My crocodile plant!

Three ceropegias

Apologies to google searchers. The crocodile plant is my own private name. Try aloe! 

 Ceropegia stapeliformis 

The correct common names of Ceropegia stapeliformis are ‘Serpent ceropegia’ and ‘Snake vine’.

Ceropegias are natives of Southern Africa and can grow as a prostrate plant, or hang, creep, climb, or twine.

Not twining together but hanging

Mad gardeners like me are fascinated by plants to which others won’t give house room. I only preserve my three different ceropegias by keeping them out of Brenda’s way.

Ceropegia woodii, the Rosary vine or String of hearts

I remember this hanging from a basket at the top of Askham Bryan College tropical house. It has rather nice markings, extreme pendulous habit together with curious hanging bead like tubers. At that time I never noticed its amazing tiny flowers.

Like many plants misdiagnosed as tropical, it is relatively hardy and all three of my different ceropegias have almost experienced frost for short periods when they have been dumped in disgrace in my unheated greenhouse. I now do find them somewhere above 5 centigrade to overwinter.

A none gardening friend asked me to recommend a house plant to hang in his kitchen window in an extremely confined space. In due course it hung like a curtain for many years thriving in the same three inch diameter pot.

When growth achieves excessive lengths of perhaps four of five feet it can be cut back to as far as you want to take it. You can easily rejuvenate a plant by cutting it right back and hurrying things along by inserting several un-rooted cuttings a few inches deep in the pot. It is extremely easy to propagate and grow!

Most trailing plants and other ceropegias will also clamber upwards and scramble if given the opportunity. Not this one, Ceropegia woodii does not know how! 

Ceropegia sandersonii, the Parachute Plant

I love its funny face flowers.

Like most ceropegias it is a succulent plant which can be left dry for long periods but most of the year this is not recommended when it should be watered as a normal house plant. Mine is flowering now and making new growth and like a Christmas cactus will be watered and fed at least up to the turn of the year.

Now in October and frosts threaten I have promised the lifeline of a place on a high shelf in our warm conservatory - Brenda insists I change the pot!

Ceropegia stapeliformis, my crocodile

My crocodile pretends to be a gnome 

It has escaped into the garden 

The plant featured today has had a checkered history. Purchased as a two inch unrooted piece from a cactus supplier, it was soon given thumbs down and banished from our warm conservatory. It sulked in our shady double glazed unheated enclosed porch and over the first winter barely survived. It did show signs of life the next summer and it started to scramble amongst my cacti on my greenhouse bench. It was returned for the winter to the dingy porch which by now had been fitted with a cheap thermostatically controlled electric heater, the kind used by householders to stop pipes freezing.

My ambition was to eventually see what I knew to be its magnificent flowers. This year revived broken off large pieces have thrived in my cold greenhouse and for the last couple of months have prolifically flowered. Forgive my indulgence in bringing them to you today!

The specific name of C.stapeliformis is derived from its similarity to stapelia, another succulent plant whose signature is a foetid smell.

Peculiar pollination

I have told you before it’s called drop pollination. And you still have not treated the aphids!

All the ceropegias featured today have peculiar flowers with long tubes to the base where anthers and stigma(s) await innocent insects. Ceropegias are mainly pollinated by dipterans (true flies). The size of the narrow entrance is the only control the flower has over which species of fly will be the unwitting pollinating agent. Foetid carrion smells are the attractant. Downward pointing hairs ensure visitors move in a single direction -down. The flies are trapped there for perhaps a complete day when as they try to escape become pasted with pollina. As the flower ages the hairs relax and the insect escapes. Enough flies get caught in another flower to achieve cross pollination. Ceropegia flowers possess inhibitory mechanisms that prevent self pollination.

I must confess I have never noticed any foul odour!

In our conservatory - I wonder if Brenda dislikes the flies more than the spiders!

 Cultural notes

My current neglect may correctly lead you to conclude that ceropegias are easy to grow. Their succulent nature suggests that they might like sharply drained potting compost but in fact any standard compost when watered as for normal houseplants will do. They do like some sunshine. An occasional liquid feed or light top dressing with NPK fertilizer as I do, will provide for their small nutritional requirement. If you forget to water even for several weeks, especially in winter, it will do little harm as many ceropegias in nature withstand a dry season. It is foolish however not to water when they are in active growth and in flower.

I shudder when I read in gardening encyclopedias precise temperature requirements and fancy compost formulations made up to special specifications. On reading such nonsense, often recycled from older encyclopedias by inexperienced researchers, I fear that new gardeners will be completely daunted or will spend money and time trying to find magic ingredients.

