THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc. DATE: Sunday, February 11, 1996 TAG: 9602090061 SECTION: HOME PAGE: G2 EDITION: FINAL COLUMN: GARDENING SOURCE: ROBERT STIFFLER LENGTH: Long : 125 lines
I bought miniature roses for my daughter's bedrooms and placed them in west-facing windows. They looked great for a while but don't seem to be healthy now. I water them once a week and spray water on their leaves, which always have white powdery stuff on them. Do they need plenty of sunlight? How often should I water them? Can you give me pointers on how to care for them?
L. Merin, Virginia Beach
Miniature roses are tough and grow much healthier outdoors than inside. If you have space to plant them outdoors, where they will get six or more hours of sunshine, they'll do much better. The white stuff on them could be mildew caused by lack of air circulation and sunshine. Entomologist Peter Schultz at the Hampton Roads Research center adds that it could also be aphid caste skins. In that case, insecticidal soap should be used. I would not spray water on their leaves, but water them thoroughly once a week and fertilize them monthly.
If you can't plant them outdoors, put them out all summer in their pots in sunshine and bring them each winter. Check them often for insects, and if you spot any, spray with an approved spray for houseplants.
Please send the formula for mixing baking soda with water to use as a spray for tomatoes. What are the porportions and when do you spray? It's supposed to prevent blight on tomatoes.
Carl Kowalski, Chesapeake
The formula, known as the ``Cornell University formula,'' was created to prevent black spot on roses. It consists of 1 tablespoon baking soda and 1 teaspoon of ultra-fine Sun-Spray oil mixed in 1 gallon of water. Sun-Spray oil is available in garden centers. Make sure the oil you use is marked ``ultra-fine''or it could burn the plants. Weekly spraying is normally required to prevent blight, black spot and other fungus problems.
I have a problem with cacti and am enclosing a sample plant for you to examine. I have had the plant for three years. It is very large but never has any flowers or buds. What can I do to bring it into flower? Also where can I write for a small olive tree for my sun porch? I have always wanted to try one since being in Israel.
Joan Klick, Virginia Beach
Virginia Tech experts examined your plant and identified it as night-blooming cereus. It will not bloom until it is mature, which is often not before it's 7 years old. Yours is only a teenager and needs to grow up before it blooms. Then it will sometimes bloom several times a year, only at night. It will live to a ripe old age.
For an olive tree, the best source for exotic plants is Logee's Greenhouses, 141 North St., Danielson, Conn. 06239. Call (203) 774-8038. Their catalog costs $3.
I would find it very helpful if once a month you published a gardeners ``to do'' list for the ensuing weeks. My timing is never right for fertilizer, pre-emergents, post emergents, pruning, seeding, vegetable and annual planting, etc.
Elizabeth S. Merriel, Virginia Beach
The ``Reminders'' article in each Sunday's Home & Garden section is meant to be a ``to do'' listing for the week ahead. I hope it serves that purpose. My new book, ``Robert Stiffler's Gardening,'' is written for month-by-month reading, with a part devoted to ``gardening reminders'' for each month. It should fill your request for such a listing.
In response to Lou Schroeder's letter of Nov. 5, I had good luck killing weeds on my patio almost overnight with the following recipe from a Jerry Baker book: 1 ounce gin, 1 ounce vinegar and 1 ounce dishwasher soap (I used Joy). Mix and use in a spray bottle.
Carole Lee H. Hancock, Norfolk
That's a recipe I've never seen before and a new use for gin. I'm sure some readers will want to try it. If it worked for Carole Lee Hancock, it should work for others.
I want that man who grew the big pumpkins and won third-place in the state fair to know that Virginia has other big veggies. I am a 90-year-old retired nurse. I organically grew big sweet potatoes from only six plants. I donated most of them to Holy Spirit Church's soup kitchen.
Barbara M. Frauenholz, Virginia Beach
I'm sorry space doesn't allow use of the photo this gardener sent, but it's a wheelbarrow loaded with large sweet potatoes. That's quite an accomplishment for a senior citizen, especially from only six plants.
This also provides a way to remind readers that the program, ``Plant A Row For The Hungry,'' will be repeated this year. You're encouraged to plant more vegetables than you need and donate the excess to the Food Bank or a similar operation, such as the Holy Spirit Church soup kitchen.
Several years ago, I planted a wild yellow jasmine from South Carolina. It has grown around a post and looks healthy, but it never bloomed until last year and then had just two blooms. What can I do to help it bloom? I fertilized it in the spring. It is under a tree and probably doesn't get much direct sunlight.
Eleanor Rowland, Newport News
Because you call your Carolina jasmine a ``wild'' one, it most likely came from the woods and was a seedling. Such a plant requires several years to reach sufficient maturity to bloom. It also needs full sun. Mine climbed up holly trees and did not bloom until they reached the top of the tree. Then they spread out like umbrellas and were a blanket of gold every spring.
This plant needs little water or fertilizer, because it is native. Give yours time and plenty of sunshine and it will bloom. It does need support to climb, so tie or nail it to whatever you want it to cling.
Please identify the grape vine I'm sending you. The fruit never gets any larger than the small pea-like fruit now on the vine.
Dan Jeffries, Virginia Beach
Hampton Roads Research Center personnel identify your grape as Scuppernong, a native grape. This variety has both male and female plants, so you need a pollinator to get it to set fruit and ripen. Scuppernong grapes are easy to grow, but you need another for proper pollination.
For the past 20 years, we have had lycoris come up and bloom in August, usually around the 15th. Last year, after counting at least 24 plants in the spring, not one has appeared with their lovely flowers. Could it have been the terrible heat and drought? We didn't keep that area watered, because we never had before. My neighbor had two plants that bloomed.
Thanks for introducing me to the Butterfly Society of Virginia. It is a joy to learn about butterfly gardening.
Jane Wingfield, Norfolk
Most likely a rodent - meaning mole or vole - destroyed your lycoris. It does need plenty of water during a drought, but most likely the problem is that voles ate the lycoris bulbs. Voles love bulbs. Put Ramik in any vole holes you find in your lawn or garden. If you don't have lycoris plants this spring, you'll need to replant and try putting some gravel around each bulb, which helps deter rodents. MEMO: No gardening questions will be taken over the phone. Write to Robert
Stiffler, The Virginian-Pilot, 150 W. Brambleton Ave., Norfolk, Va.
23510. Answers will be published on a space-available basis. For an
earlier reply, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope. by CNB