August 31, 2024 • 24 mins
This week, Pete and Ruud answer your questions about keeping your garden in the best shape it can be this season!
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Resident Builder podcast with Peter Wolfcamp
from News Talks EDB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Your news TALK'SB and we're just standing by to jump
into the garden with climb pass to be with us
in just a moment. If you've got a question for it,
eight hundred eighty ten eighty is the number to call.
One of the things we will talk about is this
whole thing around the the L boxes. So there was
(00:35):
a request actually came from my own house to build
one of these in order to entice perhaps an OL
to come and live at our place for a while,
which would be awesome in any way, I went to
the expert, which was Rut, and said, hey, can you
send me some plans, which he did. I think he'd forgotten,
to be fair, that he sent me two different plans.
(00:56):
Of course, I've built two different OL boxes and put
up a little video of one of them, and I'll
put up a little bit of an explanation about the
two different OL boxes a little bit later on. So
we'll try and get that sorted out. But if you've
got a question for Dred, the lines are open and
the number to call is eight hundred eighty ten eighty.
(01:16):
Just gonna check in with the team that we've got
root not yet, I can't hear right. We'll come back
to that in just a moment. A couple of other
quick texts that have come in just before the break.
I've talked about the soul before. This is from a
sparky who was talking about installing, you know, like heat
(01:39):
transfer systems. Before installing a heat transfer system asks a
supply to show evidence of the temperature and the roof.
Because of the construction type, there was no heat in
my roof space, so they ended up declining. That's not
to say there's not a benefit to putting ventilation in
which I think is really really important. And other text
comes through, Hey, look, I've got a late nineteen eighties
(02:00):
house with a concrete tile roof. There's no building paper
or no roofing underlay underneath the roof as that normal?
Is that okay? From Blair? Yep. That's still the case
today in terms of the building code. So if it's
concrete tile roof with a pitch I think of greater
than fifteen degrees, there is no requirement to put a
roofing underlay underneath the concrete tile roof, mainly because there's
(02:23):
not the same issues with condensation as you might have
from a metal roof if it's less than fifteen degrees.
I believe there is a requirement to have a roofing
underlay there, So hopefully that answers that one. And this
is the classic response every time, And this has been
the case for as long as I've been doing the show.
Since we talk about, you know, making our houses warmer,
(02:44):
more comfortable, dryer, et cetera. You know, I get a
text that runs along the lines of, oh, come on,
you know it was all right back in the day. Yeah, Well,
all of the evidence would point that that's not the case. Actually,
and some of the longitudinal studies, particularly out of the
University of Targo's medical team, who have done longitudinal studies
(03:08):
on the health impact of living in poor damp conditions
is massive. So our houses weren't great and they should
be much better. Oh, eight, one hundred and eighty ten eighty.
If you've got a question for it, I think we've
got up on the line.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Hey, get he get making it? How's that?
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (03:28):
He loved your love, Your love, your photos, I must
say they're great.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
So let's indulge you ourselves for a minute, because I
did promise that i'd make one, and I have made it,
but in fact I didn't make two because you sent
me two different plans, right, so I.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
Think I sent you three.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Oh okay, all right, Well that means I'm going to
make another one, which is fine, to be fair. I've
had a great time making.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Them, especially if you want barn ols.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Yes, I do want barn ols. Specifically, what have I
now built blood boxes that are not for barn ols?
Speaker 3 (03:56):
You built two boxes? Said no, no, the two boxes.
One is for the one that has got the offset instances,
is something that was designed for little owls, which had
the German owl. They're actually small.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Owls, very small owls. It's a very big box for
a small owl.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
I know, I know. And the other one is actually
also a box for little owls, but probably ruru would
go in there as well, which is of course our
native ruru owl. Yes, okay, the one for the and
I sent them because I feared that for some reason
(04:35):
you might not have either gotten it or looked at it.
There's a third one from England which is slightly larger
for the Bano. The Banyl is the largest of the
three native owls or the three owls that we have
in New Zealand. But look, to be quite honest, a
baro might go in the largest ones that you've built anyway,
as long as it's got an entrance of something like
(04:57):
thirteen fourteen centimeters.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Oh okay, because all of the designs that I had
said that the entranceway needs to be somewhere around seven
and tea to eighty millimeters.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
That's right, and that is for little owls. Ok. And
I've got little owls in my garden. You see the
one that I sent you from. We banned those. This
is actually an old game from Europe. It's actually a
niedlance owl.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Yeah, it's amazing. So here you go. The other thing
that you were you're quite right by saying that Ponsonby
Road is where we found somebody found an owl sitting
there in a tree.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Amazing.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
How cool is that?
