Beware Of Moss In Lawn

The increasingly heavy overnight autumn dews in the UK create ideal conditions for moss establishment (or re-establishment!). Spores which have lain dormant during the summer months become active and can soon overpower even the healthiest of lawns. So we need to beware. Now is an ideal time to get down close to the turf and examine it carefully for strands of moss.

If moss has previously been a problem, I recommend an application of ferrous sulphate (19% soluble sulphate of iron) at 1 ounce per gallon of water per 10 square yards (35g per 4.5 litres water per 9 square metres). With the right rose, it doesn't take long to apply with a watering can (you might need to experiment with different ones to get the delivery rate right). I would give this treatment whether you can see any moss or not; any present will turn black almost instantly. You might be amazed at how much there is.

REPEAT TREATMENT IF NECESSARY
I dealt with moss treatment in great detail last year (see last autumn's lawn posts). But I didn't make it clear that we need to keep an eye out for moss re-establishing after a month or two. If it does, then repeat the treatment. You can do this as many times as necessary.

If you keep 'nipping it in the bud', you will keep it in check without disfiguring the lawn. i.e. the dead moss will quickly grow over, so there should be no need to rake.

RAKE OUT IF NECESSARY
If moss is really bad, then now is the time to kill it off and rake it out. There is still time for the turf to at least partly recover before winter. This way it will not look as unsightly as it would if left till later, or - even worse - next year.

Cutting Back Hydrangeas

Cutting back the fallen hydrangeas last August seems to have worked. They have grown back and flowered well this year (see 'Pruning A Fallen Hydrangea').

Watering Technique To Control Botrytis In Fuchsias

I have had a real problem with botrytis on fuchsias this past year. Much has been learned. That's how it is with growing - trial and error - almost despair, at times. However, I noticed last winter that certain pots remained completely free of this disease. Why? Because I didn't need to water them. The compost surface dried out, leaving sufficient water down below to last a few months.

WETNESS OF COMPOST
The pots were given the maximum amount of water before October (when botrytis really became a problem due to colder temperatures), but the compost surface had enough time to dry out. The plant roots, as they grew, could then access water deeper in the compost. This way, these pots did not need to be watered again till growth recommenced the following year. And even if they did, they could be watered from the bottom by standing in a saucer of water for a few minutes.

This really worked last year. It was those pots that I didn't water in time - and so were left with a wet surface - which suffered.

COMPOST TURNS SOUR?
Many will tell you that wet compost turns sour. Yes it does. But, in my opinion, this only happens when it is too wet and consequently deprived of air. Adding some perlite and/or grit will help control this.

HOW MUCH WATER?
The limiting factor as to how much water can be given is the plant(s) itself. Fuchsia roots cannot tolerate over-wet conditions for long periods. So you need to give as much as you can without drowning the plant. Only experience can help here.

DON'T WATER TOO SOON
It is surprising how dry a compost can become before it affects fuchsias. In fact, they positively thrive on a drier one. But not TOO dry - otherwise the roots will shrink and cause permanent damage. It's a very narrow margin, but one that is worth discovering if you want to grow fuchsias well.

Why Some Fuchsias Are Self-Branching

It's been bothering me. What I said last week about the multi-plant flowering unevenly (see 'Two's Company . . .'). It wasn't quite right. This multi-plant is not flowering unevenly because the cuttings have rooted at different times. It's because two of the plants contained flowering meristems, whereas the third one did not.

Once a plant stem 'decides' to flower, the apical meristem, contained within the terminal bud (growing tip), ceases laying down only dormant side shoots in new leaf axils and begins to produce flowers (or flowers and shoots). At this time, it ceases to be called an 'apical meristem' and becomes instead a 'floral meristem'. However, this change is not obvious; it only becomes apparent once flower buds can be seen. Until this time, it appears like a normal shoot tip, the young flower buds being there but too small to detect. So this is what has happened here. This change into flowering mode had occurred in two cuttings only. The third was a normal stem.

FUCHSIAS LAY DOWN FLOWERS IN DIFFERENT WAYS

SELF-BRANCHING TYPES

The situation is even more confusing in fuchsias because some continue to lay down both flowers and shoots in their leaf axils. 'Genii' (left) lays down flowers (pink) and shoots (lime) at DIFFERENT nodes, whereas 'Hawkshead' (right) lays down both flowers and shoots at the SAME (but not all) nodes. These young dormant axillary shoots, once activated, allow these fuchsia stems to become 'self-branching', thereby developing the shrub vegetatively as flowering continues throughout the summer.

