Q. I have 10 female papaya plants in my garden in Karachi. These are a year old but only two of them bear fruit. I think the rest have some sort of disease as the leaves turn yellow on the edges and flowers fall off before fertilisation. Please advise some natural insecticide spray. My gardener wants to spray them with chemicals but I don’t let him do so after reading your column.

A. Papaya trees require lots of water to remain healthy but, at the same time, soil must be well-drained as they cannot stand waterlogging around their roots. Both lack of water and waterlogging cause the problems you describe, so please investigate, work out which of the two it is and act accordingly. Papaya leaves can also turn yellow if plants are short of magnesium — this is a common problem in and around Karachi where the soil is often deficient in this essential mineral. Remedy this by mixing one tablespoon of natural, organic, Epsom salts per one litre warm water and spray the plant leaves with this to give them a magnesium-rich, foliar feed once a month until the problem is resolved and once every three months thereafter to help stay them in good health. Presumably your papaya trees are of the self-fertile variety — otherwise there must be a male papaya in the vicinity as ‘normal’ papayas need the presence of a male tree for cross pollination and to set fruit.

Q. Which fruit plants and fruit trees are suitable for growing in District Charsadda?

A. Charsadda is well-known for the extensive variety and excellence of its fruits, vegetables and general crops. Basically you can grow almost anything — even indigenous varieties of green cooking bananas of the type Peshawar was once famous for if, of course, you can find the root stock. Avoid blueberries, pineapples, custard apple, cheeku, star fruit and other imported exotics. Take a walk around all of your local nurseries, along with nurseries in Mardan and Peshawar, and choose — according to your space — from everything they have on offer. Please get your fruit trees/plants in as soon as possible, certainly before the end of this month, otherwise you will need to wait until next winter’s planting season comes around.

All your gardening queries answered here

Q. Do you recommend the use of landscape fabric for preventing weeds or is it a problem in the garden?

A. No. The majority of weed-suppressant fabric is plastic-based which, in time, poisons the earth. Also, such fabrics can be quite short lived in our climate and this, attractive as the thought of no weeds is, makes them a very expensive proposition. Use natural, organic, weed-supressing, moisture-conserving mulch instead.

Q. How can I preserve tomatoes and potatoes for a year?

A. Presumably you mean for home use. In which case, and depending on the season, tomatoes can be sun dried, made into paste/sauce and hygienically bottled or frozen. Potatoes, especially in cold/cool weather, store well in a dark, airy place or can be washed, sliced/diced/chipped and frozen.

Q. Can vanilla plants be grown in Islamabad and, if so, where can I get the seed?

A. Vanilla orchids require a much hotter, far more humid climate than Islamabad can provide. Sorry.

Q. I need answers to some basic questions. (i) What is manure and what is its local name? (ii) What is compost and its name in Urdu? (iii) What is ‘ojrhi ki khaad’?

A. (i) Manure is ‘khaad’ or ‘gober’. (ii) Compost is fully rotted down organic material such as grass clippings, fruit/vegetable waste, tea bags, coffee grounds, weeds, etc., and is known as ‘khaad daalna’ or ‘sabzi ki khaad’. (iii) ‘Ojri ki khaad’ generally means fertiliser which may be either chemical-based or organic (chemical free and therefore natural).

Q. Please give the Urdu name of Moringa tree and explain its uses in detail.

A. ‘Sohanjana’ is the word you are looking for. This tree has countless uses, both medicinal, culinary and as animal fodder. *Do not use medicinally without first taking advice from a fully qualified herbalist. Self-medication can be dangerous and, in some cases, lethal.

Q. I live in Karachi and would like to know what I can grow on a balcony which does not get direct sunlight.

A. As long as the balcony is protected from wind, the following should be perfectly okay: ‘Dracaena’, ‘Sanseveria’ – mother-in-law’s-tongue, Asparagus fern, ‘Anthurium’ – peace lily, ‘Philodendron’, ‘Marantha’, money plant, ‘Aspidistra’, spider plants and a wide variety of lovely ferns.

Please continue sending your gardening queries to zahrahnasir@hotmail.com. Remember to include your location. Answers to selected questions will appear in a future issue of the magazine. This takes time. The writer does not respond directly by e-mail. E-mails with attachments will not be opened. Commercial enquiries will be ignored.

Published in Dawn, EOS, March 10th, 2019