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If you planted pumpkins, cucumbers and melons
when I prompted you, they will be making lots of tendrils, so now it the time for the
cruellest cut. Now is the time to remove the leading tips, so that the male flower
development gets curtailed and the productive female flowers, lower down, start to be
encouraged and develop into melons or whatever. The
tiny Red Spider is now in attack mode, at least a few months earlier this year. They form
a web on the underside of Fuchsias, Azaleas, Pumpkins, Pelargoniums and lots of other
plants. The sprays to control are pretty toxic for home gardeners, but some relief can be
secured by spraying with water on the underside of the leaves where they colonise. They
hate the damp, like most spiders. PestOil can also be used on the smooth leaf plants, but
only on days when the temperature is below 35°C and not in direct sunlight. |
