THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 11, 1996 TAG: 9608090089
SECTION: HOME PAGE: G3 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: GARDENING
SOURCE: ROBERT STIFFLER
LENGTH: 120 lines
You recently had a question about Indian meal moths. I had a problem many years ago with an insect that may have been the Indian meal moth. Someone said that leaves of a bay tree would prevent the problem. And it works. Just put two or three leaves in open containers of corn meal, flour, pancake mix and all similar products. Also put a few leaves on your pantry shelves. The leaves may crumble after many years of use but are still effective.
Jerry Davis, Virginia Beach
Thanks for sound advice. I remember now that we used to keep bay leaves on all the pantry shelves - and never had meal moths. Native bay trees can be found in the woods and undeveloped areas, plus there are cultivated varieties sold in nurseries. You can also try using the dried bay leaves you buy for cooking.
I am enclosing a snapshot of one of my snake plants with a bloom. Is this unusual? The last time it bloomed, it had several stalks of blooms. Before moving here from Maryland 10 years ago, my snake plants bloomed several times. It had become so large that I broke it into three plants and kept two. This is the first time it has bloomed since breaking it up. The original plant was given to me over 40 years ago. I am 84, have a half-acre of land and keep up with my own gardens.
Louise M. Topping, Chesapeake
It's interesting that the Time-Life book on blooming houseplants does not list Sansevieria, more often called snake plant. It goes by many names including Mother-in-Law's tongue, bow-string Hemp and snake plant. Virginia Tech experts say it must be rootbound to bloom, which is probably why yours did not bloom for 10 years. They also say there is some indication that it is ``short-day dedependent,'' much like a poinsettia.
It often takes a long time after being divided for a plant to bloom again. I've owned this plant, off and on for years, but never before saw one in bloom. I'm sure many readers will be as surprised as was I.
I have tried very hard to find someone who could tell me a weed and feed for St. Augustine and Zoysia grass. Can you help?
Blanche L. Talley, Norfolk
Call Gardens In a Flowerpot at 489-8972. They have two brands, Fertiloam and Sta-Green. Each makes a weed and feed for St. Augustine and other Southern Grasses. The same products should also be available in other garden centers. If readers want to spray, a good liquid is Trimec Southern. If you can't find that one, call wholesaler Turf & Garden at 543-2071 and ask what dealers stock it.
My 4-foot gardenia bush appeared to have been hurt by winter cold. It shows some new growth at the tips of ugly brown branches. How can I save this bush and make it attractive again?
Also we are concerned about a hybrid tea rose named Olympia, which we planted on our son's grave in 1992. It produced beautiful deep crimson blooms until last year when an intruder cane appeared with clusters of magenta colored blooms, resembling a climber. We cut the cane back, but it is back again this year, big-time. Again we've cut the canes, but the original rose seems to be in trouble. Why did this happen and is there anything we can do to strengthen the original rose? We'd really like to save this bush for sentimental reasons.
Peggy L. McKay, Portsmouth
For your gardenia, prune it back to where you can see green in the stem, fertilize and water the plant and hope for the best. It may or may not survive. Just be consoled that most gardenias in this area suffered similar damage. Some may live and others will not.
As to your rose, the intruding cane is a sucker from the wild rose root on which the Olympia hybrid tea was grafted. This sometimes happens when the graft is improperly done. Some varieties seem more suceptible to suckers than others. I have two on which suckers shoot up every year. You're right in that they do take vitality away from the rose you want. All you can do is to regularly cut off the sucker at ground level or below and feed and water the rose. If you use any kind of chemical to kill the sucker, you'll most likely kill the preferred rose, so it's not an easy problem to solve.
Perhaps a year ago, I read your article about an attractive small tree called the clerodendron. I bought a couple and each spring, they leaf out well and appear vigorous and healthy. Then it seems every bug, insect or whatever in the neighborhood comes to feast. Can you suggest a prevention program I could use to prevent a recurrance this year?
Tom Parsons, Virginia Beach
Your tree is often called the ``butterfly tree,'' because when in bloom it attracts thousands of butterflies. It is also called the peanut butter tree, because if you crush its leaves, they smell like peanut butter.
The tree does attract butterflies and presumably other insects because of its fragrance, but I've never before had a complaint like yours. I know of no solution except to net the tree with a fine net, which would be difficult to do because it is a fast-grower. If you spray with an insecticide, you'll kill desirable insects along with the undesirable ones. Perhaps the best solution would be to move the trees to a more remote area, where the insects would not be so bothersome.
The enclosed article came from the Winston-Salem Journal. I thought your readers would find it interesting: ``Many gardeners are still on the lookout for any way that works to control moles. Here's an idea worth trying: Simply scare the rascals away. All you need is a battery operated radio set in the garden. The talking and singing will scare them away, some claim for years.'' You have mentioned Borax for apple trees. Please give me information on how it should be used.
Nancy Brown, Chesapeake
I thought I'd heard of every remedy for moles, but the radio is a new one. I agree that some of the junk heard on radio today should scare them.
As to Borax for apple trees, it's very difficult to find any definitive proof that boron should be used around apple trees. Boron is a micro-nutrient, and too much can be as bad or worse than not enough. Symptoms of a boron deficiency is that terminal growth dies; lateral growth that develops has sparse foliage. Leaves are small, thick, misshapen and brittle. If your apples have such symptoms, you might apply Borax, but only sparingly. Twenty Mule Team Borax is available in supermarkets.
Please give me a treatment for June bugs on my roses. I am not sure of the proper name for these bugs but each year in June, they come and eat all my roses. I don't have a sample of the bugs, but their backs are hard and their bodies are green. I have tried different sprays but none have helped.
Annette Lewis, Virginia Beach
Your bugs are Japanese beetles. You can use beetle traps, but put them far away from your roses. That sometimes helps. You can pick them off by hand early in the morning, when beetles are drowsy, and drop them in a can of kerosene.
There are a number of chemicals labeled for Japanese beetle control. The method most people use is to dust their roses every other day with Sevin dust. It does not prevent damage but kills the beetles it comes in contact with. Fortunately, by mid-July they usually lay their eggs in turf areas and then they die. The eggs hatch into grubs that emerge in June the following year. by CNB