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Absolutely? And I know I've seen some photographs Bayswater of
I think that was rue that was sitting in the
tree there. And then some people that I know over
in Beach Haven Way had a barn owl crash into
the appool glass and and kind of wander around the
deck slightly dazed as well, which is pretty awesome. Okay, well,
(06:01):
look ill, I may have to. I've still got some
plywood leftover, so another one.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
I'll tell you what now. But that is the cool
thing that we're doing now, because these there are other
people that are making vinyl boxes, if you like, and
and they they love that sort of idea because they're dry,
they're high, they're protected, and it's all good. The other
thing I was going to say is that for barnals
(06:31):
there are two types of boxes. One that goes inside
the barn, yes, because they love to live in human barns,
and the other one is probably better for outside barns,
but in trees and in such a way that they
can have enough shelter from rain and all that sort
of stuff and the sun. It's another thing, of course,
(06:53):
hanging them up in the right place. If you hang
them in an area where there's always some especially in
the summertime, you'll find that barnys start to cook a bit.
They get very very hot.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Okay, because I must have met one of them has
got like a little balcony right.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
Exactly exactly that's where you go sunbathing. But anyway, the
point I loved that. The point though, is that we
have to be careful not to not to cook them
too much. And the third thing I'd like to tell
you that is something that we've just found out here
in New Zealand when those binals got into Kaitaia in
(07:29):
two thousand and eight, is that these pairs have three
broods a year.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
So imagine it. Imagine that three times four young with
a bit of luck, that's twelve young and a year
for just one pair.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Fantastic amazing. Isn't that just incredible?
Speaker 5 (07:50):
It is?
Speaker 2 (07:51):
I love And I'll tell you what I was. Actually,
I was at an event on Thursday night with Cactus,
you know, the clothing manufacturers, right, New Zealand based clothing manufacturers,
and Ben As, one of the owners, was there. Now
he actually sits on the board of Forest and Bird
as well, so he's actively and we were talking about
this whole thing where I guess as government funding for
(08:13):
some community organizations dries up and conservation work dries up,
in some cases, individuals are taking on the responsibility themselves
and they're going, well, actually, we think that this is
really important work, so we're just going to carry on
and do it, which is also and that you've been
part of the space for a long time. I think, well, so.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
Can we trust that sort of stuff? Yeah, absolutely, that's
exactly what this is about. And and and there's another
group just actually I got an interesting FOC call just
before your missives online from Ethel McCully. Now, most people
who are in Groces will know Ethel McCully because he
was one of the guys that rent the McCully garden
(08:52):
centers and grocers for a long time. And it was
something that we said last or sorry, something that I
said last week when a woman dr rang up and
said what would you do with what would you do
with chicken manure? And said, I wouldn't use it. And
here's Ethel. He's part of Rotary South Christs and they
(09:12):
are selling chicken manure and he knows exactly what I mean.
So he says, can you please tell people that again,
chicken minure itself is not bad, but I would put
it through a compost cycle fright before I use it.
And that makes so much sense, or diluted with good
garden mix or you know that sort of stuff, so
(09:34):
you you don't go to the high faluting chicken manu
and put it on your garden because that will burn
your plants. Be very careful with.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
That, just quickly. And because it relates to father's day,
So Dad was an evid My dad was an evid
gardener as well, right, And so because we were you know, duchies,
and we knew the van Brinks down the road who
had the chicken farm, right, we would go and collect
chicken compost manure from there. And Dad, I think knew
(10:03):
intuitively that you didn't put it straight on the garden.
He would go and collect a trailer load of chicken
manure from down the road and we'd bring it home.
And then he had at one stage it was like
an old bath semi buried into the garden, and so
he'd fill that up and he'd let it compost down
and then he would use it. And in the meantime
he put a kind of an old bit of plywood
over the top of it. Anyway, I can remember as
(10:25):
a kid forgetting that there was a plywood lid on there.
The plywood had obviously rotted ended up knee deep in
uh in the pool.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
And just another thing found vrom Brink family. One of
those people married one of our My is his brother
in law.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Fantastic. Yeah, down the road on great road between Papatoy
and Worry. Yeah, let's talk to some people. Mike, A
very good morning, good morning.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
How are you good? Thanks?
Speaker 6 (11:03):
That's good, that's good. Hey, my wife, two kids. We're
moving from See what can I dance the Central Otago? Yeah,
I was wanting to know what we should be planning
at this time of the year. Inside a gardening tunnel.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
Where in Central Otago are you?
Speaker 6 (11:22):
We will be moving to Renfrey.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
Ren Fairly, okay, okay, so you do get big frosts
and things.
Speaker 6 (11:28):
Like that as far as I'm aware, Yes.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
Yes you will. Okay. You know what is probably the
best thing to do, Mike, and it's and I'm not joking,
is to go for a walk around where you are,
you know, go to Renfairly town. See who has got
the nicest gardens, What is the stuff that works well there?
And you can you know, I would normally send you
(11:51):
to a to a botanic garden if you like. I
don't think there's a botannic garden in Renfrelly. There will
be one in Dunedin, but stay stay central and go
never look who's got a good garden? And I bet you, Mike,
if you knock on the door of a really nice garden,
they'll tell you exactly why and what. Because gardeners do that,
(12:12):
they share that, they share their knowledge, and that is
probably the best way. The other thing is to go
and you've got to do a lot of work on
the internet. I suppose to find out what you can
what you can get there, but honestly, go local, ask
the local people. I bet you you will find really
willing people that will help you out. Awesome, Thank you
(12:35):
very much, No worries.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Mike, all this Mike, you take care. And Robbie, a
very good morning to you.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Hello Robbie, Hello, ah Hi dear.
