It’s garden questions and answers again! You may e-mail me
questions at ga********@jp*.net.
It’s garden questions and answers again! You may e-mail me questions at ga********@jp*.net. Or you can mail me questions in care of this newspaper. For a faster, personal response, please include a self-addressed, stamped envelope.
Q. I have two questions about poinsettias and Christmas cactus. What do I do with them now that they’ve just about stopped blooming? – K.D., Morgan Hill.
Great questions, especially this time of year! I know my poinsettias are still blooming, but I’ll have to do something with them soon. Poinsettias can be re-potted and placed outdoors once danger of frost is over. You should also cut them back to four to six inches once they are through blooming. You can even plant them outdoors in a frost-protected spot. However, and this is a big however, don’t expect them to ever bloom again unless you go through a whole lot of trouble!
That’s because poinsettias are forced by greenhouse growers to get them to bloom. Starting at around Halloween, one must subject poinsettias to about 16 consecutive hours of complete darkness a day in order to force them to turn color. Most gardeners don’t have the fortitude to keep at this darkness regime. Put another way, those $7 poinsettias are quite a bargain!
Regarding Christmas cactus, also known as Zygocactus, these old favorites bloom dozens of purplish-red flowers around the holidays. They can be grown indoors or brought outside once frost is over. Unlike most cactus, Christmas cactus like to be watered frequently (but not kept soggy). They prefer rich porous soil, with plenty of leaf mold and sand. They can be fed with liquid fertilizer as often as every seven to 10 days. Like most cactus, they also prefer their roots to be a bit on the crowded side.
Q. A follow-up to one of your garden answers a couple months ago. There were a couple questions about suckers. I remember a product that you spray on plants to prevent sucker growth. Is it still available? – W.J., Gilroy.
There is a product called Sucker Stopper, a plant-growth regulator. Suckers are those annoying shoots that grow out of the base of many plants, including olives, redwoods, aspens, crabapples, pomegranite, sycamores and many others. If you cut the suckers off, they grow right back. Sucker-Stopper is sprayed on emerging shoots, and inhibits suckers for about three months. Admittedly, three months is not a long time and Sucker-Stopper also isn’t cheap. It runs about $32 for a 22-ounce bottle.
Sucker-Stopper is sold through Monterey Lawn and Garden. Check out their Web site at: www.montereylawngarden.com.
