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Bugs and blobs on Roses

TELME8

By TELME8

10 comments


Reading some of the problems of greenfly and blackspot folk have on roses, I well know the fealing!. When we built our new house 14 years ago on a green field site, we had a very large garden. I love roses and my main backdrop to all my beds were rambler climber and shrub roses. In all I planted with the hedges of roses too, over 300 roses covering over 120 different named roses. David Austen and Peter Beals found a good customer!! As we all know some thrive in the area some live a couple of years and then give up the ghost, but generally the majority payed me much reward. For the first no of years I spent many hourse spraying 5.0a.m. in the morning before the Bees got up and found it quite a nightmare keeping on top of the bugs and the blobs!!!!. Until one day when my brain was in thinking mood, I thought, why have I got so many blotchy roses when I live in the country with beautiful fresh air!!. many of my friends who live in the towns did not have the problem I had, mind their garden was a percetage of the area to cause the problems, Then I set to thinking, we had little polution, I did not have, the smokey chimneys around, then Sulpher came into my mind. We would have less sulpher in the air with us, more than likely. I’ll try it! I went to the Farmers cooperative where we buy our horse feed and purchased a large bucket of Flowers of Sulpher, took it home and spread it finely all over my rose beds. I don’t know whether it did any thing, but all I know is I never spray now, I don’t get green fly, anything other than an odd few in the start of the season, which soon dissapear, and the black spot is there on certain roses which are more serseptable, but generally the health is good enough for me and I do not spend anything on sprays any more. I suppose the garden has now matured and there is plenty of cover for the birds, who do a grand job with the greenfly I am sure, but I am sure some of the expert gardeners can verify, did my sulpher do my garden good? or was it just coinsidence? all I know is that in farming these days a lot of the trace ellements are lacking and have to be added to the soil as a lot of the natural things are lacking in the air, now we have a cleaner enviroment, no fires no smoking chimneys, especially in the country. If this bit of experimenting can help any one, I will be more than pleased to share it. If the experts say rubbish, then I will be interested in hearing their comments.

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Comments

 

This is a Very Interesting Read Telme8 Thanx4posting :) il get myself a Box/Bag of Flower Sulpher 2 try when i feed the Boaders/Plants in spring :)

28 Oct, 2008

 

Think I'll try it too. My roses suffer from blackspot terribly this year. It's worth a try and if it works then all well and good.

28 Oct, 2008

 

Yes Hywel do that & then we can tell Telme how we get on :) We`l be her 1st Guinpigs 2try it :)

28 Oct, 2008

 

Yes I think it's a good idea.

28 Oct, 2008

 

So there u have it Telme Me&Hywel will give u the Results Come Next Summer when the Roses are all a Leaf & In Flower we`l know what 2 tell u :) " Fingers Crossed Hywel" :)

28 Oct, 2008

 

Sounds like a great idea, Telme. There's a Farmers' shop not so far away from us - I shall see if they sell it.

28 Oct, 2008

 

Well folks, it's worth a try. It was our golden wedding a year last April and we received a grand collection of golden wedding roses, I see that bed is very sparse of leaves this Summer, and rather spotty. Planted in a part of the garden that has not had the Sulpher treatment, so I will be applying it in the Spring also, possibly some Magnesium too. I will report the result next Summer, if we don't push on and experiment we will get no where fast!!!!

30 Oct, 2008

 

Sulfur, Magnesium are two great additions to the fall garden. Be it lawns roses or whatever. There is a disease resistant quality from sulfer for lawns especially.

Cleaning up old leaves is equally good. I apply greensand to all my bonsai every fall. Not just for sulfur but for other trace elements and potash. It usually contains about 3% total potash, along with iron, magnesium, silica and as many as 30 other trace minerals. Sells for an arm and the leg in small bags. Five lbs. for 8.00 bucks. But buy a fifty lb. bag from an Ag Co-op and they might dunn you for only 30.00.

Do the math. Buy fertilizers by the bulk size and divy it up with your gardening friends.

Finally, do the math in a different way. You are paying 60 dollars *the most economical way) for 100 lbs. of fertilizer that conatins only 3 % of actual potash. That means 60 dollars for 3 lbs. of potash. Sometimes, one needs to read things out. Potash is much cheaper in other formulations ... but it is not organic and may contain harmful salts. Trace minerals are not usually found in the other products, but may also be hyped up by the organic groupies.

I remain half-way between --It is a toss up.

28 Nov, 2008

 

I would also caution about over doing sulfur. It could acidify the soil.

I strongly recommend trace elements and the sucking up of old dead leaves with those power blowers that can also suck in and shred and bag. Considering Telme's number of plants this would be a good investment.

Baking soda sprayed on the plants during the growing season is another organic way to reduce some of these diseases. Not a cure!

3 Dec, 2008

 

Very interesting. I was gutted by the severity of black spot last year, and had no chance of attacking it with sprays because the rain never stopped! I might try to get some sulphur now!

30 Mar, 2013

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