PALMS AND POT PLANTS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 732, 3 August 1929, Page 28

PALMS AND POT PLANTS

PROPER TREATMENT The work of repotting palms must soon be done; that is, if they need repotting. Some gardeners repot their palms each year; others rarely interfere with the plants. The argument of these latter folk is that, if the palms are doing well, why disturb them and upset their root action? I have seen some very fine specimen Kentia palms that have been growing ; in the same pots for many years without repotting. But they receive annually a good top-dressing: and this operation often takes the place of repotting. Palms require a solid, rich soil: they are always found growing wild where the soil is good and deep. The easiest way for the garden-lover to provide good soil is to add a fair supply of coarse bonedust to some good. ; solid, loamy soil. If the palms are not needing larger pots, then an inch or two of the topj soil may be scraped away with a pointed stick, and the new soil added, ramming it well into the pot. Palm foliage should now be well sponged over with nicotine-sulphate ■ to clear away any aphis or mealy bug | that may be present. I As soon as there is any sign of new | fern fronds appearing, especially those of tree-ferns, the old foliage should all be cut away to allow the new fronds : to develop properly. Tree Ferns, whether in the ground i or in tubs, should be given a topdressing of leaf-mould soil, with bonedust and powdered charcoal added. The same top-dressing may be given ' to any type of fern in spring time. The soil and packing of hanging baskets need special attention at this time of the year. The soil must, of i course, be good; it should also be retentive of moisture, and so should be j the packing. For the latter material i there is nothing better than broken : portions of old staghorn ferns and ; sphagnum moss. Both of these sub- \ stances absorb as well as retain the | moisture, and on that account they ! are very desirable. The common bush j moss that grows on the ground among ; bushes and scrub dries out very • quickly and is not at all good for basket work.

In bush-houses one often sees odd plants in pots that do not belong to fern, palm or any other recognised group of plants. These foliage or flowering plants are often neglected, being allowed to grow away for years, flourishing or otherwise, and generally “otherwise.” These plants al ways rspond to a good, loamy topdressing with bonedust added. Possibly the neglect is more often due to fear or to lack of knowledge of definite treatment.