#hollyhocks with rust
4 messages in this thread
Hello Ilga,
Where do you garden? Here in chilly Vermont I can only dream of hollyhocks
in bloom! Are your hollyhocks badly infected with rust? If it is a only
few leaves, you can remove and discard them – continuing to remove infected
leaves as they appear. If your hollyhocks are covered with rust, you will
either need to dust or spray with a fungicide or remove them entirely. If
you decide to remove them, do not add them to your compost pile as the rust
spores could survive and live to infect other plants. Clean up any
remaining debris after removing hollyhocks as it may contain rust spores.
Alison
Hello Alison, I garden in Santa Cruz. We haven't had anything resembling a
frost this year, so the hollyhocks are still growing–but not very nicely,
mainly because of the rust. I tried picking off leaves, but they are
pretty much completely infected. What is the best fungicide? Or, to be
mean I could leave them as is (someone just bought our house–escrow to
close soon and they are the type of people who try to squeeze every last
penny out of you). Also, I seem to have some kind of bug that eats the
geranium buds before they get a chance to bloom. Know anything about that?
Thanks a lot (sincerely), Ilga P.s. Since I will be moving soon to a new
garden, I will probably be spending a lot of time around here (I am new to
gardening, but enjoy it).
Hello Ilga – Santa Cruz is beautiful, when you close escrow and move, will
you stay in Santa Cruz?
About the geraniums – when I've had that problem it has usually been the
geranium budworm. It is a green creature that sometimes takes on the hue
of the flower it's munching on. Sometimes they are very hard to spot,
usually on the underside of leaves, in the bud or along the stem. They
leave black or dark brown droppings – just above the most concentrated area
of droppings, you will usually find the budworms. I've have good success
with handpicking them – but you have to be patient and persistant.
Otherwise you can use Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). (Bt) is a naturally
occuring bacteria that is fatal to the budworm, its safe and effective.
Good luck! Alison
Alison, Gee, this is great. All my questions answered. I think the bud
worm is the culprit. I have seen green worms on there occasionally, and
crushed them. I will continue to keep an eye out for them (I am good at
persistancy-that is how I gotY rid of most of the snails–picking and
tossing). Or maybe I will leave them for the next owner.. .
Yes, I will be staying in the Santa Cruz area. We are stilYl desparately
looking for a new house, but I don't think I could ever drag my fiancee
away from the area (not that I want to leave).
Thanks for the answers. I am sure I will have many more questions (next
subject will probably be bulbs–I don't know anything about them).
Ilga