Friday, July 19, 2013

Wet spring means big problems and big blessings

A wet spring means that the water hose is lonely and our boots are muddy.  It also means that we should spend more time in the landscape and garden scouting for a plethora of potential diseases and insects that will be abundant in this season.  The following are some of the things are more prevalent as I walk around yards this spring.
  • Roses are being eaten heavily by an insect called the rose slug and the rose rosette virus has become more common on all types of roses.  
  • Maples are suffering from what appears to be verticillium wilt
  • Bacterial cankers are showing up on all types of plants, from weeping cherries to smoke tree.
  • Spider mites are on spruce, juniper, holly, annual flowers etc.  
  • aphids are still running wild on many plants but none worse than daylilies
  • Tomatoes are being threatened by both early blight and late blight, preventative controls should be implemented for both of these problems.