NON-SELF-BRANCHING TYPES

Some fuchsias, however, once flowering has begun, cease laying down side shoots and lay down only flower buds (plus a pair of feeder leaves) in the axils of each consecutive new node. This continues for a few weeks until flowering has finished, at which time vegetative growth resumes, followed by another flush of flowers. Thus, the shrub stops developing during flowering, so must be built up previously. However, there is a plus in that the flowers are more visible (and therefore look more spectacular) because they are not covered by leaves, thereby making these plants more suitable for exhibition purposes. Note that 'Amazing Maisie' (left) produces two pairs of flowers at each node, along with two feeder leaves. This has the effect of making the plant appear more floriferous; it also makes it easier to shape for best effect.

Multi-Plants Look Good Right From The Off

Now is a good time to take cuttings of favourite plants, either as insurance against a bad winter, or perhaps just to increase stock. Take about six or seven shoot tip cuttings, a 3.5 inch potful of light soil or rooting compost (preferably the one we use on fuchsias), and insert five or six cuttings close to the edge, with one or two in the middle. No need to cover. These should root fairly quickly at this time of year.

Making multi-plants this way was very effective last year. This is a multi-plant, made of pinks last August, in early October. I made one from French lavender, as well. Both have flowered very well this year as part of mixed containers.

Multi-plants in small pots are easy to store over winter. And they look good right from the off because the plants don't need to build up a framework of stems before they can flower well. The structure is already there. Each stem will very quickly bear a flower. And, once mature, these plants can look fantastic!

Bleach Seemed To Remove Botrytis From Fuchsia Stem

Following a recent post on botrytis on this fuchsia stem, (see 'Troubleshooting Furry Mould On Fuchsia Stem'),
I can say that a drop of thick domestic bleach - the smallest drop that falls naturally out of the bottle - in a 500ml hand spray not only contained this disease, but actually seemed to remove it. I tried this on a couple of plants and the result was the same in both cases. You might also remember that I used kitchen cleaner with bleach, carefully applied, last year on the troubled triphylla. This also worked, and the plant survived without any obvious detriment.

Young fuchsia cuttings seem to take a bit of a pasting, though. And I'm sure it will damage the tender young root hairs. However, they are still living - just.

PREVENTION
Watering with one or two drops of bleach per gallon (4.5 litres) of water is said to give effective prevention against botrytis. But don't know if it will actually remove it.

BABY BOTTLE STERILANT
Chlorine has been used for years in the mushroom industry against bacterial blotch. Last year I tried baby bottle chlorine sterilant (supermarket own brand) at recommended strength. This seemed to work against the fungus, but caused some damage to the larger cuttings. Younger cuttings were damaged even more. However, these nearly all survived, of a fashion - without botrytis. I was going to do some tests with weaker concentrations, but haven't got around to it. Story of my life!

Remove Dead Leaves In Wet Weather

This time of year can be dangerous to plants. Old dead leaves, already infected with botrytis (grey mould), left lying (or hanging) around is a recipe for future disease trouble - especially when compost becomes over-wet. These should be removed as soon as possible. In fact, best remove them even sooner to allow air to circulate within the plant (stagnant moist air is the killer).

Plants do not need many leaves to flower well. In fact, as you have seen previously on the geraniums (pelargoniums), they seem to use just those surrounding the young flower stems. Perhaps the lower leaves have some value. But this is not significant. For the extra risk involved in keeping them on the plant, any potential reward is too small.

MAKE A BIT OF SPACE
You don't have to denude the plant. Just make a bit of space. This will also enable better access to the debris. A long pair of tweezers is also a good investment for reaching the awkward places.

Too Cold For Tomatoes?

The tomato plant is not doing well. All seemed to go well at first. Then leaves started rolling and growth became slow and stunted. Although there are a few flowers and fruits, things should be much better. They started to go wrong after I saw greenfly feeding on the stems. The growing tip rolled up like a clenched fist within days and never recovered.

SAME AS LAST YEAR
This is exactly what happened last year, the only difference being I have not detected any blight (last year's plants had to be destroyed).

