moist weather blues

June 11, 2009 by Betmo · 1 Comment

well, i just got done firing off emails to my ‘representatives’ in congress. have you seen the fuckery that is passing for health care reform from the democratic congress? it has been a high blood pressure week for me- a ‘representative’ from my area to the state government in albany staged a coup d’etat and took control from the democrats and put it back into the hands of rethuglicans- circumventing the will of the people and democracy. the ramifications of this are scary. these people will stop at nothing to get back into power- and that’s pretty obvious.

but i digress…. this is a post about powdery mildew. what in hell is powdery mildew? , you may ask. it is a fungal infection that plants get when there isn’t adequate air flow to keep them dry in warm, moist environments. can happen to a variety of plants- it happened again to my rose bushes out in front of the house. the people who owned this house before me didn’t know much about anything- tile, roses, etc. i will transplant the roses in the appropriate time- so, i may have to wait- depending on which type of roses i have- and i certainly didn’t want the bushes to die- the roses are gorgeous. now, the picture i am posting is not of my roses. i don’t know that i have a picture hanging around of them- i’ll check… nope. i’ll have to take one. this pic is one from iowa i guess. anyhoo…

fungus infections can devastate a plant- it can actually kill it if left untreated. so, here’s what ya do- no, don’t go to your local agway or home improvement store- unless you need some pruning shears. you prune away the affected areas- leaves, buds, flowers, stalks, etc., and then you take 1 tsp baking soda to 1 quart of warm water and add in 1 tsp of dish detergent (helps the baking soda stick longer) and you spray both sides of the leaves and the whole plant. it works as an antifungal- doesn’t cure the plant but prevents more from developing. you really have to prune away the affected areas. i don’t even compost that. i set it out at the curb.

the best thing is prevention- put roses where they have adequate air circulation and prune appropriately. i ended up also having black spot which is also a fungal infection- and the baking soda mixture will take care of that too. i’ll let you know how that goes. the other preventative measure- spray at the beginning- when plants are just beginning to bud. i forgot- and this is how i got fungi. i should have sprayed at least a couple of weeks ago. i will have to continue spraying all summer as long as the humidity and rain persists. hopefully, i have the fungi under control.