Q. Last monsoon, I planted four Gul mohr trees in Lahore and four in Sheikhupura. They are around seven feet tall. Due to the severe winter last time, those in Sheikhupura died. The three in Lahore survived but have not grown new leaves although their trunks remain green. Someone suggested putting neela thotha (verditer) on their roots and I tried this, but to no avail. Should I give the trees more time to start growing again or should I remove them and plant something else?

A. As the trunks are still alive, I would give the saplings until next spring to begin producing new leaves. Meanwhile, keep them watered and cared for. Disturbing their roots, again, to apply neela thotha, would not have helped them recover from their original transplantation shock. Please allow them extra time to recover.

Q. I was about to apply my homemade compost on the garden but discovered that it is full of earwigs. How do I get rid of them without them migrating from the compost bin to the garden? I hesitate to spread the compost out in the sun for fear they will move to the flowerbeds. Should I give up the idea of using it right now and start to add more kitchen waste to it so that it builds up heat and the earwigs leave on their own?

A. Earwigs are actually beneficial to your compost bin, as they eat aphids, mites, some nematodes and other undesirable bugs. Their presence, however, indicates that the compost is not yet ready for use as their main food is in the form of fruit/vegetables/garden waste that is still in the process of rotting down. Leave the compost a while longer and the earwigs should vacate it on their own. Don’t worry about earwigs getting into your garden, they are probably already there and do far more good than harm.

Q. I bought a potted chikoo plant from a flower show in Karachi last year. I placed the pot on my second-floor balcony, in Boat Basin, facing east. It gets plenty of morning sunshine and is watered daily. It produced four to five fruits earlier this year but, for the last couple of months, new leaves and flowers appear but the flowers dry up and drop off without any fruit forming. What could be the reason for this?

All your gardening queries answered here

A. The plant/shrub probably needs repotting into a larger pot. It will have used up all the nutrients of the soil it is in and it is likely that its roots have become too confined. Repotting into new soil/compost, plus, feeding with a liquid, organic fertiliser every three months, is the way forward.

Q. The spinach I grew last year has gone to seed but I don’t know how to tell if the seeds are ready to harvest. Should I leave them to dry out where they are or should I cut the plant down and hang it upside down to fully dry out and then harvest the seeds? The plant seems to be rotting away at its base.

A. It is always best if seeds can be left on the parent plant until fully ripe — in the case of spinach seed, ripe ones resemble small pieces of weightless cork — but if the plant is in danger of falling over/breaking off, cutting it down to finish drying the seed in the way you mention, is a good idea.

Q. I have a 15-year-old Ajwa date palm in my Karachi garden. I hand pollinate and get good crops of dates. The problem is that I don’t know the process of making the natural yellow dates into brown ones that are good for eating and for storing.

A. Yellow dates, while edible, are not fully ripe. They will naturally turn brown if left on the tree or, if harvested when still yellow, will turn brown when exposed to heat. Tree ripened dates are the best though. Cover the individual bunches of ripening dates with firmly tied pieces of fine muslin cloth to protect them from hungry birds and check for ripeness every day or two.

Q. I have an Aloe vera plant inside my Lahore home. The plant is positioned for air circulation and sunlight. It was healthy until last month when it suddenly started dying off, even the small shoots are dying. What can I do to make it healthy and how often should it be watered?

A. It sounds like a typical case of overwatering. Overwatering kills more plants than any insect pest or disease. It may already be too late to save your plant — the root may have rotted — but you can try by repotting it in new, good draining, compost and by then watering it, lightly, every couple of weeks throughout the summer months and just once a month in winter.

Q. Can I grow Moringa oleifera in Rawalpindi? What growing conditions does it need and in which month should it be planted? Also, please suggest somewhere to buy seeds for this and for Moringa stenopetala in Islamabad or Rawalpindi.

A. Moringa oleifera is indigenous to the plains of Punjab and grows wild around Rawalpindi where climatic/soil conditions are perfect for it. Saplings can usually be purchased in late winter and planted then. Sorry, but I do not know a seed supplier.

Please continue sending your gardening queries to zahrahnasir@hotmail.com. Remember to include your location. The writer does not respond directly by email. Emails with attachments will not be opened

Published in Dawn, EOS, July 19th, 2020