These normal leaves are from a cutting of 'Outdoor Girl', given by a neighbour. These plants (he gave me two) have defied all neglect and seem insistent upon forming normal plants.

STILL NO WISER
The fact that 'Outdoor Girl' is a reliable outdoor variety indicates I have been 'flogging a dead horse'. 'Alicante' and 'Ailsa Craig' (last year's variety) just will not grow in my garden, probably because it is too cold and draughty. Although, of course, the greenfly could have brought a virus? I'm still no wiser.

Gibberellins Rampant Under August Skies

August in the UK is a difficult month for fuchsias. If the hot muggy weather doesn't allow botrytis to destroy plants, the sudden appearance of dark thundery skies followed by prolonged warm dull days produces long (leggy) growth through etiolation.

PROBLEMS INDOORS WITH CONTAINED AIR
Things are not so bad OUTDOORS where darkening skies (loss of sun) do lower temperatures more quickly. No. It's INDOORS where problems really occur. Contained air (either by walls or glass) does not cool down nearly quickly enough to accommodate reduced light; the plants 'assume' they have competition, so therefore need a sudden spurt of growth to outgrow this. Hence leggy plants.

Etiolation is caused by elongation of the stem's vertical cell walls, controlled by the growth hormones 'gibberellins'

Multi-Plant Breaking Unevenly

I wasn't going to remove the growing tips at the ends of the 'Annabel' multi-plant shoots. But after removing some of the larger leaves to see what was happening down under, it is clear the axillary buds in the leaf axils haven't broken evenly. In fact, only those marked in pink seem to have developed; the ones marked red have not moved. I hope removal of the apical bud (growing tip) at the end of each stem will now improve matters.

As you can see, I have also used wire to pull some of the branches closer together. This is a good time to do this before the wood becomes too hard and brittle.

Because each of the shoots now has about eight (most have, some haven't) axillary buds (4 nodes x2), there is great potential. Even without further stopping, there should be about sixty to seventy flowering shoots produced. But this won't be till the end of the year, unfortunately. I should have stopped it sooner and potted it up earlier instead of leaving it too long in a small pot. It might have been flowering now. Never mind. Live and learn.

Two's Company . . .

They say 'Two's company, three's a crowd'. I wonder if someone told my fuchsia multi-plants. For some reason, when produced from perlite-rooted cuttings, three plants will not grow together and produce even plants. Either one plant takes hold before the other two, or vise versa. As you can see, this affects both vegetative growth (left) and flowering (right).

This has happened each time I have placed three plants in a pot. Two have grown together. And they have ALWAYS grown together, whether larger or smaller than the third plant.

However, when I placed more than three rooted cuttings in a pot, multi-planting has worked, with all plants of similar size growing together. Strange.

The other strange thing is that, in the former case, although all three plants started at similar size, rooting occurred at differing times, thereby making the two groups uneven. i.e. for some reason one or two plants just would not root as quickly.

I suppose the obvious cause could be plants spaced too far apart. But I don't think it's as simple as this. Mysteries. Mysteries.

Not Virus Infection On Dahlias

It doesn't look as if the dahlia leaf problem was caused by a virus (see 'Mottled Dahlia Leaf?'. New leaves are now looking quite healthy after feeding, and the leaf discolouration does not seem to have spread.

GIVEN FEED WITH TRACE ELEMENTS
Dahlias are often short of trace elements at this stage of growth, and applying these usually significantly brightens flower colour. Seaweed feeds are very good. But I used good old 'Phostrogen' because its analysis shows it not only contains trace elements but is also rich in potassium, which is also beneficial for flower production.

ALSO SPRAYED FOR THRIPS
I also sprayed with thiacloprid to control thrips. This should also control aphids (which spread viruses) and other pests till the end of the season. Pity it doesn't also control snails!

Still No Roots On Dahlia Cup Cutting

Still no roots showing in dahlia cup cutting taken six weeks ago. Not sure what this means. It has taken and is growing;it is also flowering. When cuttings are rooted in spring, roots are usually visible at the bottom of the pot within four weeks, often sooner. I know a 500ml (pint) beer pot is much deeper, but they should have got down there by now. What's the reason?

• dahlia roots are 'photophobic' (light-hating) and are keeping out of sight
• dahlias do not produce roots whilst flowering
• a pest is destroying the roots
  

Either or all - or even something completely different - could be the problem. Growing is a mysterious process.