Australia News
- To:
- Subject: Australia News
- From: S* D*
- Date: Sat, 26 Dec 1998 23:20:52 +1100
Hello folks,
Seems sometimes that I have to contribut all the news from down-under. What
happend to Tony and Jan?
When does John S get back from fishing?
The weather here has bee warm and dry for the last few weeks and today a
storm came through with a lot of wind and little hail and some welcome rain.
The temperature has dropped which is good as I expect to pollinate the first
flower in a day or two. The first female on the main vine pegged out so I
have covered the second as well as some male flowers ready.
Chris has advised that I need to set about 15 fruit so I will now look at
setting females on the secondaries, particularly as the bees are on strike.
I bury the vines as they grow but find that some of the growing leaves have
been damaged from what I believe is heat and sun. (Young leaves close to the
ground - Perhaps it is better to encourage the vine to remain a bit up in
the air until the leaves are more developed) It appears as though the plant
shuts off the flow of some sap to the outer edges of the leaf completely if
it gets too hot and stressed and the edges die. As I am on holidays I can
cool them off with the hose during the day and I have erected a shade clothe
6'x15' which works well (although only covers a small section) so intend to
erect two more peices.
I am using a Gardena water computer that allows watering every 2nd of 3rd
day and has 6 programs that drive a 6 way distributor. Two programs are
allocated to sprinklers that operate in the hotter parts of the day but as
it operates only every second day it is not adequate. A solenoid operated
system is needed but it is a bit much at the moment.
The first of the secondaries is now about two days from the edge of the plot
so I will soon have to cut them off and bury the end.
Stewart
Canberra Aust
the nation's capital
sdeans@pcug.org.au
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