Amateurs' Grape Vines.

Otago Witness, Issue 2058, 3 August 1893, Page 4

Amateurs' Grape Vines.

Very few amateurs can afford to set their vineries wide open at this time of year, but unless this is done for at least a month after the vines are pruned, the requisite rest is not given, and the consequence is usually a weakly break. When' the houses are crowded with a great variety of pot plants, it is againßt human nature to expose these to any risks of injury from either cold winds or frost, and they are therefore taken good care of at the expense of the vines. - If, therefore, it is not possible to store the plants elsewhere, then the least that can be done is to admit air freely all day long, and in lesser quantities during mild nights, only closing completely when it is necessary to exclude frosts. In addition to thus guarding against unduly exciting the vines, a desirable check will also be given to many of the pot plants, coddling iheße being apt to start Bomfr— notably ferns — into active growth too early in the seasen; while preventing arums, pelargoniums, begonias, &c, from making a weakly or premature growth. From the time the vines are pruned, and this ought to have been done not later than midwinter, all should have been kept cool and dry, and if there are no tender pot plants to study, subjecting the vines to several degrees of frost would have,- or might yet do them much more good than harm. Mildew is the worst enemy to the amateur who has to grow a great number of pot plants in the same house as vines, and there are other pests to contend with. Faulty ventilation or the sudden admittance, Bay, of cold winds through the front ventilators to a house in which vines are growing may, perhaps, be responsible for numerous outbreaks of mildew, and when once this insidious disease has established itself in a vinery, it is a very difficult matter to exterminate it. Sickly mildewinfested roses ought certainly to be kept out, or these, too, may communicate the disease to the vines. Now is the time to wage war against not merely mildew, but other pests, such as thrips, red spider, mealy bug, and aphides. If these are not either " scotched " or killed now, they will simply defy all efforts to get rid of them later on, and the harm any one of them even will work is almost incalculable. All the time this is being written I have in my mind's eye an amateur's vinery crowded with pot plants, and it is the latter that are once more so much in the way. They cannot be shifted elsewhere probably, but must be packed closely together in one half of the house while the other is being cleansed. The woodwork and glass ought to have a thorough cleaning with hot soapy water, and then the vine rods must be only just roughly cleared of loose bark, and also well scrubbed with the hot soapy water. Painting Main Stems.— Professional gardeners are in the habit of mixing up a rather strong composition for painting the vine rods — tobacco water, soft soap, sulphur, gas tar being .variously used, with enough of clayey water to give it a paint-like consistency— but amateurs, as a rule, have no time to spare for all this, nor is there very much to be said in favour of the practice. It is my belief that the scrubbing with hot soapy water reaches and destroys most insects, and if the brush used is frequently dipped in flour of sulphur, and the latter be well brushed in, mildew will also be checked. Use of Sulphur for Killing Insects.— Both mildew and insect pests may also be got rid of by fumigating the vinery with sulphur. In this case every plant with green leaves must be cleared out and the house shut up close, the sulphur fumes being generated with the aid of a plate of hot iron or heated bricks. There must be no flames, and the fumes should be strong enough to drive those using it out of the house. In each and every case the floor of the house, as well as inside borders, should be cleared of all rubbish and loose soil, and the walls given a thorough dressing with hot limewash. Liquid Manure for Vine Borders.— lt pays well to loosen the surface of inside borders and to give a thorough soaking with liquid manure. They ought also to have some of the unoccupied surface soil changed for a rather rich top-dress-ing, say of fresh loam and good flaky manure in equal parts, a sprinkling of mortar rubbish, wood ashes, and bonemeal also being desirable. All this may seem very formidable, but unless amateurs observe some of the rules I have laid down now, they need not expect to have good crops of grapes in the summer. — A Grate Grower, in Amateur Gardening.