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February
19, 2004
Hortiscope
Ronald C.
Smith, Horticulturist
NDSU Extension Service
Q: I have a Madagascar
palm in my living room that has west-facing windows. The palm is about
5 1/2 feet tall. Since we moved a year ago it has not grown or produced
any new fronds. It looks like three very tall cacti growing in a pot.
Does it need acidic plant food? What kind of soil does it prefer? Does
it like to be root-bound or not? The plant has 3-inch spikes all over
it and is horrible to transplant, so if it doesn't need it, I would rather
not repot it. We've had this plant for over 15 years but in its current
"ugly" state, my family is making noise about getting rid of
it. (E-mail reference)
A: Your Madagascar
palm is likely in a dormant stage right now. Since its native stomping
grounds is Madagascar, it needs as much direct sunlight as you can give
it. Because it is dormant, the plant’s water requirements are
greatly reduced, needing only enough to keep it from shriveling up.
When spring arrives, return to weekly watering but allow the soil to
dry before watering again. It doesn't need fertilizer now, but should
have a diluted shot of any houseplant fertilizer when new growth commences.
I wouldn't repot this thing unless I had armor plates on all parts of
my body! If the plant has become too ugly or too threatening, I would
suggest taking cuttings from it and rooting those to start again.
Q: Some time ago I
wrote and asked for help in locating an apple that old timers called the
sheepnose apple. Some of your readers replied concerning what they believe
it is. I am afraid none of them were correct, at least in regards to the
apple I am searching for. I have a huge ancient tree in the orchard that
is the sheepnose apple I am searching for. From what I have discovered,
the sheepnose was at one time very popular in German/Russian communities
and no doubt was brought to this country from Russia. The fruit is small,
golfball sized, and yellow. It ripens in late July and is very sweet and
mealy. The fruits are pointed on the end like a sheep's nose. I have not
been able to graft a new tree from the old one. Can anyone out there help
me? I would like to get some new trees started before this one dies. (Freeman,
S.D.)
A: Perhaps this
appeal will work for you this time. There is a large reading audience
out there. I am sure that your request will eventually reach receptive
eyes.
Q: I have a hoya plant
that is more than 20-years-old and very large. An aunt told me not to
take starts from it because it would not bloom for years after that. Is
this true? Can I take starts? And can I cut it back so it doesn't take
over my dining room? (E-mail reference)
A: Go ahead and
reduce the size of the plant but don’t take off any remaining
spurs, as that is where the flowers originate each year. Take 3 to 4
inch cuttings, making the cut just below a pair of leaves. Dip the ends
in a rooting hormone and stick two or three together in a pot containing
a 50/50 mix of peat moss and coarse sand or perlite. Moisten the media
then cover the entire pot in a plastic bag. Keep the pot in medium-room
light until rooting is complete, which is about six weeks or more. Uncover
and water sparingly until new growth appears, then begin regular fertilization
schedules. After about 90 days, move them into new containers with a
soil-based mixture and treat them as you would mature hoya plants.
Q: I have a golden
retriever who loves eating the leaves of my hackberry trees and anyone
else's when we go for a walk. She is always on the hunt for them and sniffs
them out. Is there something in the hackberry leaf that is medicinal?
What attracts her to this particular tree? (E-mail reference)
A: I have never
heard of this before. Perhaps she was a horticulturist in another life?
Maybe her mother birthed her beneath a hackberry and she associates
it with the tender loving care she received as a pup? Watch her the
next time to see if she eats just the leaves with the nipple galls on
them or the plain ones. There might be something associated with this
that only she knows about. Thanks for a good question!
Q: I have a ficus
tree that was given to me three months ago when I moved to my new house.
It is about four feet high and was thriving when I got it. We have very
large windows so it gets lots of light but it is dropping yellowed leaves
like crazy. We got a kitten around the same time and I have caught him
playing in the dirt two or three times but do not see any evidence that
he has littered in it. Also, around that same time our outside temperature
was subzero or in the single digits. Did the plant get too cold because
it sits in front of a very large window? What is your advice on how I
can save this plant? (E-mail reference)
A: I would find
it difficult to believe (being an owner of three cats myself) that your
kitten didn't use the containerized soil as a litter box unless you
were very swift and severe in your correction. There is a draft of cold
air that comes off a large window during sub-zero weather. Ficus is
a tropical plant so cold air drafts are not good for it. Place aluminum
foil over the container top after watering to deter the cat. You will
be able to tell if he is trying to sneak in behind your back. Make sure
you don't over-water. It’s a common tendency that kills plants.
Move the plant back a couple of feet from the window and get some artificial
plant lights directed on the remaining foliage. Your plant is very likely
in a very different light situation compared to where it came from.
They are typically raised on high light intensity (1000 foot candles
or more) with a combination of artificial and natural light. When brought
into a home, they are lucky if they get 250-foot candles of light. This
major reduction in light causes the yellowing and dropping of the foliage.
If it is too low, the low light intensity and duration will cause crown
thinning (die-back of branches) until there is a balance of foliage
to the available light. Based on what you have told me, this is the
best advice I can give you.
