Gardeners Supply Plant Care & Gardening Advice/Tips/Secrets @ HortChat.com®

Container gardening offers a wide range of gardening possibilities especially for those enthusiastic gardeners with limited space. Any container can serve as a planter as long as it can hold soil and have drainage, let your imagination go wild; but container gardening is not just filling a container with soil and adding random plants. There are a few planting tips to consider that will reward you with a healthy, long lasting planter all season long.

Here are some tips & techniques when planting your container:

– Choose plants that are compatible with size, color, light and moisture requirements.

- Start with a container that is large enough to maintain the plant or combination of plants through the whole growing season. If the container is too small it will dry out much faster during the hot days of summer. The bigger the better-but also keep in mind that you may have to move it. Clay pots are heavier, porous and dry out faster than metal, plastic or wooden pots. I like the faux clay pots. They seem to fit all requirements.

- Be sure your container has adequate drainage. Place a fabric filter or mesh over the drain hole and fill bottom of container with gravel, broken clay pots and peanuts to fill the space. Leave the top 8-10 inches to fill with soil.

- Healthy plants start with healthy soil. Use the good well drained soil, or mix your own by combining 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 vermiculite or perlite and 1/3 organic material Fill the container 2 inches below the rim of the pot to allow room for planting and avoid overflow when watering.

- To conserve moisture and reduce amount of watering add a water retaining polymer (Hydro-gel) to the soil. Soak the polymer before adding it to the soil and follow label directions as to how much to use. Do not use any water polymer when growing vegetables and herbs in a container.

- Mix in a slow release fertilizer (Osmocote) that will feed your plants up to 4 months, enough to carry you through the growing season. Supplemental fertilizer may be required especially with vigorous growing vegetables as frequent watering will leach the nutrients from the soil.

My jasmine is approx.6 yrs old and it winters inside next to a humidifier. Has dropped a lot of leaves which doesn’t concern me. What does concern me is the underside of leaves appear to have scale.  Only these bumps don’t seem to be bugs. Plus are quite small. Any ideas? Thank you!

The first sign of scale is the clear sticky honeydew on the leaves/stems. The bumps can vary in size and color due to the stage of development.   Underneath the bumps (which protect them from sprays) are eggs and crawlers which eventually crawl out but are difficult to detect because they are clear in color. It is at this stage, that they are vulnerable to sprays, and if treated can be controlled.
Persistent spraying is important. Neem oil can be used twice a month for 2 months. Use 1 oz. (2Tbsp) of Neem Oil ,  1 1/2 tsp dishwashing detergent to one gallon of water.  Another recommendation for shiny-leaved plants only is Cedoflora, which is low in toxicity, safe and effective.

A stronger option is Orthene, which is a systemic pesticide. It renders the whole plant as poisonous and insects die after feeding on it. It smells bad and should be used with extreme caution. (Never indoors). Follow manufacturers direction for safe use.

For a safe treatment try some horticultural oil on a Q-tip and dab on individual adult scale.  The oil will kill them by suffocation.  For cottony cushion scale use rubbing alcohol on a Q-tip. You can also scrape them off  with your fingernail which can be a very tedious task.   Repeated sprays of  insecticidal soap once a week can help control the problem.  One treatment is not effective as you may kill the adult but not the next generation.   Check your plant often for scale insects so that you can control any infestation before it gets out of control.