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Last week I advised about treating Powdery Mildew on your Roses, overlooked the best
control was to plant new Roses where they get plenty of sunlight and air moving past them.
Simple advice but frequently overlooked.
Mildew runs rampant in shaded areas and were micro-irrigation systems spray water into
the canopy of the Rose. Best to use drippers and water later at night or in the early
morning rather than late afternoon, when air temperatures are high and the humidity you
are adding, only makes for perfect fungal breeding conditions.
If you get the double whammy of Powdery Mildew and Black Spot, you will be a candidate
for spraying TriforineŽ Rose Fungicide or if you don’t mind leaving a blue residue
on your leaves, a preventative copper compound such as Kocide™ or Bordeaux mixture.
If you have any fungal or bacterial diseases and have the need to spray, you must
collect any fallen leaves or fruits that have been affected or otherwise you are leaving a
potent source of infestation to strike again and again.
Another insidious aspect about using fungicides to control fungal outbreaks on any crop,
is that after a while you need to use a different fungicide and then use up to three in
rotation, because the fungal spores become resistant or at least resilient fairly quickly
to what ever you use.
Never mix fungicides and insecticides to apply at the same time in your garden. The
toxicity levels of insecticides are generally much higher than for fungicides and you can
get neutralizing effects from the active agents as well as simple incompatibility,
especially with the copper compounds.
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