Garden In Questions And Answers

Readers often call or visit our website and ask their questions about the cultivation of various crops, the fight against diseases of flowers and vegetables. We will try to regularly publish expert consultations to help you solve emerging problems. Prepare questions.

How to deal with scale insects and mealy worms?

The mealy worm is clearly visible on plants, it is given off by a white waxy discharge resembling cotton wool. The scabbard is more difficult to detect as it is disguised. You will not immediately see brown scales on the trunks and leaves, you will sooner pay attention to the sticky discharge. A sooty fungus is often found on these secretions.

The best insecticide is Actellic. The active ingredient is pirimifosmethyl. It has a contact and limited systemic effect. From "folk" remedies, you can use an infusion of garlic (20-30 g of chopped garlic is poured into 1 liter of water, insisted for a day) or an infusion of onion peel. (Pour 2 cups of husk into 1 liter of hot water, insist for a day, dilute with water 2 times).

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Small insects fly around the plant. How to deal with them?

Due to excess moisture in the soil, small black flies appear - mushroom gnats or sciarids. Adult insects do no harm to plants, but the larvae in the soil harm the young roots. To combat this pest, insecticides such as "Thunder-2", "Mukhoed" are used. Dry the substrate a little, and these flies will quickly die.

What is soil pH?

The abbreviation pH stands for "water index". It gives an idea of ​​the level of possible content of hydrogen ions in the soil solution.

Depends on it: the solubility of toxic substances in the soil, the activity of beneficial and harmful microorganisms, the availability of mineral elements, the ability of root hairs to absorb water and nutrients. The acidity of the soil depends on the quantity and quality of water, the type of soil, the content of nitrogen fertilizers in it.

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Why do some types of pelargonium not bloom?

The flowering of pelargonium is affected by a properly organized rest period - a cool winter, the temperature is not higher than 15-17 degrees. In early spring, the old shoots are cut shortly in order to activate the growth of young shoots that produce flowers.

You can enhance flowering with a spring transplant. Be sure to use the fertilizer once every 10 days.

I was given a room lemon, how to take care of it?

Citrus fruits have 3-4 periods of increased growth per year. In spring, the leaves are usually larger and more brightly colored. For the formation of one fruit on a tree, you must have at least ten developed leaves. Abundant flowering is observed from February to August. The crop can be obtained with regular fertilization. In the summer, once every 10 days, in the winter - no more than once a month. Lemons are best kept in a bright, sunny, draft-free room. In winter, in low light, it is advisable to keep it at a temperature of 10-12 degrees or to supplement it, if in winter the duration of daylight hours is less than 8 hours.

In summer, lemon is taken out into the open air. Dry air is bad for lemon health and crops. Water is moderately watered, at intervals of 7-10 days, after watering with soft warm water, the topsoil is allowed to dry by 3-5 cm. Budding and flowering occur best at an air and soil temperature of 14-17 degrees. For successful fruiting, a temperature of 19-20 degrees is needed. Young plants are transplanted annually. Adults - once every three years. Mandatory tree pruning is carried out, fatty shoots are removed.

Can you cook your own garden soil?

Of course, but practice shows that it is not always possible to use it in the first year. Making land on your own is practical if you need a lot of it every year. To do this, you should purchase all the necessary ingredients and in appropriate quantities - peat, perlite (or vermiculite), sand, compost, add kitchen waste, sawdust and complex fertilizers. If you make the land yourself, then, taking into account the labor and material cost, you will save a little compared to buying ready-made land.

If you decide to add building sand, garden or turf soil, feces to the specified mixture, then they should be cleaned of pathogens, pest eggs, roots and weed seeds before mixing them with pure ingredients. At best, there will be a bad smell and the process itself will take a long time.

If you need small amounts of land, for example for sowing seeds, you can use a mixture of peat with sphagnum. And then, after the appearance of true leaves from the seedlings, transplant the latter into normal potting soil. For everything else, I would use ready-made soil.

How does soil acidity work on growing tomatoes?

One gardener complained that growing tomatoes in a tall garden with acidic soil produced very acidic tomatoes.

He is delusional. All tomatoes are sour in nature - they are typically acidic with a pH of 4-4.5, and it depends on the variety. When it comes to the taste of tomatoes, most people rate tomatoes for aroma and piquancy and associate them with pleasant pleasure. They don't talk about the acidity of the pulp.

People who canned tomatoes, taking care of increasing the acidity of the pulp, as a rule, add citric acid, lemon juice or vinegar to the marinade to give a certain taste to tomatoes or to avoid food poisoning, to prevent the development of toxic mushrooms. To prevent the development of toxins such as botulism, which appear during storage of food, including tomatoes, the marinade is sour taste.

The "sour" taste of fresh tomatoes to the grower is likely due more to the combination of cultivar and growing conditions such as temperature, humidity and sunlight than to the acidity of the soil. In high beds, the soil dries out faster and the tomatoes receive more heat than in the open field. It also depends on the composition of the fertilizer. If there is a lot of nitrogen and little potassium, tomatoes are less aromatic. All of these conditions could affect the taste of your tomatoes.