Buderim Garden Club

Hullo

I am a newly joined member and would like to pose a question to all you gardeners!!

My pumpkins and several of my gardening friends pumpkins have great trouble in surviving to maturity. At a very small stage they just seem to drop from the vines. Water and fertiliser doesn't seem to be the problem. Any suggestion?

Additionally I have noticed over the last 4/5 years the lack of mango fruit setting. My daughter has several trees including Bowen, Bullock Heart and Asian yet she hasn't had a mango in 4 years! We never seem to see much bee activity lately.....could this be some or all of the problem.

I look forward to hearing any comments.

Pat A

I notice a lack of bees in my garden too. Have you tried hand pollination?

There is a lack of bees because of the small hive beetle that has wiped out many of the bee hives on the coastal strip and is now taking hold west of the ranges because of the big wet. As for the mangos they are pollinated by a fly and need dry weather when the flowers are out because of a fungus that attacks the young fruit. You will get a better set in dry weather

I recently attended a lecture on native bees and it was stated there that the African tulip tree (Spathodea campanulata) killed bees there was a photo of several dead native in the bottom of the flower. There have been tests done on the flowers and they have found that it contains a drug that kills bees with in seconds of the bee ingesting the nectar from the flowers.