It looks like botrytis has reared its ugly head in my gardens, almost
wholescale attacking everything that was even trying to open. It has been
raining and cold here for the majority of the past week, on the Eastern
Shore of Maryland, perfect for fungus among us. Blackspot has not yet become
a problem, but as soon as the rain and drizzle cleared out enough to make an
inspection, I found almost every plant with blooms affected. Blaze was the
least affected of the "full size" roses, and Sea Pearl and the Iceberg tree
rose less uglified than most. An entire Scentimental full of fat buds that
now will likely never open or if they do, will be deformed and ugly.
Climbing Peace was one of the worst affected, other than Scentimental. The
minis are almost unscathed.

This morning, it is mostly cloudy and overcast, so I readied the Weapons of
Mass Fungal Destruction.

I normally use organic methods in a modified IPM program, but when it goets
out of hand, I am not above a scorched earth policy as far as killing fungus
goes. Sure, I use insecticidal soap if the buggies are out of hand, some
copper compounds, and bt, and space them for air circulation, etc, etc, etc,
but that doesn't mean I don't keep a supply of Banner Maxx, Cygon 2E,
Mancozeb, Orthene, and so on. And if I am so provoked, I will use them.

Because I was. So I did.

I bought the battery powered Rocket Sprayer from Sam's Club (and am SOOOO
glad I did), put in just under 3 gallons of water. Added Indicate
spreader/sticker, Banner Maxx, Mancozeb, Cygon 2E, Safer
fungicide/miticide/insecticide systemic, and Monty's Joy Juice to sweeten
the pot.

Needless to say, I was careful, careful, careful in preparing that witches'
brew, and even more careful in spraying it. It only takes about 20 minutes
to spray the hundred and something roses, being careful to reach the
undersides of the leaves, with the powered sprayer. Back when I was lugging
around the 2.5 gallon hand pumped sprayer, that would've taken me two hours,
and had to refill it.This sprays much further, so I can reach without so
much walking. In the "long" garden, I spray them all down from the right
side, then go to the other side and spray from the left, to ensure complete
coverage.

I use this sprayer for my peach and apple trees, but NOT this hellish
mixture...it's way too toxic for harvestable crops.

If the weather holds out, I'll give it a couple of days, and give them
another shot of Messenger. That can be sprayed on the fruit trees, as well.
I am going to reserve judgment as far as its effects, until I have seen the
results of at least one more round of treatment. Unless I have just been
very, very lucky so far, on blackspot, or the conditions have not been
optimal, then it may be effective at helping the plant resist blackspot. I
have little blackspot so far, and normally it's a problem. But I'm not going
to jump to conclusions yet. I want to observe a whole season of use, before
making any judgments.

I did spray a set of 7 assorted potted minis with it, and set aside 7 as
"controls," and preliminary results...?

Well, to make it fair, I think I will go take a digital picture, post it on
my "rose gardens" imagestation page, and post the link so you folks can tell
me, unbiased, which set looks healthier...and then I'll let you know which
set was treated with Messenger. So you can judge for yourself.

Will post in a little bit...


Scopata Fuori



"If it's an attractive weed, it can stay."

We are speculating out here on the left coast that there is a rampant,
evil, mutant botrytis circulating this year. It was so bad it was
infecting twigs below the buds. I'll be interested to see if Mancozeb
does the job for you because it didn't for me (I used Fore). It did
wonders for blackspot and powdery mildew, but the botrytis just
laughed. I didn't get a single decent bloom off Francis Dubreuil for
the entire spring flush.

Two smart, surgical strike rosarians recommended Decree. It was hugely
and almost immediately effective. So if Mancozeb lets you down, there's
another for your arsenal.


In article , Scopata Fuori
wrote:

It looks like botrytis has reared its ugly head in my gardens, almost
wholescale attacking everything that was even trying to open. It has been
raining and cold here for the majority of the past week, on the Eastern
Shore of Maryland, perfect for fungus among us. Blackspot has not yet become
a problem, but as soon as the rain and drizzle cleared out enough to make an
inspection, I found almost every plant with blooms affected. Blaze was the
least affected of the "full size" roses, and Sea Pearl and the Iceberg tree
rose less uglified than most. An entire Scentimental full of fat buds that
now will likely never open or if they do, will be deformed and ugly.
Climbing Peace was one of the worst affected, other than Scentimental. The
minis are almost unscathed.

This morning, it is mostly cloudy and overcast, so I readied the Weapons of
Mass Fungal Destruction.

I normally use organic methods in a modified IPM program, but when it goets
out of hand, I am not above a scorched earth policy as far as killing fungus
goes. Sure, I use insecticidal soap if the buggies are out of hand, some
copper compounds, and bt, and space them for air circulation, etc, etc, etc,
but that doesn't mean I don't keep a supply of Banner Maxx, Cygon 2E,
Mancozeb, Orthene, and so on. And if I am so provoked, I will use them.

Because I was. So I did.

I bought the battery powered Rocket Sprayer from Sam's Club (and am SOOOO
glad I did), put in just under 3 gallons of water. Added Indicate
spreader/sticker, Banner Maxx, Mancozeb, Cygon 2E, Safer
fungicide/miticide/insecticide systemic, and Monty's Joy Juice to sweeten
the pot.

Needless to say, I was careful, careful, careful in preparing that witches'
brew, and even more careful in spraying it. It only takes about 20 minutes
to spray the hundred and something roses, being careful to reach the
undersides of the leaves, with the powered sprayer. Back when I was lugging
around the 2.5 gallon hand pumped sprayer, that would've taken me two hours,
and had to refill it.This sprays much further, so I can reach without so
much walking. In the "long" garden, I spray them all down from the right
side, then go to the other side and spray from the left, to ensure complete
coverage.

I use this sprayer for my peach and apple trees, but NOT this hellish
mixture...it's way too toxic for harvestable crops.

If the weather holds out, I'll give it a couple of days, and give them
another shot of Messenger. That can be sprayed on the fruit trees, as well.
I am going to reserve judgment as far as its effects, until I have seen the
results of at least one more round of treatment. Unless I have just been
very, very lucky so far, on blackspot, or the conditions have not been
optimal, then it may be effective at helping the plant resist blackspot. I
have little blackspot so far, and normally it's a problem. But I'm not going
to jump to conclusions yet. I want to observe a whole season of use, before
making any judgments.

I did spray a set of 7 assorted potted minis with it, and set aside 7 as
"controls," and preliminary results...?

Well, to make it fair, I think I will go take a digital picture, post it on
my "rose gardens" imagestation page, and post the link so you folks can tell
me, unbiased, which set looks healthier...and then I'll let you know which
set was treated with Messenger. So you can judge for yourself.

Will post in a little bit...


Scopata Fuori



"If it's an attractive weed, it can stay."