Speaker 4 (12:45):
Good morning gentlemen. Really the question for you. I've got
a lemon tree and it's got now it looks like
sut or something black that's leaned over the over the leaves,
and the whole tree is sort of like it. I
just wondered what it might be.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
That stuff is probably called black sooty mob, which is
and makes sense that name, doesn't it. Are you in
the north of our country? Are you in the north Wellington?
Well that is still the north Okay, so et ceterus.
You will quite often get creatures that suck sap out
(13:27):
of the actual plant, out of the leaves, sometimes out
of the stems, and that could be meati bugs, that
could be scale insects, it could be aphids. And what
these things do is quite an interesting habit. They poop
out honeyedjew, which is sweet sap that they get from
the plant. That honeyedew then falls onto the leaves, often
(13:49):
on the top side of the leaves, and that is
sweet stuff that is a really good material on which
sooty mold grows. So what you're seeing there is the
end result of some sap sucking bugs damaging your plants
a little bit and pooping out sweet zep called honeyjew
on top of that gross souti mold. What you need
(14:10):
to do is think about how to get rid of
the scale insects, the meat bugs and the aphids. Very simple.
Get yourself a material like nim oil or conqueror oil,
and you can mix that with a little bit of
h if you like, pyrethroid insecticides, just insecticides and spray
(14:31):
that on top of those leaves of your of your plants,
of your shrubs, and of your in this case citrus tree.
You'll find that you will kill. You will kill the
ones that pull all over the leaves below, and slowly
the black soutie mold will go.
Speaker 4 (14:48):
Oh, thank you. Is it conquer.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
Conqueror conqueror oil. It's a mineral oil that you use
on plants. Your your guden senter will know what conqueror
oil is.
Speaker 4 (15:00):
Thank you. Okay, thanks very much, your mother, and welcome.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Robbie. You take care. I think we'll take a break.
We'll do that. We'll do that before we talk to
and Nett will be back in just a moment. Rud
I'm just looking at the email that you sent me
yesterday with the barn l nest boxes for inside Trust.
So this one now has a balcony from the first floor. Yes,
this is a whole new designed I know.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
I know you'd love it, and it needs a licensed
building practitioner.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
I have to say, with the designs you sent me,
I couldn't resist but slightly change them. So I just
couldn't bring myself to build one with a flat roof,
so I've put a pitched roof on them.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
I think that's lovely because that's exactly what they like.
But you know what is the good things, especially that
long than one. Quite often you get starlings in there,
or because your whole is now too big if you
like or minus and it is. Yeah, oh yeah, you
get them as well. No, no, but what is the
(16:07):
point is that we get starlings in our little owl boxes? Now,
the little owl is not really big at all. It's
maybe at the most eight inches in size. That's all
it is, is tiny. But when you are styling and
you go into a little owl box, you end up
paying for that with your life. Those little owls know
(16:28):
how to kick them out or kill them right and
then and then they leave the corpses inside the box,
because what you get is flies. And if the babies
come out of the egg, they see the flies and
they learn how to hunt flies. It's absolutely stunning.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
That's fantastic.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
It's really cool.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
I realized though with this one. It requires a barn,
and I don't have a bar fair, No, you.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
Don't need a barn. It's like something that's European.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
That all right, all right, I will make maybe today
maybe it's a nice Father's day things to and happy
Father's Day to you too, mane at your.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
Post and and is Joseph okay, yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
You know he's great. He rang before and said Happy
Father's Day. So that's nice, right, and hello.
Speaker 5 (17:17):
There, Hello there too, Rude and Pete. I want to
talk dead compost. I've killed it? Can I believe it?
Will it come back?
Speaker 3 (17:28):
What did you do to it to kill it?
Speaker 5 (17:31):
Well? I think I've put too many grass clippings into it.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
Oh no, no, no, no, no no, that doesn't mean
it's dead. It means you've.
Speaker 5 (17:39):
Actually it's not. It's not rotting anything I put in.
I put all the kitchen scrapts out there, but it's
not roughing.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
And that's exactly why you're going the wrong way, because
even the kitchen scraps are not part, are not needed
that this what you need now is wood chips. Right.
So so here's here's this. Here's a science lesson on compost.
Compost is made basically no on two things. The one
is one's night, which is all the grass pettings or
(18:08):
the leaves, all that stuff, or you're in most of
the food scraps. The other bit that it needs and
the large amount of compost. The largest part of the
compost is carbon, and carbon is wood chips, branches, that
sort of stuff, and if you just keep on putting
green stuff in it, you don't get enough composting going
(18:29):
at all. If you're now going to put a lot
of that woodchips in and mix it in if you
can with the rake, you'll find that everything will pick
up and there will be your compost won't be dead.