It’s a bit like my old lecture notes, transferred to the student notebook without going into my head or their own!

I have recently updated my two year old post on Salvia 'Black and Blue'. It contains another monster

Control of woolly aphid

Scrubbing  Cathi’s trunk

Being Cathi’s head gardener it is quite a responsibility and I now find I have fallen down on the job!

My normal attitude to pest and disease in the ornamental garden is not to see pathogens and expect natural predators and parasites to keep them under control. Where possible I choose resistant varieties and grow my plants well and in doing so, do not predispose them to sickness. It does not always work out that way!

I noticed this disgusting mess on Cathi’s lovely pendulous crab apple. It must have taken woolly aphid several years to create this state of affairs. Cathi get a new gardener! She had not noticed either! None gardeners don’t see these things until it’s too late.

Very messy trunk. If you brush against it the crushed aphid stains look like cochinealV

If not brought under control, woolly aphid brings death and destruction. It usually starts with mild stress on a susceptible variety. I remember a client whose apple tree had light infections on straggly weak shoots at the base of the trunk. The tree probably suffered from drought and the base was heavily shaded. I would annually prune the woolly aphid away and the trees continued to thrive. 

From such little beginnings, if no action is taken, over the years the infection spreads to eventually take over the tree. Each year any initial stress is magnified as the aphid sucks life from the plant. Infection accelerates and the tree becomes a write off and eventually dead! It is very difficult to spray a large tree and I know no suitable pesticides available to amateurs that will penetrate the woolly protection and control the affliction. Systemic insecticides do not work well in woody plants so no help there either.

Aphid covered with waxy protective wool. A problem on bark and buds it also flies to leaves and fruit

My initial reaction was that we would lose Cathi’s tree. On closer inspection it appeared that infection was still mainly at the base of the trunk and any woolly aphid aphid higher up in the tree was at the tips of the branches. The next day I returned with my secateurs, loppers and saw. I also brought a scrubber and a secret chemical weapon!

Kitchen scrubber, sponge, soapy water and whimsical weapon

Control

The basis of control is to cut out severely infected woody branches and scrub the bark clean. There is no guarantee that you will catch all the aphid and prevent its return but if you remove potential re-infection it will be relatively easy to manage next year. Although physical control might be sufficient a little chemical help does not go amiss. A nice soapy mixture will do. Soap will aid penetration of the waxy wool and gum up the insect’s spiracles. As I selected a kitchen scrubber and squirted hand soap into a bowl of water, my eye caught Brenda’s ‘Ecover’, the squirty sweet smelling liquid cleaner she uses to clean round the kitchen. I looked at its analysis, 10% alcohol - they will die die happy - <5% none ionic surfactants, citric and  lactic acid and perfume. It’s made with ‘natural materials, why it is virtually organic!

There was no way such a mixture would be harmful to bark and even if I were to spray the odd leaf they were already going senescent and it would do them no harm.

The work of pruning and scrubbing and squirting took no more than an hour. How I did it in mid September is shown in the pictures below

Oh what a mess!

If you carelessly brush past the trunk you cover yourself with a sticky pink goo!

Woolly aphid stimulates the production of swellings and galls. My first job was to severely prune away a few lower branches, twigs and galls

I wonder if I did not clear away this debris whether the aphid would produce a winged generation to fly back and reinvade the tree. I did not take chances and removed them after Cathi's hens had had a feast

Fortunately most of the top canopy of the tree was not infected

The scale-like nymphs can crawl to fruits and leaves. On Cathi's tree most of this infection was near the tips of the branches and twigs and was easily pruned away. In some cases on densely leaved  lower branches I just gave them a squirt of Ecover and/or pruned them away

After scrubbing the abnormal galls stimulated by the aphid  can be clearly seen. I hesitated about cutting them away and compromised by just taking out the big ones

Now a nicer looking tree. The adjacent red weeping apple is completely uninfected and is evidently resistant.

Pruning cuts will NOT be painted. I blanch at the thought.

link to tree paint myth

Five weeks later in October the crab apples are colouring up nicely and will last beyond Christmas.

A half-hearted disclaimer

I do not consider the serendipity factor of my use of Ecover on a whim as essential to the successful control of woolly aphid! My thought was that it’s wetting power might aid penetration of the soap. I admit I got carried away merely squirting with alcohol rich ecover on a few of the higher infected branches. I made little attempt a few days later to find the aphids I sprayed. Although no aphid is apparent now, for all I know there may be some very hilarious aphids hicoughing away in happy hibernation. At least when I had finished my hands have never been cleaner! Perhaps there is scope for a project next year.

