Gardening Q's and A's

[klingsor]

Gardening Q's and A's

more2life;578133 wrote: I have a prolbem with my hibiscus. I know I have aphids, and have used a soapy spray, but the leaves are still turning yellow.

aphids may pass fungi. use antifungicals. ladybirds eat aphids too.

cheers

[klingsor]

Gardening Q's and A's

for fungi, copper sulfate is good.

cheers

also, in spanish: Jardiner?a, flores, jard?n - INFOJARDIN

[Rags]

Gardening Q's and A's

Gee, this is going to turn into a MONSTER thread of gigantic proportions. We'll never be able to find what we're looking for in a while. Do I want to ask RJ to ask Codemonkey to set up a separate Gardening section? That way we can set up specific threads... Just a thought.

[southernbelle47]

Gardening Q's and A's

Be careful with neem oil. I killed off our bees using it.
Bees polinate your plants and that is important if you grow veggies.

Ashes are also good for blooming flowers!
Roses from ashes!
:l

[sunshine_gg]

Gardening Q's and A's

Yay! Gardening! There are few things better than playing in the dirt!

No questions here... just another garden nut.
I've got some plants started inside right now. Some veggies (tomatoes, bell peppers, etc), some flowers (lupins, geraniums, etc.). Mr. Wonderful hasn't got much landscaping to speak of, so that'll be my project this year. Unfortunately, almost everything here is quite shady, so that somewhat limits the variety of what will do well.

But, I'm looking forward to it, regardless

[Sunbeam]

Gardening Q's and A's

Southern Nancy,
It would make some intuitive sense to me that any spray with oil in it could harm bees, at least reduce their ability to beat their wings. Is there something specific about this oil, I think from the neem tree? It serves as a repellant as well as being harmful to those ugly beetle buggers. Thanks for the info.

Sunshine, I agree about the dirt. I love growing plants and digging in the dirt equally. I love my shade garden - mostly foliage - because most of the weeds don't want to grow there. I think I'll go out now and dig up some more lawn.

[Sunbeam]

Gardening Q's and A's

Southern Nancy,
I found this statement on gardenweb:

Neem is now being used in bee colonies to control the mites that put the bees in peril.

They claim that neem oil is not toxic to bees at all.

If you have a source regarding neem oil being toxic to bees, we would all be interested in seeing it.

[southernbelle47]

Gardening Q's and A's

Interesting!
I used neem several years ago to control squash beetles and our bees died that year.
Maybe something else got them but I connected it with neem.
I may have sprayed it at the wrong time when some bees were on the plants or maybe it was one of the other bee problems that got them.
We have had several bee "issues" here for a few years.

We have another hive and plan on being more careful with anything..natural or chemical...

Do you have the site about using it for mites in bees?

:l
Nancy

[Sunbeam]

Gardening Q's and A's

More 2 life,
I'm delighted that this spray worked. I have used it on indoor plants for years.

SouthernNancy, Over half of the bees in the country have died, and the cause is uncertain. You can read some posts here:I might know the answer for CCD - Bees and Beekeeping Forum - GardenWeb

and this is the link to the GardenWeb forum on bees and bee keeping, where you can find out more about mite control
Bees and Beekeeping Forum - GardenWeb

Rain today here, so I couldn't dig up any more dirt.

[Sunbeam]

Gardening Q's and A's

SouthernNancy,
I didn't find anything about neem on the bees forum, but a Google search did turn up this:
Field evaluation of neem and canola oil for the selective control of the honey bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae) mite parasites Varroa jacobsoni (Acari: Varroidae) and Acarapis woodi (Acari: Tarsonemidae).

I don't know enough about bees to post a question, so you should do that on the forum. It's free, and I promise you will receive NO SPAM by becoming a member.

[Lila]

Gardening Q's and A's

Does anyone know what I should have around the perimeter of my house? Right now we have mulch, but when it is wet out, millepedes come into the basement, and into the kitchen. I wonder if now that it is spring, I should get rid of the mulch and have rocks there instead?? Will that be better for dryness?
Lila

[rubywillow]

Gardening Q's and A's

I use rocks in places for drainage, and mulch or pine straw where I need to keep moisture in. I had such a good time working at my cabin last week. My garlic bed is thriving, and I'm working now on the side of the hill where we had rocks pushed over when we had grading done, planting among the rocks, and also I've started a trail up the side of the mountain about 75 feet. We have discovered ancient carvings on a huge boulder there at the trail end, and there are mountain laurel, azalea, rare wild natural plants, ferns, all growing in some very fertile soil. The soil in my front yard was 'sugar dirt', basically finely crushed rock and sand, so I've been carting in soil and compost for years! Can't wait to get back - my lilies are growing like mad!

[Evie.Lou]

Gardening Q's and A's

I am sooo excited !!! Hubby surprised me with a whole hydroponic gardening system...We are trying to figure out how to set it up now. I already put some seeds to start to sprout in the spun wool cubes and I am reading all about the "what to does...and not to does". I have seen a demonstration at EPCOT and was very impressed...I will keep you all posted and if anyone has experience with hydroponics...please HELP !!!

[rubywillow]

Gardening Q's and A's

Evie, I'm SO jealous. We've been looking at them, and I keep expecting one too!I bought several small plastic 'greenhouse' starters and uused peat pellets sev weeks ago to start lots of dif things (I'm going to grow gourds this year for Hubs to built a purple martin stand. My sister paints, carves and decorates them, too. I'm also growin 8 giant pumpkin plants for the grands, if I can keep the deer out! Oh, and I have an upside down tomato grower, too, and if it works, I'm going to make some more of my own. Let me know what brand you bought and and how it works, please!

[Evie.Lou]

Gardening Q's and A's

It is soooo very cool !!! It is a simple water culture system. It has a air pumps and a bubble rocks in each of the containers. You can plant multiple plants together but you must keep the flowering (like tomato's and peppers) separate from the leaf like herbs and lettuces. We are gonna do alot of vertical vines like Malabar spinach,exotic melons and English cucumbers. The plants don't get stressed out in the heat of summer like soil grown plants...We have a perfect courtyard to grow in. I am ordering all kinds of strange seeds and loving every minute of it !!!