I'll tell you that for free.
Speaker 5 (18:42):
Well, I haven't seen any little rooms or anything in it.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
No, because they find it a bit too asset. They
burn their bubs in there.
Speaker 5 (18:52):
Thanks, and why do they can? I think pete briefly,
thank you very much. A long time ago he told
me to put PVC windows in. Oh and I did,
And I've now sold the house to my son and
they thinks are absolutely fantastic.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
Look, I think it's always one of these things. You've
got to look at the individual situation and make the
right choice for that. And if the PVC was the
right choice there, then that's fantastic.
Speaker 5 (19:19):
So great here I've been meaning to tell you, thank you.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
It's a pleasure, all the very best. Hey, let's look
at a couple. It's all got time for one more call. Also,
if you want to give us a call, eight hundred
and eighty ten eighty the number gardening questions germinating peony
tree seeds please tree.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
I have not, literally, I have not worked with pony seeds.
I think Duly usually gets them from the shop and
and plants them directly. As as seed links. I've never
worked up, so I don't know. No, I'm not gonna
I'm not going to dare to do that.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
And ponies are not a tree, are they not necessariutiful
for them? Cold line, very cold climate for.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
That in order to flower properly. That's right right.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
Another one from Duneedin is it too late to start
sowing seeds. I've collected a lot of seeds from last year,
just checking if seed raising mixes the best to use.
I'm also hoping the red and cream Karka beak seeds
will take from Joey.
Speaker 3 (20:29):
That's a good thing to do right now. I would
say seeds are sowing depends on exactly what you're talking
about here. But for instance, if I'm now starting to
look at my tunnel house, I need to, for instance,
sew seeds for what do you call them? The tomatoes?
But the problem is if it's too cold, they don't
like that, So you do that inside and you do
(20:52):
that inside the house until literally all frost tender plants
need to do that until frost is no longer an issue.
It's that sort of stuff. So some varieties can be
sown right now. In fact, I've had broadbeat sewing it's
themselves over winter and they are now flowering. Unbelievable, but
(21:12):
that does work. But other plants can't handle that. So
it pays to google which particular seeds you want a
plant and make sure you do it at the right time.
But yes, you can sew seeds all.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Right, brilliant, Hey Tony, very good morning to you.
Speaker 4 (21:28):
Good morning, gentlemen. I've got Michalla bubbles hedging live and ortland,
and I've got the leaves cooling up and got brownie.
Speaker 7 (21:38):
Black spots on them and then obviously time falling off.
Speaker 4 (21:41):
Between itself, but the leaves are all filled up and
down spots.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Yeah, but it might pay to actually use use some
some fungicides on that because it sounds like a fungal
infliction if you like, and fungicides plant, you know, for
plants to stop that brown spot actually getting on with
it is important. So what I would use is a
systemic fungicide. Go to your local garden center systemic fungus side,
(22:09):
something like there's all sorts of the bits, and there's
all sorts of varieties there, but ask for a systemic
that is taken into the plant and basically stops these
fungi from developing on your leaves.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
Thanks for ya.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
I'm listening attentively because we have Michaelia grappi's at home,
but thankfully and reasonably good health.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
That's it. Sometimes when it's too wet and too cold,
it can get these fungal problems. Here, all sorts of things.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
Right quick one from you, Richard. Greetings, Yes, good, good morning.
Speaker 7 (22:46):
Hey Martian, lawn I sprayed the lawn, the marshy part
with your wit and forget it all died off, nicely,
yellowed and everything. What do I do with it? Now?
Speaker 3 (23:01):
I would suggest you change the pH that means the
acidity of the soil by literally putting lime on it,
not not not dolomite lime, but agricultural line or normal
lime or whatever you want to call it. And that
will change the pH and that will that will really
(23:21):
disadvantage the moths.
Speaker 7 (23:24):
Okay, your morning, welcome mate.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
Go well, Andy, what's the distribution rate?
Speaker 7 (23:30):
Is it?
Speaker 2 (23:31):
Like a handful to.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
Or you're going to be a license building pratitioner to
do that. A handful to the meter? Rough, No, but yeah,
I know, I know, I know, yeah it is.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Actually I took your advice. I went and got some
nitro foscar blue the other day and yeah, around hand
and it was a handful or eighty grams per square meter.
You be fair. I don't have a scale in the workshop, but.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
I don't do I this is the point, and the
handful to the square meter is something that is like
is years old in gardening. It's been there all the
It's like, you know, putting your finger out there, that's
four inches.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
Ayrud, Thank you mate. First to September, not the first
day of spring. We'll come down wind visit that on
the twenty first.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
Now Jack Day had to go with it too.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
Take care mate, Happy Father's Day, all the best, Thanks folks,
thanks for your company. It's been the absolute pleasure. See
you next Sunday.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
For more from the Resident Builder with Peter Wolfcamp, listen
live to news talks'd be on Sunday mornings from six,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Resident Builder podcast with Peter Wolfcamp
from News Talks EDB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Your news TALK'SB and we're just standing by to jump
into the garden with climb pass to be with us
in just a moment. If you've got a question for it,
eight hundred eighty ten eighty is the number to call.