Update June 1^st 2015

Its back!

Cathi noticed her cat had some white fur. It had scratched itself on the tree. Gardeners often give up at this stage. That’s fatal. The infection is now much reduced but the trunk is going to need a few more scrubbings!

Woolly aphid hibernates at the base of the trunk and on woody roots in the ground. Young crawler nymphs re-emerge to re-infect the trunk. Later - if allowed to remain  - winged generations infect higher parts of the tree. Action is required now.

I repeated the scrubbing with soapy water carried to Cathi’s in the kitchen bowl. With the convenient long firm light kitchen pan brush it took no more than a quarter of an hour. Cathi now has a lovely sweet smelling tree. I wonder how soon before I have to pop over again.

The overall tree looks extremely healthy. The very close adjacent crab apple tree that has shown itself to be resistant to woolly aphid is still completely clear as is an eating apple ten yards away.

I rubbed off these young 'water shoots' at the base of the trunk with my fingers

The aphids have returned at the edge of the galls

After a vigorous scrub

End of update

Further update mid October 2015

Victory proclaimed

It’s gone! I inspected very carefully and no woolly aphid could be seen. Not even in the top where at least some aphids must have escaped my attention. I expect where few pests were present natural control took over on the smaller upper branches.

As you can see the trunk is completely free but the previously raised woody galls remain but are no longer infected.

If you observed these healthy raised areas on the trunk you might wonder what they were.

The crab apples yet again brighten Cathi’s garden

Woolly aphid has been completely banished from Cathi’s garden

further update November 2016 I examined Cathi's tree for the first time this year. There is still no sign of woolly aphid returning

July 2018.This post has been rousing some interest - perhaps woolly aphid is bad this year? I rushed round to Cathi's tree to find it in lusty health.
Another bad pest seems to be enjoying this Summer, box caterpillar

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My holiday snaps

The very next day we went Italy to visit my son Tim who lives in Vico Equense on the Sorrento peninsula. What did we see but citrus trees infected with woolly aphid. Most of the orange tree roadside planting was in good shape but at the end  of the row it was so shady that every time I went back to take a picture, my camera flash activated. Such shade does not make for a happy tree, even shade tolerant citrus.

 A holiday snap to text to my friends

 Obviously the aphid has been scrubbed away by Parks and Recreation

A very unhappy tree in a dark garden in Sorrento

And a note about Ipomoea

I recently wrote about the control of bindweed I jested about killing bindweed in Folkestone and going home to my Morning Glory!

In Italy I was reminded what a weed ipomoea can be in a warm climate

I found some real bindweed. In Italy in September it has almost died back from summer heat.  It would appear that it has a native predator and is not the same scourge as in England? 

I did not bother texting this picture home!

Book Review. Gardening Myths and Misconceptions by Charles Dowding.

A book about myths written by a no dig (organic) gardener is too good an opportunity to miss! Peter brought it round, he had devoured it that morning. He confessed a little disappointment. I think he expected a little more depth - pun intended. Perhaps there is too much muck and magic in there and too many assumptions of unverified facts.

For me it is charming collection of old gardening lore and analysis of modern misconceptions. Charles has a fund of sound gardening knowledge that spills out of the pages. 

Poppy devoured the book too

Charles Dowding is a very different gardener to me. He grows organic vegetables on a semi-commercial basis. When I see pictures of his magnificent healthy high yielding vegetables and fruit on his blog I wonder how I have the cheek to venture any opinion at all.They are so beautifully grown and displayed. He meticulously records details of all his ongoing trials that test no dig principles. My own use of glyphosate, inorganic fertilisers and in his own words, synthetic chemicals would be anathema to Charles. (I could never understand why synthetic  materials such as plastics were acceptable and synthesized fertilisers and pesticides were not - I  promise this will my only dig at organic gardening today).

What I most admire about Charles Dowding apart from his fine standard of horticulture is his questioning mind. All of his opinions have been tested over the years when he has challenged orthodox practice. He passes on the results of years of successes and failures. I would like to think that I am the same although we have not always come to the same conclusions. I am 100% in agreement with all the benefits of no-dig he writes about in his books and on his blog.

En passant, I noticed on his blog his intriguing source of seed and potting compost. It has all the advantages of peat  - because it is peat - but without perceived doubts about coming from an ethical source. I have no personal experience of this product. 

 Is this the best thing since sliced bread? I have no idea.

