Top dressing for phlox and the fight against powdery mildew
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HOW AND WHAT IS BETTER TO FEED THE FLOXES?
Phloxes can be very different. Color, size, aroma, flower pattern, shape of inflorescence vary from variety to variety so much that their close relationship seems surprising. Depending on the variety, phlox bloom from July until frost, smell nice and stand in the cut for a long time.
These plants do not have many requirements for agricultural technology, but they cannot be ignored.
In order for phlox to bloom magnificently and for a long time, now is the time to feed them. You can give mineral fertilizing with complex fertilizer for phlox or just superphosphate and potassium. Phosphorus is especially needed during the period when buds appear, and potassium will make the color of flowers even brighter.
You can use organo-mineral supplements. For example, prepare an infusion of mullein or grass cuttings (1:10) or chicken droppings (1:20). Then add mineral fertilizers: 15 g of double superphosphate and potassium sulfate per 10 liters of infusion.
First, water the phlox well with water and only then feed the resulting fertilizer at the rate of 10 liters per 1-1,5 sq. m.
Watering in July and August is just as important as top dressing. If the weather is hot, water every day in the morning or late afternoon when the sun is near the horizon and not baking.
Powdery mildew is a common phlox problem.
The defeat is not immediately noticeable. But if you look closely, white spots of mycelium appear on the underside of the leaves. Therefore, it is advisable to periodically inspect the plants. Spray the phlox with a fungicide as soon as you notice a powdery coating. If you are not a fan of chemistry, you can try to get by with the eco-friendly method: pour 3/4 of the water into the bucket, add 1/4 of the mullein and leave it warm for 5 days. Strain and spray the phlox over the leaves, and finally pour the soil around it.
In dry weather, you can fight powdery mildew by dusting the leaves with colloidal sulfur. Repeat treatments every 10 days.
In order for phloxes to have enough nutrition and to get sick less, the bushes should be placed at a sufficient distance from each other - 50-80 cm, depending on the variety. In addition, normalize the number of shoots. If you plan on grafting or pruning, leave as many shoots as possible. Immediately, it is better to cut out only the weakest and later ones, on which the inflorescences will not have time to bloom before frost.
ON A NOTE. Experienced growers leave one stem in the bush until the seeds are fully ripe. It is believed that when plants go through the full development cycle, stronger renewal buds are laid and their winter hardiness increases.
In many varieties of phlox, in addition to the upper inflorescence, several smaller ones can later develop on the lateral shoots. To get the second wave of flowering, remove the faded main inflorescences in time. Leave only one of 2-3 lateral shoots that will begin to grow on the stem by autumn.
A bouquet of phlox, placed in a solution of aspirin, sugar or a special tool for cut flowers, not only retains color well, but the buds in inflorescences usually bloom completely.
So that the charged autumn rains do not spoil the appearance of the inflorescences, arrange a light inclined canopy over the flower garden using film, stakes and twine. When sunny weather returns, such a shelter is easy to disassemble, and phloxes will continue to delight you.
When the leaves and flowers are frozen, cut off all the stems with a pruner, going deeper into the mulch to the very root, leaving no stumps. Carefully collect and burn all plant residues from the flower bed, then along with them, pests and pathogens that have attached themselves to wintering will die in the fire. This simple technique will help you avoid chemical treatments for the next year.
Rapid freezing of the soil in the absence of snow is dangerous for phlox. So that the buds of renewal do not suffer from frost at the beginning of winter, additionally cover them on top of mulch with foliage.
See also: Landing phlox - master class and photo
THREE "FLOX" TIPS FOR NEXT SEASON
1. In order for phlox to bloom early, start to act in early spring. At the end of March, cover the phlox flower bed and the surrounding area with plastic wrap.
When the shoots grow back, replace the film with lutrasil. As a result, the snow melts faster, and phloxes start to grow earlier.
2. Mulching will help to get rid of weeding and loosening of the soil. When you water the flower bed for the first time, loosen the soil and feed the growing phloxes with complex mineral fertilizer, immediately mulch the plantings with peat or humus. It is advisable to put moistened corrugated cardboard on top. Now you can forget about weeding for a year or two, and when the bushes close, such mulch will not be visible.
