—Lancaster Farming. Saturday. June 4, 1977
146
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Plant lovers’ corner
SECRETS OF SUCCESSFUL PEONIES
Peonies are among the most dependable flowers in the
spring perennial garden, flowering year after year with
only a little care.
If your peonies are not flowering well this year, Donald
B. Lacey, Extension specialist in home horticulture at
Cook College, Rutgers University, offers some possible
causes;
They may be planted too deep. The “eyes,” or buds on
the crown, should be no deeper than two inches beneath
the soil surface.
They may have been recently transplanted. It often
take peonies two or three years following transplanting to
recover to flower.
If buds develop to the size of a quarter or larger, then
fail to open, the problem may be bud and flower blight.
Control for this disease comes earlier in the season and is
described in a Rutgers peony bulletin you can get from
your county agricultural agent.
Peonies planted near trees or shrubs which shade the
plants and compete for moisture and nutrients may not
flower well. Select a sunny, well-drained location for
planting peonies.
Plants may be undernourished or too dry. Apply 5-10-10
fertilizer in early spring at one pound to 30 square feet of
garden area. Water peonies well in dry periods, especially
while buds are developing.
CROWN GALL WEAKENS ROSES
Most roses that have been planted within the last two
seasons should be growing well and flowering abundantly
if they have been given any reasonalbe care.
U your rose bushes aren’t doing well they may have
bacterial crown gall, suggests'Spencer H. David, Jr.,
Extension specialist in plant pathology at Cook College,
Kutgers University.
The bacteria that causes this disease can live in the soil
and your plant may have become infected through this
source. You may have even purchased the plant with the
tiny galls on it.
The crown gall disease results in brown, irregular,
hard, woodylike growth on the main stem and large roots
that has the appearance of an English walnut. When the
galls grow large they cut off the water and food supply and
the plant becomes weak and often dies.
Once a rose bush has the gall disease there is nothing
you can do but pull it up and discard it, says Dr. Davis. No
fungicide or other chemical can cure the plant.
Crown gall disease is present on may other crops, too. It
can attack willow trees, rhododendrons, tomatoes and
zinnias.
PICK OLD GERANIUM FLOWERS
Most good gardeners know that old Bowers must be>
picked if they want the plant to continue blooming. The
primary reason is that plants produce seeds and then stop
flowering if old blossoms remain on the plant.
Disease prevention is another good reason for pairing
flowers from geranium plants, advises Spencer H. Davis,
Jr., extension specialist in plant pathology at Cook
College, Rutgers University.
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Over-mature or dead flower parts become a haven for
some fungi or molds, he explains. These same molds,
landing on a healthy green leaf would cause no damage at
all.
But once the mold gets started in the dead flower parts
it can progress to a point where it invades the plant, says
Dr. Davis.
If you have noticed black, target-like spots on otherwise
healthy leaves, you are probably looking at a secondary
type of infection.
A tiny piece of dead petal or even one of the anthers of
the flower may start the focal point of leaf spot infection.
Cbmmerical geranium growers don’t have time to
remove dead flowers from geraniums, and so they spray
their plants every week. It’s much simpler for the home
gardener to pick the faded flowers.
ROSE DISEASES
It’s unfortunate, but true! The number one plant in the
poularity contest for use in the home garden is the rose.
And the plant with more disease problems than about
any other garden plant is the rose, says Spencer H. Davis,
Jr., Extension specialist in plant pathology at Cook
College, Rutgers University.
Two common and troublesome diseases are black spot
and powdery midlew, says Dr. Davis. Black spot causes,
as the name implies, spots on the leaves that eventually
result in loss of leaves. <
By late Summer all bottom leaves will be dead and
gone. Your rose may look like a little green umbrella.
Powdery mildew doesn’t result in much defoliation, but
it coats the leaves and flower buds with a powdery fungus
growth. Leaves curl, buds fail to open and plants suffer.
Several chemicals prevent one disease or the other. And
many garden mixtures have one of each tyupe of chemical
in the package. But only two - phaltan and benomyl - give
good control of both black spot and powdery mildew.
Apply sprays or dusts regularly, Dr. Davis suggests.
Once a week is a good schedule starting now. And the
plants will keep- their leaves and produce flowers all
summer.
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