It’s garden question-and-answer time again! You can e-mail me
questions at ga*******@*ps.net, or you can mail me questions in
care of this newspaper. For a faster, personal response, please
include a self-addressed, stamped envelope.
It’s garden question-and-answer time again! You can e-mail me questions at ga*******@*ps.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: We have had our orange tree for two years and have had no fruit since the oranges that were on it when we bought it. Why isn’t it bearing fruit? After all, it already had a couple of small oranges on it when we bought it?
– M.W., Morgan Hill
A: The branches of container-grown citrus mature early because the restricted root space dwarfs the plant. Once it is removed from the nursery container and transplanted into the garden, a larger root system develops, and the leafy portion responds by sending out new shoots.
I’m betting that your citrus plant has grown quite a bit in the past two years, albeit without any new oranges. When that new growth matures, you’ll start getting oranges. The good news is that you’re not doing anything wrong. You may want to fertilize with citrus fertilizer two or three times a year, but basically you just have to wait.
Q. I have a jade plant on my front porch in a good-size container. About a month ago, it decided to bow over. Will giving it more water help straighten it up? What can I do? – C.Y., Gilroy
A: Actually, giving it more water will make your jade plant worse. Jade plants are succulents, which means they need virtually no water during our cooler, wetter winter months. Withhold all water until our weather warms. Hopefully, things will straighten out for your jade.
However, if you want a little insurance, I would take some cuttings from your plant. Jade plants are very easily started by simply cutting a branch off and sticking it in sand or well-draining soil. This way, if your original plant doesn’t make it, you’ll have “babies” from it already rooted and established. In the meantime, you can also stake your plant to help keep it straighter.
Q. I have a poinsettia plant from last year sitting under the umbrella of my patio table, and some of the leaves are turning red! Go figure … – C.Y., Gilroy
A: You’ve got a green thumb! Getting old poinsettias to re-bloom usually is a long process of keeping the plant dark for 18 hours a day. That’s why most poinsettias never bloom again, and the $10 we pay each year for new ones are truly a bargain. Obviously, you have the touch. Can you come to my house and get my old poinsettias to bloom again, too?
