Is Tricky Dickie Picky....

[louise66]

....about which problems he addresses? I have posted on his blog about this problem before but, subsequently, it has become increasingly worse. Mum's extremely large garden is overrun with mare's tail, and a professional gardener has told us that ordinary weedkiller - I include Dickie's proprietary offering in this - will have no effect. As any advice would be welcome, I thought there would be no harm asking QVC's very own gardening expert, how we could combat the problem Timeline : I posted on his blog; I tweeted to Marv, at the beginning of a show with him - she replied that they had missed the tweet, but she would pass it on to him; I posted on facebook to him. Not one reply. Does he cherry pick - no pun intended - the questions, and answer the ones to which he knows the answers, or is he just plain ignorant? Has anyone else asked him a questioned, and been completely ignored? Don't ask us to tweet in our gardening problems, if he has no intention of answering them. I have never bought any gardening product on the Q and, after this, would not patronise anything the gnome advertises as, essentially, I don't have any faith in his knowledge - a misnomer - or the information he gives.
Probably 94% of tweets I have sent, have been acknowledged. Certain presenters, like Craig, Charlie, and Chloe don't bother. Debs and Jules always answer my tweets on air, extremely professional, imo. Others have provided private answers after the show. As long as my question is answered, I can make an informed decision.
I bet the presenters think the idea of the Q, to ask us all to get in touch by tweeting, was one they could do without. But that is not our problem Don't ask us to tweet, if you don't want the trouble of having to reply to them.
Regarding their website blogs, Ali Young's and Dickie's are similarly constructed and, curiously, I have never had a reply from either of them, when I have posted on their blogs. Should we expect any messages we send, via said blogs of A + D, to be answered, or are the main presenters the ones who are expected to reply?

 

[Loveinamist]

RHS website louise offer good advice. https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=257 Good luck.

 

[Akimbo]

Horsetails/Marestail is a fascinating plant (according to my Biologist Mum) less so according to my gardening Dad.

Google the life cycle of the plant, it's built to survive which is why it's hard to eradicate. The skinny green stems are just the tip of the iceberg. I suspect presenters, guests and bland ambassadors only reply if they can positively recommend a QVC product as a solution, and in this case they don't sell a weedkiller that will kill it.

 

[Vienna]

I asked my hubby ( he`s a landscape gardener ) and he says the plant has a waxy coating to it, hence weed killer etc just drips off it rather than absorbs into it. He says to get the flat back of a spade and mash the plant as best as you can without damaging other plants nearby. Then spray using Round Up, highest strength you can get and when you can be certain there will be no rain for at least 24 hours. Once you see parts of the plant beginning to die off then dig up as much of it as you can. He says you will have to repeat this process weekly for at least 4 weeks. If you see any new shoots coming through inbetween treatments then nip them off straight away. The roots go very deep but without sunlight spreading through shoots and with consistant treatments they will eventually die. Plenty of plant mashing, digging and spraying !

 

[Akimbo]

If you start digging up the rhizomes (under ground stems) you have to get out all the fragments or they can start sprouting. The silica content of the green above ground stems and tiny leaves stop weedkillers being sufficiently absorbed. I've only seen a spore head on one occasion and fortunately I'd just sold the house so didn't have to deal with the aftermath :mysmilie_59:

 

[louise66]

I asked my hubby ( he`s a landscape gardener ) and he says the plant has a waxy coating to it, hence weed killer etc just drips off it rather than absorbs into it. He says to get the flat back of a spade and mash the plant as best as you can without damaging other plants nearby. Then spray using Round Up, highest strength you can get and when you can be certain there will be no rain for at least 24 hours. Once you see parts of the plant beginning to die off then dig up as much of it as you can. He says you will have to repeat this process weekly for at least 4 weeks. If you see any new shoots coming through inbetween treatments then nip them off straight away. The roots go very deep but without sunlight spreading through shoots and with consistant treatments they will eventually die. Plenty of plant mashing, digging and spraying !

Extremely helpful, Vienna. Thank hubby for me.:angel:

 

[DMS]

....about which problems he addresses? I have posted on his blog about this problem before but, subsequently, it has become increasingly worse. Mum's extremely large garden is overrun with mare's tail, and a professional gardener has told us that ordinary weedkiller - I include Dickie's proprietary offering in this - will have no effect. As any advice would be welcome, I thought there would be no harm asking QVC's very own gardening expert, how we could combat the problem Timeline : I posted on his blog; I tweeted to Marv, at the beginning of a show with him - she replied that they had missed the tweet, but she would pass it on to him; I posted on facebook to him. Not one reply. Does he cherry pick - no pun intended - the questions, and answer the ones to which he knows the answers, or is he just plain ignorant? Has anyone else asked him a questioned, and been completely ignored? Don't ask us to tweet in our gardening problems, if he has no intention of answering them. I have never bought any gardening product on the Q and, after this, would not patronise anything the gnome advertises as, essentially, I don't have any faith in his knowledge - a misnomer - or the information he gives.
Probably 94% of tweets I have sent, have been acknowledged. Certain presenters, like Craig, Charlie, and Chloe don't bother. Debs and Jules always answer my tweets on air, extremely professional, imo. Others have provided private answers after the show. As long as my question is answered, I can make an informed decision.
I bet the presenters think the idea of the Q, to ask us all to get in touch by tweeting, was one they could do without. But that is not our problem Don't ask us to tweet, if you don't want the trouble of having to reply to them.
Regarding their website blogs, Ali Young's and Dickie's are similarly constructed and, curiously, I have never had a reply from either of them, when I have posted on their blogs. Should we expect any messages we send, via said blogs of A + D, to be answered, or are the main presenters the ones who are expected to reply?

I think that they should NOT ask you to 'tweet/email/text/telephone' etc., if they are not prepared to answer you. It beggars belief tbh. Even if they do not know the answer, then at least have the courtesy to say so. I have texted in a couple of times with questions, years back now and got no reply so I don't bother anymore.

 

[Tiddlywinks]

I think that they should NOT ask you to 'tweet/email/text/telephone' etc., if they are not prepared to answer you. It beggars belief tbh. Even if they do not know the answer, then at least have the courtesy to say so. I have texted in a couple of times with questions, years back now and got no reply so I don't bother anymore.

I agree with this... Why raise our expectations that they'll help and then do nothing?

It's like asking a question abut a particular product on the website - some of those questions are unanswered months after. That's just poor. Better not to offer the chance to ask in the first place.

 

[MinxyKitten]

Chloe never ever replies to or reads tweets out, despite begging for them. I once tweeted her and Andrew Bagley a product related question when they were on together, neither of them replied. I was really peed off at the time! I vowed never to buy any Gatineau or tweet Chloe again, haha!

 

[louise66]

Chloe never ever replies to or reads tweets out, despite begging for them. I once tweeted her and Andrew Bagley a product related question when they were on together, neither of them replied. I was really peed off at the time! I vowed never to buy any Gatineau or tweet Chloe again, haha!

So which did you stick to, MK?:mysmilie_17: