|
| Botrytis freckles and browns the edges of a Pink Promise rose. (Photos: Debbie Arrington) |
May usually is the rosiest month in Sacramento. Warm, dry days coupled with raging growth hormones make for bountiful blooms and healthy plants.
But not this month. Sacramento area rose lovers report problems usually not seen in mid-spring: Botrytis, powdery mildew and blind shoots. All these issues can ruin rose blooms (or eliminate them all together).
|
| Powdery mildew coats foliage on a Dorothy Perkins rambling rose. |
Common in late fall, botrytis attacks buds as they open, turning them to mush. It starts out looking like freckles, then quickly turns petals brown and soft. Roses quite often refuse to fully open.
Powdery mildew is primarily a foliage fungus, covering leaves and stems with what looks like an explosion of powdered sugar. (It can coat buds, too.) Its activated by temperature; days in the 60s or 70s are its sweet spot.
The good news? When days turn 90s degrees, these fungi disappear. They can’t stand high heat. The forecast for this weekend: 92 degrees.
Infected foliage and blooms will fall off and be replaced by healthy growth. Pick up these discards and dispose of them in trash (not compost). That will help cut down on reinfection.
|
| Instead of a bud, there's only a stub on this Marilyn Monroe rose. |
The solution is easy: Cut the blind shoot off. Prune the stem back to just above the first five-leaf leaflet. The bush will soon sprout a new stem, most likely with a bud at the end.
Comments
0 comments have been posted.Sacramento Digs Gardening to your inbox.
Thanks to Our Sponsor!
Local News
Sites We Like
Garden Checklist for week of Nov. 3
November still offers good weather for fall planting:
* If you haven't already, it's time to clean up the remains of summer. Pull faded annuals and vegetables. Prune dead or broken branches from trees.
* Now is the best time to plant most trees and shrubs. This gives them plenty of time for root development before spring growth. They also benefit from fall and winter rains.
* Set out cool-weather annuals such as pansies and snapdragons.
* Lettuce, cabbage and broccoli also can be planted now.
* Plant garlic and onions.
* Keep planting bulbs to spread out your spring bloom. Some possible suggestions: daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths, tulips, anemones and scillas.
* This is also a good time to seed wildflowers and plant such spring bloomers as sweet pea, sweet alyssum and bachelor buttons.
* Rake and compost leaves, but dispose of any diseased plant material. For example, if peach and nectarine trees showed signs of leaf curl this year, clean up under trees and dispose of those leaves instead of composting.
* Save dry stalks and seedpods from poppies and coneflowers for fall bouquets and holiday decorating.
* For holiday blooms indoors, plant paperwhite narcissus bulbs now. Fill a shallow bowl or dish with 2 inches of rocks or pebbles. Place bulbs in the dish with the root end nestled in the rocks. Add water until it just touches the bottom of the bulbs. Place the dish in a sunny window. Add water as needed.
* Give your azaleas, gardenias and camellias a boost with chelated iron.
* For larger blooms, pinch off some camellia buds.
* Prune non-flowering trees and shrubs while dormant.
* To help prevent leaf curl, apply a copper fungicide spray to peach and nectarine trees after they lose their leaves this month. Leaf curl, which shows up in the spring, is caused by a fungus that winters as spores on the limbs and around the tree in fallen leaves. Sprays are most effective now.
Powered by California Local
