there is little plant food left in the ashes after they have been exposed to rain. Moss on the paths can be kept down by watering the moss with dilute acid and water. Hydrochloric acid (spirits of salts), one v n ne " glassful to each gallon of water. Coa ashes will make good paths, the sulphides contained in them will beep down weeds and moss for a considerable time. Question: Fig tree ten years old does not mature its fruit beyond half development ana then it drops off. What should be done to remedy the trouble? White grape vine from seed does not mature fruit beyond tne size of currants. Are there any hopes tor maturity?

Answer: Fig is probably a seedling from a dried fig which is the Turkish or Smyrna variety. This fig will not mature its fruit unless pollinated by a special insect which does not live in this country. Other kinds of figs will mature fruit without pollination. Fruits raised from chance seedlings are rarely like their parents; in most cases there is considerable deterioration. Grapes are no exception. Either graft the vine over with a known good variety or dig it out. It will be useless to endeavour to improve the fruit.

Question: Would it be satisfactory to break up two-year-old pampas grass plants ana plant out each piece which has a root during the coming winter? Answer: Yes, quite satisfactory, but wait until the end of the winter, just before the natural season of growth.

Question: What is the trouble with a young pencil tree? Leaves are all going as enclosea specimens. What is the best manure to 2> ve peach treesP Answer: The trouble is deficiency or calcium A good liming now will iib* prove matters for another season. A good manure for peaches is blood an" bone, four parts, to sulphate of potash, one- part, applied in spring. A good mulching with animal manures for tne summer will also help if it can be managed.