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- Hydrangeas looking ratty? Resist the temptation to prune for a few months. Spray with 1%
Neem Oil to control powdery mildew and the bushes will still store vital nutrients and
potassium in particular in their root systems to astound you with flower come December.
- A word of caution though. Not all Neem product is cold-pressed oil, but a seed extract
of azadirachtin, that is a fine insecticide, but will do little to control fungi. Neem
Potassium Soap by Moeco Pty Ltd in Darwin is the full score and Gardening Australia have
it in their latest range of organic products.
- If you had mulched your bedding plants and vegetables heavily to cut summer moisture
loss, now is a good time to remove it and allow the sun to warm your soil and extend the
growth season. Compost the mulch is the best move rather than store it.
- Reg Priest of Clarence Park reminded me recently that April is the best month to spray
your citrus with zinc sulphate. Generally sold as a zinc and manganese foliar spray it
provides vital nutrients that get locked up in the alkaline soil here, unless applied to
the foliage.
- Zinc deficiency on citrus shows up as mottled yellowing of the leaves, that form in long
thin shapes and produce a course textured fruit that is almost inedible. Manganese
deficiency shows up as light green leaf mottling all over and results in substantial loss
of crop.
- Blood & Bone is virtually useless on citrus, since they require much more nutrient
and I’d advise you use a water soluble citrus fertilizer. Blood & Bone by the way
is 60% sand or sewerage effluent that is described on the pack as FM or filling matter and
4-5% nitrogen! It also contains no potassium or much of any of the nutrients citrus need.
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