YOUR GARDEN AND MINE

New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 67, 4 October 1940, Page 15

YOUR GARDEN AND MINE

By

Ann Earncliff

Brown

(No. 47)

TREE SURGERY ° HILE some amateur gardeners are able to call in experts to prune their orchard trees, some of us like to try our prentice hands on a few grafts, and September -and October are the months when the ‘sap is rising and grafting is most likely to succeed. I have already written in some detail of grafting, and fuller information can be obtained from official bulletins of the Horticultural Division of the Department of Agriculture. There are, however, many occasions when a little first aid can save a favourite tree or shrub which has met misfortune or even one which time has begun to undermine. Naturally where decay has seriously weakened a tree it is safer to cut the tree down. However, where there is a cavity but the tree trunk is still strong, the decay can be treated as successfully as your dentist treats a tooth and the procedure is much the same. Clean Tools First see that your surgery tools are clean, sharp, and sterilised. Weak formalin, or a carbolic solution will destroy any bacteria or spores which might possibly be carried from tree to tree. All

dead or rotted wood must be carefully removed. Scrape the sides of the cavity thoroughly and paint all the. cut surface with creosote or tar. For a filling take clean river sand, 3 parts, to 1 part cement, mix as for ordinary concrete, and press firmly and smoothly into the hole (being sure that your surface follows the contour of the tree and does not allow water to lodge). When this has set you may if you desire make a wash of cement and colour to match the tree, or paint carefully stippled to correspond with the natural bark could be used to camouflage the mend. Broken Limbs Where winds or animals have broken off branches of trees or large shrubs, it is wise to cut the damaged limb back neatly and paint the wound with some waterproof solution. If the wood is quite healthy ordinary white lead will suffice, but where diseased wood has been cut away coal tar or creosote is called for. Ringbarked Trees Fruit or ornamental trees which have been ringbarked by rabbits or other animals can be saved if you carry out a simple operation known as _bridgegrafting. It is not difficult but requires care if the flow of sap is to be main-

tained by these bridges until the tree can heal its wound. The upper and lower barks are connected by strips (or bridges) of young wood which are inserted under the carefully raised bark above and below the damaged area. The scions for such grafting should be of the previous season’s growth and each should be cut a little longer than the width of the gap. Trim these ends with a bevel to face outwards. They are then slipped into vertical cuts above and below the gaps. Naturally the number of bridges depends on the girth of your tree but about 3 to 4 inches apart is generally -considered sufficient. They should then be tightly bound to keep in place and waxed over with grafting wax to keep out moisture. In time the bark should grow over and merge with the original bark. To-day I had a more serious casualty when a motor vehicle broke the main stem of a young chestnut’ tree. It was so badly torn that I decided to cut it off cleanly, dress the wound and hope that time will heal the tree and my distress. I have set the broken top care+ fully in moist sandy leafmould and am hoping it will strike. S. P. B. Mais says, "It is indeed much truer to say that we are a race of gardeners than that we are a nation of shopkeepers." If that is true of Englishmen then Hitler has indeed come up against something. As gardeners we have learnt to accept whatever comes to us out of the blue.