THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 23, 1995 TAG: 9507210100
SECTION: HOME PAGE: G2 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: GARDENING
SOURCE: ROBERT STIFFLER
LENGTH: Long : 104 lines
I have a solution to the slug problem. For years, we were bothered with slugs. The use of repellants was not effective, but now I cannot recall when I last saw a slug. It's a relief not to squish slugs and clean up their slimy residue. I saw our ``solution'' five years ago but did not tell my wife. By chance one evening I glanced into the groundcover near the walk and saw a brownish-marked snake 12 inches long. I got a fairly good look when I rustled the shrubs, but it slithered away under a concrete splash block. Intrigued, I obtained a publication with color plates identifying native snakes. The one I saw matched a non-poisonous, harmless variety whose main source of food is slugs and snails. Where you can obtain such a snake I do not know. Mine came naturally. I will not attempt to catch or harm it. It is a blessing. I have only seen my slug remover once in four years, because it is nocturnal. I suggest your readers obtain a harmless, slug-consuming snake and free it near the area where slugs persist. No chemicals - no problems. For reasons of family peace and harmony, I will not sign my name.
John in Virginia Beach
I receive some unusual letters, but yours rates near the top of the list. Gary Williamson, the snake expert for Hampton Roads, is chief ranger at Kiptopeke State Park. He says yours is a ``red-bellied snake,'' not to be confused with the red-bellied water snake. It comes out at night to forage for its food, which is slugs. He sees very few of them, often not more than one or two per year. So consider yourself lucky that you have a harmless slug eater living at your house.
We are trying to purchase some Chinquapins. (This is an Indian name pronounced Chink-o-pin.) I have corresponded with the Virginia Ag department, the college and other places, but they have never heard of them. We are interested in using them as a border and will appreciate any information you have.
There often are some of your readers who ask for mole removal techniques. Here's one that works for us. We purchased some ``gopher plants'' from Michigan Bulb Co. and have them scattered over our yard, specifically around trees, so they will not be cut down by lawn mowers. They are hardy, will seed after the second year and can be transplanted and thrive. We started with 10 plants and now have them everywhere. This works for us where we live in northeastern Suffolk.
Sue Belcher, Suffolk
Fortunately my reference books came to the rescue. Chinquapin is a chestnut, which botanically is Castanea pumila. It is a shrubby American chestnut that rarely grows taller than 20 feet and is native from New Jersey to Florida and as far west as Oklahoma. Leaves have a felt underside, are coarse and toothed. The chestnuts are small, rarely over an inch across. A blight wiped many of them out years ago, making it difficult to find chestnut trees. Your best bet is Chestnut Hill Nursery in Florida. Call (800) 669-2067.
As to the gopher plant, it is one of the Euphorbias and seems to keep moles away for about 5 to 10 feet around each plant. The way it multiplies and spreads all over a garden, I've found it's almost as objectionable as the moles. If you have a wild or unkept area and don't care what grows there, this plant seems to keep the moles away.
Please tell me when to trim a butterfly bush. Mine is three years old, and I have cut it back several times. It is 8 feet tall. May I cut it back again now? I also have a red-leaf maple 12 years old that was beautiful last fall. This spring, half the tree seems dead - the other half beautiful. Can I save the tree?
Agnes Nalls, Norfolk
Butterfly bush or Buddleia blooms on new growth, so you can cut it back as severely as you want. It's late now to do it. They should be pruned in late February or early March. Pruning should make the shrub more attractive, because they tend to grow tall and leggy.
Japanese red cutleaf maple sometimes does as you describe. Cut off the dead section, apply a tree fertilizer according to directions and keep the tree watered. It may throw out new growth where you prune it, depending on the cultivar. The tree may remain ``one-sided.''
Some weeks back, you had an article about a fellow in Virginia Beach who grows peppers. If I understood the article properly, this fellow said he never fertilized his peppers but mulched them with lots of oak leaves to make the ground stay acid. I'd always been told to grow peppers the same way you grow tomatoes. I do fair with my peppers but would like to do a lot better. I have good luck with hot peppers, but the sweet peppers do not do nearly as well. I believe it is important to grow peppers on ground where they have not been grown before and mulch them with oak leaves, using no fertilizer. If you can talk to this fellow and get his way of growing peppers from A to Z, I would like to hear how he does it.
Theo Martin, Norfolk
I reread the article about Pete Anoia, but it was rhododendrons that he grows without fertilizer. He fertilizes his peppers only when he plants them, with a small amount of horse manure. Peppers need to be raised the same way as tomatoes. A severe problem with them is that high winds after a rain often blow over the plants. Another problem is that they mature and make many blooms during the hottest weather, which means they don't set fruit, so you end up picking some early ones and then a lot more in the fall. Peppers benefit from a tablespoon of Epsom salts around each plant, the same as tomatoes. Pete Anoia will call you and share his pepper-growing secrets. MEMO: No gardening questions will be taken over the phone. Write to Robert
Stiffler, The Virginian-Pilot/Ledger-Star, 150 W. Brambleton Ave.,
Norfolk, Va. 23510. Answers will be published on a space-available
basis. For an earlier reply, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Winds and heat play havoc with peppers in the summer.
by CNB