Presenter: Sue McDougall
Episode: 19
1^st September 2007

Better Pets and Gardens is a totally Western Australian owned company that you may be familiar with when it comes to getting help with your dog cat or guinea pig, but you may not be aware they also have a great range of accessories and solutions for your garden. So the Garden Gurus have invited Garden Club members to enjoy the atmosphere and get their garden questions answered.

QUESTIONS:

Camellia:
Has weevil damage; try taking it out of the ground and put it in a pot, really push it with lots of organic fertilizers to get it growing nice and healthy.

Hippeastrums:
Cut all the foliage off and mix up a good container of Confidor solution then dunk the whole pot. As the mealybugs also live in the soil, they actually come out of the soil and affect the leaves. That should control it.

Azaleas:
Feed them, push them, and get some new growth. Also give them a spray with iron chelates which works like a bandaid treatment and will green them up instantly to get them growing beautifully. Do not forget to mulch.

Daphne:
They have been watered with bore water. You need to get all the stain off the leaves as that stops it growing properly. Cut off all the dead branches and give the soil a dose of ani rot, then just feed it gradually, not too much, Daphnes’ do not like to be over fertilized.

Sue is a huge fan of growing plants in pots and roses do brilliantly, when they are in flower bring them close so you can enjoy them. So here is a simple idea to bring colour to a sunny veranda.

Choose a fairly large pot like the Yates, Self watering Tuscan Pots; they have got a decent amount of room for soil so the plants to develop to their full potential and always use premium potting mix. Roses are tough plants and if you plant a few different varieties in one pot they will grow up and flower brilliantly for months and months.

Just a couple of things to remember, people expect a lot of modern day roses to flower all year round. To ensure this sprinkle a little of the new Dynamic lifter for roses around every 6 weeks from now until end of May and you will be guaranteed the healthiest growth and strong disease resistant bushes.

Aphids can also be a problem with the new growth so a quick squirt of Confidor at the first sign of the pest, it is that easy to have gorgeous potted flowering roses right through spring and summer.

So as well as everything for your pet the team at Better Pets and Gardens can also help you with your garden, call in and check it out you will be glad you did.

Better Pets and Gardens
2 Ferguson Street
Midland. (Opposite Bunnings warehouse)


Products Featured:

Waterwise Premium Potting Mix

• Wetting agents and water crystals help water penetrate into the mix and retain moisture in containers or in garden soil for release over time.
• Ideal for container grown and garden plants.
• Contains Dynamic Lifter Organic Plant Food for plant nutrition and to encourage beneficial soil micro-organisms and earthworms.
• Contains coir peat which stores water and nutrients and improves the structure of the mix.

Yates Tuscan Pots

• These good-looking pots are made from UV-stabilised plastic (which means they last well outdoors)
• Available in an attractive range of colours: Caulfield Green, Sandstone, Terracotta, Burgundy and Cobalt Blue
• A large number of drainage holes and raised drainage channels in the base ensure good drainage.
• Vertical ridges in the internal sides act as root trainers and add strength to the pot walls.
• Can be teamed with matching saucers.
• Lightweight and easy to move.

Dynamic Lifter for Roses

• Anew formulation of Australia’s favourite organic-based plant food. Dynamic Lifter for Roses combines rich, composted chicken manure with all those extra nutrients that roses require for healthy growth.
• Added mineral nutrients to boost nutrient levels.
• Ideal balanced formula for promoting growth and flowering.
• Relatively high potassium level also improves disease resistance.
• Formula used in commercial agriculture for crops that have the same nutrient requirements for healthy growth and abundant flowering and fruiting (eg, strawberries).
• Chicken manure component encourages soil microbial activity and doesn’t depress pH.
• Pellets are dried before packing. This means that they release nutrients over a longer period (up to 2 months).
• User-friendly packaging. Re-usable pails in easy-to-carry 1.5 kg size and economical 10 kg pack. Larger pack has unique, easy-open lid with sealing lip that protects and preserves product in storage.
• Enclosed measuring scoop allows accurate distribution of fertiliser.

Bayer Confidor Insecticide

• Used to control aphids, azalea lace bugs, greenhouse thrips, mealybug, soft scale, hibiscus flower beetle, sap sucking bugs, psyllids.
• Systemic action - absorbed through the foliage and moves throughout the plant to control insect pests - works from the inside out.
• Good for spot treatment of pests.
• Low toxic, water based formulation.
• Soft on beneficial insects such as ladybirds.
• Easy to use trigger pack - no mixing required, no mess.