CULT: Botrytis run wild
- Subject: CULT: Botrytis run wild
- From: B* S*
- Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2000 10:49:19 -0400
From: Bill Shear <bills@hsc.edu>
Having not seen it for decades, I am being blitzed by botrytis this
year--and all on new acquisitions. There's something very discouraging
about finding a moldy rhizome on a new, 1999 introduction. So far the only
outright loss has been DEVILS LAKE. On all of the others (about half of
what I planted last fall) the terminal has been taken but the rhizome and
increase saved by cleaning and fungicide treatment. No established plants
have been attacked.
I attribute this to late planting of early-dug stock. I had my plants
shipped in September, but they obviously had been dug in July. The roots
and fans were quite dry and the center fans might have already been gone,
just got moldy over the winter. This was my fault, not the growers',
because it was just what I had requested and what had worked well for me in
years past. The grower had to be argued into doing it this way. The only
difference this year was that instead of planting the rhizomes directly
into the garden, they were first established in pots.
In this line, I note in the Winterberry Gardens catalog that they decry the
shipment of dry rhizomes, and ship only freshly dug iris PLANTS, with all
their roots and only minimally trimmed fans. I duly note that UNCLE
CHARLIE and LITTLE JOHN, both from Winterberry, show no signs of problems
and more resemble long-established plants.
For years I have touted the need to "cure" bearded iris rhizomes to promote
establishment and first-year bloom. I know that others think differently
and have had different experience. Maybe in this case it was just TOO MUCH
curing under less than perfect circumstances.
Maybe I should change my tune! But the experiment was not entirely
controlled,a nd I hope will not be repeated.
PS--the reason for all these separate messages is to preserve the integrity
of subject tags and the archives. Such a good boy!
Bill Shear
Department of Biology
Hampden-Sydney College
Hampden-Sydney VA 23943
(804)223-6172
FAX (804)223-6374
email<bills@mail.hsc.edu>
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