ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22718, 2 November 1935, Page 24

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS

M. W., Ranfurly.—l am atram you cannot do anything to check the grubs which are inside the black currant shoots, except to cut out the affected Bhoots and burn them. lou will need to trap the earwigs in hollow bean stems, sheets of paper, or pieces of steel tubing. “ Doily,” Kakanui—l regret I cannot name the plant from seed forwarded. Could you send a flower and leal

later ou. - _ , ~ . , ''lnquirer," Waimate—The double pink cherry is J. H. Veitch and the double white one you desire is Prunus avium—the Double Gean. Iva plant food would not hurt your Lilium auratum but it w probably diseased. Spray with Bordeaux mixture summer strength, and next autumn lift the bulb, dust thoroughly with sulphur and plant in a new place. Burn the old stems. It is said that single daffodils eventually became double, but though some of ours have been planted over 25 years none have changed. "'Beans," Broad Bay—lt was probably due to cold weather that your broad beans did not set. They will be all right now. No need to destroy any with slightly blackened foliage; even if they were diseased it would not affect'the peas and potatoes. F. S., Waitaki. —It would not harm either Pinus insignia or Cuprcssus macrocarpa to top them at any time, provided you leave quantities of green branches. ■ _ , "Silver Beet," Burnside.—lf silver beet is left it will run.to seed during the summer. You will have to sow in December. , , H. L., St. Clair.—You can grow leeks in the same ground for years provided it is deeply dug and liberally manured. Spray your anemones and ranunculus with lime subohur, or dust them with White Island" product, or flower of sulphur. You would be better to burn your diseased tulips. D. L., Palmerston —lt is rather late to plant a Lonicera nitida hedge now, and it would be better to prepare the site and plant in early autumn. It is perfectly hardy and will stand the frost in your district. W. W., Cargill road.—Your cherry appears to be attacked by silver blight. Cut out and burn the affected parts. The holes in the plum leaves are nothing serious, and otherwise the foliage seems to be healthy. THE GREENHOUSE AND NURSERY The last of the summer and autumn bedding plants should be ready to prick out and be hardened off. As it is often impossible to get the beds and borders until about the end of the months when the wallflower should be over, it may be necessary to box up such things as salvias, antirrhinums, fibrous and tuberous begonias, 20 to 25 in a box to give the plants room to develop a good root system and make "bushy growth. They can also be potted up into four or five-inch pots, but the boxes are the least trouble, and if lifted carefully with a good ball of soil they will become established right away. Conditions are Usually favourable for transplanting about the end of the month. Give hydrangeas liquid manure once a week, and any shoots which are not showing flower buds can be taken off and put in as cuttings. Cuttings which were rooted some time ago can be potted up into three-inch pots. Pot on gloxinias and streptocarpu9 to their flowering pots, and pot on the chrysanthemums to five-inch opts as they fill the smaller ones with roots. Cucumbers and melons can be stopped and trained, and a warm, moist atmosphere maintained by syringing the plants twice a day and damping the paths and beds frequently. Water tomatoes carefully and maintain a dry atmosphere. Tie down the young shoots on vines and stop them two leaves beyond the bunchea. THE. FLOWER GARDEN Practically all kinds of bedding plants can be put out now and all vacant beds and borders can be planted up. The soil is in excellent condition, and weather conditions favourable. Thin out the shoots of perennial phlox, delphiniums, and rnichaelmas daisies to three or .five shoots on each stool and give preliminary stakes. Provide stakes of some kind for Oriental poppies and lupins. Twiggy spruce branches do very well if stuck in anions and round the shoots. Keep the scuffle hoe going wherever possible to shut in the moisture and kill seedling weeds, and mow and roll lawns regularly. Bulbs such as tv/.lips, hyacinths, and daffodils can be lnted now, and lined in in sand or soil to complete their ripening process. Ranunculus and anemones are providing a display at present and the most desirable ones should be marked for seed saving. Primrose polyanthus can be pollinated, and violets can be lifted, divided up and replanted in a well-manured" piece of ground. Roses are making excellent erowth and should green fly appear they should be sprayed with soapy water at once. Excessive and weak slipots can be removed if show blooms are desired THE VEGETABLE AND FRUIT GARDEN Main-crop vegetables such as carrots, beet, parsnips, and turnips can be sown now, also spinach, lettuce, radish, and Sow peas, broad beans, runner. French, and butter beans, and sow small patches and butter beans, and sow small patchec of cabbage, leeks, autumn cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts to provide plants for putting out about the end of the month. Thin and transplant onions, and plant, out leeks, cabbage, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts. Plant out vegetable marrows, pumpkins, arid ridge cucumbers, taking care to shelter them from cold winds for a week or so. Earth up potatoes, stick peas, pinch the tops out of broad beans, and hoe or fork all vacant ground and among all growing crops. Thin out the growths on fruit trees and bushes should they be excessive, and spray for green fly with kerosene emulsion or black leaf 40 —for mildew, with lime sulphur or colloidal sulphur. Mulch strawberries if this has not already been done.