Q. Have I endangered my mango tree by hanging a few strips of Spanish moss from the branches? At first I put it in the center of the branches but noticed bugs collected there. I was afraid the bugs would eat holes in the tree so I moved it to the ends of the branches.
Did I damage my staghorn fern when I removed some of the offshoots to mount on a new frame? I used a knife to cut out different plants where growth was dense. Will it go into shock, or did I do the correct thing to give room for new plants to grow?
I also enclose a citrus branch. In five years, no fruit has been produced. Is there a kind of citrus tree that never produces fruit? The tree is tall enough to reach the tip of the roof. It has thorns just like the orange tree nearby.
A. Spanish moss and other air plants will not damage your trees. We are near the southern limit for Spanish moss, but some old oaks in this area are festooned with moss and are in wonderful health.
The usual way to propagate staghorn ferns is to take “pups” from the main plant, as you did. Cut them away as though you were coring an apple. Use a sterile knife to minimize disease problems. Mount the pups with sphagnum moss on plaques or in wire or fern baskets and place them in filtered sun. Fertilize them monthly from March to October with a weak solution of Peters 20-20-20.
The leaves from your citrus tree smell like lemon or possibly lime. Both of these trees have thorny stems. The samples you enclosed have scale, a sucking insect that can weaken the tree. Spray with malathion or soapy water twice at one-week intervals. Do not spray if the tree is in bloom or you will kill pollinating bees. If your tree was grown from seed, it will take about seven or eight years to bear. Fertilize in March, June and October with a good citrus fertilizer, and avoid excess water.
Q. I know farming, but I know nothing about oranges or other citrus. A friend just purchased a home with a large tree in the yard. I would class it as a cross between a tangerine and an orange. Fruit is very sweet and juicy but the leaves are curled up and dry. Also there is a perfect round hole about 1/4- inch in diameter in several fruits. I checked for worms and found none. The only thing I’ve seen are little insects, like flies.
A. Tangelos and tangerines often have cupped foliage. In some varieties, it is natural for the foliage to have this appearance. New foliage sometimes is curled excessively if aphids are present. These insects suck juices from the plant but usually are not serious. A strong jet of water on new growth will dislodge them.
Holes in the fruit are caused primarily by stinkbugs. Harvest fruit early to avoid this pest. Stinkbugs are very mobile, so spraying is pretty useless. Normally, they damage only a few fruits. The small bugs in the fruit are scavengers and help to dispose of it. They are nature’s garbage collectors.
Q. When should I prune hibiscus? Also, I planted marigolds in pots November through January, but they got up to 2 or 3 inches and died.
A. Cut back hibiscus now, but take off no more than a third of the total plant growth. More than this can shock the plant and severely weaken it.
Marigolds are best germinated in an indirect-light location — the north side of the house or under a shade tree. After that, they can be gradually moved out into full sun. Seedlings are very sensitive to excess watering. Yours may be suffering from damping off, a fungal condition that causes a seedling to collapse from rot at the base of the stem. Keep seedlings in an area where there is good air movement.
Q. For the past few years I’ve tried to grow romaine lettuce in my vegetable patch in good soil and full sun, but each time the leaves are thin, almost limp, not stiff and crunchy like the kind I buy in the supermarket. I use a balanced fertilizer and water regularly.
A. Lettuce is a cool weather crop that can be sown between September and January. Limp pale lettuce could be attributed to growing the plants in full sun. A cooler location with morning sun only would result in better quality lettuce. The past two winters have been unusually warm, which has adversely affected cool weather crops.
Q. I have a 12-year-old avocado tree, Lula variety. It produces a desirable crop nearly every year. However, the last couple of years I have noticed enclosed “stones” in the flesh after the first of the year.
A. According to Dr. Carl Campbell, tropical fruit expert, and Broward County Extension agent Robert Pardo, the stonelike growths are caused by a piercing, sucking insect called a myriad. The insect pierces the fruit when it is small. If the fruit is pierced several times, woody growths result. It is not a serious problem, so no control is recommended for this insect.
Send your gardening question to Robert Haehle, in care of Lifestyle, News/ Sun-Sentinel, 101 N. New River Drive, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. 33301-2293. In Palm Beach County, write to Haehle in care of the Sun-Sentinel, 3333 S. Congress Ave., Delray Beach, Fla. 33445. Questions will be answered only in this column.