One of the things we will talk about is this
whole thing around the the L boxes. So there was
(00:35):
a request actually came from my own house to build
one of these in order to entice perhaps an OL
to come and live at our place for a while,
which would be awesome in any way, I went to
the expert, which was Rut, and said, hey, can you
send me some plans, which he did. I think he'd forgotten,
to be fair, that he sent me two different plans.
(00:56):
Of course, I've built two different OL boxes and put
up a little video of one of them, and I'll
put up a little bit of an explanation about the
two different OL boxes a little bit later on. So
we'll try and get that sorted out. But if you've
got a question for Dred, the lines are open and
the number to call is eight hundred eighty ten eighty.
(01:16):
Just gonna check in with the team that we've got
root not yet, I can't hear right. We'll come back
to that in just a moment. A couple of other
quick texts that have come in just before the break.
I've talked about the soul before. This is from a
sparky who was talking about installing, you know, like heat
(01:39):
transfer systems. Before installing a heat transfer system asks a
supply to show evidence of the temperature and the roof.
Because of the construction type, there was no heat in
my roof space, so they ended up declining. That's not
to say there's not a benefit to putting ventilation in
which I think is really really important. And other text
comes through, Hey, look, I've got a late nineteen eighties
(02:00):
house with a concrete tile roof. There's no building paper
or no roofing underlay underneath the roof as that normal?
Is that okay? From Blair? Yep. That's still the case
today in terms of the building code. So if it's
concrete tile roof with a pitch I think of greater
than fifteen degrees, there is no requirement to put a
roofing underlay underneath the concrete tile roof, mainly because there's
(02:23):
not the same issues with condensation as you might have
from a metal roof if it's less than fifteen degrees.
I believe there is a requirement to have a roofing
underlay there, So hopefully that answers that one. And this
is the classic response every time, And this has been
the case for as long as I've been doing the show.
Since we talk about, you know, making our houses warmer,
(02:44):
more comfortable, dryer, et cetera. You know, I get a
text that runs along the lines of, oh, come on,
you know it was all right back in the day. Yeah, Well,
all of the evidence would point that that's not the case. Actually,
and some of the longitudinal studies, particularly out of the
University of Targo's medical team, who have done longitudinal studies
(03:08):
on the health impact of living in poor damp conditions
is massive. So our houses weren't great and they should
be much better. Oh, eight, one hundred and eighty ten eighty.
If you've got a question for it, I think we've
got up on the line.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Hey, get he get making it? How's that?
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (03:28):
He loved your love, Your love, your photos, I must
say they're great.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
So let's indulge you ourselves for a minute, because I
did promise that i'd make one, and I have made it,
but in fact I didn't make two because you sent
me two different plans, right, so I.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
Think I sent you three.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Oh okay, all right, Well that means I'm going to
make another one, which is fine, to be fair. I've
had a great time making.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Them, especially if you want barn ols.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Yes, I do want barn ols. Specifically, what have I
now built blood boxes that are not for barn ols?
Speaker 3 (03:56):
You built two boxes? Said no, no, the two boxes.
One is for the one that has got the offset instances,
is something that was designed for little owls, which had
the German owl. They're actually small.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Owls, very small owls. It's a very big box for
a small owl.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
I know, I know. And the other one is actually
also a box for little owls, but probably ruru would
go in there as well, which is of course our
native ruru owl. Yes, okay, the one for the and
I sent them because I feared that for some reason
(04:35):
you might not have either gotten it or looked at it.
There's a third one from England which is slightly larger
for the Bano. The Banyl is the largest of the
three native owls or the three owls that we have
in New Zealand. But look, to be quite honest, a
baro might go in the largest ones that you've built anyway,
as long as it's got an entrance of something like
(04:57):
thirteen fourteen centimeters.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Oh okay, because all of the designs that I had
said that the entranceway needs to be somewhere around seven
and tea to eighty millimeters.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
That's right, and that is for little owls. Ok. And
I've got little owls in my garden. You see the
one that I sent you from. We banned those. This
is actually an old game from Europe. It's actually a
niedlance owl.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Yeah, it's amazing. So here you go. The other thing
that you were you're quite right by saying that Ponsonby
Road is where we found somebody found an owl sitting
there in a tree.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Amazing.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
How cool is that?
