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Pests stripping leaves of trees Hi, this is the second year of something eat the leaves of a plum tree. It moved onto the cherry tree this year and now a couple of exotic trees, a birch and a tree that has elm like leaves. It has virtually stripped the plum and cherry. I noticed tiny transparent lavae underneath the leaves. See photo.
Small white jumping mites all over soil Just looked closely near my carrots and discovered loads of little walking jumping bugs that are tiny as. Anyone know what it may be? And solutions if to get rid of them if they are harmful?
Sick Photinia New growth on photinia tree/hedge is losing colour. This is then spreading to the whole tree and killing it. Trees are in a well drained area and have been established for a long time. Any advise would be greatly appreciated. Thank you
Diseased mop top tree I have treated my mop top for scale before some years ago and have just returned to the house after it was rented. I have cut a lot of the dead branches off. I am on South Australia, do I cut the thicker branches off and spray with scale spray to let the tree start again in spring with new branches?
Dead Lawn Following the recent heavy rain in NSW our lawn has suddenly died. Could this be due to poor drainage as we notice water is pooling on the surface. Before we invest in drainage, are there any other causes of sudden lawn death, if so what can we do to improve the situation, thank you.
Purple-ish stems Hi, I'm trying to work out what THIS pesky thing is that keeps taking over my 'garden'. Does anyone know what it is? And how best to get rid of it? I plan to put weed matting down on the tiers that are hidden underneath it...
Syzygium in pots hi, i found a syzygium australe in a smaller pot in my garden. My mother in law had plans for it. I was wondering if I could use it as a bit of a privacy barrier because our garden is exposed. Is it possible to grow it to 4m in a pot? What size pot? How long would it take to get to get to 3m please? It is currently 1m high. Thank you. David.
Gerbera flowers sad My Gerbera flowers have been blooming well but one of them one day came out a bit distorted, looked like it never fully bloomed, the rest were happy and healthy, but now it’s happening to a few others and I am concerned as I cannot find an explanation for the flowers being under developed and still a bit green. The initial plant I have noticed looked like it’s a bit stained under some Leaves but not all, The second plant is normal in the leaves colour but two new leaf shoots are staying a bit curled as in the image. The third plant is also a bit stained like bore water underneath some of the leaves but not all of them I cannot find any image online to match my Flowers and they’re looking pretty sad ??
Advice on Lily Pilly My friend is growing a Lily Pilly hedge, mine grew tall and thick. However hers had grown tall but very thin foliage. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Really struggling with this weed. Any advice please? Hey everyone. I’m really struggling with this weed! I dug it all out and covered with thick mulch just to find it creeping through again :( Any advice would be hugely appreciated! Thanks, Andy.
Fig tree I’ve moved into rental with a fig tree and I would like to pick the figs to eat but there are these bumps all over the leaves and even on a lot of the fruit. Can it be washed off or is it some disease so fruit should not be eaten
Aphids on Hibiscus What's this white stuff all over my Hibiscus (primarily the Pink Hibiscus) I have sprayed today with Pyrethrum. Not sure if this is the best chioce.
Growing ginger This is our first ginger growing adventure. Our edible ginger plants have been growing about 3 months. Some are over 6 feet tall. But they only have roots with no sign of the usual rhizome developing. Does it take much longer for ginger roots to develop into rhizomes?
Woody Pittosporums Hi, I’ve been growing 3 pittosporums in 60cm pots and they’ve become rather woody in the lower half. I’m about to transplant them into the garden to form a hedge. With proper care can I expect the woody half to sprout new shoots and thicken up or is it a lost cause?
Testing Soil Quality Hi, we have an above-ground vegetable garden built by the previous owners. When we bought the house 1 year ago, the vegetables were growing well. We tried running greywater but my wife forgot and stain remover ended up in the soil, which killed some of the plants. Since then, plants haven't grown very well at all - although I tested the pH a while back, and it seemed fine. We now want to dismantle the garden bed and relocate the soil, but we're not sure if it is any good. As I've been digging down through it (the bed is almost 1 metre deep) its clear that there have ben many generations of gardens there, with different soils added. Also many roots coming up, we suspect from a nearby Celtis tree. The borders of the garden bed are lined with weed mat which lets some water through, but around the edges the soil has a white substance caking it - which I think maybe greywater contamination. Long story short - what tests can we do to see if this soil is good for using elsewhere (for shrubs etc). Is there a danger that the soil will 'poison' whereever we put it? I am new to gardening and know very little about soil contamination.
