And once again my zucchinis have mildew – what can I do?
There are a few things you can do to help your plant thrive! First, check the weather. If it’s not the right temperature or humidity, your plant might need some extra care. Second, look for signs of nutrient deficiency. This is a common issue with balcony flowers like surfinias. The good news is that you can easily fix it with organic liquid fertilizer. And if your plant is still struggling, try mixing baking soda with water. This will help balance the pH levels in the soil and give your plant the boost it needs to grow!
(1 tsp/1 L) to combat it.
There are so many patches of mildew in our lawn – it’s all gray. A gardener recommends a fungicide. But we have small children and a dog.
I would scarify the lawn for now, sand it down and apply a soil activator and an organic fertilizer. Obviously the soil is compacted and waterlogged.
There are so many gnats in our rain barrels. Which product can you recommend?
The so-called Bacillus thuringiensis (often known as “Neudomück”) is available in tablet form. One tablet is enough to treat 50 to 100 liters of water for several weeks. By the way: if you water with it indoors, you will also have no more fungus gnats.
Can I still plant standard roses now? I had no room in the shrub bed before and left the rose in a pot.
Yes, of course, fall is the best time for planting roses and shrubs in general.
My peonies have grown a lot this year, can I cut off the leaves already?
No, under no circumstances should you do this. Now is the time for the plants to gather strength for the coming year. Some also have interesting seed heads (photo right). It is best to remove the dried leaves in early spring.
There are lots of yellow patches in my lawn, we have fertilized and it can’t be a pet causing it. Is it the drought?
If it’s in a single spot, then a large stone could be the cause of drying out. But it is much more likely to be the larvae of the meadow snake biting off the lawn roots. The best way to combat this is with so-called nematodes.
The juniper gets a few brown branches every year in early summer. I fertilize it regularly and water it from time to time. Is it diseased?
Reasons for this could be: the leaf miner (use neem oil); the pear rust (which overwinters in the juniper – horsetail extract) and most likely the winter drought. Therefore, water regularly and generously on frost-free days from December onwards.
Our Dieffenbachia in the room has brown edges. What disease could this be?
It’s not a disease, but probably the air is too dry. If there are also brown spots on the leaves, it could have been watered too much.
Mr. Ploberger, I need your advice, what animal is eating my rhododendron?
It’s probably the weevil. It helps to water with nematodes (microscopic threadworms) in spring and fall.
My lawn is not nice and green. What am I doing wrong?
Fertilizing is extremely important. Three times a year – spring, summer and fall. Scarifying after the first mowing in spring is essential. It is best to mix a mixture of compost and quartz sand in a ratio of 3:1 generously under the soil.
I’ve been plagued by earth wasps on my property for a few years now. I now have hundreds of mounds in a sunny location. I am already despairing.
Are they really wasps? Can you see them or is it the earthworm? Earth wasps are extremely useful in themselves, but not near paths. If it really is wasps, I would buy a wasp spray.
I have 14 varieties of phlox that were a delight, but now they are infested with mildew.
There is a simple recipe to combat this: dissolve a tablespoon of baking soda in a liter of water, add effective microorganisms and horsetail extract. Very important: It is best to spray this mixture generously on the top and underside of the leaves in the evening. The plants should be dripping wet.
On raspberries that are cut in late fall, there are very small yellowish or black beetles on the ripe raspberries. I have an organic garden and don’t want to use poison if possible. Can you help me?
It is very likely that the raspberries are infested by the rice bug. It causes a horrible taste. Here you should spray with NEEM oil. This biological insecticide prevents the insects from shedding their skin and thus from developing further.
Which plants are suitable for a medium-sized, unprotected, very sunny west-facing balcony?
Genuine Mediterranean plants are suitable, including a whole range of herbs such as sage, rosemary and oregano. Plants such as spur flowers, gaura or small beauties such as roofroot are also suitable. Pelargoniums that grow properly will probably also survive. Be sure to fertilize and water sufficiently.
The leaves of tomato and bell pepper plants have holes. What is that?
They could be beetles or slugs. To check, I advise you to set up a slug trap. All you have to do is bury a yoghurt pot with beer in it. If you have a snail problem, “Ferramol Compact” will help. If there are beetles, use a neem preparation that you spray on in the evening. This will catch all the beetles.
What can I do about the small, gray slugs in the raised bed?
On the one hand, I use a product that a Lower Austrian mill sells – it’s called “Schneckenbarriere” (slug barrier). It provides perfect protection for a few days. I would also sprinkle a biological snail repellent based on iron-III-phosphate on top.
My tomatoes hardly flower at all. Is there too much nitrogen in the pots?
I don’t think so. This could be the problem with black cachepots, they heat up and burn the fine roots. The solution: place a wooden board in front of the pots or cover them with jute. When watering, stand behind them and give them a generous supply of tomato fertilizer.