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Absolutely? And I know I've seen some photographs Bayswater of
I think that was rue that was sitting in the
tree there. And then some people that I know over
in Beach Haven Way had a barn owl crash into
the appool glass and and kind of wander around the
deck slightly dazed as well, which is pretty awesome. Okay, well,
(06:01):
look ill, I may have to. I've still got some
plywood leftover, so another one.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
I'll tell you what now. But that is the cool
thing that we're doing now, because these there are other
people that are making vinyl boxes, if you like, and
and they they love that sort of idea because they're dry,
they're high, they're protected, and it's all good. The other
thing I was going to say is that for barnals
(06:31):
there are two types of boxes. One that goes inside
the barn, yes, because they love to live in human barns,
and the other one is probably better for outside barns,
but in trees and in such a way that they
can have enough shelter from rain and all that sort
of stuff and the sun. It's another thing, of course,
(06:53):
hanging them up in the right place. If you hang
them in an area where there's always some especially in
the summertime, you'll find that barnys start to cook a bit.
They get very very hot.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Okay, because I must have met one of them has
got like a little balcony right.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
Exactly exactly that's where you go sunbathing. But anyway, the
point I loved that. The point though, is that we
have to be careful not to not to cook them
too much. And the third thing I'd like to tell
you that is something that we've just found out here
in New Zealand when those binals got into Kaitaia in
(07:29):
two thousand and eight, is that these pairs have three
broods a year.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
So imagine it. Imagine that three times four young with
a bit of luck, that's twelve young and a year
for just one pair.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Fantastic amazing. Isn't that just incredible?
Speaker 5 (07:50):
It is?
Speaker 2 (07:51):
I love And I'll tell you what I was. Actually,
I was at an event on Thursday night with Cactus,
you know, the clothing manufacturers, right, New Zealand based clothing manufacturers,
and Ben As, one of the owners, was there. Now
he actually sits on the board of Forest and Bird
as well, so he's actively and we were talking about
this whole thing where I guess as government funding for
(08:13):
some community organizations dries up and conservation work dries up,
in some cases, individuals are taking on the responsibility themselves
and they're going, well, actually, we think that this is
really important work, so we're just going to carry on
and do it, which is also and that you've been
part of the space for a long time. I think, well, so.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
Can we trust that sort of stuff? Yeah, absolutely, that's
exactly what this is about. And and and there's another
group just actually I got an interesting FOC call just
before your missives online from Ethel McCully. Now, most people
who are in Groces will know Ethel McCully because he
was one of the guys that rent the McCully garden
(08:52):
centers and grocers for a long time. And it was
something that we said last or sorry, something that I
said last week when a woman dr rang up and
said what would you do with what would you do
with chicken manure? And said, I wouldn't use it. And
here's Ethel. He's part of Rotary South Christs and they
(09:12):
are selling chicken manure and he knows exactly what I mean.
So he says, can you please tell people that again,
chicken minure itself is not bad, but I would put
it through a compost cycle fright before I use it.
And that makes so much sense, or diluted with good
garden mix or you know that sort of stuff, so
(09:34):
you you don't go to the high faluting chicken manu
and put it on your garden because that will burn
your plants. Be very careful with.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
That, just quickly. And because it relates to father's day,
So Dad was an evid My dad was an evid
gardener as well, right, And so because we were you know, duchies,
and we knew the van Brinks down the road who
had the chicken farm, right, we would go and collect
chicken compost manure from there. And Dad, I think knew
(10:03):
intuitively that you didn't put it straight on the garden.
He would go and collect a trailer load of chicken
manure from down the road and we'd bring it home.
And then he had at one stage it was like
an old bath semi buried into the garden, and so
he'd fill that up and he'd let it compost down
and then he would use it. And in the meantime
he put a kind of an old bit of plywood
over the top of it. Anyway, I can remember as
(10:25):
a kid forgetting that there was a plywood lid on there.
The plywood had obviously rotted ended up knee deep in
uh in the pool.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
And just another thing found vrom Brink family. One of
those people married one of our My is his brother
in law.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Fantastic. Yeah, down the road on great road between Papatoy
and Worry. Yeah, let's talk to some people. Mike, A
very good morning, good morning.
Speaker 3 (11:01):
How are you good? Thanks?
Speaker 6 (11:03):
That's good, that's good. Hey, my wife, two kids. We're
moving from See what can I dance the Central Otago? Yeah,
I was wanting to know what we should be planning
at this time of the year. Inside a gardening tunnel.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
Where in Central Otago are you?
Speaker 6 (11:22):
We will be moving to Renfrey.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
Ren Fairly, okay, okay, so you do get big frosts
and things.
Speaker 6 (11:28):
Like that as far as I'm aware, Yes.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
Yes you will. Okay. You know what is probably the
best thing to do, Mike, and it's and I'm not joking,
is to go for a walk around where you are,
you know, go to Renfairly town. See who has got
the nicest gardens, What is the stuff that works well there?
And you can you know, I would normally send you
(11:51):
to a to a botanic garden if you like. I
don't think there's a botannic garden in Renfrelly. There will
be one in Dunedin, but stay stay central and go
never look who's got a good garden? And I bet you, Mike,
if you knock on the door of a really nice garden,
they'll tell you exactly why and what. Because gardeners do that,
(12:12):
they share that, they share their knowledge, and that is
probably the best way. The other thing is to go
and you've got to do a lot of work on
the internet. I suppose to find out what you can
what you can get there, but honestly, go local, ask
the local people. I bet you you will find really
willing people that will help you out. Awesome, Thank you
(12:35):
very much, No worries.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Mike, all this Mike, you take care. And Robbie, a
very good morning to you.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Hello Robbie, Hello, ah Hi dear.