Q: My mother gave
me a tiny crabapple tree she received from the Arbor Day Foundation. I
have no idea what kind it is. I planted it on a partially shaded side
of the house. It has been there for three or four years and seems to be
growing just fine, but it has never bloomed. Does it need more sun? Could
I move it without killing it? When is the best time to move it? (E-mail
reference)
A:
You could move it, but I wouldn't recommend it. Sometimes it takes crabapple
and other fruit-bearing trees five or more years to mature enough to
flower and fruit. As long as it gets about six hours of direct sun each
day that should be sufficient to get it to bloom eventually. Don't make
the mistake of fertilizing with turf fertilizer around the tree. This
highly nitrogenous fertilizer material is good for the turfgrass and
will cause the tree to put on lots of vegetative growth, but it does
so at the expense of flowering, and sometimes disease resistance. If
you are locked in to moving it, then do it this spring before new growth
emerges with as large a root ball as you can handle and be sure to set
it at the same depth.
Q: I’m hoping
you can answer a question I have regarding a contorted filbert tree I
purchased last year. When I bought it, the nursery provided some pruning
instructions on specific ways to keep the branches contorted. The instructions
stated that if you pruned the tree improperly the branches would no longer
contort. Any advice or instructions you could provide me would be greatly
appreciated as I do not want to loose the contorted look this tree has.
(E-mail reference)
A: The contortions
of the tree are lost when the tree is over-pruned back to beyond the
graft, which would be difficult to do since the graft is on the rootstock
of the species. What they might have meant is that if you prune more
than 25 to 30 percent of the tree at any one time, you might cause extensive
suckering to develop from that rootstock. If unchecked, it would wipe
out the grafted scion wood that is doing the contorting. You might be
lucky and have one of the cultivars that are propagated via stooling,
a process that has the roots developing on the contorted stock rather
than having it grafted.
Q: My neighbor has
a huge Christmas cactus. She wants to give me a starting but is not sure
how to cut or pull out a section so it will survive. I don't want to be
responsible for her plant dying just because I want a starting of my own.
It was her mothers and she has recently passed away. (E-mail reference)
A: All she needs
to do is cut off sections of the stem consisting of two or three joined
segments. Allow them to dry for a few hours and then push them into
a 3-inch pot that has the same potting soil as the mother plant does.
Treat the cuttings as mature plants and in about four to six weeks they
should have rooted and begun to show some new growth. This will not
harm the mother plant.
Q: I bought several
large houseplants 12 days ago. One the day I brought them home there was
a terrible blizzard. Even though I bagged them tight with clear bags and
warmed my van, they were still exposed to the cold. My yucca plant now
has yellow leaves with brown tips. I watered them three days ago with
filtered water. It is in the living room, which has bright indirect light.
My marginata dracaena
has leaf drop and some tips shriveling up. I watered it three days ago
and the topsoil feels dry at this time. It gets bright indirect light.
My majesty palm has shriveling leaves but no leaf drop. I watered them
three days ago and it is also located in the living room. My snake plants
seem to be doing okay. I have windows all over the house so it's hard
to find a place that is really nice and warm. My house temp stays around
68 to70 degrees. (E-mail reference)
A: It sounds like
everything got a little nipped and will recover nicely when you summer
them outdoors in about four months. Hold off on the watering during
this transition period. Discount stores are famous for buying out a
grower's current stock in Florida, Texas or Arizona and shipping them
directly to their stores. They go from a semi-tropical, full sun environment
to someone's house in the upper Midwest, and so are bound to show some
"transition symptoms" such as you described. The plants will
lose some foliage and yellow somewhat, but with a little patience and
the proper care, such as not over-watering, they should all pull through
for you. Next time tell them to double bag if the weather is unfriendly.
Q: I know someone
who is trying to raise blueberries. One question he has regards using
ground up pinecones to lower the soil pH. Can this be done? We found some
information about using sawdust. He does some woodworking and is concerned
about using sawdust from plywood. (E-mail reference)
A: He needs 100
percent sphagnum peat and pinecones along with acidifying fertilizer.
He should also select the hardiest plants he can find. I would stay
away from the sawdust. It might have toxins from the glue and might
cause chlorosis on the plants.
Q: How do I dig up
volunteer cottonwoods and plant them at another location? They would have
to be barerooted. What size cottonwoods can be moved this way and how
much root needs to be taken? (E-mail reference)
A: The smaller the
better and the more roots the better. When the size goes up so does
the difficulty in moving them, more root system is lost, and the survival
rate drops. It would be best if you could get some one to two inch caliper
material. Plant them at the same depth and water in well.
Do you have a gardening
or houseplant question? Write to Hortiscope, Box 5051, NDSU Extension
Service, Fargo, ND 58105 or e-mail to Ron Smith at ronsmith@ndsuext.nodak.edu.
Note to e-mail correspondents: please identify your location (city and
state) for most accurate recommendations.
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Source:
Ron
Smith, (701) 231-8161, ronsmith@ndsuext.nodak.edu
Editor: Rich Mattern, (701) 231-6136, richard.mattern@ndsu.nodak.edu
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