September General Meeting
September Meeting:
Speaker Ron Kok gave an informative presentation on Diseases and Insect Pests of Fuchsias, Begonias, and Geraniums.
Most diseases 85% are fungal in nature and affected by humidity, temperature and time to develop.
There are also viral diseases that are hard to diagnose and some bacterial diseases to look out for.
Some Fuchsia issues
Fuchsia rust needs 2 other hosts, fireweed and fir trees. Cut off affected leaves and stems to control, spray with anti-fungal like horticultural oil or sulphur.
Botrytis fungus disease is also common. Stem rots. In Begonias as well.
Spotted wilt virus – shows as spots, circles, rings of yellow on leaves. Hard to diagnose without a lab test. Viruses are transmitted by thrips and aphids.
Cucumber Mosaic Virus can be found in F. Boliviansis
Geranium issues,
Botrytis and fungus problems can be dealt with by ensuring good air circulation. Changes in temp, dew at night – especially in Fall – can increase the problem so need to keep watch.
Pythium root rot or black leg disease – Problem with cuttings – discard. Make sure cutting ends heal over before trying to root in water.
Geranium rust rare but bad – remove affected leaves, stems
Spray bicarb and soap to control fungus
Ralstonia or Southern bacterial wilt on Geranium- throw out whole plant and clean area
Oedema on leaves – from warm roots and overwatering
Western flower thrips are a bad pest – spray with insecticidal soap or horticultural oil.
Overwintering plants? – replace the top inch of soil with fresh soil to get rid of pest eggs.
Control whitefly, mites with spray.
Look out for Fungus gnats – control with yellow sticky traps.
Other controls – pool dunks and nematodes.
Ron Demonstrated with his plants from HCP which had signs of rust and mites. Cut back, defoliated, sprayed with horticultural oil.
How to Avoid Pests
Buy from reputable sources
Quarantine new plants
Avoid cut flowers in host that bring in bugs
Disinfect gardening tools with bleach cleaner
Use bagged commercial potting mix and don’t reuse soil
Clean work surface with Lysol
Isolate and treat sick plants until they improve
Healthy plants – water, sun, fertilize – more resistant to disease/pests
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