Speaker 4 (12:45):
Good morning gentlemen. Really the question for you. I've got
a lemon tree and it's got now it looks like
sut or something black that's leaned over the over the leaves,
and the whole tree is sort of like it. I
just wondered what it might be.
Speaker 3 (13:02):
That stuff is probably called black sooty mob, which is
and makes sense that name, doesn't it. Are you in
the north of our country? Are you in the north Wellington?
Well that is still the north Okay, so et ceterus.
You will quite often get creatures that suck sap out
(13:27):
of the actual plant, out of the leaves, sometimes out
of the stems, and that could be meati bugs, that
could be scale insects, it could be aphids. And what
these things do is quite an interesting habit. They poop
out honeyedjew, which is sweet sap that they get from
the plant. That honeyedew then falls onto the leaves, often
(13:49):
on the top side of the leaves, and that is
sweet stuff that is a really good material on which
sooty mold grows. So what you're seeing there is the
end result of some sap sucking bugs damaging your plants
a little bit and pooping out sweet zep called honeyjew
on top of that gross souti mold. What you need
(14:10):
to do is think about how to get rid of
the scale insects, the meat bugs and the aphids. Very simple.
Get yourself a material like nim oil or conqueror oil,
and you can mix that with a little bit of
h if you like, pyrethroid insecticides, just insecticides and spray
(14:31):
that on top of those leaves of your of your plants,
of your shrubs, and of your in this case citrus tree.
You'll find that you will kill. You will kill the
ones that pull all over the leaves below, and slowly
the black soutie mold will go.
Speaker 4 (14:48):
Oh, thank you. Is it conquer.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
Conqueror conqueror oil. It's a mineral oil that you use
on plants. Your your guden senter will know what conqueror
oil is.
Speaker 4 (15:00):
Thank you. Okay, thanks very much, your mother, and welcome.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Robbie. You take care. I think we'll take a break.
We'll do that. We'll do that before we talk to
and Nett will be back in just a moment. Rud
I'm just looking at the email that you sent me
yesterday with the barn l nest boxes for inside Trust.
So this one now has a balcony from the first floor. Yes,
this is a whole new designed I know.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
I know you'd love it, and it needs a licensed
building practitioner.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
I have to say, with the designs you sent me,
I couldn't resist but slightly change them. So I just
couldn't bring myself to build one with a flat roof,
so I've put a pitched roof on them.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
I think that's lovely because that's exactly what they like.
But you know what is the good things, especially that
long than one. Quite often you get starlings in there,
or because your whole is now too big if you
like or minus and it is. Yeah, oh yeah, you
get them as well. No, no, but what is the
(16:07):
point is that we get starlings in our little owl boxes? Now,
the little owl is not really big at all. It's
maybe at the most eight inches in size. That's all
it is, is tiny. But when you are styling and
you go into a little owl box, you end up
paying for that with your life. Those little owls know
(16:28):
how to kick them out or kill them right and
then and then they leave the corpses inside the box,
because what you get is flies. And if the babies
come out of the egg, they see the flies and
they learn how to hunt flies. It's absolutely stunning.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
That's fantastic.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
It's really cool.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
I realized though with this one. It requires a barn,
and I don't have a bar fair, No, you.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
Don't need a barn. It's like something that's European.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
That all right, all right, I will make maybe today
maybe it's a nice Father's day things to and happy
Father's Day to you too, mane at your.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
Post and and is Joseph okay, yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
You know he's great. He rang before and said Happy
Father's Day. So that's nice, right, and hello.
Speaker 5 (17:17):
There, Hello there too, Rude and Pete. I want to
talk dead compost. I've killed it? Can I believe it?
Will it come back?
Speaker 3 (17:28):
What did you do to it to kill it?
Speaker 5 (17:31):
Well? I think I've put too many grass clippings into it.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
Oh no, no, no, no, no no, that doesn't mean
it's dead. It means you've.
Speaker 5 (17:39):
Actually it's not. It's not rotting anything I put in.
I put all the kitchen scrapts out there, but it's
not roughing.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
And that's exactly why you're going the wrong way, because
even the kitchen scraps are not part, are not needed
that this what you need now is wood chips. Right.
So so here's here's this. Here's a science lesson on compost.
Compost is made basically no on two things. The one
is one's night, which is all the grass pettings or
(18:08):
the leaves, all that stuff, or you're in most of
the food scraps. The other bit that it needs and
the large amount of compost. The largest part of the
compost is carbon, and carbon is wood chips, branches, that
sort of stuff, and if you just keep on putting
green stuff in it, you don't get enough composting going
(18:29):
at all. If you're now going to put a lot
of that woodchips in and mix it in if you
can with the rake, you'll find that everything will pick
up and there will be your compost won't be dead.