What fruit tree is this? Hi All. I bought this tree from bunnings couple of years ago. The tree has now grown and it has some fruits coming as per the photos. The tree sheds it leaves during winter and in spring for a short period it had beautiful pink flowers. What tree is this? Is the fruit edible? If yes, when should i harvest? Thanks.
Tree ID please Hi Garden Forum, Please help Would you know what the name of this tree is? Regards, Martin
Cats in Veggie Beds How do I keep a cat out my seedlings in my vegie patch?
Anybody know this plant? Friend planted this from seed, it was supposed to be something edible. Any help identifying it would be greatly appreciated, thanks.
What’s Eating my Lemon Tree Leaves Hello fellow gardeners Is anybody able to help me to identify what’s eating my lemon tree leaves? I cut the tree right back and now whenever I get new succulent leaves something is eating them. I have searched the plant for caterpillars hopefully can’t find any. I have lucerne straw down and wondered whether something may be living in there. I live inner city and so wondering if it’s vermin or insects. I have bought some netting that I will install once I purchase some stakes. Cheers Karen
Jacaranda not happy To my embarrassment after spending lots of time preparing the poor 'soil' at our house in Mooloolaba QLD, the Jacaranda tree I planted many months ago is still not flourishing! Our block is very sandy / clayey with not much organic matter. I think the hole I dug was big enough & I used plenty of Garden Mate before & after planting. I backfilled with nursery recommended garden soil improver / compost. It's lost all it's lower branches & I'm now thinking I should cut it back to hopefully encourage new growth or else it may be doomed to fail. My thoughts are that it's a risk worth taking because it will probably never come good? If I cut it back, how much should I take off - 1/3? 1/2? 2/3? Thank You
Black Egg ID Trying to ID this dark brown spots. They are not scale. They look like seeds with tiny webs or white strands coming from them which appears to stick them to the plants. At first I thought eggs, but maybe seeds or offshoots of some sort of artillery fungus? Help please :)
What insect is this What is this insect on my lemon tree's new growth? An Aphid?
Passion fruit vine not healthy Hi, a lot of my passion fruits are falling off the vine still green and the ones that are ripe seem to have cracks/lines in them. Any advice for what is wrong with my vine? Thanks
Advise Plz!! Hi i would love some professional advise on my beloved sago, it has just been through a growth cycle in Western Australia and still looks quite healthy but as you can see in the photos for some reason the new foliage seems to going crispy in texture and brown in colour from the base of the leaf, do you have any idea. What could be causing this?
What lawn species is this? Living in Canberra, I've got some bindies to deweed and purchased some Brunnings Feed and Weed. However, it's not advisable to use on buffalo grass so would appreciate any advice on what I'm working with here
Why has my hibiscus stopped flowering? We have a beautiful Hibiscus Sinensis that we planted last year and it began flowering immediately. It's now more than a metre high, very healthy, lush foliage, covered in buds - but none of them are opening. Even the ones that start to show some colour suddenly drop. We've checked inside the buds and all over the plant - no bugs. The hibiscus is in full sun. We've sprayed it with some Seasol and it's regularly watered by a micro-irrigation system. Would welcome any advice.
Growing media Hi, I'm propagating a lot of trees like Liquidambar, Japanese Maples, Bald Cypress, Pin, English and Cork Oaks but am having to liquid fertilize a lot. I'm using Searles premium potting mix and Seasol powerfeed. Rather than this could I supplement the Searles with compost or composted manure? Say 1/5 to 1/3 depending on the species requirements? I'm not a perfectionist just need something a bit richer with better moisture retention. Thanks for any help.
New message please advise how to grow new shoots from the Durante Sheena Rippen Gold trunk . ? I have tried crafting but it has not worked much appreciated .
