On Tue, 19 Jul 2005 20:50:48 +0100, "derek"
wrote:

Generally, I don't do anything to the ones up the side of the garden. They
seem to bud, but all that happens is no flower, but looking at the plant,
you would think that it had flowered, and all the petals had fallen off.
Just a hard green nobbly thing appears. It's unlikely they dry out in the
summer, in Ireland.. an no, potash has never been used. I'll try the potash
now. Thanks for the advice, all.
Just another thought. Rhodie buds can suffer from a fungus, 'bud
blast', that kills the buds as they develop and you end up with dead,
brown bud-corpses in spring. A characteristic is that the bud is
covered in black 'hairs'. It's thought to be spread by sap-sucking
insects, thrips in particular are blamed. The remedy is said to be
spraying regularly with a fungicide after flowering and through the
summer (but as you don't get flowers, then from late spring onwards!).
This catches the fungus at an early stage and stops it slowly
spreading through the bud as it grows.


--
Chris

E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net