Answers to Your Questions: Butternut, Pineapple, and Zanzibar Gem

To plant to plant a butternut tree or not?

I received a butternut tree (Juglans cinerea) as a gift and am a little concerned about juglone. My yard isn’t very big, and the only place I can plant it is near a flower bed and vegetable garden. Do you think it would be better not to plant it at my house?

Answer

I think you already know the answer! In my opinion, the tree has not one, but two major flaws. First, it is a very large tree that produces very dense shade. This makes it impossible to grow vegetables in the shade and limits your choice of ornamental plants. Secondly, neither vegetables nor most ornamental plants tolerate juglone, a substance released by the leaves and roots of walnut trees that is toxic to other plants. In other words, your small yard may soon be home to only one tree, the walnut tree, and a lot of mulch. In your case, it would be more reasonable to choose a small tree or a tree with a narrow crown, which will limit the dense shade to only one part of the yard and, moreover, does not release juglone.

A productive pineapple

I would like to share my experience growing pineapples indoors. Almost five years ago, my husband decided to give it a try by cutting off the top of a pineapple with healthy foliage. After a few weeks, new leaves began to sprout. We placed the plant in the sunroom, which faces southeast. The plant grew so large that it was 1 m in diameter.

I had read in a gardening magazine that it would take 5 to 6 years, if we were lucky, before it would produce fruit. Well, imagine my surprise in January when I noticed a tiny pineapple in the center of the plant! The small fruit grew larger and at the same time a baby pineapple appeared at the bottom of the plant. In August of the same year, I ate the pineapple, which was a little smaller than the ones we find in supermarkets. It was delicious, succulent, and above all, sweeter than the ones we buy.

Success!

After that, I let the baby plant grow to continue my husband’s experiment, and the plant also grew larger, so I cut the mother plant to make room for the new plant. Believe it or not, a year and a half later, it produced a pineapple that was just as beautiful as the first one and just as delicious. And now, I’m letting the baby plant grow to see how far it will go.

I must admit that I’m not one of those people with a green thumb. In fact, I’d say I’ve always had a lot of trouble with plants. It’s true that the solarium has a lot to do with it. Still, I’m very impressed with the success of the experiment.

Answer

Congratulations! It is very rare to hear of someone successfully growing a pineapple in our climate, especially in just 18 months. Eighteen months is the production time in the South! Most people who grow pineapples indoors have to wait 5 to 6 years before getting any fruit. To other readers, note that placing the pineapple in a solarium made a big difference, as the sunlight there is intense and long-lasting. Nevertheless, Madam, you can no longer say that you don’t have a green thumb!

ZZ plantwith problems

I recently bought a zz plant (Zamioculcas zamiifolia) in a big box store. The soil was covered with small rocks stuck together. I knew that this plant doesn’t need a lot of water. So I removed the small rocks, only to find that the soil was soggy. I removed some of the soil to allow it to dry out better. That’s when I discovered a small worm, similar to an earthworm, but much smaller. 

Rot was starting to invade the roots. So I dug it all up, removed the rotten roots, cleaned it with a little bleach in water, dried it, and replanted it in new soil. It’s been a few days now, and the plant seems to be doing well. On one of the stems, I noticed some small black dots… (which were already on the plant when I bought it, but I didn’t see them at the time). What should I do? Should I cut off this stem? Could these be small worms that have burrowed into the stem?

Answer

The small black spots are probably not a sign of a serious problem, and if I were you, I wouldn’t worry too much about them. The most important thing is to go easy on the watering for now, while the plant recovers.

Fortunately, the bleach you used does not seem to have harmed the plant, but in general, I do not recommend this type of treatment on roots: it is a very aggressive product that can burn healthy tissue. In a similar situation, it is better to simply remove the rotten roots with a clean knife, let the plant dry slightly, and then repot it in fresh, well-drained soil.

Incidentally, the technique of sticking stones to the surface of a pot to give the impression that the plant is a bonsai should be avoided. As you have discovered yourself, it is impossible to know whether the soil is wet or dry and therefore how to water it properly. If you buy plants in this condition, it is best to repot them in fresh soil without delay.

Larry Hodgson has published thousands of articles and 65 books during his career, in both French and English. His son, Mathieu, has made it his mission to make his father’s writings accessible to the public. This text was originally published in Le Soleil on December 18, 2005.