I have frost moth caterpillars in the greenhouse. What can I do?
If they are two to three centimetres long and eat into the fruit, they are probably the vegetable owl. The same remedy as for the box tree moth, namely Xentari, helps here. One spray and they are all gone. It is harmless to humans.
I have a rose arch with a “Constanze Spray”. Can it be replanted?
I wouldn’t recommend that. Roses do not tolerate transplanting very well. November would be the best time, if at all, to cut the shoots back to 30 centimeters beforehand. Personally, I would leave it, because if it blooms so beautifully, the location is ideal. It would be better to plant another rose in the desired spot.
My aronia berries haven’t borne any berries for a few years now.
There could be several reasons for this: either the plant urgently needs fertilizer, or it is too dry or in the shade. Like all berries, aronia berries need plenty of sun and fertilizer. If you pay attention to all this, you will have a rich harvest again next year.
The roses are turning brown up to the stem. What could that be?
This is probably rose rust, a fungal disease like mildew. Infected leaves will not recover and must be removed. Spray the rest of the plant intensively with horsetail extract and effective microorganisms – at least three times a week for a long time.
The blight on the potatoes was extreme. Can I still plant the fruit?
It is better to buy new seeds, as the fungal pathogens are very resistant and can survive in winter storage.
The tomatoes have a brown spot, otherwise the fruits grow normally. What am I doing wrong?
Blossom end rot is the name given to this phenomenon, which is not a disease in the true sense of the word. High temperatures or irregular watering prevent the plant from absorbing calcium, which causes this damage. However, once the affected area has been cut out, the fruit can be used without hesitation.
If the tomato leaves are diseased, will the fruit also become diseased?
There is a very high probability that late blight will spread to the fruit. Sometimes they can be subjected to emergency ripening together with apples in baskets. Often, however, the disease spreads further and the fruits are no longer edible.
The gladioli have withered. Can I take the corms into the cellar?
Gladioli remain in the ground until they are completely absorbed, just like tulips and the like in spring. Gladioli also store nutrients and then flower much more beautifully the following year. Incidentally, the mild winters of recent times have also allowed many gladioli to overwinter well in the beds.
When pruning nut trees in August, the fruit is lost?
As much as the heart bleeds, the walnut tree should really be pruned now, because the tree bleeds at any other time. This is when the cuts heal most quickly. The green nuts can be used to make schnapps, for example, which is a good use of the fruit.
Is it possible for wasps to bite my fuchsias?
This can easily be the case, as the sweet nectar is undoubtedly also a special treat for wasps. In some cases, however, earwigs also bite holes in the calyx, as they are also magically attracted to the delicious flower contents.
Which shrubs are particularly suitable for birds as a breeding ground and food source?
In principle, any wild hedge is suitable, for example those planted with rowan, black elder and hawthorn. When planting, make sure you leave enough space, as some shrubs grow tall but can easily be cut back.
The black currant grows vigorously, but has almost no fruit. It sprouted by chance.
This “wildling” will never produce many fruits. It obviously got into the hedge through bird droppings and has none of the good characteristics of cultivated varieties. So dig it up and replace it with a fruiting variety.
Can you also create a hedge from perennials?
Absolutely, perennials also make a good privacy screen and are just as suitable as a design element as woody hedges. They are a creative solution, especially for smaller gardens, and score points with their species richness and variety of flowers.
I fertilized the oleander three times a week this year, as you suggested. Should I stop now?
Oleanders need a lot of nutrients. However, I would stop fertilizing slowly so that it doesn’t go into autumn with too much vigour. If the sun is shining, fertilize for another two weeks or so, but no more if the weather is bad.
The oleander is shedding lots of yellow leaves. What am I doing wrong? What can I do?
This Mediterranean alluvial forest plant needs a lot of water and nutrients in summer. If you fertilize too little or water too little (even when it rains, because the leaves keep the drops out), you will have to reckon with the yellow leaves. The plant gets the nutrients it needs to grow from the oldest leaves in order to produce new flowers and foliage.
A lot of weeds grow on garden paths made of old cobblestones. What to do without poison?
The best method is of course to pull or scrape them out. I use a scraper to remove large areas. The denser the pavement cracks are mossy, the less wild growth there is. Spraying twenty percent vinegar essence with boiling water also helps.
What to do in the garden and on the balcony now:
- The days are already getting noticeably shorter, but many balcony flowers are just now entering a phase of growth again. It is therefore essential to fertilize, otherwise petunias and surfinias, for example, will suffer from mildew.
- Cut out currants, if you haven’t already done so, and also remove the dead canes from summer raspberries at ground level. Feed the soil with organic fertilizer and compost. Mulch thickly with grass cuttings, the new shoots must grow vigorously.
- Thin out fruit that is too dense – and use fruit for jelly.
- Order flower bulbs and plant them in September.
