JJ’s garden solutions

My flowers keep falling

Vernon Cloete of George writes When I moved to George about two years ago, I planted a small guavadilla and looked after it well, fertilising it occasionally with LAN, Superphosphate and Bounce Back.

It flowered after a year-and-a-half but it only produced about 20 flowers and six small fruit that didn’t ripen. I put this down to the fact that there were few bees to pollinate the flowers. At the end of 2017, I was very happy with the 100 (or more) flowers on the vine and more regular visits from the bees. But, to my dismay, the flowers started falling off after a while. Why has this happened and what do you suggest I do to stop this unhappy situation?

JJ replies The only reason I can think of is not enough water during flowering for good pollination, or not enough potassium in the diet. By feeding it occasionally with 8:1:5 or 3:1:5, your yield should be much better and more successful. You might argue that you never fed the previous one, but who knows what your current garden is lacking?

It’s a keeper

Carol Liedeman of Paarl writes The strelitzia in front of our new house is completely overgrown and quite unsightly. Do I keep it or take it out and plant something else?

JJ replies It’s just a matter of cleaning the plant up – it’s actually still in fantastic condition. You could also divide and replant it.