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PROTECT AZALEAS 

 IN THE FALL 



By 



C. J. GILGUT 



Fig. 5. Cracked and shredding bark 

 of an azalea killed by November 

 frost. Pholo by Norman BuUerfield. 



"W 



INTER INJURY" is a 

 common expression used 

 by amateur and profes- 

 sional horticultural "experts" to ex- 

 plain why presumably hardy plants 

 alive and vigorous in the sum- 

 mer are dead in the spring. The 

 reasons given for nonsurvival are 

 as varied and numerous as the 

 experts themselves. Each has his 

 own explanation: "Didn't have 

 enough water before the ground 

 froze last fall," say some. "Too 

 much," say others. "Overfertil- 

 ized." "Not enough fertilizer — 

 plants undernourished and starved." 

 "Plants did not mature as they 

 should have before winter set in." 

 And so it goes. 



* Extension Professor, Plant Pathology 



Plants Killed in the Fall 



Few people realize that, although 

 the dead plants are first noticed in 

 the spring, many of them are ac- 

 tually killed by frosts in the fall, 

 particularly young plants of azaleas 

 and rhododendrons. 



This type of injury was first 

 brought to the attention of the 

 Staff at the Waltham Field Station 

 by a nurseryman in the Fall of 

 1948. The previous spring he had 

 planted out several hundred thou- 

 sand young azaleas and rhodo- 

 dendrons, considered hardy in our 

 climate and satisfactory and de- 

 sirable for local planting needs. 

 On October 22, which had been 

 preceded by below-freezing tem- 



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