THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 26, 1995 TAG: 9511230091
SECTION: HOME PAGE: G4 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: GARDENING
SOURCE: ROBERT STIFFLER
LENGTH: Long : 163 lines
Last year about this time there was a recipe with Borax and other ingredients to kill crickets, but I have lost my copy. Will you print the recipe again, please?
D.F. Gammon, Norfolk
This is the time of year crickets try to enter your home, so here's the recipe, courtesy of Virginia Beach animal nutritionist Lynn Christian. Mix boric acid (available in discount department stores and drugstores) or Borax (available in supermarkets) with honey and put in small containers such as bottle caps in areas where you see crickets. Use four times more honey than boric acid. Christian says boric acid is hard to dissolve, so he mixes it with some water and puts it in the microwave for 10 seconds, then adds the honey.
In the July 30 edition of your column, you discussed rhubarb grown by Patricia Green of Ocean View. I am from Canada and particularly enjoy rhubarb each spring. I would like to contact Ms. Green and offer to purchase a head or two or find another source that would ensure a variety that would live in my yard as successfully as Ms. Green has done.
K. Anne Wilson, 5172 Lake Shore Road, Virginia Beach, Va. 23455
I am sorry, but once letters are answered, they're destroyed, so I am unable to provide Patricia Green's address or phone number. If she reads this, I hope she will contact you.
Mrs. Belcham, who wanted chinquapins, (native chestnuts) doesn't need to write to Florida for them. They are carried by Edible Landscaping, Box 77, Afton, Va. 22920. Chinquapins used to grow along the train tracks as you went past the Cavalier toward Cape Henry.
Nancy J. Parker, Norfolk
Thanks for the referral. I used to receive Edible Landscaping's catalog but don't anymore. It's not a large operation and often is sold out. But for different kinds of fruit, Edible Landscaping is a good source. Their phone is (804) 361-9134 so readers can call to get a catalog or find out what is available.
When is the best time to dig, separate and replant gladioli that have been in the ground so long they are crowded? Should they be replanted immediately or left to dry out and held until next spring? What causes glads to fall over at the base? Can anything be done to prevent this, short of staking each individual glad? Are the expensive hybrids really worth the money? Seems like we get better results from 12-cent bulbs.
Bob & Rosemary Giles, Norfolk
You should dig glad bulbs as soon as the foliage turns brown, or you'll not be able to find them. You'll find a large bulb and several bulblets around it. Sometimes the large bulb has rotted from age. If it's soft, destroy it. Often several years are required before the bulblets grow large enough to bloom.
You can replant immediately or let the bulbs dry in the sun. Then hang them in a mesh bag in a cool, dry place and replant early next spring.
Glads fall over because their bloom stem is heavier than the bulb can support. The taller the bloom stem, the surer the glad will fall over. Planting deep - about 6 inches - will help, but most glads have to be staked to prevent them from falling or blowing over. There are short-stemmed varieties, known as ``butterfly glads,'' that don't get over 18 inches tall. They have smaller blooms but don't fall over.
As to hybrids, unless you see one that is really outstanding, and there are All America glad selections each year, I agree with you. Masses of pretty colored glads in a vase are usually better than one or two hybrids.
When I moved back to the country 20 years ago, I looked through all the seed catalogs and picked a tomato - ``Tom Boy'' - and ordered seed. It had pink skin like the old ``Burma.'' Tom Boy was large, firm, few seeds and bright red inside with a pink skin. Tom Boys were good keepers, and I had a lot of fruit from June until frost, with plenty to pick and ripen later. I would have tomatoes until Christmas. Three years ago, there was no more Earl May Seed Co., the people who sold Tom Boy. Can you find out what happened to my wonderful tomato?
Beulah Williams, Belvidere, N.C.
I can't tell you what happened to Tom Boy, but Tomato Growers Supply Co. should be able to. They carry 250 varieties of tomato seed plus nearly as many pepper varieties. They have Micro-Tom, Tiny Tim and Toy Boy. Write them the same letter you wrote me or call Linda Sapp at (813) 768-1119. I've found them very helpful in locating older varieties of tomatoes. For a catalog, write Tomato Growers Supply Co., P.O. Box 2237, Fort Myers, Fla. 33902.
