Pam - gardengal wrote:
Remove the infected leaves and destroy and make sure any fallen leaves
have
been cleaned up. Then start spraying your roses with aerated compost
tea -
there should be Soil Soup kitchens in the nurseries in your area or
you can
get a brewer and start making your own. Spray every 2-3 weeks during
the
growing season (ideally this should have been started as the roses
developed
new growth in early spring).
There is a growing body of evidence that aerated compost tea is able
to help
plants ward off fungal problems. A number of nurseries in my area
(Seattle),
including both of the ones I have worked at, treat all their roses
with
compost tea on a regular basis and the results have been pretty
impressive -
virtually NO blackspot or powdery mildew on any of the roses. The
University
of Washington groundskeeping staff, the Port of Seattle and the staff
that
maintains the rose garden at the Seattle Zoological Society all have
adopted
the use of compost tea on their roses and other plants and the effects
have
been remarkable.
Compost tea can be used safely with any edible plants, although I
would
reccomend washing as usual before consumption.
:::smacking my head::: Of course!
I went out and got a couple of gallons and a pressure sprayer today. (I
didn't have a sprayer because I never sprayed anything before.) I've
been meaning to do this for so long, but every time I went to the garden
center that has Soil Soup, there either was a line, or no one in sight
to serve it, and I ended up talking myself out of it. Either that, or I
had so many things on my to-do list, I didn't think I'd be able to make
use of it in 24 hours.
I'm looking forward to seeing the results. Thanks!
--
Warren H.
==========
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Any resemblance to the views of anybody living or dead is
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Blatant Plug: Spend your Amazon gift certificates he
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