Re: Leaf Spot
- To: Multiple recipients of list <i*@rt66.com>
- Subject: Re: Leaf Spot
- From: s*@aristotle.net (J. Michael, Celia or Ben Storey)
- Date: Mon, 9 Feb 1998 07:56:17 -0700 (MST)
> I am glad to see the soil mentioned in this discussion. I think
>where the soil is heavy clay and not tilled, there is less leaf spot??
>If the soil is sandy loam and tilled, there is more soil splashed on the
>leaves and therefore more leaf spot??
>
I can't confirm this. In our display beds, it's the unimproved bed that has
the worst spotting, and its soil is packed clay. The bed with much less
spot was tilled last summer and compost was incorporated. It's a lighter
soil. The plants growing from it are healthier-looking all around. They are
also much less crowded and set so they don't sit in mud, as the poor
critters in the neglected bed do.
Of course, we haven't seen what these plants will do after bloom. That's
when leaf spot really does its thing around here.
Still, hereabouts, it has to be a rotten year for leaf spot to be a big
concern.
Irises around here aren't the sissy plants our roses can be. Perhaps this
is thanks to the late-summer droughts. We often have one really dry month,
usually August, but it could fall anywhere in the year. Arkansas is
unpredictable.
celia
storey@aristotle.net
Little Rock, Arkansas, USDA Zone 7b
-----------------------------------
257 feet above sea level,
average rainfall about 50 inches (more than 60" in '97)
average relative humidity (at 6 a.m.) 84%.
moderate winters, hot summers ... but lots of seesaw action in all seasons