Like most organic gardeners Charles imports into his garden horse and cow manure from external sources. Although my former boss P.K.Willmott described stable manure as the very finest bulky organic material you can add to the soil - it had an x-factor  he could not explain - I never use it. This is somewhat eccentric of me as I agree that it is wonderful stuff. I used to have half formed thoughts of being self sufficient in organic matter and on my Bolton Percy allotment sought to demonstrate how un-dug soil becomes black with organic matter if one merely recycles the products of in situ photosynthesis. Mr Dowding recycles his weed and debris via composting, whereas I do it directly by leaving fresh organic matter on the surface. He does not consider this appropriate in UK conditions. When it comes to tidiness and other practical considerations he is right. When it comes to  benefit to the soil, plant health and his fear of slugs I disagree.

I have two problems that stop me using farmyard manure. My local source is free manure at the garden gate in a near village and I fear it may be contaminated with aminopyralid herbicide. Sue Garrett blogs about this scourge. Charles mentions a simple seed germination test which I imagine involves sowing any quick growing seed, but only when the manure has been ‘made’ and is no longer fresh.

Unfortunately my local manure is full of weed seed. This would never do when I have gone to such lengths to prevent my own weeds seeding.

The book

Written for a wide gardening public there are over a hundred headings each containing either major misconceptions or groups of related myths and unsound practices. Some gardening lore is quite trivial and is often repeated by those with no fundamental knowledge. It must be quite daunting for new gardeners to sort out the wheat from the chaff. 

Even beetroot can be transplanted. Best when several seedlings are planted together from a small pot or module.

The book not only is valuable to any questioning beginner but tackles concepts fascinating to an advanced gardener. I looked for myths that I have covered myself on this blog, found most of them and that we were in broad agreement. 

This achimenes has water scorch, a very real affliction but not caused by droplets of water concentrating sunshine. It’s not even caused by sunshine at all. The fact that water scorch occurs on gesneriads does NOT mean that you cannot spray water over the rest of your plants.

Charles correctly states that it is a myth that you can only water plants in the evening. When I noticed my kohleria was wilting this morning I watered it immediately.

I wondered if the book might suggest myths I might write about in future and found questions relating to row and greenhouse orientation, crocking and staking trees. I was pleased to find our agreement on many technical issues such as the gardening press's confusion with compaction and firm settled soil and indeed the general erroneous conception that 'fluffy soil' is a good thing! 

Greenhouses can be orientated in any direction. Much more important is the absence of shade from buildings and trees. nb my hedge is on the north west side and casts little shade.

Mr Dowding is up to date with modern happenings such as the discovery of glomalin in 1997 that transformed our understanding of the nature of the world's organic matter. I agree with his doubts about the fashionable adding of mycorrhiza from a packet when it is best to leave things to nature. Although mycorrhiza are fundamental to certain plant's survival in the wild I rather doubt that in his own highly fertile vegetable garden, mycorrhiza are of any significance at all - any more than in mine.

Charles has important and in some cases novel things to say about about sowing dates. He flirts with astrology to of course dismiss it. He has done trials with correlating planting dates with phases of the moon and reluctantly - I think - dismisses them too. I could be persuaded that the moon does effect plant growth - just perhaps - but not in any predictable way. In my view the major factor that thwarts success of a recommended sowing date is the vagary of the weather.   

It is not necessary to transplant leeks and insert them deeply to blanch them - but it is not wrong to do so. 

Where Charles and I would appear as one is that he contends that if you grow plants well - in his case organically - that they will succumb to far less pest and disease. He quite rightly does not claim complete success against virulent pathogens or in difficult seasons.

I was interested to read about Dowding's compost tea which he recommends as a soil conditioner. He also suspends decaying organic matter over water to catch its soluble content to make liquid feed. Not very different to my own methods when I leave fresh organic matter to decay at the soil surface in preference to composting. 

Why should I imagine that 'bacterial washings' from decaying vegetation should benefit my soil? I have observed nice crumbly soil directly below fresh surface decaying vegetation and I once read the tale, but I do not remember where. Now that's how myths are created!

And a final thought

Peter Williams made a perceptive observation when he commented that myths often arise when authoritative figures make dogmatic statements. I would back Charles’ authority against most TV gardening gurus, but even he can be wrong!

My previous book reviews 

The Sensual Garden

Growing chillies

Wildflowers on the Edge

To read my own take on myths put 'myth' in the search box at the bottom of this site.

..whoops this morning it did not work! I tried ‘Roger Brook myths’ on the main google search site and got a much more thorough record than I have ever seen before. I looked out this post where I reviewed some of my own myths.