THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 3, 1996 TAG: 9603010081
SECTION: HOME PAGE: G3 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: GARDENING
SOURCE: ROBERT STIFFLER
LENGTH: Long : 106 lines
I read with great interest your answer recently about how to get rid of bamboo. I live in Lago Mar, near Sandbridge, and about half my lot is bamboo. I thought that if I cut it down close to the dirt it would die. I spent many hours last autumn cutting plants with clippers, but the bamboo has returned with vengance. Would you please tell me how to rid my woods of this pest?
Denise K. Reha, Virginia Beach
Four days before cutting, spray the bamboo with Roundup at the rate of 6 1/2 ounces per gallon of water. Then cut down the bamboo. When it sprouts back, spray again with Roundup and mow it close to the ground. When it comes back, it will look like grass but continue to mow it back. Authorities say it may take three years, but you can eliminate it. Organic Gardening magazine had a similar question in its January issue and offered an organic remedy. That solution is too lengthy to reprint here, but you might want to find the magazine on a news stand and read what they say. Bamboo can be a horrible problem to homeowners - and their neighbors. If any reader plans ever to plant any, put it in a cement container where it cannot escape.
I am a neophyte gardener, but for five years, I have been air-layering camellias from my neighbor's beautiful collection. I don't know the name of any of the varieties, but that hasn't hindered me. My success rate has been about 80 percent. The one I most want - a pure white one - has defied every effort.
My routine has been identical for each plant. I start at the end of April and follow instructions exactly - scraping, root hormone, etc. I transplant the cuttings Oct 1. In my frustration with this white camellia, I took two cuttings last fall. On one, I removed all the buds. I left the other one alone and misted it every other day. Within three months, one had died, with leaves slowly turning brown. The budless one is still hanging on, but barely. I don't know why this camellia has failed me so often.
I also saw a reference in your article about a spray that would inhibit evaporation from leaves. It looks like no matter how much or how often I water this camellia, too much water is evaporating. Neither the parent plant nor my cuttings have healthy, glossy leaves. What do you suggest?
Patrick J. Johnson, Norfolk
I could not determine what you are doing wrong, so I called Mel Stallings of the Virginia Camellia Society. He starts to air-layer in March, right after his plants finish blooming. He then cuts them off the parent bush for planting around Labor Day. Are you using upright limbs? If you use a side branch, parallel to the ground, it's difficult to get a good air layer. Are you planting them directly into your garden, rather than a pot? Some people put them in a container for a year, although I prefer planting them directly into the garden.
Try again with the white camellia in March. Mel Stallings volunteered to come and observe and offer clues as to what you might be doing wrong. You can call him at 547-5871. The product that helps prevent moisture loss from plants is called Wilt-Pruf.
Two recent items in your garden column caught my attention. You mentioned a poison ivy remedy that would help remove the resin from the skin and reduce any resulting rash. This product is essentially mineral spirits or alcohol. Rubbing alcohol is effective in removing poison ivy residues from tools and may help on the skin if used within minutes of exposure. It will only irritate the skin if used on the rash.
You helped identify a Redbay (Persea borbonia or pubescens) for another gardener. Worth mentioning is that the leaves of this native tree can replace commercial bay leaf in cooking. I don't believe Laurus nobilis will grow as well as Redbay in this area.
Samuel T. Selden, M.D., Chesapeake
The product I mentioned was called TechNu, and the recommendation came from a gardener who wrote about how effective it was. But Dr. Selden, since he specializes in dermatology, should know best.
For chefs who use bay leaf, you now know you can grow Redbay and use it in cooking.
The garlic cloves I recently planted are growing and look like green onions. I don't know what to look for or when their growth is complete. Can you give me information?
Nancy J. Young, Virginia Beach
You can harvest the garlic any time you want, using the small cloves or the green tops. Most people plant in the fall, dig up the bulbs in the spring after the tops dry and replant the same cloves in the fall. Two growing seasons are usually required for the cloves to become large enough to use. If you don't mind small cloves, you can dig and use them at your discretion. The garlic kingpin in Virginia Beach is Charlie Ward, who would love to tell you more about it if you want to call him at 464-5830.
Regarding your paragraph on ``getting rid of goo'' in the Pilot of Jan. 7, I can't believe you have not heard of Goo Gone! I discovered it several years ago at a check-out stand at Builder's Square. Now just about everyone sells it. It not only removes the goo from self-adhesive labels, it removes all kinds of goo including chewing gum from just about anything. My daughter keeps a small bottle of it with her gift wrap supplies.
Shirley B. Brown, Virginia Beach
I have heard of Goo Gone and have a bottle under the sink now. I've found that it works, but I don't like its odor and the greasy feeling you get from it. But it sure does work to get the ``goo'' off almost everything. Thanks for helping readers get rid of their ``goo.'' 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.
ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Garlic cloves usually mature over two growing seasons.
by CNB