HORTICULTURE.

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 43, Issue 5, 20 November 1931, Page 378

HORTICULTURE.

Attention to Small-fruits.

So soon as a crop of small fruit is harvested there is a general tendency to neglect the plants for a while. This is probably one of the biggest mistakes we make in this class of cropping. After the strain of cropping the plants should have every attention which will free them from disease and enable them to make the most of the autumn weather —to ripen young wood and fruit spurs and set strong buds that will prove fertile another season. - • ’ •

- Suckers about the base of gooseberry-bushes, and strong water-shoots crowding the centre, 'should be carefully removed completely.. This will divert the energies of the plant into fruitful channels, and give air and light, which are so beneficial, to the young growth.

In many instances it is advisable to cut out the wood that has borne the crop in black currants, for a somewhat similar reason. The benefit is all the greater if the plants are inclined to be weak or diseased. After pruning, the cleansing and protecting chemical spray will be more effectual, and the new wood which should bear next season will be Strengthened. The same statement, but with more emphasis, applies to raspberry and loganberry crops. They are more subject to disease, and by cutting away the old canes and vines at the ground-level and burning them, so soon as they have finished cropping, most of the infected wood will be destroyed

It will be noticed that all the plants above mentioned carry the fruit crop chiefly on the young wood only ; therefore, as soon as it has borne and ceases to be of use, it is removed, with benefit to the new wood formed elsewhere on the plants meanwhile. In the case of the red currant we are dealing with a plant which crops on a different plan. The fruit is carried on spurs which are comparatively permanent, and remain fruitful if they are given light and air, and are not overgrown by strong laterals and suckers. Such superfluous growths should be removed now. While in the case of the black currant the suckers are fruitful, in the case of the red-currant bushes they are detrimental and should be entirely suppressed. Also strong young shoots about the centre and any that unduly, crowd the framework should be removed. The lateral growth on the main framework of the bushes may now be shortened with a view to encouraging the formation of fruit spurs.

. That vigorous and handsome vine which bears an interesting and useful —the Chinese gooseberry (Actinidia chinensis) — would also be benefited by stopping lateral growth and removing superfluous shoots at the present time.

Such treatment as that above described is generally referred to as summer pruning, and the general effect is to increase the crop. -

Where strawberry-beds are cropped only for the one season they should be cultivated immediately after cropping, and sown down with a cover.-crop to be turned under and rotted before planting again. Or, if broccoli or cauliflower, &c., is to follow, with a little cultivation the conditions are ideal. Where the strawberry-beds are grown on for another year they should be cleaned up after fruiting, removing or burning the litter used for bedding down the plants, and any accumulation of dead leaves and rubbish. The suppression of runners and weeds should be maintained throughout the autumn, so that clean ground, and strong plants will be available in the spring in preparation for another crop.

Another attention necessary, when those mentioned have been given, is spraying to prevent the spread of fungus diseases and destroy insect pests.' Most of the old diseased wood having been removed and burnt, the young wood remaining will be comparatively clean, and the plants sufficiently open to readily permit the spraying to be done effectually bycovering all parts. The principal spray used . will usually be bordeaux mixture for preventing the spread of fungus disease, with arsenate of lead added to destroy caterpillars. In doing this the main economy is not so much in doing it quickly as in doing it well. If the bordeaux is made as is usually described it will take a little longer, but the adhesion will be exceptional, which means that the protection from fungus attack will be much more lasting.

Tomato-culture.

Harvesting of the choice fruit grown under glass is at the peak during the month of December. If the crop is clean, and the feeding has been well balanced, the management at this stage should not present any difficulties, provided the ventilation of the house receives regular attention ; otherwise, by receiving too much or too little, the crop may be brought to a standstill very quickly. In most instances the ridge ventilators should be open now to some extent day and night, except when fumigating the house.

