CULT:Borer Control and Rot Prevention
- To: "i*@onelist.com"
- Subject: CULT:Borer Control and Rot Prevention
- From: G*
- Date: Wed, 05 Apr 2000 20:18:34 -0400
Hello Everyone,
With all the talk recently on list regarding less toxic borer
control and methods of rot prevention, I thought that I should repost 2
earlier messages regarding both topics.
On Borer Control:
I first heard about this method of borer control
in the
January 1998 AIS bulletin. The title of this article was "Sand and
Soap" written
by Marie Gebert. In the article she presented the following advice
'use a
mixture of one half cup of Murphy's Oil Soap to one gallon of
water.Spray on the
iris leaves weekly ( or after a rain ) from early May to late July.
This should
be used after any other sprays'. I use the soap that comes in the
refill
bottles not that which comes in the spray bottles which is already
diluted. I
feel that a thorough garden cleanup (very late fall or very early
spring ) is
also very important to make borer control even more effective. I
have been using
this method of borer control for the past 2 seasons with great
success. I only
find a very small number of borers that manage to survive the
spraying, which I
promptly squish. One could probably combine the oil soap treatment
and
beneficial nematodes ( alternate sprayings ) and achieve even more
complete
protection. With just 2 sprayings last season I only found a dozen
or so
borers. Marie, in her article, mentions that she and others in her
area
(northeastern Connecticut) have been using it to great effect for 5
seasons (as
of 1998). I hope that I have explained the process clearly for you.
If you have
further questions please let me know. I know from personal
experience how
damaging those iris borers can be. I don't believe in using harsh
chemical
treatments to control pests or other problems, so Murphy's Oil Soap
has been
quite a help. I hope that the Murphy's is of help to you and good
luck.
Your climate will dictate how early you need to start spraying. Some
years
the first of May is early enough, but lately here I have needed to
start
even earlier, usually mid to late April. If you wait till the borers
hatch
then it will be to late, at least to stop the early ones. I won't
use harsh
chemicals, but for those who do I would suggest trying a test plot
for the
Murphy's to see if it is as effective as chemical treatments. I know
of a
number of people who use chemicals like Cygon only out of
desperation.
On Using Aspirin:
regarding the
use of aspirin, so here is a summary. For those who are AIS members,
an
article in the July 1999 bulletin by Adam Fikso ( p.63 "A solution
for Erwinia"
) details his use of aspirin with irises. He pulled much of his
information
from botany journals which describe a growth of research with
salicylic acid.
Salicylic acid is said to prompt a defense reaction in the plants
treated with
it, which then helps the plant use it own protective mechanisms when
it comes
in contact with certain pathogens. Adam describes Salicylic acid's
role as
"activating other aspects of the plant's physiology and certain genes
which
together function to make the plant immune to further invasion by
that
pathogen". As for concentrations he used " two 325-mg nonbuffered
aspirin
tablets per gallon of tap water as a soil drench " which he applied
twice in
the fall " after planting in mid September and again a week later"
and again
the following spring " after the last snow ". By stimulating the
plant's own
defense response salicylic acid can help protect plants against
bacterial,
viral, and fungal pathogens. Of particular interest, is the fact
that Adam has
had tremendous results with arils and arilbreds, which are reputed to
be more
susceptible to some of these pathogens.
I do believe there are effective, environmentally friendly ways to
successfully grow irises. The past 2 seasons, since I have been using
the Murphy's, have been outstanding. This will be the first year trying
the Aspirin, but I have read a good many journal articles based on
scientific research that suggest that Aspirin can supercharge a plant's
defense mechanisms. I think growing rebloomers and so many seedlings
that have rebloomers in their parentage helps as well.
If anyone has had a great many losses due to borers or rot then
either of these treatments might be worth a try. Good luck to all.
Michael Gullo
West Walworth, New York, USA
zone 6
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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