THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 16, 1996 TAG: 9606140096
SECTION: HOME & GARDEN PAGE: G2 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Gardening
SOURCE: Robert Stiffler
LENGTH: 81 lines
During the winter, my fescue grass disappeared and moss took over my back yard. I thought I could remove it with a thatch rake, but after the first attempt, I discovered I am not physically able to do that. Can you suggest an alternative? I want to reseed with grass. A recent soil test from Virginia Tech showed my pH to be 7, and the nutrients are good. The yard has positive gradient drainage, but there is shade.
Lewis C. Waid, Virginina Beach
Once you have moss, it's a problem to eliminate. To grow grass, you are going to need to get more sun on the area by removing some trees or cutting off some lower limbs. You must provide good drainage, which you indicate is already present. Put down lime now and live with the situation for the summer. The moss should be raked off this fall and then aerate the area if possible. Reseed with a good fescue (Titan, Shenandoah, Rebel II or Southern Belle) in mid-September, fertilize with a starter fertilizer and fertilize two more times in the fall. If you still have moss next summer, you may need to give up on grass and live with moss. Some folks like it.
Over the years, our slow-growing blue spruce trees are outgrowing space in our foundation planting and becoming unshapely. Is it safe to trim and shape these trees? If so, when is the best time?
J.T. George, Portsmouth
Virginia Tech specialist Dan Milbocker says you can trim them back but not more than 60 percent at one time. It should be done only once a year, when new growth is elongating, usually June or July.
I am a ninth-grade student at Franklin High School, researching a project to learn which medium gives the best results for propagating plants. I am working with ivy and spider plants. I would like to use five mediums and plant spider plantlets and stem cuttings of ivy. Can you recommend different mediums I could use in determing which induce better plant growth? When the project in completed, I plan to donate results and plants to the Franklin High School greenhouse.
Sara Spengeman, Franklin
Here are suggestions from Virginia Tech specialists: (1) General potting soil, available in garden centers; (2) 90 percent peat moss, 10 percent vermiculite or perlite. Then increase or decrease those portions in 10 percent increments to test against the others. If you use sand, use less than 15 percent.
If your results show meaningful differences, please write and we'll publish the results for readers.
What do you know about a soil pH meter I have seen in garden stores? Are they as accurate as the technique using a little vial with soil added? They work by measuring electrical current in the soil.
Cheryl Bunting, Suffolk
Universities do not recommend these devices or the soil-testing kits sold by mail. The best way to test your soil pH is to take some samples and send to Virginia Tech. Your extension office in Suffolk can provide containers and mailing information.
I am having a problem with moles in my yard. I need a solution. I also need to know a good plant food for Thanksgiving and Christmas cactus and information on how to care for them. Leaves are falling off. Could it be dryness?
Mary R. Davis, Severn, N.C.
Moles eat grubs, and if you eliminate the grubs, you'll get rid of many moles. You can do this by using milky spore on your yard, which gives the grubs a disease and they die so the moles move away. Or you can put diazinon, Merit or Dursban on the same area to kill grubs and get similar results. You'll have to use those chemical products every six months, because they don't last any longer than that.
Better I believe is to use Mole Med, available in garden centers. You spray it over the entire area and then water it in. It is a castor-oil mixture that drives moles off but is harmless to pets. It doesn't kill the moles, just makes them move on. It should be used three times a year.
As to Christmas cactus, they need darkness or cool weather to bud for re-blooming. They are sensitive to too much water or not enough. Either will cause leaves to drop. Make sure the pot they are in has good drainage. You can feed them with any houseplant fertilizer. I'm sending you literature on how to care for these cactus in the stamped, addressed envelope you provided. 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