Earwigs We need some advice on earwig control. At the moment we have traps set and a couple of different sprays which say they kill earwigs but i think it just acts as a cologne for them now. We have reduced the damage to all our seedlings and adult plants a bit but it doesn't seem like we are winning the battle and we want to win this battle. Has anybody got success with anything on the market which we haven't found yet or any different advice. Thanks all.
Large Staghorn looking sad Hi guys, Im the owner of a large staghorn that is starting to look rather sad and Im struggling to find information on how to help it start to get better. It sees to be falling away from the board it is mounted to and I plan on remounting it on a Piece of 18mm Plywood but Im unsure how to go about this. It also has alot of dead foliage in the top and Im wondering if I should trim these when I remount it. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Regards, Morgan
Flower Pic on the left is in Ultra violet
Chinese Elm suckers Twenty year old Chinese Elm is the highlight of my garden, but has begun sending suckers up from the roots. Not sure if I can use herbicide like Zero on them, as afraid of it travelling back to the parent and killing it.
dimpled lemons Hi, I have a 2 year old Lots a Lemons that is producing fruit for the first time. Half the fruit looks fine, half is dimpled. Is this something that I should be concerned about? Thanks, Terry
Hebe leaves going brown, generally a bit unhealthy looking Hi folks, we have lovely Hebe shrubs under our back patio. Some are in full sunlight, some have half the plant in shade, half in sun. As it gets further in summer more of the plant gets exposed to sun. The ones mostly in shade tend to get yellow leaves which turn brown and drop off or I pull them off. Rather than being a lustrous green in foliage in parts they just look a bit sad. The soil around their roots is very firm. We’ve had plenty of rain recently so I wonder if they’re overwatered, but the soil feels very hard and I can’t tell how wet underneath. They seem to flower very well in Summer and some in full sun are already flowering now, I’d just like the foliage to look healthier. We’re in Reynella, SA.
Termite resistant wood chip Hi I would like to lay some turf , make some paths to chicken run, two raised garden beds and two fruit tress. Is wood chips good for paths? and good at keeping weeds at bay?. Would the wood chips harm the fruit trees one peach and one orange. I do not want to encourage termites.What is a good wood chip to use? I don't want to use pebbles or stones. Thankyou.
What is causing the black on the leaves? Hi, Can anyone please help.... the cause and treatment of the black on the leaves? Thanks for any advice!! Andrew
Garden Bed Hi I need advice. I have just had 11sqm of concrete pathway 4inches thick removed from my backyard which will now become a garden bed. Below the concrete is about 3 inches thick of sand before reaching clay soil. How should I prepare the soil for plants? Originally I was going to lay about 4inches thick of chip bark mulch and leave till next spring before planting. What do you recommend? Appreciate advice as am new gardener and want to ensure the soil is well prepared for my plants. Kind regards Kelly
Sick creeper? Dear garden braintrust For years we have had this lush and healthy creeper (don’t know the name as it came with the house when we bought to 7 yrs ago) on the corner of our house. All of a sudden it seems to have started to wither with leaves initially turning a lighter pale green and eventually brown and falling off. Large areas of the plant are already completely bare. Any ideas/advice would be much appreciated. Thanks
Lilly Pilly New Growth Wilting Hi, I am hoping for some help with my lilly pillies. I have 2 Big Reds which have been thriving since I planted them, but over the last few weeks (since the weather has warmed up), all the new growth that comes through seems to get to a certain point and then wilt and die off as shown in the picture. Could this be a watering issue or something else? How often should I be watering the trees? They are in full sun and have been there for about a year, in this time they've grown about 1.5m. I would really appreciate any help as I'm relying on this season's growth to provide some privacy from my neighbours. Thanks!
Avocado tree losing leaves Hi all, I have an avocardo tree in a pot which is two years old. This spring here in Adelaide, I've noticed as the new leaves come on, all the old leaves are drooping and getting blacks spots on the top side of the leaves. They are then falling off. The new leaves are fine it is just happening to the old leaves. Refer to photos. I have seen some weird black and white bugs on the under side of a few leaves but not many. Refer to photos. I have looked up all the common issues with avocardo trees and this problem doesn't match anything. I'm at my whits end. Can anyone provide some advice as to what's going on?
