by Wally Richards

AROUND THE GARDEN THIS WEEK

Every week I talk to many gardeners by phone with their questions to answer and information or feed back that they give me. It is a nice two-way street as information regarding Wallys products can be handed on to other gardeners to try for those particular applications or problems.

I had a few calls over the last couple of weeks from gardeners that have used the new Wallys Copper Nutrient product. (We posted about this product in the early spring as a new way to deal to curly leaf in stone fruit trees.)

Here is an extract from my original article:

Copper nutrition products work by providing plants with a source of copper, which is an essential micro nutrient required for plant growth and development.

Copper helps to activate enzymes involved in several physiological processes in plants, including photosynthesis and respiration. Additionally, copper has been shown to have anti-fungal properties, which makes it effective in controlling plant diseases.

Studies have shown that copper can enhance plant immune responses by regulating gene expression and enzyme activity involved in defense mechanisms. (End.)

I used the Copper Nutrient spray on my small peach tree that is about 3rd season in the ground. The previous year over 90% of the foliage contracted the curly leaf disease to later fall off and be replaced with clean foliage.

This year from an initial spray at the 10ml rate prior to bud boost and then a weekly spray at the 5-ml maintenance rate, the tree came into full foliage: about 95% of the leaves were clean with only a couple of areas where there were a bunch of curly leaves.

The tree is in the free range area of my chickens and had only set one fruit which I watched with interest each day when tending to the chickens waiting for it to reach maturity. It was starting to ripen and the following day there was not a sign of it. Obviously the chickens got it as there was a slight peachy flavour in some of the eggs for a couple of days!

But there were great results in regards to curly leaf control. Similar reports from a few gardeners are that the instance of leaf curly was greatly reduced.

Talking to the supplier, they said that likely the next season using Wallys Copper Nutrient will have even better results as the health of the trees will build up. I also had some gardeners whose stone fruit have suffered in the past from brown rot tell me that most of their crop this season was not damaged and uneatable.

This was something that I was hoping to hear as brown rot is a terrible disease and one that I have found in the past difficult to control. The only control that has been found to be successful is a combination spray of copper, sulphur, potassium permanganate and Raingard.  This would be applied to the fruit when half way towards maturity every two weeks till harvest.

Spraying the fruit gave them protective coating over the growing fruit preventing the disease from establishing. The Raingard keeps the protection on and preventing it washing off in rain. It works but needs a lot of target spraying, seeing only the fruit is sprayed not the tree.

One gardener this week said he used the Copper Nutrient on his plum tree and this season he and the birds have enjoyed a lot of plums to eat with only a few showing signs of brown rot.

Another couple of gardeners who used this new copper told me that the fruit are much bigger than normal, one saying his fruit was just about the size of a baseball!

Go back to what I wrote above: ‘Copper helps to activate enzymes involved in several physiological processes in plants, including photosynthesis and respiration’.

Bingo… the plant is getting more energy from sun, better health bigger and better returns. So the next step at the maintenance rate of 5 ml per litre of water is to spray your tomatoes, capsicum, vegetables and preferred plants such as roses.

Do this once a month during the growing season and you can add Magic Botanic Liquid to the spray as well. It may help reduce the instances of leaf diseases such as black spot and rust and blights in tomato and potatoes. If later on it helps prevent garlic rust on garlic that would be another win.

Eating food crops that contain a little copper will be good for your health also. Some people with arthritis problems wear a wrist band of copper to help relieve their condition. My advice to anyone with aches and pains such as arthritis is to take the organic sulphur supplement called MSM twice a day.

Birds eating fruit are the bane of gardeners and there are no easy ways to stop the damage. Bird netting can help but it really needs to be on a frame over and around the tree/vine in fruit otherwise if it’s just over the foliage birds sit on it and peck the fruit. The worst thing that happens is that birds get caught up in the netting and you have to rescue them.

One thing I found that does work is the Crop Cover that we sell. You make a cocoon of the cover over a branch that has fruit on it about the time it starts to ripen and the birds start attacking.

Cut a strip wide enough to wrap around the branch and at the trunk end tie it on with cord. Along the seam which should be under the branch join the two edges of the crop cover together with suitable clothes pegs. You could staple it but the clothes pegs are better and you can reuse the crop cover year after year for this purpose.

As you are harvesting your vegetables you should be replenishing the nutrients and planting cabbages, cauliflower and broccoli for harvesting in winter. To do the preparation simply spread animal manure or sheep manure pellets over the area, give it a good dusting of blood & bone, Wallys Calcium & Health, Unlocking Your Soil, BioPhos and Wallys Ocean Solids.

Then over this, place a good quality purchased compost — I recommend Value Compost from Bunnings as it is free of herbicides and is not just bits of bark and sticks like most of the others.

You can plant your seeds of carrots, parsnips and spring onions directly into the compost, spraying them with Magic Botanic Liquid before covering. Also plant your brassica seedlings or seeds directly intro the compost then stand back and watch your garden come to life.

All you have to do is give it a light watering every day (best done in morning or during the day). You can use the crop cover to keep the white butterfly off the plants, initially just laying over the area but later raised up using rigid alkathene pipe hoops.

Sprinkling Wallys Neem Tree Granules over the soil can also help deter some insect pests.

If caterpillars start eating your plants, spray them with Wallys Super Neem Tree oil just before dusk. Add Raingard to the spray so it does not wash off when you water or when it rains.

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