



Sbptkmber 21, 1005. 



The Weekly Florists' Review. 



983 



the blooming shoots will begin to run up 

 and will weight the plants down unless 

 they are supported. A. P. J. Baue. 



MORE STEM-ROT. 



"We have read very carefully the ar- 

 ticle "Stem-Kot Again" in the BKVlEVsr 

 for September 7. We wish to oflfer a 

 '* testimonial " of our troubles. On July 

 11 we planted a bench with about 700 

 Boston Market from the field. Quite a 

 number of the plants of this variety died 

 in the field before benching time. About 

 ten days after benching the plants began 

 to die, until now we have lost over 300 of 

 the 700 and some of those which we used 

 to replace the dead ones have also died. 

 The plants appear to be healthy until 

 we notice some of them seem to be dried 

 up. The stem is shriveled and hollow in 

 the center. We mixed the soil with ma- 

 nure, bone meal and slaked lime. . Have 

 also applied, lime to the soil since 

 benching. While our other varieties are 

 not free from the same trouble, yet they 

 are not nearly so bad. S. C. 



Since quite a number of plants died 

 from stem-rot in the field, it is quite evi- 

 dent that you brought it into the house 

 that way and all the soil-sterilizing you 

 could have done would have availed 

 nothing. That is one reason why soil 

 sterilization can never be a complete 

 guarantee against this disease. The ster- 

 ilizing may kill what spores are in the 

 soil, but it does not prevent the intro- 

 duction of them at any future period. 



When plants in the field show signs of 

 stem-rot it is almost impossible to plant 

 them directly on the benches without los- 

 ing many of them. The moist atmos- 

 pliere and, during those days, invariably 

 hft temperature just suit this disease 

 and you may be sure tjHat if it was ac- 

 tive in the field, where there was plenty 

 of fresh air and sunlight, it will natur- 

 ally go on a rampage in the house. Usu- 

 ally when a batch of plants shows stem- 

 rot to any great extent in the field we 

 do not house many of the plants. How- 

 ever, if it is a promising seedling or 

 other new variety it pays to go to a lit- 

 tle extra trouble to save them. You will 

 find that when you pot the plants into 

 comparatively small pots they will take 

 hold quickly and they will need shading 

 only a few days. Perhaps you have 

 noticed this when you potted some 

 plants to set in where some died out. So 

 if you will pot the plants and then, as 

 soon as they are well rooted, plant them 

 on the benches, there need not be that 

 Jong, dark, warm and moist period dur- 

 ing which the stem-rot usually starts into 

 activity. 



Another good idea in case stem-rot 

 starts after planting is to remove enough 

 sou from between the plants to make a 

 turrow deep enough to hold enough 

 water to saturate the soil when filled. 

 1 his allows you to water the soil without 

 wetting the stems of the plants and if 

 no syringing is done there need be very 

 mtle moisture in the atmosphere. We 

 have found this very effective. Lime 

 sprinkled over the soil will also help, as 



gr"dwtlf * ^""^^^ ^"^""^ ^"^ ''^ fungous 

 As you do not say when the manure, 

 bone meal and lime were mixed into the 

 nrnnii'^"""* ^^^ ^^^t»»«' it was doue 

 Kn ^^ ^^ °u°*- ^ ^« °ot think that 

 System ro";r'' '^- ^°y*^^°^' *« d« ^th 

 in the field before you lifted the plants. 



Officen of the St. Louis Florists* Qub. 



standing: Prank J. Fillmore, Frank A. Weber, Carl Beyer, trustees; Emll Schray, secretary. 

 Seated: John Steldel. vice-president; J. F. Ammann, president; Fred H. Melnhardt, treasurer. 



The best thing you can do with this 

 bed of Boston Market is to pull up the 

 remainder of the plants and burn them. 

 Take out the soil, wash the bench and 

 paint it with a heavy coat of hot lime 

 wash. Dump the soil where it will not 

 again come in contact with your carna- 

 tions. To check it among your other 

 varieties do all you can to keep the 

 houses from the ground to the ventilators 

 as fresh and sweet as possible. Plenty of 

 air, no shade on the glass, a little fire 

 heat on cool, damp nights to keep the 

 air stirring, a little sulphur and lime on 

 the steam pipes, will all help. Stop 

 syringing unless you see signs of red 

 spider. I hope your plants are not 

 planted too closely. If the air can circu- 

 late between them it will be a great 

 ^°efit. A. F. J. Baur. 



FAIRY RING. 



I have the disease known as fairy 

 ring on a few plants of Lady Bountiful 

 and The Queen. From July until Au- 

 gust 28 I did my syringing before 6:30 

 a. m. in order to get pressure. I never 

 water unless the plants need it. I have 

 been using formaldehyde and Bordeaux 

 mixture. Do you think they should be 

 run dry or ought I to keep them moist? 

 ■I have used lime and sulphur the last 

 few days but I do not know how that 

 will work. The last few weeks I have 

 ^y""ged once a week to keep spider in 

 ciiecK, "p -p 



The disease called fairy ring is pretty 

 much the same as the common leaf ^ot 



in that it is a fungous disease, and it 

 should be handled the same way. The 

 same remedies will do for both of them. 

 The first thing I want to say to you is 

 don 't lose your head. Unless your plants 

 are very badly affected there is no reason 

 why you should not get them back into 

 normal condition in a short time. The 

 remedies you are using are all right if 

 you use them properly. Very often, when 

 plants are affected with disease, the 

 grower gets excited and doses the plants 

 with one thing after another and either 

 floods the soil or allows it to become 

 as dry as powder. The first thing he 

 knows his plants are ruined, more 

 through his treatment than from the dis- 

 ease. Always bear in mind that what- 

 ever you apply to the plants, you can 

 not efface the marks of the disease except 

 by picking off the spotted leaves, and be- 

 fore the plants will be clean and look 

 clean they will have to make a new 

 growth, which takes time. 



The first thing to do to stop a disease 

 of this kind IS to remove all the spotted 

 leaves and burn them. That stops its 

 propagation from the spores which are 

 produced in each spot. Don't stop with 

 this one picking, but go over them every 

 (lay or two and remove any fresh ones 

 that break out. The best thing we have 

 found to spray with is formaline, which 

 you say you are using. We use it one 

 to 500 of water, though perhaps it can 

 be used a httle stronger. If the days 

 are bright you can spray with this every 

 morning but I would not advise you to 

 apply ,t on cloudy days. If there are 

 several. cloudy days in a stretch you 