I have a fig tree, ``Peters Honey,'' and have enjoyed two crops a year for the past four years. This year, however, the first figs turned soft and black in spots. I had another smaller second crop. I fertilize with fruit tree stakes and lime on the surface. What seems to be the problem?
Richard A. Bonelli, Virginia Beach
Virginia Tech authorities say that your first crop was ``over-wintering figs'' that form in late winter or sometimes earlier. They say this first crop often doesn't ripen well. You had good luck for several years, but that may not happen again. Your second crop should be the dependable one. Switch your fertilizer to one cup 10-10-10 per foot in height of the bush. Mulching with pine straw or bark will also help it produce.
I have been using hardwood mulch extensively since moving to Chesapeake in 1990. Previously I used pine straw in my Virginia Beach flower beds. One thing I dislike about hardwood mulch is the yellow fungus spots that seem to appear on it every summer. Is there a fungicide I can use to prevent those unsightly spots?
Also, are you aware of state or local controls on the selling of hardwood mulch? Is there a standard that defines what types of wood material can be used in making mulch, sold and labeled as ``hardwood?'' There appears to be a wide range in quality of mulch that is being sold as ``hardwood.''
Donald Hankley, Chesapeake
The spots you refer to are a common problem with hardwood mulch. Fungicides such as Maneb, Bravo, Daconil or Funginex may help prevent or control the problem.
Unfortunately, there are no quality standards for hardwood or pine bark mulch or for products sold as topsoil. Standards are certainly needed.
I am a fan of gardening experts, as well as a gardener, but I sometimes wonder about some of the advice you give readers. In June, there were two items that grabbed my attention. The first was your comment that mid-June was the correct time to plant lima beans. I realize that a gardener can get a good bean crop from seeds planted in June, but soil temperatures in this area are ready for limas a lot earlier than that. The day after I read your column, I photographed my row of Purple Limas. I planted them in late April, and they had already grown 6 feet up on the concrete-reinforcing wire I use to support them. I have been planting lima beans in April for nearly 20 years. I used to plant Fordhook Giants, because I like big lima beans. My grandmother, who lived in Surry County, always tried to plant her ``butter beans'' on Good Friday. I cannot recall that either of us ever experienced any failed crops or poor germination from planting so early. I can understand why you, as a giver of advice, would want to err on the side of caution, but even the most inexperienced gardeners need not wait until a date when I am almost ready to pick beans before they think about planting theirs.
The other item I found questionable was in your directions for planting peanuts. I agree that the peanut should be shelled and individual nuts should be placed in the ground. However, I seem to recall you said to plant two or three nuts per linear foot of row. You did not mention any specific variety, but I'm from Surry County and do not know any variety that would not be crowded if the plants were closer than 8 inches apart. I usually plant the Virginia-Carolina runners or spreaders. I think one peanut planted in each foot of row would be good, assuming a 60 percent to 75 percent germination rate. I harvest my peanuts with a spading fork and then dry them by hanging them in my garage. You can understand why I would not want the vines to be tangled up.
William Carroll, Virginia Beach
The nearly half million readers of this newspaper every Sunday live from above Smithfield to Rocky Mount, N.C., so planting time is given for the majority of the area. I suspect you live in an area with warm, sandy soil that allows you to plant lima beans early and do it successfully.
Here's what two of the best vegetable gardeners in Virginia Beach say. Kendall Eakes, who was raised on a farm and has an agronomy degree from N.C. State University and a career in the fertilizer industry, says he plants lima beans mid-April to mid-May and said if planted earlier they often have to be replanted because of poor germination. Professional landscaper Gordon Griffin, a native of Mississippi, is my other best vegetable gardener. He confirms Eakes' statement. Eakes lives in Chelsea; Griffin in Alanton.
Virginia Tech experts say that the ground is too cool and often too wet before mid-June for lima beans. I grew up in Iowa and never grew or ate lima beans until moving South, so I rely on the advice of others. I'm really surprised that you can plant on Good Friday, which sometimes is in March, and get any kind of a stand. You prove that lima beans can be grown successfully by planting much earlier, and I'm sure some readers will try that next spring.
As to peanuts, probably not one in 1,000 readers grows peanuts, and I'm not an expert. Information on peanuts always comes from Virginia Tech or N.C. State.
ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Gladiolus bulbs should be dug for separating when the foliage turns
brown.
by CNB