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- Have you noticed the brown edges on your older rose leaves lately? They
are the result of too much fertilizer that causes the leaves to burn due to
the effect of drying soil. Also known as salt toxicity, it’s common after
a sustained bout of hot weather.
- Remedy is to mulch, which reduces evaporation, so the soil stays moist
longer, or do nothing. The roses are deciduous and will loose all their
leaves in four months time anyhow. What may seem a surplus of fertilizer in
mid summer won’t last long in autumn and spring, when growth is rapid.
- As soon as your fruit trees are bare of their fruit, you need to start
feeding them for next year’s crop. For all stone fruits and citrus, dig a
trench about 15cm deep around the tree at the width of the foliage (the drip
pattern), which is where most of the fine feeder roots are located. Then
into that trench spread the required amount of fruit tree fertilizer,
according to size and detailed on the packet and cover with straw or mulch
then flood irrigate.
- I’ve also noticed that a few "Chinese Jade" or Portulacaria
afra have flowering this summer for the first time in many years, due no
doubt to the hotter summer than normal. The insipid pale pink spike is not
very spectacular, but a surprise to those who have never seen it before.
- With these warm conditions lately, it’s a perfect time to strike Tree
Dahlia cuttings. If you have a friend who has some, cut a stem section at
least 30cm (1 foot) long and just bury it in a very shallow trench,
horizontally. Keep it well watered and with in three weeks it will shoot at
each node. These can then be cut off with root attached after a month or so
and planted where you want it to flower in May-June this year. Feed with
organic and water soluble fertilizer, as they can take as much as they can
get.
- If you have a Passion Vine, with woody passionfruit, it has been infected
with the Passionfruit virus, spread by tiny sap-sucking insects. There is no
remedy and it’s best to pull it up immediately and plan your replacement
while the soil is still warm enough to get it established this summer.
Select a site facing the morning sun, with good drainage. Then lots of
organic material and keep it very well watered.
- If your Asiatic Lilies have finished flowering, feed them with some
organic pellets and heap some soil up around their stems. Most will form a
cluster of new bulbs at their base, that you can divide and separate later
to expand your collection. However if left they just produce weak and small
plants that compete for nutrient at the expense of your older flowering
bulbs.
- I’ve noticed that my chillies in pots have become four-year perennials
and set far more flower and pods than the same varieties in the ground. No
doubt the warmer soil temperatures in the containers keep them growing all
year and they also get less nutrient, so flower as though they think they
are dying. Whatever the reason, it’s worth trying. They taste better too!
- Wisteria has been flowering sporadically all summer in the hills this
year, but mostly in situations where they have had their tendrils clipped.
Lots of folk have been asking me is this unusual? Well if it happens in lots
of garden it’s not unusual, but does suggest that by clipping your
run-away Wisteria hedge, it will repeat flowering beyond October.
- Beware of spraying water-soluble sulphur on your Azaleas in hot weather.
It is the recommended control for red mite, but burns the leaves badly in
hot weather. It also makes a good control of the mites though. So on
deciduous Azaleas, you might be prepared to sacrifice some leaves for
control! It seems that mites don’t like mist-watering systems too, so a
few misters near your Azaleas, may be a solution also.
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