It was at this season last year that the outdoor crop, was attacked by the tomato-moth (Gnorimo schema melanoplintha), with in many instances very serious results. The base of the plants especially should be kept well covered with the spray mixture described in these notes last month. The fruit will be very small at the present time, and the plants can be sprayed thoroughly without causing any inconvenient discoloration of the fruit—such discoloration makes it desirable to stop spraying, so far as possible, as the fruit approaches maturity, or extra cost may be incurred by the necessity of washing or in some other way cleaning the fruit after picking.

Cultivation should be continued for the purpose of suppressing weeds, &c. ; but great care is necessary to avoid disturbing the fine soft roots which rise very close to the surface of the soil. Great damage is often done by deep cultivation at the present stage of growth, the main effects of which are a check in the growth which permanently dwarfs the . plants, and general debility which will still further reduce the crop. - The removal of young lateral growth arising in the axils of the leaves, and tying the vines to the stakes or wire trellis at intervals of about a foot, are the other routine attentions required at the present time in the outside crop.

For filling the seedling-boxes for the succeeding crop, a clean sweet loam will be needed in the late winter and early spring of next year. This is best obtained by stripping sods from a rich pasture or other land that has not been cropped for some time, and stacking them neatly in a compact heap to rot. If the heap is kept moist and free of weeds this will be accomplished all the better. Two years is not too long for the preparation of potting soil, and where arrangements for the supplies for next season have not been made they should be commenced at once.

Vegetable Crops.

To destroy weeds, retain moisture in the, soil, and increase oxidization of the soil particles, use the hoe frequently, but not deep enough to injure the fibrous roots of the plants.

. See that vegetable marrows do not suffer through want of water ; they require plenty. Cut the fruit so soon as it is of a handy size ; small, tender immature fruits are in demand. Other gourds also enjoy moist conditions when the drainage is good.

As crops of early potatoes, peas, &c., are cleared away, prepare the ground at once for setting out plants of savoy cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, celery, leeks, for harvesting in winter. Choose showery weather for this, or plant in the afternoon and water the plants in.

Most of these crops require close attention to protect them from pests and disease. Green fly is the worst pest of the cabbage family now, as it is apt to destroy the terminal bud, which is vital. A pinch of tobaccodust will protect that part of the plant until it commences to make vigorous growth when autumn rains bring relief.

Celery-spot (Septoria Petroselini) is now a common and serious disease of celery crops. Commencing as ' small spots that spread and coalesce, it forms withered patches of irregular shape, on which black pinhead fruiting bodies of the fungus develop. This disease may be prevented by spraying bordeaux at regular intervals. Rotational cropping should also be practised.

Make a further sowing of globe beet, shorthorn carrots, peas, and dwarf beans ; also lettuce where it may be left to mature without transplanting.

The Homestead Garden.

We are approaching once again the most suitable time of the year for making gardens— autumn. Where gardens have to be made, extended, or altered, the proposals should be planned to scale on paper now. People's ideas on this subject are generally quite good, but they often do not materialize because they are not fully communicated to those doing the work. Or, as perhaps happens more often, the good ideas are vague and time is not taken to define them clearly before commencing the work. This naturally is a mistake. One may be ready to change a plan in some respect, if it is afterwards shown to be desirable ; but it is most necessary to have one, very definitely, before the work is commenced. Not only should formation be planned, but planting also. The usual high mortality in new plantations and shubberies would be lower and the results more effective if this. were. done. If the work is arranged so that lawns are sown, down in February, and trees and shrubs planted in May, it would generally be best. ''' ■■ ■ '' ■ ' ' • ■' • ■ • -

- Young trees and shrubs lately planted often suffer badly from dry conditions' during summer. The roots are severely restricted by removal, and they cannot obtain the moisture required for growth. Moisture-loving plants, especially rhododendrons, suffer severely and become stunted in growth. Where this danger threatens, a mulch of fermented vegetation or stable manure should be spread over the surface of the ground to keep it moist and moderate extreme temperatures. In some cases even watering may be necessary. ' On light and sandy lands such trees are often greatly benefited by this attention now. . —W. C. Hyde, Horticulturist, Wellington. .

■ Horseseating Silage.'- During, the past winter an Otago settler brought his horses on to eating silage by mixing oaten chaff with it. They soon began to take the silage alone.