Malleable Creeper Thanks so much for taking the time to read! We are currently planning our build and we have ALWAYS been obsessed with buildings covered in vines or creepers! Our building material is Hemp Crete (non negotiable) so we need to re-render the walls every 7 years, thus, we need to be able to get behind the creeper somehow! We were thinking of constructing a series of 1-2 metre mesh, or steel grates that will sit in front of the walls leaving about 5-10 cm's between wall and grate! Alternatively are there creepers that would keep well in pots to these sizes that could be suspended onto the grate/mesh and then could open out like a gate for even easier access to be able to render the wall and no need to worry about bending the stem/trunk! Any suggestions for how to make this whole thing easier would be wonderful as we really want to make our creeper dreams come true just dont know how! Then when it comes time to re-render the wall we would "unhook" the top of this grate and lean it 30-40% on a ladder or something and render behind!. I would love any suggestions for vines with trunks that are not too rigid and would take the sudden tilt forward. - by the way this plan is not set in stone its just the only way we can think of making this dream happen! The other idea we had was putting the creepers in pots (attached to the grate) and then swing the grates open like doors making the wall behind even easier to access. But do creepers do well in pots? Would we need to somehow get at the roots every few years or ? Something suitable to North facing, 5-6 frosts per year, all day sun apart from late afternoon! Any help very very much appreciated as we would love to make our creeper dreams come true! Id love to avoid the pot scenario as I dont think they would look as nice aestheticly Renee and Jamie
Plant care Hello We purchased a house earlier this year with beautiful plants lovingly cared for by the previous owners. We have never had a garden so have been remiss in the care of this new one. We have these lovely shrubs which now looks like they're drying out and dying, we have been watering them but they don't look to be recovering. Any tips on how we can save them? Or should we call it and replace them? Thank you!
Plant Newbie - can this shrub be saved? Hello We purchased a house earlier this year with beautiful plants lovingly cared for by the previous owners. We have never had a garden so have been remiss in the care of this new one. We have these lovely shrubs which now looks like they're drying out and dying, we have been watering them but they don't look to be recovering. Any tips on how we can save them? Or should we call it and replace them? Thank you!
Grevillea Robusta is leaning. I have a 40 year old Grevillea Robusta in my backyard with a pronounced lean. It has large exposed roots. Would it make sense to cover the exposed roots with earth to stabilise it?
Fungus on stem of swamp banksia how to control? thanks
My established wisteria is not flowering? Mt established Wisteria is not flowering like it normally does. it only has one or two off shoots that have flowered. i did not prune it during last summer or winter. it is on the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria. concerned it may be dead/dying. is it too late to prune? should i feed it?
Golden Elm planting My partner planted our Golden Elm trees 5m apart along our fence line. I feel they are to close as they can grow quite wide. I am wondering if we should leave them or replant? What happens if we leave them.. will they get tangled? New here to planting trees!
Please identify Green Caterpillar I found the pest that has been eating my Eumundi quandong Tree. It's a green catepillar and it leaves droppings all over my back deck. I found this (picture attached) when pruning the tree that hangs over the deck..
whats wrong with by Lilly Pilly I have a 2 newly planted from pot Lilly pilly sublime trees that are not doing well. One in particular is very dried out with dull leaves that are dry and falling and some burnt tips. I have watered in, applied seasol to roots and on top and general fertiliser when planting. It gets full sun a few hours a day and partial sun rest of day. I have another 5 plants planted at same time doing great so not sure about these two. Could nearby gum tree or teddy bear magnolia be sucking soil nutrients? Please advise I do not want to overwater and drown roots as I’ve read it is a hardy drought resistant plant.
Best spray for orchid bugs Hello All, New to the forum. Wife grows orchids and we have noticed that the leaves are all turning brown at the edges. Can someone tell me what it is and is there a safe way of fixing the problem. Phil.