I'll tell you that for free.
Speaker 5 (18:42):
Well, I haven't seen any little rooms or anything in it.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
No, because they find it a bit too asset. They
burn their bubs in there.
Speaker 5 (18:52):
Thanks, and why do they can? I think pete briefly,
thank you very much. A long time ago he told
me to put PVC windows in. Oh and I did,
And I've now sold the house to my son and
they thinks are absolutely fantastic.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
Look, I think it's always one of these things. You've
got to look at the individual situation and make the
right choice for that. And if the PVC was the
right choice there, then that's fantastic.
Speaker 5 (19:19):
So great here I've been meaning to tell you, thank you.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
It's a pleasure, all the very best. Hey, let's look
at a couple. It's all got time for one more call. Also,
if you want to give us a call, eight hundred
and eighty ten eighty the number gardening questions germinating peony
tree seeds please tree.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
I have not, literally, I have not worked with pony seeds.
I think Duly usually gets them from the shop and
and plants them directly. As as seed links. I've never
worked up, so I don't know. No, I'm not gonna
I'm not going to dare to do that.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
And ponies are not a tree, are they not necessariutiful
for them? Cold line, very cold climate for.
Speaker 3 (20:09):
That in order to flower properly. That's right right.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
Another one from Duneedin is it too late to start
sowing seeds. I've collected a lot of seeds from last year,
just checking if seed raising mixes the best to use.
I'm also hoping the red and cream Karka beak seeds
will take from Joey.
Speaker 3 (20:29):
That's a good thing to do right now. I would
say seeds are sowing depends on exactly what you're talking
about here. But for instance, if I'm now starting to
look at my tunnel house, I need to, for instance,
sew seeds for what do you call them? The tomatoes?
But the problem is if it's too cold, they don't
like that, So you do that inside and you do
(20:52):
that inside the house until literally all frost tender plants
need to do that until frost is no longer an issue.
It's that sort of stuff. So some varieties can be
sown right now. In fact, I've had broadbeat sewing it's
themselves over winter and they are now flowering. Unbelievable, but
(21:12):
that does work. But other plants can't handle that. So
it pays to google which particular seeds you want a
plant and make sure you do it at the right time.
But yes, you can sew seeds all.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Right, brilliant, Hey Tony, very good morning to you.
Speaker 4 (21:28):
Good morning, gentlemen. I've got Michalla bubbles hedging live and ortland,
and I've got the leaves cooling up and got brownie.
Speaker 7 (21:38):
Black spots on them and then obviously time falling off.
Speaker 4 (21:41):
Between itself, but the leaves are all filled up and
down spots.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Yeah, but it might pay to actually use use some
some fungicides on that because it sounds like a fungal
infliction if you like, and fungicides plant, you know, for
plants to stop that brown spot actually getting on with
it is important. So what I would use is a
systemic fungicide. Go to your local garden center systemic fungus side,
(22:09):
something like there's all sorts of the bits, and there's
all sorts of varieties there, but ask for a systemic
that is taken into the plant and basically stops these
fungi from developing on your leaves.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
Thanks for ya.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
I'm listening attentively because we have Michaelia grappi's at home,
but thankfully and reasonably good health.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
That's it. Sometimes when it's too wet and too cold,
it can get these fungal problems. Here, all sorts of things.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
Right quick one from you, Richard. Greetings, Yes, good, good morning.
Speaker 7 (22:46):
Hey Martian, lawn I sprayed the lawn, the marshy part
with your wit and forget it all died off, nicely,
yellowed and everything. What do I do with it? Now?
Speaker 3 (23:01):
I would suggest you change the pH that means the
acidity of the soil by literally putting lime on it,
not not not dolomite lime, but agricultural line or normal
lime or whatever you want to call it. And that
will change the pH and that will that will really
(23:21):
disadvantage the moths.
Speaker 7 (23:24):
Okay, your morning, welcome mate.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
Go well, Andy, what's the distribution rate?
Speaker 7 (23:30):
Is it?
Speaker 2 (23:31):
Like a handful to.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
Or you're going to be a license building pratitioner to
do that. A handful to the meter? Rough, No, but yeah,
I know, I know, I know, yeah it is.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Actually I took your advice. I went and got some
nitro foscar blue the other day and yeah, around hand
and it was a handful or eighty grams per square meter.
You be fair. I don't have a scale in the workshop, but.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
I don't do I this is the point, and the
handful to the square meter is something that is like
is years old in gardening. It's been there all the
It's like, you know, putting your finger out there, that's
four inches.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
Ayrud, Thank you mate. First to September, not the first
day of spring. We'll come down wind visit that on
the twenty first.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
Now Jack Day had to go with it too.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
Take care mate, Happy Father's Day, all the best, Thanks folks,
thanks for your company. It's been the absolute pleasure. See
you next Sunday.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
For more from the Resident Builder with Peter Wolfcamp, listen
live to news talks'd be on Sunday mornings from six,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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