| A. You may be trying to grow them in the wrong light conditions. In the deep shade of a north-facing wall or overhanging tree branches, your skimmias may not have sufficient sunlight to flower. They flower best when they have dappled shade from the high branches of widely spaced mature trees. Too much light is just as damaging skimmias need some shade to grow well. High soil pH might be a possibility as well although some references claim skimmia thrives in chalk or limestone, this has not been my experience. You may need to make your soil more acidic. Poor drainage or heavy soil might also be causing the problem. Flowering has to occur before fruiting, of course. Only female skimmias set berries, and then only if a male skimmia is growing nearby. If you are mistaken, and your plants are flowering but not fruiting, you will have to get two more from a garden center, one a male, the other a female. Yellowing foliage is also the hallmark of the southern red mite, which is more active in cool weather than most mites. It can be dispatched with a thorough spray of horticultural oil applied when the mites are spotted. Tap a branch over a sheet of paper to spot them. Start looking for them in March and look at them every week to pinpoint the emergence of Q. The fruit on my 3-year-old grapevines shriveled and blackened during the summer. I used Sevin to no value. Would horticultural oil help in battling this problem? A. Your grapes have black rot. This is a fungus, and Sevin and horticultural oil are insecticides. You need to practice some thorough sanitation and treat the vines with a fungicide if you want to make any headway against this disease. Sanitation is the first step. Remove all the blighted grapes and prune off any vines that appear to have been blighted. In late winter, prune to promote an open growth habit. This will increase air movement through the leaves. You can apply Bordeaux mixture in the spring befo
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