to use although old manure, fiberous compost, rotted leaves, 
rotted straw, marsh hay or any other fiberous material that 
is free of weeds and easily obtainable can be used. Don’t 
use sawdust unless very old and can be easily saturated 
with water. 
WINTERING MULCH: When setting Pansy Plants in 
the fall a protective mulch will be desirable in climates 
where the temperature goes below 15 degrees above zero. 
The purpose of this mulch is not to prevent freezing but 
rather to even the temperature and prevent rapid freezing 
and thawing several times during the winter. It should not 
be applied until the ground has frozen and left on until the 
spring thaw. Apply very lightly when using straw, marsh 
hay or other such materials. When applied some leaves of 
the plants should be visible through the mulch. The best 
mulch is made by turning evergreen boughs up-side-down 
over the -bed or laying open brush over the bed. In this 
manner Pansies will winter well in temperatures many 
degrees below zero. To successfully winter Pansies be sure 
that drainage is GOOD. 
Watering Pansies 
Pansies like a moist cool soil and will thrive best when 
some attention is given this need. In hot weather sprinkling 
will probably be needed each day. Best time is in early 
morning or late afternoon. If the latter do it early enough 
so that foliage will be reasonably dry by night as too much 
wetness at night may lead to foliage mildew in some 
localities. 
Surface irrigation is satisfactory in some soils and not 
desirable in others. You’ll have to determine this for your- 
self if you wish to use this method. Sprinkling is univers- 
ally usable on Pansies and is therefore the prefered method, 
Pests And Diseases 
Pansies are subject to very few of either. Slugs and 
possibly cut-worms are the most common pests and are 
easily controlled with the commercially available baits for 
these pests. Late in the season in some localities red-spider 
may attack but usually they will give no trouble if the 
plant has enough food and moisture, Centrospora Leaf Spot 
is damaging sometimes in California and similar warm 
climates. It’s control is spraying with Greenol or Mil-Du- 
Spra, 1 to 800. Incidently, this has no relation to the 
scald spot that sometimes appears in winter and which the 
plant soon outgrows in new spring foliage. 
The best prevention of disease and pest troubles is to 
keep the plant in a sturdy, firm state of growth through 
an adequate fertility and watering. 