H. Do not rush to plant the newly acquired plant in a permanent place, completely trusting the description of the variety. Place the phlox in the school for the first season. If you bought not a rooted cutting, but a cut, then disinfect it in a solution of saturated pink potassium permanganate for 20-30 minutes in order to further avoid fungal diseases that usually accumulate in the soil of old plantings.
See also: How to deal with powdery mildew on phlox
FLOXES IN A COMPANY AND ONLINE
How to place phlox on the site is a matter of taste. Some varieties are good in group plantings, just try to avoid variegation, pick varieties with well-matched inflorescence colors.
Spectacular plants look good in solitary planting - for example, varieties with pyramidal inflorescences (Pink Pyramid, Schneepyramide) or with two-color flowers (Mishenka, Natasha).
HOW TO BREED FLOXES?
The easiest way is to use parts of the rhizome. When replanting and dividing phloxes, separate the part with roots and 2-3 renewal buds. There are also dormant buds, they are not visible.
Another simple breeding method is cuttings. It is necessary to cut off the middle part of the shoot, leave the cuttings with 2 internodes, remove the lower leaves, cut the upper ones in half. Rooting the bottom of the cut will help the cuttings to root faster.
Rooting takes place, as usual, in a greenhouse at high humidity. It is desirable to maintain the temperature at 23-25 °. After 2-3 weeks, the cuttings will give roots. In September, young phloxes can be transplanted into a flower garden or on separate beds for growing.
See also: Flower garden with small flowered phloxes - planting scheme
WHAT SUPPLEMENTARY FOOD IS SUITABLE FOR FLOXES - VIDEO
© Author: N. SOLOVYEVA, florist
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My phloxes bloom for three months - from the end of June to the end of September. And I would love them all year long! I plant them in September, although many say that it is possible in the spring. The distance between seedlings is 50-60 cm, and you need to deepen 2-4 cm above the root collar. Most importantly, the planting hole must be filled with compost, leaf humus or rotted manure. We have clay soil, so I add peat (you can sand).
And be sure to add half a glass of wood ash to the hole, then a long and lush flowering is guaranteed to you.
Water immediately after planting, sparing no water. Do not spare mineral fertilizers either, feed phloxes 5 times a year (from April to August once a month). I buy seedlings only in the nursery: the “market” ones have a high probability of infection with a nematode.
Many say - they say, phloxes do not require care, they grow like weeds. I don’t know, for many years I understood: there are three prerequisites for these flowers to please - fertile soil, regular top dressing and abundant watering. But my phloxes are luxurious - I can’t take my eyes off!
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For phlox health
For powdery mildew, black spot and other possible fungal diseases, I spray paniculate phloxes only once a season (approximately in mid-late May) with a solution of the Alto-Super complex preparation (2 ml / 1 l of water). You can also use Bordeaux mixture, "Oxyhom", "Topaz" (according to the instructions). With this care, I get excellent flowers for garden decoration and display at exhibitions.
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I heard that spraying with a solution of ordinary washing powder helps from powdery mildew on flowers. Should I use this tool?
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- It makes no sense to conduct such experiments with washing powder, when garden stores are full of effective preparations designed specifically to combat flower diseases. Mushrooms cause powdery mildew
(Podosphaera, Erysiphe, Oidium) that attack plants in warm, damp weather. As a result, a white powdery bloom appears on young leaves from the lower and upper sides, on the stems, pedicels and buds. Single foci grow over time, completely
covering the leaf blade, shoots, buds. Later plaque
thickens, turns gray. Affected leaves turn brown, dry and fall off prematurely, young shoots are deformed, buds do not open. The plant noticeably lags behind in growth and eventually dies.
Use fungicides against this scourge: "Skor", EC (2 ml / 10 l of water), "Cumulus DF", VDG (30-40 g / 10 l of water). Carry out the treatments, starting with the appearance of the first signs of the disease, with an interval of 10 days (further as necessary).