"Winterising" Your Gerberas

The three basic rules for winter:

1. Clean up

Get rid of any dead leaves and spent flowers. Take leaves away from the side they are growing on to avoid pulling out the whole division. If the leaves are looking purple it may be a lack of phosphorus at this time of year. Dig out weeds and aerate the soil.

2. Fertilise Slow release works best during the winter rain periods. YaraMila Complex and NPK mix 50/50 does a good job. Always avoid the crown with slow release fertilisers or you will burn soft tissue of the plant.

3. Spray Coppox and Zeemil fungicides. Nimrod (fungicide) and Roger (insecticide) are also good.

Contribution: Stuart Tindale