What's destroying my climbing rose? Hello. Since coming into new spring growth, my climbing rose has been progressively stripped clean of every new shoot and leaf. The damage occurs at night but not every night. As soon as more new growth starts to appear, the predator is back to strip it off. I thought it was a possum (very active in my neighbourhood) but there is not a single poo pellet anywhere near the rose. No animal droppings at all. Repellent sprays and netting over the rose didn't help. I'm stumped. Please advise. Thanks, Babs
Weed in Lawn - What is it? Hi Webmaster, I have quite a bit of these weed in my lawn. It is not the broad leaf ones, so the weed killer doesn't work. I tried pulling them off, but that's too much work. Hope you can help with some solution. Thanks Eric
Red dots on Angophora costata is my Angophora costata sick or dying? I have a beautiful large Angophora Costata, but I am noticing that it's leaf canopy has become quite sparse and thin and its green leaves are starting to show red coloured spots - is my tree sick or dying? If so any tips on what I can do? or is this a common thing this time of year early Sept? Appreciate your help!
Birds nest fern browning at the edge of the leaves I am in Melbourne and I have this large birds nest fern which has been in the same pot in the same spot for about ten years and normally thrives. Early this winter the leaves started turning brown from the edges in, and now it looks like this. My partner had fed it with worm juice from the worm farm so I thought maybe it was just suffering from over fertilisation and I hoped that it would fix itself to no avail. The brown areas are dry and crispy, not soggy. Help please?
Why are my Zinnia seedlings have gone crispy on the leaves? I’ve recently transplanted my Zinnia seedlings and all the leaves have gone crispy. Does anyone know why? I have hardened them off also
Escaped Ficus Roots I have discovered that the reason my potted Ficus Benjamina was looking so great is that the roots had escaped out the bottom of the pot and deep into the ground. How do I cut the escaped roots without killing the plant? I want to repot it back into the same pot. Is this possible? How do I best proceed?
Can anyone shed any light on why part of my hedge is dead? I noticed that a small section of my hedge seemed to die fairly quickly. I think the affected area is all stemming from one branch
Convolvulus Sabatius - looking like Ash Hi Folks - I'm having problems with my Convolvulus Sabatius as parts of them seem to be dying and looking like burnt ash. Up until recently they been flourishing. I've got gardenia growing next to it that seem ok. Wondering whats causing part of the plan to die off like this? Appreciate any input. I've attached a photo so you can see the effect
What's wrong with my Kale? So I transplanted my Kale plants 6 days ago from pot to raised bed and the lower leaves have turned yellow. Could this be transplant shock or something else? A bit more info on what I've done- I transplanted them, watered them in and sprayed a little Kelp for fertiliser. They are in a full sun position in a raised bed filled with clay soil (at the bottom), compost and perlite (the fine one as I bought this as an accident was meant to get medium) I also sprinkled a little bit of my power pellets into the whole bed's soil a couple days before planting into it.
Hail damage My young fruit trees suffered extensive hail damage a few months ago, the worst being My reed Avo. It's put out alot of new growth over winter and since being stripped. It is missing about 50% cambium in some places. It is possible to save this tree for the long run or do I just cut my losses? TIA for any answers.
Pruning Fruit Trees Hello, we recently bought a house that has a large mango tree, large mulberry tree and several large paw paw trees. I am seeking advice on whether these can be pruned back to a more manageable level as all fruit is too high to pick and is just feeding the birds at the moment. The paw paws and mulberry trees both have early fruit but the mango tree does not. We are located in Lake Macquarie, NSW. Attached is a photo showing the mango tree and several paw paw trees with the mulberry tree located directly behind the mango tree. Any advice is appreciated as I am finding conflicting information on the internet.
Lilly Pilly pruning and pests Hi! I am in need of some advice for my neglected Lilly pilly hedge. It is currently very holely and thin on the bottom, with many gaps as in pictures provided. I have already taken off atleast 30cm on top, and on sides. However, I’m wondering if anyone would advise to take more off the top which would allow further new growth below? Another 1/3 off? It already has new growth coming through in lower half. Additionally, it has white wax scale and new growth being eaten by a green grub I have seen, most likely from the Lilly pilly beetle from what I’ve read. Is pest oil and eco-neem with a bit of eco-oil the best bet to rid of these nasties? Cheers!
Hollow magnolia tree My magnolia has never really grown taller, although it has lots of leaves and some flowers in season. We recently realised that there is a large hole (or perhaps the entire trunk is hollow) at the soil-line (see photo). What should we do?
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